Latest news with #Blackadder
Scotsman
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Blackadder and Jeddart Justice
The author Jon Tait It was a not-so-subtle cunning plan that played some part in the demise of the border reivers. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... George Home, the Earl of Dunbar, who sent dozens from the powerful raiding families to the scaffold in both England and Scotland during the main 'Pacification' between 1605-09, was, you see, a cousin of John Home of Blackadder. While it is never actually alluded to in the celebrated 1980s Rowan Atkinson TV sitcom series of the same name, the wily, scheming, treacherous character Blackadder nevertheless has some grounding in the reality of the Scottish borders family who hailed from near Duns. His best friend was the dithering thicko Percy, the Earl of Northumberland. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In fact, some scenes in the first series were filmed at Alnwick Castle, the home of the aristocratic Percys – as well as being Hogwarts in the first Harry Potter movie. Jon Tait's new book on the Border Reivers is due out from Pen & Sword in early 2026. If you've never seen the programme, I'd highly recommend it. It you have, then you'll understand the character of John Home and be able to see him flouncing around in his court clothes with his cutting wit and delusions of grandeur. Written by Atkinson, Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, the series follows the fortunes of Blackadder down the ages as an alternative history and features genius comic actors such as Tony Robinson, Tim McInnerny, Rik Mayall, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Miranda Richardson. Somewhat ironically, a distant forbear of the comic actor from county Durham may have been one of those who were roped up on a gallows during the Pacification. John Atkinson from Hexham was hanged at Newcastle in 1608 for stealing cloth and household goods from a merchant's shop. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad You can picture the scene – Blackadder meets his more powerful but stupid cousin Dunbar, probably played by Ade Edmundson – who is in a bit of a pickle as he needs to impress King James VI (Robbie Coltrain, surely) by cleaning up the 'Middle Shires.' Dunbar will no doubt drop Blackadder right in it if he doesn't come up with some kind of solution. Step up the servant in a grubby blue bonnet. 'I have a cunning plan, my Lord.' 'Oh yes, what's that now, Baldrick? A suitably cunning and devious plot to get rid of some of the most violent criminal masterminds in the country, who have spent three centuries burning, murdering, stealing and playing off both Crowns against each other? Which cousin Georgie has to implement against Stabby McStab and his pals while King James sits on his fat botty down in London eating pies. Just what would that be?' 'We could hang them first and have a trial later, my Lord.' 'Baldrick, you might just be onto something there, you horrible little smelly man. I'm actually a genius. Now then, George…' And so Jeddart Justice was born. Jon Tait's new book on the Border Reivers is due out from Pen & Sword in early 2026.
Kyodo News
2 days ago
- Sport
- Kyodo News
Rugby: Brave Lupus outlast Spears for back-to-back League One titles
KYODO NEWS - 19 hours ago - 19:57 | Sports, Rugby, All Former All Black star Richie Mo'unga led Brave Lupus Tokyo to back-to-back Japan Rugby League One titles in a tightly fought 18-13 win against the Kubota Spears in Sunday's championship decider. The 31-year-old flyhalf scored the opening try and set up his team's second, while adding eight points with the boot in front of 51,009 at Tokyo's National Stadium. Brave Lupus head coach Todd Blackadder revealed after the game that Mo'unga had delivered his man-of-the-match performance with a fractured hand that prevented him training throughout the preceding week. "At the start of the week we weren't sure (if he could play)," Blackadder said. "He turned up and played very well and you wouldn't have known that he had a fractured hand. That just shows how committed he is to this team and what a player he is." Blackadder's men went into the final as favorites after finishing the regular season on top of the table and cruising past the Kobe Steelers in last weekend's semifinals. As third-place finishers, head coach Frans Ludeke's Spears were coming off an extra round of playoff rugby, followed by a grueling semifinal win against the Saitama Wild Knights. Mo'unga opened the scoring in the eighth minute, creating space with a clever dummy and stepping across in the corner. The playmaking maestro missed the conversion, allowing Kubota to cut the lead to a single kick on Bernard Foley's penalty nine minutes later. Another penalty each from Mo'unga and Foley saw Brave Lupus lead 8-6 at the break after a defensive arm wrestle in the first half. Brave Lupus ran in their second try from a scrum inside their own half, with Mo'unga breaking the line and sending over center Yuto Mori, then kicking the extras for a 15-6 lead in the 48th minute. Kubota's defense held firm as winger Halatoa Vailea sat in the sin bin, before veteran center Harumichi Tatekawa scored the first try for the 2022-2023 champions, cutting the lead to five points at 18-13 with Foley's conversion in the 73rd minute. Brave Lupus were able to soak up the defensive pressure in the final minutes under dark and cloudy skies before heavy rain began soaking the Tokyo Olympic venue. Mo'unga said preparing for the match had been a "big challenge" because of his injury, sustained late in the semi against Kobe, but playing in the final was a "no-brainer." "I think you take away the injury, and my mindset is to compete and to try and win, and try to have influence, and that's what I knew I had to do today," he said. Related coverage: Japan Rugby League One to give domestic players more time on pitch
BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Droitwich Spa celebrates Rik Mayall with comedy festival
For an entire generation growing up the 1980s and 1990s, Rik Mayall was one of the most familiar - and fascinating - faces on now, 11 years after his death at the age of 56, his legacy is being celebrated with the first-ever comedy festival in his memory, in his hometown of Droitwich Spa, friend and frequent collaborator - and festival patron - Ben Elton said it was only right that his contribution to comedy was being honoured."What Rik did was so exuberantly, fabulously, gleefully huge, that in the right moment, it was probably about as funny as it's possible to be," he told the BBC. Elton first met Mayall at the University of Manchester, before they went on to collaborate on The Young Ones, Blackadder, and Filthy Rich and Catflap."Rik had an essential star quality which was kind of unique", said Elton. "I've been fortunate enough to work with some great talent."None have had the quality Rik had." The Rik Mayall Comedy Festival, which begins on Saturday and runs for eight days, will see stand-up from well-known figures such as Greg Davies, Helen Lederer and Shaparak Khorsandi as well as less-established comedians, alongside music, magic and spoken word epicentre will be the town's Norbury Theatre, where Mayall first performed as a child in a production of Waiting for Godot."Everyone in the town is so pleased with what we're doing," said festival director Stuart Panrucker. "I think it's really given everyone a sense of ownership of Rik and... [the chance to] say he's one of ours and give us something to be proud of." Mayall went on to star in the political satire The New Statesman, as the Thatcherite MP Alan B'stard, and as perennial loser Richard Richard in Bottom, which he created and wrote with another university friend, Ade are still repeated on television to this day. "I think Rik's comedy is timeless," said producer and writer John Lloyd, who worked on Blackadder. "It's unique - there's nobody I can think of who's even close to being like him."Everything Rik did was so full of charisma. It was like magic."There was an aura about him." The festival will give Mayall's prolific output the chance to find a new legion of fans, added Elton."Obviously lots of people don't need alerting to his brilliance, but they can be reminded," he said. "And perhaps some new people can discover it." In a statement, Mayall's family lent their support to the event."We are really touched that Droitwich Spa has chosen to honour Rik with a comedy festival," they said. "His mum and dad would have been so proud and especially pleased that the Norbury Theatre features prominently."Spending a week laughing is the perfect way to remember Rik." The Rik Mayall Comedy Festival runs in Droitwich Spa between 31 May and 7June. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
1News
7 days ago
- Sport
- 1News
Blackadder's return for Crusaders puts him back in All Blacks' mix
One of the easiest decisions All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson will make this year will be the make-up of two-thirds of his loose forwards. Ardie Savea and Wallace Sititi are certainties to start in the first Test against France in Dunedin on July 5 (if fit), and probably at openside flanker and No.8 respectively given their form this season. Savea, outstanding this season and one of the most consistently high-performing All Blacks of the last four or five years, is the obvious replacement for Sam Cane, with Sititi, World Rugby's breakout player of the year in 2024, the obvious selection in his preferred position at the back of the scrum. The big question mark remains over the wearer of the No.6 jersey and while Samipeni Finau, the early incumbent last season before Robertson looked elsewhere, may have the inside running, Ethan Blackadder will remain in the mix for his work rate and defensive capabilities. It means Blackadder's return from yet another injury to start for the Crusaders in their crunch final-round match against the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday night is significant not only for himself and the red and blacks but also the national team. ADVERTISEMENT Calf and hamstring injuries, along with several other ailments, have meant it has taken Blackadder, 30, since 2018 to rack up 50 games for the Crusaders. As he wryly noted this week, his former loose forward teammate Jordan Taufua notched more than 100 matches in six years before his departure, meaning on average Taufua played more than twice as many games as Blackadder per season. His body has occasionally let him down, but Blackadder is known for a bloody-minded attitude (the two may be related), a mindset ideal for the rigors of the Test game, which, allied with Robertson's trust in him from his Crusaders' days, means he will likely to be named in the All Blacks squad on June 23. If Savea, Sititi, Blackadder and Finau are near certain inclusions, and up-and-coming Hurricane Peter Lakai, 22, is included after making his Test debut last year, there may be only two more spots left for loose forwards. Does Robertson go for Luke Jacobson of the Chiefs and Blues flanker Dalton Papali'i, or does he take a punt on the uncapped Du'Plessis Kirifi? Samipeni Finau on the charge for the Chiefs. (Source: Photosport) Kirifi, 28, has been at the forefront of the Hurricanes' surge to fourth on the Super Rugby table this season and strikes as an ideal back-up for Savea in the No.7 jersey. ADVERTISEMENT Another untested player who has put his name in the frame for a national call-up is Chiefs blindside flanker Simon Parker, a 25-year-old thriving with regular game time who stands at 1.97m tall. Parker, a Northlander who does the fundamentals well, represented the All Blacks XV last year and will be another one on Robertson's radar. However, the value of experience cannot be overlooked as the man known as Razer cuts and dices his squad. Chief among Robertson's lessons last year, his first as All Blacks head coach, was the value of experience. It was one of the reasons why he leaned so much on former skipper Cane, now retired from the international game and playing in Japan, who probably enjoyed more game time that he may have expected. That experience and workrate may give Blackadder an in to Robertson's first squad of the year providing he can string some games together. There is no question that Blackadder, who has been capped only 15 times since making his Test debut in 2021, should have played more often for the All Blacks. ADVERTISEMENT Some have wondered whether he may have been a better option on the bench than Papali'i for the 2023 World Cup final, a match in which Boks loose forward Pieter Steph du Toit played with a freedom that Blackadder may not have allowed. Crusaders coach Rob Penney was asked this week about Blackadder's involvement in a match on Friday which will decide whether his side will finish second or third on the table. "He had a good run before his injury. His conditioning is without question," Penney said. "Ethan's Ethan, he has a massive motor, he doesn't need to do a lot on the grass to be ready. "He won't go 80 obviously, but he will add another dimension to us, I have no doubt." The same could be said of the All Blacks this year.
Metro
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Miriam Margolyes, 84, 'doesn't have long to live' after heart operation
Miriam Margolyes has said she 'doesn't have long to live and will probably die in the next five years'. The 84-year-old actress is best known for starring in Blackadder, the Harry Potter film franchise and Call the Midwife. In recent years she's also appeared in Gossip Girl and Doctor Who. But when speaking about her desire to continue acting, Miriam said she won't be able to do so for much longer after undergoing a major heart operation. In 2023 Miriam had surgery that saw an aortic valve that was no longer functioning properly replaced with a valve from a pig, an operation that avoided her undergoing open heart surgery. But she's now said she likely won't make it into her 90s. Speaking about her love of performing, Miriam said she didn't want to give it up but was facing increasing difficulties with her health. 'When you know that you haven't got long to live – and I'm probably going to die within the next five or six years, if not before, I'm loath to leave behind performing. It's such a joy,' she told The Times. 'I yearn to play roles that don't confine me to wheelchairs, but I'm just not strong enough.' In an interview on Jessie and Lennie Ware's Table Manners podcast last year, Miriam shared details of her heart surgery. 'I've got a cow's heart now – well, not the whole heart. I've had an aortic valve replaced by a cow's aortic valve,' she said. 'I don't know how common it is. I'd never heard of that operation. More Trending 'But it saves you from having open heart surgery, which would be infinitely more invasive.' Over the years Miriam has suffered from spinal stenosis, arthritis and rheumatism. She is registered disabled and now has to use walking sticks and a mobility scooter. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you.
