The Archers - What’s your poison? Alice is legless, the fish are lifeless and Pip is clueless (Discussion #85)

[DadDadDad]

Even if you don't have a leg(?), a life or a clue, Welcome to the first ever 85th Archers thread!

Wild speculation and sensible questions always welcome - especially any newcomers.

A little game for the weekend, inspired by Timetogetup0630 and Gruach on the last thread:

Invent an explanation for how your username was the inspiration for an Archers storyline, character, etc - be creative!

My username is telling the story of Toby, Adam and Ian, although it probably needs some punctuation: Dad! Dad/Dad?

dairyfarmerswife - bit too easy for you, but as professional country folk maybe you could judge the winner?

Credit to MrsGrindah for the clever thread title

Pip clearly has issues stemming from her childhood trauma of having two younger siblings following along and supplanting her as the only child. The comments about Ben tonight were just as mean as the comments she frequently makes about Josh. Lucky for her she may not be an only child but she is definitely the golden child.

Please can Pip miscarry or die.

I think Pip needs some leaflets on how to act.

Toby shall deliver the Golden Calf, and it will be Good. And there will be NO COMPLAINING, even unto the ninth month. And Pip shall be delivered of the Golden Grandchild, and it will be Good. And PipnTobes shall be united, and there will be much lemondrizzling and casseroling over the FAIRbaby. And it will be good even unto the next editorialreview generation.

Gnuther & D^3 do you think being familiar with Flanders & Swann betrays our age or that of our parents? John Finnemore’s Souvenir Show had a sketch about the correct pronunciation of gnu recently & that’s what reminded me of gnus, very funny. I confess to preferring Mud Mud Glorious Mud.

Sorry for the derail everyone .

Eastpoint count me in as being of that generation too. My dear Dad born 1928 loved Flanders and Swan.

Probably my parents in my case, Eastpoint - I never saw Flanders & Swann, but back in the dark ages of vinyl my parents had the monophone recording of "At the Drop of a Hat" and we didn't have a TV, so I got to know it very well indeed. I think "Misalliance" was my favourite.

The Gnu song (along with Mud Glorious Mud) features on a children’s song compilation called All Aboard that came out in 1979, when I was 6. Lots of my contemporaries, like me, know that album inside out. The Gnu song was one of my favourites, particularly the “Gnother Gnu” line. It inspired a lifelong curiosity about Okapi.

Yesterday i was trying to get Alexa to play me the Gnu Song. She kept getting confused and talking about “the new song”.

Anyway....the Archers. I hope Neil isn’t going to die.

I got confused by that John Finnemore sketch because I wasn't aware of Flanders and Swann, but it still very useful: I'd always thought the g was pronounced (and not [directly] because of a song I've never heard of but because that's how other people around me say it), but he's right, I did what the JF song suggests and googled it and it is indeed silent. Informative comedy.

I don't know why I've never heard of it, I'm a similar age to JF.

Here you all are. I couldn't get the link off the last thread to work.

Honeysuckle to the Bindweed

I wonder what is wrong with Neil, it sounds as if Susan is very worried about him.
(Crude attempt to return to Archers as feel guilty for derailing thread & don’t want to put off people puzzled by gnus, mud etc).

Susan wouldn't be worried about Neil if she knew he'd been giving helpful advice to Justin; she'd be hoping he'll get the job of managing the BigPiggery and "going up in the world".

I'm interested in how gnu got you interested in okapi!

Pip just gets worse and worse. Hope the new ed sorts her out

Nice bit of sexual harassment by the poolside...

And Alice? At least we can hope for a return to pre drunk Alice. Pip has always been awful

You had a deprived childhood Fink. There are lots of Flanders & Swann songs on YouTube but the hit-rates aren't that high (the world must be full of finks!)
They must be due a revival soon.

I predict Alice is going to have a rough night involving insufficient dinner, an excess of alcohol and something with this guy at the office.

Oh yes I love Flanders & Swann . I love the Omnibus song

"The Guardian of the Highway Code, 47 horse power omnibus"

Those were the days!

How are we on to them???

They must be due a revival soon.

Yes, but that might be short-lived in today's climate when people hear some of F&S's songs, such as "Have some madeira, m'dear"

ppeat - we're on to them because of GnotherGnu's username.

theAntiBoop there’s a line in the Gnu song that goes “I’m a Gnu! Call me Bison or Okapi and I’ll sue”
As a child I looked up Okapi and thought they were just the weirdest animal ever, part zebra, part antelope, like something from Dr Doolittle.

Armstrong and Miller used to do spoof Flanders & Swan sketches, mostly involving filthy language.

I feel like Pip and Toby are going to get back together which is a shame because I like Toby and I really do NOT like Pip.

Minimammoth - the right hand thread honeysuckle to the left-hand thread bindweed.

The okapi connection comes from:

I'm a gnu
Spelt GNU
Call me bison or okapi and I'll sue
G-nor am I in the least
Like that dreadful hartebeest
Oh, g-no, g-no, g-no, I'm a gnu.

On our recording the penultimate line was pronounced "like that dreadful hearty beast", which I always enjoyed.

I love Gnu. I will have to look up the song! I'm not so keen on okapi

Feel free to also discuss The Archers on this thread.

My favourite Flanders and Swann song is this one: but I love them all.

What's that, DDD? The Archers? What's that?