Other Phenomena Multimedia Resources Thread

[Laird]

I'm pretty sure this has been posted and discussed before, but my searches have failed to find it.

Well-known comedian at a session with medium Colin Fry.
Kenneth Williams - medium Colin Fry

It's not a problem, but I'm just curious why you chose to post this vid in the current thread rather than, say, the Multimedia Resources Thread - Mediumship thread.

I listened to ten or twenty minutes of it last night, but as I'd never heard of Kenneth before, nor had any other context for this video, including any details of its authenticity, I wasn't really sure what I was listening to nor why. I did read the Skeptiko thread though. I was surprised to find that I could access it, although like you I had to try different browsers until I found one that worked (it was Opera on desktop Linux for me).

It's not a problem, but I'm just curious why you chose to post this vid in the current thread rather than, say, the Multimedia Resources Thread - Mediumship thread.

I listened to ten or twenty minutes of it last night, but as I'd never heard of Kenneth before, nor had any other context for this video, including any details of its authenticity, I wasn't really sure what I was listening to nor why. I did read the Skeptiko thread though. I was surprised to find that I could access it, although like you I had to try different browsers until I found one that worked (it was Opera on desktop Linux for me).

Sorry, I accidentally posted here, I couldn't see the mediumship section at first but you're right, that makes more sense.

As for not being sure what you were listening to, it's probably a very British thing and naturally given the context, one more familiar to older listeners. Williams was pretty much always on BBC radio and featured in a series of bawdy comedy films, the 'Carry On ...' series. Even today he can be heard at least once a week on BBC radio in shows such as 'Beyond Our Ken', 'Round the Horne' or 'Just a Minute'. Currently on Sunday mornings we get an episode originally broadcast in 1958, but these things are repeated endlessly over the years.

Given that, the main interest I think would be for those who are already very familiar with his voice and mannerisms. Coming into it cold it is something else, we would be evaluating not the personal identity but the legitimacy or possible fakery involved. In general when I saw the medium Colin Fry on TV he was very understated, not of the big-business showman type. Just quietly (apparently) mediating between the living and their deceased, while in a normal waking state. Unfortunately he died at a relatively young age or else he might still be practising today.

The recording, whatever it is, is unusual since the medium was in a trance and supposedly the voice emerged from mid-air. I don't have any opinion on whether this is possible, or how the sound was produced.

As for not being sure what you were listening to, it's probably a very British thing and naturally given the context, one more familiar to older listeners. Williams was pretty much always on BBC radio and featured in a series of bawdy comedy films, the 'Carry On ...' series. Even today he can be heard at least once a week on BBC radio in shows such as 'Beyond Our Ken', 'Round the Horne' or 'Just a Minute'. Currently on Sunday mornings we get an episode originally broadcast in 1958, but these things are repeated endlessly over the years.

I remember those shows very well. The humour was bawdy but rather subtle. I'd be interested to know how much of the humour would work with US audiences. Typically we would listen over Saturday/Sunday lunch (I can't remember which day it was on). None of us knew quite how much of the humour the others got - and at that age you didn't ask.

Just a minute was different - just a conventional game show.

I'm not yet sure how all that relates to psi!

David

I remember those shows very well. The humour was bawdy but rather subtle. I'd be interested to know how much of the humour would work with US audiences. Typically we would listen over Saturday/Sunday lunch (I can't remember which day it was on). None of us knew quite how much of the humour the others got - and at that age you didn't ask.

Just a minute was different - just a conventional game show.

I'm not yet sure how all that relates to psi!

David

Well, though you already commented on the old thread, have you any observations (having had time to reflect) on whether or not it is actually Kenneth Williams or perhaps somehow manufactured by one or more of those present?

Well, though you already commented on the old thread, have you any observations (having had time to reflect) on whether or not it is actually Kenneth Williams or perhaps somehow manufactured by one or more of those present?

I can't be sure, he certainly doesn't sound as good as he did (but maybe nothing you loved at age 13, or thereabouts sounds as good umpteen years later), but if others gave him a script IRL, maybe that explains it. One of his characters was Rambling Sid Rumpo, a folk singer with a weird vocabulary of suggestive words:

https://www.johnbarber.com/rambling-sid-rumpo/

I was able to pull that link up just from the word 'cordwangle'. I didn't listen to the whole seance, so maybe he breaks into song at some point.

I'd be interested to know if his humour is accessible to non-English people here.

David