Not Only . . . But Also
 Classic comedy series that began as a one-off show from jazz
musician and comedian Dudley Moore and his Beyond The Fringe
partner Peter Cook.
Cook wrote two sketches, one with two tatty characters in cloth
caps and raincoats, and the other about a man whose work was to
teach ravens to fly underwater. As a result, they were asked to do
a series together.
Peter Cook began writing humorous material while he was an
undergraduate at Cambridge. It was here that he wrote a revue
called Pieces of Eight for Kenneth Williams and also became
involved with many of the "Footlights" revues.
It was
for one such revue that he created a character by the name of E.
L. Wisty, a drably dressed gentleman with colourful ideas of world
domination.
He took the character into the hit revue Beyond the Fringe
when it played on both London and New York stages. It was here he
met Dudley Moore.
Not Only... But Also was a mixture of music and sketches
and a segment called 'Poets Cornered' which gave the opportunity
for comic talents such as Spike Milligan and Barry Humphries to
show off their spontaneous rhyming skills under the threat off
being dropped into a tank full of gunge (the first appearance of
the "gunge tanks" that became such a feature of 'zany'
quiz shows and children's programs in the 1980s)
 Other guest stars included Peter Sellers and John Lennon (who
appeared as a lavatory attendant).
But
it was Pete and Dud who were the real stars of the show appearing
as two cloth capped philosophers from Dagenham, who would debate
the issues of the day over a sandwich and a pint.
Pete and Dud worked brilliantly together, and although the
sketches were mostly scripted they were prone to bouts of
ad-libbing, especially from Cook who went out of his way to make
his partner break down into fits of laughter.
It was hailed as the best show to come from BBC2 so far and was
so successful that it was quickly repeated on the main
channel.
Some classic sketches were; The Leaping Nun's of St Beryl and a
'Good vs. Evil' cricket match, and some were simply surreal.
Not Only... But Also closed with the song Goodbye-ee
which made its way into the top twenty chart in July 1965, and
although the series only lasted two all-too-short seasons it was
constantly being revived in one form or another right up until
Peter Cook's untimely death in the mid 90s.
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