Some people have a strong influence on you and your life, whether you ever meet them or
not. For me, it is the radio comedy writers who produced those many hours of entertainment
I enjoyed in my childhood and teen years – hearing their shows encouraged my love of radio
comedy and set me on the path to become a comedy writer myself. But if I had to single one
writer out as the biggest inspiration to me, it would undoubtedly be John Finnemore.
So when I heard that he was coming to Chiplitfest in November, obviously I hopped online
immediately to buy tickets for his event!!
For those unlucky souls who have not yet had the pleasure of hearing John Finnemore’s
work, he is – in my opinion – one of the greatest radio comedy writers of all time. I first
encountered his comedy with the sitcom Cabin Pressure, when my parents would play the
whole series in back-to-back episodes (all 26, plus the Christmas special) on long car
journeys. I went on to love his sketch show John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme, with its
brilliant variety of observational, parody and absurdist skits, as well as his more bittersweet
comedy-drama anthology series John Finnemore’s Double Acts. In addition to these shows
and all his other brilliant radio work (contributing to and appearing in many well-known radio
comedies), I was thrilled to learn that he also co-wrote the second series of TV show Good
Omens with Neil Gaiman – which is one of my favourite pieces of media. I’m trying to be
professional – and not an uncomfortably avid fangirl – but the truth is that I have always
been in absolute awe of John Finnemore’s comedic writing style and want to follow in his
footsteps.
But John Finnemore (yes, I am using the full name every time; it just feels right, especially
given his radio show titles) isn’t just a comedy god… he’s also a terrific puzzler.
He sets Listener crosswords for The Times (under the name ‘Emu’) and is one of only FOUR
people (and the first since the 1930’s!) to have EVER solved Cain’s Jawbone – a murder
mystery puzzle book by Edward Powys Mathers, writing as Torquemada, and published in
1934. The pages were printed out of order and readers had to figure out the correct
sequence, and the names of the murderers and victims. John Finnemore solved it over six
months during the COVID lockdown – and has now created an official follow-up in the form of 100 cryptic picture postcards: The Researcher’s First Murder.
Similar to the original puzzle, the postcards are out of order and readers of The
Researcher’s First Murder must rearrange them to uncover what happened in ten murder
cases... with a cash prize from publisher Unbound for the first person to solve everything!*
(*as in all things, terms and conditions apply)
I’m incredibly excited about The Researcher’s First Murder – although admittedly not
because I think I can solve it, since I have literally never filled in a cryptic crossword
successfully in my life. No, I’m excited because John Finnemore has already shown a flair
for temporal chicanery, playing about with the sequence of information, when he broke
tradition, genre, and even form in 2021 with his revolutionary ninth series of John
Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme. The ninth series is a family saga, rather than a sketch
show, covering five generations of a single family – but what is incredible is that it largely
tells the saga in reverse chronological order, so that each episode the listener must piece
together the family history while going backwards through time. Such a narrative stretches
and suspends the order of causes and consequences… boding for a puzzle of similar
delightfully dizzying interconnectivity in The Researcher’s First Murder.
John Finnemore will be holding a talk about a range of topics – from The Researcher’s First
Murder to his radio work – in the Chipping Norton Theatre at 7:30pm on 26 November as the penultimate event of ChipLitFest. You can buy your tickets here, so don’t miss out – I know I’ll be there!!
