Dad's Army - They don't like it up 'em, etc.

Just another attempt to cash in on another persons idea. Really love the series and have all episodes & watched them all again about 6 months ago.

Cheers
Paul

 

Having been to Thetford today we had another look at the statue in the town mentioned in my posts 93 and 97. This looked in pretty good condition and is much the same as it was when it was unveiled four years ago now. No signs of graffiti or vandalism. However, the bench Capt. Mainwaring is sitting on has lost most of its varnish and the brick work surrounding it would have benefitted from a power wash. Also the nearby information boards wooden surround is also losing most if its varnish as well and the frame is beginning to fall apart. This was a bit of a shame.

But in the time we were there many people were having their photos taken with the Captain which was what the designer had planned for and it was nice to see people still doing this four years on.

Walking around the town we noticed a butchers shop and it was called 'J.Jones butchers.' The shop frontage was coloured blue similar to that on the Dads Army van. The shop owner obviously has a sense of humour. I didn't have a camera with me unfortunately.

 

I found this episode very moving,
English pathos at it very best.

 

The poster all the way back at the beginning of the thread suggested that Spike milligan got his sense of humour from the war..

I beg to differ.

Spikes family were just insane. His brother Desmond was the only one of the crowd to show anything like a 'normal' personality.

Terry's, (that is Spike's name) father, Leo, used to have an obsession with the Wild West. He would walk Terry home, and approaching their doorway, suddenly crouch into a 'cowboy with a gun' type pose......"Cover me while I switch the hall light on", he would say to Terry.
For Leo, "Red Indians lurked in every corner", and the first photo of him in Terry's book is Leo standing in his long underwear in India, with a gunbelt slung around his hips.

Terry said that after chamberlain resigned, Leo "wrote off for the job".
The very first lines from "Adolf Hitler - My Part in his Downfall" are special,

"September 3rd, 1939....The last minutes of peace ticking away. Father and I are watching mother dig our air-raid shelter. "Shes a great little women," said Father, "and getting smaller all the time, " I added. Two minutes later, a man called chamberlain who did Prime minister impressions spoke on the wireless. He said, "As from 11 o'clock, we are at war with germany." (I loved the WE). "War?", said mother. "It must have been something we said", said father

Brother desmond shows artistic talent. His imagination fueled by wartime events, he draws pictures of fantastic machines, (troop carrying airships, troop carrying submarines, 266 ton land cruisers) all oversized and drawn on the back of old dinner menu's. Father examines them. "Son, these inventions will be the salvation of England.'

Leo, Florence, Uncle Willie.......all passed on their irreverent humor through their genes.

The war nearly destroyed Milligan as a personality. But he recovered, and got his first 'breaks' in showbiz, as well as an introduction to Harry Secombe, (Peter Sellars was in the RAF, I'm not sure where micheal Benteen was)

Ah.....all those brilliant people.....gone forever.

Sorry....much off topic.

My only criticism of "Dad's Army" is that it's so very "nice". Everyone falls over themselves to be polite to one another, with the exception of Hodges, whose "ARPeeing" is hated by all. I prefer Brit comedy with a bit of bite.....(e,g.)

"Baldrick.....the middle ages are something that happened to other people, aren't they?".....or

"You are to be congratulated, my friend. We live in an age where illness and deformity are commonplace, and yet, Ploppy, you are, without a doubt, the most repulsive individual j have ever met. I would shake your hand, but i fear it would fall off."

I still voted "Yes"...but with reservations.

 

Have you ever noticed the opening credits of the television series? The German arrow track the exact path of the three German Army's that surrounded Frano British forces at dunkirk. i always thought that was a little bit of historicity that went un-noticed.

I blieve the title song was an actual wartime ditty, modified for the series.

Personally, my fav wartime "ditty" is George Formby's ...

Now imagine me in the Maginot line,
Sitting on a mine in the maginot line,
Things have turned out nice again,
The army life is fine

Never heard it all the way through.......but I think it ends with George mentioning his tin hat, "I have to use it now for everything, sitting on the maginot line...!"

Of course, who remembers George Formby now? Or Gracie Fields? or ITMA? or radio shows like "Community Whistling"

Gone forever.

 

Why 1944 indeed. No threat of invasion then. Home Guard practically "stood down".

 

Ach so, Subs - Your name vill go in der book.....

 

Not terribly good likenesses all things considered, especially in their "civvies". Beautifully painted though.

 

Dad's Army butcher van restored

Saw this today:

Dad's Army: L/Cpl Jones' butcher's van restored - BBC News

Jones' van (Dad's Army) - Wikipedia

 

I recall seeing this on the back of a truck heading to Thetford on the A11 through Bishop's Stortford, long before the M11 was built. Seems so long ago now.

 

It might have been both, as a fitter with the 77th, then transferred/re-badged to the REME when they were formed (in 1943?)

Edit: It was October 1942

 

I just came across this thread and am real surprised at the poll results. I watched every episode last year and loved it, especially Godfrey and Jonesy.

They are all on youtube for free.

 

It'll be the Russians, obviously...