Just started reading his autobiography. Have always found him a fascinating bloke and a true talent. Also going to see him give a speech at a local school on 26th November. Cannot believe he is 70!
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70?! Really? Ffs …I must be getting old myself.
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Quite apt this week
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I used to like Tony Robinson. Unfortunately he aligned himself with JK Rowling and the other celebrity New Labour death eaters.
Robert Webb can fuck off and all.
I now know how to say “it was crap” in Portuguese 
That show is probably one of my all time favourites.
It was released as I was studying for my GCSEs. Our 20th Century History teacher instructed the class to watch it, although as a veteran of series past, it was already on my radar. He was adamant that we should watch it because comedy aside, it managed to depict the war more accurately than many serious journals managed for years.
It could have gone so wrong. We weren’t to know it at the time, but Ben Elton was about to write his best piece of work. He’d never manage anything better, simply because the treatment here works so well. What could have so easily been “The Young Ones in a trench” became the collective creative zenith of that group of performers. Many have gone on to distinguish themselves in other works. Hugh Laurie is huge in the US, Atkinson found even bigger global fame with his dialogue-light Mr Bean. Robinson kept himself in the public eye with Time Team, while Stephen Fry has become a national treasure in the eyes of some. This is their collective best, though.
Captain Edmund Blackadder is a hero of mine and if I may say, a bit of a personality template. Selfish, sarcastic and sometimes vengeful, one of the triumphs of the show is that the audience doesn’t think him a coward, even if most of the episodes centre around a scheme to get him out of the trenches for good.
We know that going into No Man’s Land is not only pointless, but also madness. As a character, the crazed General Melchett is by no means realistic. Even so, he still manages to distill the callous indifference and lack of understanding of the military leaders of the day.
Timeless, brilliant stuff.
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By far some the the best TV BBC ever commissioned.
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