A long-running
BBC radio
comedy series in which
Frank Muir and
Denis Norden told jokes, answered questions, and made up wild stories on the subject of
words. It started in 1956 and went for 34 years.
The chairman was Sir Jack Longland. Frank and Denis were the "captains" of a team of two, as is usual in these formats. The other members were Ann Scott-James and the film reviewer Dilys Powell.
The final round was one in which Frank and Denis had been given a well-known phrase or quotation, and they had to explain the origin of it. This was always a shaggy dog story ending up in an extended pun, such as You can't have your kayak and heat it too, or The sun and air of a mongrel beach.
Three books of the stories were published, starting in 1977.
After many years, My Word! spun off a sequel My Music, with Steve Race in the chair, and Ian Wallace and John Amis as team members. This began in 1967.