Places mentioned in Monty Python sketches are all around me here e.g. one train station on the way to London is Purley (Say No More!); I used to live in Dorking ("Mr Ken Dove, the most interesting man in Dorking"); and in this sketch, "Picasso, painting whilst cycling":
I went to school in Chichester; I use the A272 regularly; Hindhead is just up the road from my mum's; I use the A3 to get to my mum's; I used to live very near Kingston; Ewhurst was the next door village to where I went to school (it's where Eric Clapton lives); I drove through Gomshall and Peaslake (which Palin mixes up - we'll never know why - and says "Gomslake and Peashall") to get to my mum's on Xmas Day; and my chemistry teacher lived in Wisborough Green. I just love it!
The three
Picasso (1881-1973) paintings that Graham Chapman (as Ron Geppo, British Cycling Sprint Champion and this year's winner of the Derby Doncaster Ralley) mentions are:
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| Guernica |
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| Les Demoiselles d'Avignon |
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| The Picasso Museum, War and Peace, at Vallauris |
Geppo:
"Well Reg, I think Pablo should be alright, provided he doesn't attempt anything on the monumental scale of some of his earlier paintings, like 'Guernica' or 'Mademoiselles d'Avignon' or even his later 'War and Peace' murals for the Temple of Peace chapel at Vallauris, because with this strong head wind, I don't think even Doug Timpson of Manchester Harriers could paint anything on that kind of scale."
And, just for the sake of completeness, here are the other artists in the race, according to John Cleese (as Sam Trench):
- Kandinsky, 1866-1944
- Braque, 1882-1963
- Mondrian, 1872-1944
- Chagall, 1887-1985
- Ernst, 1891-1976
- Miro, 1893-1983
- Dufy, 1877-1953
- Nicholson, 1894-1982
- Pollock, 1912-1956
- Buffet, 1928-1999
- Brancusi, 1876-1957
- Gericault, 1891-1924
- Leger, 1881-1955
- Delaunay, 1885-1979
- De Kooning, 1904-1997
- Kokoschka, 1886-1980
- Klee, 1879-1940
- Schwitters, 1887-1948
Monty Python is SO educational!
Observation: only 8 of the 19 painters mentioned (in bold above, plus Picasso himself) were actually alive when this sketch was first broadcast on 5 October 1969!
