Not motoring related,but hey,who cares.
Have we lost one of the greatest comedy actors of recent time or what?
Pure comic genius.
Fork/four candles!!!!!!
RIP Ronnie Barker.
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I remember when Eric Morecambe died - another comic genius with surpurb timing.
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withsurpurb timing.
Sorry about the spelling - what do you think of it so far?
'Rubbish'!
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A tribute to Ronnie Barker is on BBC1 at 22:35 tonight.
And to bring this back to motoring,
A quote from one of their Two Ronnies shows
"And we'll be talking to a car designer who's crossed Toyota with Quasimodo and come up with The Hatchback of Notre Dame"
And who could forget Nurse Gladys Emmanuel's Moggy Minor in Open All hours.
Ronnie Barker - 1929 to 2005.
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ps, not wishing to be too much of a killjoy, see who else can manage to keep this thread motoring related ;o)
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I remember when he bought David Jason a van in Open All Hours. (Motoring bit)
He was a fantastic actor. If you didn't know, you could think that Fletcher and Arkwright were played by two different people. He had the knack of creating characters with none of his own personality in them, and the same went for his characters in Two Ronnie sketches.
One of the greats.
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Apparently the man himself used to turn up for filming on 'Open all Hours' in a large black Bentley. It seems stars of a certain age are attracted to RR/Bentley products eg: Eric Morecambe, Silver Shadow; Jimmy Tarbuck, Silver Shadow; Bernard Manning, Siver Spirit; Terry Wogan, Bentley Arnage.
None of them go for Mercs/BMWs etc. I assume it is patriotism.
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Stuart Hall drives a Cadillac
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Mr Hall is a special case. Rules are made to be broken after all...
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What does Paul Daniels drive? Is it he that has the plate MAG1C? I seem to remember Tarby has COM1C.
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I beleive Mr Daniels drives a VW LT (he did the last time he was on tv with Louis Theroux). Dont know what its reg was. Tarby still owns COM1C afik
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MAG1C is a green 1989 Bentley (not sure what model though - private plate has hidden it from the RAC and AA checks). Last owner change in late 1993.
COM1C is a new shape Mercedes C200K.
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Paul Daniels has had the registration number MAG1C for at least 30 years - saw his then car parked outside my home town's sea front theatre several times when I was much younger.
Seem to remember it was a Ferrari but might be mistaken after all this time.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I once passed Mr Daniels on the M4 (westbound in the Slough area). He was broken down in the hard shoulder. Saw the number plate MAG1C and thought "it's got to be him" and it was. It was on some sort of Bentley or Rolls. Imagine being Paul Daniels and having to phone the AA...
"My car's broken down"
"Well magic it fixed then"
Anyway... keeping to the subject, RIP Ronnie. It feels like I've lost a favourite uncle or something. A very talented man who used his range of fantastic characters to cover up his own discomfort in front of the cameras. Sadly missed, but he'll never be forgotten.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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Bring it back to RB *and* motoring (DD be proud of me) I'll always believe Open All Hours was the best thing he did.
As well as the Morris Minor, there was one episode where Arkwright - compelled by Nurse Gladys to get Granville a van - acquires a marvellous old late-40s Humber hearse, predictably rejected by the Nurse. And there was a lop-sided Bedford van where the headlamps promptly fell out.
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Attempting to return this to topic...
The Two Ronnies made some British Leyland ads in the seventies.
There was one featuring Corbett (I think) as an ex convict, buying (I think) a Princess from Barker playing the BL salesman.
Barker: very economical sir.
Corbett: would have to be with petrol at five and a tanner a gallon.
Barker: you have been away a long time sir!
Admittedly not the finest hour for either performer but I'm sure Barker approached it with the same spirit of perfectionism as everything else he did.
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One of their gems I recall from the Two Ronnies "news" items at end of the prog:
"Police report that an elephant has done a ton on the M1, and motorists are asked to treat it as a roundabout".
That was as mucky as their wonderful humour ever got!
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It has been reported that a large whole has appeared in the M4, police are said to be looking into it.
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ISTR a TV series called Clarence, where Ronnie Barker was a removal man with very poor eyesight. It was set in the 1920's or 30's. He seemed to do most of the driving, but maybe eyesight was not a problem back then!
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Didn´t RB have a bit of the dodgy motor-trader in him? Think he was set up by a Sunday paper a few years back who went to his antique shop with a mint silver platter worth about 10k. The loveable Ronnie takes a look at it,´give you 25 quid for that Sir´. Classy.
But we mustn´t speak ill of the dead etc etc.
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Whenever I read stories like that one Barchettaman or Miss Moss, I think back to when I worked for newspapers many, many years ago. Remembering the coke-heads, alcoholics and drink-drivers always seems to help me put a new perspective on it.
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RB and Motoring.
Seem to recall the pilot for Porridge started off with Fletch being transported in a Mk1 Transit of dubious age. I think he sneaked off to do No1s in the petrol filler and it broke down on the moors.
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