The Janet and John educational children's books were a popular way to help children learn to read in the Fifties, Sixties and early Seventies. TOG Hellen Bach says: "We are delighted to have been asked to help sell the Janet and John CD in aid of BBC Children In Need. Yet The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is not John Marsh's only contribution to radio comedy. In fact, since the 1990s his marital relationship with his wife Janet has inspired a series of radio sketches all of their own, the infamous Janet and John stories, read by Terry Wogan. Who is John Marsh? A key point of the Janet and John stories is the way that Terry Wogan was able to tell them in an entirely inoffensive manner. It may seem a contradiction, but the way he would burst out with uncontrollable laughter while telling the stories reassured listeners that it was all innocent innuendo perfectly suitable for being broadcast when children were listening. The stories seem far ruder in text than Terry would ever make them sound. John Marsh was one of the regular underling newsreaders for the Wake Up to Wogan radio show. Between 1993 and 2009 this was a weekday early morning show hosted by Irish presenter Sir Terry Wogan, broadcast from 7.30am and 9.30am and reportedly Europe's most popular radio show. Creating Janet and John There can be few people less deserving of a reputation of a foppish lothario than John Marsh. Both he and Janet are the sort of people that you wish lived next door. Janet is no more the violent harridan than John is a lisping popinjay, but... reality is temporarily suspended for the… duration of the show when, (mostly) within the bounds of decency, anything goes.

Wogan was a leading media personality in the UK from the late 1960s onward and was often referred to as a national treasure. He is perhaps best remembered in the United Kingdom for his BBC 1 chat show "Wogan", for his work presenting "Children in Need", as the host of "Wake Up to Wogan", and as the BBC's commentator for the "Eurovision Song Contest" from 1980 to 2008. Wogan started a primetime weekend show on Radio 2 from 14 February 2010. Show moreAccording to his BBC biography, John 'Boggy' Marsh started work for the BBC in 1965 intending to be a cameraman but had a natural voice for radio. Beginning on the World Service he then announced programmes for Radio 4 for most of the 1970s, including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In 1982 he moved to Radio 2, Europe's most popular radio station, as a newsreader. Each story begins with a description of the bizarre outfit John is wearing today, typically something outrageously sparkly with sequins, brocaded cuffs, frills, lapels and gold braid. Janet takes John out somewhere, holding onto his reins to prevent him crossing the road unsupervised, before she has to leave him for a few minutes and makes him promise to be good and meet her a few minutes later. John then has a look around wherever he happens to be and goes out of his way to be sociable and help those he meets. For example, if he were to be at a dog show in the church hall, he would help the Pastor carry the cage containing his boxer dog puppies down the steps from the vicarage. He would then look at the other dogs in the show such as the Schnauzer belonging to Melanie Frontage, and helped her carry a heavy box of fashionable dog coats and chic accessories for sale to a table far from the church hall's entrance. He would then meet up with Janet, who would ask what he had been up to.

Each story lasted between 2 and 4 minutes – depending on how long Terry Wogan spent laughing mid-story while trying to read them out - and were only ever read out on air when it was John Marsh's turn to be the newsreader. They would be read out regularly on Wake Up to Wogan until 2009 when Terry Wogan retired from the daily breakfast show. When Wogan instead hosted Weekend Wogan on Sundays, the stories remained a highlight of his show. The last episode of Weekend Wogan was broadcast in late 2015. Sadly Sir Terry died in January 2016. Setting the Stories The Janet and John radio stories were heavily laden with innuendo. These were read out on air by Terry Wogan, who performed as John Marsh with a distinctive lisp. The first few stories proved a huge success with both of Radio 2's listeners 2 and Kevin Joslin was encouraged by Pauly to write more. This paved the way for a long-running highlight of Terry's show.