Anyone who remembers Esther Rantzen's consumer magazine programme That's Life which ran for 21 years from 1973 to 1994, is sure to also remember a quirky old entertainer named Cyril Fletcher who would recite short verses known as Odd Odes. Veteran comedy entertainer Cyril would be seated in a big leather armchair in the style of Ronnie Corbett, contributing quips and amusing comments in response to features and reports from Esther and her colleagues, and always something called an Odd Ode to accompany some convoluted viewer story about being ripped off or treated badly by some rogue tradesman or 'jobsworth'.
Whilst the tradition of the 'ode' as a lyrical verse or poem dates back to ancient Greece and has included such exponents as Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth and Coleridge, Cyril Fletcher was credited as developing a distinctly comic form of the lyrical stanza known as the odd ode, and very good they often were.
In 1975, Blue Peter ran a competition inviting children to contribute their own original odd odes with Cyril Fletcher helping Peter, John and Lesley to choose their favourites.
The winning odd odes from 11,521 entries spanning the bizarre to the extraordinary, were published in a small paper back book with illustrations by Peter Firmin.
Cyril Fletcher on That's Life
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