There is a certain wry absurdity in the fact that the respected screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr, who has died aged 91, should be associated, above all, with onomatopoeic exclamations such as "POW!", "WHAM!", "CRR-ASH!" and "ARRGH!". These on-screen graphics, describing the action in Batman, the hit TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968, were an essential element of the campy, tongue-in-cheek satiric tone created by Semple, who was inspired by the more "serious" Batman comic books, which were first published in the 1940s.
In fact, Semple, who was story and script consultant on all 120 episodes, wrote only the first four teleplays, though his contributions to the adventures of Batman ("The Caped Crusader") and his adolescent side-kick Robin ("The Boy Wonder") played amusingly straight-faced by Adam West and Burt Ward included such catchphrases as "Come on, Robin, to the Bat Cave! There's not a moment to lose!", and Robin's terse exclamations such as "Holy Crackup!", "Holy Titanic!", "Holy Camouflage!" and "Holy Happenstance!"