Today is the fiftieth birthday of a truly towering presence in popular culture and social history – Lenny Henry. To mark this momentous occasion, Talk About The Passion proudly presents an overview of the very best of Lenworth on record, on video, in print and in, erm, crisps. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy Lenny Go Home, ie lots. Katanga my friends, I would like a condensed milk sandwich!
Speaking of which, apparently some weird-faced egocentric mendacious paranoid tosser with an unhealthy interest in children has his fiftieth birthday today too. Many happy returns, ‘Uncle’.
Lenny Henry is as irrelevant as they come these days, but I hold a soft spot for him – Theophilus, the Alpen ads, Delbert, the early Comic Relief shows when he had Griff and Jonathan, and the Lenny Go Home stand-up show which was a rather keenly-observed hour or so of comedy, more so than he’s ever managed before or since.
And that postman in The Young Ones was fab.
Not sure he could ever be classed as irrelevant – “Lenny’s Britain” from last year (which desperately needs a repeat) was a very strong series returning to the heart of what powered “Lenny Go Home” with the sense of identity and belonging in a modern UK. Also: lest us not forget last year’s run of “Perfect Night In” which had the super-fashionable Pegg and Frost, the easily bankable Lucas and Walliams and…Len, who provided 2 hours of some of the most relaxed, enjoyable television of the year. So somebody must think Lenworth has legs…