The Grouchy Gove: A Horrible History Special

So Michael Gove has decided to attack Blackadder, for not being a true reflection of history. Guess what? It is a sitcom and not a documentary?

But as a result of it being set in four historical times (more when you include Blackadder's Christmas Carol and Blackadder Back and Forth) it can lead to quizzical young minds to look into those periods of history more thoroughly. Indeed you may find some do just that as they do with the Horrible Histories series of books now turned into an award winning TV series.

Nobody can say that Horrible Histories give a full and complete account of the history of the period of that time. Indeed if Gove were to read The Frightful First World War [1999] he would probably have similar palpitations it doesn't give a full a thorough account of the First World War. However, checking on the bookshelves of any bookshop at the moment no one volume, and no doubt no one television series is going to encapsulate all of the history of the war which started 100 years ago later this year.

But when Gove then goes off saying:

"The conflict has, for many, been seen through the fictional prism of dramas such as Oh! What a Lovely War, The Monocled Mutineer and Blackadder, as a misbegotten shambles - a series of catastrophic mistakes perpetrated by an out-of-touch elite. Even to this day there are left-wing academics all too happy to feed those myths."

The alternative is to see it solely through the official histories written by the officer classes that do not admit to failings or mistakes. Things that only in later histories when under the 30 or 50 year rules Government papers revealed that things didn't always go as planned. But isn't that spreading a more right-wing view of things, that is where the majority of the officer classes came from, but not the majority of those who served and certainly not proportionately those that fell. Or then there is the fact that while we did not have TV or Radio in 1914-18 there were the war poets, satire through The Wiper Times and the letters that millions of tommies sent back home describing conditions at the front.

As this year and the four thereafter go on I'm sure that others will be doing what I have already done and find out about those of their family who served and/or fell in the Great War. As someone who has relatives who fell at The Somme, Gallipoli and Ypres amongst others I am a left-ish person who does not take their sacrifices lightly, nor do I accept everything that the officers tell us about such events is fully the truth.

That is what education should be doing for us giving us enquiring minds. Whether those enquiries are sparked from familial interest, Blackadder, Horrible Histories, text books in school/university or some other source of inspiration that is to be nurtured not mock by the Secretary of State for Education.

Blue is the colour, 15 minutes of game

An anonymous email from inside Stamford Bridge has come to this blogger's attention. I have printed it below for the public good.

To: All users @chelseafc.com

Subject: Blue is the colour

Top secret
Anyone telling the press will be sent to Chukotka

I was recently looking for pictures in Chelsea colours to decorate the executive board room, and I paid a few roubles on this one attached. So I started looking into the painter, da. He was Andrej Ondrejovich Varhola, but he had a very interesting thought that I think we can bring into the club structure.

He said that everyone will one day have their 15 minutes of fame, then I realised we at Chelsea can help 8 such people have that fame on match days. Every manager shall have their 15 minutes in charge of the mighty Chelsea. три in the first half, один to give the half time team talk и три for the second half. Another will have his chance in the post match interview.

Think of the speculation that we will gain each week in the papers, not just who the starting 11 will be but which 8 managers we will be employing that week. Each one will have a set contract of only 15 minutes so we can save a lot of money on buying out their contracts like we are at the moment. And even if I decide to let them go after only 2 minutes the cost of buying out the other 13 minutes will not drain my Swiss bank account of roubles.

Is Benitez still there at the training ground? If so, we need to give him his marching orders and hire the eight managers we need for the weekend match.

R

The Fosters* Edinburgh Comedy Awards Shortlistees

The five names of the shortlisted comedians for the 2010 Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards have been announces. They are (clockwise from top left):

• Sarah Millican - who was the 2008 Best Newcomer
  
• Bo Burnham - who started doing his comedic songs on YouTube (he's only turned 20 in the last week)
  
• Greg Davies - Who plays Mr Gilbert, head of sixth form, in the Inbetweeners
  
• Josie Long - won the BBC Young Comedy Award at the tender age of 17
  
• Russel Kane - who recently pointed out there were too many Russel's in comedy

Here's a little glimpse of each of them in action.













* Others lagers (and for that matter real ales) are also available.

Lib Dems in the Thick of It

One of the consequences of the coalition Government has been some hasty casting for the next series of The Thick of It.

We'd already been introduced to the Shadow Minister Peter Mannion in the 2007 Specials and his team, and saw more of them in Series three earlier this year, with the opposition sensing they were on the edge of victory and poor Malcolm Tucker the Government spin doctor on the verge of a nervous breakdown. However, as creator Armando Iannucci has admitted there was no reference to the third party and therefore some hasty casting has been done.

I expect from intra-Department tension will spring from the Secretary and Minister of State being from separate parties with different ethos and ideas. After all there is nothing like a bit of tension to spark off comedy. Good for comedy no doubt would be to have someone the anti-thesis of Mannion who may even have the senior role in Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship especially if they are tasked with a referendum on voting reform possibly within the remit.

Comedian Jason Wood Dies Aged 38

A few years back I caught Jason Wood at the Pleasance during the Edinburgh festival. It was a very enjoyable night but sadly one that none of us will ever live through again as the 38 Comedian, who was also the first person to ever be voted off Strictly Come Dancing, died in his sleep on Saturday.

For those who did see him or those who didn't here he is at what he did best; making us laugh.



And this his 2007 showreel.



Jason Wood 1972-2010

In Response to Helen Duffett - The News Rave

Helen Duffett has just posted some classic news themes. But ended with saying that her nine-year-old was raving away to the current BBC News theme instead.

Of course she is not the first person to have considered that. This is not a Troll just a part of one.



Of course there is also the 1992 Election theme, but hang on there is also someone making a bit of an impression. Plus Dimbleby showing the danger of exit polls. This was one election night that it wasn't as called at 10 pm, indeed a good example of the tension and drama of counting on the night.

And Now....

.....for Something Completely Different.

Yes a whole 2 weeks and 2 days after the world first saw me it saw a young upstart called Monty Python. Here are some of my memorable Python Moments a little off the from the usual ones.

First a match of International Philosphy Germany v Greece.



This one is incredibly cheesey.



And in conclusion the World's funniest joke which first aired 40 years ago today.

Fringe Review: Marc Hogan -Actions Speak Louder than Birds #edfringe

Cabaret Bar, Zoo Southside 19:15

So what makes a corporate speaker become a stand up at the Fringe?

The influence of Dave Gorman? No.

Copious amounts of alcohol and an open mike? Well possibly but not in this case.

A bet for £1? Could be!

Yeah Marc Hogan himself persuaded me in the Fringe Box Office queue to go and see his show. He wasn't speaking directly to me but to he people stood behind me. But it was enough for me, even if a PowerPoint presentation based comedy show is a bit of a busman's holiday. But hey I like Dave Gorman and the guy in the queue was funny.

Funny he remained. He basically did a presentation on how to give a presentation, but was self-deprecating on the number of jokes included. They were not merely confined as his 'agenda' stated to the slot between 19:50- 19:55. Along the way we learnt about safer sex, and how cuddling Koala's may not be be best idea to remain STD free, as well as an interesting way to determine Good and Evil from the side of their entrance. The latter brought up some interesting observations. Who'd have thought it of Mary Poppins?

But as Marc said when taking the best last year a pound was a lot of money. However, with the credit crunch maybe hitting on corporate luxuries maybe corporate presentations may dry up, to a sigh of relieve from many desk jockeys. However, even with the box office's share of the takings taken out I'm sure that the original £1 bet is the least of Marc's financial rewards for this show, though there were still a few empty seats last night so I suspect tickets are still available, so get along and have a right old laugh.

UPDATE: I found through backlinks that Marc has a blog about his endeavour, and has linked to this blog. If I tell him that I was the person he looked at to his extreme right on Saturday he will know just why he got such a 'good' review off me.