Fawlty Towers hotel set for demolition

[Zorch]

'The hotel that inspired Fawlty Towers is to be demolished, following a decision made today by Torbay Council.'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comed ... emolition/

[VPaulus]

[:(]

[warspite1]

Who can forget [&o][&o]

[Neilster]

From the episode...The Germans

Basil: Listen, don't mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right. [returns to the Germans] So! It's all forgotten now, and let's hear no more about it. So, that's two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering, and four Colditz salads.


Basil: Is there something wrong?
Elder Herr: Will you stop talking about the war?
Basil: Me! You started it!
Elder Herr: We did not start it!
Basil: Yes you did — you invaded Poland.

[:D]

Apparently it was the most popular episode in the series when it was finally shown in Germany in 1993, so perhaps the Germans have more of a sense of humour than they're given credit for [;)]

Speaking of that sort of thing, I had the 20 year old son of one of my German friends stay with me on my parents' farm last Christmas. We decided to play the Dad's Army episode where they have to guard the U-boat crew, which is an absolute comedy classic.

We were all falling about laughing but I had to keep pausing it to explain the rapid-fire English and cultural references. I'm not absolutely sure he got the nuances of 70s British humour, however [:'(]

Apparently they're not super keen on the history of the first half of the 20th Century in German schools. In mean. I don't assume people know as much about military history as me but I do assume they have a working knowledge of the history of the last century. After talking to him for about two weeks, I realised that he'd mixed up WW1 and WW2 and then he asked, "Who won the First World War?" Exsqueeze me?! [&:]

Anyway, here's the whole episode. It's really worth a watch. The scene where the Germans are ordering fish and chips is hilarious. "And I don't vant any nasty zoggy chips. I vant mine crisp, und light brown" [:D]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynVt0I4hA0

Cheers, Neilster

[Jagdtiger14]

My cousins in Germany...the old man was in the Fallschrimjagger and in Berlin just prior to the Russians crossing the Oder. He loves history, etc...but I don't think he taught the grand kids anything. Prior to playing Sudden Strike, I quizzed them beginning with who was Rommel? Answer: shoulder shrugs. Me: shaking my head "Really?" I gave up at that point.

[Neilster]

From what I've been able to ascertain, as German history from about 1870 to 1945 is a bit dodgy (the WW1 atrocities were actually really bad, SW Africa etc), the kids are mainly taught that the Nazis were very bad and there's a scholastic emphasis on hard work and the future.

You can't really blame them but it's clearly leaving a few gaps in their understanding. I'm also probably getting a bit old and grumpy. Like when I'm mystified that kids no longer have an encyclopaedic knowledge of WW2 aircraft. [:'(]

Marvin, the young bloke I mentioned, like a lot of people his age, is completely dismissive of the importance of history. I've seen it here too. Not only do they know almost nothing of history and culture, but they're actually proud of that fact! It's all fashion, their hair and girls (or boys [8|])

We were watching the news and something came on about U.S./Cuba relations. I was able to explain to him that a knowledge of history enables one to put current events in context. Otherwise stuff like that comes out of absolutely nowhere. Then there's the "Ignore history and you're condemned to repeat it" stuff. I'm not sure he was listening. I think he was checking his hair and texting some girl about fashion [:'(]

Cheers, Neilster

[Eambar]

My favourite episode: Communication Problems with Mrs.Richards.

Is this a piece of your brain?

[sullafelix]

I didn't know until I bought the boxed set that Basil is based upon a real hotel manager.

MP were staying there and everybody left except Cleese. He told his wife to come, because he thought the guy was so funny.

[Neilster]

I stayed in a hotel in London that did a pretty good impersonation of Fawlty Towers, complete with a Spanish staff member with very limited English (although it was a she, and she was rather lovely).

My room was up about five incredibly narrow and rickety flights of stairs. I had a magnificent view of pigeon crap covered roof tiles and the bed was the worst I've ever slept on; somehow being both lumpy and hard at the same time.

I was about to complain that there was no shower when I realised that there was one, but that the shower head was at about the level of my solar-plexus and I could only fit in it diagonally. I think the hot water had to come from Essex and when it eventually arrived the temperature was nothing to write home about and the pressure was so low that the surface tension of the water wasn't broken and it simply clung to the shower head and then ran down the hose.

The "full English" breakfast was puny and vile and the joint wasn't cheap either. Welcome to London [8|]

Cheers, Neilster

[csspest]

It should be a listed building!

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: csspest

It should be a listed building!

It's not the hotel from the series. It was just the inspiration.

Cheers, Neilster

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

From the episode...The Germans

Basil: Listen, don't mention the war! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right. [returns to the Germans] So! It's all forgotten now, and let's hear no more about it. So, that's two egg mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering, and four Colditz salads.


Basil: Is there something wrong?
Elder Herr: Will you stop talking about the war?
Basil: Me! You started it!
Elder Herr: We did not start it!
Basil: Yes you did — you invaded Poland.

[:D]

Apparently it was the most popular episode in the series when it was finally shown in Germany in 1993, so perhaps the Germans have more of a sense of humour than they're given credit for [;)]

Speaking of that sort of thing, I had the 20 year old son of one of my German friends stay with me on my parents' farm last Christmas. We decided to play the Dad's Army episode where they have to guard the U-boat crew, which is an absolute comedy classic.

We were all falling about laughing but I had to keep pausing it to explain the rapid-fire English and cultural references. I'm not absolutely sure he got the nuances of 70s British humour, however [:'(]

Apparently they're not super keen on the history of the first half of the 20th Century in German schools. In mean. I don't assume people know as much about military history as me but I do assume they have a working knowledge of the history of the last century. After talking to him for about two weeks, I realised that he'd mixed up WW1 and WW2 and then he asked, "Who won the First World War?" Exsqueeze me?! [&:]

Anyway, here's the whole episode. It's really worth a watch. The scene where the Germans are ordering fish and chips is hilarious. "And I don't vant any nasty zoggy chips. I vant mine crisp, und light brown" [:D]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynVt0I4hA0

Cheers, Neilster