In praise of the humble tomato

[Captain Nudnick]

Hands up all those who didn't know who Jack May was?

[Lux Interior]

captainnudnick said:

Hands up all those who didn't know who Jack May was?

I did. Sorry, Cap', but I think Nursie was right on that one (except on behalf of Daz, who never listens to R4 and wouldn't be seen dead knowing who Jack May was - though he would probably be quite interested in learning some of Nelson's seduction techniques, hurr hurr)

[Captain Nudnick]

Hm. I don't listen to the Archers, but I don't remember them broadcasting cast lists... so I mentioned the program as an aid to recognition, that's all ... I dunno, you try to be helpful...mumble.... nobody cares... mutter, mumble... go and eat worms...

[Benbow]

Jack May - for me - will always be Adam Adamant's manservant; that was the first time I came accross his name (I was very young at the time). He was also in a Colin Welland play about an aging am-dram player who insisted on playing the lead in every production, however age-inappropriate it might have been.* It was called, I think, Jack Point, after a G&S character.


*Anyone who has ever done am-dram will recognise this person!

[Benbow]

Oh yes - and Theoden in the 1980s Radio 4 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.


I'll shut up now

[Nurse Duckett]

I remember that! I'd forgotten.

When I was a gel it was Kenny More impressed me the most. One minute he's going down with the Titanic in the Longest Day; next he's war hero Duggie Bader; next he's beachmaster on some D-Day Landings epc; then he's the hero in the middle of three versions of 39 steps; what a man!

There are others. Films of his.

[Captain Nudnick]

Ambrose Claverhouse in Genevieve! That, for me, was the defining Kenneth More part. (Love that film - Kay Kendall and Jenny Hanley's mum! Magic...)

[Crusoe]

nurseduckett said:

When I was a gel it was Kenny More impressed me the most. One minute he's going down with the Titanic in the Longest Day; next he's war hero Duggie Bader; next he's beachmaster on some D-Day Landings epc; then he's the hero in the middle of three versions of 39 steps; what a man!

He was also cast against type in the first production of “Getting On”, leading to a watering-down of the script and subsequent tension and dissatisfaction.

[Nurse Duckett]

[quote author=webb board=general thread=1123774634 post=1124092922He was also cast against type in the first production of “Getting On”, leading to a watering-down of the script and subsequent tension and dissatisfaction. [/quote]

What is/was Getting On? Getting on a bit and on the rocky road to the free bus pass, or getting on with things instead of procrastinating and leaving a trail of chaos where'ere you go?

Scratchy Head gif

[Crusoe]

Well, Nurse D, “Getting On” is an Alan Bennett play about a middle-aged Labour MP. He is not a particularly pleasant (“a socialist who doesn’t like people”) or heroic and so not really in the classic Kenneth Moore mould. The script got changed a bit without AB being much consulted. He says in an introduction:

“In the event, the play won an Evening Standard award for the best comedy of 1971. It had never seemed to me to be a comedy, and at the ceremony I said it was like entering a marrow for the show and being given the cucumber prize".

Shame he didn't mention anything to do with tomatoes, really.

[Nurse Duckett]

It's More, Crusoe.

[Crusoe]

But is it? Surely there’s more of “Moore” than of “More”?

[Nurse Duckett]

Well Crusoe, if it's more Moore you want:






There's his bike, his canoe, and his lighthouse. What a man.

there's a xylophone around somewhere too

[Captain Nudnick]

I just finished reading Patrick Moore's book (published thirty years ago) 'Can You Speak Venusian?' - it's all about Independent Thinkers, as he cals them (nutters to the rest of us).
Flat Earth believers, Hollow Earthers, Cold Sun enthusiasts and the like. And yes, a Venusian speaker - there is even an illustration of part of Hamlet in Venusian!



A national treasure, Sir Pat!

[Nurse Duckett]

A national treasure indeed, Captain! I hope that book also contained much mirth about horroscopes, about which he famously said:



Actually, he didn't say anything so restrained, but I am being polite. ('twas more like if you believe that you'll believe anything, but same line of reasoning could be applied to religion many other things. )

I've met him: big man, big handshake. Anyway, here's some more moores for our Crusoe:

Roger and Demi

Sir Patrick, wherever you are.