麻豆约拍

In this final programme in the series, Barry Humphries recalls the soundtrack to his early life growing up in Melbourne, Australia during the 1930s & '40s. Barry's preferred childhood listening was Fraser Simpson's music for 'Toad of Toad Hall'. Barry says: "to this day, that music has a near-hypnotic effect on me. It is utterly charming. We didn't have a river-bank in Healsville, just outside of Melbourne, but we did have a creek and, in my mind, I somehow transplanted the setting of The Wind in the Willows to where I lived in Australia. The Wild Wood, where the stoats and the weasels lived, brought to my mind, the terrifying Australian Bush."

In the 1930s and '40s, inhabitants of Barry's home city of Melbourne were convinced they were living in a rather remote part of the English home counties. This was reflected in many ways, not least, in the music they listened to on the wireless or gramophone.

Musical delights on offer in this programme include:
'Just Like in a Story Book' - Layton and Johnstone, 'Other People's Babies' - Norah Howard, and the highly risqu茅 'I'm an Old Norman Castle' - Annette Mills, 'Everything Stops for Tea' - Jack Buchanan...