George Martin (comedian) of the day. He wrote for the first TV series of Irish comedian Dave Allen; "Tonight with Dave Allen", as well as material for artistes such as Rolf Harris, Jimmy Tarbuck, Paul Daniels, Harry Worth and Tommy Cooper. He became the main writer and ideas man, as well as script and production associate, for renowned magician David Nixon. When the then unknown legendary fox puppet, Basil Brush, appeared as a weekly guest on "The Nixon Line", Martin helped develop the character and subsequently was the sole writer of every Basil Brush show for many years, (throughout the 1960s and 70s).
Basil Brush day, top stars such as Demis Roussos in 1973, Petula Clark in 1979, and Cilla Black — big stars vied to get on the show, which had a huge audience); sometimes the guest singer would do a song, straight, but then also do a comic duet with Basil. Finally, the show would conclude with 'storytime', in which Mr Derek or Mr Roy, etc., would read aloud from a serial story about the adventures of some fictitious historical relative of Basil's — for instance 'Bulldog' Basil, or Blast-Off Basil and his journey to the stars (a "Star Trek" spoof), or Basil