>>I agree with you on Crowe, but not as Flashman: that'd be Alan Rickman (as
>>the older Flashy -- I don't know who could do the young one). Your
>>Flashman site is excellent BTW. --CGE
>>
>>
>
>None, and I mean none, of these guys hold a candle to Lord Flashheart of ‘Blackadder’ series II and IV, to whit;
>
>‘Is that a canoe in my pants or am just I glad to see ya?’
>‘She’s got a tongue like an electric eel and she likes the taste of a MAN’S tonsils!’
>‘Chocks away, flaps up, last one back’s a homo!’.
>
>No other series lampooned pivotal aspects of British culture (militarism, homophobia, class, sexual repression) so well.
>
>
Wonderful show. I still remember when Captain Blackadder was describing
how good his lawyer Mattingburg was: "Look at Oscar Wilde. A big,
bearded, bonking, butch Oscar. The terror of the ladies. 114
illegitimate children, world heavyweight boxing champion, and author of
the best-selling pamphlet, "Why I Like To Do It With Girls," and
Mattingburg had him sent down for being a whoopsie."
By the way, when I read the O'Brian books, I kept seeing Jack Aubrey not as a Russell Crowe figure, but someone closer to Jeffrey Jones in _Amadeus_, who _did_ have the appearance of a man from that era. (Given Jones's recent arrest, I'm glad they _didn't_ cast him, but there ya go.) Another contender, perhaps for both Flashman or Aubrey, would be Jason Isaacs. As for Stephen Maturin, I kept seeing this illustration of Samuel Johnson that Robert Crumb did for _Weirdo_. (Hitchens wrote that the image of Johnson was what he had in mind for Maturin as well.) And I kept thinking of Thomas Pynchon's pairing of _Mason and Dixon_-- so when I reread _that_ book, I caught the mention of a shipmate called "Paddy O'Brian," who told the best sea-stories in the whole Navy. **