I am surprised how many (apparently US) people had not grown up knowing this phrase. I certainly knew it well pre-Python. I hadn’t even thought of it as British outside of the comedic use.
Ah, the power of Python…you ask a simple question which is answered immediately, then you get 20 more answers (and counting).
So I’m a slow typist! when I started my reply, no-one else had responded, and then I had to look up a cite, and then the formatting got wonky on preview…
grumble, grumble, grumble - no-one appreciates workmanship these days - grumble, grumble, grumble…
And actually, the phrase plays a role in one of Rumpole’s cases.
Rumpole defends a teenager accused of murder. Rumpole knows that the case against the boy is weak. The only problem is, the boy signed a confession. Rumpole reads it, and realizes that it’s filled with all sorts of phrases like, “It’s a fair cop.” that stage criminals might say, but that wouldn’t be said by a West-Indian teenager in the 1970s. Rumpole manages to prove that the police invented the confession, and got the boy to sign it without knowing what he was signing, because the boy is illiterate.
Rube E. Tewesday, didn’t the centurion (John Cleese, again?) who nabbed Brian say, “You’re f***ing nicked, me old beauty?”
I love that phrase.
It’s been sadly long since I’ve seen Life of Brian, but it sounds right.
For a beautiful take on the old school copper/villain dialectic, one can search back a few months in the Atlantic’s obituaries. There was a lovely one for, IIRC, “Slipper of the Yard”, the last of the old school coppers, nemesis of Ronnie Briggs, last of the old school villains.
We just haven’t got the hang of this phrase yet. We might need a session at the It’s a Fair Cop Advice Centre.
What we’d like to do is start using the phrase in everyday conversation, with the wife. Something like, “Good morning dear — it’s a fair cop!” So we have something to say to each other, you see.
Oh, I see, sort of “Now look here! You may be Chairman but your bloody pusillanimous ‘it’s a fair cop’ makes me vomit!” That sort of thing?
What is this … Monty Python … of which you speak?
It sounds silly.
Of course, you also need to learn the converse;
“It’s a rotten fit up, I never done it, and no mistake!”
Now that’s classy!
Monty Python! That guy is hilarious!