The Scaffold, and other misunderstandings

[Jonathan E.]

Thank you for clearing that up. I am now selling my entire collection of tribute albums on eBay. Wait! Turns out I don't have any.

I like "Gibert O'Sullivan." It has a sort of subtle scaffold appeal. Now, The Scaffold! Surely someone here must have something interesting to say about The Scaffold.

[Papa M]

Now, The Scaffold! Surely someone here must have something interesting to say about The Scaffold.

I've always loved the speculation over the meaning of "Thank you very much for the Aintree Iron".

Here's my favourite conspiracy theory on this matter:

http://www.altvalleyvision.co.uk/haunte ... fault.aspx

[Jonathan E.]

Interesting that that conspiracy theory on the meaning of "Thank you very much for the Aintree Iron"appears to have been posted today. There must be something in the air. Now I'll have to listen to that song. Backwards, of course. But I think the revolution is really finally here, comrades. I hope you are all prepared.

[Papa M]

Interesting that that conspiracy theory on the meaning of "Thank you very much for the Aintree Iron"appears to have been posted today. There must be something in the air.

I suspect another conspiracy?

By the way - prior to the Albanian explanation my favourite was that it was rhyming slang - Iron = Iron Hoof = Poof. It supposedly referred to homosexual Beatles manager Brian Epstein who lived in the Aintree district of Liverpool. This theory has also been dismissed by Scaffold members.

[Hugh Weldon]

Papa M

Brian Epstein who lived in the Aintree district of Liverpool

Pull the other one! Eppie lived (with his mum) in the much more salubrious Childwall. Or maybe it was Aigburth. He wouldn't have lasted five minutes in Aintree.

For those curious enough to want to know more about the possible meanings of 'Aintree Iron', check the bewildering list of possibilities offered here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueri ... 40,00.html

[Jonathan E.]

I don't know. I think this one explains it all:

Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound (introduced 1875) was a patent medicine including a large amount of alcohol. It was supposed to treat PMT, the menopause and other feminine problems - and modern herbalists concede that, at worst, it doesn't make them worse. Indeed, it contained an ingredient called black cohosh which has been shown to have some efficacy in this area. And if it gets you drunk, well I guess you don't notice the ailment so much. Because patent medicines were exempt from the prohibition regime in the USA, they became especially popular at that time. Mike McGear and Roger McGough wrote Lily the Pink as a cleaned up version of an earlier American folk song, The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham. Among the verses they dropped were these two ... Mrs Jones she had no children And she loved them very dear So she took three bottles of Pinkham's Now she has twins every year And Peter Whelan (Peter Whelan) Was sad because he only had one nut Till he took some of Lydia's compound And now they grow in clusters 'round his butt

Stolen from http://mycardiacsurgery.blogspot.com/2006/06/attention-makwuzere-aintree-iron.html.

But it don' 'arf make you think, don' it? The Scaffold! 'Ood 'ave thawt? (Never mind the middle-class southern accent! Just as long as it's better than bloody Django.)

[Adam Blake]

Scaffold sort of mutated into Grimms who made two albums in the early 70s that I was very fond of. Gentle English whimsy seems to be something that has entirely disappeared. The Bonzos re-union was ruined for me by the likes of Adrian Edmondson and Phil Jupituss saying "fuck" at every opportunity. That's just vulgar.

[Papa M]

The Bonzos re-union was ruined for me by the likes of Adrian Edmondson and Phil Jupituss saying "fuck" at every opportunity. That's just vulgar.

I'm already in trouble here for speaking out against Phil Jupitus. So let me start now on Ade Edmondson and his clan of luvvies. Can you believe that the likes of Ben Elton, Rick Mayall, French & Saunders, Lenny Henry etc. can have become so dreadfully mainstream. I suppose Ben Elton is the most obvious sell-out culprit, but I saw Edmondson on a tv sitcom the other day and it was right down there in Terry & June territory. And as for the Vicar of Dibley..........

Alexei Sayle appears to be the only one who has retained his cultural credibility. Unless someone is going to tell me that he regularly has tea, cakes and jelly at Buckingham Palace.

[Adam Blake]

I never associated Alexei Sayle with that lot. He appeared with them a few times but I don't think he was ever a member of their club. In fairness and honesty I should add that (because of my theatrical background, darling) I have met several of these people and, as you can imagine, they are perfectly charming. Edmondson and Jupituss were like two gobsmacked schoolboys when they were asked to be involved with the Bonzos reunion. They really just don't get it. That obscene vulgarity is utterly contrary to everything that the Bonzos were about. Genteel vulgarity is virtually extinct, after all. It's a damn shame. Neil Innes and co. are too long in the tooth to remonstrate with them and, besides, they probably think on some level that it makes them more "contemporary". Such is life...

I loathed and detested beyond all measure "The Vicar of (f***ing) Dibley" but I must admit to having thoroughly enjoyed "Absolutely Fabulous".

[Papa M]

I loathed and detested beyond all measure "The Vicar of (f***ing) Dibley" but I must admit to having thoroughly enjoyed "Absolutely Fabulous".

Yes Abfab was brilliant. Was that perhaps made before Jennifer Saunders started hob-nobbing with royalty?

Oddly enough I never really liked Alexei Sayle as much as some of the others. I frequently found his comedy style to be simply whingeing and whining class warfare stuff. I've seen him recently presenting in a very intelligent and quite self effacing way and I think much more favourably nowadays.

[Adam Blake]

Alexei is a very smart fellow, and very funny. But his original comedic persona of the scouse skinhead in an ill-fitting suit... Horrendous!! That generation of comedians have got a lot to answer for.

Thank God for "The Mighty Boosh", I say!

[Papa M]

Thank God for "The Mighty Boosh", I say!

I loved the radio show and first tv series of Boosh - but I fear that their appeal is rapidly fading for me.

Now I much prefer the gentle and musical humour of Flight of the Conchords.

Yes, you've reminded me of why I didn't like Alexei - the scouse skinhead was a bit too realistic.
Am I right in thinking that in The Young Ones he played a Rackman type landlord spiv?

[Adam Blake]

The trouble is that the lifespan is so short these days. I sincerely thought that the Boosh was a genuinely new and innovative kind of comedy that might have as big an influence as Monty Python did in the 70s. But already it seems that Fielding and Barrett have given in to the demands of pop stardom! Oh well... As you say the radio series and series one, and I'd add most of series two are the funniest and most original British comedy for donkeys years.

[Papa M]

...the funniest and most original British comedy for donkeys years.

I know the tv sitcom is a bit old hat these days but I have really enjoyed Benidorm, I Deal, and Early Doors. All three had great pathos as well as some beautifully subtle humour.

[Adam Blake]

I didn't see them but the sitcom is a classic form and the vagaries of fashion will not alter that! It was good enough for Shakespeare, after all...