Julian and Sandy were characters on the BBC radio programme Round the Horne, played by Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick, with scripts written by Barry Took and Marty Feldman.

As well as being highly amusing, Julian and Sandy were notable for being two camp homosexual characters in mass entertainment at a time when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, and for the use of Polari or palare in the sketches.

Kenneth Horne would find these two characters usually by looking in a rather risque magazine (which he would insist he bought for innocent reasons). This would lead him, more often than not, to a business in Chelsea starting with the word 'Bona' (palare for 'good'). He would enter by saying: 'Hello, anyone there?' Julian (Hugh Paddick) would answer 'Hello, I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy.'

Here is a quote illustrating the use of double entendre from the sketch Bona Law, featuring Julian and Sandy as lawyers (the title was itself apparently a pun on Bonar Law):

HORNE: Will you take my case?

JULIAN: Well, it depends on what it is. We've got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time.

HORNE: Yes, but apart from that -- I need legal advice.

SANDY: Ooh, isn't he bold?

At other times Horne's character would pretend not to understand the more risqué meanings in Julian and Sandy's dialogue, although it was always hinted that he was secretly in on the joke.

In the last episode of series 4 (which later turned out to be the last ever episode due to Horne's untimely death) Julian and Sandy are revealed to be married - to a pair of "dolly palomes" named Julia and Sandra.

See also:

• Wolfenden report

External link and references

• Julian and Sandy sub-section on a Kenneth Williams website
• Julian and Sandy tribute site -- with sketches
• BBC Shop: The Bona World of Julian and Sandy
• Round the Horne page