Browse content similar to War & Peace. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Don't panic, don't panic! | 0:00:11 | 0:00:12 | |
Hi-de-hi! | 0:00:18 | 0:00:21 | |
Ho-de-ho! | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
I don't like the name sitcom, really. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
They are all character comedies, really. There's a situation in them, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:28 | |
but it's really their reaction, the way they behave as people | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
that we are interested in and I think that's why they work. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:33 | |
We like a bunch of idiots, but real people, and put them | 0:00:33 | 0:00:36 | |
in a difficult situation and see how they get out of it. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
We're doomed! | 0:00:44 | 0:00:45 | |
-Well, you see... -Shut up! | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
You rang, my Lord. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
To the Home Guard! | 0:00:57 | 0:00:59 | |
You may measure it. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
David Croft and I usually take a part of history, something that's period. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:10 | |
Everything we write about has actually happened. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:19 | |
-NEWSREEL: -Six weeks of final preparation went into those plans. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
Six weeks to determine the history of 1,000 years. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:27 | |
The thing was foolproof. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:28 | |
You have to be able to fall back on solid ideas and solid characters | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
which have some basis in reality, I think. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
Both Croft and Perry come from theatrical backgrounds. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
Croft became a BBC comedy director and producer, | 0:01:57 | 0:02:00 | |
Jimmy Perry ran a repertory company, | 0:02:00 | 0:02:02 | |
acted and got to know Croft on the set. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:04 | |
Now they are inseparable and their chemistry produces scenes like this. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
And your name will go on the list. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:12 | |
And when we win the war, you will be brought to account. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
You can write what you like. You're not going to win this war. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
-Oh, yes, we are. -Oh, no, you're not. -Oh, yes, we are! | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
# Whistle while you work Hitler is a twerp | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
# He's half barmy, so's his army | 0:02:26 | 0:02:28 | |
# Whistle while you work. # | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
Your name will also go on the list. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
What is it? | 0:02:33 | 0:02:34 | |
-Don't tell him, Pike. -Pike. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
Jimmy, it was your original idea. How did you come up with it? | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
Oh, I don't know, Judy, it just... | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
I was walking down the street one day in 1967 and I thought, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:07 | |
oh, that's a good idea, why not write a comedy series about the Home Guard? | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
MUSIC: Brown Sugar by The Rolling Stones | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
Were you ever in the Home Guard, Jimmy Perry? | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
Yes, I joined in September 1940. I was 17. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:43 | |
So you are behind time, really. You weren't with these... | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
No, I was too young, it was 17 to 65, although there were plenty over 65. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:54 | |
'We want large numbers of such men between the ages of 17 and 65 | 0:03:54 | 0:04:00 | |
'to come forward now | 0:04:00 | 0:04:02 | |
'and offer their service in order to make assurance doubly sure. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:07 | |
'You will not be paid, | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
'but you will receive uniform and will be armed. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:14 | |
'The name of the new force will be the local defence volunteers. | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
'This name describes the duties in three words. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
'Here then is the opportunity | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
'for which so many of you have been waiting. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
'Your loyal help will make and keep our country safe.' | 0:04:28 | 0:04:32 | |
Right. Let's go to it. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
What happened the day you joined up? | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
-I went down to the police station. -When was this? | 0:04:39 | 0:04:42 | |
On the Whit Tuesday evening. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
And they knew nothing at all about it. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
But mind you, to be quite fair, | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
Mr Eden hadn't finished his speech. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
-At any rate... -You were a bit quick. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
Well, I was, I thought it was the proper thing to do. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:00 | |
# Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler | 0:05:03 | 0:05:07 | |
# If you think we're on the run | 0:05:07 | 0:05:12 | |
# We are the boys | 0:05:12 | 0:05:15 | |
# Who will stop your little game | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
# We are the boys | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
# Who will make you think again | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
# Cos who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler | 0:05:22 | 0:05:27 | |
# If you think old England's done | 0:05:27 | 0:05:32 | |
# Mr Brown goes off to town on the 8.21 | 0:05:32 | 0:05:37 | |
# But he comes home each evening | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
# And he's ready with his gun... # | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
-Where'd you get that gun? -Eh? -The gun, where did you get it? | 0:05:42 | 0:05:45 | |
-It belongs to my friend, actually. -I see. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
-He's got a friend...a gun. -Yes, I can see that, sir, yes. -Well? | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
-Yes, well? -I'm the officer. -Quite, sir. -You're the sergeant. -Quite, sir. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
-We ought to have that. -Yes. -Go ask him for it. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
-Don't you think it would have more authority coming from you, sir? -No. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:06 | |
Right. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:07 | |
Excuse me, Mr Mainwaring would rather like to have your rifle. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:13 | |
-Who would like to have it? -Captain Mainwaring. -Well, he can't have it. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:16 | |
Now look here, Godfrey, hand over that gun at once. | 0:06:16 | 0:06:18 | |
I don't see why I should. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:20 | |
Are you refusing to obey an order on active service? | 0:06:20 | 0:06:22 | |
You realise we could have you shot for this. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:25 | |
That'll be a bit tricky since he's the only one with a gun. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:29 | |
The joke about the rifle actually happened because we didn't have any. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:35 | |
Only one person had the rifle and that conversation... | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
Well, David and I worked it out basically, you know, | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
in a dramatic content, but that did actually happen. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
# Could you please oblige us with the Bren gun? | 0:06:52 | 0:06:56 | |
# The lack of one is wounding to our pride | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
# Last night we found the cutest little German parachutist | 0:06:59 | 0:07:04 | |
# He looked at our kit, jiggled a bit | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
# And laughed until he cried | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
# We'll have to hide that armoured car, we're marching to Berlin | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
# We'd almost be ashamed of it in Rome | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
# So if you can't oblige us with the Bren gun | 0:07:15 | 0:07:20 | |
# The Home Guard might as well go home. # | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
Well, I was an air raid warden about that time. | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
Jim was in the Home Guard. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:28 | |
-An air raid warden? -Yes. -How old were you? -I was 17 then. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
I was. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
SIREN WAILS | 0:07:33 | 0:07:35 | |
So what action did you see, then, as an air raid warden? | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
Oh, quite a lot of air raids. I was down on the south coast, actually. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
-And did you get hit at all, with shrapnel? -Not personally, no. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:45 | |
'The eyes and ears of the control room were the wardens' posts | 0:07:45 | 0:07:48 | |
'whose areas were patrolled during air raids. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
'It was the wardens' duty to keep control advised | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
'of every incident in their sector.' | 0:07:54 | 0:07:56 | |
# He's got another job and it's one of the best | 0:08:00 | 0:08:05 | |
# Now he's doing his bit for England like the rest | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
# And Mr Wu is now an air raid warden | 0:08:09 | 0:08:13 | |
# And don't he look cute in his new siren suit? | 0:08:13 | 0:08:17 | |
# Cos Mr Wu's an air raid warden now. # | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
Ruddy hooligans. Put that light out, put that ruddy light out! | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
They can't hear you, Mr Hodges. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
-I'll make 'em hear me. Put that light out! -Don't... | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
I'll get 'em, I'll get 'em on the phone, I'll get Mainwaring. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
I'll tell headquarters, I'll have him busted. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:52 | |
-All right... -Put that light out! | 0:08:52 | 0:08:55 | |
We all thought it was a terribly funny thing | 0:08:55 | 0:08:57 | |
because we were young boys, you see, and we were full of aggro. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
And we loved it. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:02 | |
The fact the Germans were going to invade, when you're 16, you're not | 0:09:02 | 0:09:05 | |
thinking about that, you're going, ah-ah-ah | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
and playing it and loving it | 0:09:07 | 0:09:09 | |
and doing house clearing and charging about and really enjoying it. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
We didn't realise the gravity of the situation. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
Stop that, Pike. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:20 | |
I brought it in. I'll handle it first. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
-Beautifully balanced. -Oh, yes, of course. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:31 | |
Devastating weapon in the right hands, I should think. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
Yes, I should think even more devastating in the wrong hands. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
# When the Fuhrer says "Ve ist the master race" | 0:09:49 | 0:09:53 | |
# We heil, heil Right in the Fuhrer's face | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
# Not to love the Fuhrer is a great disgrace | 0:09:56 | 0:09:59 | |
# So we heil, heil Right in the Fuhrer's face... # | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
My dear mother, who'd lost a brother in the war and another badly wounded, | 0:10:05 | 0:10:10 | |
was horrified at the fact that I should put on a uniform, | 0:10:10 | 0:10:14 | |
and anything might happen. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:17 | |
But I said, look, I've got to join. | 0:10:17 | 0:10:19 | |
'Camouflage has left its mark on the Home Guard. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:26 | |
'This is how they're working these days. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:28 | |
'Many units are adopting guerrilla tactics | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
'in their schools of intensified training. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:32 | |
'The art of concealment by merging with the landscape | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
'is illustrated in these pictures of Home Guardsmen | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
'exercising at an army field-craft centre. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
'If brick buildings were the background instead of bushes, | 0:10:54 | 0:10:57 | |
'they'd turn into the local. | 0:10:57 | 0:10:59 | |
'It's really amazing how close you can be to a body of men | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
'without knowing it. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:03 | |
'The disappearing trick has been brought to a fine art. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
'A last-minute panoramic view of some of the men | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
'who stayed as trees for a while to face the cameramen. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
'Incidentally, all dogs had been warned off the course.' | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
David Croft, have any incidents been toned down here? | 0:11:24 | 0:11:28 | |
Well, we've had one or two ideas which we thought were too way out. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:32 | |
When we started this thing, I think | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
we just regarded it as a comedy show. But as you get into it, | 0:11:34 | 0:11:36 | |
as soon as we started writing it properly, | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
we realised it was much more than this. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:40 | |
Because there's a wonderful spirit in those days. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:44 | |
These men really would have died. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
And as soon as you get into that sort of dimension, | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
you can't go too far into the realms of comedy, | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
you've got to keep it with its feet on the ground. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
Therefore several ideas we've had, we've toned down for that reason. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
Come on, Mr Mainwaring, better get there quickly. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
Here's your rifle, Uncle Arthur. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:02 | |
Chop-chop, sharp's the word, quick's the action. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
Just a minute, just a minute. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:06 | |
-What's all this about? -I had a phone call from the police. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
-Have they arrested Walker? -No, not yet. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
A Nazi pilot has bailed out and he's hanging from the town hall roof. | 0:12:13 | 0:12:16 | |
-Come on, quick. -What? -What? | 0:12:16 | 0:12:18 | |
Ich kann nicht verstehen. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:27 | |
Swing. S-Swing, you know, ha-da-cha! | 0:12:27 | 0:12:31 | |
Ha-da-cha? | 0:12:31 | 0:12:32 | |
Try him with a bit of In The Mood, Joe, he might understand that. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:35 | |
Right. # Oh, Mr What-ya-call-em What you doin' tonight | 0:12:35 | 0:12:39 | |
# Hope you're in the mood because I'm feeling all right | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
# How's about a corner with a table for two... # | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
HE WEEPS | 0:12:44 | 0:12:46 | |
People begin to recognise the characters | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
and knew what the show was about. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
It always struck the hearts of the British public | 0:12:51 | 0:12:54 | |
and started doing so then because it was a time | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
when we all behaved very well, wartime, you know. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
When he comes down, they don't like it up 'em! | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
No, no. All right... | 0:13:05 | 0:13:06 | |
Now, the character of Corporal Jones in Dad's Army was not a butcher, | 0:13:13 | 0:13:18 | |
he was really a French polisher who worked in | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
a tatty second-hand furniture shop in Watford high street. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:25 | |
And he had been at the Battle of Omdurman. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:30 | |
In the Rifle Brigade, 1898, against the mad Mahdis. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:36 | |
Anyhow, he used to say exactly | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
as the lines we gave to Jones. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
"Oh, there we were," he said, "It was about six o'clock in the morning | 0:13:43 | 0:13:47 | |
"and Lord Kitchener was sitting on his horse" | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
and he recounted the exact Battle of Omdurman, | 0:13:50 | 0:13:54 | |
which in point of fact was a slaughter. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
And they were chopping off heads left, right and centre | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
and there was blood everywhere. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
And the corpses, the corpses, | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
oh, it was terrible. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:10 | |
They don't have battles like that any more, you know. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:14 | |
Did you think the programme would develop like this, | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
would grow like this, you'd develop this cast of characters? | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
-We thought it was a good idea, didn't we? -Oh, yes. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
We didn't think it would catch on internationally, as it has. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
Also, we thought the audience would be rather limited. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:46 | |
We thought it would appeal mostly to people who remembered it. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:49 | |
But in fact it appealed right across the board. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
# Well, I know I'm not super hip | 0:14:51 | 0:14:54 | |
# And I'm liable to take a slip | 0:14:54 | 0:14:58 | |
# But I don't care how cold you are | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
# I'm coming home soon | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
# I'm gonna make you a star | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
# We're gonna make you a star... # | 0:15:13 | 0:15:18 | |
When the Home Guard started, things were so desperate, | 0:15:19 | 0:15:21 | |
I thought it would be different to last time. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:23 | |
-What do you mean, different from last time? -The last war, sir. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
-You see, I was a conscientious objector. -Oh, I see. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
You were what?! | 0:15:30 | 0:15:31 | |
-A conscientious objector. -A consc... | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
You mean you didn't want to fight? | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
Not really, sir. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
Arnold Ridley, tonight, This Is Your Life. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
At the age of 19, you're a lance corporal in the Somerset Light Infantry. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:05 | |
In the grim hand-to-hand fighting, | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
young Lance Corporal Ridley was bayoneted twice, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
and behind the lines, army doctors operated no fewer than 17 times | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
to save his left arm. | 0:16:14 | 0:16:15 | |
He was the oldest one. He was wounded appallingly in the First World War. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:21 | |
He had a terrible scar the whole length of his arm, a bayonet wound. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:26 | |
And he was gassed and wounded. So was John Laurie. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:29 | |
They were all victims of that First World War. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
Where are you going, Alf? We're supposed be going forward. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
-Well, I'm going backwards. -Why? -Because I'm a coward. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
You could be shot for desertion. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
Well, go on, be a hero, I'm not stopping you. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:55 | |
Well, I'm going to do my duty, I'm going forward. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
HEAVY GUNFIRE | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
What's the matter? | 0:17:05 | 0:17:07 | |
I'll give it a few more minutes, then I'll go forward. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:09 | |
Surviving is very important. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
I think all soldiers are very reluctant to get involved | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
in any sort of situation they can avoid. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
I mean, lose the heroics, that's how it is, it's how human nature is. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:24 | |
You want to keep out of the action if you possibly can do. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
You'd better have a whisky or something. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
-You never used to be like this. -It was the war. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:44 | |
Well, I was in the war. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
We were all in the war. We didn't go charging off after servant girls. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:50 | |
There wouldn't be any left. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:52 | |
I still don't trust him. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
I can assure you, sir, in the strictest confidence, | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
that any relationship his Lordship has with the opposite sex | 0:17:58 | 0:18:00 | |
could only be platonic. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
What do you mean? | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
As they say in France, "L'amour est fini." | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
-What? -It was the war, sir. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:13 | |
He caught it. In the artillery. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:16 | |
So come on a voyage with me, a voyage half across the world... | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
..to Burma. A hot place if you like. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:35 | |
Maybe this is where some of your lads are at this moment, | 0:18:35 | 0:18:39 | |
in all the heat and horror of that jungle. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
I was called up on January 1, 1944. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:47 | |
The thing was, when we got out to Burma, | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
eight months before the end of the war, before they dropped | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
the atom bomb, we never thought the war was ever going to end. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:58 | |
As I'm speaking, British and Indian forces | 0:19:00 | 0:19:03 | |
are finishing the job of clearing up Burma. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
It's not a comfortable war. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
But its hardships are being accepted with cheerfulness | 0:19:10 | 0:19:13 | |
and its problems faced with courage and endurance. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:18 | |
People didn't know about that part of the war, really. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
I think the 14th Army was known as the forgotten army. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
People weren't aware of it, really, and still aren't. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
When the war ended, I was posted to a place called Deolali in India. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
I thought we were all going home, but it wasn't like that. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:07 | |
We were still stuck out in the jungle because you must understand, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:11 | |
there were millions of British troops all over the world, | 0:20:11 | 0:20:15 | |
and just when the war ended, they couldn't just whisk them home. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:18 | |
There weren't enough ships. | 0:20:18 | 0:20:20 | |
How would you think I felt, a young boy, 19, | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
stuck out in that awful jungle? | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
I was stuck out in India for another two years | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
and that's where I fell in with the Royal Artillery concert party. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:40 | |
# Meet the gang cos the boys are here | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
# The boys to entertain you | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
# With music and laughter to help you on your way | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
# To raising the rafters with a hey-hey-hey | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
# With songs and sketches and jokes old and new | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
# With us about You won't feel blue | 0:20:59 | 0:21:01 | |
# So meet the gang cos the boys are here | 0:21:01 | 0:21:04 | |
# The boys to entertain you. # | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
How can I be sophisticated in this heat? I'm sweating like a pig. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
Just do what I do, imagine you're sweating champagne and diamonds. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:17 | |
That's also right out of your own experiences, both of you, isn't it? | 0:21:17 | 0:21:22 | |
I'm not sure that particular scene is, actually, Jim. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
Well, this situation did exist. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:29 | |
I was running a concert party in a place called Deolali in India. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:32 | |
The sergeant major existed and the colonel existed. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
And the sergeant major was intent on posting us up the jungle | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
and that was the only way we could stay in this dreadful place, | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
which was better than the jungle, | 0:21:41 | 0:21:43 | |
was by running this concert party which the colonel liked. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
The whole situation did exist. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:47 | |
David was in India as well, weren't you? | 0:21:47 | 0:21:49 | |
We were in India at the same time, not the same place. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
But he was an officer. I was just a bombardier, which is two stripes. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
Do you reckon you've got a right, out of your own experience? | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
We always have done. Yes, I think you have to. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
You have to be able to fall back on solid ideas and characters | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
so a basis in reality, I think. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:06 | |
I'll never forget, there were a bunch of paratroopers | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
and they were in the camp in Deolali waiting to come back to Blighty. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:20 | |
Anyhow, we put on a show one day | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
and they were marched to the theatre, these paratroops, | 0:22:23 | 0:22:27 | |
and we started doing the show and they rioted. | 0:22:27 | 0:22:30 | |
SHOUTING | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
Animals, you're all animals! | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
And Joseph O'Connor, he was a captain, said, | 0:22:43 | 0:22:47 | |
"I say, Perry, look, this looks pretty difficult. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
"Go on and tell a few jokes." | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
I said, "They'll kill me!" | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
Play something soothing. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
# Little old lady... # | 0:23:03 | 0:23:06 | |
LAUGHTER DROWNS SINGING | 0:23:06 | 0:23:08 | |
# Hooray, hooray, hooray Misery's on the way | 0:23:08 | 0:23:13 | |
# There are bad times just around the corner | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
# There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
# And it's no good whining about a silver lining | 0:23:20 | 0:23:24 | |
# For we know from experience that they won't roll by... # | 0:23:24 | 0:23:28 | |
People say, "Oh, we won the war." But excuse me, what went wrong? | 0:23:28 | 0:23:32 | |
We haven't got anything to show it. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
It was worse after the war than during the war. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:43 | |
You couldn't get any sugar, you couldn't get any sweets, | 0:23:43 | 0:23:45 | |
you couldn't get any petrol. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
'Come with us and enjoy the finest holiday of your life. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:09 | |
'You'll remember every moment | 0:24:09 | 0:24:11 | |
'and you'll be refreshed by the colour and gaiety | 0:24:11 | 0:24:14 | |
'of this new and attractive world full of wonder and delight. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:17 | |
'Here you will feel immediately at home. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:19 | |
'The Butlin holiday camps are like that. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
'Yes, the kiddies will love it. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
'Butlins provide everything a child could wish for. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
'You will be delighted with the first sight of your holiday home. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
'You can be quite sure that you will enjoy your food, | 0:24:33 | 0:24:35 | |
'whatever Butlin camp you may visit. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
'The Butlin holiday camps offer you the best of everything | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
'for your holiday.' | 0:24:41 | 0:24:43 | |
-Stand there, fine. -Very quiet, please. | 0:24:43 | 0:24:47 | |
-Right, here we go, everybody. -Turn over. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
Action. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:53 | |
Hello, everybody. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:02 | |
Hello, campers! Hi-de-hi! | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
-Hi-de-hi. -Ho-de-ho. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
Where did the slogan "Hi-de-hi!" actually come from? | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
It came from the holiday camps. This was very much extant at the time. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
I think actually it came from an old colonel of the Guards, didn't it? | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
He used to shout "Hi-de-hi" and made the troops shout "Ho-de-ho!" | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
This was during the war and he got court-martialled for it. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
It was carried on, and it was a standard thing, hi-de-hi, ho-de-ho. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:26 | |
Hi-de-hi! | 0:25:26 | 0:25:27 | |
Ho-de-ho! | 0:25:27 | 0:25:28 | |
You always write from personal experience, | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
so were you in a holiday camp? | 0:25:31 | 0:25:33 | |
Yes, I worked as a Redcoat | 0:25:33 | 0:25:35 | |
when I was a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
when I was going to be an actor. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:39 | |
-I worked there in the summer holidays as a Redcoat. -Where? | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
At Filey and Pwllheli. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
What shall we do with him? | 0:25:48 | 0:25:49 | |
Throw him in the pool! | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
-Shall we? -Yes! | 0:25:51 | 0:25:53 | |
Go on then. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:54 | |
One... | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
two... | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
three. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:03 | |
You've hit a marvellously rich vein, you two. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:09 | |
Were we happier then than we are now? | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
I think they were more ready to be organised in their happiness perhaps. | 0:26:12 | 0:26:15 | |
I think now they have the camps, people aren't quite so prepared | 0:26:15 | 0:26:19 | |
to join in as they used to be. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:20 | |
Maybe they don't have as good Redcoats. You must have been good. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
Well, I was pretty good, if I may say. | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
In fact, when I was a Redcoat, we had rationing, | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
we'd all come out of the war, we were just grateful to be alive | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
and we wanted to have a good time | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
and the atmosphere on the camps was fantastic. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:37 | |
By Friday night they were hysterical | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
-because you'd wound them up so much, you know. -Wound them up. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
It was like he was Hitler. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:49 | |
No, we used to call it handling multitudes. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
There's a marvellous man named Wally Goodman who used to be | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
chief of entertainments at Butlins and we used to have 6,000 people | 0:26:54 | 0:26:58 | |
and do Sons Of The Sea | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
and I Saw The Old Homestead with actually 6,000 people. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
-Really? -Marvellous feeling of power. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
# Sons of the sea | 0:27:05 | 0:27:09 | |
# Bobbing up and down like this | 0:27:09 | 0:27:13 | |
# Sailing the ocean | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
# Bobbing up and down like this | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
# We sail the ships, my lads | 0:27:21 | 0:27:25 | |
# Bobbing up and down like this | 0:27:25 | 0:27:29 | |
# Just one more chance | 0:27:29 | 0:27:33 | |
# La di da di da di da | 0:27:33 | 0:27:37 | |
# La di da di da di da | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
# Just one more chance. # | 0:27:41 | 0:27:45 | |
Way-hay! | 0:27:45 | 0:27:47 | |
Goodbye, campers, and Hi-de-hi! | 0:27:47 | 0:27:51 | |
'Ho-de-ho!' | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
-I've got one or two people arriving at seven o'clock. -Oh, Gawd! | 0:27:57 | 0:28:01 | |
You use snobbery to great effect. Are you a snob at all? | 0:28:08 | 0:28:10 | |
-He is, terribly. -Of course I'm not, absolute rubbish. -Dreadful snob. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
I shall serve the canapes | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
from our three-tier Victorian petit fours stand. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
It'll be a little segment of gracious living | 0:28:18 | 0:28:21 | |
in this dreadful, common place. | 0:28:21 | 0:28:23 | |
I mean, I ask you, how many bombardiers | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
in the Royal Artillery have got a degree in English literature? | 0:28:25 | 0:28:28 | |
I ask you... | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
..how many bombardiers have got a degree in English literature. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
None! | 0:28:34 | 0:28:36 | |
I love it. It's a wonderful thing to play for comedy, great stuff. | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
There's no chip on my shoulder, Wilson. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:41 | |
I tell you what there is on my shoulder though - | 0:28:41 | 0:28:43 | |
three pips, and don't you forget it. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:45 |