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Round the Horne

Round the Horne is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The fourth was written by Took, Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and Donald Webster.

Horne's supporting cast comprised Kenneth Williams, Hugh Paddick, Betty Marsden and, in the first three series, Bill Pertwee. The announcer was Douglas Smith, who also took part in the sketches. All except the last series featured music by Edwin Braden, played by the band "the Hornblowers", with a song in the middle of each show performed by the close-harmony singing group the Fraser Hayes Four; in the fourth series, the music was by Max Harris with a smaller group of players than the earlier series.

The show was the successor to Beyond Our Ken, which had run from 1958 to 1964 with largely the same cast. By the time the new series began, television had become the dominant broadcasting medium in Britain, and Round the Horne, which built up a regular audience of 15 million, was the last radio show to reach so many listeners. Horne was surrounded by larger-than-life characters including the camp pair Julian and Sandy, the disreputable eccentric J.Peasmold Gruntfuttock, and the singer of dubious folk songs, Rambling Syd Rumpo, who all became nationally familiar. The show encountered periodic scrutiny from the BBC management for its double entendres, but consistently received the backing of the director-general of the BBC, Sir Hugh Greene. Horne died suddenly in 1969; the BBC decided that Round the Horne could not continue without its star and they cancelled plans for a fifth series that year.

Over the following decades Round the Horne has been re-broadcast continually, and all 67 shows have been published on CD. In 2019, in a poll run by Radio Times, Round the Horne was voted the BBC's third-best radio show of any genre, and the best radio comedy series of all.

Background
In 1957 the radio presenter and comedian Kenneth Horne was the compere on the popular Saturday evening comedy and music radio show Variety Playhouse. The programme's writers were Eric Merriman and Barry Took, and when the series came to an end, they prepared a script for a pilot episode of a new show, Beyond Our Ken. The show, in which Horne was joined by Kenneth Williams, Ron Moody, Hugh Paddick and Betty Marsden, was broadcast in October 1957. The series was due to begin in April 1958, but in February Horne suffered a debilitating stroke; he was temporarily paralysed down his left-hand side and lost the power of speech. The BBC postponed the series. After physiotherapy Horne was able to begin recording Beyond Our Ken in June, in preparation for the broadcast of the first series between July and November.

Beyond Our Ken was written around the imperturbable establishment figure of Horne, while the other performers played a "spectrum of characters never before heard on the radio", including the exaggeratedly upper class Rodney and Charles (Williams and Paddick), the genteel, dotty pensioners Ambrose and Felicity (Williams and Marsden), the hoarse-voiced cook Fanny Haddock – a parody of the television cook Fanny Cradock (Marsden), the earthy gardening guru Arthur Fallowfield (Williams), the semi-articulate rock and roll singer Ricky Livid (Paddick) and Hankie Flowered, a parody of the comedian Frankie Howerd (Bill Pertwee). The first episode was not well received by a sample audience, but the BBC decided to back Horne and his team, and the initial six-week contract was extended to 21 weeks. Before the series came to an end, a second had been commissioned to run the following year. After the first series Moody was succeeded by Pertwee; Took left after the second series, leaving Merriman to write the remaining programmes on his own.

After the seventh series of Beyond Our Ken ended Horne was scheduled to appear in a number of other BBC programmes; Eric Merriman objected, contending that he had made Horne into a star, and that "no other comedy series should be allowed to use him", according to Horne's biographer, Barry Johnston. When the BBC refused to withdraw Horne from the programme Down with Women, Merriman resigned from writing Beyond Our Ken and the show came to an end. After some pressure from Horne to keep the remainder of the team together, the BBC commissioned Round the Horne as a replacement on similar lines. They turned to Took, as one of the original writers of Beyond Our Ken, and his new writing partner, Marty Feldman. The name of the programme came from a pun on Horne's name, combined with the naval term "round the Horn", meaning to navigate the waters at the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn. The pair aimed to write what they described as "down-market material in an upmarket way". The scripts they produced led to a faster-paced programme than Beyond Our Ken, including more allusions to contemporary events, including politics and films.

Format
Round the Horne was based on a revue format, and contained parody and satire. The programme would include an introduction from Horne, who would sometimes give answers to a supposed quiz from the previous week, and then lead into sketches that would include a set-piece based on a film or novel, such as "The Man with the Golden Thunderball", and "The Three Musketeers". Martin Dibbs, in his history of the BBC Variety Department, writes that "the show was characterised by incessant innuendo and camp representation to an extent never before tolerated within the BBC."

As in Beyond Our Ken, there was a cast of recurring characters. Took and Feldman developed new characters for Williams, Paddick, Marsden and Pertwee, whose ability to change between personas produced a programme described by the radio historians Andy Foster and Steve Furst as "a cast of thousands played by the same four accomplished actors". Horne's role was described in The Daily Telegraph as providing "the perfect foil to the inspired lunacy happening all around him". The media analysts Frank Krutnik and Steve Neale consider that as such, Horne's role was similar to that of Jack Benny, Fred Allen and Tommy Handley, "as a 'stooge' rather than a joke-wielder, frequently switching roles between announcer and in-sketch performer".

1965–1966: Series 1 and 2
The first episode of Round the Horne was broadcast on the Light Programme on 7 March 1965. It was described in Radio Times as "Five characters in search of the authors". The series consisted of 16 episodes and ran to 20 June 1965. The programme was produced by John Simmonds and included music from the Fraser Hayes Four and the studio orchestra, "the Hornblowers", conducted by Paul Fenoulhet; from episode six, Fenoulhet was replaced by Edwin Braden. Douglas Smith, an announcer and newsreader on the Home Service and the Third Programme, was used as the programme's announcer, but was given a larger role as the series progressed; he ended up advertising spoof products and giving human sound effects in addition to his normal role.

One of the early episodes included a sketch by Horne, a monologue based on "the centenary of the birth of the crumpet", including a huge crumpet built for Queen Victoria.

"As an added novelty he hollowed out the centre and a Gaiety Girl was secreted inside. When the loyal toast was drunk, she leapt out, wearing pink combs and waving a Union Jack – either that or the other way round, I don't remember. In any event the whole affair was a great success and, as many people commented afterwards 'it was a smashing bit of crumpet'."

The sketch angered the strongly-conservative Member of Parliament Sir Cyril Black, who wrote to the BBC to complain. Frank Gillard, the BBC's director of radio, wrote to Dennis Morris, the chief of the Light Programme, asking Round the Horne to "watch its step, particularly over the next few weeks and keep itself within reasonable bounds". Instead, Took and Feldman wrote a riposte that Horne read at the end of the following programme, addressed to the "minority of killjoys" who complained:

"Let me say to them that our scripts are whiter than white, as is the face of the producer when he reads them. You see, evil is in the eye of the beholder – and we believe you can make anything sound as if it has a double meaning – if you know how. So cheerio, see you next week."

Further complaints about the programme were received and Sir Hugh Greene, the director-general of the BBC, asked to see the scripts before broadcasting. All were returned with the words "I see nothing to object to in this" written on them. The complaints continued from Black, and from Mary Whitehouse – a campaigner against social liberalism – about the cast putting emphasis on certain words. Took replied that "When Laurence Olivier plays Hamlet he puts emphasis on certain words – it's called acting".

A second series was commissioned, and ran for thirteen weeks, from Sunday 13 March to 5 June 1966. The programme was recorded in front of a studio audience, and Williams would play up to them with physical humour, causing hilarity in the studio. Simmonds spoke to the cast, telling them that the radio audience were hearing unexplained laughter, and to try to keep the visual pranks to a minimum. At the end of the series Roy Rich, the head of BBC Light Entertainments for radio, spoke to Took, Feldman, Horne and Williams and discussed possible changes to the programme, including the removal of the Fraser Hayes Four, and the possible changing of Pertwee and Marsden. No changes were made before the next series was commissioned.

On 7 October 1966, at the age of 59, Horne suffered a severe heart attack. He was much weakened, and was unfit to work for three months. As a result, he did not appear in the Round the Horne Christmas special, which was recorded on 28 November. He returned to work in January 1967 to record the third series.

1967–1968: Series 3 and 4
The third series ran for 21 episodes from 5 February to 25 June 1967. After recording the first episode, Williams wrote in his diary that "the script was singularly uninspired I think – no innovations or bright ideas for the beginning of a new series ... For the first time I am beginning to feel that this show is rather dated and tired". The BBC hierarchy also thought the first show was slightly lacking and Williams was also downbeat after the second recording, writing that "I think the show is quite dead artistically and the format has completely atrophied itself – it is moribund now. I think I will withdraw after this series". Trying to turn the show around, Took and Feldman wrote out the popular camp Julian and Sandy characters (played by Paddick and Williams) from the third episode, but the cast and Simmonds all insisted they were put back, so the writers duly obliged. After a few weeks the show had settled down and Williams recorded in his diary that the recording "went v. well. Script was v. good indeed and the audience splendid – a great deal of affection there, one felt".

Feldman became increasingly successful on television, particularly with At Last the 1948 Show (1967); he decided to concentrate on writing and performing on the screen and left the series. Took agreed to stay, and he was joined by Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke and – for the first six episodes of the next series – Donald Webster. In September 1967 BBC radio was radically reorganised. The Home Service, Third Programme and Light Programme were abolished and replaced by four new national channels – Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4; Round the Horne moved from the Light Programme to Radio 2. The change came with reduced budgets. The Fraser Hayes Four and Eddie Braden and the Hornblowers were replaced with a small instrumental group led by Max Harris, and Pertwee was dropped from the programme. The cost fell from £601 a show in series 3 to £486 in series 4. That year's Christmas special was broadcast with the new line-up and writers.

The fourth series began on 25 February 1968 and ran for 16 episodes to 9 June. After the first episode Williams was unimpressed with the new material, and wrote in his diary "Now there are 4 writers on it! It is unbelievable really. Four! For half an hour of old crap with not a memorable line anywhere ... of course one goes on and flogs it gutless and the rubbish gets by". Without Feldman, Took was enjoying the show less than he had previously. He also felt the humour was becoming more obviously dirty and complained to Williams that "We might as well write a series called Get Your Cock Out".

Horne died of a heart attack on 14 February 1969, while hosting the annual Guild of Television Producers' and Directors' Awards at the Dorchester hotel in London. An award had gone to Took and Feldman for their television series Marty, and Horne had just urged viewers to tune into the fifth series of Round the Horne – which was due to start on 16 March – when he fell from the podium. By 24 February 1969 it had been decided that Round the Horne could not continue without its star. As a result, the scripts for series five – which Horne had jokingly suggested should be subtitled "The First All-Nude Radio Show" – were hastily adapted into a new series for Williams called Stop Messing About, which ran for two series before it was dropped from the schedule in 1970.

Kenneth Horne
The persona adopted by the writers for Horne was not greatly different from his real-life one, and largely the same as that of his Beyond Our Ken character: the urbane, unflappable, tolerant but sometimes surprised central figure, around whom the other characters revolved. The Times called Horne the "master of the scandalous double-meaning delivered with shining innocence", and in Round the Horne he combined the role of straight man to the flamboyant Julian and Sandy, Rambling Syd Rumpo and J.Peasmold Gruntfuttock with that of genial host of the show. Feldman called him "the best straight man I had ever seen", who nonetheless had "a lot of funny lines"; Jonathan Rigby, who played Horne in a stage show, Round the Horne ... Revisited, thought him "a stand-up comedian with a posh accent ... part of his genius was that he was able to be himself".

Horne introduced some programmes by reading out the answers to last week's (non-existent) questions:
 * The answer to question one: complete the first lines of the following songs – "If I Were a Blackbird I'd ..." The answer is I'd Whistle and Sing, and I positively will not accept any other suggestion. The second song was "There's a Rainbow Round My ..." Now we got an amazing number of replies to this. We haven't had so many since we asked you to complete "Over My Shoulder Goes ..." Really, it makes it very difficult for us to keep up the high reputation for sophisticated comedy we've never had.

At other times he would give a short lecture on justly forgotten figures from history, such as Robert Capability Lackwind, allegedly the inventor of Toad in the Hole, or Nemesis Fothergill, known to ornithologists – and the police – as the Birdman of Potter's Bar. In many episodes his opening slot was announcing the day's forthcoming events, such as International free style gnome fingering at the five-minute Hippo Wash Brompton Oratory, Swan Upping at Downham and Swan Downing at Upham, and the two-man Rabbi bob sled championship down the escalators at Leicester Square tube station. He would close the programmes by commenting on the final sketch, or announcing a competition to complete a limerick with two fecund opening lines ("A young market gardener from Bude, Developed a cactus quite lewd ...") or with a public service announcement such as this police message:
 * If any passer-by in Lisle Street last Saturday night witnessed a middle-aged man stagger out of the Peeperama strip club and get knocked down by a passing cyclist, would you please keep quiet about it as my wife thinks I was in Folkestone. Goodbye. See you next week.

Douglas Smith
At the start of the first series of Round the Horne Douglas Smith took the traditional role of a BBC announcer on comedy shows, introducing the programme and its component parts and reading the credits at the end. As the show developed, the writers gave him more to do. In the second series Smith continually interrupts the programme to promote "Dobbiroids Magic Rejuvenators" (from "the makers of Dobbins Medical Cummerbunds for horses") and Dobbimist horse deodorant for UFO ("under fetlock odour"). In the third and fourth series he is included in the movie spoofs, playing a range of roles including a rumbling volcano:

 * Horne: ... And see there – dominating the island, the sacred volcano of Gonga – played by Douglas Smith with a hole in his head and steam coming out of his ears.
 * Paddick: What an awesome sight – snow mantling his mighty summit and lava oozing down his sides.
 * Smith: That's porridge, actually. I had a hurried breakfast this morning.
 * Horne: Shut up, Smith, you're a volcano. You just loom over us and rumble ominously.
 * Smith: Yes, I told you. I had a hurried breakfast.
 * Horne: Shut up, Smith.
 * Smith: Rumble rumble.
 * Horne: That's better.

His other roles include a telephone box, an inflatable rubber boat, a drophead Bentley and a cow:

 * Smith: Moo Moo – Splosh!
 * Horne: Splosh?
 * Smith: I kicked over the milk pail.

By the fourth series Smith has risen to the heights of playing the World ("You've just gone through my Khyber Pass travelling on a camel"), and in one programme he gets a solo singing spot, barracked by Paddick and Williams ("Letting an announcer sing! It's a disgrace!") performing "Nobody Loves a Fairy When she's Forty".

Beatrice, Lady Counterblast, née Clissold
The first of the new characters was an elderly ex-Gaiety Girl (played by Marsden) known as Bea Clissold in her theatrical heyday, when she was "the pure brass of the music hall", and subsequently an aristocratic widow. She has been much married and much divorced, and has retired to live in seclusion at Chattering Parva, waited on and complained about by her octogenarian butler, Spasm (Williams). Horne interviews her each week in the early programmes, when she reminisces about her life and husbands. In a commentary on the show's characters published in 1974 Took wrote, "Her anecdotes of past marriages combine the lurid with the turgid as the narrative flashes back on leaden wings to the turn of the century and the exploits of the young Bea Clissold". She appeared in the first programme of the series, and was a major feature of its early episodes. After she ceased to be one of the central characters she continually popped up with her catch phrase, "Many times, many, many times", originally referring to the number of times she was married, and later an all-purpose innuendo.

Julian and Sandy
The camp pair Julian and Sandy (played by Paddick and Williams) made their debuts in the fourth programme of the first series and rapidly established themselves as a permanent fixture throughout the run of Round the Horne. They are out of work actors whom Horne encounters each week in new temporary jobs. The writers' original idea was that the characters should be elderly and dignified Shakespearean actors filling in as domestic cleaners while "resting" (i.e. unemployed), but the producer, John Simmonds, thought they seemed rather sad, and at his suggestion Took and Feldman turned the characters into chorus boys. In a typical sketch Horne looks in at a new establishment, usually in Chelsea, with a title such as "Bona Tours", "Bona Books", "Bona Antiques" or "Bona Caterers", and is greeted with, "Oh hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy". The latter adds, using the gay and theatrical slang, palare, "How bona to vada your dolly old eek again", or "What brings you trolling in here?" Having first appeared as house cleaners, they are later shown working in a variety of implausible jobs. Took summed them up: "From working as part time domestics while 'resting' they progressed to running almost every trendy activity going from fox-hunting in Carnaby Street to the gents' outfitting department of MI5".

The use of palare enabled the writers to give Julian and Sandy some double entendres that survived BBC censorship because the authorities either did not know or did not admit to knowing their gay meaning. In the fourth series, Sandy tells Horne that Julian is a brilliant pianist: "a miracle of dexterity at the cottage upright", which to those familiar with gay slang could either refer to pianistic excellence or to – illegal – sexual activity in a public lavatory. At the time, gay male sex was a criminal offence in Britain. Julian and Sandy became nationally popular characters and are widely credited with contributing a little to the public acceptance of homosexuality that led to the gradual repeal of the anti-gay laws, beginning in 1967.

J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock
A week after the debut of Julian and Sandy came the first appearance of J. Peasmold Gruntfuttock, first broadcast on 5 April 1965. Played by Williams, Gruntfuttock is described by the writers as "the walking slum". In his first appearance he is a job applicant at the BBC, inspired by voices in his head, and keen to get on close terms with one of the female presenters. In later programmes he is first the king and then dictator of Peasmoldia, a small enclave in the East End, and subsequently Brother Gruntfuttock, member of an obscure religious community. He writes in regularly with incorrect and sometimes physically implausible answers to last week's questions:
 * Finally, we had "I get a kick out of ...". Well, Mr Gruntfuttock of Hoxton, I think we all know what you get a kick out of. And on looking at the list you sent me it's my considered opinion that you are running a severe risk of doing yourself a permanent injury.

In the fourth series he is a persistent caller of the spoof phone-in, the Round the Horne Forum of the Air, airing his peculiar personal obsessions in between bouts of heavy breathing. He was Feldman's favourite Round the Horne character; the two authors wrote of Gruntfuttock, "He married beneath him – which gives you some idea what his wife Buttercup (Betty Marsden) must be like. All in all not a couple one would wish to meet on a dark night or indeed at any time."

Charles and Fiona
Charles and Fiona are supposedly characters played by an extremely theatrical actor and actress: "ageing juvenile Binkie Huckaback" (Paddick) and Dame Celia Molestrangler (Marsden). The two, originally based on the theatre stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, were introduced in the eighth programme of the first series, and quickly became a fixture. They appeared in parodies of "stiff-upper-lip" dramas by Noël Coward and others; their fictitious plays had titles such as Present Encounter and Bitter Laughter. Their agonised love affairs are punctuated by brittle, staccato dialogue, in which they talk of their emotions in tortuous sentences:
 * Fiona: All I could think of back here was you out there thinking of me back here thinking of you out there – back here. Needing you, wanting you, wanting to need you, needing to want you.
 * Charles: I don't have the words for it.
 * Fiona: I know.
 * Charles: I know you know.
 * Fiona: I know you know I know.
 * Charles: Yes, I know.

Their sketches customarily end with an unexpected twist, such as the revelation that they are living in a telephone box, or are dining at the Ritz in the nude, or trysting in a refrigerator. Barry Took wrote that they were his own favourite Round the Horne characters. During the second series they were dropped in favour of a new feature, "The Seamus Android Show" (see below) but were quickly brought back.

Chou En Ginsberg and Lotus Blossom
In the ninth show of the first series Chou En Ginsberg (Williams) appeared for the first time. He is a parody of the stereotypical far-Eastern villain Fu Manchu. The first part of his name was borrowed from Chou En-Lai, the then Chinese premier; for comic contrast the writers wanted an incongruous second name and experimented with "Chou En Murphy" and "Chou En McWhirter" before settling on "Ginsberg". He always announces himself as "Dr Chou En Ginsberg, MA (Failed)". He appears regularly in the James Bond parodies, "Kenneth Horne, Master Spy", plotting a fiendish international crime, luring Horne into his clutches but then being outwitted.

Chou was joined in the next show by his concubine, Lotus Blossom (Paddick) who is, in the words of her master, common as muck. A drawing of the two by William Hewison in Took and Feldman's 1974 book Round the Horne shows a diminutive Chou alongside a large, looming and graceless Lotus Blossom bulging out of her cheongsam. Her attempts to entertain Special Agent Horne with her songs and dances cause him more distress than Chou's threats of death.

Rambling Syd Rumpo
First heard in the tenth show of the first series, and a fixture thereafter, Rambling Syd (Williams) is an itinerant folk singer. The writers describe him as "one of the last of the breed of wandering minstrels who are fast dying out – thank heavens". Often misappropriating the tunes of genuine folk songs, Rambling Syd's lyrics consist of dubious-sounding nonsense words such as these, from the "Runcorn Splod Cobbler's Song":
 * I sing as I cobble and hammer my splod
 * Tho' my trumice glows hot and my trade be odd
 * I sit as I gorble and pillock my splee
 * For a cobbler's life is the life for me.

Or, to the tune of "Foggy Dew":
 * When I was a young man
 * I nadgered my splod
 * As I nurked at the wogglers' trade.
 * When suddenly I thought
 * While trussing up my groats,
 * I'd whirdle with a fair young maid.

Took said of the character that his "bogus ethnic patter and totally meaningless songs" created the illusion of "something terribly naughty going on" – but that any naughtiness was in fact in the listener's mind.

Daphne Whitethigh
The character was loosely based on the television cook Fanny Cradock. Described by Took and Feldman as "fashion reporter, TV cook, agony aunt, pain in the neck", Daphne Whitethigh (Marsden) is a hoarse-voiced pundit, "whose advice on the placing of the bosom or the way to prepare Hippo in its shell is an absolute must for all those trendy moderns who want to look and feel frightful". Among her helpful cooking tips are that although rhinoceros is not very appetising you do get marvellous crackling; her recipes for yak include yak à l'orange, yak in its jacket, and coupe yak. She advises followers of female fashion that bosoms are still out, but may be on the way back (Horne says he will keep a light burning in the window) and her other useful pointers include how to use cold cream to remove those baboon claw marks from one's hip, and how to avoid crow's feet round the eyes: refrain from sleeping in trees.

Seamus Android
Described by Took as "an unskilled television labourer whose gift of the blarney and wistful Irish charm could empty any theatre in three minutes", Seamus Android is a parody of the broadcaster Eamonn Andrews, whose weekly television chat show was broadcast live on Sunday evenings. Took and Feldman had appeared on Andrews's show and been astonished by "the non-sequiturs and other nonsense he came out with". Seamus Android was the only regular character played by Pertwee, who was otherwise cast as what Took called "the odds and ends" – the minor characters and straight parts. Android's interviewees include the much married actress Zsa-Zsa Poltergeist, the Hollywood producer Daryll F. Klaphanger, and the star of The Ipswich File, Michael Bane; promised appearances by such as Lord Ghenghiz Wilkinson, the dancing cloakroom attendant, Nemesis Poston, the juggling monk, and Anthony Wormwood-Nibblo, the Hoxton cat thief and heiress fail to materialise. As Pertwee was not in the cast for the last series, Android was dropped.

Dentures
Played by Paddick, this is the only regular Round the Horne character who had in all essentials already appeared in Beyond Our Ken, where he was named Stanley Birkinshaw. In Round the Horne he has no regular name, and appears in various capacities. He is a man with ill-fitting false teeth; his diction distorts all sibilants, and sprays saliva in all directions. Dentures often opens the show in the style of a toastmaster ("My lordsh, ladiesh and gentlemen," etc). In the second series he appears as "The Great Omipaloni, the world's fastest illusionist – and also the dampest". In the third series he is Buffalo Sidney Goosecreature, adversary of the Palone Ranger, and in the fourth he is Angus McSpray ("Rishe againsht the Shasshenachsh") to Williams's Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Julie Coolibah
The invention of Mortimer and Cooke, Julie Coolibah (Marsden) appears in the fourth season. She is an Australian visiting London, deeply suspicious of British men ("I know you Pommies are sex mad"). Every time she talks to Horne she interprets his innocent remarks as sexual overtures:
 * Horne: Good to have you back.
 * Julie: What do you mean by that?
 * Horne: Nothing, just extending the hand of friendship.
 * Julie: Yeah? With what purpose in mind, might I ask?

When Julie manages to find work in London she has constant difficulties coping with the men. As a bus conductress she is outraged when a passenger gives her fourpence and asks "How far can I go for that?" She tells Horne, "I cracked him with my cash-bag and put him off".

Critical reception
Round the Horne is described by Foster and Furst as "one of the seminal comedies to come out of the BBC". The programme continued the comedy vein of The Goon Show and provided an influential link, through I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, to the work of the Monty Python writers and performers; at one point Monty Python was given the working title Barry Took's Flying Circus by the BBC. Round the Horne helped change the way the BBC dealt with broadcasting humour: "The ebullience of the ... comedy – not to mention the filth of the innuendos – swept away decades of insipid and paternalistic inhibition at the BBC", according to Richard Morrison, the chief arts correspondent of The Times.

Six years after the last series was first broadcast, The Daily Mirror called Round the Horne "the last great radio show". In 2002 The Spectator described it as "one of the great radio successes"; the following year William Cook wrote in The Guardian that the show "boasted a wonderful writing team" and "bestrode the airwaves like a colossus, reaching an audience of 15 million – the sort of ratings most current comedies can only dream about." In 2005 The Sunday Times referred to it as "One of the best-loved shows of all time." Punch commented that the series was probably the last comedy show on radio to have a huge following. According to Took, Round the Horne was broadcast when radio was considered to be on the wane when compared to television; such was the show's popularity, many thought radio would continue to be a leading form of entertainment.

Although Round the Horne attracted some adverse comments from Black, Whitehouse and others of similar views, the show was well received by the press. In 1967 The Times called it "half an hour of the purest impure entertainment", and as the third series came to an end the paper called for a Christmas special and a further series in the new year. "No-one, but no-one at all has yet presented those elegant queens, those touchily vulnerable bona-boys, those fashion fetichists so deftly, so pointedly, and, in the final accounting, so purely". In 1969 the paper commented that the show was "a success with lovers of the sophisticated pun" as well as appealing to "those who like a good belly laugh", with "obvious jokes ... mixed with clever word juggling".

In 1995, looking back at British radio comedy, The Guardian placed Round the Horne first in its list of the five greatest shows. In 2019, in a poll run by Radio Times, Round the Horne was voted the third best radio show of any kind, and the best comedy.

Recordings
Recordings of all the episodes have been issued on CD by the BBC in its "Audiobooks" publications (2002): In 2005, to mark the 40th anniversary of the show, the BBC published a boxed set containing all episodes, on 35 CDs, with an accompanying 3-hour, 3-disc set "Round The Horne: The Complete and Utter History", written and narrated by Took:
 * Series 1:
 * Series 2:
 * Series 3:
 * Series 4:

By 2006 over half a million copies of tapes and CDs of Round the Horne had been sold by the BBC. Editions of Round the Horne are regularly broadcast on the digital radio service BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Scripts
Some scripts from all four series have been published. Those printed in two different books listed below are not always identical. Some print the scripts as written and others as finally broadcast. The scripts have been published in five books:

Series 1

 * Programme 1: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 4: Took and Feldman, 1974
 * Programme 5: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 7: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 12: Took, 1989
 * Programme 13: Took, 1989
 * Programme 14: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 16: Took, 1998

Series 2

 * Programme 1: Took and Feldman, 1974; and Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 2: Took, 1998
 * Programme 3: Took, 1989
 * Programme 4: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 5: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 6: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 8: Took and Feldman, 1974
 * Programme 9: Took, 1989
 * Programme 10: Took, 1989
 * Programme 12: Took and Feldman, 1974
 * Programme 13: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000
 * 1966 Christmas show: Took and Coward, 2000

Series 3

 * Programme 1: Took, 1989
 * Programme 4: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 6: Took, 1989
 * Programme 7: Took and Feldman, 1974
 * Programme 10: Took, 1989; and Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 11: Took and Feldman, 1974
 * Programme 12: Took, 1989
 * Programme 13: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 14: Took, 1989
 * Programme 16: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 17: Took, 1998
 * Programme 19: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 20: Took and Feldman, 1974

Series 4

 * Programme 4: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 5: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 8: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 12: Took and Coward, 2000
 * Programme 14: Took, 1998
 * Programme 15: Took and Coward, 2000

The Bona Book of Julian and Sandy by Took and Feldman was published in 1976 and dedicated, "For David Attenborough, who ought to know better". It contains the scripts of thirteen Julian and Sandy sketches:

 * Bona Books (from series 2, programme 2)
 * Bona Prods (from series 3, programme 10)
 * Bona Bijou Tourettes (from series 3, programme 12)
 * La Casserole de Bona Gourmet (from series 3, programme 15)
 * Bona Hunt (from series 3, programme 14)
 * Fabe Homes and Bona Gardens (from series 1, programme 10)
 * Bona Tattoos (from series 2, programme 3)

 * The Ballet Bona (from series 2, programme 9)
 * Bona Grapplers (from series 2, programme 10)
 * Bona Law (from series 3, programme 2)
 * Bona Pets (from series 2, programme 13)
 * Bona Palare (from series 4, programme 13)
 * Bona Performers (from series 2, programme 13)

 * Source: The Bona Book of Julian and Sandy.

Spin off
Three weeks after the fourth series of Round the Horne finished, the first episode of Horne A'Plenty was broadcast on the ITV channel. In a sketch show format, and with Took as script editor (and later producer), this was an attempt to translate the spirit of Round the Horne to television, although with different actors supporting Horne: Graham Stark, for example, substituted for Williams and Sheila Steafel for Marsden. The first six-part series ran from 22 June to 27 July 1968, the second from 27 November to 1 January 1969.

Round the Horne ... Revisited
A stage version, Round the Horne ... Revisited, was adapted from the original radio scripts by Brian Cooke, the last surviving writer of the series, and directed by Michael Kingsbury. It was first produced in October 2003 at the White Bear, a fringe theatre in south London, and opened in the West End at The Venue, Leicester Square in January 2004, running for more than a year. It featured Jonathan Rigby as Horne, Robin Sebastian as Williams, Nigel Harrison as Paddick, Kate Brown as Marsden and Charles Armstrong as Smith. A scene from the show featured in the 2004 Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum. Following the success of the London production, a second cast was assembled to tour the provinces. Stephen Critchlow played Horne, with Stephen Matthews, David Rumelle, Felicity Duncan and Oliver Beamish as Williams, Paddick, Marsden and Smith. The original show ran in London until December 2004, when it was replaced by a Christmas edition with an unchanged cast. A third edition, Round the Horne Revisited 2, rounded off the London run from February to April 2005, and then made a provincial tour.

The original version of the stage play was filmed by the BBC; the television director was Nick Wood. The programme was first transmitted on BBC Four on 13 June 2004 and was repeated ten times on Four or BBC Two over the next four years.

Other stage versions
In 2008 Barry Took's former wife, Lyn, and the director Richard Baron prepared a new stage adaptation, Round the Horne – Unseen and Uncut, which drew entirely on Took and Feldman material from series one to three. It toured in 2008 and 2009. The cast included, from the 2004 show, Rigby as Horne, Sebastian as Williams and Harrison as Paddick (later succeeded by David Delve), with Pertwee's characters – all omitted from the 2004 show – restored, played by Michael Shaw; Stephen Boswell played Smith. Unlike the 2004 production, it had a six-strong cast, augmented by a group of vocalists and musicians in the roles of the Hornblowers and the Fraser Hayes Four.

In 2015, to mark 50 years since the radio series began, Apollo Theatre Company produced a stage adaptation, Round the Horne: The 50th Anniversary Tour, compiled from the original scripts and directed by Tim Astley. The cast comprised Julian Howard McDowell (Horne), Colin Elmer (Williams), Jonathan Hansler (Paddick), Eve Winters (Marsden) and Nick Wymer (Smith).

Documentaries
A 45-minute BBC radio documentary, Round and Round the Horne, was broadcast on 18 September 1976. It was presented by Frank Bough and included interviews with Williams and Took. A 60-minute radio documentary, Horne A' Plenty, was broadcast on 14 February 1994. It was presented by Leslie Phillips and included new interviews with Marsden and Took and archive material featuring Horne. A three-hour radio special, Horne of Plenty, was broadcast on 5 March 2005 for the 40th anniversary of the show. It was presented by Jonathan James-Moore and included interviews with Ron Moody, Pertwee, Merriman's son Andy, Cooke, Lyn Took, and extracts from Williams's diary read "in character" by David Benson. The special included the first and final episodes of Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne in their entirety.

Contribution to British vocabulary
Round the Horne is cited as a source in 38 entries in The Oxford English Dictionary. Rambling Syd is quoted in the entry for "nadger": "In plural. The testicles. 'Now my dearios, I'll tether my nadgers to a grouting pole for the old grey mare is grunging in the meadow' – from a comedy monologue by the character 'Rambling Syd Rumpo' whose material is characterized by the use of nonsense words with a general air of sexual innuendo; the meaning is intentionally vague." Rambling Syd's surname is also cited: "rumpo", "n. Brit. slang. = rumpy-pumpy n. Perhaps influenced by the name of 'Rambling Syd Rumpo', a character (played by Kenneth Williams) in the British radio series Round the Horne (1965–9 [sic]), whose songs, although largely consisting of nonsense words, often had an air of sexual innuendo."

Julian and Sandy are cited among the sources for a range of palare words, including "bona" (Good, excellent; attractive), "naff" (Unfashionable, vulgar; lacking in style, inept; worthless, faulty), "nante" (Nothing), "omee" (Man – spelled "omi" by Took and Feldman) and "palone" (A young woman. Also: an effeminate man).

title: Round the Horne


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Patrick Troughton

Patrick George Troughton (25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor best known for his roles in television and film. He played the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who from 1966 to 1969; he reprised the role in 1972–1973, 1983 and 1985. His other work includes appearances in several fantasy, science fiction and horror productions including The Omen (1976) and The Box of Delights (1984).

Early life
Troughton was born on 25 March 1920 in Mill Hill, Middlesex, England, to Alec George Troughton (1887–1953), a solicitor, and Dorothy Evelyn Offord (1886–1979), who married in 1914 in Edmonton. Patrick had an elder brother, Alec Robert (1915–1994), and a younger sister, Mary Edith (1923–2005). Troughton attended Mill Hill School and continued to live in Mill Hill for most of his life. While at Mill Hill School, he acted in a production of J. B. Priestley's Bees on the Boat Deck in March 1937.

Troughton studied at the Embassy School of Acting at Swiss Cottage, being tutored by Eileen Thorndike. He was later awarded an acting scholarship at the Leighton Rallius Studios at the John Drew Memorial Theatre on Long Island, New York, in the United States.

When the Second World War broke out, he abandoned his studies in the U.S. and returned to Great Britain to enlist. During the passage across the North Atlantic Ocean, the ship carrying him struck a sea mine off the coast of Britain, from which he escaped in a lifeboat as the vessel foundered. On arrival back in England, whilst waiting to join the Armed Forces, he briefly worked with the Tonbridge Repertory Company.

In 1940, Troughton enlisted with the Royal Navy, receiving a commission with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in November 1941. He was deployed on East Coast Convoy duty from February to August 1941, and then with Coastal Forces' Motor Gun Boats based at Great Yarmouth from November 1942 to 1945, operating in the North Sea and English Channel. During his service with the MGBs, he was on one occasion involved in an action against Kriegsmarine E-boats which resulted in one of the enemy craft being destroyed by ramming, whilst Troughton's boat and another destroyed two more with their gunfire. His decorations included the 1939–45 Star, the Atlantic Star, and was mentioned in dispatches "for outstanding courage, leadership and skill in many daring attacks on enemy shipping in hostile waters". He used to wear a tea cosy on his head in cold weather in the North Sea.

Early career

After demobilisation, Troughton returned to the theatre. He worked with the Amersham Repertory Company, the Bristol Old Vic Company and the Pilgrim Players at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate. He made his television debut in 1947. In 1948, Troughton made his cinema debut with small roles in Olivier's Hamlet, the Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed Escape (one of the stars of which was William Hartnell), and a minor role as a pirate in Disney's Treasure Island (1950), appearing only during the attack on the heroes' hut. Television, though, was his favourite medium. In 1953, he became the first actor to play the folk hero Robin Hood on television, starring in six half-hour episodes broadcast from 17 March to 21 April on the BBC, and titled simply Robin Hood. Troughton would also make several appearances in The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene. He appeared as the murderer Tyrrell in Olivier's film of Richard III (1955). He was also Olivier's understudy on the film and appears in many long shots as Richard.

Troughton's other notable film and television roles included Kettle in Chance of a Lifetime (1950), Sir Andrew Ffoulkes in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1955), Vickers in the episode entitled "Strange Partners" in The Invisible Man (1958, the series also featured one of his future Doctor Who co-stars, Deborah Watling, as Sally), Phineus in Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Paul of Tarsus (BBC 1960, title role), Dr. Finlay's Casebook (BBC 1962, semi-regular), and Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop (1962–63). He voiced Winston Smith in a 1965 BBC Home Service radio adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Prior to Doctor Who he appeared in numerous TV shows, including The Count of Monte Cristo, Ivanhoe, Dial 999, Danger Man, Maigret, Compact, The Third Man, Crane, Detective, Sherlock Holmes, No Hiding Place, The Saint, Armchair Theatre, The Wednesday Play, Z-Cars, Adam Adamant Lives! and Softly, Softly.

Troughton was offered the part of Johnny Ringo in the Doctor Who story The Gunfighters but turned it down.

Doctor Who
In 1966, Doctor Who producer Innes Lloyd looked for a replacement for William Hartnell in the series' lead role. The continued survival of the show depended on audiences accepting another actor in the role, despite the bold decision that the replacement would not be a Hartnell lookalike or soundalike. Lloyd later stated that Hartnell had approved of the choice, saying, "There's only one man in England who can take over, and that's Patrick Troughton". Lloyd chose Troughton because of his extensive and versatile experience as a character actor. After he was cast, Troughton considered various ways to approach the role, to differentiate his portrayal from Hartnell's amiable-yet-tetchy patriarch. Troughton's early thoughts about how he might play the Doctor included a "tough sea captain", and a piratical figure in blackface and turban. Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman suggested that the Doctor could be a "cosmic hobo" in the mould of Charlie Chaplin, and this was the interpretation eventually chosen. Troughton was the first Doctor to have his face appear in the opening titles of the show. In one serial, The Enemy of the World, Troughton played two parts: as the protagonist (The Doctor) and the antagonist (Salamander).

During his time on the series, Troughton tended to shun publicity and rarely gave interviews. He told one interviewer, "I think acting is magic. If I tell you all about myself it will spoil it". Years later, he told another interviewer that his greatest concern was that too much publicity would limit his opportunities as a character actor after he left the role.

In a rare interview with Ernest Thompson from Radio Times Troughton revealed that he "always liked dressing up, and would have been happy as a school teacher as children keep one young". Troughton was popular with both the production team and his co-stars. Producer Lloyd credited Troughton with a "leading actor's temperament. He was a father figure to the whole company and hence could embrace it and sweep it along with him". Troughton also gained a reputation on set as a practical joker.

Many of the early episodes in which Troughton appeared were among those discarded by the BBC. Troughton found Doctor Who's schedule (at the time, 40 to 44 episodes per year) gruelling, and decided to leave the series in 1969, after three years in the role. This decision was also motivated in part by fear of being typecast.

Troughton returned to Doctor Who three times after formally leaving the programme. The first of these occasions was in The Three Doctors, the 1972–73 serial opening the programme's 10th series. In 1983, Troughton overcame some reluctance to reprise his role and agreed to appear in the 20th anniversary special "The Five Doctors" at the request of series producer John Nathan-Turner. He also agreed to attend Doctor Who conventions, including the show's 20th anniversary celebrations at Longleat in 1983. He also appeared around the world with Nathan-Turner. Troughton enjoyed the return to the programme so much that he readily agreed to appear one more time as the Second Doctor, with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor in The Two Doctors (1985). Reportedly, he also advised Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison to limit his time in the role to three series to avoid typecasting and the younger actor followed this advice.

In 2013, the BBC commissioned a docudrama about the early days of Doctor Who, as part of the programme's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Troughton appears as a character in the production, called An Adventure in Space and Time, portrayed by actor Reece Shearsmith.

In 2014's "Robot of Sherwood", a still image of Troughton from 1953 appears among the future depictions of Robin Hood displayed by the Twelfth Doctor to the outlaw.

Later career
After Troughton left Doctor Who in 1969, he appeared in various films and television roles. Film roles included Clove in Scars of Dracula (1970), a bodysnatcher in Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1973), Father Brennan in The Omen (1976) and Melanthius in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). Television roles included the recurring role of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk in five of the six episodes of The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) (for which he commenced rehearsals just one week after completing his final studio recording on Doctor Who), the villainous Nasca in Thames Television's Aztec-themed drama The Feathered Serpent (1976–78), a guest starring spot in the comedy series The Goodies in the episode "The Baddies", as well as episodes of Paul Temple, Dr. Finlay's Casebook, Doomwatch, The Persuaders!, A Family at War, Coronation Street, Softly, Softly: Task Force, Colditz, Play for Today, Z-Cars, Special Branch, Sutherland's Law, The Sweeney, Jason King, Survivors, Crown Court, Angels, Warship, Van der Valk, Space: 1999, The Onedin Line, All Creatures Great and Small, Only When I Laugh (Series 2 Episode #9), Nanny and Minder (in a March 1984 episode entitled "Windows", Season 4 Episode 9). He also portrayed Cole Hawlings in a BBC Television dramatisation of the John Masefield children's book The Box of Delights (1984). In the same year he also appeared in a Two Ronnies Christmas Special playing a judge.

Troughton's health was never completely robust due to heavy drinking and smoking (he had quit smoking in the 60s, but the damage had already been done). Later in his life he refused to accept his doctor's advice after he had developed a serious heart condition through overwork and stress. He suffered two major heart attacks, one in 1979 and the other in 1984, both of which prevented him from working for several months afterwards. Following each of these attacks, his doctor's warnings were again ignored, as Troughton committed himself to a heavy TV and film schedule.

He featured in the 1974 11-part radio adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour. In 1986, he was a regular in the first series of the LWT sitcom The Two of Us, and guested in an episode of Super Gran in May 1987, which was the last role he filmed. His final television appearance was in the autumn of the same year in Knights of God, which had been filmed two years earlier. Troughton also appeared in the first episode of Central Independent Television's Inspector Morse, entitled "The Dead of Jericho", which was originally transmitted on ITV on 6 January 1987.

Personal life
Troughton married his first wife, Margaret Dunlop, at the Union Church at Mill Hill on 3 September 1943.

Troughton started living a double life when, just after the birth of his third child in 1955, he chose to leave Dunlop and their three children (then aged eight, five, and a few months) to live with girlfriend Ethel Margaret "Bunny" Nuens, with whom he also went on to have three children. Troughton maintained the deception of having stayed with his original family that was so successful that his own mother died unaware of the separation in 1979, 24 years after Troughton had left Dunlop. Due to the disastrous drama Troughton caused during his divorce from Dunlop, his first daughter, Joanna, vowed never to speak to her father again. Their differences remained unresolved at the time of his death in 1987. While Troughton never married Nuens, in 1976 he did marry Shelagh Holdup and acquired two stepchildren.

Troughton's six children are:
 * Joanna Troughton, (born 1947, to Troughton and Dunlop), author and illustrator of children's books
 * David Troughton, (born 1950, to Troughton and Dunlop), actor
 * Michael Troughton, (born 1955, to Troughton and Dunlop), actor
 * Jane Troughton, (born 1956, to Troughton and Nuens), attended The Queens School, Kew. From 1960-
 * Peter Troughton, (born 1957, to Troughton and Nuens)
 * Mark Troughton, (born 1959, to Troughton and Nuens)

Troughton's grandchildren include:
 * Sam Troughton (son of David Troughton), an actor, known for Robin Hood.
 * Jim Troughton (son of David Troughton), played professional cricket for Warwickshire
 * William Troughton (son of David Troughton), an actor who plays Tom Archer in The Archers
 * Harry Melling (son of Joanna Troughton), an actor, known for Dudley Dursley.

Death
On 27 March 1987, two days after his 67th birthday, Troughton was a guest at the Magnum Opus Con II science fiction convention in Columbus, Georgia, United States. Although he had been warned by his doctors before leaving the United Kingdom not to exert himself because of his heart condition, he appeared to be in good spirits and participated vigorously in the day's panels, and was looking forward to a belated birthday celebration which was planned for that evening, as well as screenings of all of his surviving complete Doctor Who stories, including The Dominators, which he was particularly eager to see again. Troughton suffered a third and final heart attack at 7:25 am on 28 March, just after ordering breakfast from the hotel. According to the paramedics who attended the scene, he died instantly.

Troughton was certified dead at the Medical Center (now Piedmont Columbus Regional) in Columbus, Georgia. After a local cremation, his ashes were flown back to England. During the passage to England, the ashes were mislaid temporarily. This delayed his funeral by a few weeks. His widow, Shelagh, later scattered them beneath a newly planted tree in Bushy Park, a favourite place of Troughton's near to his family home in Teddington.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Patrick Troughton


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Causes of mental disorders

A mental disorder is an impairment of the mind disrupting normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, or social interactions, and accompanied by significant distress or dysfunction. The causes of mental disorders are very complex and vary depending on the particular disorder and the individual. Although the causes of most mental disorders are not fully understood, researchers have identified a variety of biological, psychological, and environmental factors that can contribute to the development or progression of mental disorders. Most mental disorders result in a combination of several different factors rather than just a single factor.

Research results
Risk factors for mental illness include psychological trauma, adverse childhood experiences, genetic predisposition, and personality traits. Correlations of mental disorders with drug use include almost all psychoactive substances, e.g., cannabis, alcohol, and caffeine.

Mental illnesses have risk factors, for instance including unequal parental treatment, adverse life events and drug use in depression, migration and discrimination, childhood trauma, loss or separation in families, and cannabis use in schizophrenia and psychosis, and parenting factors, child abuse, family history (e.g. of anxiety), and temperament and attitudes (e.g. pessimism) in anxiety. Many psychiatric disorders include problems with impulse and other emotional control.

In February 2013, a study found genetic links between five major psychiatric disorders: autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia. Abnormal functioning of neurotransmitter systems is also responsible for some mental disorders, including serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, and glutamate system's abnormal functioning. Differences have also been found in the size or activity of specific brain regions in some cases. Psychological mechanisms have also been implicated, such as cognitive (e.g. reasoning) biases, emotional influences, personality dynamics, temperament, and coping style. Studies have indicated that variation in genes can play an important role in the evolution of mental disorders, although the reliable identification of connections between specific genes and specific disorders has proven more difficult. Environmental events surrounding pregnancy (such as maternal hypertension, preeclampsia, or infection) and birth have also been implicated. Traumatic brain injury may increase the risk of developing certain mental disorders. Throughout the years, there have been inconsistent links found to certain viral infections, substance misuse, and general physical health that have been false.

Adverse experiences affect a person's mental health, including abuse, neglect, bullying, social stress, traumatic events, and other overwhelming life experiences. The specific risks and pathways to particular disorders are less clear, however. Aspects of the wider community have also been implicated, including employment problems, socioeconomic inequality, lack of social cohesion, problems linked to migration, and features of particular societies and cultures. Mental stress is a common cause of mental illnesses, so finding a coping solution to cope with mental stress would be beneficial. Many solutions that have helped reduce stress are yoga, exercise, and some medications that may help.

General theories
Several theories or models seek to explain the causes (etiology) of mental disorders. These theories may differ in regards to how they explain the cause of the disorder, how to treat the disorder, and how they classify mental disorders. Theories also differ about the philosophy of mind they accept; that is, whether the mind and brain are identical or not.

During most of the 20th century, mental illness was ascribable to problematic relationships between children and their parents. This view was held well into the late 1990s, in which people still believed this child-parent relationship was a large determinant of severe mental illness, such as depression and schizophrenia. In the 21st century, additional factors have been identified such as genetic contributions, though experience also plays a role. So, the perceived causes of mental illness have changed over time and will most likely continue to alter while more research develops throughout the years.

Outside the West, community approaches remain a focus.

A practical mixture of models will explain particular issues and disorders, although there may be difficulty defining boundaries for indistinct psychiatric syndromes.

Medical or biomedical model
An overall distinction is also commonly made between a "medical model" (also known as a biomedical or disease model) and a "social model" (also known as an empowerment or recovery model) of mental disorder and disability, with the former focusing on hypothesized disease processes and symptoms, along with latter focusing on hypothesized social constructionism and social contexts.

Biological psychiatry has tended to follow a biomedical model focused on organic or "hardware" pathology of the brain, where many mental disorders are conceptualized as disorders of brain circuits shaped by a complex interplay of genetics and experience.

The social and medical models of mental disorders each work to identify and study distinct aspects, solutions, and potential therapies of disorders. The intersection and cross reference between the two models can further be used to develop more holistic models of mental disorders. Many criticisms historically of each model is the exclusivity of the other perspective. Therefore, intersectional research improved the impact and importance of future findings.

Biopsychosocial model
The primary model of contemporary mainstream Western psychiatry is the biopsychosocial model (BPS), which integrates biological, psychological, and social factors. The Biopsychosocial model was first conceptualised by George Engel in 1977, suggesting that to understand a person's medical condition it is not simply the biological factors to consider, but also the psychological and social factors. The biopsychosocial approach systematically considers biological, psychological, and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery. Biological, psychological, and social factors exist along a continuum of natural systems. The factors within the model contain the following:

 * Biological (physiological pathology)
 * Psychological (thoughts emotions and behaviours such as psychological distress, fear/avoidance beliefs, current coping methods and attribution)
 * Social (socio-economical, socio-environmental, and cultural factors such as work issues, family circumstances and benefits/economics)

This model is commonly used for case conceptualization of psychological disorders as well as chronic pain, with the view that the pain is a psychophysiological behavior pattern that cannot be categorised into biological, psychological, or social factors alone.

A related view, the diathesis-stress model, posits that mental disorders result from genetic dispositions and environmental stressors, combining to cause patterns of distress or dysfunction. The model is one way to explain why some individuals are more vulnerable to mental disorders than others. Additionally, it explains why some people may develop a mental disorder after exposure to stressful life events while others do not.

Psychoanalytic theories
Psychoanalytic theories focus on unresolved internal and relational conflicts. These theories have been predicated as explanations of mental disorders. Many psychoanalytic groups are said to adhere to the biopsychosocial model and to accept an eclectic mix of subtypes of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud developed the psychoanalytic theory. This theory focuses on the impact of unconscious forces on human behavior. According to Freud, a personality has three parts: the id, ego, and superego. The id operates under the pleasure principle, the ego operates under the reality principle, and the superego is the "conscience" and incorporates what is and is not socially acceptable into a person's value system. According to the psychoanalytic theory, there are five stages of psychosexual development that everyone goes through the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and genital stage. Mental disorders can be caused by an individual receiving too little or too much gratification in one of the psychosexual developmental stages. When this happens, the individual is said to be in that developmental stage.

Attachment theory
Attachment theory is a kind of evolutionary-psychological approach sometimes applied in the context of mental disorders, which focuses on the role of early caregiver-child relationships, responses to danger, and the search for a satisfying reproductive relationship in adulthood. According to this theory, a child's attachment is to a nurturing adult, the more likely that child will maintain healthy relationships with others in their life. As found by the Strange Situation experiment run by Mary Ainsworth based on the formulations of John Bowlby, there are four patterns of attachment: secure attachment, avoidant attachment, disorganized attachment, and ambivalent attachment. Later research found the fourth pattern of attachment is known as disorganized disoriented attachment. Secure attachments reflect trust in the child-caretaker relationship while insecure attachment reflects mistrust. The security of attachment in a child affects the child's emotional, cognitive, and social competence later in life.

Evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology and evolutionary psychiatry posit that mental disorders involve the dysfunctional operation of mental modules adapted to ancestral physical or social environments but not necessarily to modern ones. Behavioral abnormalities that resemble human mental illness have been found in related species (great apes).

Other theories suggest that mental illness could have evolutionary advantages for the species, including enhancing creativity and stress to enhance survival by activating the flight-or-fight response in anticipation of danger.

Mania and depression could have benefited from seasonal changes by helping to increase energy levels during times of plenty and rejuvenating energy during times of scarcity. In this way, mania was set in motion during the spring and summer to facilitate energy for hunting; depression worked best during the winter, similar to how bears hibernate to recover their energy levels. This may explain the connection between circadian genes and Bipolar Disorder and explain the relationship between light and seasonal affective disorder.

Biological factors
Biological factors consist of anything physical that can cause adverse effects on a person's mental health. Biological factors include genetics, prenatal damage, infections, exposure to toxins, brain defects or injuries, and substance abuse. Many professionals believe that the cause of mental disorders is the biology of the brain and the nervous system.

Mind mentions genetic factors, long-term physical health conditions, and head injuries or epilepsy (affecting behavior and mood) as factors that may trigger an episode of mental illness.

Genetics
Some rare mental disorders are caused only by genetics such as Huntington's disease.

Family linkage and some twin studies have indicated that genetic factors often play a role in the heritability of mental disorders. The reliable identification of specific genetic variation can cause indication of higher risk to particular disorders, through linkage, Genome Wide Association Scores or association studies, has proven difficult. This is due to the complexity of interactions between genes, environmental events, and early development or the need for new research strategies. No specific gene results in a complex trait disorder, but specific variations of alleles result in higher risk for a trait. The heritability of behavioral traits associated with a mental disorder may be in permissive than in restrictive environments, and susceptibility genes probably work through both "within-the-skin" (physiological) pathways and "outside-the-skin" (behavioral and social) pathways. Investigations increasingly focus on links between genes and endophenotypes because they are more specific traits. Some include neurophysiological, biochemical, endocrinological, neuroanatomical, cognitive, or neuropsychological, rather than disease categories. Concerning a well-known mental disorder, schizophrenia, it is said with certainty that alleles (forms of genes) were responsible for this disorder. Some research has indicated only multiple, rare mutations are thought to alter neurodevelopmental pathways that can ultimately contribute to schizophrenia; virtually every rare structural mutation was different in each individual.

Research has shown that many conditions are polygenic meaning there are multiple defective genes rather than only one that is responsible for a disorder, and these genes may also be pleiotropic meaning that they cause multiple disorders, not just one. Schizophrenia and Alzheimer's are both examples of hereditary mental disorders. When exonic genes encode for proteins, these proteins do not just affect one trait. The pathways that contribute to complex traits and phenotypes interact with multiple systems, even though proteins have specific functions. brain plasticity (neuroplasticity) raises questions of whether some brain differences may be caused by mental illnesses or by pre-existing and then causing them.

Prenatal damage
Any damage that occurs to a fetus while still in its mother's womb is considered prenatal damage. Mental disorders can develop if the pregnant mother uses drugs or alcohol or is exposed to illnesses or infections during pregnancy. Environmental events surrounding pregnancy and birth have increased the development of mental illness in the offspring. Some events may include maternal exposure to stress or trauma, conditions of famine, obstetric birth complications, infections, and gestational exposure to alcohol or cocaine. These factors have been hypothesized to affect areas of neurodevelopment, general development, and restrict neuroplasticity.

Infection
There have been some findings of links between infection by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii and schizophrenia.

AIDS has been linked to some mental disorders. Research shows that infections and exposure to toxins such as HIV and streptococcus cause dementia. This HIV infection that makes its way to the brain is called encephalopathy which spreads itself through the brain leading to dementia. The infections or toxins that trigger a change in the brain chemistry can develop into a mental disorder.

Depression and emotional liability may be also be caused by babesiosis.

There is some evidence that there may be a relationship between BoDV-1 infection and psychiatric disease.

The research on Lyme disease caused by a deer tick and toxins is expanding the link between bacterial infections and mental illness.

Disease
Depression, anxiety, mania, psychosis, vegetative symptoms, cognitive deficit and consciousness impairment may be caused by internal disease as well as endocrine and metabolic disorders, deficiency states and neurologic disorders.

Injury and brain defects
Any damage to the brain can cause a mental disorder. The brain is the control system for the nervous system and the rest of the body. Without it, the body cannot function properly.

Increased mood swings, insane behavior, and substance abuse disorders are traumatic brain injury (TBI) examples. Findings on the relationship between TBI severity and prevalence of subsequent psychiatric disorders have been inconsistent, and occurrence relates to prior mental health problems. Direct neurophysiological effects in a complex interaction with personality, attitude, and social influences.

Head trauma classifies as either open or closed head injury. In open head injury, the skull is punctured and the brain tissue is demolished. Closed head injury is more common, the skull is not punctured because there is an impact of the brain against the skull that creates permanent structural damage (subdural hematoma). With both types, symptoms may disappear or persist over time. Typically the longer the length of time spent unconscious and the length of post-traumatic amnesia the worse the prognosis for the individual. The cognitive residual symptoms of head trauma are associated with the type of injury (either an open head injury or closed head injury) and the amount of tissue destroyed. Closed injury head trauma symptoms include; Deficits in abstract reasoning ability, judgment, memory, and marked personality changes. Open injury head trauma symptoms tend to be the experience of classic neuropsychological syndromes like aphasia, visual-spatial disorders, and types of memory or perceptual disorders.

Brain tumors are classified as either malignant and benign, and as intrinsic (directly infiltrate the parenchyma of the brain) or extrinsic (grows on the external surface of the brain and produces symptoms as a result of pressure on the brain tissue). Progressive cognitive changes associated with brain tumors may include confusion, poor comprehension, and even dementia. Symptoms tend to depend on the location of the tumor in the brain. For example, tumors on the frontal lobe tend to be associated with the sign of impairment of judgment, apathy, and loss of the ability to regulate/modulate behavior.

Findings have indicated abnormal functioning of brainstem structures in individuals with mental disorders such as schizophrenia, and other disorders that have to do with impairments in maintaining sustained attention. Some abnormalities in the average size or shape of some regions of the brain have been found in some disorders, reflecting genes and experiences. Studies of schizophrenia have tended to find enlarged ventricles and sometimes reduced volume of the cerebrum and hippocampus, while studies of (psychotic) bipolar disorder have sometimes found increased amygdala volume. Findings differ over whether volumetric abnormalities are risk factors or are only found alongside the course of mental health problems, possibly reflecting neurocognitive or emotional stress processes and medication use or substance use. Some studies have also found reduced hippocampal volumes in major depression, possibly worsening with time depression.

Neurotransmitter systems
Abnormal levels of dopamine activity correspond with several disorders (reduced in ADHD and OCD, and increased in schizophrenia). The dysfunction in serotonin and other monoamine neurotransmitters (norepinephrine and dopamine) correspond with certain mental disorders and their associated neural networks. Some include major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Studies of depleted levels of monoamine neurotransmitters show an association with depression and other psychiatric disorders, but "... it should be questioned whether 5-HT [serotonin] represents just one of the final and not the main, factors in the neurological chain of events underlying psychopathological symptoms...."

Simplistic "chemical imbalance" explanations for mental disorders have never received empirical support; and most prominent psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and psychologists have not espoused such ill-defined, facile etiological theories. Instead, neurotransmitter systems have been understood in the context of the diathesis-stress or biopsychosocial models. The following 1967 quote from renowned psychiatric and neuroscience researchers exemplifies this more sophisticated understanding (in contrast to the woolly "chemical imbalance" notion).

Whereas specific genetic factors may be of importance in the etiology of some, and possibly all, depressions, it is equally conceivable that early experiences of the infant or child may cause enduring biochemical changes, that may predispose some individuals to depressions in adulthood. It is not likely that changes in the metabolism of the biogenic amines alone will account for the complex phenomena of normal or pathological affect.

Substance abuse
Substance abuse, especially long-term abuse, can cause or exacerbate many mental disorders. Alcoholism is linked to depression while abuse of amphetamines and LSD can leave a person feeling paranoid and anxious.

Correlations of mental disorders with drug use include cannabis, alcohol, and caffeine. At more than 300 mg, caffeine may cause anxiety or worsen anxiety disorders. Illicit drugs can stimulate particular parts of the brain that can affect development in adolescence. Cannabis has also been found to worsen depression and lessen an individual's motivation. Alcohol has the potential to damage "white matter" in the brain that affects thinking and memory. Alcohol is a problem in many countries due to many people participating in excessive drinking or binge drinking.

Environmental factors
The term "environment" is very loosely defined in the context of mental illnesses. Unlike biological and psychological causes, environmental causes denote a wide range of stressors that individuals experience in everyday life. They are more psychologically than biologically based. Events that evoke feelings of loss are the most likely to cause a mental disorder to develop in an individual.

Environmental factors include but are not limited to dysfunctional home life, poor interpersonal relationships, substance abuse, not meeting social expectations, low self-esteem, and poverty. The British charity organisation Mind lists childhood abuse, trauma, violence, neglect, social isolation, discrimination, grief, stress, homelessness, social disadvantage, debt, unemployment, caring for a family member or friend, and significant trauma as an adult (such as war, an accident, or being the victim of a violent crime) as possible triggers of an episode of mental illness.

Repeating generational patterns, behaviors that are passed down through different familial generations, are also a risk factor for mental illness, especially in children.

Life events and emotional stress
Mistreatment in childhood or adulthood (including sexual-, physical-, and emotional abuse, domestic violence, and bullying) has been linked to the onset of mental disorders through an interaction of societal, familial, psychological, and biological factors. More generally, negative or stressful life events have been implicated in the development of a range of disorders, including mood and anxiety disorders.

The main risks appear to be from the accumulation of such experiences over time, although a single major trauma can sometimes lead to disorders, especially post-traumatic stress disorder. Resilience to such experiences varies; a person may be resistant to some stressors but not to others. The psychological resilience of an individual can be affected by genetics, temperamental characteristics, cognitive flexibility, coping strategies, and previous experiences. For example, in the case of bipolar disorder, stress is not a specific cause but does place genetically and biologically vulnerable people at risk for more severe forms of the illness.

Adverse childhood experiences
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study has shown a strong dose–response relationship between adverse childhood experiences or ACEs (such as physical and/or emotional neglect, abuse, poverty, malnutrition, and traumatic experiences) and numerous health, social, and behavioral problems including suicide attempts and the frequency of depressive episodes. Several such experiences can cause toxic stress.

ACEs may affect the structural and functional development of the brain and lead to abnormalities, and chronic trauma can disrupt immune responses and cause lasting dysregulated inflammatory response. A child's neurological development can be disrupted when chronically exposed to stressful events, and his/her cognitive functioning and/or ability to cope with negative emotions can diminish. Over time, the child may adopt various harmful coping strategies that contribute to later mental and physical problems. Findings have been mixed, but some studies suggest that cognitive deficit is more related to neglect than other forms of adversity.

Poor parenting is a risk factor for depression and anxiety. Separation, grief in families, and other forms childhood trauma are risk factors for schizophrenia. Children are more susceptible to psychological harm from traumatic events than adults, but their reaction does vary by individual child, age, the type of event, and the length of exposure.

Neglect is a form of mistreatment in which the responsible caretakers fail to provide the necessary age-appropriate care, supervision, and protection. It is different from abuse in that it is, in this context, not intentional in causing harms. The long-term effects of neglect can be reduced physical, emotional, and mental health throughout the victim's life.

Familial and close relationships
Parental divorce, death, absence, or the lack of stability appears to increase the risk of mental disorders in a child. Early social privation, and the lack of "ongoing, harmonious, secure, committed" relationships have been implicated in the development of mental illnesses. Continuous conflict with friends, one's support system, and family can all increase the risk of developing a mental illness or can worsen one's mental health.

Divorce is a factor that affects adults as well as children. Divorcees may have emotional adjustment problems due to a loss of intimacy and social connections; however, new statistics show that the negative effects of divorce have been overstated.

Social expectations and self-esteem
Having both too low or too high self-esteem can be detrimental to an individual's mental health. Low self-esteem in particular can result in aggression, self-deprecating behavior, anxiety, and other mental disorders. Being perceived as someone who does not "fit in" can result in bullying and other types of emotional abuse, which can lead to the victim experiencing depression, anger, and loneliness.

Poverty
Studies show that there is a direct correlation between poverty and mental illness: the lower the socioeconomic status of an individual, the higher the risk of mental illness. Impoverished people in England, defined as those who live in the lowest 20% income bracket, are two to three times more likely to develop mental illness than those of a higher economic class. This increased risk remains consistent for all poor individuals regardless of any in-group demographic differences, as all disadvantaged families experience economic stressors such as unemployment or lack of housing. A lower or more insecure educational, occupational, economic, or social position is generally linked to more mental disorders. Children from these backgrounds may have low levels of self-efficiency and self-worth. Studies have also shown a strong relationship between poverty and substance abuse, another risk factor in the onset of mental disorders.

Problems in one's community or culture including poverty, unemployment or underemployment, a lack of social cohesion, and migration have been associated with the development of mental disorders. Personal resources, community factors, and interactions between individual and regional-level income levels have been implicated. Socioeconomic deprivation in neighborhoods can cause worsen mental health, even after accounting for genetic factors. According to a 2009 meta-analysis by Paul and Moser, countries with high income inequality and poor unemployment protections have worse mental health outcomes among the unemployed.

The effects of different socioeconomic factors varies by country. Minority ethnic groups, including first or second-generation immigrants, are at a greater risk of developing mental disorders. This has been attributed to the insecurities in their lives and their disadvantages, including racism. There have been alternate models, such as the drift hypothesis to account for the complex relationship between an individual's social status and mental health.

Psychological and individual factors, including resilience
Some clinicians believe that psychological characteristics alone determine mental disorders. Others speculate that abnormal behavior can be explained by a mix of social and psychological factors. In many examples, environmental and psychological triggers complement one another resulting in emotional stress, which in turn activates a mental illness. Each person is unique in how they will react to psychological stressors. What may break one person may have little to no effect on another. Psychological stressors, which can trigger mental illness, are as follows: emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, loss of a significant loved one, neglect, and being unable to relate to others.

The inability to relate to others is also known as emotional detachment. Emotional detachment makes it difficult for an individual to empathize with others or to share their feelings. These individuals tend to stress the importance of their independence and tend to struggle relating to others. An emotionally detached person may try to rationalize or apply logic to a situation to which there is no logical explanation. Often, the inability to relate to others stems from a traumatic event.

Mental characteristics of individuals, as assessed by both neurological and psychological studies, have been linked to the development and maintenance of mental disorders. This includes cognitive or neurocognitive factors, such as the way a person perceives, thinks, or feels about certain things; or an individual's overall personality, temperament, or coping style or the extent of protective factors or "positive illusions" such as optimism, personal control and a sense of meaning.

title: Causes of mental disorders