From time to time I have blaimed this for some of my intemperate and ill-judged outbursts
but no doubt some of the North American contingent are still unaware of the joys of this British resource, despite the fact that Monty Python and even The Pink Panther were apparently and unexpectedly popular Stateside. This was no doubt facilitated by the 1960's phenomenon known as the Rowan and Martin Laugh-in, itself largely the product of British Humour (with of course the very interesting but stupid exception of Arte Johnson).Nowadays the irepressible Jay Leno is imbued with a fair appreciation of British wit which permeates his Monday night Tonight show's regular "Headlines" feature.
And now thanks to the wonders of youtube you can watch an example of this lunacy at its very highest level by a well loved UK comedy duo "The Two Ronnies" because as Ronnie Corbett explains in the introduction to the sketch it "was voted the most popular in the UK"
I found on youtube that it is available in two versions at:-
1 a file named fork handles.flv running for 6:45 at
2 and an alternatively named file Four candles.flv running 8:12 at:-
You may well be able to guess the content from those two filenames
Suffice it to say that it is often known as the "Hardware Shop" sketch
I have the plain analog 6:45 version on a PAL VHS videotape but the longer version includes an introduction by the Two Ronnies
and a final and amusing author's anecdote by Ronnie Barker
OK but a
WARNING
This is very serious comedy folks so before watching it please put on waterproof underwear or failing that sit on something waterproof!!
I have some cogent comments on youtube which I could use in a reply to any of the recent postings highlighting GL etc videos
especially Gehoendoe's Magnum Opus (Opi),
along the lines that until this week as a dial-up sufferrer watching youtube's streaming
videoes was a supreme exercise in frustration, but after several bouts of googling I have sussed out how to:-
1. save any video on my hard drive where I can find it for future use
2. play it using my preferred video player (Windows Media Player)
3. convert it from Adobe-bloody-flash format to one of the more useful mpg formats:-
MPEG-1 for a VCD (video CD)
OR
MPEG-2 for a full blown DVD.
Either of which will then play very satisfyingly in a DVD Player full screen on a standard television set.
And all using freeware!!
I intend writing up an illustrated tutorial to which I will provide a link in a future reply to one or another of the youtube
associated topics
John Fowles
[ November 10, 2006, 12:57: Message edited by: johnfowles ]
