70 replies to this topic

[Eric Dunsdon]

We should all have one of these.

I have one in 'proper' enamel!.

[h4887]

Here's a motoring connection (sort of): if Ford Prefect ever met Jonesy it could explain this...

[Gary Davies]

For anyone fretting over motoring connections and Dad's Army, a couple of links to help you unfret.

http://www.imcdb.org...Dad-s-Army.html

http://www.imcdb.org...Dad-s-Army.html

[Sharman]

I have one in 'proper' enamel!.

Thought you might come out of the woodwork Eric, it was not so much later that we were wearing khaki and scrubbing webbing, probably the same as that which was scrubbed by the HG. The rest of the equipment was the same, Gin Palaces, 19 and 53 sets and I think the SWBs were built during the war.
John

[alansart]

It's having a long run on Saturday evenings in the UK at the moment. In marked contrast to most other 70s sit-coms, it just seems to get better with each passing year. It doesn't matter that I've heard every gag before; I just delight in the delivery.

Andy

It's still being shown most weekends in the UK. Jimmy Perry was interviewed on the radio yesterday and said it was still getting viewing figures of over 3 million.

Clive Dunn was only 48 when the series started and needed a grey wig to make him look older. Ironically it was felt that someone of the correct age playing Jones wouldn't be able keep up!

[ensign14]

Jack Haig was originally touted for the role of Jones, but he was already booked for kids' TV. Haig eventually became the first M'sieu Leclerc, forger extraordinaire, in Allo Allo (and had a one-off role as a pub landlord when the Walmington platoon had to be German troops for an exercise - "ve vant fifteen pints und ein Coke").

Perry/Croft often worked with the same actors - Carmen Silvera was in the Brief Encounter take-off episode of Dad's Army, Wendy Richard was in DA and Are You Being Served?, Talfryn Thomas had cameos in Dad's Army and Hi-De-Hi, Bill Pertwee turned up with much of the Hi-De-Hi cast in You Rang, M'lord? and Jeffrey Holland's break was as Pike in the Dad's Army stage show.

[Glengavel]

Jack Haig was originally touted for the role of Jones, but he was already booked for kids' TV. Haig eventually became the first M'sieu Leclerc, forger extraordinaire, in Allo Allo (and had a one-off role as a pub landlord when the Walmington platoon had to be German troops for an exercise - "ve vant fifteen pints und ein Coke").

And master of disguise!

Perry/Croft often worked with the same actors - Carmen Silvera was in the Brief Encounter take-off episode of Dad's Army, Wendy Richard was in DA and Are You Being Served?, Talfryn Thomas had cameos in Dad's Army and Hi-De-Hi, Bill Pertwee turned up with much of the Hi-De-Hi cast in You Rang, M'lord? and Jeffrey Holland's break was as Pike in the Dad's Army stage show.

Talfryn Thomas's character became a regular after James Beck's death but the writers felt that the character wasn't working and dropped him.

Edited by Glengavel, 09 November 2012 - 10:15.

[Stephen W]

In marked contrast to most other 70s sit-coms, it just seems to get better with each passing year. It doesn't matter that I've heard every gag before; I just delight in the delivery.

That it had a nostalgic theme when it was created helps stop it from dating, I guess, and now there's a double-nostalgia element, as it was something I watched as a kid. But now I'm older, I relish qualities apart from the comedy, in moments such as the one nicanary quoted earlier.

Perry & Croft certainly did hit on a superb concept by setting their comedy in the past so that in some way it never dates but let us not forget the vast majority of the background to Dad's Army came from their own experiences.

[RCH]

Almost unbelievably, 'Allo 'Allo' was sold to the French, no idea how well it went down there. I love France and have always found the locals very friendly, but I don't think they're a nation famed for laughing at themselves. I remember many years ago being in a hotel in Heidelberg. There was a TV on in the bar, and showing was 'On the Buses' dubbed into German, complete with fake laughter, but the laughter, which all the watching Germans joined in, seemed to us to be in all the wrong places. Wife & I fell about when Reg Varney came out with a solemn "Wie gehts meine Kameradin" to a couple of clippies, whereupon the locals all looked at us strangely.

Good Moaning...
The beauty of 'Allo 'Allo is that all nationalities look equally daft so there is plenty to laugh at in the other nations stereotypes. In some ways the French come out best with a sort of pragmatic attempt to get on with their lives paying just enough lip service to Ze Resistance to seem loyal.

[kayemod]

Good Moaning...

Nice to see these actors still employed. "Good moaning, I was just pissing round the corner..." actor Arthur Bostrom appeared last night in Hebburn, and he didn't look all that much older, no Gendarme's outfit though.

[Eric Dunsdon]

Thought you might come out of the woodwork Eric, it was not so much later that we were wearing khaki and scrubbing webbing, probably the same as that which was scrubbed by the HG. The rest of the equipment was the same, Gin Palaces, 19 and 53 sets and I think the SWBs were built during the war.
John

Indeed John!. I did wonder if it might ring a bell with you. I wouldnt mind betting that we are two of the few here who knows what 'scrubbing webbing' means. Bit off topic, but as a kid in Barnet we lived near internment camps for German and Italian prisoners of war who used to help out on a local farm during the harvest. We used to watch the Germans being marched under armed Home Guard escort, while the Italians strolled by unsupervised, often stopping to give us hand carved toys. Something I have always remembered from those dark days.......Sig 102 Dunsdon E (Retd)

[RTH]

One of the best characteristics of TNF is, to me, its participants' breadth of interest amd enthusiasm beyond the core subject. Nostalgia embraces so much, and TNF has always seemed to embrace good guys in all kinds of activities. I just felt that Clive Dunn and the illustriously British character he played so impeccably embodied for many of us a genuinely 'good guy' whose passing deserved mention - and tribute. If it's a waste of Haymarket's electrons I am confident this thread could be erased at a key stroke...

Oh yes, 'The Fast Lady' herself - the 3-litre chassised Bentley with 4 1/2-litre engine - is owned by a friend of mine down the road here to the west. A couple of miles to the south lies Frensham Great Pond into which the Bentley rolled while the movie was being shot there. We do, therefore, have a tenuous link...

DCN

Spot on.

[RTH]

Of the main cast, he was third youngest (48) after Ian Lavender (22) and James Beck (38). Arthur Lowe was 53, only one year older than me!

Then it was John Le Mesurier (56), John Laurie (71) and Arnold Ridley (72). Laurie and Ridley were old enough to be Dunn's father.

Funny how all those ages seem so much younger now than they did in 1970 !!

[Richard Jenkins]

Bill Pertwee died yesterday. How sad to lose Hodges and Jones within weeks
EDIT; Its a hoax Glad hes with us, although he looks very frail

Edited by Richard Jenkins, 01 December 2012 - 12:41.

[kayemod]

Bill Pertwee died yesterday. How sad to lose Hodges and Jones within weeks

"Turn that light out!"

[kayemod]

...although he looks very frail

But not too frail to claim that rumours of his death have been greatly exaggerated.

[Eric Dunsdon]

"Turn that light out!"

"RUDDY OOLIGANS!".

[Paul Hurdsfield]

Indeed John!. I did wonder if it might ring a bell with you. I wouldnt mind betting that we are two of the few here who knows what 'scrubbing webbing' means.
Sig 102 Dunsdon E (Retd)

I'm only 63 but I've scrubbed a bit of webbing in my time. Blanco KG103 springs to mind. Fus Hurdsfield P (retd)

Edited by Paul Hurdsfield, 02 December 2012 - 12:30.

[Eric Dunsdon]

I'm only 63 but I've scrubbed a bit of webbing in my time. Blanco KG103 springs to mind. Fus Hurdsfield P (retd)

Well served Fusileer Hurdsfield. Signalman Sharman and myself were, however, reluctant conscripts. National Servicemen trained to Kill, trained to Blanco and trained to remove the welded on crusts from hot NAAFI meat pies. Testing times for young lads.

[David McKinney]

Signalman McKinney can be added to that (though we didn't have a NAAFI as such in NZ)

[john winfield]

Lance Corporal (Signals) Winfield reporting for duty. But not the real thing, only a school Cadet. Hated every minute of it, marching about, ep, ep, ep, ipe, ep, presenting arms, polishing boots, working away with wads of Duraglit, camping about in the Brecon Beacons.
Very thankful to have been too young for National Service!....unlike my french college friends who, in the late 1970s, still had to give 12-18 months to La Patrie. I don't think they had it too tough though; their football and tennis skills were much improved on their return.