It’s That Man Again is a giant in the history of radio comedy. As Mat Coward’s book Classic Radio Comedy says, “Surely the most written-about radio series in history, it was successful to an extent which is hard to imagine today. Its international audience was measured in the tens of millions. Its star, Tommy Handley, was undoubtedly the most popular performer, in any field, ever known in Britain.”

In the 1930s the British newspapers, tired of the constant repetition of news items featuring Hitler, took to referring to him obliquely as That Man. A catchphrase quickly caught on, supposedly begun by the Daily Express, whereby Hitler’s activities were refered to sarcastically using the newspaper headline It’s that man again!

With the then-current craze for reducing everything to an acronym, that headline, reduced to its initials ITMA, became the title of the BBC’s latest radio comedy series, launched in 1939, with the twist that the term ‘that man’ was used in the show to also allude to its star, the stage comedian Tommy Handley.

It became the ultimate catchphrase comedy series: Can I do you now, sir? Don’t forget the diver, sir! I don’t mind if I do so, sir! This is Funf calling!