Nicholas Parsons Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman

Childhood holidays - oh, the anticipation seemed endless!

The holiday itself - well, it was over too quickly.

So, in this series, I'm going to be reliving those wonderful times

with some much-loved famous faces.

This is a memory I will treasure.

Every day, I'll be arranging a few surprises

to transport them back in time.

I feel as though we're about to go over the edge.

Don't say that!

We'll relive the fun...

HE LAUGHS Whoa!

Oh, no.

..the games... THEY LAUGH

..and the food of years gone by...

Oh, I'm so excited.

Oh, the taste - the taste of your childhood.

SHE LAUGHS

..to find out how those holidays around the UK

helped shape the people we know so well today.

Wah! Ha, ha, ha!

So buckle up for Holiday Of My Lifetime.

-Oh, yes!

-Can you come on all my holidays?

I'll come on them - yeah, of course I will.

MUSIC: In The Mood by Glenn Miller

On today's jaunt, I'm all dressed up

and most definitely have a place to go.

Eee! I am excited.

Ladies and gentlemen, today's guest is a trademark national treasure.

HE CHUCKLES

He was born in Grantham, in 1923.

Here he is on his holibobs with his mum and brother and sister.

Oh, what a bright spark!

One of his first breaks came in 1954

on the radio show Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh.

# Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh... #

I used to love that show.

He then went on to appear with comedian Arthur Haynes in the '60s.

HE CHUCKLES

He's been successful for so long, you could say

he's the Sale Of The Century.

We love him!

Don't worry, you'll find out who it is really soon.

Just a minute!

Time's up.

I'd like to announce without hesitation, deviation or repetition,

we're off to meet legendary broadcaster Nicholas Parsons

and I'm off to pick him up in this 1930 Wolseley,

similar to the one that he would've gone off on his holidays in

back in the day.

Oh, Nicholas Parsons. He's one of my heroes.

Oh, Nicholas!

Nicholas Parsons grew up in the Lincolnshire town of Grantham.

He lived with his brother, sister, mum Nell, a nurse,

and dad, a doctor, Paul Parsons,

who counted among his patients Margaret Thatcher's parents.

After leaving school, Nicholas spent the next five years in Glasgow,

training to be an engineer -

but after World War II,

he decided to become an actor instead,

appearing in the West End, radio and movies.

In the late '50s, he entered the world of TV comedy,

then came the much-loved radio show Just A Minute,

a show Nicholas has been presenting for the last 48 years.

Welcome to Just A Minute.

Add to that 12 years as the suave host of the Sale Of The Century

and countless appearances on just about everything

from Blankety Blank and Have I Got News For You

to Doctor Who.

Can you believe he's now 91 years old and still working?!

So, if you ask me, he's well overdue for a holiday.

Gosh, what is he driving? An old Wolseley!

Good Lord.

-Nicholas.

-Len!

I feel I should go into my dance routine now!

-How lovely to see you.

-Lovely to see you.

Gosh, you're looking well.

Well, I've been touring the country.

I know you have. Wonderful.

-Do you recognise this little beauty?

-That's a Wolseley.

-Yes.

My father used to drive one of those

and I think he used to...he towed the caravan down in one like that.

-Really?

-Yes.

Well, they are tough enough to drive just as a car

but towing it must have been...

Oh, yes, it was quite an art. It was quite an art.

Now, let me ask you - what year are we holidaying?

1939.

Oh, so where are we off to today?

Well, we're going to cross the ferry here at Sandbanks,

along to a place called Greenlands, which was a camping site.

It was run by an impoverished farmer and it was all...

He gave it all over, there were tents and caravans and things there.

It's called Studland. It's part of Studlands.

Studland, the village, is just a little way beyond.

Well, I'm looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I haven't seen it since 1939.

Well, it's 1939, I know it's the year war broke out, but...

-I know.

-But we're on holiday, so let's enjoy ourselves.

-Right.

-Here we go.

Cruising the highways and byways of Dorset,

our first stop will be the town of Poole, on England's south coast.

We'll catch the ferry to Sandbanks and then onto Studland,

which sits on the Isle of Purbeck, though technically speaking,

it's not really an island, it's a peninsula.

Oh, yes. Just a minute, here I come.

No deviation from Lenny!

GEARS CRUNCH

Oh, no, don't!

I was all right until then.

Today, we're going to relive the happy days Nicholas spent

with his family, way back in July 1939.

Every holiday begins with a journey, and for the Parsons family,

that would mean hitching up the caravan to the Wolseley Hornet

and escaping the rat race. Oh, lovely!

Though even without a caravan,

I doubt I could ever reach its top speed of 63 miles an hour.

So it's 1939.

I suppose there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road.

No, no. There wasn't.

So there's you and your dad towing the caravan, coming down.

I loved being with him,

because he was a very busy general practitioner.

And it was a lovely opportunity to be with him. We got on very well.

And I went off and we towed the caravan.

And my mother had a little Austin run-around

and she came down a little later

with my older brother and younger sister.

So you were a two-car family even back then?

Yes, but you see, cars were not always...

-He needed one professionally anyway.

-Yes.

-..as he was doing his rounds,

visiting his patients and so, yes,

it does seem a little bit, um...

-extravagant or rich...

-Yes.

-..to have two cars.

But we had quite a modest lifestyle, actually.

And so with Nicholas and his old dad forming the advance party,

the first leg of their journey was getting the Wolseley,

the caravan and themselves to Poole Harbour to catch the ferry.

Now this is real nostalgia for me.

It hasn't changed very much.

-Do you recall this?

-Oh, yes. Coming down here slowly.

Well, Nicholas, I'm not saying I'm Stirling Moss,

but I didn't do bad.

There was only one crunch of the gears.

-I think you did brilliantly.

-And we're here.

And now I've got us here in one piece,

we can sit back and enjoy the ride.

Well, this is lovely. And what a lovely view.

Len, I can tell you, this is not only lovely

but incredibly nostalgic.

It takes me right back.

Nothing much has changed.

We'd get out of the car, we'd stay here and look at it.

I'd be terribly excited as a 15-year-old I was in '39,

see the sea, knowing your holiday was about to begin.

It's one of those holidays that the excitement mounts.

-Oh, yes.

-You know, because OK, you're in the car

and you're on your way and you get down here,

now you're getting on the ferry.

-And you're on the way.

-Yes.

And then we'd have the thing, if we were all together,

-saying, "First to see the sea, first to see the sea!"

-Yeah!

By the summer of 1939,

the Sandbank ferry had only been running for about 13 years.

In fact, at the very beginning, it was steam-driven

and only carried 15 cars.

Even so, in its first summer, it transported around 12,000 cars

and 100,000 passengers.

There couldn't have been many people towing caravans, I'm sure.

-No, no.

-That must have been a real rarity.

I was told that my father

was one of the first people to have a caravan.

-Really?

-Yes. It was very unusual.

-I suppose people went camping.

-Oh, yes.

-Which was a different kettle of fish.

-Oh, yes.

A lot of camping. A lot of tents.

-You see, they didn't have all this foreign travel.

-No.

-People didn't go abroad.

-No.

-And a lot of people just stayed at home.

-Yeah.

Yeah, Windowsill Bay, we used to call it. Yeah.

Oh, an oldie but a goodie -

though it's not just my jokes that haven't changed in decades.

This ferry ride has also stood the test of time.

-This must be just how you would remember it.

-Absolutely.

-Absolutely.

-Yeah.

Takes me right back to my youth.

It is lovely, I must say.

I've also been told, by my son, who knows a bit more than I do,

that there was a nudist beach here at Sandbanks.

-A nudist beach!

-Yeah, and I wondered if we were going to visit it.

I'm more than happy to take my clothes off with you,

Nicholas, I promise you.

Yes, we could strut down on the sand, naked and proud.

Yeah.

And while I give the wisdom of that statement a little more thought,

here's what the world was like when Nicholas was just 15 years old.

Needless to say, 1939 was a dark year in British history

and on September the 3rd,

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced we were at war.

'I have to tell you now

'that no such undertaking has been received.

'And that consequently, this country is at war with Germany.'

Within days, Chamberlain created a War Cabinet

that included Winston Churchill, national service for all men

aged 18 to 41 was passed into law and a blackout was imposed.

Meanwhile, BBC television stopped broadcasting with immediate effect

as it was feared the transmission signal

could act as a beacon to enemy aircraft.

But given the outbreak of war,

us Brits were more in need of entertainment than ever.

One of the biggest films that year was Goodbye Mr Chips,

the story of a man who dedicated his entire life to teaching

and nominated for seven Oscars.

It also earned Robert Donat the award for best actor.

Meanwhile, the song that really captured our mood

as our soldiers were been shipped out was We'll Meet Again,

as sung by the incomparable Dame Vera Lynn.

# We'll meet again

# Don't know where don't know when... #

Oh, yes! Go on, Vera.

-BOTH:

-# But I know we'll meet again some sunny day. #

You know, we could have done a duet.

Part of the thrill of any holiday

is the excitement of staying somewhere new.

And while the Parsons family brought their accommodation with them,

I'm going to take Nicholas back to the very spot

they originally hitched the caravan.

-We're talking 76 years ago.

-I know.

But I'm going to say something now that's the first I've ever said -

that was before I was born.

THEY LAUGH

I didn't realise I was so old!

-I don't say that often.

-No.

Today, Greenlands is owned by the National Trust,

but in 1939, as the Parsons family camped out there,

it was also a working farm.

We haven't just found the spot his family camped in,

we've gone the whole nine yards.

Would that have been something like your caravan?

-That is a 1939...

-Yes. That's right.

It's exactly what our caravan was like -

-and you've even put the lavatory tent up beside it.

-Oh, yes.

For you, Nicholas, money is no object.

This rather stylish 1933 Car Cruiser Type III is just like the one

the Parsons family stayed in all those years ago.

-That is something we didn't have.

-Yeah.

We didn't have a gramophone.

I wondered if you wanted us to go

and just do a little number together.

Well, maybe we could do a Charleston or a rumba!

And while there's not quite enough room inside for a dance number,

you will find a generous lounge with dining table,

the crockery within easy reach and a full kitchen.

Perfection!

Look at this.

-The old sink.

-Oh, yes. Little tiny sink.

-Trying to do the washing up in that.

-Yeah.

And having to dry everything up as well.

-And the cooker. I love...

-Cooker.

-I love this oven.

My mother must have been amazing to have prepared a whole meal

-on that little tiny cooker like that.

-Yeah.

And even more impressive,

there's still enough room to offer sleeping arrangements for four.

I tell you what, it's magic.

-So this is how...this is how it was?

-Exactly as it was.

You've been very clever,

because you've obviously found exactly the same model.

Two beds either side here, and there's a double bunk at the back.

You can pull it out and that's where my sister would sleep

-and we'd put up another tent outside...

-Yeah.

..and which my brother and I slept on, on camp beds...

-Perfect.

-..which we'd put up.

As old as this is, it's quite civilised, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

-So once you were here,

and you'd got yourselves in and erected the tent

and this, that and the other,

would you be off, you know, into the country?

Oh, yes. Yes.

We brought our bikes with us

and we used to cycle around here and we'd go exploring.

My memory was, the weather was more consistently sunny in those days.

Whether that's my imagination or not, I don't know.

I'm...I'm the same.

I can never remember it raining on holiday.

We had some wet days but...

-there didn't seem to be as much rain as we get today.

-No.

Well, my grandmother put it down to the Russians!

THEY LAUGH

Don't ask me why!

You couldn't ask for a better backdrop.

And I'm told there's only one way to take it all in - by bicycle.

And that's just how Nicholas and his siblings did it in 1939.

OK, have a go!

Ho, ho! Thank you.

Come on, Nicholas. Don't be a sissy!

# Bicycle, bicycle... #

Do you want me to try and do that?

Well, all right, then, Nicholas, seeing as it's you - we can walk!

So, once you got down here and you'd settled into your caravan...

-Yeah. We got the bikes out of the caravan.

-Yeah.

We couldn't wait to get on the bikes.

-And off you go.

-And off we'd go.

We cycled all the way around Greenlands there, which you could.

You know, we'd fall off occasionally,

-cos it was pretty rough but it was all part of the fun.

-Yeah.

I must say, bikes have advanced,

-when you think about what we used to ride.

-Yeah.

And, you know, they change gears now with the handle.

-We didn't even have gears.

-No, no - no gears.

-No gears.

-No.

Was there any other sort of pursuits that you got up to?

Well, we used to put up the cricket stumps.

-And have a little bit of cricket.

-Yeah.

-Most of the time, we went down to the beach.

-Yeah.

And jumped in the sand dunes and went swimming, of course, naturally.

-Of course.

-In the sea.

And with his dad being a keen photographer,

many of those special moments were captured forever.

What's more, it was a skill he was proud to pass on.

My father taught us how to take photographs.

-I've still got the little box Brownie.

-Box Brownie?

-That I had.

The same camera then. And I've still got some of the photographs I took.

I've just thought of something - and it's such a lovely backdrop.

-Mm-hm.

-Would you mind if I took a selfie of the two of us?

No, no. With our bikes?

With our bikes, you know sporty couple of young lads!

-I take it your dad's camera was nothing like this.

-No, no.

-And nothing...

-And it's certainly not a box Brownie.

And nothing else is like that,

because I think selfies are awful, cos...

You've got to get them well away.

OK, so I'm not Lord Lichfield,

but if at first you don't succeed... Well, you get the picture.

How does that look? I like it.

-It's a bit... Do you think...

-Not bad!

Nicholas's big break came in the form of Carroll Levis,

impresario, radio personality and talent scout.

I went along and asked for an audition.

It was pretty tough because my parents were still saying,

"Don't get any idea of getting into that awful profession."

But I asked for the audition, and though I stammered my way through it

Caroll saw, and gave me my first professional job.

And this was the beginning.

Indeed, it was, because the next thing you know,

young Nicholas was taking part in Carroll Levis' new radio show

called The Happy-Go-Lucky Hour.

The only catch - it was live!

What was rather delightful is that they found a theatre in Bangor,

in North Wales, a disused cinema and they decided to take that,

I suppose on the premise that if Bangor is there,

Germany is down there

and they are not going to overfly whole of England to bomb Bangor.

-Yeah.

-But the trouble is they'd overlooked the fact

that the people they engaged had to get on trains,

which were bombed occasionally, to get to Bangor.

Some people didn't arrive.

And during the war, all of the signposts,

everywhere in the country were taken down.

All of the station signs were taken down,

all the signs on fronts of buses

on the premise that if the Germans ever landed

they wouldn't know where they were,

the trouble is no-one else in the country had a clue where they were!

They had no clue either!

You'd say to somebody on a platform,

because the train had stopped at a station,

"Excuse me, excuse me, can you help me?"

"Where are we? What is this place?" And he'd disappear

because he's seen all the other signs up,

-"Careless talk costs lives."

-Yes.

-You remember that?

-Yeah.

Fortunately, Nicholas made the broadcast

and so began his career in show business -

something his parents eventually warmed to.

-I thought we could have a little game.

-Mmm.

Of draughts.

All the things we used to play as a child.

-Draughts, snakes and ladders, dominoes.

-Ludo.

-Ludo

Let's get them out.

Adding to the nostalgia,

we are playing on an original set from the 1930s.

-Then I take that.

-You take that.

And then I take that.

Correct.

Can I ask you, while we're playing,

in the hope that it puts you off a bit,

when did you get your real first television break?

The most important professional spell in my life was obviously

with Arthur Haynes.

And yet, it started very modestly, it wasn't very successful

and slowly it built into a huge success

and was a top comedy show on ITV.

And so you could say that was my big break, really.

It lasted for ten years, mind.

-And that's when you became a household name?

-That's exactly.

So I was known then, from that show.

After a decade of playing straight man to Arthur Haynes,

their partnership came to an end in 1966.

Soon after, Nicholas embarked on a three-year stint

with another legendary comedian, Mr Benny Hill.

He was also asked to host a regional show

that would go on to become something of a legend itself.

Now what about Sale Of The Century? How did that come along?

I'm a great one for doing different things.

The press at the time, you know, they were very anti-quiz shows.

They used to condemn them, and if you were the one fronting it,

-you were the one they had a go at.

-Yeah.

And so I got to the most terrible press from that -

they used to say, "Spitting out the questions at the contestants."

Well, I used to go and chat to them beforehand to get to know them.

If towards the end I put the pressure on them,

I said, "I'm actually working for you."

Because, look at it logically - the more questions I can get in

in the time available, win or lose,

the more money you're likely to make.

-Yeah.

-And, er, it worked. I never realised how successful it was.

At one time we had 21 million viewers.

I just took it as a nice job I had.

In fact, I'll show you how naive I was,

I used to write all the questions to begin with.

And I didn't realise they actually employed somebody to do that.

I didn't get any money for it!

It has to be said, the crowning glory of this region

is Studland's beaches.

In fact, there's a four-mile stretch of them.

And I'm guessing it really hasn't changed that much

since Nicholas was playing on the sand dunes as a nipper.

-But it's so gorgeous, isn't it?

-It is absolutely gorgeous.

It is beautiful.

But what is so wonderful, it's not spoiled,

-as so many places have become, and crowded beyond all recognition.

-No.

Do you know, I'm going to say something now

-that's going to shock you.

-Why?

It's not only going to shock you, it's going to shock a lot of people.

This is what I'm going to do.

Paddle.

You don't have to.

I've got to.

I can't help it.

Excuse me for a moment.

Oh, what legs!

-What legs, indeed.

-Look at those!

Now, Len, I always knew you were a dancer,

but I didn't know you had such shapely legs.

And look at the muscles, as well.

Can you notice that I've played a lot of golf

while I was in America with short socks on?

NICHOLAS LAUGHS

Because... Right.

I've got to say this now, you've got the most elegant feet.

So many people, especially dancers, their toes get misshapen.

Yours are very shapely.

-Well...

-And very even.

I'm going to put that, when I do my memoirs, that's going in.

And, by the way, so am I!

Oh, what a wonderful sight!

Oh, Len, this is a memory I will treasure.

Len Goodman having a paddle.

-Oh!

-Oh, yes!

Obviously, it's not warm.

But it's very refreshing, I feel so free,

I'm going to take all my clothes off...

MUSIC: The Stripper

Oh, Len!

..and dive in. I know, I don't care!

Oh gosh!

I'm going in!

Head first.

Wait... No, I'd better not, you're right. I don't want...

THEY LAUGH

I don't want to scare the natives!

Fortunately, I haven't scared Nicholas, either,

and this walk along the beach

has transported him back to the summer of '39,

playing on the beach, picnics with his mum

and quality time with his dad.

Certainly, those journeys with my dear dad

-was a great bonding experience.

-Yeah.

-And I remember them vividly.

-Yes.

-I mean, it must have taken three or four hours to get here,

-because you couldn't go very fast in a caravan.

-No.

And yet it didn't seem very long.

And they were no motorways, of course.

Oh, no, they hadn't even been dreamed of.

But there wasn't much traffic

so you could keep moving at a gentle speed all the time.

But I am really delighted and surprised, it hasn't altered much.

No.

What is lovely, is when you do this Holiday Of My Lifetime,

and you come to a certain spot and you get the reaction

that I got from you when we came onto this beach,

-because here we are, and we're back in 1939...

-1939.

..and you're running around with your brother and sister.

-And it's a wonderful day, it's a perfect day.

-Perfect day.

How lucky we've been.

-Yeah.

-And Len Goodman went for a paddle.

I went for a paddle in your honour.

-And there you are.

-Displaying his elegant feet.

Well, I wouldn't go that far!

I'm thrilled Nicholas has enjoyed our holiday, and my shapely pins,

but there's one more thing we have to do,

eating ice cream by the beach.

Oi! Where's my flake?

What do you think is the secret to your longevity in show business?

Well...

I don't know. And if I did know, I'd be happy to pass it on.

But I'm a great believer that the more you use your brain,

your memory, the younger you remain.

Which is why, even after 48 years,

Nicolas still loves hosting Just A Minute.

Well, aren't I lucky? I've got a job that I enjoy.

-And it helps to keep me young.

-That is lovely.

I remember listening to one not long ago.

I think, God, that would be a hard subject for me, Eiffel Tower.

Do you want to try?

Go on, then.

Well, you think of a subject to make it a bit easier for you.

I'm going to talk about holidaying with Nicholas Parsons.

THEY CHUCKLE

-Well, Len, you have 60 seconds, as usual.

-Yes.

And your time starts now.

One of the joys about going on holiday with Nicholas Parsons

is the various activities that you pursue.

-Driving...

-Hesitation, but carry on.

Driving along in a 1932 little car, Wolseley Hornet,

along the highways and byways.

Beautiful. Then pulling up in front of the most gorgeous caravan.

With the lovely a.. aw...awning and the tables, and the chairs.

I think we'd call that hesitation.

Oh! It's tough. But he's fair.

-I think you did very well.

-Not bad, considering.

First go.

It is a marvellous, marvellous programme,

and the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

It's gone on for 48 years.

-Absolutely.

-You know, things that don't work don't last 48 years.

We've done over 900 shows, and I haven't missed a single one.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

-That is amazing, yes.

They say never meet your heroes, but meeting one of mine

has been a total pleasure, as has reliving his holiday of a lifetime.

The sun shines on the righteous and it's been absolutely beautiful.

As a little thank you to you

is a little scrapbook of Holiday Of My Lifetime.

Yes, in keeping with that time-honoured Parsons family

tradition, our holiday has been

captured for posterity -

and I've got one last surprise

for Nicholas -

a little something

to encourage his competitive streak.

This is a 1930s draughts set.

1930s. I will treasure that.

What a joy.

So, it's bye-bye from Studland

and time for me and Nicholas to get the ferry home.

Cheerio!