DRIVELLY SCOTTISH funsters MIKE HOPE and ALBIE KEEN preside over wacky slapstickian behaviour in eponymous House in which was situated the ‘Coal-Hole Club’, various poppermost musicians, PETER “WHO DO YOU DO?” GOODWRIGHT as the (as always) senile butler and RUTH KETTLEWELL as barmy cook. Pair then decide to hit the road Kerouac-style, enlisting titular Bus to tour Britain in order to locate (as always) lost treasure. Quest heralded as follows: “In Uncle Ebenezer’s chest/we found a funny map/We blew the dust off/and saw a treasure trail/We’re feeling brave/so we followed all the clues he gave/and we’ll be on our way/(Chorus) Crazy bus/you’re taking us away/Crazy bus/I wonder where we’re going today.”
Hope and Keen’s Crazy House/Bus
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Richard Tomes
June 23, 2010 at 7:43 pm
That theme (Crazy Bus) was the first thing I ever taped off the telly – aged 5, on a reel to reel tape recorder.
Al
September 26, 2010 at 6:45 pm
This has been bugging me for ages. As, indeed, have the words to the Top Cat theme. Thanks to Danny Baker for solving that little mystery.
Albi
October 19, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Loved Hope and Keen as a child. Even saw them ‘on tour’ in Weymouth!
Karen
November 4, 2014 at 8:33 pm
AT LAST! No one has ever believed me when I’ve told them of a programme with “figbox of my imagination” I was 9. It wasn’t a “figbox of my imagination”
Kev
November 28, 2014 at 11:14 am
…and not forgetting the end title song
“Crazy Bus you’ve found another clue
We’ll be back again another afternoon”
Cary Ross
June 19, 2016 at 12:31 am
Old friend of Albie Keen in Montreal in the 80’s.
Would love to get in touch with him.
Can you help?
Cary
Tom Ronson
October 27, 2022 at 12:51 am
The Coal Hole Club was also the title of a children’s series The Grumbleweeds made for the BBC in the early seventies. (I know far too much about The Grumbleweeds.)