Graeme Garden

David Graeme Garden OBE (born 18 February 1943) is a British comedian, author, actor, artist and television presenter, best known as a member of The Goodies.

Early life and education

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he grew up in Preston, England. Garden was educated at Repton School, and studied medicine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he joined the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club (of which he became President in 1964), and performed with the 1964 Footlights revue, Stuff What Dreams Are Made Of at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Garden qualified in medicine at King's College London, but has never practised. Asked how he justified making jokes rather than saving lives, he answered:

Career

Radio

Garden was co-writer and performer in the classic BBC radio comedy sketch show, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, in the late 1960s. Garden was studying medicine during the early seasons of I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, and this commitment made it difficult for him to be a member of the cast during the third season because of a midwifery medical course in Plymouth. However, he continued sending scripts for the radio show by mail – and rejoined the cast upon his return to his medical studies in London. On several occasions his medical qualifications are lampooned; in the 25th Anniversary Show, David Hatch asks him if he is still a writer. Garden: "Here's something I wrote this morning". Hatch: "It's a prescription". "Yes," says Garden, "but it's a funny one..."