Mark Radcliffe profiles six of the North's best-loved and most influential comedians.
5: Robb Wilton , who is perhaps best remembered for his role as Mr Muddlecombe JP , the bumbling, befuddled magistrate. For others, Robb's catchphrase "The day war broke out, my missus said to me ..." will forever be a reminder of the humourthat kept Britain laughing during the Second World War and the years of rationing that followed. Wilton was born in 1881 in Everton and established himself on the blossoming variety circuit in his twenties. He became a master of the art of storyteiiing-he did not tell jokes, he simply related anecdotes from life. Producer Libby Cross