Over the next 10 years, while working as a dishwasher at the Hotel Ryde Castle, then a cleaner at the Regal Cinema, Shanklin, Allen wrote 40 plays, all rejected by the BBC or ITV. He became a sales assistant at a builders’ merchant, then spent three years in an RAF accounts office in Gloucestershire – writing a comedy sketch for a concert – before returning to civvy street in 1961 with an ambition to write full-time. On leaving Ryde secondary modern school aged 16, he was a reporter on the Isle of Wight Times but left after 18 months because he hated working unsocial hours. He was born in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, to Les Allen, a railway supervisor, and his wife, Ivy (nee Ayley). Twelve years ago, I took a refresher course of eight lessons and ended up putting the car in a ditch and a hedge.” I passed my driving test in 1964 but never had a car, as I was so nervous. “I tend to drop trays and break things, and I’m always walking into things that have just been painted. “I am accident-prone,” Allen said in 2016. He admitted that the character of Frank Spencer was not far removed from himself. However, after Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, Allen failed to find another winning formula – leaving him as a one-hit wonder. The show attracted up to 25 million viewers during its two series in 1973 and a return run in 1978, with two Christmas specials in between. Crawford’s eagerness to perform his own stunts led him to embellish Allen’s ideas in the first series, then come up with ever-more daring ones before future scripts were written. “Ooh, Betty!” and “I’ve had a bit of trouble …” became Frank’s catchphrases. “He was already doing some of the Frank Spencer mannerisms,” Allen recalled.Ĭrawford contributed further character traits such as a funny voice and walk, and the trademark black beret and army raincoat. Mills cast Crawford in the role after seeing him on the West End stage in No Sex, Please – We’re British. The BBC producer and director Michael Mills felt that this new screen couple should be introduced in another story, with Frank applying to be a door-to-door sales rep, while Have a Break, Take a Husband! became the fourth episode. Raymond Allen admitted that the character of Frank Spencer was not far removed from himself. When I started writing it, I found I had more sympathy with Frank and he started saying more and more, and Betty merged into the background.” It was Betty Spencer, and Frank was the idiot husband who said very little, just following her around. I thought I wanted to write a situation comedy with a woman in the lead. “The Liver Birds had just started on television,” Allen told me in 1990, “and I remember reading a bit in the paper saying there were few situation comedies written for women, with women in the lead roles. In his original concept, Frank had not been the main character, but by the time he approached the BBC it had evolved. Last month, Bill Simmons of was punished after posting a pair of negative tweets about two radio hosts who are affiliated with the company.Raymond Allen, who has died aged 82 after suffering from cancer, created the 1970s sitcom Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, which starred Michael Crawford as the accident-prone Frank Spencer and Michele Dotrice as his wife, Betty.Īt the age of 31, while working as a cinema cleaner on the Isle of Wight, Allen submitted a single play titled Have a Break, Take a Husband! to the BBC. Wilson tweeted that he was "borderline offended" by a trade offer for him. A day before Jennings was fined, a Buffalo Bills linebacker trashed a new teammate on Twitter, and Rangers reliever C.J. Last week, Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings was fined $7,500 for tweeting too soon after a game ended. Interestingly, many of Allen's authentic tweets and the allegedly malicious message were sent from the Twitter client Echofon, but it would not be difficult for a hacker to use that client as well.Īfter claiming his account was hijacked, Allen added that "i hope that it was amusing to people but im either gonna change my password or stop tweeting altogether." I need to changey tweet handle." He then changed from to is unclear whether he was genuinely hacked or if he unintentionally made public what was meant to be a private message. When you masturbate think about my tongue or your cl*t and switching back and forth from my d**k to my tongue." The tweet was later deleted, and 14 minutes after it was posted another tweet showed up, this time apologizing and claiming that he was not responsible: "I'm sorry my acct was hacked into. Last night an erotic tweet appeared from him, seemingly out of nowhere. Ray Allen is the latest NBA player to experience Twitter trouble. Ray Allen Twitter Trouble: Dirty Tweet Alarms Followers
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