# Monty Python references you don't get **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762 "2006-02-23T06:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/1 "2006-02-23T06:54:23Z")
People you don’t know, lines you don’t understand, props you don’t get. Post them here in hopes of getting an explanation. I’ll start. Who are Ann Hayden Jones and her husband Pip? Who is Clodah (sp?) Rogers? Who is Reginald Maudlin (sp?) and why is he pictured with a bandaged head? What’s the deal with the Australian hats with the corks hanging off them? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/2 "2006-02-23T07:11:23Z")
In _Holy Grail_, the French Taunter (John Cleese) says, after being asked by King Arthur who lives in the castle, “this is the castle of my master, Guy De Lombard (or “Guido Lombard” or something similar).” I suppose I could gogle the name, but without knowing exactly which one was said, I couldn’t be sure that I found the right person That bothers me every time I watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/3 "2006-02-23T07:17:18Z")
I suspect it’s a Guy Lombardo joke. (Wikipedia agrees.) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/4 "2006-02-23T07:21:06Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > What’s the deal with the Australian hats with the corks hanging off them? The corks are ostensibly to keep the flies out of your eyes. This type of hat was, according to Australian lore, worn by rural types in the outback. It has attained sort of iconic status as a symbol of the Australia bush. I went to an agricultural high school in Australia, i’ve spent a fair bit of time on sheep and wheat and other types of farms in central and western New South Wales, and i have never ever seen a person wearing a hat with corks dangling off the brim. Strike that. I have seen such hats, but they were being worn by drunken cricket spectators. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/5 "2006-02-23T07:58:56Z")
I don’t know that there are any references that I’m _aware_ of not catching, but I know that there are things that simply went past me until I’d read the right books. (Mostly physics and philosophy jokes.) I wonder if the up-and-coming generation will really “get” the Mouse Problem sketch - (“How many of us can honestly say that at one time or another we haven’t felt sexually attracted to mice? I know I have.”) - now that there’s an established subculture that _does_, you know, go to parties, drink quite a lot… sometimes dress up as mice a bit, and start… squeaking. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/6 "2006-02-23T08:10:03Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I don’t know that there are any references that I’m _aware_ of not catching, but I know that there are things that simply went past me until I’d read the right books. (Mostly physics and philosophy jokes.) All right Clever Trousers, if you’re such the expert then give with the explanations. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/7 "2006-02-23T08:14:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I suspect it’s a Guy Lombardo joke. (Wikipedia agrees.) Huh. I always thought his master’s name was Guy de la Wombat. It seemed randomly ridiculous enough to fit. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/8 "2006-02-23T10:48:26Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > People you don’t know, lines you don’t understand, props you don’t get. Post them here in hopes of getting an explanation. I’ll start. > > Who are Ann Hayden Jones and her husband Pip? > \*\*Who is Clodah (sp?) Rogers? > Who is Reginald Maudlin (sp?) and why is he pictured with a bandaged head? > \*\*What’s the deal with the Australian hats with the corks hanging off them? Clodagh Rodgers was a female vocalist roughly in the mould of Cilla Black or Lulu in the 1970s. Reginald Maudlin was a politician, a member of the Cabinet. Can’t help you with the bandaged head though. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/9 "2006-02-23T11:33:33Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I went to an agricultural high school in Australia, i’ve spent a fair bit of time on sheep and (…) This is, perhaps, not the sort of phrase that ought to be left hanging until, much later in the sentence, the reader discovers that the word “sheep” is actually an adjective after all. But thanks for giving my neurons a workout anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/10 "2006-02-23T12:21:16Z")
Something I never quite got, why did they use the airline name **Pan Am** as a person’s joke name (more than once too). Why is that all that funny? ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/11 "2006-02-23T13:47:40Z")
Thanks for starting this thread, **Otto**. I’ve considered starting one like it, myself. Especially the “Ann Hayden-Jones and her husband Pip” references. That one’s been driving me crazy for years. Anyone? Ann Hayden-Jones? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/12 "2006-02-23T14:14:48Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Clodagh Rodgers was a female vocalist roughly in the mould of Cilla Black or Lulu in the 1970s. > > Reginald Maudlin was a politician, a member of the Cabinet. Can’t help you with the bandaged head though. “We’re done for! We’re done for!” “Shut up, Maudlin.” - from the Cannibal Lifeboat sketch. I took it to mean that he was a “Chicken Little” sort. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/13 "2006-02-23T15:02:02Z")
I think you’ll find he was actually Reginald [_Maudling_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Maudling). Prominent Tory. Liked a drink. Popped in the snoot by some Irish gal while Home Secy. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/14 "2006-02-23T15:09:39Z")
Ann Hayden Jones was a tennis player – Wimbledon women’s champ in 1969. I’m assuming the “Pip” is just something the Pythons added just as a funny juxtaposition; it may refer to **Great Expectations**. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/15 "2006-02-23T15:11:45Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > I think you’ll find he was actually Reginald [_Maudling_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Maudling). > > Prominent Tory. Liked a drink. Popped in the snoot by some Irish gal while Home Secy. The stuff I didn’t get were the extremely Brit-centric references. But that never detracted from my thourough enjoyment ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/16 "2006-02-23T17:03:08Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > Something I never quite got, why did they use the airline name **Pan Am** as a person’s joke name (more than once too). Why is that all that funny? It’s important to bear in mind that much Python humor is quite determinedly nonsensical and illogical, particularly the work of Michael Palin and Terry Jones. Preposterous names were a Python staple (Mr. Spare Button Supplied With His Shirt being a favorite of mine) and Police Constable Pan Am makes no more or less sense than would a million other names. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/17 "2006-02-23T18:32:08Z")
Since so much of their humor depends on the non sequitur, I’m sure there are numerous polical or cultural references that sail over my head because they just seemed like another bit of randomness. I’ve often wondered if there wasn’t some kind of compelling back story to “Lemon curry?” I’m pretty sure the guy who says it was a BBC newsreader. (Funny how the meaning of the nonsense chanting of “spam” has now changed, essentially because of the word’s use as nonsense in that sketch … Who hears “spam” and thinks of potted meat now?) As an aside, I’d like to point out that I’ve seen the Eurovision Song Contest mocked by the Pythons, the Young Ones, Benny Hill, and probably Morcambe and Wise (who used to be shown on New York’s Channel 9 in the 70s), but I’ve never actually seen the damn thing itself. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/18 "2006-02-23T18:46:43Z")
> [@Ichbin Dubist](#): > > As an aside, I’d like to point out that I’ve seen the Eurovision Song Contest mocked by the Pythons, the Young Ones, Benny Hill, and probably Morcambe and Wise (who used to be shown on New York’s Channel 9 in the 70s), but I’ve never actually seen the damn thing itself. When I first moved to Europe the one thing my multi-European workgroup could agree upon was the mockery of Eurovision. So of course I was compelled to watch it when it came on. It’s not as much fun as the mockery. ---
**Author:** ![Tevildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/19 "2006-02-23T19:05:03Z")
The meaning is obvious from the context, but I’ve never heard the phrase “barley cross fingers” before or since. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762/20 "2006-02-23T19:50:38Z")
I don’t recall exactly where, but in one of the sketches someone reacted to something with “oh, what a giveaway!”, and in one of their cricket recaps one of the players was “O. W. A. Giveaway.” It seems like referencing the same phrase twice suggests that it has more than just the literal meaning. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monty-python-references-you-dont-get/345762.md?page=2)