Motor Racing And Gallery Motor

All strata of society were grist to her mill – she could turn herself into the grande dame at the opera, the bosomy good soul who does the flowers in church, or the young working-class wife on her day out, and she could portray all of them without malice or sneering.
She would also have thought that the self-obsession of today’s stand-ups was extremely vulgar (she could be right).

writes Rupert Christiansen in his wonderful Daily Telegraph tribute to Joyce Grenfell, who was born exactly 100 years ago this month.

Grenfell was a very funny observational comedian, but her comedy, as Christiansen notes, never involved malice. Although coming from a privileged background- her aunt was Lady Astor and she spent much time at Cliveden, she was no snob.

Her humour - based upon her genuine love of people- contrasts sharply with the nasty, sneering and misanthropic humour of today’s middle-class observational comedians.
Jimmy Carr, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lucas and Walliams, as I noted here, get their laughs by sneering at those they think are their inferiors- something Joyce Grenfell never did.

Christiansen begins his short tribute by saying:
"Perhaps somebody somewhere has marked the centenary of one of the truly great comic stand-ups, but if they have, I didn’t notice.”

Alas, it seems the dear boy doesn’t take the Morning Star.

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video: canned carrot.

A real treat: the late, great Ian Carmichael (how it makes me sad to write the word ‘late’), making an appearance on the Morecambe and Wise show in 1970.
Eric and Ernie, as I’m sure you’ll agree, are in tip-top form and Carmichael proves once again, what a great talent for comedy he had.

Enjoy!

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I was very sad to hear the news that Ian Carmichael, the veteran comic actor has died at the age of 89.

All the tributes that have come in have stressed what an incredibly nice and pleasant person Carmichael was. And also how modest he was. I can only concur with that having interviewed him back in 2004, in relation to an article I was writing on the late Dennis Price, who played Jeeves to Carmichael’s Bertie Wooster in the wonderful 1960s tv series ’The World of Wooster'. Carmichael could not have been friendlier- he was totally devoid of any pomposity.

After the article was published, I received a lovely hand-written letter from Carmichael to say how much he enjoyed the piece. He was a true gent and a very good actor. But what a pity he never received the knighthood he so richly deserved. And it was also a shame and indeed rather scandalous that the BBC chose not to feature the news of his death in their main BBC1 news bulletin last night. Apparently the weather in Washington DC was more worthy of inclusion than the death of a much-loved veteran British actor. I'm sure Robin Carmody will have a view of the significance, if any, of that.

In his obituary of Carmichael in The Guardian, Dennis Barker writes:
What made Carmichael notable was that he could play fool parts in a way that did not cut the characters completely off from human sympathy: a certain dignity was always maintained, so that any pathos did not become bathos. He was at the opposite pole to Norman Wisdom, whose conscious pathos irritated some people.

I'd certainly go along with that. And I'm pretty that Robin Carmody, no great fan of Norman Wisdom either, would too.

Above you can watch a great clip of Ian Carmichael in action in the wonderful Robert Hamer film 'School for Scoundrels'. Dennis Price is in it too, as a very dodgy and very slimy car salesman, ably assisted by Peter Jones.

Enjoy!

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This piece of mine appears in The Guardian.

On the subject of OFH, I was disappointed to see the show's prequel, 'Rock and Chips', receive a panning by most tv critics. I thought it was rather good. How about you?

ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES: A 'triffic' hit in Serbia.
Unlikely as it may seem, Del Boy and the rest of the Trotters have achieved cult status in Serbia.
Neil Clark.

Prince Lazar. Miloš Obilic. Prince Mihailo Obrenovic III. To this list of Serbian national heroes must be added another, more unlikely name: Derek Trotter.

The BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which returned to our screens last night in the shape of a one-off prequel, Rock and Chips, has been sold to countries around the world. But it is in Serbia where Del Boy has achieved genuine cult status.

I first experienced the ­phenomenon on a visit to ­Belgrade in the late 1990s. The first question I was asked after saying I was from Britain was whether I was a fan of Del Boy. The second was whether I'd ever met David Jason.

During Nato's attack on ­Yugoslavia in 1999, Clare Short defended the bombing of ­Serbian state television by claiming it was a "source of propaganda". But when I was there all it seemed to be transmitting were the escapades of Trotters ­Independent Trading.

Today there are Serbian Facebook appreciation sites ­devoted to Mucke, the Serbo-Croat name for Only Fools and Horses, which translated means "suspicious job" or "shady business". In the ­Skadarlija district of Belgrade you can dine at Mucke, which claims to be the world's only restaurant devoted to the ­series. ­Naturally, Del Boy's ­favourite pina colada cocktail is also on offer.

In the kiosks on Knez ­Mihailova, the city's main ­boulevard, you can not only buy Only Fools and Horses DVDs, but "Dell Boy" [sic] badges, inscribed with some of his ­famous catchphrases. I bought one there last summer that read "This time next year, we'll be millioners."

Serbs who visit Britain for the first time are keen to hit the Trotter trail. "When I went to London my host asked me what I wanted to see first. ­Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, or Big Ben? I said I wanted to go to Peckham," Vesna Pesic, a businesswoman from Belgrade tells me.

So why is the programme, loveable as it is, particularly popular in Serbia?

"The life of Del Boy and ­Rodney is very similar to life here. They always have some crazy ideas to make money. They always get themselves in some ridiculous situations," says Svetlana Zecevic, an ­officer in the Serbian Ministry of Finance, and a huge fan of the show. As Del Boy might say, lovely jubbly.

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video:mrjoemaplin

It's exactly 30 years this month since Hi-de-Hi first appeared on our screens. Here's my tribute piece to Jimmy Perry and David Croft's great series from the Sunday Express.
Above you can watch a classic clip from the show. Enjoy!


HI-DE-Hi! It’s exactly 30 years ago this month since the classic Jimmy Perry and David Croft comedy series made its debut on BBC television.

Set in a holiday camp in 1959 and featuring a wonderful array of comic characters the show was a huge hit with viewers, running for eight years and some 58 episodes.

The signature tune Holiday Rock became a hit and the programme won a Bafta for best comedy in 1984. Thirty years on the original camp comedy remains as popular as ever. last year there was a Hi-de-Hi stage show and the whole eight series are now available on DVD.

How can we explain its enduring appeal?

For a start the gentle, heart-warming comedy of Hi-de-Hi provides a refreshing contrast to the more aggressive and nastier humour that sadly dominates television schedules today.

Watch an episode of Hi-de-Hi and you’re left with a glow inside. Of how many of today’s comedy shows can we say that? Hi-de-Hi was a programme that could be enjoyed by all the family, young and old alike. My 80-year-old grandmother loved it and so did I as a teenage student. It’s a throwback to an age when comedy was inclusive and not merely aimed at one particular age group.

About the only comedy in recent years that has had this same cross-generational appeal is Only Fools And Horses, which is why so many of us will be tuning in to BBC1tonight to watch Rock And Chips, the show’s prequel. Hi-de-Hi was the third major comedy series from the pens of Jimmy Perry and David Croft after Dad’s Army and it Ain’t Half Hot Mum.

Perry and Croft’s formative years were in the Forties and Fifties and their work is characterised by a great nostalgia for the time when Britain was arguably at its best. Their humour is rooted not in an era of selfish, me-first individualism but in a time of great solidarity when people were working together for the common good.

Unfortunately in the past few decades our society has become more atomised and the wonderful spirit of camaraderie that saw Britain through the Blitz has evaporated. That said, it lives on in Perry and Croft’s work. “I think people looking at these shows see a gentler, nicer, decent and better kind of Britishness and they look back with genuine nostalgia,” says cultural historian Professor Jeffrey Richards.

Hi-de-Hi, like Perry and Croft’s other comedies, was based on the two men’s real-life experiences. Perry had worked as a redcoat at Butlins, Croft produced theatrical shows for holiday camps and because both men knew their subject matter well Hi-de-Hi had an authentic feel.

Another factor behind the show’s success was the inspired casting. Simon Cadell was perfect as the shy university professor Jeffrey Fairbrother, so out of his depth in running Maplin’s holiday camp. Ruth Madoc was superb as Gladys Pugh, the sultry vamp from the Valleys. The exuberant Su Pollard was born to play enthusiastic chalet maid Peggy, while real-life comedian Paul Shane was great as the camp’s comedian Ted Bovis.

Felix Bowness, passionate about horse-racing in real life, was ex-jockey Fred Quilley in charge of Maplin’s riding school. Veteran actor Leslie Dwyer was wonderful as the grumpy, child-hating Punch and Judy man Mr Partridge.

Good comedy always mixes laughs with moments of pathos and Hi-de-Hi was no exception. Who couldn’t feel sorry for Peggy, one of life’s great triers, in her never ending attempts to become a yellowcoat? Who couldn’t feel sympathy for Ted Bovis, the comic who had never quite made it? Whatever their failings all of the characters in Hi-de-Hi were loveable.

In one episode Ted, always on the lookout for some extra cash, engineers a scam by asking unsuspecting holidaymakers to donate to the Campers’ Amenity Fund. He puts the money he has collected on a horse, which wins at 33-1. In a meeting with Jeffrey Fairbrother he refuses to hand the money over, claiming that the bet hadn’t been put on but on hearing that an elderly couple had been robbed of the money they had saved up to pay for the flight to attend their daughter’s wedding in Canada he comes to their assistance.

In analysing Hi-de-Hi’s appeal we must not forget one very important factor: a comedy series lives or dies by its ability to make us laugh. Hi-de-Hi did just that. It mixed verbal humour with some great slapstick routines. Remember the scene when the pantomime horse rides a real horse over the fields? Mr Partridge, who is holding a bottle of whisky and a banana, sees the two horses. He looks at the bottle and then the banana. He throws the banana away and takes another swig of whisky.

Despite their proven track record Perry and Croft have not found favour with the new, trendy BBC management in recent years, with Perry being told that his work was too “traditional”.

As we mark the 30th anniversary of Hi-de-Hi wouldn’t it be nice if the corporation for once listened to the public and commissioned another Perry and Croft series?

And wouldn’t it be fitting if Britain’s two greatest comedy writers received official recognition for the enormous pleasure they have given to so many people in the shape of two long overdue knighthoods?

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video:jonnyredeyes.

It’s exactly twenty years since the death of one of Britain’s funniest film actors: Terry-Thomas.

TT has always been a big favourite of mine- I particularly loved his portrayal of upper class cads Sir Percy/Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage in those great 1960s Ken Annakin films Those Magnificient Men in their Flying Machines and Monte Carlo or Bust. (The latter is on Film 4 tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon at 4.35pm- any British based readers who haven't seen it yet are in for a real treat).

Above you can watch an interview TT gave on the Russell Harty show back in 1973. I hope you enjoy the bull story at the end!

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Talk about 'Reds under the Beds'.

We're now expected to believe that Jack Jones (above) was a KGB agent.
Does anyone seriously believe that the Kremlin would think that a butcher who was a member of the Walmington on Sea Home Guard would gain enough important information to justify being kept on the KGB payroll?
Captain Mainwaring may have thought the work that he and his platoon did was extremely important, but I doubt if the Soviets shared his opinion. Besides, the Soviet Union were our allies at the time.

What will the 'reds under the beds' brigade come up with next I wonder?
That Arthur Wilson was working for Moscow too?

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Half close one's eyes and we could have been back in Bush-time, amid the ripest hours of the propaganda barrage for the US-led onslaught on Iraq. The familiar backdrop: the UN General Assembly, in this instance migrating to the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh. The theme: disclosure of fresh, chilling evidence of the duplicity of a pariah nation and of the threat it poses to the civilised world.
Then it was GW Bush's Secretary of State, Colin Powell, enthusiastically relaying a string of lies and blatant forgeries. Last week it was President Barack Obama, flanked by his Euro-puppets, dispensing an equally mendacious press release that was swallowed without a hiccup by the Western press.

writes Sasha Cockburn in his brilliant First Post piece about the Iranian nuclear 'bombshell' that wasn't.

I don’t know about you, but what Obama, Brown and Sarkozy reminded me of last week when they made their ludicrous statements about Iran was the 1940s comedy trio The Three Stooges.

Three supposedly grown-up men, trying to convince us that Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons programme poses a threat to the peace and security of the world. It would be quite hilarious- if the repercussions of their actions- the imposition of even more draconian sanctions on the Islamic Republic which will adversely affect the lives of millions of ordinary Iranians- were not so serious.

Make no mistake, the Iranian nuclear ‘crisis’ is as contrived as the Kosovo ‘crisis’ of 1999 and the Iraq WMD ‘crisis‘.

As I wrote in 2006:
'Leaders meet to discuss Iran crisis." It all sounds rather familiar. In 1999,"leaders" met to discuss the Kosovo "crisis"; we now know there was no genocide in Kosovo. In 2003, "leaders" met to discuss Iraq's weapons of mass destruction crisis; we now know there were no WMD in Iraq. Now it's Iran nuclear ambitions that represent the "crisis". If past form is anything to go by, we can be fairly sure that once again this is a crisis of the Western powers' making.

UPDATE: Mehdi Hasan has an excellent post on media propaganda on Iran.

As commenter ‘Just Observer’ says:

I can't believe this is turning into a repeat of what happened in Iraq and the world is again accepting it blindly. Why?.

FURTHER UPDATE: If, like me, you are opposed to both sanctions and military intervention against Iran, then please consider lending this excellent campaign your support.

FURTHER UPDATE:
From today's Guardian:

The UN's chief weapons inspector, Mohamed ElBaradei, said today he had seen "no credible evidence" that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, rejecting British intelligence allegations that a weapons programme has been going on for at least four years.

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It's something of a tradition on this blog to post a classic clip from 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum' when the temperature in Blighty tops 30 degrees. So, on what is likely to be the hottest day for several years, sit back and enjoy some really 'hot' comedy. Gunner Beaumont (aka 'Gloria'), is desperate to get discharged and get his 'Ticket to Blighty'. And desperate situations require desperate remedies.....

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On this day in 1982, we lost an all-time comedy great: the incomparable Arthur Lowe.

Above you can watch a great You Tube tribute to Lowe.

On the subject of Lowe, I wonder if there are any readers who can remember a BBC comedy/thriller series in which he starred called 'It's Murder. But is it art?', which was screened in 1972. I remember being thrilled by this programme as a child, but can't remember it ever being repeated. More details about it, including an episode guide can be found here. It also starred that fine actor Dudley Foster, in one of his last roles.

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This piece of mine on the late, great, music hall comedian and singer Bud Flanagan, who also sang the signature to Dad's Army, and who died exactly forty years ago this week, appears in the Daily Express.

Our darling bud who kept wartime Britain smiling

He was one half of arguably the most popular double act Britain has ever seen-a partnership whose upbeat songs and gentle humour played an important part in maintaining morale during Britain’s darkest hour in World War Two.

He is also remembered for singing the signature tune to the nation’s best loved - and most enduring comedy series, Dad's Army. And together with his partner Chesney Allen, he was part of the great comedy ensemble, The Crazy Gang, who delighted British audiences for over thirty years.

When the entertainer Bud Flanagan died exactly forty years ago this week, on 20th October 1968, he was mourned by the whole of Britain.

“He had an individual charisma that was beyond pinning down. He just had something you can't bottle, as anyone who saw him live will confirm” says one committed fan.

Bud Flanagan’s life story is a remarkable one.

Flanagan- whose real name was Chaim Reuben Weintrop (he later changed it to Robert Winthrop), was born in 1896 in the East End of London to Polish Jewish immigrant parents- who had fled the anti-Jewish pogroms of Tsarist Russia. He began his lifelong association with the world of entertainment at the tender age of ten, when he became a call-boy at the Cambridge Music Hall. Two years later, he made his theatrical debut in a talent contest, performing conjuring tricks as Fargo, The Boy Wizard.

Flanagan was born with a sense of adventure and was keen to see the world. At the age of thirteen he gained free passage on a ship sailing for America by claiming he could cook- it soon became clear that he had no culinary talent whatsoever. In America his grand plan was to box as ‘Luke McGlook of England’. But his boxing proved no more successful than his cooking- he was K.O’d in his only fight. In America, Flanagan worked as a Western Union messenger, a worker in a feather duster factory and a newspaper seller- and appeared on stage in New York.

In 1915 however he returned to Britain to fight for King and country in the First World War. The war was to prove a turning point in his life. His Sergeant-Major in the Royal Field Artillery in Flanders was called Flanagan- providing Winthrop with the name he would use for his stage performances. And it was in a café in Flanders that he first met the man with whom he was to forge a lifelong friendship and who was to become his professional comedy partner- Chesney Allen.

It was still a while though before the men were to form the double act which made them both world famous. Flanagan, having failed to achieve much success in the theatre after being demobbed, was working as a taxi driver when he got the call to appear in the show of the legendary music hall singer Florrie Ford. The ‘straight man‘ in the show was Chesney Allen, who was also Forde‘s manager. Flanagan and Allen were not an overnight success- they even considered quitting the theatre altogether to become bookmakers.

Their big break came when the leading impresario Val Parnell saw them perform and booked them to play at London’s Holborn Empire. After that Flanagan and Allen never looked back. Their routine, which included jokes, mixed with quick-fire repartee and tuneful, sentimental songs, proved a huge hit with audiences. While Ches played the straight man, serious, sober and reproaching, Bud was the irrepressible child-like clown, with the wide cheeky grin.

Their jokes stand the test of time. In one classic sketch, Bud and Ches are walking past a grand hotel. As Bud lights up yet another cigar, Ches says to him 'Do you know Bud, I've calculated that if you had never smoked you'd have saved enough money to buy this hotel". Bud replies "Do you smoke, Ches". "I've never smoked, Bud" "Do you own this hotel?". "No"."Well, shut up then".

Dressed in battered top hats and ragged clothes, Flanagan and Allen’s stage persona as two likeable down and outs struck a chord with audiences during the harsh Depression years of the 1930s. The pair’s famous signature tune ’Underneath the Arches’ told of enduring friendship in harsh times and was written by Flanagan himself. Flanagan and Allen also performed as members of the hugely popular comedy troupe The Crazy Gang, along with high-wire act Nervo and Knox, comedians Naughton and Gold, and comedy juggler, ‘Monsewer’ Eddie Grey. Among the Crazy Gang’s biggest fans was the Royal Family- and in particular King George VI, the Queen’s father, who invited the troupe to play at Buckingham Palace.

The outbreak of World War Two saw Flanagan and Allen’s popularity rise still further. Their cheerful, upbeat songs such as 'Run, Rabbit, Run' and ‘Hang Up the Washing on the Siegfried Line‘ became huge hits and did much to boost morale. In fact, ‘Run, Rabbit Run‘ was the favourite song of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In 1941, along with other members of The Crazy Gang, they appeared in the film ’Gasbags’ in which they cheerfully defied the Nazis.

Sadly, Flanagan’s partnership with Allen ended in 1945 due to the latter’s poor health, although they did appear together in several reunions, including at Royal Variety Performances. Flanagan continued to keep busy; appearing on stage with The Crazy Gang, and in films, radio and later on television. In 1960, he was awarded the OBE. Two years later, after 15 years playing two shows a day, The Crazy Gang gave their last performance at the Victoria Palace. There was hardly a dry eye in the house. In an interview he gave at the time, Flanagan expressed his fear that tastes in humour were changing. “Tastes have changed so much in entertainment that I’ve begun to feel old-fashioned. The funny thing is that we are still doing the same stuff we started with and the public who come to see us still love it. Yet outside the Crazy Gang that material doesn’t mean much anymore”.

Times certainly were changing. The 1960s saw the rise of a new generation of middle-class university educated performers whose comedy was more satirical- and some would say nastier- than the gentle humour of Bud Flanagan.

Flanagan had a long and happy marriage to Anne, but his life was not without tragedy. The death of his beloved son Buddy, of leukaemia affected him deeply, and in his will he endowed The Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund- in an attempt to find a cure for the disease.

In 1968, a swansong. Jimmy Perry, creator of a new BBC comedy series called Dad’s Army had co-written a signature tune for the series entitled ‘Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler‘? To his great joy Bud Flanagan agreed to record it. Shortly afterwards, Flanagan suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 72.

At his memorial service, fellow comedian Charlie Chester paid Flanagan a generous tribute. “No artist born was more loved by his brothers. No man gave more in human happiness”.

Bud Flanagan may have been a rotten ship’s cook and a poor boxer- but he possessed the greatest talent of all- of being able to make people smile.

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This piece of mine on the remarkable Hull City manmager Phil Brown (pictured above), appears in the First Post. With his intelligence and tactical prowess Brown is raising the reputation of English football coaches and is as unlike the manager 'Alan Latchley' the late Peter Cook's hilarious comedy creation, as one can imagine. If you've never seen 'Alan Latchley' impart his 'wisdom' on the Clive Anderson Show, you can watch it below- it's quite simply one of the funniest interviews you'll ever see in your life.

What is it about Hull and its men in dark suits? Philip Larkin, the poet never seen without a collar and tie; John Prescott MP, who asked "What are chinos?" when Tony Blair requested that he dress down for dinner; and now Phil Brown, manager of Hull City, always patrolling the touchline in his nifty black suit, urging his team on to greater triumph.

Before this season, Hull City had never played in the top flight of English football. They now sit proudly in third place in the Premier League, just three points behind leaders Chelsea and ahead of both Manchester United and Arsenal.

Hull's incredible metamorphosis dates from December 2006, when Brown took over. Hull were then facing relegation to the third tier. Not only did Brown save 'The Tigers' from the drop, he also led them to promotion to the Premiership in his first full season.

A journeyman footballer, who plied his trade at lower-division clubs such as Hartlepool and Halifax, Brown later worked for six years as the right-hand man to Sam Allardyce at Bolton, during which time the Lancashire side became established as a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League.

Under Allardyce and Brown, Bolton became renowned for their intelligent tactics, frequently getting the better of the Premiership's more illustrious clubs, and Brown has clearly put the experience to good use. This season, he has out-witted internationally respected football managers such as Arsene Wenger and Juande Ramos in Europe's top league.

Wenger was taken completely by surprise last month by Hull's positive, attacking approach. Eschewing the overly-defensive approach most teams adopt at Arsenal, Brown played with two strikers and put talented Brazilian Geovanni on the left-wing, from where he scored a brilliant equaliser. Wenger was so stunned by the subsequent defeat he referred to Hull as "West Brom" in the post-match press conference.

A week later, 49-year-old Brown took his side to Tottenham, where his tactics once more flummoxed the opposition, with Hull winning 1-0. On Sunday, in the match against West Ham, Brown again showed his tactical prowess, making half-time changes to his team's formation which changed the course of the game and led to another Hull victory.

In England, we tend to think that our managers, while being good motivators, are tactically inferior to European coaches. The late Peter Cook's hilarious comedy creation, manager 'Alan Latchley', who thinks football is only about "the three Ms: motivation, motivation, motivation and motivation" springs readily to mind. Brown has already done much to destroy the stereotype.

Will he last the course, and grow into a truly great British manager – a Brian Clough or Bill Shankly? Maybe. The fate of his mentor Sam Allardyce, who left Bolton for Newcastle only to lose his job eight months later, should help keep his feet firmly on the ground.

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A very happy 85th birthday to Jimmy Perry, Britain's King of TV Comedy, creator and co-writer (along with David Croft), of Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi De Hi and You Rang M'Lord.

Jimmy Perry not only created Dad's Army, but also wrote the series' wonderful signature tune 'Who Do You Think You are Kidding Mr Hitler?', performed so memorably by Bud Flanagan. Not bad for someone who left school with no qualifications, and whose Dad, when hearing of his son's ambition to become either a world famous actor or a world famous comedian replied 'You Stupid Boy'!

Regular readers will know I'm no supporter of the honours system, but if we are to have one, why do we give knighthoods to self-obsessed bores like Salman Rushdie, writer of pretentious and unreadable books, but ignore those like Jimmy Perry (and David Croft), who have brought laughter and happiness to millions of Britons? Oops sorry, I forgot, Rushdie, unlike Jimmy Perry, is a neo-con pin-up boy.

To remind us once again of Perry's genius- above is a clip of a special BBC1 tribute programme to Dad's Army. Enjoy!

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I hope British readers are enjoying the BBC’s excellent Dad’s Army weekend- to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Jimmy Perry and David Croft’s wonderful sit-com.

You can watch an extract from the excellent ‘Don’t Panic!’ tribute programme the BBC showed last night, above, and you can read my own appreciation pieces on why Dad’s Army is still so popular here and here.

Just a couple of further points while we're on the subject of Dad's Army:

1. How many of today’s nasty, sneering sitcoms and so-called 'comedy' shows will be celebrated forty years from now? I’m sure it will be a big fat zero.

2. Why on earth haven’t Jimmy Perry and David Croft been knighted? We give knighthoods away so cheaply nowadays, including to pretentious writers of turgid, unreadable books read by probably no more than half a dozen people (yes Mr Rushdie, I’m talking about you); yet we don’t properly honour the two men who have, over the past forty years, bought so much happiness and laughter to millions of people. Don’t forget Perry and Croft didn’t just give create and write Dad’s Army, but It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and Hi De Hi too. I'm not a fan of the honours system, but if we are to hand out knighthoods- let's make sure they go to people who really deserve them.

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Well it certainly is here in Blighty, where we're experiencing the hottest day of the year. Which gives us a great excuse to watch a classic clip from one of the funniest of all the 'golden age' 1970s sitcoms. Prepare to enjoy the most hilarious game of snooker you'll ever see in your life!

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