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Re: "Speaking Ill Of The Dead"

Messages in this topic: 7 View All
kj.naughtonFeb 27, 2011
 

 
Hello everyone,

I don't know when the running joke started but, if it has been around since the show started in the early 1970s, then implying that someone was gay was a much bigger statement than it would be today. Indeed Scotland and Northern Ireland the act in question was still illegal (until the early 1980s) and only had been partly legalised in England and Wales in 1967. If, however, the joke arrived with Ian Pattinson in 1992 then that's less of a consideration.

However it's still disappointing that Lionel was so embittered by the joke that he apparently was glad someone was dead. I'm sure that, given the way the BBC seems to spinelessly roll over to every Tom, Dick and Harry that has any minor complaint, that if Lionel had wanted to stop the joke, he could have. Certainly the attributed comment doesn't reflect well on him.

Cheers

kJ

--- In just-a-minute@..., "Dean" <dbedford@...> wrote:
>
> I wrote about this on the blog once â€" the running joke about Blair is that he is gay, and from memory he says he is straight! So if that's true, you can understand it would be annoying.
>
>
>
> From: howstean
> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 10:09 PM
> To: just-a-minute@...
> Subject: [just-a-minute] "Speaking Ill Of The Dead"
>
>
> A recent letter in Radio Times shows Lionel Blair didn't laugh off Ian Pattinson's cruel barbs in Clue, but mistakenly blamed them on Humph.
>
> On 29 January's "Saturday Live" he was asked about the perennial mickey-taking of him. Blair said vindictively "You should always speak good of the dead. Good".
>
> The letter-writer comments "I was stunned. The brilliant Lyttleton was merely the mischievous mouthpiece for the scriptwriter, and for Blair to celebrate his demise surely shows the measure of the man".
>
> And I thought Blair laughed it off - obviously he didn't. I wonder if Pattinson would have stopped had he realised how much his jokes offended Blair. If he did realise, perhaps his continuing shows the measure of the man.
>
> At least on JAM, the barbs at Nicholas are said to his face.
>
> Phil
>

 
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