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A veteran of the classic British vaudeville scene would no doubt build up pretty thick skin, thus explaining comedian and songwriter Arthur Askey's courage in taking on as potentially menacing an adversary as the world's population of bees; accusing the sting-capable creatures of such faults as "building up the honey-comb that looks like tripe" or "stinging all the cows upon the parson's nose." The final insult in his frequently covered "Bee Song" is this couplet: "Bees are allright when alive you see/but when bees die you really should see 'em/pinned on a card in a dirty museum." Perhaps Askey was just looking for someone smaller than he was to pick on. He was a short fellow who right from the beginning of his professional career was said to have compensated for his lack of height with a surfeit of manic energy. His career lasted a good four decades, overlapping the worlds of radio, television, variety, and pantomime, and he also did quite well writing songs for a newly developing...