The first time that I saw McKern was in a movie entitled "The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film" probably in the early '60s. It was a Goon Show kind of production, black and white and very amateur. I recall a sketch where McKern beckons someone (I think Spike Milligan) across the width of a small field to come closer and closer and closer and then hits him with a boxing gloved hand that had been hidden until that point. The twist being that while this came as a surprise to the audience it obviously should not have done to Spike. Sounds silly I know, but we were all less sophisticated in those days and could still enjoy a good belly laugh.

dxb