A half-century's nearly gone
since these old chaps first walked upon
the Yorkshire dales, and supped their ales,
and dreamt of summer wine.
Archdruid: Where now are the old lads of olden times?
All: Those who walked the hills with ironic meanderings, and chased women in a manner that would no longer be regarded as amusing?
Norman Clegg: #NotAllOldMen
Archdruid: The Three Wise Men of the West Riding
All: And Electrical Entwistle, who was a Wise Man from the East.*
Archdruid: We remember that they remembered old times.
All: And now they are in their turn but memories.
Archdruid: And the women who chided their childish husbands are but dust.
All: And Howard's and Marina's bicycles but rust.
Archdruid: So now, in a gloomy winter's day
All: When Alan JW Bell would have scattered fake snow around the place for sure.
Archdruid: We remember all those that have passed down the Holm Valley.
All: Or rest in Upper Thong, Dukenfield or scattered abroad.
Archdruid: By pushing Hnaef downhill in a bath tub.
Hnaef: Oh no! Not again.....
The Liturgical Bath Tub containing Hnaef (dressed in comedy safety gear) is pushed downhill, crashing into the brook
Archdruid: Well then. 'Appen I'll get a bit of sausage for me tea.
Hymn:
The last wine of Summer's gone
the golden age of BBC 1
Old blokes and women all passed on
to sip eternal wine.
*Hull
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Sorry to nit-pick, but it's the Holme valley, Upperthong and Dukinfield. I think Foggy would expect accuracy in spelling!
ReplyDeleteWe had this spell-checked by Compo.
DeleteCompo is a term used for Composite Rations in the Military. I often used to picture Compo when I opened a tin of spam or a packet of powered potato on a dark night on a wooded hill somewhere on Salisbury Plain.
ReplyDeleteHis character stood for something those of us in uniform wondered at, free spirit, romantic and totally the antithesis of what we were doing.
If I remember he was supposedly a Veteran of national service and had seen service in places where he got his knee's brown (as my father who served in Egypt in WW2 used to say). And is revolt(ing) against the system was a reaction to that.
That series was one of the greatest of TV Comedy and measured Yorkshire folk against the lens of our southern hang ups.
The character of Compo is to be admired, because he showed us how we could LIVE if we really wanted to be a free spirit.