BBC R4 - Michael Coveney's 'The Great Caper'

Abridged by Pete Nichols

Read by Toby Jones

Produced by Karen Rose

Broadcast April 4-8, 2011

Coded from a digital source at 128/44.1



Another life of Ken Campbell.



As well as being the eccentrics' eccentric, and parrot lover

extraordinaire, Ken Campbell secured the careers of, amongst

others, Jim Broadbent, Bob Hoskins, and Bill Nighy.



Publisher's blurb

The first, authorised biography of the anarchic comic genius, much

cherished for his performances on stage and screen.



Ken Campbell (1941–2008) was a one-man whirlwind who tore through the

British theatre establishment using well-rehearsed anarchy and a genius

for surreal comedy.



Starting out in rep at Stoke-on-Trent, he founded the Ken Campbell Road

Show, whose members included the then-unknown Bob Hoskins & Sylvester

McCoy, and which toured pubs and clubs with dramatised urban myths and

shaggy-dog stories. His later shows included Illuminatus! – the first

show at the National Theatre's studio – and the 22-hour The Warp, the

longest play in the world.