Beyond Our Ken
from archive.org
Beyond Our Ken is a BBC radio comedy programme first broadcast between 1958 and 1964. It starred Kenneth Horne, with Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden, Bill Pertwee, and, as announcer, Douglas Smith. The title is a play on the name Kenneth and the familiar expression "beyond our ken" (ken being a mainly Northern English and Scots word meaning 'knowledge or perception').
The show ran for seven series, and a total of 121 shows. The scripts were by Eric Merriman, with Barry Took as co-writer in the first two series. Musical accompaniment was provided by the BBC Revue Orchestra, with musical interludes mostly by the Fraser Hayes Four.
When the show finished it was replaced by the series Round the Horne (1965-1968), which built on, and exceeded, the success of the earlier show.
Amateur restoration to remove constant noise signals and modest equalisation with the aim of providing "more listenable" output.
Uploaded at 192kbs MP3 due to upload bandwidth limitations.
Edition nomenclature
[Off-Air Copy] is a catch all for less than original broadcast quality. The vast majority are recordings that originate from the time of broadcast on either open reel tape or cassette. I also use this category as a general stamp for low quality recordings, in the hope of replacing them at a future date with a better quality version.
[TS Edit] is catch all label applied to a high quality but not complete broadcast duration. The vast majority of these originate from edited Transcription Service recordings of various duration. I've come to realise that the duration of these vary over time between 28 minutes in the late 50's to 25 minutes from the 70's. Additional to this the World Service made their own edited recordings and I have applied this label to any recordings which appear to derive from those.
[TS OA Hybrid] is a composite comprising elements from a high quality edited recording supplemented with elements from an off-air recording.
[Broadcast] is a high quality, long duration recording that is probably the original full broadcast.
[Patched] is a tag to indicate that edits due to recent BBC censorship have been restored.
- S01E01 A Cockeyed Optimist [Broadcast] (42Mb)
- S01E02 I’m Not At All In Love [TS Edit] (40.1Mb)
- S01E03 I'm Gonna Ring The Bell Tonight [TS Edit] [Patched] (40.4Mb)
- S01E04 I Am… [TS Edit] (39.8Mb)
- S01E05 Lover, Come Back To Me [TS Edit] (39.3Mb)
- S01E07 A Wonderful Thing To Be Loved [Broadcast] (42Mb)
- S01E08 Beat Up The Town [TS Edit] (40.4Mb)
- S01E09 That’s What Makes Paris, Paree [TS Edit] (40.2Mb)
- S01E14 Show Me [TS Edit] (40.1Mb)
- S01E15 That Old Devil Moon [TS Edit] (40.6Mb)
- S01E16 My Resistance is Low [TS Edit] (40.4Mb)
- S01E18 It’s Love [TS Edit] (40.8Mb)
- S01E20 The Lady Is A Tramp [TS Edit] (37.9Mb)
- S02E02 Raffles [TS Edit] (39.8Mb)
- S02E03 The Caine Mutiny [TS Edit] (39.7Mb)
- S02E05 Forever Amber [TS Edit] (39.8Mb)
- S02E06 The Innocents Abroad [TS Edit] (38.8Mb)
- S02E08 A Farewell To Arms [TS Edit] (39.9Mb)
- S02E10 Trader-Horn [TS Edit] (40Mb)
- S02E11 Every Boys Book Of Birds [Broadcast] (41.9Mb)
- S02E12 The Reins Came [Broadcast] (42.1Mb)
- S02E13 Deep Are the Roots [Broadcast] (42Mb)
- S02E15 The Sea Wolf [Broadcast] (41.8Mb)
- S02E17 The Cruel Sea [TS Edit] (39.4Mb)
- S02E18 Black Beauty [TS Edit] (39.9Mb)
- S02E20 Great Expectations [TS Edit] (39.5Mb)
- S02E21 Island Treasure [TS Edit] (40.1Mb)
- S03E01 Tobacco Road [TS Edit] (38.3Mb)
- S03E02 Look Back In Anger [TS Edit] (39.5Mb)
- S03E03 Nude With Violin [TS Edit] (40.7Mb)
- S03E04 A Touch Of The Sun [TS Edit] (40.1Mb)
- S03E05 Hay Fever [TS Edit] (41Mb)
- S03E06 Ah Wilderness [TS Edit] (38.1Mb)
- S03E07 The School For Scandal [TS Edit] (39.9Mb)
- S03E08 The Iceman Cometh [TS Edit] (40.6Mb)
- S03E09 The Reluctant Debutant [TS Edit] (41.2Mb)
- S03E10 This Happy Breed [TS Edit] (38.1Mb)
- S03E11 Dear Octopus [TS Edit] [Patched] (39.2Mb)
- S03E12 Love From A Stranger [TS Edit] (40.7Mb)
- S03E13 Charley's Aunt [TS Edit] (38.1Mb)
- S03E14 The Most Happy Fella [TS Edit] [Full Outro] (41.8Mb)
- S04E01 Suddenly Last Summer [TS OA Hybrid] (41.1Mb)
- S04E02 Spring in Park Lane [Off-Air Copy] (40.9Mb)
- S04E03 The Gentleman's Agreement [TS OA Hybrid] (41.4Mb)
- S04E04 Three Coins In A Fountain [TS OA Hybrid] (42.4Mb)
- S04E05 Man With The Golden Arm [TS OA Hybrid] (41.8Mb)
- S04E06 House Of Wax [Off-Air Copy] (41.1Mb)
- S04E07 Desire Under The Elms [TS OA Hybrid] (41.9Mb)
- S04E08 Brief Encounter [TS OA Hybrid] (41.4Mb)
- S04E09 The Thirty-Nine Steps [TS Edit] (37.9Mb)
- S04E10 Gale Warning [TS OA Hybrid] (41.5Mb)
- S04E11 Room At The Top [TS OA Hybrid] (unknown file size)
- S04E13 The Horse Soldiers [Off-Air Copy] (41.3Mb)
- S04E14 All Quiet On The Western Front [Off-Air Copy] (41.5Mb)
- S04E15 Charge of the Light Brigade [Broadcast] (41.5Mb)
- S04E16 A Hatful of Rain [TS Edit] [Full Outro] (39.8Mb)
- S04E17 Twelve O'Clock High [Broadcast] (42Mb)
- S04E18 Tea And Sympathy [TS OA Hybrid] (41.4Mb)
- S04E19 Some Come Running [TS OA Hybrid] (41.1Mb)
- S04E20 Tunes Of Glory [Off-Air Copy] [Full Outro] (42.7Mb)
- S05E01 Around the World in 80 Days [TS OA Hybrid] [Full Outro] (42.8Mb)
- S05E02 The Magnificent Seven [TS OA Hybrid] (41.1Mb)
- S05E03 The Young Lions [Off-Air Copy] (41.1Mb)
- S05E04 Oscar Wilde [TS OA Hybrid] (40.8Mb)
- S05E05 The 101 Dalmatians [TS OA Hybrid] (39.5Mb)
- S05E06 No Trees in the Street [TS Edit] (40.4Mb)
- S05E07 The Bells are Ringing [TS Edit] (40.7Mb)
- S05E08 The Defiant Ones [TS Edit] [Full Outro] (42Mb)
- S05E09 Ferry To Hong Kong [TS Edit] (40.7Mb)
- S05E10 A Yank at Oxford [TS OA Hybrid] (40.3Mb)
- S05E11 Love in the Afternoon [TS Edit] (40.7Mb)
- S05E12 Anastasia [TS Edit] (40.7Mb)
- S05E13 The Great Train Robbery [TS Edit] [Alt. Outro] [Full Outro] (42.6Mb)
- S05E14 Too Late Blues [TS OA Hybrid] (40.6Mb)
- S05E15 Terror of the Tongs [TS OA Hybrid] (40.5Mb)
- S05E16 Ice Cold In Alex [TS OA Hybrid] (40.2Mb)
- S05E17 The Devil at Four O'Clock [TS OA Hybrid] (40.7Mb)
- S05E18 For Whom The Bell Tolls [Off-Air Copy] [Extended] (50.1Mb)
- S05E19 Under Two Flags [TS OA Hybrid] (40.8Mb)
- S05E20 The Three Musketeers [Off-Air Copy] (40.6Mb)
- Forty Laughing Years [Off-Air Copy] (61.7Mb)
- S06E01 Dr No [Off-Air Copy] (40.9Mb)
- S06E02 Sorry Wrong Number [Off-Air Copy] (40.7Mb)
- S06E03 The Corn is Green [TS Edit] (42.1Mb)
- S06E04 The Loves of Carmen [TS Edit] [Alt. Outro] (41Mb)
- S06E05 Two Weeks in Another Town [TS Edit] (41.2Mb)
- S06E06 Only Two Can Play [TS Edit] (41.2Mb)
- S06E07 In Search of the Castaways [Off-Air Copy] (41Mb)
- S06E08 Period of Adjustment [TS Edit] (41Mb)
- S06E09 Tender is the Night [TS Edit] (40.8Mb)
- S06E10 The Miracle Worker [Broadcast] (41.8Mb)
- S06E11 The L Shaped Room [Off-Air Copy] (41.2Mb)
- S06E12 The Pot Carriers [Broadcast] (41.6Mb)
- S06E13 Lolita [TS Edit TS82] [Full Outro] (42.4Mb)
- S07E01 55 Days in Peking [TS Edit] (40.8Mb)
- S07E02 Gigi [TS Edit] (41.1Mb)
- S07E03 The Longest Day [TS Edit] (36.9Mb)
- S07E04 The List of Adrain Messenger [TS Edit] (40.9Mb)
- S07E05 The Man With the Golden Arm [TS Edit] (40.9Mb)
- S07E06 The Seven Year Itch [TS Edit] (39.4Mb)
- S07E07 High Noon [TS Edit] (40.9Mb)
- S07E08 The Great Escape [TS Edit] (40.8Mb)
- S07E09 Nudes of the World [TS Edit] (41.3Mb)
- S07E10 Ten Tall Men [TS Edit] (40.6Mb)
- S07E11 How Green Was My Valet [TS Edit] (40.9Mb)
- S07E12 Forever Amber [Broadcast] (41.4Mb)
- S07E13 Things to Come [TS Edit] (42.4Mb)
- Bill Pertwee talks about Beyond Our Ken (20.1Mb)
- Husky Betty Marsden - Her Life and Career (38.5Mb)
MP3 files hosted by archive.org.