Posted on 06/16/2013 4:48:44 AM PDT by beaversmom
It must be a cunning plan – for while actor Tony Robinson, who played Baldrick the downtrodden servant in Blackadder, is knighted in today’s Birthday Honours, there is just a CBE for his scheming master Rowan Atkinson.
Robinson, whose character was famed for his shabbiness and lack of hygiene, admitted he was ‘a little gob-smacked’ at being honoured and joked that he would now be rescuing damsels in distress and slaughtering dragons if the need arose.
More seriously, he added: ‘I’ll use my new title to highlight the causes I believe in, particularly the importance of culture, the arts and heritage in our society, and the plight of the infirm elderly and their carers.’
With his catchphrase ‘I have a cunning plan’, Robinson became Britain’s favourite dogsbody as the long-suffering Baldrick.
And as a history-mad presenter on Time Team, he has dug up some of the country’s most prestigious archaeological sites.
But his knighthood reflects neither his popularity as a sitcom star nor as a history buff. Instead, the 66-year-old actor was recommended for his ‘public and political service’ as a Labour party activist.
His name was put forward by the Parliamentary and Political Services Committee, set up last year by David Cameron to reward party workers. Robinson was a member of Labour’s National Executive Committee for four years during the Blair era, and spent four years as vice-president of the Left-wing actors’ union Equity.
His activism has never been low-key – wherever there’s a high-profile Leftie cause, he can often be found waving his red flag.
When Bono and Bob Geldof were handing out Make Poverty History wristbands in the run-up to the G8 summit in 2005, Robinson was one of the most vociferous showbusiness supporters. His involvement with Comic Relief has seen him make several documentaries in Africa.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Was he given a lifetime supply of turnips?
LOL!
Didn’t the very religious, conservative relatives of Blackadder think that was a rather rude vegetable?
Not sure whether they thought it was more rude or crude.
Great series
I agree. He was wonderful as Baldrick.
I wonder if Queenie will knight him instead of QE II
It might also be a laugh to see the Prince Regent do the honors.....
It could be the next Black Adder special!!
Most definitely! A classic.
At long last he’ll be able to starve to death in one of the Royal Parks.
A cunning plan...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bZxHVREdj4
Hmmm, very interesting piece of history there. One would have to have a pretty clever tongue, I imagine, to be honoured for that ability.
Black Adder’s Most Cunning 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hkAcZXLwTc
It seems that Brit leftists tend to be more nutty leftist than American actors. Is there something actors drink that makes many of them leftist stooges? Incidentally, Robinson was hilarious as the long-suffering Baldrick in the Blackadder series. I’ve been itching to use the “I have a cunning plan” line in a number of my posts, but have been unable to use it as yet.
Wish they would make me PM, so I could make them all earn that title by having to participate in an good old fashioned Plantagenet era joust.
My ancestors left wussified England, Scotland, and Ireland for a reason.
I haven’t heard him say anything that is egregiously stupid. As far as I’m aware, he is just a traditional Labour supporter without being full on New Left bonkers.
I hope so. It seems like every time I become fond of a particular Brit actor, they turn out to be a raving, looney leftist.
A lot of people truly wish that the Brits could do a follow up series: Blackadder comes to America.
The idea being that another member of the Blackadder family, and one of Balrick’s kin, are sent to America as indentured servants, and after the Revolution, they and their descent become fixtures as servants in the White House.
With, of course, the British take on several of America’s more interesting presidents. Some of the suggestions:
George Washington belongs to dozens of secret societies, and his (genuine) ability as a spymaster is featured, so most everyone he meets exchanges signs and counter signs with him, along with lots of other cloak and dagger stuff.
Benjamin Franklin is a mad scientist type, inventing all sorts of anachronistic inventions, seemingly the model for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Thomas Jefferson always has different giggling black girls under each arm every time he makes an appearance.
Andrew Jackson is a murderous psychotic in the Blackadder style. Other presidents include Lincoln, Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, and end up with Frank Roosevelt.
Actually it's not. The honorific attachers to the personal name, not the family name.
So it's Sir Sodoff, Sir Sodoff Baldrick.
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