Here's what the beer was actually like:
Hammerton Stout | ||||||||||||
Year | Brewer | Beer | Style | Price | size | package | Acidity | FG | OG | Colour | ABV | Attenu-ation |
1960 | Watney | Hammerton's Stout | Stout | 15d | half pint | bottled | 0.05 | 1019.9 | 1046.8 | 375 | 3.47 | 57.48% |
Source: Whitbread Gravity Book | ||||||||||||
Pretty sweet, judging by the feeble degree of attenuation. Much like the man himself.
Thanks to Matt for the image.
Do you suppose this was the stuff that made him walk and run funny at the end of each episode? ;-)
ReplyDeleteSid, I'd like to think so.
ReplyDeletescary stuff
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see a photo of Benny Hill so young. By the time his show was regularly shown in Canada, he was in the later stage of his career, and would have been in his 50's-60's. Most famous performers of course don't come from nowhere, and I should have guessed at the time he had a long career behind him. Wikipedia has filled in the gaps for me.
ReplyDeleteBenny Hill's style was never really my thing but I always liked him anyway especially that famous sequence at the end Sid mentioned, typical Benny Hill mayhem. I think I had a sneaking liking for the man because he never seemed to take himself seriously, some comedians - despite being comic, do, but not him. I never really warmed to the (rather different) Monty Python people either, perhaps the cultural differences were too great then.
Nonetheless I did love as a kid the Carry On movies. I watched every one and was a huge fan, especially of Hattie Jacques and Sid James. And the Avengers of course, comic in a different way. I hope great British comedy is still being made.
I don't recall if any of the shows or films I mentioned were shot there, but a highlight of my trip to Manchester some years ago was a visit to Granada Studios. The output of Granada and the famous soundstage in London (the name escapes me now) were popular fare in Canada in the 1950's-1980's. We even had Redifusion (the technology, and by that name) when I grew up in Montreal.
The one English cultural emblem we didn't have was real ale and its imitators (keg and such); now we do. Not sure it's a fair exchange, much as I admire real beer. :)
Gary
1955 was the year Benny Hill became properly famous, with his own TV show.
ReplyDeleteGrand Met revived the Hammerton's name about 1984 or so for a cask porter (!) - it was a very fine beer, when on form, which sadly, wasn't very often, as nobody drank it.
ReplyDelete