This guy knows his British history

a reply to: Time4Nostalgia

He is brilliant, o have seen that before.

a reply to: Time4Nostalgia

Posted many Al Murray video's here on ATS over years.

Well clever, intelligent and funny man.....and quite correct in all his observations.

Afghanistan. I think that is the only actual holdout. No one has had much luck with "defeating" them. Not since Alexander the Great.

originally posted by: Fools
Afghanistan. I think that is the only actual holdout. No one has had much luck with "defeating" them. Not since Alexander the Great.

He is a comedian, I am sure if he can’t find a comedic and tenuous link to Alexander the Great he won’t mention Afghanistan.

What a mouth full of blimey poppycock! I mean... I've no idea what I'm talking about. Those bloody yanks took the piss!

a reply to: Time4Nostalgia

Seen him live a number of times.
Very very clever and even more sharp witted. Takes down hecklers like a squadron of Spitfires.
Top tip, don't get caught with a glass of wine in the front row. He paused the show intil6I walked to the bar for a pint. Proper walk of shame

a reply to: Time4Nostalgia

We all know british history and theres nothing comedic about it.

originally posted by: CthruU
a reply to: Time4Nostalgia

We all know british history and theres nothing comedic about it.

indeed , notice how most of the battles he mentions were from when the British Empire actually still existed

according to many the empire died the day of the battle of the somme when so many Britons lost their faith in the empire.

its this type of "britishness" that annoys me , taking honor and pride from global warfare and from tyranny exported to the world by the British empire and saying "oh the british" were wonderful , just white wash over all the genocide and stealing of natural resources.
European exceptionalism run amok , yes we have wonderful things as a result of the empire, a language which the majority of the globe use to communicate etc , lots of good inventions and trade being shared the advancement of the species etc.

but at what cost ?

a reply to: sapien82

Come on sappy, you should know better....its called HUMOUR and you're supposed to laugh at it.
You know, that well deserved and respected British quality, self-deprecation.
We are renowned for taking the piss out of any given situation and ourselves, mercilessly!

But that's right, we are only supposed to laugh when people are mocking and belittling the British and English.

Now if you want to get all serious on me we can indeed debate the pro's and con's of The British Empire especially when judged by the standards of the day and when compared to other European empires that were around at the same time like The Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Belgian one's.
I'm sure it'd be a most educating and interesting debate for many but unfortunately I think it would seriously derail this thread which was intended to be a bit of FUN!

But if you want to start a thread on the subject I'd be more than happy to contribute mate.

a reply to: Time4Nostalgia

Class.

I quite like Al Murray myself.

a reply to: Time4Nostalgia



Here is some more.

a reply to: andy06shake

Class.
Some more.



One especially for you and sappy.



Not one to overdo things, one last one.

a reply to: Freeborn
awww I do think he is funny , it is funny
I've seen al murray a few times in Edinburgh

but I feel a lot of "brits" are exactly like this , they take pride in the empires achievements and glorify it as some fantastic thing that saved the world from itself.

but then gloss over all the negative parts

One good thing is it gave us all a # load of material for comedy

a reply to: sapien82



Another comedy genius to add some parity.

originally posted by: Fools
Afghanistan. I think that is the only actual holdout. No one has had much luck with "defeating" them. Not since Alexander the Great.

What about the Mongols?

well they never #ing conquered the sentinealese

a reply to: sapien82

Maybe.

But if you were going to 'ruled' by anyone would you rather it be Brits, or Spanish etc?
It is generally recognised that even though their empire was relatively small the Belgians were regarded as the most brutal and intolerant.....worse even than the extremes carried out by the Spanish in South and Central America.

Funny is funny.....and in these days where the PC Brigade and their snowflake offspring try to push and force their hyper sensitive agenda on everyone I think its important to retain our perspective and more importantly our renowned ability to take the piss without offence.

a reply to: Freeborn

Well if we canny laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at?

That's right, other people.

a reply to: andy06shake

We Brits are very good at laughing at ourselves, far better than most, if not all, other nationalities.

We have to be because a huge part of our humour is about taking the piss out of ourselves and those around us.
When out with my mates I literally can't get away with saying or doing anything without being tortured.....and the same goes for those around me.

One of the reasons I have no time for these snowflakes etc.....they are so easily offended over the things that I, and most of the people I know, find #ing hilarious.

Our history is what it is.....I'm not going to sugar coat things or gloss over them but at the same time I'm not going to beat myself up or feel some sort of shame over events that happened donkeys years ago when my ancestors were either digging up tatties in some remote corner of Ireland etc or were no better off than serfs here in England.