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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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'Can you hear me, mother?'
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Radio's earliest catch phrase, popularized by the comedian Sandy Powell (1900–82). He came across it accidentally in about 1932, when he was doing a sketch supposedly broadcast from the North Pole. After reading one of the lines ('can you hear me, mother?'), he dropped his script; to cover the gap he repeated the same phrase until he had found his place, and from then on audiences wanted to hear it again and again.
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