Denis Norden - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Norden was born in Mare Street, Hackney, East London, and educated at the City of London School where he was a contemporary of Kingsley Amis. He "was considered to have a fine academic brain" and was well regarded by his peers.

Upon leaving school, he worked as a stagehand, moved into cinema management by the age of 17 and organised variety shows. His writing career began in the Royal Air Force during World War II, when he wrote for troop shows. Subsequently, he wrote material for comedian Dick Bentley, before meeting Frank Muir (who wrote for Jimmy Edwards) in 1947.

Muir and Norden's first joint venture was the radio show Take it from Here, which they scripted from 1948 to 1959. They went on to write many successful radio and television scripts, including Whack-O! (1956–60) and three series of Faces of Jim (1961–1963), both as vehicles for Jimmy Edwards. They also wrote the satirical sketch Balham, Gateway to the South for the BBC Third Programme. The sketch, which had originally been broadcast in 1948 as part of a comedy series called The Third Division and which featured actor Robert Beatty, was later famously performed by Peter Sellers on his 1959 LP – The Best of Sellers. In 1964, their writing partnership broke up, as Muir moved into management with the BBC. Over the next several years, Norden, who had long had a fascination with Hollywood, wrote the scripts for several films, including Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell and The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom. Although, he was no longer writing with Muir, the two regularly appeared together on panel shows My Word! (1956–1990) and My Music (1966–1993), first on radio then TV. Norden also hosted an ITV/Channel 4 nostalgia quiz, Looks Familiar.

In 1965, Norden wrote, narrated and starred in a featurette jointly made by the James Bond producers and The Ford Motor Company. The colour short, entitled "A Child's Guide to Blowing up a Motor Car", went behind the scenes of an exploding car stunt being filmed for Thunderball. Norden takes a young relative on a day out to a movie set, where they meet several stars and production team members, but not Sean Connery. Lost for many years, it is now available on the 'Ultimate Edition' DVD of Thunderball, as released in late 2006.