UK's funny bone tickled in tourism campaign

WritersBlock

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Wed Jun-25-08 05:17 AM
Original message

UK's funny bone tickled in tourism campaign

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's comic side will play a central part of a new campaign aimed at luring tourists to the country's funny spots.

The six-month campaign will enlist "local comedy heroes" such as John Cleese's Basil Fawlty, Jennifer Saunders, Lenny Henry and Laurel and Hardy to boost visitor numbers, officials from the VisitBritain tourism body said.

It will also highlight 150 of the country's "comedic locations" including the resort of Torquay, the location for Fawlty Towers and Turville, Buckinghamshire, where the Vicar of Dibley is set.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSB28669020080624?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

I just hope Royston Vasey's on the tour!

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moggie

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Wed Jun-25-08 05:40 AM
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1. That's puzzling

The tour is supposed to be about comedy, but they include the Vicar of Dibley? :shrug:

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FunkyLeprechaun

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Wed Jun-25-08 06:29 AM
Response to Reply #1

4. You don't think the Vicar of Dibley is funny?

Heathen!

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non sociopath skin

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Wed Jun-25-08 05:45 AM
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2. The village or the person?

Touring Chubby Brown could be a life-changing experience. :evilgrin:

The Skin

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FunkyLeprechaun

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Wed Jun-25-08 06:24 AM
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3. Poor Llanddewi Brefi

:evilgrin:

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muriel_volestrangler

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Wed Jun-25-08 07:31 AM
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5. Crowds flock to Slough to see the town that inspired 'The Office'

... or not .

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FunkyLeprechaun

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Wed Jun-25-08 10:07 AM
Response to Reply #5

6. Slough's Pretty Boring

I've driven through it a number of times on the way to London. Now, if there's a fascinating museum dealing with the Office, maybe it'll be more exciting!

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moggie

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Thu Jun-26-08 09:47 AM
Response to Reply #6

7. Aren't you forgetting something?

I believe anyone who mentions Slough in a derogatory way is legally required to quote that John Betjeman poem.

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FunkyLeprechaun

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Thu Jun-26-08 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #7

9. Really?

I'm fairly new to this country... Should I google John Betjeman to make up for it?

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moggie

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Thu Jun-26-08 12:18 PM
Response to Reply #9

10. Betjeman really didn't like Slough

Or rather the major development which took place there after WWI, and he wrote a famous poem:

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

This inevitably gets mentioned when that unlovely, smelly town comes up in conversation. Though it usually comes out something like this:

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
De-dum de-dum de-dum de-dum,
Something something death.

because Brits aren't big on poetry these days.

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LeftishBrit

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Thu Jun-26-08 09:56 AM
Response to Reply #5

8. I go THROUGH Slough quite often on train trips between Oxford and London; but that's about it..

A friend of mine wondered if 'The Office' was set there because of the evil boss portrayed in Betjeman's poem "Come friendly bombs"..."And smash his desk of polished oak/ And smash his hands so used to stroke/ And stop his boring dirty joke/ And make him yell." Probably not; but it's interesting that the town seems so associated in our culture with Bad Offices!

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Lydia Leftcoast

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Sat Jun-28-08 12:34 PM
Response to Reply #8

11. Having seen The Office before I went to the UK in 2006

I was astounded to find that there really was a place called Slough. (My first hint was when the train from Paddington stopped there.) I thought it was just a made-up name, appropriately dreary for an industrial estate.

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