Titter Ye Not

A much loved British Music Hall, Radio, TV and film comedy legend is the latest unlikely victim of the Mandela Effect. This is another pronunciation one, because the variations sound the same.

Was he called Frankie Howard or Frankie Howerd?

His many catchphrases and mannerisms are well-known to those of a certain age, but sadly, as is the case with many of his era, younger people are starting to struggle recognising him.

He actually started out intending to be a serious actor, but soon said "Ooooh, no missus!" to that once he was bitten by the comedy bug.

That was the week that was

He was born on 6th March 1917 in York, England and died on 19 April 1992. He made a massive contribution to British, and global comedy with his "bumbling" on stage act which, although it seems nothing unusual today, if not a little quaint, was actually ground breaking. That's because there was an format for stand up comedians where they were expected to just rattle of gags, with sometimes a little audience raconteur. His routine - to enter the stage and act as if he was lost - was in fact very skillfully prepared and rehearsed, and as unique in it's day as it was ground breaking.

Perhaps his best known movie role was Lurcio in Up Pompeii,  his association with the Carry On comedy team was tragically cut short after his death just before he was due to appear in his third one. He was even considered for the role which went to Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

His legacy lives on today, right up to modern plays being produced about his life.

Name change

His father was called Francis William, and his mother Edith Howard. Since he took his father's Christian name, he would have therefore been born Francis Howard, with the Howard spelling being the most popular for that sound, The story is he "wanted to be different" and so deliberately changed the spelling to "Howerd", which if true, would have made his stand out more since that version is rare to the point of being unique. Those who are experiencing this Mandela Effect, however, will say that's not how things work, and whilst this is a very plausible explanation for the current timeline, it just didn't happen in the one they came from where he remained "Howard" all along.