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Post by dem on Jan 20, 2009 18:32:27 GMT
I found this very dull, so I'll be interested to hear what yu have to say, Dem. And I've just been going through the Ripping Yarns DVD & I love it! Think the only episode I ever saw was Tomkinson's Schooldays (although there's a number of episodes posted on Y*uT*be), but found this in a charity shop last week ... Michael Palin and Terry Jones - Ripping Yarns (Eyre Methuen, 1980) Tomkinson's Schooldays
Across The Andes By Frog
Murder at Moorstones Manor
The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite
Stalag Luft 112B
The Curse of the ClawFrom the back cover Blurb: Here now for the first time in paperback are the complete texts of six ripping yarns which set British television back 50 years, illustrated with copious stirring photographs from the BBC films themselves.
" ... you'll thrill to the story of the rise from bullied to school bully, in Tomkinson's Schooldays. You'll fight back the tears at the stirring exploits of the intrepid British officer who wouldn't lie down in Stalag Luft 112B, much to the annoyance of the other prisoners, who were all for the quiet life. Then feel the chills run up your spine as the bodies pile up in Murder at Moorstones Manor and The Curse of the Claw." - Manchester Evening News ... which I hope to get around to reviewing because I found it a terrific read, notably the aforementioned, stirring tale of Tomkinson's Schooldays and the bonkers but in a good way psycho-drama, Murder at Moorstones Manor. If anyone can come up with a less boring mini-review of Ripping Yarns than this, please post it. As a matter of the utmost urgency. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jan 20, 2009 19:30:56 GMT
I'll never forget the crucified boys on the school wall. Dark and ever so funny
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Post by dem on Jan 20, 2009 21:26:32 GMT
Not the clearest of scans, but .... Actually, the only criticism I have of the book is how comes they settled on that rather dull photo of the authors over the inspired "authentic" Ripping Yarns cover used in the the opening credits? |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 21, 2009 16:59:17 GMT
Ah, this was brilliant on TV - don't know the book though. I guess this was the forerunner to "The League of Gentlemen" really, with some of the same kind of dark humour - what do you reckon? Most of you will probably be too young to remember these books, but the "Ripping Yarns" were, of course, inspired by comics like "Boy's Own Adventures". I remember seeing these in my youth, but I was, of course, a girl, so I didn't read them. Any of you "big boys" familiar with these? And I bet you don't want to hear about my autograph-hunting exploits with Michael Palin last year and the year before, do you!   (NO!!! I hear you all shout ..  ) |
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Post by allthingshorror on Jan 21, 2009 18:34:31 GMT
I think I have a copy of it somewhere. It's yours if I find it Caroline. If I get it, will post it at the weekend.
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Post by dem on Jan 21, 2009 19:14:37 GMT
Most of you will probably be too young to remember these books, but the "Ripping Yarns" were, of course, inspired by comics like "Boy's Own Adventures". I remember seeing these in my youth, but I was, of course, a girl, so I didn't read them. Any of you "big boys" familiar with these? I've two bound volumes of Boys Own, but they're like from the 1880's or something - admittedly, many of us will not see our seventeenth summer again, but blimey, how old do you think we are?  Robinsons had a stab at a modern revival last year with The Mammoth Book Of Boys Own Stuff - not sure how many copies they shifted though! |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 21, 2009 19:21:31 GMT
Most of you will probably be too young to remember these books, but the "Ripping Yarns" were, of course, inspired by comics like "Boy's Own Adventures". I remember seeing these in my youth, but I was, of course, a girl, so I didn't read them. Any of you "big boys" familiar with these? I've got two bound volumes of Boys Own, but they're like from the 1880's or something - admittedly, many of us will not see our seventeenth summer again, but blimey, how old do you think we are? Robinsons had a stab at a modern revival last year with The Mammoth Book Of Boys Own Stuff - i'm not sure how many copies they shifted though! I thought they were still going in the 50s or something like that? But maybe not. I'm sure I've seen copies in our house when I was a kid. Maybe they were my dad's or something? When you get to my age, you get a little confused you see.  |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 21, 2009 19:22:30 GMT
I think I have a copy of it somewhere. It's yours if I find it Caroline. If I get it, will post it at the weekend. Ooo, Johnny, I love you! In a purely platonic way, of course ... |
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Post by carolinec on Jan 21, 2009 19:44:53 GMT
I've got two bound volumes of Boys Own, but they're like from the 1880's or something - admittedly, many of us will not see our seventeenth summer again, but blimey, how old do you think we are? I thought they were still going in the 50s or something like that? But maybe not. I'm sure I've seen copies in our house when I was a kid. Maybe they were my dad's or something? When you get to my age, you get a little confused you see. Ah, here we are - I knew I'd seen them later than that. After all, Palin and Jones are only in their mid-60s and they read them! Here's the Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy%27s_Own_AnnualWhich says: "Boy's Own Paper was a British story paper aimed at young and teenage boys, published from 1879 to 1967." I got the name a little wrong though, which probably caused the confusion. |
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Post by allthingshorror on Jan 21, 2009 20:15:21 GMT
Sorry Caroline - It was in the car boot boxes - but we must have sold it on the last run though I'll be buggered if I can remember that. I do have a copy of the complete Faulty Tower scripts in a lovely Methuen hardback (2nd printing) that's yours if you want it.
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Post by carolinec on Jan 21, 2009 21:16:17 GMT
Sorry Caroline - It was in the car boot boxes - but we must have sold it on the last run though I'll be buggered if I can remember that. I do have a copy of the complete Faulty Tower scripts in a lovely Methuen hardback (2nd printing) that's yours if you want it. I shouldn't have declared my love for you so soon then, obviously!  Nah, I think I'll pass on the Fawlty Towers scripts. I love Farty Owls .. er, I mean Fawlty Towers .. too but I've seen that several times in charity shops previously, been tempted, but so far resisted. Now if I could get one of those signed by John Cleese ... Thanks ever so much for the kind offer anyway. |
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Post by valdemar on Apr 4, 2012 21:48:04 GMT
''Eight One!'' ''Eight bloody One!'' '' 'Ow's the wife?'' ''Still farting'' ''I got a job as captain of the Greasy Bastard'' ''Come round next week, and I'll show you my bubo's'' ''He contracted Dinge and Blackleg...'' ''...This is Eddie...'' A relentlessly funny show. The intro to 'Whinfrey's Last Case' always makes me laugh until I cry - the little dance to camera the butcher does is the icing on the cake.  |
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Post by dem on Feb 1, 2019 22:02:17 GMT
lol I had forgotten all about that. Ripping Yarns was a must-watch for me and my classmates, our favourite being indeed Tomkinson's Schooldays. My two favourites, and I watched them when they were first shown were; The Curse of the Claw (for it's Monkey's Paw theme. A story I had only just discovered not long before I saw the episode when I was 9) and, being a footie fan, Golden Gordon which I used to almost emulate very single week. Thankfully we are a bit better now). A brilliant series which I have on DVD. And good memory about the Sandeman's Port adverts. I remember them well. Nabbed this at the Dalston Junction Oxfam a fortnight back for 99p, along with a copy of Susan Hill's Printers Devil's Court. Michael Palin & Terry Jones - The Complete Ripping Yarns (Guild, 1990) Blurb: Tomkinson's Schooldays
Set in the frontier days of British education, when upper lips were stiff with cold and corporal punishment was an A-level. A savage, searing indictment of something or other.
Across the Andes by Frog
The stirring story of one man and six frogs who tried to defy the world in the greatest gamble of all.
The Testing of Eric Olthwaite
A boy becomes a man in the harsh world of the Depression. The rough, tough story of folk who couldn't afford to go on the Jarrow March.
Murder at Moorstones Manor
Hugo and Dora drive down to see Mumsie and Dadsie-pie for a long weekend in the country. But it turns out to be longer than they thought.
Escape from Stalag Luft 112B
A tale of courage and valour behind the lines in the Kaiser‘s Germany. An inspiring story of camp life and a British officer who wouldn't lie down.
The Curse of the Claw
The terrifying story of a man who dabbled in the dark mysteries of the Orient, and lived to tell the tale. Or did he....?
Roger of the Raj
Roger Bartlesham Comes of age in a world of eighteen course breakfasts and twelve servants per leg. But when the Great War breaks out Roger finds himself in a world of changing values and is forced by circumstances to the most despicable act known to the British Army.
Whinfrey's Last Case
Dashing, debonair Gerald Whinfrey saves his country twice a week. But in 1913 a German plot to start the First World War without telling anybody coincides with his holiday. Where do Whinfrey‘s priorities lie? Has he got any? A knockabout tale of international intrigue.
Golden Gordon
A torrid tale of football fanaticism in the 1930s. Super-fan Gordon Ottershaw supports a team which hasn’t won a match for six years. But worse is to come and Gordon and his bicycle clips are re-united in a last desperate bid for glory and Bovril.
Here now are the complete texts of all nine of the classic yarns which set British television back 60 years, illustrated with copious stirring photographs from the BBC films themselves. The book is ideal reading after ‘lights out‘ in the colonies, or on a long sea voyage. |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Feb 9, 2019 13:23:56 GMT
Some of the series (most notably "Across the Andes by Frog") was lifted/expanded from this, a previous Palin/Jones production:-  Well worth a look if you can still find a copy. |
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Feb 9, 2019 19:06:09 GMT
The Across the Andes by Frog in Dr Fegg's tome and the Ripping Yarns episode only really have a title in common, as they both take radically different approaches. I've never actually seen the original Bert Fegg book, but I'm very familiar with the revised Dr Fegg's Encyclopedia of All World Knowledge, which Michael Palin signed for me on Fegg's behalf in 1989. I was also delighted to see him perform The Famous Five Go Pillaging and other extracts from the book during his tour in 2014. It's a brilliantly funny book. Palin's recently republished it, and the Yarns book, and you can buy both - signed if you want - from his website. www.themichaelpalin.com/dr_feggs_page/ |
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