h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Best thing to do when the present-day news gets annoying: find a blast from the past.

Here's an utterly brilliant film called 'Welcome to Britain', 1943. It's designed to show US GIs how to behave in the UK.

The acting ranges from the sublime - yes, that's Burgess Meredith giving it his all - to the ridiculous (various generals who shouldn't quit their day jobs).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltVtnCzg9xw

Do any UK railway stations still have signs that say 'Beware of Trains'?

What impressed me most: Meredith's cool way of laying down the law about racial differences.

So, forget Trump and the DUP, and celebrate granddad's war for half an hour.

A commenter on another website said, '...what surprised me about that film was that Bob Hope was actually funny.' I agree. I was also amused at Hope, an Englishman, explaining English currency.

Great film find

I was afraid they would not include the war, but the ending is perfect.

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I got a chuckle out of that ending, because I suspected that Meredith was really an officer - I checked, he was.

But what an actor. Even if he had to work with amateurs, like generals.

Have you ever read a biography of Jimmy Stewart? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart

The link is fairly long, but if you start at the 'Military Service' He went from Private to Brigadier General and insisted on combat service in the Army Air Corps, despite his advanced age (he was 33 at the time).

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Yes, Stewart's military career is quite famous. Advanced age, indeed.