1970s Kids Programs

[Pondlife]

Really? Is that all there were

Yup. My brother has the DVD. Strange, since it always seemed to be on TV.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Yup. My brother has the DVD. Strange, since it always seemed to be on TV.

It did didn't it? One of my faves - "as if by magic the shop keeper appeared"

[stek]

Captain Pugwash.

With Master Mates and Tom the cabin boy..

Urban myth.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Urban myth.

Indeed:

There is a persistent urban legend, originating in the now-defunct UK newspaper the Sunday Correspondent, which ascribes sexually suggestive names - such as Master Bates, Ben Dover, Seaman Staines, and Roger the Cabin Boy - to Captain Pugwash 's characters. John Ryan successfully sued both the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian newspapers in 1991 for printing this legend as fact. [1] According to one version of the legend, the character was referred to as "Bates, the ship's master" to avoid making this too obvious.

According to another version, "Pugwash" also had sexual connotations e.g. it could be a term for oral sex used in Australia, but no evidence to back this up has ever been found. In fact the name was believed to have been taken from a newspaper article about the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, an international organisation that brings together scholars and public figures to work towards reducing the danger of armed conflict, which had its first conference in Pugwash, Nova Scotia in 1955.

The wide acceptance of this falsehood probably owes something to the long standing associations in people's minds between sailors and ribaldry, as in the song, "'Twas on the Good Ship Venus". This legend may also have been subconsciously reinforced in some people's minds by the fact that there actually were fictional nautical characters with names a bit like these suggestive names. Swallows and Amazons, a very well-known British children's novel, really did have a male character called "Roger the ship's boy" and a female character called "Titty". In The Onedin Line, a very popular BBC television programme in the 1970s, the ship's mate was called "Mister Baines", which in some people's minds could become merged with "Master Mate" to create "Master Bates", and Charles Dickens regularly refers to The Artful Dodger's accomplice Charley Bates as "Master Bates" in the literary classic Oliver Twist.

It has also been suggested that the pronunciation of "Master Mate" was slurred at times thanks to Pugwash's rather nasal voice, and some people could mishear it. Popular industry screenwriting website Scriptmania, presenting a feature on UK Children's television

[Ticktock]

Urban myth.

Indeed:

I fail to see how KP was wrong in saying Master Mates and Tom the Cabin Boy?

These were the real character names. Or did you both just see "Captain Pugwash" and assume that he would use the myth?

[stek]

I fail to see how KP was wrong in saying Master Mates and Tom the Cabin Boy?

These were the real character names. Or did you both just see "Captain Pugwash" and assume that he would use the myth?

I did! Just shows how you read what you want to read sometimes.......

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I fail to see how KP was wrong in saying Master Mates and Tom the Cabin Boy?

These were the real character names. Or did you both just see "Captain Pugwash" and assume that he would use the myth?

Maybe

[zoco]

Wasn't Peter Firth in it too (Harry Pearce in Spooks)?

Yes, and Melvyn Hayes (Gloria off It Ain't Half Hot Mum)

[Troll]

not forgetting

[MarillionFan]

not forgetting

I preferred Skipinder.