I haven't heard this for about 40 years, and it's the first time i SEE them. That's lovely. I used to listen to the BFN in Germany as a schoolgirl and simply loved this song. I'm missing my favorite verse here: And all the world over each nation's the same, and they've simply no notion of playing the game. They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won, and they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun...
Johnny foreigner would have hated it, almost as much as I cannot abide that ghastly contest. Once the fog in the channel was so thick that the continent was almost completely cut off.
Also notice how Flanders has to take huge breaths holding the sides of his chair. As a Doctor I will propose he is quite a high level paraplegic and lacks some of the full breathing mechanism. Makes it all the more impressive his abilities to sing !!
"The Germans are German". An excellent sentiment, often missed as it goes by so fast! And it's so true. (I partially grew up in Germany, and am very fond of it and its people. But they _are_ very German - both irritatingly and endearingly/wonderfully so.)
I love that quote from Willie Rushton, "Where would we be without our sense of humour?" Answer, "Germany!". Someone on here said the English are good at laughing at themselves. True, but not in the same league as the Jews...witness Jackie Mason...ruclips.net/video/0hz8oCT2HTc/видео.html
I grew up listening to them, my dad used to play them in the car and I would demand that the show 'At The Drop Of A Hat' be played on repeat for long drives. This is the first time I've ever actually seen a video of them and it's quite emotional for me really. They had such an impact on me and my developing sense of humour that I wouldn't know how to thank them enough if I somehow ever had the chance to meet them in person. Brilliant men.
Was introduced to these guys on vinyl by an eccentric private school master in 1971. In love with them ever since. Genius like this is not repeated easily
Reminds me of a plaque in the wireless office on a RN warship, 1983: There are four kinds of people in the UK. Firstly, the Scots who keep the Sabbath - and everythin' else they can lay their bluidy hands on; Then there are the Welsh - who pray on their knees and prey on their neighbours; Thirdly the Irish who don't know what the dickens they're fighting for, but they're willing to die for it, and fourthly and finally the English who consider themselves a race of self-made men, thereby ridding the Almighty of a dreadful responsibility."
These guys are great! I remember sitting with my parents, loving the jokes that I got and watching my parents roar with laughter at the ones I was too young to understand :D.
Thanks for posting, great to see them again. People still miss the point of their gentle pointed satire. Regarded as 'quintessentially English', Donald Ibrahim Swann was born in Wales of Russian and Azerbaijani parentage.
marvellous - "it's knowing you are foreign that's driving you mad" Of course even better when you look at Swann's ancestry - Russian Father / Azerbaijani mother and born in Wales
As a fan of these fellows, I cannot express the joy of seeing footage of them for the first time. I have heard various versions of their songs, but it is almost as much fun to see the interplay. Thank you very, very much!
I thoroughly enjoyed the several videos of F & S on my computer. They have a great sense of humor. They are among my favorite comedians. Too bad so little of their work is on DVDs.
We tried to release all the available footage through EMI about 8 years ago, but the original film contracts about who owns which bits are a mess and would be very costly to sort out. The trouble is that the lawyers and agents of 60 years ago had no notion of home distribution.
@ Elayne Kingston...you are SO right...a simpler and gentler time in a way...as a Scot I find this HILARIOUS...we used to listen to it and 'sing' it ( a tolerance of crows would have done a better job..,..lol ) back in our Uni days....
Their songs continually evolved over the 11 years they toured the two HAT shows, so variations are bound to occur - yes, I miss the 'Playing the Game' verse too!
This should be compulsory viewing for all foreign nationals as part of their citizenship test. A perfect example of English humour , don't be offended or we'll come and take our flag back!
gm137 (comment Dec08 or Jan09) has it exactly right! In this song F&S were engaged, as they were often, in parody. Poking at the prejudices of the English, and the prejudices of others, as hard as they could.
Thanks for uploading this, I stumbled on to it! My Dad played their tapes over and over when I was a kid, I never thought I'd actually be able to SEE them. :)
The song was pretty controversial when it was coined in 1963. They originally called it 'Anthem Anathema' - but that was too highbrow. Members of the audience would sidle up to them and say "We're so glad you feel this way too". So to make the satire totally explicit they renamed it 'Song of Patriotic Prejudice'. Some right-wingers still don't get it and trot it out as a quasi- national song. Twits!
Good old days when the wonderfull lack of PC allowed us to laugh at each other without being called racist !......Flanders and Swan only missed out here with a lack of referance to us Welsh and Sheep !
This is actually the first time I've seen a video of the two of them. Also interesting hearing a more updated version, about Americans. I kinda miss this bit, though: And all the world over, each nation's the same, They've simply no notion of Playing the Game: They argue with umpires; they cheer when they've won; And they practise beforehand, which ruins the fun! Thanks for posting this. :D
Brilliant ! I haven't heard this since the 70s. But the words seems slightly different... I remember something about one of nations who "practice beforehand, which ruins the fun" - I'll have to dig that EP of my Mum's out and check !
Yes, this performance was in the US (hence "you'd all be Spanish", and maybe they thought that line wouldn't be "got"? (With "cheer when they've won", which is the preceding line to rhyme, it's obviously a reference to cricket.)
True. In Bridge on the River Kwai, when he gets released from the jail, Guinness actually based his walk on how his son had walked while recovering from Polio. Ian Dury also had polio. This song, by the way, is wonderful.
A dangerous concentration of anglophilia, such as has been known to induce a terminal condition, was a major ingredient in our childhood growth medium. Tom [my kid brother, who died recently] refused to be mired in it, but did suffer from a lifelong susceptibility to the assorted amusements peddled under the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" banner. We grew up (to a certain extent, eventually) listening to the records (pronounced "rec-ore-ds") of Michael Flanders and Donald Swan. Whilst I was but a lad, I thought this song was our national anthem. Extensive research has determined that the deft humor developed by Michael Flanders as a lyricist is matched only by Noel Coward and Randy Newman. P.S. I notice that here they've left out my favorite verse from the studio recording - a pity putdown of Americans. "They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won - and they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun."
I agree, the lyrics of MF certainly bear comparison with Coward. Modern (-ish) ones include (Victoria Wood of course and) Dillie Keane (and on the US side, though more F&S contemporary, Tom Lehrer, who DK acknowledges as one of her muses). Yes, I miss the cricket verse - but they probably thought the US audience wouldn't "get" it.
He only had one working lung because of the polio, plus his weight was by then a strain to his system. Leon Administrator: Thr Flanders & Swann Estates
I dont remember ever seeing them . Im 67 in a few weeks and knocking boots with the devil 😂😂😂. Its the first time I've ever heard them as far as I can but I really do like them . I remember. Al Jolson i remember him very well . My dad had every record of his and i used to love listening to him
I think we all know someone like that.. who pretty much won't stop working to keep themselves alive... thank you for posting this, I wasn't aware there was any actual film of them!.
This is a good fun song a bit of a laugh and put together perfectly i have sung this at rugby matches and it got a laugh and on a St.George day parade... although i thought the organizers were going to cry...its a joke you humorless swines!
I'm mixed English and Scottish. Born in Scotland, Raised in Scotland, Living in England. If the union breaks up I'm stuffed... And won't have a blanket term to describe myself to curious Americans. Lol.
@2sepgorillas Ha ha ha ha haaaa! I quite agree with you!! I've just discovered Flanders and Swann on RUclips and am reliving some wonderful memories! I grew up with these songs - they made me laugh then and they make me laugh now!!! Bring back some good honest British (or should I say English??) humour, I say.
Love this song - nothing racist or prejudicial about it. People who would criticise them for being bigoted obviously don't even know that Donald Ibrahim Swann was Muslim. Didn't stop him for writing hymns for the church and whatnot. You'd struggle to find more open-minded individuals with music which delight everyone regardless of nationality, race or religion.
According to the radio special I heard about them, they felt that the times were changing, but if you had asked both of them, Flanders would have been more than likely to continue. Swann wanted to do other things musically and did, such as "The Road Goes Ever On". Their parting was amicable, as far as I can tell. Thanks for the facts about Flanders, Leon!
Thanks to youtube &LeonPFB for preserving this for posterity! I am old enough to remember Flanders and Swann and their witty sons, e.g Twas on a Monday Morning the gasman came to call! Mudd Mudd glorious Mud nothing quite like it for soothing the blood! And if my memory serves me well " I'm a Gnu a G N U. I shall google the songs and wallow in nostalgia!
I presume you've found them (and lots of others) by now, but if not, the titles are "The Gasman Cometh" and "The Hippopotamus Song" (also seek "Hippo Encore"). [And this one is "A song pf patriotic prejudice".]
@2sepgorillas - I don't how this song clashes with the values of those who promote tolerance, diversity or political correctness, given that it's actually satirising nationalism and racism.
@LeonPFB Hmm, i didn't know it was called that originally, interesting. Although i'm of scotto-Irish Origins this song has always made me laugh, first heard it in 1994, still just as good as i remember it (as compared to present day Comedians which by in large just do not have the same knack as the classics).
Me being English, take what they say into consideration, and do agree that there is a different verse. mainly because my mum told me and she found Flanders and Swann absolutely hysterical when she was younger. XD
Приколы
"He blows up policemen or so I have heard and blames it on Cromwell and William the Third"
Absolutely fucking genius.
Best line of the song imo
I'm 70 and grew up to all of their wonderful songs. I got taken to Drop of the Hat as a nipper.
perfect antidote to these fractiou times...Cheers
I haven't heard this for about 40 years, and it's the first time i SEE them. That's lovely. I used to listen to the BFN in Germany as a schoolgirl and simply loved this song. I'm missing my favorite verse here: And all the world over each nation's the same, and they've simply no notion of playing the game. They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won, and they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun...
Exactly
I grew up listening to these guys and it's really nice to see them. I'm 37 now and these guys are one of my few happy childhood memories :)
Glad to have you in the club... You aren't, from Belgium are you?
This should have been the Eurovision entry.
At least we would get 'nil points' for a good reason.
We've no chance of winning ever again so we might as well upset a few folks along the way 🤣
Johnny foreigner would have hated it, almost as much as I cannot abide that ghastly contest. Once the fog in the channel was so thick that the continent was almost completely cut off.
Flanders and Swann in the Eurovision contest would've been excellent.
I feel that the great affection in the Armstrong and Miller parody is pretty obvious, and that's the main reason that it works so well.
I’m 72 and grew up listening to these guys.
Also notice how Flanders has to take huge breaths holding the sides of his chair. As a Doctor I will propose he is quite a high level paraplegic and lacks some of the full breathing mechanism. Makes it all the more impressive his abilities to sing !!
Left paralysed by polio.
Mud mud glorious mud
It’s quite possible that the very reason he took up singing was as therapy for his breathing.
Of course being English he does not let a little thing like that stop him, and does remarkably well in spite of his handicap.
@@vhawk1951kl I don't think we use the word handicap anymore
"It's knowing you're foreign that's driving you mad". With apologies to the sensitivity of our overseas cousins, you know it's true 😂
"If it hadn't been for the English, you'd all be Spanish."
Brilliant.
ishtarg8 And why would that be bad?
@@alicemi4155 if you do not understand why that would be bad, then please do not use any sharp implements :)
@@richard6440 You didn't understand the song was an attack on people like you.
@@captainwin6333 The way the Spanish government are behaving at the moment I'm with Richard.
@@captainwin6333 your foreignness is driving you mad.
"The Germans are German". An excellent sentiment, often missed as it goes by so fast! And it's so true.
(I partially grew up in Germany, and am very fond of it and its people. But they _are_ very German - both irritatingly and endearingly/wonderfully so.)
Sometimes . . .
I love that quote from Willie Rushton, "Where would we be without our sense of humour?" Answer, "Germany!". Someone on here said the English are good at laughing at themselves. True, but not in the same league as the Jews...witness Jackie Mason...ruclips.net/video/0hz8oCT2HTc/видео.html
Can‘t deny it: I definitely am - frightfully so - German!
The fuck does this even mean. Sperg
I grew up listening to them, my dad used to play them in the car and I would demand that the show 'At The Drop Of A Hat' be played on repeat for long drives. This is the first time I've ever actually seen a video of them and it's quite emotional for me really. They had such an impact on me and my developing sense of humour that I wouldn't know how to thank them enough if I somehow ever had the chance to meet them in person. Brilliant men.
Happy 100th birthday, Donald Swann.
Was introduced to these guys on vinyl by an eccentric private school master in 1971. In love with them ever since. Genius like this is not repeated easily
Now this SHOULD be our national anthem :)
Beautifully satirised by Armstrong and Miller as Brabbins and Fyffe, but the originals are sublime :)
Marvellous. I love these two. Much missed
They were comic geniuses - I loved their comedy albums.
Reminds me of a plaque in the wireless office on a RN warship, 1983:
There are four kinds of people in the UK.
Firstly, the Scots who keep the Sabbath - and everythin' else they can lay their bluidy hands on;
Then there are the Welsh - who pray on their knees and prey on their neighbours;
Thirdly the Irish who don't know what the dickens they're fighting for, but they're willing to die for it, and fourthly and finally the English who consider themselves a race of self-made men, thereby ridding the Almighty of a dreadful responsibility."
I have the tea-towel
Brilliant!
Selfmade men were always supposed to be an example of why you should never try DIY.
I think this is absolutely hilarious! Even if it does call me "bony and blotchy and covered with hair!" I haven't laughed that hard in ages.
These guys are great! I remember sitting with my parents, loving the jokes that I got and watching my parents roar with laughter at the ones I was too young to understand :D.
Satire on a sublime level.
Thanks for posting, great to see them again. People still miss the point of their gentle pointed satire. Regarded as 'quintessentially English', Donald Ibrahim Swann was born in Wales of Russian and Azerbaijani parentage.
*Turkmen not Azerbaijani :)
Played this to a Welsh friend they fell off their chair laughing.
A song for St George's day!
Complete, absolute and utter genius.
This should be our National anthem
Along with Barwick Green, of course :-)
How well before their time they were.The Gas Man Cometh is the Tree that gave us Victoria, Stilgoe, Brandreth ,2 Ronnie's
And Dillie.
They forgot to mention that the British are the very best at laughing at themselves! No other nation does it better.
I have just discovered Flanders and Swann, absolutely marvellous, thank you for posting this video
I'm from New Zealand, so I'm right as rain. :D
New Zealand is the Wales of Australia :P
Except New Zealand plays better rugby.
Baaa
...... you'd all be Spanish ... Wonderful !!
Brilliant! And true, of course... ;-)
marvellous - "it's knowing you are foreign that's driving you mad" Of course even better when you look at Swann's ancestry - Russian Father / Azerbaijani mother and born in Wales
His father of English descent
English isn't a nationality, it's an attitude.
Like eating 'fake' sausages, getting pissed on lager and filling up on curry?
Even though I am Welsh, this song makes me proud of being British!
But as a Welshman (or woman) you ARE most def British!
That _makes_ you British (the ability to laugh at ourselves). [The Welsh, of course, sing beautifully; that's probably the point.]
As a fan of these fellows, I cannot express the joy of seeing footage of them for the first time. I have heard various versions of their songs, but it is almost as much fun to see the interplay. Thank you very, very much!
I've loved them since I first heard them. I love all their songs--at least the one's I've already heard.
I thoroughly enjoyed the several videos of F & S on my computer. They have a great sense of humor. They are among my favorite comedians. Too bad so little of their work is on DVDs.
We tried to release all the available footage through EMI about 8 years ago, but the original film contracts about who owns which bits are a mess and would be very costly to sort out. The trouble is that the lawyers and agents of 60 years ago had no notion of home distribution.
CDs (and now MP3s) of most of their songs are readily available, though. We play them often!
These days you couldn't get away with this. It's truly tragic.
Yeah you can. Al Murray's made a career of a less musical version of this.
Damn that was good.
Hilarious! My English boyfriend gave me a soundfile of this a long time ago. Just great!
@ Elayne Kingston...you are SO right...a simpler and gentler time in a way...as a Scot I find this HILARIOUS...we used to listen to it and 'sing' it ( a tolerance of crows would have done a better job..,..lol ) back in our Uni days....
wow I have not heard this since I was like 11... I will be 50 in August. :) Thank you thank you!!!!! Such memories.
Their songs continually evolved over the 11 years they toured the two HAT shows, so variations are bound to occur - yes, I miss the 'Playing the Game' verse too!
Finally - Flanders and Swann on RUclips! Thanks for posting1
This should be compulsory viewing for all foreign nationals as part of their citizenship test. A perfect example of English humour , don't be offended or we'll come and take our flag back!
gm137 (comment Dec08 or Jan09) has it exactly right! In this song F&S were engaged, as they were often, in parody. Poking at the prejudices of the English, and the prejudices of others, as hard as they could.
Splendid.
Thanks for uploading this, I stumbled on to it! My Dad played their tapes over and over when I was a kid, I never thought I'd actually be able to SEE them. :)
Brilliant.
Brilliant, I'd forgotten all about these two until I saw Amstrong and Miller doing a skit on them.
thank for posting, some of my childhood favorites
One of the greatest songs of all time.
The song was pretty controversial when it was coined in 1963. They originally called it 'Anthem Anathema' - but that was too highbrow. Members of the audience would sidle up to them and say "We're so glad you feel this way too". So to make the satire totally explicit they renamed it 'Song of Patriotic Prejudice'. Some right-wingers still don't get it and trot it out as a quasi- national song. Twits!
Most right wingers are dimwitted,.
Captain Win Well, your comment might not be racist, but it sure is prejudiced! 😃
I've always loved this song, however it's even funnier with video!!
Thank you for posting these!!
Thanks Mikee to share this amusing show!!!5/5 * thousand compliment!! Pino
Such a misunderstood song. People don't actually listen to realise that it makes a mockery of prejudice
@TheRenaissanceman65 Flanders had stated himself that it's a satirical song, meant as irony, not nationalism
@TheRenaissanceman65 Getting it wrong and then covering your error by pretending it was wit? That isn't irony
@TheRenaissanceman65 Believe that if it makes you feel better
@TheRenaissanceman65 And here, ladies and gentlemen, we see the first signs of a total breakdown in logical argument
@TheRenaissanceman65 Case in point, thank you
Sublime!
Good old days when the wonderfull lack of PC allowed us to laugh at each other without being called racist !......Flanders and Swan only missed out here with a lack of referance to us Welsh and Sheep !
Well, they weren't. They made fun of themselves, of those in power not those who were already exploited. That's why they're so deliciously funny.
This is actually the first time I've seen a video of the two of them. Also interesting hearing a more updated version, about Americans. I kinda miss this bit, though:
And all the world over, each nation's the same,
They've simply no notion of Playing the Game:
They argue with umpires; they cheer when they've won;
And they practise beforehand, which ruins the fun!
Thanks for posting this. :D
Brilliant ! I haven't heard this since the 70s. But the words seems slightly different... I remember something about one of nations who "practice beforehand, which ruins the fun" - I'll have to dig that EP of my Mum's out and check !
Yes, this performance was in the US (hence "you'd all be Spanish", and maybe they thought that line wouldn't be "got"? (With "cheer when they've won", which is the preceding line to rhyme, it's obviously a reference to cricket.)
Im scottish and I love this O_O
ten out of ten they should play this on the radio and tv once a day at least
True. In Bridge on the River Kwai, when he gets released from the jail, Guinness actually based his walk on how his son had walked while recovering from Polio. Ian Dury also had polio.
This song, by the way, is wonderful.
Brilliant! If anyone is offended then they are lacking sense of humour!
I am an Englishman and I find this totally offensive. They are nothing but a couple of racists
@@sb6678 why do you find this offensive?
@@sb6678 I read somewhere that it was written to take the piss out of racism. It's satire.
@@sb6678 m8 it's just a funny song so stop being offended and enjoy it
@Seine O'More His brains already fallen off.
A dangerous concentration of anglophilia, such as has been known to induce a terminal condition, was a major ingredient in our childhood growth medium. Tom [my kid brother, who died recently] refused to be mired in it, but did suffer from a lifelong susceptibility to the assorted amusements peddled under the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" banner. We grew up (to a certain extent, eventually) listening to the records (pronounced "rec-ore-ds") of Michael Flanders and Donald Swan. Whilst I was but a lad, I thought this song was our national anthem. Extensive research has determined that the deft humor developed by Michael Flanders as a lyricist is matched only by Noel Coward and Randy Newman.
P.S. I notice that here they've left out my favorite verse from the studio recording - a pity putdown of Americans. "They argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won - and they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun."
I agree, the lyrics of MF certainly bear comparison with Coward. Modern (-ish) ones include (Victoria Wood of course and) Dillie Keane (and on the US side, though more F&S contemporary, Tom Lehrer, who DK acknowledges as one of her muses).
Yes, I miss the cricket verse - but they probably thought the US audience wouldn't "get" it.
Never a truer word was spoken, in jest.
... The English the English the English are best?
Excellent!
Geez, I laughed so hard I had to stop it in the middle and go potty!
It's knowing you're foreign that's driving you mad.
He only had one working lung because of the polio, plus his weight was by then a strain to his system.
Leon
Administrator: Thr Flanders & Swann Estates
If you look at the version of The Wompom you posted, from 1962, he'd lost quite a bit of weight by the time of this performance.
I dont remember ever seeing them . Im 67 in a few weeks and knocking boots with the devil 😂😂😂. Its the first time I've ever heard them as far as I can but I really do like them . I remember. Al Jolson i remember him very well . My dad had every record of his and i used to love listening to him
I hope you've now found and enjoyed much of their other work. (Hippopotamus and Gasman probably being their best-known.)
I think we all know someone like that.. who pretty much won't stop working to keep themselves alive... thank you for posting this, I wasn't aware there was any actual film of them!.
It's a mocking patriotism. Love it.
Patriotism is good
I'd say jingoism rather than healthy patriotism
@@G6JPG I wasn't denying it was a send up 🤔
This is a good fun song a bit of a laugh and put together perfectly i have sung this at rugby matches and it got a laugh and on a St.George day parade... although i thought the organizers were going to cry...its a joke you humorless swines!
Now this! This is humor!
I'm mixed English and Scottish. Born in Scotland, Raised in Scotland, Living in England. If the union breaks up I'm stuffed... And won't have a blanket term to describe myself to curious Americans. Lol.
Flanders and Swann are awesome! "If we weren't English we'd be Spanish" - lol!
greatness.
didn't know them but now I know whom armstrong and miller are paying tribute to.
bloody excellent stuff..
lol
;-}
Love the faces of the audience at the end!
Were they amused, or not?
Ambiguity takes a nod.
@fordlandau
I think I read somewhere that he only had one lung. It's an impressive effort!
This is great!
I feel so foreign right now :)
"If it hadn't been for the English, you'd all be Spanish"! Classic.
@2sepgorillas Ha ha ha ha haaaa! I quite agree with you!! I've just discovered Flanders and Swann on RUclips and am reliving some wonderful memories! I grew up with these songs - they made me laugh then and they make me laugh now!!! Bring back some good honest British (or should I say English??) humour, I say.
Love this song - nothing racist or prejudicial about it. People who would criticise them for being bigoted obviously don't even know that Donald Ibrahim Swann was Muslim. Didn't stop him for writing hymns for the church and whatnot. You'd struggle to find more open-minded individuals with music which delight everyone regardless of nationality, race or religion.
Excellent.
brilliant & true
Brabbins and Fyffe? Yes Knowing I am foreign is driving me mad.
A funny endearing song which in essence makes fun of the English
PS - of course the song is ironic - it's meant to be!
According to the radio special I heard about them, they felt that the times were changing, but if you had asked both of them, Flanders would have been more than likely to continue. Swann wanted to do other things musically and did, such as "The Road Goes Ever On". Their parting was amicable, as far as I can tell. Thanks for the facts about Flanders, Leon!
Thanks to youtube &LeonPFB for preserving this for posterity! I am old enough to remember Flanders and Swann and their witty sons, e.g Twas on a Monday Morning the gasman came to call! Mudd Mudd glorious Mud nothing quite like it for soothing the blood! And if my memory serves me well " I'm a Gnu a G N U. I shall google the songs and wallow in nostalgia!
I presume you've found them (and lots of others) by now, but if not, the titles are "The Gasman Cometh" and "The Hippopotamus Song" (also seek "Hippo Encore"). [And this one is "A song pf patriotic prejudice".]
nice to see Flanders and Swann in action as
they are now dead
Just Brilliant
@2sepgorillas - I don't how this song clashes with the values of those who promote tolerance, diversity or political correctness, given that it's actually satirising nationalism and racism.
I'm a Scot great song
@LeonPFB Hmm, i didn't know it was called that originally, interesting.
Although i'm of scotto-Irish Origins this song has always made me laugh, first heard it in 1994, still just as good as i remember it (as compared to present day Comedians which by in large just do not have the same knack as the classics).
Me being English, take what they say into consideration, and do agree that there is a different verse. mainly because my mum told me and she found Flanders and Swann absolutely hysterical when she was younger. XD