Ever since he was a child, Piers Pottinger has adored military entertainment
Before I had ever been to a theatre, the first show I was taken to was the Royal Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle.
As a boy of seven, I was enthralled by the magnificent spectacle and the powerful music. I can still recall the respectful laughter when the Italian Bersaglieri soldiers ran onto the Esplanade, bugles blaring at full volume. The show closed, as it has done for 75 years, with the lone piper playing an emotional lament on the battlements of the castle.
Military entertainment in Britain goes back at least as far as the Roman occupation.
At the British Museum, you can see the Ribchester Helmet, dating from the first century AD. It is a highly decorative piece of headgear with an embossed bronze face mask. It would have had acrest box and streamers attached, to be worn by elite riders at large military displays performed for training and to boost morale at the Roman Camp in Ribchester, Lancashire.
During times of peace, the armed forces have often put on a show. At the start of the Second World War, Basil Dean and Leslie Henson founded ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association), made up of a stunning array of future stars of stage and screen.
Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas and Frankie Howerd all began their careers there, travelling around to provide much-needed entertainment for the troops. The first ENSA concert was held in 1939 at RAF Hendon and starred jazz songstress Adelaide Hall.
After the war, ENSA evolved into CSE (Combined Services Entertainment),which also nurtured the careers of many actors, performers and writers. Peter Nichols was one. In 1977, he wrote and directed the hugely successful musical satire Privates on Parade, later a film, about a group of CSE players.
The most famous satire about military conflict was Oh! What a Lovely War.
First performed as a radio play, it went to the stage in 1963 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in the hands of the pioneering theatrical legend Joan Littlewood. In 1969, Richard Attenborough directed a superb film version with a stellar cast, including Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde and just about every top British actor of the time.
The armed forces were also a popular topic for TV comedy writers over the years. One of the first successful sitcoms on British TV was The Army Game. First broadcast in 1957, it featured Alfie Bass, Bernard Bresslaw and Bill Fraser as hapless soldiers coping with life in the army.
One young actor in the series was Frank Williams, who later found fame as the vicar in Dad’s Army. This muchloved series was created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft. Running from 1968 to 1977, it still pops up on our screens today.
A period piece about the Home Guard, it saw first-class performances by leading character actors and has left an indelible mark in the hearts of every viewer.
David Croft created another successful series about a concert party of ENSA members based in India: It Ain’t Half Hot Mum (1974-81), which was hugely popular. Today, alas, it is considered politically incorrect.
One of the world’s most successful comedy series ever was M*A*S*H (1972-83). Set during the Korean War, the series followed the success of a Robert Altman film of the same name. Only one of the cast (Gary Burghoff as Radar O’Reilly) was in both.
The TV series made Alan Alda (Captain Benjamin Franklin ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce) an international superstar. Its final episode was viewed by the biggest audience in US television history.
The slightly anti-establishment content of M*A*S*H was amplified in another US comedy masterpiece – Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller. First a book, in 1970 it was turned into a film directed by Mike Nichols. Detailing the wartime experiences of fictitious bombardier Captain Yossarian, it satirised the insanity of military bureaucracy.
In a different vein, the very first Carry On film was Carry On Sergeant (1958), featuring many former ENSA members, including William Hartnell and Kenneth Connor. It was an instant hit, spawning the longest-running series of comedy films in cinematic history.
When it came to spectacle, the Royal Tournament was hard to beat. Held from 1880 until 1999, it was the world’s biggest military tattoo and pageant. Originally performed at the Royal Agricultural Hall, it moved to Olympia and then in 1950 to Earl’s Court.
I took my seven-year-old son to see the glorious spectacle of the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, whose breathtaking display lingers in the memory today. My son was captivated, just as I at his age had been in Edinburgh.
Sadly there is no Royal Tournament any more, although in 2010 it was briefly revived as the British Military Tournament.
There will come a time for another revival, modernised and packed with advanced technical wizardry. There to protect us in troubled times, our armed forces defend our nation. They are also a source of – and an inspiration for – some wonderful entertainment.
I salute them all.
Piers Pottinger was a PR executive
