Thursday, May 20, 2010

Classic comedies: Ripping Yarns, The Eric Olthwaite gang and "Golden Gordon"



Oh happy days.

Thursday this week I managed to purchase a new DVD copy of Ripping Yarns, the TV program written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame which ran on the ABC here in Australian in the late 1970's. Michael Palin plays the lead charater in each of the 9 episodes.

Ripping Yarns is one of my all time favourite TV comedies. It parodies aspects of British culture using the theme of schoolboy adventure tales. Considered a cult classic, there is now a Facebook page for fans.

My favourite episode is The Testing of Eric Olthwaite, the story of a man with a deep love of shovels, black pudding, weather and rain gauges. A man so boring that his family speak French so they don't have to talk to him. Eric forms a gang- the Eric Olthwaite Gang- that proceeds to rob banks and steals weather records. Eric becomes famous for his exploits and is elected mayor of the town.

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