The Wipers Times
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The Wipers Times
A simply brilliant 90 mins from the BBC, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman (both of Private Eye fame). So it's not mil aviation ... but very military and extremely poignant.
Just loved the line from the a$$ of a Lt. Col. "Are you being offensive enough" 
I think Captain Roberts MC would have liked PPRuNe
BBC iPlayer : The Wipers Times
iPlayer Expiry Date 18/09/13
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A true story ...
When Captain Fred Roberts discovered a printing press in the ruins of Ypres, Belgium in 1916, he decided to publish a satirical magazine called The Wipers Times - "Wipers" being army slang for Ypres. Full of gallows humour, The Wipers Times was poignant, subversive and very funny. Produced literally under enemy fire and defying both authority and gas attacks, the magazine proved a huge success with the troops on the western front. It was, above all, a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity. In his spare time, Roberts also managed to win the Military Cross for gallantry.
When Captain Fred Roberts discovered a printing press in the ruins of Ypres, Belgium in 1916, he decided to publish a satirical magazine called The Wipers Times - "Wipers" being army slang for Ypres. Full of gallows humour, The Wipers Times was poignant, subversive and very funny. Produced literally under enemy fire and defying both authority and gas attacks, the magazine proved a huge success with the troops on the western front. It was, above all, a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity. In his spare time, Roberts also managed to win the Military Cross for gallantry.
I think Captain Roberts MC would have liked PPRuNe
BBC iPlayer : The Wipers Times
iPlayer Expiry Date 18/09/13
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One of those rare moments when I applaud the BBC.
Excellent programme, and much enjoyed on many different levels.
Excellent programme, and much enjoyed on many different levels.
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I too thought it excellent, and to do that with all that was going on around them, really was a well written and produced show, shame the Times couldn't add a belated obituary to them both.
Last edited by NutLoose; 12th Sep 2013 at 11:49.
Really enjoyed it, so good to see a knock at the Daily Mail and the endless poetry!
The very slightest of gripes, and this is TV-wide, is that it would be nice, just once, to hear a proper Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire accent.
The very slightest of gripes, and this is TV-wide, is that it would be nice, just once, to hear a proper Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire accent.
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The very slightest of gripes, and this is TV-wide, is that it would be nice, just once, to hear a proper Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire accent.
Must say I really enjoyed that. Didn't manage to catch it first time so am grateful for the link (had a few hours to kill this afternoon).
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Wonderful. Made me cry made me laugh, made me angry. Yes loved the hits at the Daily Mail (wonder if they were reading PPrune) and more than one or two nods to Blackadder humour. Watch it, well worth it.
Tom
Tom
Ian Hislop is one of the very few TV personalities I would really love to meet. I even gritted my teeth and watched him being interviewed on the truly awful One Show so that I could learn a bit more about this programme, which was as good as I hoped.
Actors have only 3 all-purpose accents - south east (inc Lunnon), oop north, and a general purpose "Mummerset" which does duty for all points from Bristol to Lands End.
This one got the 'oop north' for the ORs and "posh south east" for the officers, but that minor annoyance apart the programme was brilliant. The badges were spot on, by the way.
The very slightest of gripes, and this is TV-wide, is that it would be nice, just once, to hear a proper Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire accent.
This one got the 'oop north' for the ORs and "posh south east" for the officers, but that minor annoyance apart the programme was brilliant. The badges were spot on, by the way.
Tankertrashnav, agree with you on the generality of accents and the badges. My grandad was Notts & Derbys in the First War, having been conscripted in 1916 from his job as a miner. We also had family who worked the Kimberley mines in SA, as Capt Roberts did, so I was watching very keenly on all aspects.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Tankertrashnav, agree with you on the generality of accents and the badges.
- The recordings were discovered by British academic John Adams
- They are believed to be the earliest known recordings of its kind
- Experts fascinated that the Oxfordshire accent has completely changed
- Recordings made by Alois Brandl and Wilhelm Doegen
- They will be unveiled at next year's First World War centenary events
Last edited by ORAC; 13th Sep 2013 at 07:55.
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Complaining that the accents were not correct is a bit pointless when you read in ORAC's link
and
Among the men recorded was John Hickman, a musician from Bletchingdon, north of Oxford, who experts say has an Oxfordshire accent completely different from that of today
'Regional accents were much stronger.
'This was a period when you could tell people from one village to another, it wasn't just county to county.'
'This was a period when you could tell people from one village to another, it wasn't just county to county.'
Last edited by November4; 13th Sep 2013 at 10:11.
I don't watch a lot on the Beeb these days, but I watched this and agree with most of the preceding inputs. Great TV, such a pity they prefer to push out soaps. Bring on some more please aunty Beeb.
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The very slightest of gripes, and this is TV-wide, is that it would be nice, just once, to hear a proper Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire accent.