Archie Bester

I first came across Archie Bester in 1972.I had wandered into a junk shop in Loudon Street in Derby and was leafing through a stack of old L.Ps. Near the middle next to an old Quicksilver Messenger Service album was " The Musical Funny Men vol 1 ". It contained such delights as Arthur Askey.Tommy Trinder ,Bud Flanagan ,George Formby and four tracks by somebody I had never heard of- Archie Bester. Talking to my dad I discovered that he had been a favourite of my Grandfather-the only Northern comic he could stand! Over the years I have grown very fond of Archie.This site is not endorsed by the Alladyce or Street families -it is run by a fan .THE ARCHIE BESTER STORY-Archie Bester was born Archibald Alladyce on january 21st 1898 in Northley in Lancashire.He lived in Brighton in his house "Strummers" -23 Burlington Street-until his death in 1962. The major portion of his career was in the 1930s on the Music Hall stages of the midlands and the north of England-rarely appearing in London except for the Empire Shepherds Bush where his manager Joel Street had an interest.His greatest triumph was the 78r.p.m. record on the Caliope Venograph label "Mr Hitler's Moustache".The songs uploaded here are from the 1960 release Musical Funny Men vol 1 on BBC Records. Archie was born into a performing family-his younger sister Elizabeth was known as Tilly Tally-a great hit in specialist gentleman's clubs in the 1940s.Discovered outside the Manchester Kinograph hiding behind a market stall by Joel Street -the vagabond veteran of Ypres began the first part of his career which culminated in his Sheffield Essoldo run of 2 weeks in 1939. Archie was always billed as "The Uku-Laddy" except in his later years -from 1958 he was called "the Sticky-Ukulele Man" after his appearances on the ITV childrens show "Aren't We Crazy".Archie died in 1962 in mysterious circumstances having fallen through the ceiling of the Tiller Girls dressing room at the ATV studios.He was survived by his wife Rosie Alladyce and his 6 children.A blue plaque can be seen on the wall of Joel Steets' old Northwood house-erected by the Bester Appreciation Society Eastcote B.A.S.(E.)( hon Chair B Harris

Myspace Layouts - Myspace Editor - Image Hosting

LINK TO PODCASTS- "all the Bester " &"The Lost Bester Tape" http://archiebester.mypodcast.com/