As I've said before, if you don't know English history you won't be able to appreciate the full humour of Blackadder which is brilliant on so many levels cheers guys!!
To lift straight from wikipedia "The first official Hellfire Club was founded in London in 1718, by Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton and a handful of other high-society friends, such as Benjamin Franklin. The most notorious club associated with the name was established in England by Francis Dashwood, and met irregularly from around 1749 to around 1760, and possibly up until 1766. In its later years the Hellfire was closely associated with Brooks's, established in 1764."
Dashwoods club met in caves near West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. The Caves are open to the public and include chambers named after Sandwich and Franklin. The radical John Wilkes (who John Wilkes Booth was named after) was also a member.
From what I've read, it's the other way around - that is, the Nahuatl people referred to their scrotums/testicles because they resemble avocados (or "ahuacatl" in their language). It's like us referring to testicles/scrotums as "nuts" or "plums".
No, the words are not real. They are designed to sound plausible, with Latinate-sounding roots, but contrafibularity, interphrastically and pericombobulation are all made up.
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry also starred in the classic TV series "Jeeves and Wooster" for 4 seasons. With Hugh as the upper class buffoon and Fry as his extremely intelligent butler set in the 1920s.
The hellfire club is a real thing. It was inside what we call the hellfire caves in Wycombe, England. It was dug out of a huge chalk hill. The prince regent was well known for attending this secretive and select place where gambling and fornicating took place. It's open to the public (for a fee) and I've been there twice. It's pretty creepy but fascinating. Many of the references in Blackadder are based on real history. ✌️❤️🇬🇧
We’ve used ‘I shall return interfrastically’ in our house ever since this came out! Also saying ‘sausage, sausage!!’ in disbelief if we’ve forgotten something important.
The 3 'hipsters' are, Keats, Shelley and Byron. The 3 foremost of the 'romance poets' of the early 19th century. Fun fact, Shelley's wife, Mary, wrote, Frankenstein.
Hugh Laurie's album "Let Them Talk" is awesome. It's best if you have the CD with his "forward" regarding the album, in the liner notes. His version of St. James Infirmary is my favourite...he's an amazing guitarist and keys player. But if you want a true masterpiece, have a look for "A Bit Of Fry and Laurie"....I can't remember but "Kickin' Ass' (is musical wizardry)
The Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane played Johnson. He is better known as Hagrid in Harry Potter and Fitz in Cracker. He was in the 80s comedy series “The Comic Strip Presents…” and played a Russian gangster in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond movies. He also starred in “Tutti Frutti” with Emma Thompson.
Scottish actor? Apparently we all just have to be 'British' now and dwell under that unifying umbrella..... or so, many Jocks have told me, when I corrected someone claiming, Robert Shaw was a British actor, to the truth that he was an English actor.
Hugh Laurie's album Let Them Talk is an amazing listen to be fair. Just his piano intro to the cover of St James' Infirmary gives me literal chills every time!
One of my teachers in the 1970s told me: "The dictionary is a good book, as it contains every story ever written in English - just not in the same order." Wise words indeed. 💚🐇🐴💚
Samuel Johnson published his dictionary in 1755...several years before Prince George was born, and died in 1784 twenty seven years prior to George officially becoming, and therefore gaining the title of, Prince Regent. Thus also Coleridge, Byron and Shelley as acquaintances of Dr. Johnson is similarly anachronistic.
This is my favourite series of Blackadder, history and comedy, great combination. Thomas Moore wasn't burned by the way though he was executed. That's an unusual error in the script. The 3 poets were Byron, Coleridge and Keats (or maybe Shelley).
Noah Webster, of Websters dictionary, is the reason American spelling is different to English - colour and colour for example. He wanted to make a statement that America was separate from England so he changed the spelling of many words. Most other English speaking countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, still retain the original English spelling of words.
That's not the reason he totally dumbed down the spelling. It was because HE thought the 'u' in 'colour' was superfluous etc.... Funny how though, he left the 'P' in 'Psycho' and 'pneumonia' or the 'r' in 'Prerogative'.
@@rnw2739 Webster aimed to assert American cultural independence from Britain and promote a distinct American identity. He also sought to simplify American English, aligning it more closely with pronunciation; this extended to reducing French influence on spelling, notably by dropping the letter 'u' from certain words.
I know I'm late to the party, but no-one else seems to have mentioned it so I will; the titles are a play on Jane Austen's novels, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. She was writing around this time. The Hellfire Club was a drinking club frequented by the sons of the aristocracy, notorious for smashing shit up and rioting in London streets.
As for his (Hugh Laurie) he's a very good blues singer and player - there is a a video on you tube of him playing - I think he was on the Graham Norton show.
There is loads of footage of him playing and if I remember correctly he has a full blues album. His cover of St James' Infirmary is outstanding. He had regular musical segments in 'a bit of Fry and Laurie' including one scene where he also played guitar. Incredibly talented
Hugh Laurie is a fantastic piano player. He often played towards the end of each episode of "A Bit of Fry & Laurie" (with his then comedy partner Stephen Fry) - a very surreal sketch show!
The Hellfire Club started in the 1700s (18th century), it was a club for the top brass of the time (they were into some really weird stuff). The one in the 1980s would be named after it because each of them being part of the top of their industries of media, but the programme isn't referring to this/that one.
This episode might have been inspired by the historical fact that John Stuart Mill's maid accidently burnt an early manuscript copy of Thomas Carlyle's history of the French Revolution.
Hugh Laurie is quite a well known blues musician with one album to my knowledge. He is as much a musician as an actor. you can see he is having so much fun playing the electric guitar in House.
Yeah, I watched it as a kid and found it hilarious, even without understanding the politics or the history. I think maybe they are trying to read too much into it, rather than just seeing it as a cunning guy and his idiots trying to get out of an awkward situation 😂
Yeah, like, don't get distracted by the floridity, it's just the icing on the cake. A cake that's appointed itself professor of cake at Cake University! @@Louise-ri7wg
After seeing this episode for the first time as a teenager I remember making up my own word, 'Flindleburst' - which I was quite proud of at the time....haha! I guess the volume fluctuations is one of the ways you avoid copyright infringements, but just for future reference, the volume a bit too low at times even with both UA-cam and my laptop's volume set to maximum. Many of your earlier vids didn't seem to suffer this problem.
I love BlackAdder!!!! I really enjoy your reactions -- yall have great senses of humor. And its true about Hugh being a great blues artist, his sketch comedy., A Bit of Fry and Laurie showcases his talent -- he's an amazing guitarist, pianist and singer! Also writes some hilarious songs on that show, I recommend checking them out !!
I had to give up with this. Blackadder had a rollercoaster novel, and you had a rollercoaster of sound, up and down, but mostly down, and could hardly hear it..
Venture into the Buckinghamshire chalk caves that held the notorious Hellfire Club, founded by Sir Francis Dashwood in the 18th century. Excavated by Sir Francis Dashwood in the 1750s, these extraordinary caves were reputed to have hosted the Hellfire Club.
One of the twists is that Blackadder's string of imaginary words includes a real one; "compunctious". Used in the right place, too, because he's expressing his compunction or regret at the time. I wondre how many people spot that one.
The other episode was political because of the subject matter. This is probably my favourite episode, though many of the others are just as good. It's not historically accurate but still you get a great feel for the time.
All the words Blackadder seems to make up are real words in the dictionary. The first one, Contrafibularities, which Blackadder offers Dr. Johndon on the completion of his book, means; false congratulations.
Can you do something about the sound? The video is barely audible! Seems to get worse with every new upload. Subtitles are ok but it spoils the overall effect.
It helps to know a little about English history. Prince George (son of mad king George) had a bit of a reputation of not being not too clever so they are really playing up on that. The Blackadder series’ are actually (albeit very very very loosely) based on true events and characters of the time.
Is there something wrong with the volume? Can hear you two well enough but what you're watching was intermittent, especially at the beginning? Longish periods of near silence!
Stating that the Prince Regent is German is wrong. Both he and his dad George III were born in England. George III was the first Hanovarian monarch to be born in England.
I love your channel, nice to see you together. Must watch your of Hell Fire Club tunnels as true place linked to Chappel? If wrong apologies yet seen many ghost adventurers visiting and staying overnight. Running out? 🇬🇧🤔
Guys .... If you want your BRITISH audience to watch, can I request that you post stuff that DOES'NT have COPYRIGHT plastered ALL OVER the clip. Please 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Gotta be very hard to understand this series as an American? so many British historical references- for a moment I didn’t think you’d get the poets ( I think most Americans wouldn’t have ? ) 👍👍🇬🇧.
Sadly lads, I had to give up watching at only 3 mins into this . . . watching it not only in total reverse along with your writing and title name - so different to what I'd seen before originally - but also at the same time using max volume on YT, yet BA was barely audible, and if you gave a laugh it blasted out . . . So I didn't dare to try my PC audio at more than 50% for it . . .
By the way, Doctor Johnson was played by Robbie Coltrane who later played Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies
Spencer won’t know Harry Potter movies 😂
His best part was in Cracker where he played a criminal psychologist. Very intense.
I liked the series Cracker where he was a criminal psychologist.
oh **** it is... I never noticed before!
Why refer to a tiny inconsequential character, he played Fitz, the forensic psychologist in a well known series!!
As I've said before, if you don't know English history you won't be able to appreciate the full humour of Blackadder which is brilliant on so many levels cheers guys!!
To lift straight from wikipedia "The first official Hellfire Club was founded in London in 1718, by Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton and a handful of other high-society friends, such as Benjamin Franklin. The most notorious club associated with the name was established in England by Francis Dashwood, and met irregularly from around 1749 to around 1760, and possibly up until 1766. In its later years the Hellfire was closely associated with Brooks's, established in 1764."
I won’t repeat what other have said but the Hellfire Club not the one your talking about 😮
@@louisemiller3784 The first rule of Hellfire Club is you don't talk about Hellfire Club.
Dashwoods club met in caves near West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. The Caves are open to the public and include chambers named after Sandwich and Franklin. The radical John Wilkes (who John Wilkes Booth was named after) was also a member.
Avocado 🥑 isn’t a English word but in its native language means “testicle like” 😂😂 RIP to the late greats Robbie Coltrane and Rik Mayall
From what I've read, it's the other way around - that is, the Nahuatl people referred to their scrotums/testicles because they resemble avocados (or "ahuacatl" in their language). It's like us referring to testicles/scrotums as "nuts" or "plums".
7:10 is genius. The way Blackadder starts making up words to annoy Johnson...Brilliant
Those words are all real, they're just mostly archaic.
No, the words are not real. They are designed to sound plausible, with Latinate-sounding roots, but contrafibularity, interphrastically and pericombobulation are all made up.
"I'm as happy as a Frenchman who has just invented a pair of self-removing trousers." is probably one of my favourite lines in any TV show.
To this day, my friends and siblings all still use "interfrastically", on a regular basis.
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry also starred in the classic TV series "Jeeves and Wooster" for 4 seasons. With Hugh as the upper class buffoon and Fry as his extremely intelligent butler set in the 1920s.
As a bonus, Hugh Laurie plays piano at times.
Dr Johnson was played by robbie coltrane who played hagrid in harry potter movies
"Oh, Mr Byron. Don't be such a big girl's _BLOUSE!"_
Classic. A wonderful bit of irreverence. 😉😉
The late great Robbie Coltrane as Dr. Johnston a national treasure in Britain known only to our American cousins as Hagrid.
... he also plays the Spirit of Christmas in Blackadder's Christmas Carol, looking forward to when they do that one.
Hugh Laurie is not just a blues Musician. He is an EXCELLENT blues musician. Definitely worth a listen
Can I suggest Jeeves and Wooster with Hugh Lawrie and Stephen Fry. British humour at its most British.
The hellfire club is a real thing. It was inside what we call the hellfire caves in Wycombe, England.
It was dug out of a huge chalk hill. The prince regent was well known for attending this secretive and select place where gambling and fornicating took place.
It's open to the public (for a fee) and I've been there twice.
It's pretty creepy but fascinating.
Many of the references in Blackadder are based on real history.
✌️❤️🇬🇧
did you do any fornication?
When I was in college and working in the library, I came across a copy of Dr Johnson's dictionary. It didn't have Aardvark. 😂
We’ve used ‘I shall return interfrastically’ in our house ever since this came out! Also saying ‘sausage, sausage!!’ in disbelief if we’ve forgotten something important.
The 3 'hipsters' are, Keats, Shelley and Byron. The 3 foremost of the 'romance poets' of the early 19th century. Fun fact, Shelley's wife, Mary, wrote, Frankenstein.
Hugh Laurie's album "Let Them Talk" is awesome. It's best if you have the CD with his "forward" regarding the album, in the liner notes. His version of St. James Infirmary is my favourite...he's an amazing guitarist and keys player.
But if you want a true masterpiece, have a look for "A Bit Of Fry and Laurie"....I can't remember but "Kickin' Ass' (is musical wizardry)
Hugh Laurie is indeed a very talented musician and vocalist.
The Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane played Johnson. He is better known as Hagrid in Harry Potter and Fitz in Cracker. He was in the 80s comedy series “The Comic Strip Presents…” and played a Russian gangster in the Pierce Brosnan James Bond movies. He also starred in “Tutti Frutti” with Emma Thompson.
Scottish actor? Apparently we all just have to be 'British' now and dwell under that unifying umbrella..... or so, many Jocks have told me, when I corrected someone claiming, Robert Shaw was a British actor, to the truth that he was an English actor.
Another awesome video guys. Howard Goodall is a music legend who wrote music for so many shows in the 90’s
Hugh Laurie's album Let Them Talk is an amazing listen to be fair. Just his piano intro to the cover of St James' Infirmary gives me literal chills every time!
Same page. Missed your comment before...the piano solo at the beginning...
"Embrace the Suck"
Perfectly cromulent words around my part of the country.
One of my teachers in the 1970s told me: "The dictionary is a good book, as it contains every story ever written in English - just not in the same order."
Wise words indeed.
💚🐇🐴💚
Samuel Johnson published his dictionary in 1755...several years before Prince George was born, and died in 1784 twenty seven years prior to George officially becoming, and therefore gaining the title of, Prince Regent. Thus also Coleridge, Byron and Shelley as acquaintances of Dr. Johnson is similarly anachronistic.
Ok, clever clogs. 🤣
More trivia: Hugh Laurie also rowed in the boat race in 1980 for Cambridge. They lost.
This is my favourite series of Blackadder, history and comedy, great combination. Thomas Moore wasn't burned by the way though he was executed. That's an unusual error in the script. The 3 poets were Byron, Coleridge and Keats (or maybe Shelley).
yup, mine too
*More
Noah Webster, of Websters dictionary, is the reason American spelling is different to English - colour and colour for example. He wanted to make a statement that America was separate from England so he changed the spelling of many words. Most other English speaking countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, still retain the original English spelling of words.
That's not the reason he totally dumbed down the spelling. It was because HE thought the 'u' in 'colour' was superfluous etc....
Funny how though, he left the 'P' in 'Psycho' and 'pneumonia' or the 'r' in 'Prerogative'.
@@rnw2739 Webster aimed to assert American cultural independence from Britain and promote a distinct American identity. He also sought to simplify American English, aligning it more closely with pronunciation; this extended to reducing French influence on spelling, notably by dropping the letter 'u' from certain words.
Great episode. Shame about the sound. Seems you accidentally changed the levels during the edit 😬
All the titles in season 3 are a play on Jane Austin novels. Sense and sensibility, pride and and prejudice
Yes that's hagrid/ Robby Coltrane.
I know I'm late to the party, but no-one else seems to have mentioned it so I will; the titles are a play on Jane Austen's novels, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. She was writing around this time. The Hellfire Club was a drinking club frequented by the sons of the aristocracy, notorious for smashing shit up and rioting in London streets.
RIP Robbie Coltrane
As for his (Hugh Laurie) he's a very good blues singer and player - there is a a video on you tube of him playing - I think he was on the Graham Norton show.
There is loads of footage of him playing and if I remember correctly he has a full blues album. His cover of St James' Infirmary is outstanding. He had regular musical segments in 'a bit of Fry and Laurie' including one scene where he also played guitar. Incredibly talented
The Hellfire club was a very real historical organisation/secret society founded in the 1700s
Hugh Laurie is a fantastic piano player. He often played towards the end of each episode of "A Bit of Fry & Laurie" (with his then comedy partner Stephen Fry) - a very surreal sketch show!
The Hellfire Club started in the 1700s (18th century), it was a club for the top brass of the time (they were into some really weird stuff). The one in the 1980s would be named after it because each of them being part of the top of their industries of media, but the programme isn't referring to this/that one.
One of the best comedy scripts ever written.
This episode might have been inspired by the historical fact that John Stuart Mill's maid accidently burnt an early manuscript copy of Thomas Carlyle's history of the French Revolution.
Hugh Laurie is quite a well known blues musician with one album to my knowledge. He is as much a musician as an actor. you can see he is having so much fun playing the electric guitar in House.
I still say 'SAUSAGE!!!'
Still say the scene with Edmund making up words to befuddle Johnson is one of British sitcoms finest moments
Not sure Blackadder is 'cerebral' but it does have old-timey wordplay and bonus history lessons!
Yeah, I watched it as a kid and found it hilarious, even without understanding the politics or the history. I think maybe they are trying to read too much into it, rather than just seeing it as a cunning guy and his idiots trying to get out of an awkward situation 😂
Yeah, like, don't get distracted by the floridity, it's just the icing on the cake. A cake that's appointed itself professor of cake at Cake University! @@Louise-ri7wg
Every word in this script is a real word and is in the dictionary.
Hugh is a brilliant pianist, well worth a look.
The ending theme song was done in the style of Paul Simon’s Graceland which was very popular at the time (not time period, of course) of this series.
My fav episode of this series
My favourite episode of any series.
After seeing this episode for the first time as a teenager I remember making up my own word, 'Flindleburst' - which I was quite proud of at the time....haha!
I guess the volume fluctuations is one of the ways you avoid copyright infringements, but just for future reference, the volume a bit too low at times even with both UA-cam and my laptop's volume set to maximum. Many of your earlier vids didn't seem to suffer this problem.
Spencer got his Squires mixed up. Chris Squire was in Yes, John Squire was the guitarist in the Stone Roses
Hugh Lorie also wrote a novel: The gun seller. Great book, and off course very funny.
I love BlackAdder!!!! I really enjoy your reactions -- yall have great senses of humor. And its true about Hugh being a great blues artist, his sketch comedy., A Bit of Fry and Laurie showcases his talent -- he's an amazing guitarist, pianist and singer! Also writes some hilarious songs on that show, I recommend checking them out !!
John Squire was in the Stone roses.
CHRIS squire was in yes
🫵😉
I had to give up with this. Blackadder had a rollercoaster novel, and you had a rollercoaster of sound, up and down, but mostly down, and could hardly hear it..
"I would be so pissed" a strange reaction to lost work, you get drunk
Venture into the Buckinghamshire chalk caves that held the notorious Hellfire Club, founded by Sir Francis Dashwood in the 18th century.
Excavated by Sir Francis Dashwood in the 1750s, these extraordinary caves were reputed to have hosted the Hellfire Club.
Lord Nelson was famously having an affair with Lady Hamilton with her husband's approval and lost an eye and an arm in battle.
classic episode this lol 'your definition of cat is' - 'not a dog' lol
I have been using "frasmotic" and "contrafibularities" for decades
Dr Johnson is played by Robbie Coltrane (RIP), who also played Hagrid in Harry Potter.
One of the twists is that Blackadder's string of imaginary words includes a real one; "compunctious". Used in the right place, too, because he's expressing his compunction or regret at the time. I wondre how many people spot that one.
The man with the white hair that wrote that dictionary also played Hagrid in Harry Potter. The late great Robbie Coltrane
The other episode was political because of the subject matter. This is probably my favourite episode, though many of the others are just as good. It's not historically accurate but still you get a great feel for the time.
The first Hellfire Club started in 1718 , wow, I did not know.
Definitely check out Hugh Laurie's music and some of his comedy music... His blues stuff is great...
Laurie's blues piano tie-in with Tom Jones might be worth a listen.
The poets in the coffee shop were the poets: the effeminate Shelley, the brusque Lord Byron & the opium addict Coleridge
Brilliant episode, my favorite series out of all 4
All the words Blackadder seems to make up are real words in the dictionary. The first one, Contrafibularities, which Blackadder offers Dr. Johndon on the completion of his book, means; false congratulations.
Preemptive like, one of my favourite episodes.
I have a dictionary from 1911, some of the words in it are not used anymore, and for good reason..
Er no the hellfire club was a club that upper class people belonged to in which they had orgies parties etc in the late 1700s and early 1800s
Patron, noun: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.
Hugh Laurie is playing King George 3rd. The king who sent our armies to fight in the war of Independence.
No, he's playing George IV. He was regent when his father George III was having mental health issues.
Can you do something about the sound? The video is barely audible! Seems to get worse with every new upload. Subtitles are ok but it spoils the overall effect.
It helps to know a little about English history. Prince George (son of mad king George) had a bit of a reputation of not being not too clever so they are really playing up on that. The Blackadder series’ are actually (albeit very very very loosely) based on true events and characters of the time.
Volume a little low
Hi Spencer and Daniel.
From a cold North Tyneside, England.
And Teesside England. 👋
And Sussex. So cold.🥶
@@Roz-y2d North Tyneside-3 and -9 with the windchill factor 🥶
This is probably my fave episode.
another great reaction :) looking forward to next one
Hugh Laurie is one of the best blues piano players ever.
St James Infirmary is a nice song by Hugh’s band
It is good, though I prefer the White Stripes version
The original Hellfire Club created by the Philip, 1st Duke of Wharton in England in 1719
Of course he included 'lit' - it is the past tense of the verb to light.
Can’t wait for Buck to make amends…
Dr. Johnson was a real person. He did a tour of the highlands, where I'm from. He was highly regarded in his time, despite talking total bollocks.
Is there something wrong with the volume? Can hear you two well enough but what you're watching was intermittent, especially at the beginning? Longish periods of near silence!
I had to run it through a video volume booster in order to hear it.
Check Hugh out doing St James infirmary, down in New Orleans with some local legends. It is most excellent.
Webster is the guy that gave you USA-ian "english" a messed up version of actual English.
Stating that the Prince Regent is German is wrong. Both he and his dad George III were born in England. George III was the first Hanovarian monarch to be born in England.
It was George 1 who was German, so no .3 would have German ancestry.
I love your channel, nice to see you together. Must watch your of Hell Fire Club tunnels as true place linked to Chappel? If wrong apologies yet seen many ghost adventurers visiting and staying overnight. Running out? 🇬🇧🤔
Do you recognise Robbie Coltrane who plays Samuel johnson, also played hagrid in Harry potter.
Guys .... If you want your BRITISH audience to watch, can I request that you post stuff that DOES'NT have COPYRIGHT plastered ALL OVER the clip. Please 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Err.... They have to do that or UA-cam blocks it
Give your heads a wobble ffs
Then there is ZERO point in uploading it
@@dougiehowe802 simple... don't watch this channel
@@dougiehowe802
😂😂😂😂😂 SMH
Yes check out his music.
Gotta be very hard to understand this series as an American? so many British historical references- for a moment I didn’t think you’d get the poets ( I think most Americans wouldn’t have ? ) 👍👍🇬🇧.
great video! Made a lot worse by mostly not being able to hear it! Also, what's with the mirror image effect?
Would love to see your reactions to hugh lauries music.
I was waiting for you to recognise Hagrid - no?
You didn't notice Dr Johnston is Hagrid
Too quiet in volume. 🙂No good.
Sadly lads, I had to give up watching at only 3 mins into this . . . watching it not only in total reverse along with your writing and title name - so different to what I'd seen before originally - but also at the same time using max volume on YT, yet BA was barely audible, and if you gave a laugh it blasted out . . . So I didn't dare to try my PC audio at more than 50% for it . . .