Lenny Henry’s Followers (42)

Lenny Henry

Born

in Dudley, Worcestershire, The United Kingdom

August 29, 1958

Website

http://www.lennyhenry.com/home/index.aspx

Genre

Humor, Children's Books

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Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, CBE is an English actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter. Henry is known as the choleric chef Gareth Blackstock from the 1990s television comedy series Chef!, or from his 1999 straight-acting lead role in the BBC drama Hope And Glory. He was co-creator with Neil Gaiman and producer of the 1996 BBC drama serial Neverwhere.

His earliest television appearance was on the New Faces talent show, which he won in 1975 with an impersonation of Stevie Wonder. The following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWT's sitcom The Fosters, Britain's first comedy series with predominantly black performers. His formative years were spent in working men's clubs, where his act was as a young black man imper Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, CBE is an English actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter. Henry is known as the choleric chef Gareth Blackstock from the 1990s television comedy series Chef!, or from his 1999 straight-acting lead role in the BBC drama Hope And Glory. He was co-creator with Neil Gaiman and producer of the 1996 BBC drama serial Neverwhere.

His earliest television appearance was on the New Faces talent show, which he won in 1975 with an impersonation of Stevie Wonder. The following year he appeared with Norman Beaton in LWT's sitcom The Fosters, Britain's first comedy series with predominantly black performers. His formative years were spent in working men's clubs, where his act was as a young black man impersonating white characters such as the Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em character Frank Spencer (whom he impersonated on New Faces). He also made guest appearances on television programmes including Celebrity Squares, Seaside Special and The Ronnie Corbett Show.

He co-hosted the children's programme Tiswas from 1978 until 1981, and subsequently performed and wrote for the show Three of a Kind, with comedians Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield. Also in 1980, he teamed up with The Comic Strip where he met his wife, comedienne Dawn French. She encouraged him to move over to the fledgling alternative comedy scene, where he established a career as a stand-up comedy performer and character comedian. He introduced characters who both mocked and celebrated black British culture, such as Theophilus P. Wildebeeste (a homage to Teddy Pendergrass using the 'TP' initials), Brixton pirate radio disc jockey DJ Delbert Wilkins and Trevor MacDoughnut (a parody of Trevor McDonald). His stand-up material, which sold well on LP, owed much to the writing abilities of Kim Fuller.

The first series of The Lenny Henry Show appeared on the BBC in 1984. The show featured stand up, spoofs like his send up of Michael Jackson's Thriller video, and many of the characters he had developed during Summer Season, including Theophilus P. Wildebeeste and Delbert Wilkins. The Lenny Henry Show ran for a further 20 years in various incarnations.

In the early 1990s, Henry starred in the Hollywood film True Identity, in which his character pretended to be a white person (using make-up, prostheses, and a wig) in order to avoid the mob. The film was not commercially successful.
In 1991, he starred in a BBC drama alongside Robbie Coltrane called Alive and Kicking, in which he played a heroin addict, which was based on a true story.

In 2003, Henry was listed in The Observer as one of the fifty funniest acts in British comedy. In 2004, he was listed in The Sunday Times as the fifteenth funniest black performer of all time. Henry is associated with the British Comic Relief charity organisation, along with his former wife, comedienne Dawn French, and Griff Rhys Jones, and has hosted the show and also presented filmed reports from overseas on the work of the charity.

He was the voice of the "shrunken head" on the Knight Bus in the 2004 movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and read the audio book version of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.

He was introduced to Shakespeare when he made the 2006 Radio 4 series Lenny and Will. Which saw him going "in search of the magic of Shakespeare in performance." In February 2009 Henry appeared in the Northern Broadsides production of Othello. He received widespread critical acclaim in the role.

Henry graduated in English Literature, (BA Hons), with the Open University in 2007. Henry studied for an MA at Royal Holloway, University of London in screenwriting for television and film, where he received a distinction and where he is now studying for a PhD on the role of black people in the media. Henry was made a CBE in the New Years Honours list in 1998 for his services to comedy drama and Comic Relief. ...more

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Lenny Henry's Blog

Lenny Henry isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but they do have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from their feed.

CRADLE TO RAVE VS MAGICIANS

It%apos;s really odd when something comes in from the side and knocks you off your trajectory.
I wasn%apos;t supposed to be hosting a magic show on prime time BBC one for the new year...

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Published on November 29, 2010 00:00

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Lenny Henry’s books

Average rating: 3.98 · 3,965 ratings · 792 reviews · 37 distinct works • Similar authors

	Who Am I, Again? 3.83 avg rating — 1,040 ratings — published 2019 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rising to the Surface 3.56 avg rating — 239 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Black British Lives Matter: A Clarion Call for Equality 4.46 avg rating — 169 ratings — published 2021 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Boy With Wings: The laugh-out-loud, extraordinary adventure from Lenny Henry (The Boy With Wings series Book 1) by Lenny Henry, Keenon Ferrell (Illustrator) 3.54 avg rating — 130 ratings — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Access All Areas: The Diversity Manifesto for TV and Beyond 4.33 avg rating — 87 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Book of Legends by Lenny Henry, Keenon Ferrell (Illustrator) 3.88 avg rating — 66 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jack and the Beanstalk and Other Stories by Lenny Henry, Sheridan Smith (Reader) 3.85 avg rating — 54 ratings — published 2009	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Boy With Wings: Attack of the Rampaging Robot - World Book Day 2023 by Lenny Henry, Keenon Ferrell (Illustrator) 3.45 avg rating — 29 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	You Can Do Anything, Tyrone! by Lenny Henry, Salomey Doku (Illustrator) 4.88 avg rating — 8 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	August in England 4.33 avg rating — 6 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Lenny Henry (?)

“Martin was very blunt with the ladies, no messing around: ‘Are you interested, love? Otherwise I’ve got a pie in the oven.’ He was a charmer.”
― Lenny Henry, Who Am I, Again?

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