A lot of people really dislike Ben Elton, the writer of We Will Rock You, the Queen jukebox musical returning to Copenhagen for another run next week (see G3 for details). I remember on more than one occasion being told about how his parents were practically royalty and that he was a class traitor – yup, in Britain, some people take all that stuff a bit too seriously.
It was only years later, probably when Wikipedia started and I could be arsed to look up stuff kids had told me in good faith, that I realised it was an urban myth. That and Seaman Staines and Master Bates being in Captain Pugwash, although it did turn out to be true that some people can fellate themselves.
Anyway, did I say writer? I meant splodger. Like here’s a Queen song, and here’s another: can you find a tenuous link to write some Jackson bollocks? Splodge!
Sounds easy? Let’s see what I can do: “I want to break free’ from the land of the ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, and all I want to do is ‘Bicycle’?” Mmmh. But while they say you should stick to what you know, I can’t see the story of a Brit moving to Denmark on a breeding programme becoming a West End mainstay.
I can picture Elton searching for ideas and somebody taunting him that he’d never get ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to work, however hard he tried … and the rest is history.
Anyhow, while Elton has produced some drivel over the years – I particularly disliked his murder mystery book set in a Big Brother house, Dead Famous, in which almost every single character was based on contestants who had appeared in the UK version of the show – he has to be given credit for his work on the Blackadder series.
If you’ve never noticed this before, the first Blackadder is dire, and it was only when Elton, with his numerous metaphor jokes (sample: “Your brain is as full as a eunuch’s underpants”), came on board that it started hitting the heights.
Elsewhere this week, there’s barely anything – why else do you think we’ve got a picture of Barda, the children’s TV roleplaying series, on our front cover, to draw your attention to a 70-word listing that has doesn’t actually have any connection to the DR Ramasjang show?
Ditto an entire editorial about Ben Elton.
