TCH date for creator of Basil Fawlty

The genius behind some of the best loved British comedy of the past four decades, will be guest speaker at this year’s annual Thomas Crosbie Holdings Ltd (TCH) dinner.

Comedian, actor and author, John Cleese will speak to an audience of business, finance and political leaders at the event in TCH head office on the South Mall on Thursday.

TCH, the fastest growing media company in the country, owns 18 titles including the Evening Echo, Irish Examiner and The Sunday Business Post and other well-known media companies.

Previous speakers at the prestigious event have included former British Prime Minister, John Major; former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani; former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger and Cork-born Live Aid organiser, Bob Geldof.

Mr Cleese is also well-known for his work in promoting corporate training.

“We are absolutely delighted that John Cleese will be speaking at the annual dinner here in Cork,” said TCH group managing director, Mr Anthony Dinan.

“Famous primarily for his comic efforts, such as the television series Fawlty Towers, the exploits of the Monty Python team and ISIRTA (‘I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again’, the 1960s comedy show), one of his steadfast commitments has always been to business training,” he added.

The 67-year-old studied law at Cambridge University, and applied to join the world-famous Footlights Society, but was initially rejected as he could neither sing nor dance. This did not put him off as his first love had always been comedy, particularly the post-War radio shows such as ‘The Goons’, starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe.

It was while at Cambridge that he met future Python star Graham Chapman and the two collaborated on a number of sketches.

In 1966 when the pair worked for the BBC on David Frost’s satirical news show ‘The Frost Report’, they met fellow writers Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. Together with American Terry Gilliam they began working on what would subsequently become ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’.

Widely regarded as one of the most seminal comedy shows ever, it ran from 1969-1974.

The group also produced and starred in three movies ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ (1974), ‘The Life of Brian’ (1979) and ‘The Meaning of Life’ (1983).

In 1974, together wife his first wife Connie Booth, he created ‘Fawlty Towers’. The show was inspired by the antics of Donald Sinclair, the manager of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, where the Python team stayed.

He formed Video Arts in 1972, a company which makes corporate training videos.

Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.