Blackadder the Third^[1] is the third series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 17 September to 22 October 1987. The series was set during the British Regency, and saw the principal character, Mr. E. Blackadder serve as butler to the Prince Regent and have to contend with, or cash in on, the fads of the age embraced by his master.

The third series reduced the number of principal characters again compared with the previous series, but instead included a number of significant cameo roles by well-known comic actors.^[2] The programme won a BAFTA award for Best Comedy Series in 1988 and received three further nominations.^[3]

Plot[link]

Blackadder the Third is set in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a period known as the Regency. For much of this time, King George III was incapacitated due to poor mental health, and his son George, the Prince of Wales, acted as regent. During this period, he was known as "the Prince Regent". Although the Regency was in place between 1811 and 1820, the historical events and persons depicted and referenced appear to date the series before this time; anywhere in the period of the Age of Enlightenment between 1755 (the publication of the first English Dictionary) and 1805 (just before the Battle of Trafalgar).

In the series, E. Blackadder Esquire (Rowan Atkinson) is the head butler to the Prince of Wales (Hugh Laurie), a spoiled, foppish idiot. Despite Edmund's respected intelligence and abilities, he has no personal fortune to speak of. According to Edmund he has been serving the Prince Regent all of his life, ever since the Prince was breastfed (when he had to show the Prince which part of his mother was "serving the drinks").

Baldrick (Tony Robinson) remains similar to his Blackadder II predecessor, and although his "cunning plans" cease to be even remotely intelligent, he is the most aware of political, religious, and social events. As Blackadder himself is now a servant, Baldrick is labelled as Blackadder's "dogsbody". In this series, Baldrick often displays a more belligerent attitude towards his master, even referring to him once as a "lazy, big-nosed, rubber-faced bastard".

There are three main sets: the Prince's quarters, which are large and lavish, the below-stairs kitchen hangout of Blackadder and Baldrick, which is dark and squalid (though in fairness, very large and with a very high ceiling), and finally Mrs. Miggins' coffeehouse. Mrs. Miggins' pie shop was a never-seen running gag in Blackadder II; she — or at least, a descendant of hers — is now finally shown, played by Helen Atkinson-Wood.

The plots of the series feature a number of then-contemporary issues and personalities, such as rotten boroughs, Dr. Samuel Johnson (played by Robbie Coltrane), the French Revolution (featuring Chris Barrie) and the Scarlet Pimpernel, over-the-top theatrical actors, squirrel-hating female highwaymen, the practice of settle quarrels with a duel and discussing tactics with Duke of Wellington (played by Stephen Fry).

The last episode of the series also features Rowan Atkinson in the role of Blackadder's Scottish cousin MacAdder, supposedly a fierce swordsman; this leads to a dialogue in which Atkinson is acting both parts. Following the aftermath of this episode, Blackadder finds fortune and ends up (permanently) posing as the Prince Regent after the real Prince Regent, disguised as Blackadder, is shot by the Duke of Wellington.

The setup and the characters of Prince George and these incarnations of Blackadder and Baldrick (plus Admiral Horatio Nelson) are revisited in the one-off special, Blackadder's Christmas Carol.

Episodes[link]

The series aired for six episodes broadcast on Thursdays at 9.30 on BBC One. The titles of the episodes are always a noun paired with another, derived from an alliterative cognate adjective based on the Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility. On the first broadcast, Amy and Amiability was billed in the Radio Times under its working title of Cape and Capability.^{[citation needed]}

Cast[link]

• Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder
• Tony Robinson as Baldrick
• Hugh Laurie as George, Prince Regent
• Helen Atkinson-Wood as Mrs Miggins

Although this series reduced the size of the show's cast, the programme featured a number of guest appearances in each episode. Tim McInnerny decided not to continue playing the character of Lord Percy for fear of being typecast, although he appeared in a guest role in episode three.^[4] In addition to McInnerny, Stephen Fry and Miranda Richardson, who had played major parts in Blackadder II, appeared in guest roles. Fry and McInnerny would return as regular performers for the fourth series of Blackadder.

Music and titles[link]

The opening theme is this time played on a harpsichord, oboe and cello over close-ups of Blackadder searching a book-case.^[5] The credits and title appear on the books' spines, and each has a condition and script to match each character, for example Baldrick's is plain and in poor condition. Other amusing interspersed titles include From Black Death to Blackadder, The Blackobite Rebellion of 1745, The Encyclopædia Blackaddica and Landscape Gardening by Capability Brownadder.^[4] Hidden inside a hollow book, he finds a romance novel (complete with cover art) bearing the title of the particular episode. The closing credits are presented in the style of a theatre programme from a Regency-era play, and with an entirely new closing theme.

Awards[link]

The programme won a BAFTA award for Best Comedy Series in 1988. In addition the series was nominated for three further awards; Rowan Atkinson for "Best Light Entertainment Performance", Antony Thorpe for "Best Design" and Victoria Pocock for "Best Make Up".^[3] The four series of Blackadder were voted into second place in the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom in 2004.^[6]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Blackadder the Third

• Blackadder the Third (1987) at the Internet Movie Database
• Blackadder the Third at the former BBC Guide to Comedy (archive)
• Blackadder the Third at the new BBC Comedy Guide

v t e Richard Curtis Screenplays The Tall Guy (1989) Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Love Actually (2003) Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) The Boat That Rocked (2009) War Horse (2011) Director Love Actually (2003) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Producer Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Sixty Six (2006) Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Television Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982) The Black Adder (1983) Spitting Image (1984–1985) Blackadder II (1986) Blackadder the Third (1987) Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) Mr. Bean (1990–1995) Bernard and the Genie (1991) The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007) Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999) Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999) The Girl in the Café (2005) Casualty (2007) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) Doctor Who: "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010) Other works Comic Relief The Atkinson People (1979) Dead on Time (1983) No Pressure (2010)

The Third - The Girl with the Blue Eye
ザ・サード～蒼い瞳の少女～ (Za Sādo - Aoi Hitomi no)
Genre	Action, Comedy-drama, Science fiction
Light novel
Written by	Ryo Hoshino
Illustrated by	Nao Goto
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Dragon Magazine
Original run	1999 – ongoing
Volumes	17
TV anime
Directed by	Jun Kamiya
Studio	XEBEC
Licensed by	Nozomi Entertainment Kadokawa Pictures U.S.A.
Network	WOWOW
Original run	April 13, 2006 – October 26, 2006
Episodes	24
Manga
Written by	Ryo Hoshino
Illustrated by	Nao Goto
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Monthly Dragon Age
Original run	2005 – ongoing
Volumes	2
Anime and Manga Portal

The Third (ザ・サード, Za Sādo^?) is a novel, manga, and anime series by Ryo Hoshino (星野亮, Hoshino Ryō^?) and illustrated by Nao Goto (後藤なお, Gotō Nao^?). The anime series goes under the name The Third - Aoi Hitomi no Shōjo (ザ・サード～蒼い瞳の少女～, Za Sādo - Aoi Hitomi no Shōjo^?, "The Third - The Girl with the Blue Eye"). According to the recent New York Comic Convention; The Third has been licensed by Kadokawa Pictures U.S.A and is distributed by Nozomi Entertainment for U.S release. The anime was released in summer of 2007.

Plot[link]

The series is set many years after a devastating war, which killed 80% of the Earth's population. Earth is being watched by a group of beings known as The Third from a city called Hyperius. They are named after a red jewel-like eye on their forehead (Space Eye) that serves as a port for data access and other types of communication. These beings are committed to protecting the humans from harm. One of the main ways is to protect the humans is to control the amount of "technos" or technology that the humans have access to, known as the "technos taboo". Human found using forbidden technos could be killed by The Third's best "autoenforcer" an AI robot named Bluebreaker.

It follows the adventures of Honoka, a 17 year old girl who is human, but was born with a blue third eye as well. The Third found that she could not interface with the rest of The Third and so declared her a mutation and left her with human parents. Her blue eye enables her to see Chi and use it to find cloaked enemies and sense the emotions of all living things. Honoka is a jack-of-all-trades who travels throughout the barren earth with the help of a sand tank operated by Bogie, an AI guardian given to her by her grandfather. She earns a living by doing various jobs with the tank like ridding areas of oversized spiders and ants and escorting or transporting clients. One night while traveling through the desert, she comes upon a strange man named Iks (eeks). He arrived on the planet for a purpose which is not clear until the last episode. The Third is also nervous about his arrival and fears he may seek to harm the humans. In order to understand the world more Iks contracts with Honoka to accompany her for most of her travels. During travel or at night, she recites poems by a writer named "Dona Myfree" (exact spelling unknown at this time).

Various other characters are woven in to bring out more of Honoka's character and virtues. She grows over the episodes into a person whose personality becomes critical to the very survival of the planet.

Characters[link]

• Honoka (火乃香, Honoka^?)

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese), Anna Morrow (English)

She is the protagonist of the story, a jack-of-all-trades that will do any job except assassinate another human. Honoka wields a katana and a pair of guns, in which she uses for battles. Honoka is known as the Sword Dancer (ソード・ダンサー, Sōdo Dansā^?) because of her graceful moves with her katana. She is also shown to be a gun fanatic, usually spending all of her money from her latest mission on guns.

Honoka also has a third eye similar to The Third, but this eye is blue rather than red. She does not have the abilities that The Third have, but with the blue eye, she is able to detect life forces and sense other things in her environment. She is 17 years old in the anime and 15 in the manga (which appears to take place before the anime). She is incredibly strong, where in the end of the anime series with one strike of her sword she was able to take down a large army.

• Iks (イクス, Ikusu^?)

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Steve Cannon (English)

He is the mysterious, seemingly young individual that Honoka meets earlier on in the series. Iks has a calm and trusting persona, appearing to be harmless. However, he is sought after by The Third since no one knows his purpose or intentions. He has special powers of healing and is later revealed to be a visiting alien sent to observe the Earth. In the end we get to know that he is the arbitrator, who has come to make decision about the Earth and also fell in love with Honoka.

• Bogie (ボギー, Bogī^?)

Voiced by: Unshou Ishizuka (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)

A robotic mind that acts a guardian, advisor and support for Honoka. He is lodged in a metal container and wears a green visor. Appears to be sentient to an extent and is often serviced at the hospital in Emporium. He will state Honoka's flaws bluntly, as well as reprimand her after spending all her money on guns, usually annoying her. He is a very skilled fighter, where he was able to defeat an anti-tank helicopter by himself.

• Zankan (ザンカン, Zankan^?)

Voiced by: Masahiko Tanaka (Japanese), Wayne Grayson (English)

He was one of the best mechanics and regularly services Honoka's sand tank. He travelled about in a huge crane/tank. He was killed by Blue Breaker because of repeatedly breaking the Technos Taboo near the beginning of the anime.

• Jōganki (浄眼機, Jōganki^?)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)

One of The Third and very interested in Honoka. He keeps tabs on her from time to time and wields considerable political power within The Third.

• Millie (ミリィ, Mirī^?)

Voiced by: Yuki Sakata (Japanese), Angora Deb (English)

A small girl that travels with Zankan. She is cheerful and likes Honoka as if she is her sister, usually calling her Hono-chan. Currently, she is travelling with Honoka after her father, Zankan, was killed by a Blue Breaker. She now attends school in Emporium and lives with her father's sister.

• Toy Joey (トイジョーイ, Toi Jōi^?)

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Sam Regal (English)

A youth that meets Honoka in the first episode and is a mechanic to the sand vehicle. He wishes to follow the man's footsteps whom he calls pops; Zankan. For this, he will attend a technical school while working for Honoka's team. He has obvious feelings for Honoka, and usually gets jealous when she talks to Iks. Near the end of the anime, while trying to invent a way to improve Boogie, her tank, he breaks the Techno Taboo which causes him to be banned from being a mechanic.

• Paifu (パイフウ, Paifū^?)

Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi (Japanese), Carol Jacobanis (English)

A health teacher from Millie's school who takes an apparently sexual interest in Honoka. When she travelled with Honoka she revealed that she can sense chi. She also displays an open hatred towards men and carries a gun around with her. Despite her hatred towards men, near the end of the anime she helps Iks with his feelings towards Honoka, later commenting after doing so "it's like a wife helping her husband find his mistress". Honoka often refers to her as Sensei (teacher in Japanese), since she herself never went to school.

• Leon (レオン, Leon^?)

Voiced by: Naoya Uchida (Japanese), Troy Baker (English)

A cyborg from the Great War. He is a hunter out to merge with Allies of the Monster Troop to grow stronger. His body is made from a mysterious liquid metal and can shoot laser beams from his finger. In order to keep from deteriorating he merges with other allies from the Monster Troop as well to keep its nanomachines alive.

Episodes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Green, Scott (December 21, 2007). "AICN Anime-Wallflower, Nausicaa Art Book, The Third, News and More". Ain't It Cool News. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35135.  Query Wayback Bibalex Wayback WebCite Wikiwix.
• Oxford, Nadia (May 9, 2008). "Manga Review: The Thrid, Volume One". Mania. http://www.mania.com/manga-review-third-volume-one_article_58285.html.  Query Wayback Bibalex Wayback WebCite Wikiwix.
• Davidson, Danica (February 10, 2011). "The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye". Otaku USA. http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/Anime/News1/The_Third_The_Girl_With_the_Blue_Eye_4066.aspx.  Query Wayback Bibalex Wayback WebCite Wikiwix.
• "Manga Review: The Third, Vol. 1". Pop Culture Shock. April 4, 2008. http://www.popcultureshock.com/manga-review-the-third-vol-1/43565/.  Query Wayback Bibalex Wayback WebCite Wikiwix.

References[link]

1. ^ The Third: The Girl With The Blue Eye - Complete Collection 2009

External links[link]

• (Japanese) Kadokawa's The Third website
• (Japanese) XEBEC's The Third website
• Official English Site to The Third

Encyclopedia entries[link]

• The Third (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

Peter Cook
Cook (left) with Dudley Moore in 1974
Born	Peter Edward Cook (1937-11-17)17 November 1937 Torquay, Devon, England
Died	9 January 1995(1995-01-09) (aged 57) Hampstead, London, England
Occupation	Comedian, satirist, writer
Years active	1958–1994
Spouse	Wendy Snowden (1963–1971) Judy Huxtable (1973–1989) Lin Chong (1989–1995)

Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. Cook has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath", although his work was also controversial.^[1] Cook was closely associated with anti-establishment comedy which emerged in Britain and the United States in the late 1950s.

Early life[link]

Cook was born at his parents' house "Shearbridge", in Middle Warberry Road, Torquay, Devon. He was the only son and eldest of the three children of Alexander Edward (Alec) Cook (1906–1984), a colonial civil servant, and his wife Ethel Catherine Margaret, née Mayo (1908–1994). He was educated at Radley College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied French and German. As a student, Cook initially intended to become a career diplomat like his father, but Britain "had run out of colonies", as he put it. Although politically largely apathetic, particularly in later life when he displayed a deep distrust of politicians of all hues, he did join the Cambridge University Liberal Club.^[2]

It was at Pembroke that Cook performed and wrote comedy sketches as a member of the Cambridge Footlights Club, of which he became president in 1960. His hero was fellow Footlights writer and Cambridge magazine writer David Nobbs.^[3]

Whilst still at university, Cook wrote for Kenneth Williams, for whom he created an entire West End comedy revue called One Over the Eight, before finding prominence in his own right in a four-man group satirical stage show, Beyond the Fringe, with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett and Dudley Moore.

The show became a great success in London after being first performed at the Edinburgh Festival and included Cook impersonating the Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. This was one of the first occasions satirical political mimicry had been attempted in live theatre and it shocked audiences. During one performance, Macmillan was in the theatre and Cook departed from his script and attacked him verbally.^[4]

Career[link]

1960s[link]

In 1961 Cook opened the Establishment club at 18 Greek Street in Soho in central London, presenting fellow comedians in a nightclub setting, including American Lenny Bruce. Cook said it was a satirical venue modelled on "those wonderful Berlin cabarets... which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War";^[5] as a members-only venue it was outside the censorship restrictions. Cook befriended and supported Australian comedian and actor Barry Humphries, who began his British solo career at the club. Humphries said in his autobiography, My Life As Me, that he found Cook's lack of interest in art and literature off-putting. Cook's chiselled looks and languid manner led Humphries to observe that whereas most people take after their father or mother, Cook seemed more like an aunt. Dudley Moore's jazz trio played in the basement of the club during the early 1960s.

In 1962, the BBC commissioned a pilot for a television series of satirical sketches based on the Establishment club, but it was not picked up straight away and Cook went to New York for a year to perform in Beyond The Fringe on Broadway. When he returned, the pilot had been refashioned as That Was The Week That Was and had made a star of David Frost, something Cook resented. The 1960s satire boom was closing and Cook said that Britain would "sink into the sea under the weight of its own giggling".^{[citation needed]} He complained that Frost's success was based on copying Cook's own stage persona and that his only regret in life had been once saving Frost from drowning.^{[citation needed]} Around this time, Cook provided financial backing for the satirical magazine Private Eye, supporting it through difficult periods, particularly in libel trials. Cook invested his own money and solicited investment from his friends. For a time, the magazine was produced from the premises of the Establishment club. In 1963, Cook married Wendy Snowden; the couple had two daughters, Lucy and Daisy, but the marriage ended in 1970.

Cook expanded television comedy with Eleanor Bron, John Bird and John Fortune. His first regular television spot was on Granada Television's Braden Beat with Bernard Braden, where he featured his most enduring character: the static, dour and monotonal E.L. Wisty, whom Cook had conceived for Radley College's Marionette Society.

Cook's comedy partnership with Dudley Moore led to Not Only... But Also. This was intended by the BBC for Moore's music, but Moore invited Cook to write sketches and appear with him. Using few props, they created dry and absurd television which lasted for three series between 1965 and 1970. Cook played characters such as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and the two men created their Pete and Dud alter egos. Other sketches included "Superthunderstingcar", a parody of the Gerry Anderson marionette TV shows, and Cook's pastiche of 1960s trendy arts documentaries – satirised in a parodic TV segment on Greta Garbo.

When Cook learned a few years later that the videotapes of the series were to be wiped, a common practice at the time, he offered to buy the recordings from the BBC but was refused because of copyright issues. He suggested he could purchase new tapes so that the BBC would have no need to erase the originals, but this was also turned down. Of the original programmes, only eight of the twenty-two episodes still survive complete. A compilation of six half-hour programmes, The Best of What's Left of Not Only...But Also was shown on television and has been released on both VHS and DVD.

With The Wrong Box (1966) and Bedazzled (1967) Cook and Moore began to act in films together. Directed by Stanley Donen, the underlying story of Bedazzled is credited to Cook and Moore and its screenplay to Cook. A comic parody of Faust, it stars Cook as George Spigott (The Devil) who tempts Stanley Moon (Moore), a frustrated, short-order chef, with the promise of gaining his heart's desire – the unattainable beauty and waitress at his cafe, Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron) – in exchange for his soul, but repeatedly tricks him. The film features cameo appearances by Barry Humphries as Envy and Raquel Welch as Lust. Moore composed the soundtrack music and co-wrote (with Cook) the songs performed in the film. His jazz trio backed Cook on the theme, a parodic anti-love song, which Cook delivered in a monotonous deadpan voice and included his familiar put-down, "You fill me with inertia."

In 1968, Cook and Moore briefly switched to ATV for four one-hour programmes entitled Goodbye Again, based on the Pete and Dud characters. They ignored suggestions from the director and cast. Sketches were drawn out to fill the running time. With no interest in the show, Cook's increasing alcoholism led him to become reliant on cue cards and he ended up garbling the script, forcing Moore to ad-lib. The show was not a popular success, owing in part to the publication of the ITV listings magazine, TV Times, being suspended because of a strike. John Cleese was a cast member.

1970s[link]

In 1970, Cook took over a project initiated by David Frost for a satirical film about an opinion pollster who rises to become President of Great Britain. Under Cook's guidance, the character became modelled on Frost. The film, The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, was not a success, although the cast contained notable names.

Cook became a favourite of the chat show circuit but his own effort at hosting one for the BBC in 1971, Where Do I Sit?, was said by the critics to have been a disappointment. He was replaced after only two episodes by Michael Parkinson, the start of Parkinson's career as a chat show host. Parkinson later asked Cook what his ambitions were. Cook replied "[...] in fact, my ambition is to shut you up altogether."

He and Moore fashioned sketches from Not Only....But Also and Goodbye Again with new material into the stage revue called Behind the Fridge. This show toured Australia in 1972 before transferring to New York in 1973, re-titled as Good Evening. Cook frequently appeared on and off stage the worse for drink. Nonetheless, the show proved very popular and it won Tony and Grammy Awards. When it finished, Moore stayed in the U.S. to pursue his film acting ambitions in Hollywood. Cook returned to Britain and in 1973 he married the actress and model Judy Huxtable.

Later, the more risqué humour of Pete and Dud went farther on long-playing records as "Derek and Clive". The first recording was initiated by Cook to alleviate boredom during the Broadway run of Good Evening, and it used material conceived years before for the two characters but considered too outrageous. One of these audio recordings was also filmed, and tensions between the duo are seen to rise. Chris Blackwell circulated bootleg copies to friends in the music business. The popularity of the recording convinced Cook to release it commercially, although Moore was initially reluctant, fearing that his rising fame as a Hollywood star would be undermined. Two further Derek and Clive albums were released, the last accompanied by a film.

In 1978 Cook appeared on British music series Revolver as the manager of a ballroom where emerging punk and new wave acts played. For some groups, these were their first appearances on television. Cook's acerbic commentary was an aspect of the programme.

In 1979 Cook recorded comedy-segments as B-sides to the Sparks 12-inch singles "Number One In Heaven" and "Tryouts For The Human Race". The main songwriter Ron Mael often started off a banal situation in his lyrics, and then went at surreal tangents in the style of Cook and S.J. Perelman.

[edit] Consequences album

Cook played multiple roles on the 1977 concept album Consequences, written and produced by former 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. A mixture of spoken comedy and progressive rock with an environmental subtext, Consequences started as a single that Godley and Creme planned to make to demonstrate their invention, an electric guitar effect called the Gizmo, which they developed in 10cc. The project grew into a triple LP boxed set. The comedy sections were originally intended to be performed by a cast including Spike Milligan and Peter Ustinov, but Godley and Creme eventually settled on Cook once they realised he could perform most parts himself.

The storyline centres on the impending divorce of ineffectual Englishman Walter Stapleton (Cook) and his French wife Lulu (Judy Huxtable). While meeting their lawyers – the bibulous Mr Haig and overbearing Mr Pepperman (both played by Cook) – the encroaching global catastrophe interrupts proceedings with bizarre and mysterious happenings, which seem to centre on Mr Blint (Cook), a musician and composer living in the flat below Haig's office, to which it is connected by a large hole in the floor.

Although it has since developed a cult following due to Cook's presence, Consequences was released as punk was sweeping the UK and proved a resounding commercial failure, savaged by critics who found the music self-indulgent. The script and story have evident connections to Cook's own life – his then wife Judy Huxtable, plays Walter's wife. Cook's struggles with alcohol are mirrored in Haig's drinking, and there is a parallel between the fictional divorce of Walter and Lulu and Cook's own divorce from his first wife. The voice and accent Cook used for the character of Stapleton are similar to Cook's Beyond the Fringe colleague, Alan Bennett, and a book on Cook's comedy, How Very Interesting, speculates that the characters Cook plays in Consequences are caricatures of the four Beyond The Fringe cast members – the alcoholic Haig represents Cook, the tremulous Stapleton is Bennett, the parodically Jewish Pepperman is Miller, and the pianist Blint represents Moore.^[6]

Amnesty International performances[link]

Cook appeared at the first three fund-raising galas staged by humourists John Cleese and Martin Lewis on behalf of Amnesty International. The benefits were dubbed The Secret Policeman's Balls though it wasn't until the third show in 1979 that the title was used. He performed on all three nights of the first show in April 1976, A Poke in the Eye (with a Sharp Stick), as an individual performer and as a member of the cast of Beyond The Fringe, which reunited for the first time since the 1960s. He also appeared in a Monty Python sketch, taking the place of Eric Idle. Cook was on the cast album of the show and in the film, Pleasure At Her Majesty's. He was in the second Amnesty gala in May 1977, An Evening Without Sir Bernard Miles. It was retitled The Mermaid Frolics for the cast album and TV special. Cook performed monologues and skits with Terry Jones.

In June 1979, Cook performed all four nights of The Secret Policeman's Ball – teaming with John Cleese. Cook performed a couple of solo pieces and a sketch with Eleanor Bron. He also led the ensemble in the finale – the "End Of The World" sketch from Beyond The Fringe.

In response to a barb in The Daily Telegraph that the show was recycled material, Cook wrote a satire of the summing-up by Mr Justice Cantley in the trial of former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe, a summary thought by some to show bias in favour of Thorpe. Cook performed it that same night (Friday 29 June – the third of the four nights) and the following night. The nine-minute opus, "Entirely a Matter for You," is considered by many fans and critics to be one of the finest works of Cook's career. Cook and show producer Martin Lewis brought out an album on Virgin Records entitled Here Comes the Judge: Live of the live performance together with three studio tracks that further lampooned the Thorpe trial.^[7][8]

Although unable to take part in the 1981 gala, Cook supplied the narration over the animated opening title sequence of the 1982 film of the show. With Lewis, he wrote and voiced radio commercials to advertise the film in the UK. He also hosted a spoof film awards ceremony that was part of the world première of the film in London in March 1982.

Following Cook's 1987 stage reunion with Moore for the annual U.S. benefit for the homeless, Comic Relief (not related to the UK Comic Relief benefits), Cook repeated the reunion for a British audience by performing with Moore at the 1989 Amnesty benefit The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball.

1980s[link]

In 1980, partly spurred by Moore's growing film star status, Cook moved to Hollywood and appeared as an uptight English butler to a wealthy American woman in a short-lived U.S. television sitcom The Two of Us, also making cameo appearances in a couple of undistinguished films. In 1980, Cook starred in the LWT special Peter Cook & Co. The show included comedy sketches, including a Tales of the Unexpected parody "Tales Of The Much As We Expected". This involved Cook as Roald Dahl, explaining his name had been Ronald before he dropped the "n". The cast included John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Beryl Reid, Paula Wilcox and Terry Jones.

In 1983 Cook played the role of Richard III in the first episode of Blackadder, "The Foretelling", which parodies Laurence Olivier's portrayal. He narrated the short film "Diplomatix" by Norwegian comedy trio Kirkvaag, Lystad and Mjøen, which won the "Special Prize of the City of Montreux" at the Montreux Comedy Festival in 1985.^[9] In 1986 he partnered Joan Rivers on her UK talk show. He appeared as Mr Jolly in 1987 in The Comic Strip Presents' Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, playing an assassin who covers the sound of his murders by playing Tom Jones records. Cook appeared in The Princess Bride that year as the "Impressive Clergyman". Also that year he spent time working with Martin Lewis on a political satire about the 1988 U.S. presidential elections for HBO, but the script went unproduced. Lewis suggested Cook team with Moore for the U.S. Comic Relief telethon for the homeless. The duo reunited and performed their "One Leg Too Few" sketch.

In 1988, Cook appeared as a contestant on the improvisation comedy show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? Cook was declared the winner, his prize being to read the credits in the style of a New York cab driver – a character he'd portrayed in Peter Cook & Co.

Cook occasionally called in to Clive Bull's night-time phone-in radio show on LBC in London. Using the name "Sven from Swiss Cottage", he mused on love, loneliness and herrings in a mock Norwegian accent. Jokes included Sven's attempts to find his estranged wife, in which he often claimed to be telephoning the show from all over the world, and his hatred of the Norwegian obsession with fish. While Bull was clearly aware that Sven was fictional he did not learn Sven's real identity until later.

Revival[link]

In late 1989 Cook married for the third time, to Malaysian-born property developer Chiew Lin Chong in Torbay, Devon. She provided him with some stability in his personal life and he reduced his drinking, to the extent that for a time he was teetotal. He lived alone in a small 18th century house in Perrins Lane, Hampstead, once owned by H.G. Wells, while his wife kept her own property only 100 yards away.

Cook returned to the BBC as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling for an appearance with Ludovic Kennedy in A Life in Pieces. The 12 interviews saw Sir Arthur recount his life based on the Twelve Days of Christmas. Unscripted interviews with Cook as Streeb-Greebling and satirist Chris Morris were recorded in late 1993 and broadcast as Why Bother? on BBC Radio 3. Morris described them:

On 17 December 1993, Cook appeared on Clive Anderson Talks Back as four characters – biscuit tester and alien abductee Norman House, football manager and motivational speaker Alan Latchley, judge Sir James Beauchamp and rock legend Eric Daley. The following day he appeared on BBC2 performing links for Arena's "Radio Night". He also appeared, on 26 December, in the 1993 Christmas special of One Foot in the Grave ("One Foot in the Algarve"), playing a muckraking tabloid journalist. Before the end of the next year his mother died, and Cook returned to heavy drinking.

Death[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Cook died on 9 January 1995, aged 57, having suffered a gastrointestinal haemorrhage (a direct result of severe liver damage) in the intensive-care unit of the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London. Days earlier he had been taken in and announced, "I feel a bit poorly". Dudley Moore attended Cook's memorial service in London in May 1995 and he and Martin Lewis presented a two-night memorial for Cook in Los Angeles the following November, to mark what would have been Cook's 58th birthday.

Legacy[link]

Cook is universally acknowledged as the main influence on British comedians who followed him from amateur dramatic clubs of British universities to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and then to the radio and television. On his death some critics choose to see Cook's life as tragic, in so far as the brilliance of his youth had not been sustained in his later years. However, Cook himself always maintained that he had no ambitions at all for sustained success. He assessed happiness by his friendships and his enjoyment of life. Eric Idle and Stephen Fry^[11] said Cook had not wasted his talent but rather that the newspapers had tried to waste him.

Several friends honoured him with a dedication in the closing credits of Fierce Creatures (1997), a comedy film written by John Cleese about a zoo in peril of being closed. It starred Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin. The dedication displays photos and the lifespan dates of Peter Cook and of British naturalist/humorist Gerald Durrell.^[12]

In 1999 the minor planet 20468 Petercook, in the main asteroid belt, was named after him.^[13]

Ten years after his death, Cook was ranked at number one in the Comedians' Comedian, a poll of 300 comics, comedy writers, producers and directors throughout the English-speaking world.^[14] Channel 4 broadcast Not Only But Always, a television film dramatising the relationship between Cook and Moore, with Rhys Ifans portraying Cook. At the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe a play, written by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde, examined the relationship from Moore's view, Pete and Dud: Come Again. Tom Goodman-Hill played Cook.

At the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Goodbye – the (after)life of Cook & Moore by Jonathan Hansler and Clive Greenwood was presented at the Gilded Balloon. The play imagined the newly dead Moore meeting Cook in Limbo, also inhabited by other comic actors with whom they had worked, including Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd and Kenneth Williams. In May 2009 the play was seen again in London's West End at the Leicester Square Theatre (formerly "The Venue" and home to Pete and Dud: Come Again) with Jonathan Hansler as Cook, Adam Bampton Smith as Moore and Clive Greenwood as everyone else.

A green plaque was unveiled by Westminster City Council and the Heritage Foundation at the site of the Establishment club on 15 February 2009.^[15]

Filmography[link]

• The Wrong Box (1966): Morris Finsbury
• Alice in Wonderland (1966): Mad Hatter
• Bedazzled (1967): George Spiggott/The Devil
• A Dandy in Aspic (1968): Prentiss
• Monte Carlo or Bust (released in the US as Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies) (1969): Maj. Digby Dawlish
• The Bed-Sitting Room (1969): Inspector
• The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970): Michael Rimmer
• The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972): Dominic
• Find the Lady (1976): Lewenhak
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978): Sherlock Holmes
• Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979): Clive
• Yellowbeard (1983): Lord Percy Lambourn
• Supergirl (1984): Nigel
• Whoops Apocalypse (1986): Sir Mortimer Chris
• The Princess Bride (1987): The Impressive Clergyman
• Without A Clue (1988): Norman Greenhough
• Getting It Right (1989): Mr. Adrian
• Great Balls of Fire! (1989): First English Reporter
• Black Beauty (1994): Lord Wexmire

Amnesty

• Pleasure at Her Majesty's (1976)
• The Mermaid Frolics (1977)
• The Secret Policeman's Ball
• The Secret Policeman's Private Parts (1981)
• The Best of Amnesty: Featuring the Stars of Monty Python (1999)

UK chart singles:-

• "The Ballad of Spotty Muldoon" (1965)
• "Goodbye-ee" (1965) with Dudley Moore

Further reading[link]

• Harry Thompson (1998). Biography of Peter Cook. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-64969-0. 
• Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (2003). Dud and Pete: The Dagenham Dialogues. Methuen. ISBN 978-0-413-77347-0. 
• Robert Hewison (1983). Footlights!: A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy. Methuen London Ltd. ISBN 0-413-51150-2. 
• Roger Wilmut (1980). From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960–1980. Eyre Methuen Ltd. ISBN 0-413-46950-6. 
• Peter Cook Appreciation Society (2006). How Very Interesting!: Peter Cook's Universe And All That Surrounds It. Snowbooks. ISBN 1-905005-23-7. 
• Alexander Games (1999). Pete & Dud: An Illustrated Biography. Andre Deutsch. ISBN 0-233-99642-7. 
• Wendy Cook (2006). So Farewell Then: The Biography of Peter Cook. HarperCollins Entertainment. ISBN 0-00-722893-7. 
• Lin Cook (2003). Something Like Fire: Peter Cook Remembered. Arrow Books. ISBN 0-09-946035-1. 
• Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde (2006). Pete and Dud: Come Again. Methuen Drama. ISBN 0-413-77602-6. 
• William Cook (2003). Tragically I was an only twin: the complete Peter Cook. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-31891-X ISBN 0-09-944325-2. 
• Judy Cook with Angela Levin (2008). Loving Peter: My Life with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Piatkus. ISBN 978-0-7499-0966-6. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Peter Cook

• Peter Cook at the Internet Movie Database
• The Establishment
• Mr Blint's Attic
• Tribute to Peter Cook, with texts and commentary
• Good Evening, a Peter Cook Fansite incl. Gallery
• The BBC Guide to Comedy: Not Only...But Also
• Missing-Episodes.com
• One Leg Too Few, script for one of Cook and Moore's most famous and oft-performed sketches.