Derek & Clive -

Titian · 25-07-2004, 13:32

I was having a conversation with friends the other night about Derek & Clive. Oddly I can remember just about every song they did and it seems that every time I am a little tipsy I return to default mode and sing them.

May I take this opportunity to apologise to my neighbours for Friday evening. I can't promise never to sing these songs again but i can promise that I will never accompany them with my guitar!!!

Does anyone else on the forum have a love of Derek & Clive? Which is your favourite piece?

JoeP · 25-07-2004, 14:47

I believe they did the 'Here comes the Judge' sketch, with the description of someone as a 'self confessed player of the pink oboe?'

I read Peter Cooke's biography recently - brilliant, flawed man.

Joe

Speedy_Jim · 25-07-2004, 16:48

Heh...

"I knew a lady from Amsterdam, she filled her c...". Better leave it there

mojoworking · 25-07-2004, 17:04

Quote:

Originally posted by JoePritchard
I believe they did the 'Here comes the Judge' sketch, with the description of someone as a 'self confessed player of the pink oboe?'

I read Peter Cooke's biography recently - brilliant, flawed man.

Joe

That wasn't Derek & Clive, it was a Peter Cook solo play about the trial of the then Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, who was accused of hiring a hitman to kill a "male model" called Norman Scott to cover up their gay relationship.

He was acquitted but his career was over when Thorpe was revealed to be "a lifter of other gentleman's shirts". The judge was so outrageously biased in favour of Thorpe that Cook was moved to create a brilliant pastiche of the trial. A short segment of it appeared in one of the Secret Policeman's Ball shows

mojoworking · 25-07-2004, 17:11

Quote:

Originally posted by bonny
I was having a conversation with friends the other night about Derek & Clive. Oddly I can remember just about every song they did and it seems that every time I am a little tipsy I return to default mode and sing them.

May I take this opportunity to apologise to my neighbours for Friday evening. I can't promise never to sing these songs again but i can promise that I will never accompany them with my guitar!!!

Does anyone else on the forum have a love of Derek & Clive? Which is your favourite piece?

I have all their albums, but funnily enough they don't contain many songs, it's mostly spoken material.

I can only recall a few songs: Jump, Bo Duddley, My Mum Song & Just one Of Those Songs

What are the others?

JoeP · 25-07-2004, 17:51

Aha!

I realised it was about the Scott / Thorpe affair - after all, I lived through it - but I didn't rea;lise it was a Peter Cook solo job.

I have to say I always considered Cook to be the funnier of the two.

Joe

Toby · 26-07-2004, 00:04

I think the judge sketch was part of "Beyond The Fringe", which was a sketch trope that went to Edinburgh that consisted of Pete and Dud with Alan Bennet and Johnathon Miller.

mojoworking · 26-07-2004, 00:24

Quote:

Originally posted by Toby
I think the judge sketch was part of "Beyond The Fringe", which was a sketch trope that went to Edinburgh that consisted of Pete and Dud with Alan Bennet and Johnathon Miller.

Cook performed several sketches involving "old duffer" judges over the years, but the 'Entirely A Matter For You' sketch, satirising Judge Cantley's summing up of the Jeremy Thorpe trial was a topical piece written in 1979 and performed solo, 18 years after Beyond The Fringe.

It was re-titled "Here Comes The Judge" when Virgin released it on LP. Presumably they thought the snappier title would help sales. The original 'Entirely A Matter For You' title was a line used by Cantley several times when addressing the jury during his outrageously biased summing up.

Toby · 26-07-2004, 00:39

Yeah, I thought when posting that the timings were going to be a bit out.

I had it in a book of scripts for BTF, it must have been put in as some kind of additional material.

The Coal Miner was fantastic.

mojoworking · 26-07-2004, 00:54

Agreed. Cook wrote and performed some of the finest British comedy sketches ever. In fact all 4 of the BTF members were/are geniuses.

Which brings us neatly to Allan Bennett. His plays (Talking Heads in particular) are beautifully written and he has a wonderful eye for detail - much of which relates to his native Yorkshire.

Ned Ludd · 26-07-2004, 14:38

Quote:

Originally posted by mojoworking
........was a line used by Cantley several times when addressing the jury during his outrageously biased summing up.

Did he also refer to Thorpe as being a vision of "elegance , fragrance and radiance"?

mojoworking · 26-07-2004, 15:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
Did he also refer to Thorpe as being a vision of "elegance , fragrance and radiance"?

That was Cantley referring to Thorpe's wife!

Ned Ludd · 26-07-2004, 17:18

Quote:

Originally posted by mojoworking
That was Cantley referring to Thorpe's wife!

........or was it Cauldfield referring to Archers wife? You see it proves that all these politicians and high court judges are completely interchangeable! (amongst other things)

mojoworking · 27-07-2004, 00:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
........or was it Cauldfield referring to Archers wife? You see it proves that all these politicians and high court judges are completely interchangeable! (amongst other things)

The similarity is uncanny. In his summing-up, the judge described Mary Archer as a vision of "elegance, fragrance and radiance".

He said the "vision of Mary in the witness box would never disappear".

Jim · 27-07-2004, 13:45

"I haven't laughed so much since Aunty Mabel caught her left t1t in the mangle".

I tell you what gives me the horn...

Great stuff - geniuses.