RIP Ian Lavender

[Heid the Ba]

Not particularly well known these days and probably not very well known furth of these airts, but a fixture of my childhood. Ian Lavender came to fame as a cast member of Dad's Army, one of the top comedies of its era. It makes little sense to most these days but I used to watch it with my parents who had lived through the war, and in my Dad's case had been in the Home Guard before he was called up. He always said that Dad's Army wasn't daft enough, in part because his father was the platoon sergeant. Despite having been blinded in the Kaiser's War.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68204488
And if you want me to be a real spod, the photo in the BBC article has been reversed, because the cap badge is the wrong way round. Royal West Kents, since you ask.
Edit: They have corrected the picture.
There is a photo of Kirkintilloch Home Guard in my album, pixel size and incompetence prevent it being added here. I know this has little to do with Ian Lavender but it is why the show was so loved in our house.

[Richard A]

He was the last survivor of the Dad's Army crew. Clive Dunn, who played Corporal Jones, was actually a lot younger than he looked, but even he passed a while ago. A shame.

Dad's Army was a fixture of my childhood as well and repeats still come round and are still enjoyable. Well, to me - the Mrs. and No. 1 Daughter leave me to it. A friend told me his dad, who remembered the real thing, said it was surprisingly close to the truth. Which makes sense when you consider what the Home Guard for the most part was: a civil defence unit composed of those who were too old to be called up. Which by 1942 meant over 51, but as Dad's Army showed, the Home Guard had men a lot older than that. Corporal Jones had served in the Sudan under Queen Victoria, which would have made him at least 59 in 1940. And Godfrey was even older - Arneb would recognise he had a prostate issue.

For real World War II fantasy, though, you had to watch Allo, Allo. A comedy series set in occupied France. I'm sure that the few Germans remaining who were part of the occupation wish it had been like that. German occupying troops regarding the Gestapo as a nuisance who threatened to get in the way of a comfortable life and hence were to be undermined wherever possible. The Resistance and concealed Allied airmen of equal incompetence - but that was OK because, as stated, the occupying forces would have found arresting them far too much like hard work.

As Arneb has pointed out, the next war is likely to be far less fun.

[Heid the Ba]

Allo, Allo was, of course, a spoof of the fairly gritty Secret Army.

Arnold Ridley, who played Godfrey was a veteran of the Great War, as well as being great uncle to Daisy Ridley.

[Arneb]

Of note, there are no tv series at all whatsoever in Germany, that treated anything from either WWI or II as a subject suitable for light entertainment, let alone comedy. Well, we all know why, and it's certainly better that way, but it does form a stark contrast between modern Germans (at least, non-neo-Nazi ones) and basically everyone from the Allied countries.

[Heid the Ba]

We have a sitcom set in a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan as well. Very well done apart from the final episode which is a pile of shite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluestone_42

[Heid the Ba]

Of note, there are no tv series at all whatsoever in Germany, that treated anything from either WWI or II as a subject suitable for light entertainment, let alone comedy. Well, we all know why, and it's certainly better that way, but it does form a stark contrast between modern Germans (at least, non-neo-Nazi ones) and basically everyone from the Allied countries.

Das Boot isn't a comedy? Yeah, hard to make shows like Hogan's Heroes if you're the guards.

[Arneb]

Neither is it light entertainment. Of course, there were a few serious attempts at films about WWII, mostly how to survive, often unsuccessfully, under the conditions of being up against a superior enemy and a completely ruthless own leadership.

[Richard A]

And of course, re. World War I, Germany produced All Quiet On The Western Front - which remains a stand out contribution to world culture.

Britain has tended to treat WWI as far less of a subject for comedy than WWII, with one notable exception: Blackadder Goes Forth, albeit reality finally breaks in in the final episode. In fact, at school, I appeared in a play about WWI that also treats it as reality: The Accrington Pals. It's one for which Germany would be totally entitled to have a counterpart as I'm sure it had similar stories. Basically, towns in the north of England were encouraged to raise entire battalions of troops, which would then be nicknamed the Pals as the soldiers in them would typically all be existing friends from the town in question. They went into the meat grinders of the Somme, Paschendaele, etc. The Accrington Pals were one such. Out of 700 men, after the 1st 30 minutes of Day 1 of the Battle of the Somme, 115 were left. They weren't alone in that, although the rumour that got back that only 7 had survived - with the subsequent uproar - made them stand out and be subsequently remembered.

[Richard A]

Allo, Allo was, of course, a spoof of the fairly gritty Secret Army.

Arnold Ridley, who played Godfrey was a veteran of the Great War, as well as being great uncle to Daisy Ridley.

I never knew either of those facts.

[Richard A]

We have a sitcom set in a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan as well. Very well done apart from the final episode which is a pile of shite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluestone_42

Never saw that either. I'll have to see if it's available on Amazon, Netflix or some such.

[Heid the Ba]

I never knew either of those facts.

I'm a font of arcane knowledge.

Bluestone 42 is well worth a look if you can find it. Ah, here you go:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p ... -episode-1

And:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxsJaUwtUqA