# Origin of, "All right, what's all this, then?!"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 7, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414 "2006-03-07T19:22:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414/1 "2006-03-07T19:22:29Z")

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Inspired by this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=361855](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=361855)

Did Monty Python invent this catchphrase? Or was it current in Brit popular culture before MP?

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**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414/2 "2006-03-07T19:31:52Z")

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Current Brit popular culture before, along with the ever-popular " 'ello 'ello 'ello, what’s all this, then?"

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**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414/3 "2006-03-07T20:14:40Z")

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It’s a staple of British movies, etc., from before Monty Python: a bobby coming onto a scene and going, “What’s all this then?”

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414/4 "2006-03-07T20:25:07Z")

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> [@lissener](#):
>
> a bobby coming onto a scene

And a “bobby” is an old-fashioned word for policeman, or copper, coming from Sir Robert Peel, who was Home Secretary when the British police force was started. (An even older word for British coppers is “peelers” – but that’s no longer currently used by anyone).

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**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:** [March 7, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414/5 "2006-03-07T22:51:46Z")

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Of course, the ritual response is “It’s a fair cop, guv’ner,” and it has ever been thus.

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**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-all-right-whats-all-this-then/347414/6 "2006-03-08T00:04:24Z")

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Help me here.  
Wasn’t the phrase used by one of the bankers on David Tomlinson (as George Banks) when he brought his children to the bank in “Mary Poppins?”