James A. FitzPatrick (February 26, 1894 – June 12, 1980) was an American producer, director, writer, and narrator, known from the early 1930s as "The Voice of the Globe" from his Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks.

In 1930, FitzPatrick began filming travel documentaries for British and American viewers. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer distributed the series under the title FitzPatrick's Traveltalks. Beginning with 1934's "Holland in Tulip Time," the Traveltalks were filmed in Technicolor, making this series one of the first regular vehicles for color film in the American film industry. FitzPatrick made nearly 300 films in a career that spanned five decades. He was, in some ways, the heir to Charles Urban's approach to making travelogues: they concentrated on the picturesque elements of a nation visited — architecture and landscape, but not so much the people.

"Balham, Gateway to the South" is a comedy sketch parodying a short travel documentary about the South London suburb of Balham. It was written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden for the short-lived BBC radio series Third Division, and was featured in the second edition on 2 February 1949. It compared the area, during postwar austerity, to faraway exotic locations depicted in travelogues of the day. One memorable part of the sketch is the pronunciation of Balham as "Bal-Ham" in an American accent, instead of the British pronunciation "Ballum."

The original sketch was performed by Peter Sellers as narrator, with others such as Benny Hill and Michael Bentine contributing other voices. The script features the narration of exaggerated claims regarding the attractions of the area. The sketch was later performed solo by Peter Sellers, in a parody of the American newsreel-travelogue host James A. FitzPatrick, on the 1958 Parlophone record The Best of Sellers, produced by George Martin.

Here are several examples of FitzPatrick's travelogues dealing with the U.K., followed by the Muir-Norden-Sellers parody version of 1958. Listen to one or two of the former (for God's sake not all of them--it'll drive you crazy) followed by the Sellers version, and you'll understand how blown away I was when I heard FitzPatrick 30+ years after hearing Sellers.

• 1946 From Liverpool to Stratford
• 1946 Glimpses of Old England.
• 1946 Looking at London
• 1947 Life on the Thames
• 1947 Scholastic England
• 1947 To the Coast of Devon
• 1950 Touring Northern England

• Balham - Gateway to the South