Arthur Worsley

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Arthur Worsley (1920 - 2001) was a ventriloquist who appeared regularly on British television from the 1950s to the 1970s.

[edit] Career

As a child he was billed as 'the world's youngest ventriloquist' going on to be dubbed 'the world's greatest ventriloquist' by no lesser person than Ed Sullivan. Many "vents" have difficulty getting booked to perform on television, since the merciless scrutiny of the television camera shows their lips moving. Sullivan admired Worsley's ventriloquism act because, in addition to being funny, Worsley's technique was so perfect that he could appear in tight close-up with no discernible lip movements while his "figure" (dummy) was speaking.

It is almost impossible to form the plosive consonants "B" and "P" without some movement of the lips; less competent ventriloquists traditionally substitute another consonant ... thus inspiring a joke about a ventriloquist who orders a "gottle of geer" instead of a bottle of beer. As part of Worsley's act, his dummy would shout the phrase "Bottle of beer!" repeatedly while Worsley's lips remained motionless; invariably, this brought a round of applause as the audience realised the difficulty of Worsley's achievement.

During a hugely successful career, he appeared on most of the variety shows on British TV and was one of the few British acts who achieved success in the USA, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show in the US returning to perform a variation of his act for ten years in a row.

In the days of live variety, he was a regular at the UK's top venue, the London Palladium.

[edit] Act

All the talking was done by his dummy Charlie Brown, who would turn to the impassive Worsley and say, "Look at me, son, when I'm talking to you".

[edit] Later years

He retired from the stage in 1983 and thereafter declined all requests for guest appearances on TV and radio. He died in 2001 in Blackpool, Lancashire, aged 80.

The memorial address at his funeral was given by British politician, the Rt Hon Greg Knight MP, who described Worsley's act as 'unique'. He is buried at Carleton Cemetery, Blackpool