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Peter A Rushforth
Dec 22, 05 - 10:45 PM |
"Have a Go, Joe"
There are many sons and daughters of our beloved Yorkshire who have made valuable contributions to the Nation and who should not be forgotten. One of these who doesn’t get the recognition he deserves was Wilfred Pickles, although he was awarded an OBE in 1950. Wilfred was born at 24 Conway Street, Halifax on 14th October 1904 and died on 26th March 1978. From amateur dramatics he progressed to the stage, radio, films and TV. One of the films was the amusing ‘Billy Liar’ in which Wilfred played the long-suffering father of William (Billy Liar) Fisher. Many of the scenes in this film were shot in Bradford, including a lengthy sequence in Undercliffe Cemetery. I have a tape of Wilfred reciting various poems including several in North Country dialects, and I know of no one else, even top actors and actresses, who can perform them anything like he can. During WW II he was a programme announcer at the BBC and they asked him to become a news-reader. Up until then the likes of Stuart Hibberd and Alvar Lidell with their perfect diction and pronunciation had read the news but it was thought that the Germans could very easily imitate their so-called Oxford accents and put out spurious items to cause panic in the country. Wilfred was chosen because it was, quite rightly, believed that they would have difficulty imitating his Yorkshire accent. Cheekily, Wilfred added a little extra individual touch when he ended the news bulletins by saying: “Good night, and to those in the North --- Good neet.” After the war - between 1946-67 - he became even more well known by presenting the radio programme “Have a Go, Joe”. This was just a simple way to bring ordinary people in village halls and town halls all over the country to the microphone. He had a natural ability to put them at their ease. On one occasion in Northern Ireland he asked a contestant if he had any ideas for putting the World in order. “Sure, I could put the world in order, all right.” “ What would you do first?” asked Wilfred. “First of all, I’d draw all the money in the World in and divide it out equally.” “A good idea”, said Wilfred, “And what would you do next?” “Sure, when I’d spent mine I’d draw it all in again and divide it out equally once more!” Some have criticised him for, it was said, paying small amounts to shops and hotels by cheque knowing that most would frame the cheque to display in their premises rather than cash it. If that was the case, who could blame him? On the other hand he did something which few would have done. His father and uncle were in business in Halifax as builders. Things didn’t go well and they were declared bankrupt. When Wilfred’s career improved and he began to earn good money he made a point of repaying all the debts they had incurred so that the family name was cleared. |
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