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

what links martin freeman to tom brown schooldays

ad hoc off the cuff qi type question

no research(done by me, or to be done by you)

Martin who???


GT

comedian was in the office, now in sherlock

Who wrote 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'?


Was he related to Martin Freeman in any way?


GT

Tom Brown's Schooldays was written by Thomas Hughes, and is set in Rugby school. The villain is a sadistic prefect called Flashman who was reborn in the Flashman novels of George MacDonald Frasier. Don't know what that's got to do with Martin Freeeman. Frasier (or Fraser?) also wrote the Sharpe novels I think. Is Freeman related to Sean Bean?

Just been informed I'm an idiot. Bernard Cornwell wrote the Sharpe novels. Oh well.

ting!

flashman

carry on??

Martin Freeman played Dr Watson

Dr Watson played Rugby for Blackheath Cugby club who claim that they are the oldest rugby club in England @ 1854 I think.

Blackheath could be connected by the game with Rugby school the alleged birthplace of the sport rugby.

Rugby is where Tom Brown schooldays is set in the 1830's


It's a bit weak though

The thread title is the name of Chesney Hawkes' one hit. It wasn't a bad song, but he never had another good one. It came from a film in which he played the lead role. A biopic, I think, though I can't remember who of. A musician, certainly.


Geggs

martin freeman does play dr watson

now who and what connects dr watson and flashman

there is a clue in the title

I only mention this because as I was watching Sherlock last night my partner thought it would be funny to point out one of Martin Freeman's other roles, in the first 'Ali G' film. They had a pirate radio station, maybe one of the call signs was Flashman, and one of the songs was Mr Hawkes...

sherlock is the right lines

think about the start of episode 1

Watson was injured in Afghanistan, both in the new version and in the original. Was Flashman also in the Afghan wars?

flashman was indeed in afgahnistan

Watson is in a therapy session, she tells him he needs to write a blog... he lives in a tiny room with a single bed and a gun in the drawer... Then he passes an old friend, they sit and chat, he says 'who would want to share a flat with me?'

... I cant remember... It was over a week ago.

I think I remember one Flashman book in which he's the only survivor from his unit, and thus able to take the credit for achievements that should really have gone to his sergeant. I think this might have been India - though the book I'm thinking off covered quite a large geographical area.

The other notable things about Flashman that I can think of is that his story is essentially a spin-off by a different author from a classic tale. Which I guess is true of 'Sherlock' too. Flashman's one true talent (other than luck, deception, and a certain dash) is that he's a natural linguist, but I don't recall that being true of Watson.

Speaking of Flashman.... I read three or four of the Flashman books and then gave up... loved them at first, but they started to feel a bit repetitive. Is it worth trying again?

otto

sole survivor, flashman, from where, and who did it realy??

Now you're asking.... it's years since I read the book....

I think Flashman started in India, moved through Afghanistan, and came out in Russia - or am I running two books together? The taking credit I think was for some military victory or rearguard action in India, but Flashman spent all of it faking illness or hiding, while (I think) first another officer and then a sergeant actually ran things? I can't remember if Flashman killed the sergeant, or just did nothing to save him.

Some Flashman books seemed to be pastiches of other books... one was on the Prisoner of Zenda, I think, and the book claimed that the real author based that story on Flashman's adventure. I don't know anything about Arthur Conan Doyle's life? Was he "just" a writer, or was he an adventurer too?

you are mixing flashman and flashman at the charge

its the events in flashman that you need

he was a sole survivor(fictional)

watson was wounded in afgahnistan(fictional)

what connects them....or is it a who??

I'm pretty much stumped, without undertaking some research.

Watson (in the new version at least) was shot in the shoulder, but had a psychosomatic limp. I don't recall Flashman getting hurt, though.