Idle weekend research revealed that BBC Chairman Lord Patten, whilst at Balliol, Oxford, adapted (and probably performed in) a
version of Aristophanes' The Frogs. This tale of a god bringing back dead playwrights to improve modern drama may be a metaphor for Cohen's BBC1 (Poldark, non-Muppet puppets, Bergerac, etc). Patten's co-writers included
Edward Mortimer (they also both worked on satirical mag Mesopotamia, a pre-cursor of Private Eye - if anyone has a copy still, let me know, please).
The Balliol Players toured public schools with their show in the summer term of 1964. The raunchiness of some of the Balliol annual offerings got them on the agenda of the
Headmasters' Conference; I have no evidence that this particular ouevre, performed in Victorian dress, caused such trouble. It is suggested that Lord Patten took to the stage as
Queen Victoria. Some would say, at 20, the role came too soon for him.
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