Geoffrey Perkins Is Dead At 55 108
Dynamoo writes "Legendary comedy writer and producer Geoffrey Perkins has died in a road accident in London. Perkins was until recently the head of comedy for BBC TV. Earlier in his career he produced the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series, and was a writer, director, and producer of many comedy shows including Spitting Image, The Fast Show, and several others. He also invented the game of Mornington Crescent. The world will be a less joyful place without him."
Re:lol (Score:5, Informative)
Perkins was until recently the head of comedy for BBC TV. Earlier in his career he produced the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series, and was a writer, director, and producer of many comedy shows including Spitting Image, The Fast Show, and several others. He also invented the game of Mornington Crescent.
HTH, HAND.
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No, but it's not slahsdot.us either. It's slashdot.org (i.e. international)
The guy produced HHHGTTG. Probably one of the most quoted books/plays/films on slashdot.
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Why is that? the people at Top/Fifth Gear know how to drive... especially on "streets" where its all in slow-mo compared to what they are used to/have done...
Hammond had a crash in a jet-car...injured, sure... lived, walks, basically fine... cause he had "gear"... some guy who drives to and from work, maybe the odd venture out on the weekends... is far more likely to fuck-up, and when the shit hits the fan they panic, unlike a professional driver who can stay relatively aware of whats happening, and prepair
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Hammond had a crash in a jet-car...injured, sure... lived, walks, basically fine...
He did develop a taste for celery [telegraph.co.uk] though so it's not all a bed of roses ;)
some guy who drives to and from work, maybe the odd venture out on the weekends... is far more likely to fuck-up, and when the shit hits the fan they panic, unlike a professional driver who can stay relatively aware of whats happening, and prepair...etc...
I think there's something to say for people pointing and laughing at danger and stealing its lunch money. Clarkson, Hammond and May (well maybe less so for Captain Slow) have cavalier attitudes (which appeals to my sense of 'ah, screw it') and being of a less panicky, laugh in the face of danger disposition may help cope when things go wrong (to a degree) because you may prevent yourself making it worse.
To quote Red Dwarf [nildram.co.uk]:
KRYTEN: Good god! Emergency, emergency! Adopt crash procedure!
RIMMER: (Runs back to rear compartment.) Where's the card? Who's got the
card?!
LISTER: What card?
RIMMER: The plastic card, the plastic card with the cartoons of the crash
procedure on it!
LISTER: Don't panic, man!
RIMMER: It should be in the netting behind the seats. Haven't we got to
sit behind a woman clutching a baby? What's the drill?!
LISTER: Look, I know what is it!
RIMMER: What?
LISTER: Sit down, tuck your head between your legs and brace yourself.
RIMMER: (Bracing) Now what?
LISTER: Then you open the in-flight magazine and start reading. Thing
is*, the articles act as a sedative. I mean, look at this: "Contents
List: Salt, an Epicure's Delight; Classic Wines of Estonia; Flemish
Weaving the Traditional Way." (To the CAT, whose head is lolling) Don't
fight it, man, let it take you.
RIMMER: How can you be so mind-bogglingly flippant? Don't you know
what's going to happen? We're going to crash!
LISTER: You've got to stay calm! It's a well-known fact, the more
relaxed you are, the less likely you are to be injured.
KRYTEN: Good luck, everybody, here it comes!
Wishful thin
Re:The numbers were in his favour... (Score:5, Interesting)
Hammond can also remember phone numbers now, something he never used to be able to do.
Recent studies have shown that celery actually contains chemicals which help the brain repair itself in the case of an injury, making Hammond's taste for celery very interesting.
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True true. I was being tongue-in-cheek, as I'm sure was obvious.
What happened to the Hamster was likely the exception not the rule and you are right it is very interesting. Not many people come out of a crash like that better off than before, making him a walking, talking miracle.
(Course we have to thank the emergency services, particularly the air ambulance, for their responsiveness or it could have been a very different tale).
What is also pretty neat is that this at least 'anecdotedly' supports the idea -
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If you like Hamster, you really should read his book (or get the audio version like I did). Fascinating and scary stuff what he went through.
And I think it was probably actually craving it. Seems way too coincidental that he'd just happen to start liking celery.
Regardless, I'm still happy Hammond is okay. He's apparently the prime candidate to anchor the F1 coverage when it returns to the BBC next season.
And I am still very sad about the death of Geoffrey Perkins.:(
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And the shorter and more apt version:
DON'T PANIC.
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ZZZ,,, (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:ZZZ,,, (Score:5, Funny)
The Slashdot editors do realize they've posted a British-centric story at 3:44 AM London time...
Ah, but slashdot is news for nerds. It's an integral part of the geek culture to be 6-10 hours out of sync with your timezone.
The relevant XKCD panel is #448 [xkcd.com].
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It's an integral part of the geek culture to be 6-10 hours out of sync with your timezone.
The relevant XKCD panel is #448 [xkcd.com].
Or this one: 28-Hour Day [xkcd.com]
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It's an integral part of the geek culture to be 6-10 hours out of sync with your timezone.
The relevant XKCD panel is #448 [xkcd.com].
Or this one: 28-Hour Day [xkcd.com]
Or this one: Christmas Back Home [xkcd.com]
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In both directions. At once.
(I'd have missed the story by less than half an hour, but I went to bed with the wife instead. Which makes me doubly unusual by SlashDot's standards.)
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Are you the scheduling police now? Will you be jumping in to flag all the US stories published at what you decide is out of hours because they may not be of interest to anyone outside the US? Thought not.
Perkins' contribution to comedy, and to broadcasting in general, is acknowledged and appreciated all over the world. Not just in Britain.
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The editors did, but I bet the original post was at a more london friendly time.
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You want comedy? (Score:1, Offtopic)
As Charlie Martin [americanthinker.com] points out:
this week, it looks like the Obama campaign's "Chicago Rules" have turned out to be bringing a knife to a gunfight.
big-haired ex-beauty queens with AK-47s (Score:1, Offtopic)
Dude, remind me again what we are "in danger of" here?
"In danger of" falling head-over-heals in love?
Here she is as the starting point guard on the state championship women's basketball team [playing with a STRESS FRACTURE, no less]:
.
Here she is early in her career as a sportscasterette:
And here she is as Governorette of Alaska, sitting on a Grizzly Bear couch, with a stuffed King Crab on the coffee table, wearing flip flops and red toenail polish to work:
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you do understand that you are not living in a movie, right? And if by some chance, you are living in a movie, the rest of us are mostly not.
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So Long... (Score:1)
Mornington Crescent... (Score:4, Funny)
... someone explain all the rules to me again?
Re:Mornington Crescent... (Score:4, Informative)
You have to learn them while you go. It's one of the rules.
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The best way to learn the rules is to observe a game in progress.
I'll start out (this game, we'll be using the Duke of Edinburgh's rules, Welsh form third or higher).
My move is:
Finsbury Park East
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Hyde Park Corner
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Regent's Park. (Declaring an attempted Inverse Rushton's Flip. All Northern Line stations are in knip for the next two moves.)
Can I declare whilst posting AC? DofE's doesn't mention it specifically but there is the "masquerade" clause...
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Amateurish, dear boy.
Clapham North.
Re:Mornington Crescent... (Score:4, Funny)
Gospel Oak
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Re:Mornington Crescent... (Score:5, Funny)
Bethnal Green
(For those not so familiar with the game, this position is essentially the same as the classic Kolmogorov Gambit (see, for example, Stovold vol CCCLXIV (ii), pp 697-702), except that all hexes are now wild and aquatic crossings will force a transverse shunt. Knip in two.)
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Re:Mornington Crescent... (Score:5, Funny)
Easy really ?
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Oh! Oh! Steady on sir! I appeal. This is a blatant violation of the Shackleton Amendment.
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The Shackleton Amendment (or "Old Shakey" as most of us like to refer to it) only applies on the Northern Line. From Bethnel Green, when you're trying to implement the Reverse-Ksmiov, options are limited to South Kensington, Elephant and Castle or Paddington, though why you'd play to a national rail terminus when following the third or higher Welsh form of the the Duke of Edinburgh rules is quite beyond me.
The only sensible move at this point is therefore South Kensington though its going to take a pretty n
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Well, there are two teams, the team that is in and the team that is out. The team that is in goes out except for two of them who go in and the team that is out goes in and tries to get the team that is in out. When all members of the team that is in are out the team that is in is out and the team that was out is now in. When all players have been in and out (or remain not out) the game ends.
...oh, wait, that's cricket. Mornington Crescent is the other game, the confusing one, isn't it?
RIP (Score:1)
The Fast Show was one of my favourites. So long and thanks for all the laughs Geoff.
Mornington Crescent... (Score:1, Funny)
The link in the summary goes to a page "explaining" the rules for Mornington Crescent.
It goes into great detail about the origin of the game and its history, but from what I can see the closest it comes to explaining the actual rules is:
"When the game was first played it was based on the 1952 pocket A-Z and a simple formula dictating to which pages one could move and to which pages one could not move."
Sure would be nice if it said anything about the formula...
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Mornington Crescent is an improvisational comedy sketch based roughly on the pocket A-Z. The formula is mythic, and the game follows a simple pattern:
A player makes a move. Another player challenges this with an improvised rule, which can itself be challenged by other improvised rules. The object of the game is to entertain the audience.
The entire population of the UK can now participate in this humorous diversion with the new "Justice Ministry Accredited Status" of many dog wardens, park keepers, charity
Might have Fainted before falling into road (Score:5, Informative)
Also, Anyone else wonder how someone managed to hit him, drive away and not realize it? I understand he was hit by a lorry and not a smart car, but I remeber a few years ago I hit a cat and I sure felt it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-seek-new-evidence-on-death-of-comedy-guru-geoffrey-perkins-913928.html [independent.co.uk]
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I was thinking Patrick Kennedy myself... Or maybe even Teddy...
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If the lorry in question was articulated, and the trailer was what hit him, then no, you wouldn't feel it at all. Many accidents are caused by the trailer cutting in to corners - cyclists undertaking lorries then sitting underneath the mirror is a bad idea.
He'll be missed... (Score:5, Informative)
The BBC Hitch-hiker radio broadcasts were far and away the best versions of Douglas Adams' story of Arthur Dent, Zaphod Beeblebrox, the destruction/creation of Earth, and the search for the question. While I enjoyed the books somewhat, the original radio series was a spectacular production that couldn't be topped.
Geoffrey Perkins will be missed.
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If you loved the radio series (so do I) do yourself a favour and get into "The Fast Show".
This man's sense of comedy will be sorely missed ;(
Re:He'll be missed... (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm glad to see someone in this thread is showing some decorum instead of making tasteless jokes or asking "who?"
I agree entirely with what you've said, the H2G2 radio shows were fantastic (and a regular fixture on my iPod), I was always disappointed they didn't continue the story after the end of the second series (although Dirk Maggs did a decent job more recently).
Another Perkins favourite of mine was KYTV [imdb.com], a spoof on satellite TV channels with lots of tacky low budget game shows and news channels.
RIP Geoffrey.
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Hitchhikers Curse? (Score:2)
Douglas Adams died at 49, now Perkins at 55... maybe the Universe is killing off people who know The Question.
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In memorium. (Score:2)
Well, I suppose I'll start, then.
Bond Street.
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Baker Street, Baker Street. Are you quite sure? Remember, I am posting from a _former_ colony, which means that, as per the Pershing subset, we follow the limited previous rules rather than the more modern reconciliation. I believe Bond is legitimate under that, but for global unity, I will not argue the point. On the other hand, it does open the potential for this.
Paddington.
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Paddington? Ordinarily a foolish move but I see you've got several options open under the Pershing subset however I suspect that if I apply the Ornstein Variation (which I do believe is valid under Pershing) I can hop straight past White City and play Swiss Cottage!
There. Get out of that one!
Wait, Wait, So Tell Me... (Score:3, Funny)
Hey, you neglected to say what road! It is, of course, quite relevant that it was Marylebone High Street [independent.co.uk], as that of course is rather high for him to have shifted over from Town Hall Approach Road.
Happiness, not Sadness (Score:2, Insightful)
The world will be a less joyful place without him
The world is a more joyful place because of him.
Had to be there? (Score:2)
I guess this is one of those situations where you had to be there... in the U.K., that is? I'm fairly well versed in movies and social memes and even some of what goes on outside my own country's borders, but I had no idea who Geoffrey Palmer was. The OP seems to presume that in fact we all knew who he was and agreed with his alleged importance. If he was that important, I think his influence would have penetrated even my bubble of American isolation.
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Then do yourself a favour, look up "the fast show" and the HHGG British radio series on TPB [thepiratebay.org] and become enlightened :)
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It sounds arrogant because I am "arrogant"... or just confident. I tend to trust that I know what I need to know unless shown otherwise. I'm not saying whether this has or has not been one of those instances. Clearly I substituted Mr. Palmer for this other chap because in fact he at least was an enormously important figure in comedy. ;-)
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I'm fairly well versed in movies and social memes and even some of what goes on outside my own country's borders
As TFA says, Geoffery Perkins was the producer of the original radio series of The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy - which is mandatory knowledge for nerds, even in the US. If you haven't heard of HHGTTG, or think it started out as a book, TV show or (God help you) a movie then please hand in your geek card at the door.
Having cleared that up, can you enlighten us UK people as to who this "Baraccus Osama" character is?
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It's Bacchus Obama, silly. He's the Liberator.
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Surely in a thread about a producer of British Sci-Fi comedy we would all know that the Liberator was Zen...
Sad times, happy memories. (Score:2, Informative)
I remember Geoffrey Perkins from the days of the radio series Radio Active. Geoffrey played the gleeful and shameless bully Mike Flex, who was always making the life of Mike Channel (Angus Deaton) a living hell.
The series itself was a spoof of the low-budget and lower-standards private radio, the personality defects of the characters, and the toxic atmosphere they created. Each program was also a spoof on a particular genre of programme series, for instance: Round Your Parts (local interest), Probe Round th
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Oh my god Radioactive! Is that available anywhere, I haven't heard that since I was 11.
Regret (Score:2)
I once sat opposite Mr Perkins on a train, coming back from Waterloo one evening. He looked busy, so to my lasting regret I didn't disturb him to say "thanks" for the Guide, KYTV, etc. And now I never will be able to, and that makes me sad.
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Camden Parkway? You must be mad! Crockfords backway gambit will have you pinned down. Unless you're planning to employ The Lesser Urmston side watch in which case... ah, yes, very clever. Very clever indeed. But I think I can head you off.
...
Hmm.
...
Shoreditch.
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You diss my laterals at your peril. Shoreditch isn't bad, but -- Telford Avenue!!!
MUAhahahaha... :>
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OK, let's see, I'll do a Guiscard Galumph and play for Oval.
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The British are Coming, the British are Coming (Score:1)
Oh shit, where is my musket? Did I renew my subscription to the militia?
Underground Warfare. (Score:1)
Perfidious Albion.