TV Talk: A Dictionary of Words and Phrases Popularised by Television

According to The Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases (Farkas, 2002) (RR 2003/135) the term dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century, but it was popularised by music hall acts and then, most significantly, by radio comedians in the 1930s and 1940s. These became so common in the everyday language of war‐time civilians and soldiers alike that they could have been used – and probably were – as passwords which the enemy militia would not have known. Although we all know that Sherlock Holmes never actually uttered the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson”, many magicians at all levels...