Terry-Thomas

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The columnist and historian Simon Heffer resumes his series of Essays celebrating mid-20th century British film with a focus on five popular comic actors. The double-barrelled, single-named actor Terry-Thomas - with his monocle, his cigarette holder and the hallmark gap between his two front teeth - perfected the role of a particular type of British toff. Simon Heffer argues that whether playing a cad, a rotten bounder or a charmer, Terry-Thomas came to represent the louche and degenerate side of the upper classes at a time when the class system was coming under attack. Producer : Beaty Rubens First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in April 2015.