Jimmy Edwards: Whip-O!

 

Jimmy Edwards, playing the role of a headmaster in a BBC TV comedy Whack-O!, became a bit of a cultural icon in the UK in the 1950s and 60s.

Pictures of him in traditional cap and gown and brandishing a curve-handled cane have been used to this day to illustrate pieces on corporal punishment in schools.

The TV show treated the cane as a bit of a joke and although he flexed it and probably swished it a bit I don’t think he actually ever used it for its intended purpose. They also did a feature-length film called Bottoms Up on the same theme.

That makes this photograph sent to me by a reader of this blog even more intriguing. It shows Jimmy Edwards in the guise of a headmaster but rather than brandishing a cane he holds a bullwhip of some sort.

The photo is a publicity still from the BBC and this copy was distributed by the Central Press Association in August 1958. There is no information about what is going on in the photo.

Below are some more familiar ones with Jimmy Edwards and that cane. As an aside: there was also a board game based on the TV show that included drawings of Jimmy Edwards flexing his cane and a small boy bent over a chair.

The TV series has, I think, been mostly lost, but there is one full episode on YouTube here.

To read more on Whack-O! click here.

Traditional School Discipline

Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com