Ask Pickles
Many modern TV shows owe a considerable debt to this show which began
in May 1954 and was presented by professional Yorkshireman Wilfred
Pickles and his wife Mabel. Ask Pickles made dreams come true (a
la Jim'll Fix It), it reunited folk with long-lost relatives (the
blueprint for Surprise! Surprise!?) and it had talking dogs (er .
. .).
Formerly a builder, Pickles had entered radio broadcasting in 1931,
and by reading the news during the war he helped boost national
solidarity. Whereas the other newsreaders had regulation BBC Home
Counties South accents, Pickles deliberately set out to comfort
Northerners by wishing them "Good neet, everybody".
Pickles loved sentimentality: the more people that burst into tears
in the studio each week, the better the show. They cried when they were
confronted with former classmates or workmates and they were completely
overcome with emotion when faced with relatives they thought (or perhaps
hoped?) they'd never see again. Viewers wept too - in their millions.
The show topped the ratings for two years; everyone was having a
bawl. Well, almost everyone. Cynics accused Pickles of being shamelessly
sentimental, of exploiting suffering: and a Mrs Sybil Dickinson of
Strood in Kent had an experience she would rather forget.
She wrote to Ask Pickles saying she would like to fondle a lion. She
was expecting to stroke a tiny cub but instead came face to face with a
half-grown ten-month-old monster which promptly snapped at the studio
manager's legs, then savaged the sleeve of Mrs Dickinson's dress.
Still, as long as they cried . . .
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