George Formby

From My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock to God Save the Queen, this is the story of ten records from the 1930s to the present day that have been banned by the BBC. The reasons why these songs were censored reveals the changing controversies around youth culture over the last 75 years, with Bing Crosby and the Munchkins among the unlikely names to have met the wrath of the BBC. With contributions from Carrie Grant, Paul Morley, Stuart Maconie, Glen Matlock, Mike Read and Jon Robb.

Documentary featuring a cavalcade of Northern comedy stars including the great Frank Randle, George Formby, Arthur Askey, Norman Evans and many more. The North of England has always enjoyed its own very particular brand of comedy, best seen today in Coronation Street. 80 years ago however Mancunian Studios produced feature films for the northern masses. Funny Up North tells the story of the Mancunian Studios, its eccentric owner John E Blakeley and its cavalcade of stars including such household names as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Jewell, George Formby and the legendary Frank Randle. Hosted by Professor Chris Lee, the authority on northern cinema, Funny Up North takes you on a journey from its humble beginnings to its sad demise in the 1960s.

Wartime sweetheart Vera Lynn presents this documentary which sets archive footage and newsreel film from World War Two to the popular sounds of the day. Artists featured include Flanagan and Allen, Gracie Fields, George Formby, Bing Crosby, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Andrews Sisters and the Mills Brothers.

Compilation of classic British comedy moments

Compilation of extracts from 'blue' movies from 1900 to the 1940s intercut with clips of popular music and dancing, and excerpts from newsreels and shorts, mostly 'topical' features involving women. Includes glimpses of Fats Waller, George Formby, Nat 'King' Cole and other performers.

George Formby plays George Harper, a tavern owner, who works to turn a waitress from her current employer, a rival tavern owner, when Formby falls in love with her.

Gormless George Trotter (George Formby) moves down from Manchester to the bright lights of London in search of fame and fortune on the stage - only to find himself the prime suspect in a bizarre murder mystery! Whilst staying at Ma Tubbs' theatrical boarding house, a man is murdered in the room right next door to George. When George tries to solve the mystery, he ends up presenting the police with a whole load of clues - all of which point to him as the culprit! Now George must uncover the real murderer himself, with the help of his showbiz friends, his little Ukulele and a fiendishly cunning song! This delightful comedy musical includes three full-length musical numbers - The Daring Young Man, She's Got Two of Everything and I'd Like a Dream Like That.

George Gribble is tea-boy at Tangleton town council, he gets ravelled up in the councillors money-grubbing machinations concerning compiling and then cooking the results of a government sponsored housing survey.

George is an unwilling civilian during the war. When an enlisted friend switches clothes with him in order to go to a party, George finds himself mistakenly pressed into the navy, where he gets involved with pretty Ann Firth and caught up in a subplot involving German spies.

Get Cracking is a 1943 British comedy war film, directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Dinah Sheridan, Ronald Shiner and George Formby. It was produced by Marcel Varnel, Ben Henry and Columbia (British) Productions. This comedy explores the wayward rivalry between mechanic and Home Guard Lance Corporal George Singleton (George Formby) and an adversary also in the Home Guard (Ronald Shiner). When the rival Home Guard units of Major Wallop and Minor Wallop are sent on battle manoeuvres, George Singleton (Formby) launches his own unique style of commando raid against neighbouring Major Wallop to steal a Vickers machine gun. The raid fails and Singleton loses his Lance Corporal's stripe, so he and a little evacuee girl named Irene (Vera Frances) decide to fall back on 'Plan B' - to build their very own tank.

A simple handyman, who also is an amateur artist, gets into trouble when the head and shoulders portraits of some prominent local females are sold without his knowledge to an advertising agency and are published with nude bodies added to them.

To help out his exact double, George Formby (in a dual role) takes the place of a noted South American tenor. This way he can help the opera star fulfill contract obligations and also win the heart of the man's lovely press agent, Linden Travers.

George Pearson, an employee at an underwear factory, is caught between his modern wife and his meddling mother. After buying a special yarn and getting his wife to promote it, he has an argument with his boss, Mr Dawson who insults Pearson's wife and refuses to apologise. Pearson then resigns. After finding out that the yarn is actually worth a fair amount, Mr Dawson tries to buy it from Pearson but he has some competition.

George is an inept reserve policeman working in wartime Liverpool, who is chosen by a gang of Nazi saboteurs as the stooge for their planned destruction of the British battleship HMS Hercules. Framed by the villains and forced to go on the run, George sets out to clear his name with the aid of new girlfriend, Jane.

Shortly after the start of World War II, a ukelele player (George) takes the wrong boat and finds himself in (still uninvaded) Norway. He is mistaken for a fellow British intelligence agent by a woman (Mary), and becomes involved in trying to defeat Nazi agents.

George Formby, who plays George, a stable boy. He also has the unique ability to soothe an anxious racing horse. Expectedly, George races the horse and wins

Ealing comedy starring music hall star George Formby. An eager newspaper reporter (Formby) goes undercover to expose a gang of counterfeiters. Posing as a wrestler and waiter in his investigative efforts, George proves a greater menace to public order than the criminals he is chasing.

George Brown is rejected as an Air Raid Warden and in doing so sees his potential to join the Royal Air Force. His dreams could soon come true as he realises that in fact his friend has left behind some very important papers, he dons a his Royal Air Force uniform and delivers the papers when he is mistaken for a dispatch driver from HQ. He soon becomes the butt of jokes from his sergeant which ends him staying indefinitely at the air base. George soon falls in love with the Sergeant Major's daughter and when he discovers his real identity he threatens to report him. On the day of an annual inspection George attempts to escape the base and ends up in a plane, while the inspecting officer watches on, George's plane display is mesmerizing and the inspecting officer insists he should be commended, in order to save their skins George manages to land the plane and is accepted as a flyer by the RAF.

George Bright is a props man in an ice ballet company, and a keen amateur photographer who accidentally snaps crooks at work. Comic complications ensue....

A weak, cowardly barber gets fit to win over a beautiful woman. However, she prefers his muscle-bound rival until George challenges him to a boxing match.

A worker at a gramphone record factory surprisingly creates a hit song.

Despite being on his uppers, George is still prepared to pawn his beloved banjo in order to help his girlfriend save her niece from the orphanage. Help seems to be at hand when George is left a fortune by his old auntie, but unfortunately his inheritance is hidden inside a chair which has already been auctioned off! Can George and his chums track down his rightful due before his grasping solicitor (Alastair Sim, in an early film appearance) snatches the lot? It's hard to say, but he still finds time to perform both the title song and the classic 'When I'm Cleaning Windows'.

George Shuttleworth is convinced that he has the talent to win the Isle of Man TT races, despite what his neighbours back home in Wigan may think. During the trials, the brakes go on George's bike, 'The Shuttleworth Snap', which he made himself. As a result, he breaks the TT lap record, becoming an instant motor-cycling star. As the big race approaches, George soon realises that other jealous riders will stop at nothing to make sure he does not take part in the race. An early George Formby film and probably his best.

Without a job, a young man is given the opportunity to run his ill uncle's private-detective agency. He finds himself mixed up with everything from an unfaithful husband who is a secret nudist to a schoolteacher who believes his pupil's father is beating him.

Musical comedy starring George Formby alongside his wife Beryl in his first ever feature film. George plays John Willie, the shoeshine boy at the upmarket Crestonian Hotel. He's a cheeky little man with no time for authority, a head full of dreams, a pocketful of songs and a heart full of love for the hotel's scullery maid (Beryl Formby). After causing more than his fair share of chaos at the hotel, he finally gets the chance to redeem himself - and show off his hidden musical talents - when he finds himself topping the bill at the hotel's Gala Cabaret Night. Songs include: 'Why Don't Women Like Me?', 'Sitting on the Ice in the Ice Rink' and 'I Could Make a Good Living at That'.