After nearly a month of reflection on the recent sad passing of Lord James Whale on the 4th August, I have decided the most fitting loony tribute to pay him would be to confess to a deed that occurred back in 1988, a confession that I feel, nay hope, will be cut off mid sentence by Lord Whale in whichever part of the spiritual loonyverse he now resides.
Like his friend, Screaming Lord Sutch, Lord Whale was the first presenter to introduce shock & controversy tactics in his performances in his late 1980’s phone call show, ‘The James Whale Radio Show’ which was broadcast on ITV. This initially resulted in several warnings from the TV Watchdog, that they might censor the show due to some bad language from callers, despite it being aired at 1am. It was during one of these under threat shows that the following phone call came in:
Lord Whale (who has just cut off a viewer for swearing & their inappropriate subject call) “ok next caller”
Caller – “Hi James, I’d like to talk about the press”
Lord Whale – “Good, that subject shouldn’t get us into any further trouble, what do you want to say about the press?”
Caller – “I’d like to press my k**b right up your a**e”
(after a very long 10 second silence) Lord Whale “I think we will go to a commercial break”
Long overlooked by those running the gong system, in January 2023, James was made an official Loony Minister & put in charge of ‘Saving all the Whales in Wales’
https://youtu.be/LooWNwUBD00?si=i4d5OQA8hpjpVbIf
As is often the case, other bodies soon followed our lead & he was awarded the MBE in the 2024 New Year Honours list for services to broadcasting & charity.
Meeting Lord Whale on his final Christmas Day show last December was a personal highlight of my loony career, even thou I forgot to tell him that the 1988 caller… was me!
A Gent Chinners