Check out the American comedian Cid Caesar. From the fifties. He was the best at talking nonsense....in various languages...sort of!!! Search for German general scene! You'll be glad you did.
If we ever have a British Prime Minister that has the same command of the English language as Sir Humphrey I will definitely move to Britain and work so hard to become his own civil servant.
We have an MP of this calibre.....Jacob Rees-Mogg. Unfortunately he won't stand a a candidate because he has a young family of several children, and doesn't want to disrupt their family life. Perhaps he might be persuaded when they're grown,,,I hope so. He has a brilliant mind, a great dress sense, is articulate, studies everything carefully, and always gets the best of any argument. Check him out on You-Tube.
@@annemariefleming Rees-Mogg is an idiot who disguises his stupidity with flowery language and obscure facts which on inspection turn out to be wrong. He is a total waste of space.
This show needs to be remastered and released again. It’s a pure gem, writers and actors alike. I am at awe with the prouesse of the actors, especially Sir Nigel Hawthorne. Memorizing those triads and the the way he acts and mimics them is a pure joy to watch.
And people today think we’ve ‘progressed’! I wish they could name just one comedy series that has passed the superlative heights that this one achieved over 30 years ago! Surely, when compared to today’s mundane offerings it’s undeniable that we’ve actually been regressing instead!
That's what Al Murray, the publican comedian, said in one of his shows. He actually argued that the human brain is designed to think in English and so therefore the Brits have an inmate advantage in this area. If so, It certainly hasn't been on display throughout the brexit drama
He says he refers to himself "by means of the perpendicular prounoun", which is fine. But then he says "it was I". In THAT context, he should say "it was me".
I used to work in the civil service back in the early eighties and Yes Minister was a true reflection of it down to a tee. The BBC will never make another excellent series like this ever again, when you look at the tv programmes of the seventies and eighties you see quality not the rubbish you see today.
Jajalaatmaar, the BBC has never made another programme like this since the eighties regarding the civil service. But I do remember the original House of Cards Which was about the politics at that time. Another series was the famous Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy starring Alec Guinness which is a 5* spy production written by John Le Carre. If you get the time watch these 2 series, you won’t be disappointed by the quality of acting.
Yes. Unfortunately, although the answer was indeed clear, simple and straightforward, there is some difficulty in justifiably assigning to it the fourth of the epithets you applied to the statement inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information you communicated and the facts insofar as they can be determined and demonstrated is such as to cause epistemological problems of sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably be expected to bear.
Wedding vegetable LOL What a great expression! Yeah Barnaby Joyce 'struggling' on $215K per year while I manage on $15K per year. I don't know how he does it.
True, but its much better to let others find out you have a secret, and then reveal it, just not the secret you actually want to keep, but a secret you want to tell... Preferably someone elses secret.... 😉
Sadly it will never be the same, the whole country has gone to the dogs, either that, or i am getting too old! -- Nothing really like those programs i reckon, replaced by Mrs Browns Boys. 🤬🤯
I watched this series on Turkish television back in the late 80's. Although the Turkish dubbing was quite good and I absolutely loved this series, the original version, especially Sir Humphrey's speeches, are tremendous.
This was an absolutely genius script, played by great actors. I'm from Portugal, and I bow myself to the British Comedy and Culture and all what it gaved to the world. Thank you!
When the office first appeared, l thought, now here's a show with the insight, dialogue and performance to rival Yes Minister. But, as much as I did enjoy The Office, l recently borrowed a Yes Minister CD from my local library and I was as just as captivated by the brilliance of this show as I was when it first appeared all those years ago. It seems that it just doesn't get any better than Yes Minister and particularly the performance of Nigel Hawthorne - superb.
Genius.. Sir Humphrey, the best actor of his generation. Thank heavens for RU-vid and Box sets that we can still see work of this quality.. for sure the BBC no longer makes ANYTHING like it.!! WF
I recently saw "History Makers: Machiavelli" by Overly Sarcastic Productions. I can't do their video justice but I will state a bit of Machiavelli's life that may show "The Prince" was supposed to be taken ironically. "The Prince" was a job application dedicated to a man in the Medici family. The Medici family tortured and banished Machiavelli some time before this book was made. Overly Sarcastic Productions has more information that conflicts with what people imagine him to be but I would rather have people see their video.
Telling the opposite to the truth is an untruth, which is not exactly the same as a lie. All lies are untruths, but not all untruths are lies. If someone says something that is untrue but believes it to be true and with no intention to deceive then I would not call it a lie.
I think the implication is that he "lied" to Parliament, which is an offence requiring resignation under Westminster conventions. A parliamentarian who provided an untrue answer (even in good faith) would be, of course, attacked by the opposition for telling a deliberate lie, regardless of the reality of the situation.
In this perticular case, Hacker is in the position off the one "who should have known the truth". But noone in the civil service actually told him the truth. The civil service keeps secrets from Hacker about stuff Hacker is supposed to know about.Hacker told the untruth, but not out off intent, but because the CS hid the truth from him.Humphrey off course twisted it, shaving all responsiblity from himself and claims that Hacker actually lied, because Hacker is in the position off the one "who should have known".
I have the entire DVD & watch the whole thing once a year. And laugh all the way. My favorite character is Sir Arnold who is smoother than silk but more treacherous than Attila the Hun. Best scenes are when Sir Humphrey tells the Minister or Prime Minister, this is the most courageous thing that you have done. Right there Hacker gets a panic attack.
I am bemused to say that I understood almost every word. [Civil Servant(resigned) from a former British Colony] Edit: Even though our civil service has a high percentage of women in the upper ranks and different cultures form its make-up I am not aware that this has had any demonstrable effects in either improvement or deterioration of the civil service as it now stands. Indeed, after the perusal of submissions from commenters self-identifying from different countries (mostly ex-British), I have come to the conclusion that irrespective of gender, race, nationality or culture, that the British Civil Service wherever it is implemented is able to eventually subsume all these variables to generate a monstrosity in inaction, ineptitude and apathy wherever it is established. Given that this is indubitably better than unending wars - All Hail the British Civil Service against which all our Civil Services are modelled! 😎
I have often used this one, in identifying the person who has done something, as "The identity of the person in question, can be made by the use of the Perpendicular Pronoun." Or some similar wording to get to the Perpendicular Pronoun.
In my opinion, Yes Minister was better because the victories between Humphrey and Hacker were evenly divided. There was even one episode where they work together - regarding the transportation policy. In Yes Prime Minister, Hacker won only twice and defeats were more pronounced.
saikat93ify “,Dear Jim’...JIM.? Look! It’s in her own hand… And it’s signed! Do you know how much this is worth?” “I believe the going price is 30 pieces of silver.” Oh that was Hacker’s most treasured victory, and I laugh every time I think of the look on Humphreys face.
Sir Humphrey: Yes. Unfortunately, although the answer was indeed clear, simple and straightforward, there is some difficulty in justifiably assigning to it the fourth of the epithets you applied to the statement inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information you communicated and the facts insofar as they can be determined and demonstrated is such as to cause epistemological problems of sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably be expected to bear.... Hacker : Epistemological? What are you talking about? Sir Humphrey: You told a lie. Genius writing and acting
I've seen this in action. It is the reason the public service moves at snail pace. Every person is intimately engaged in arse protection. The most important thing is the Process, outcomes don't matter. And it is absolutely true. You never tell a minister anything they don't need to know. So they can have plausible deniability.
Sir Humphrey knew the unknown, but he kept it unknown that he knew how serious the unknown actually was. It was very serious, because it was an unknown quantity.
@@matthew8153 The fear is definitely caused by not knowing what it is that we don't know, minister. We simply do not know what the consequences might be, and that is frightening.
@@matthew8153 I can assure you that I strongly suspect that there are a lot of things that I do not know. But the worrying thing is that my unknowns might be different from your unknowns. There are bound to be overlaps, such that we are equally ignorant in certain unspecified areas.
@@clemstevenson Precisely the point of this perplexing piece. Pointing and prodding will presumably persist until all present parties propose the position of proliferating public perception.
It is one of the best shows ever!!! I keep watching it again and again from time to time, and I just started couple of days ago. Too bad they only made 5 seasons altogether and one movie. They should have done more, also other great show is Allo Allo!!!! these never get old or a person gets bored from them.
In the late 1980s I completed a Grad Dip in Public Sector Management; clips of the show were used to illustrate points. Can't remember if they were used to train us students in what to do or what not to do. They were great fun to watch. Ceased to be a public servant within 2 years of graduating.
Watching this you might want to try the Australian series Utopia (not to be confused with the British or American TV series with the same name). It has the pseudo-serious style of The Office (no background laughs for example) combined with the more 'serious' situations like the ones you find in Yes Minister. It's quite hilarious. I would especially recommend it to people who have worked in government themselves.
Sir Humphrey, what a brilliant understanding of the English language. I did hear that he used beta blockers so that he could continue without stumbling. Even so, his intellect was brilliant !
we had a referendum on the motion an agree in principle yes minister is genius comedy 449 votesupheld against 13. motion will be passed as a yellow bill
Both tthe actors and writting of this tv sercies is just unreal and should be back on the boxhere in Australia as the dribble that is on is just crap to shows like this a gem in the highest order to of the English side of things to .
One of the best programs they ever did on the BBC... and one that every would be politician and civil servant should be required to watch so that they avoid making rush judgements and playing hasty games..... they could have avoided the whole Brexit debacle if they had seen and understand why it is better not to make snap judgements or follow the appeals of the fringes of the society but play towards a calm sober middle path.
"appeals of the fringes of society", directly relating to Brexit. Where is only the fringes, surely a referendum was nothing to "fear". In fact a heart felt belief it was only the fringes is likely the only reason 52% who voted leave ever got heard.
@@wireguided9572 52 of the voters, not the whole voting public. So it could have been quite diffrent if more people took this seriously. And also a vote given, with false information helping make the decision, might be a vote given in good faith, but if the true costs come out, the people might want to reconsider. Politicans get to turn round from good intended but horrible policy.
@@mjfan653 Perhaps everyone else should have got off their arses and gone and voted then. Please, you're actually saying that the leave campaign lied. The remain campaign didn't though, did they? The Governor of the Bank of England, The head of the CBI, head of the IMF to name a few all said that the British economy would come crashing down the day after a NO vote. Granted, it dipped a few points but after a week or so was back on track and has kept on going. To listen to all of them Armageddon would be visited upon us if we voted to leave. The Governor of The Bank, is supposed to be apolitical. The same as the Speaker of The House of Commons, John Bercow. Neither of them seem able to stay within their brief. Bercow is leaving after Nov. 1st and I think that Mark Carney may be looking for another job once this is all done and dusted.
I suppose you know but for anyone unaware-sadly both Nigel and Paul Eddington died some time ago with Paul dying first in the 1990's. Derek Fowlds (Bernard.) is the only one still alive now out of the three. He recently released an autobiography that is also available in audio format. Both Nigel and Paul each have a respective autobiography as well and both can be picked up online at reasonable prices.
Not quite so. The original writers, Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn did write for the revival, the revival which was basically an evolution of the stage production started some time before with more or less the same actors. That was their vital mistake, as I saw it. They brought back the original characters and their jokes struggled to shine through. Nigel, Paul, Derek and company were nowhere to be seen and none of the original cast can be replaced. The original writers should have ignored the BBC and instead argued for creating a similar but different enough show that takes on democracy and politics from a different angle but no- same characters, same idea just set in contemporary times. They set themselves up by begging us to compare with the original.
If anybody thougt that the contents of this sitcom is just hilarious for the benefit of the audience well, wake up: this the raw truth about how a government works, no matter in which country, unfortunately.