Episodes

In this final part of his life and times, the focus is on Geoffrey's father - a taciturn, diffident Northerner with distinct and sometimes quirkily "interesting" views, likes, and dislikes. We learn about life on match day at Bolton Wanderers football club in the 1940s and 50s - brass bands, cough lozenge sellers, and the different stance of some players who had been miners during the Second World War. As his life and the death of his wife proceed, Geoff's dad moves from domestic dependence to...

As Geoff enters Cambridge University, two major themes are pursued in this penultimate episode of his memoirs. First, the life of his mother as a working class woman of the mid-20th century – her ailments (bunions to be precise), work ethic (“work must not only be done, but be back-breakingly done”), quaint views of his passion for acting, and ultimately her sad death from Alzheimer’s. The world of acting also hoves into detailed view. Our hero begins slowly at university, deals with the theat...

In this episode of Geoffrey’s memoirs, he joins “the snob factory” (i.e. Bolton Grammar School) on his way to Cambridge University and a degree in French. Crucial to this progress is the guiding influence of Irish teacher Emma Saxelby. En route, we hear of the Reverend Hough (limp handshake, boring sermons), the four modes of Lancastrian language, scouting, a new baby sister, fashion as applied to shirt tails and long trousers, and the sad wartime fate of fellow pupil Arnold, the conscientious ...

Part 3 ranges far and wide in the life of Geoff as he grows up to secondary school age at Bolton Grammar School, and with a nod to his future in both the teaching and acting professions. The Raymond Street gang, playground fights, the vagaries of corporal punishment, and his interview for 'big' school are some of the boyhood delights, along with the scarily bewhiskered, one-armed caretaker Mr Hammond. He attends the 'soap church' (in honour of its benefactor, the future Lord Leverhulme), learns...

Geoffrey’s memoir continues a journey through boyhood, dominated by the figure of Grandpa Tomlins - a stylish ladies' man fallen on hard times - who arrives, unbeknown to young Geoff, to stay with the Banks family. We learn also of the strange rituals of Empire Day, the wonders of cricket and Bolton Wanderers football club, the fate of Norman Isherwood, and at his demise, the resolved mystery of Grandpa Tomlins’ strange protuberance.

The life and times of Geoffrey Banks: teacher, broadcaster, thespian and TV actor in Coronation Street, Poirot, and a host of other shows and films. As told in his memoirs of growing up and living in 20th century Northern England and read by his son Nigel. In this first episode, we learn about Geoffrey, the background to the origination of Cottoning On, and begin the exploration of his early life in Bolton, Lancashire: multiple house moves, coal men, mud pies, Norman Nuttall, and much more. I ...