r/livefromlondon • u/Temporary-Daikon2411 • 1d ago
clarification request from a Yank: Richard Osman, Craig Charles, Jane McDonald, Butlin's
EDIT: thanks to all for such great information!
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We do try to keep up but there's just an extra layer of references that are pretty hard to recognize for someone that doesn't live there!
"Minehead, Skegness, and Bognor Regis" I get, these are obviously the most prestigious tour destinations in Britain, right? /s
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u/fadedhalo10 1d ago
Richard Osman is a television producer and presenter who is very tall.
Craig Charles is an actor and poet, famous for Red Dwarf and Coronation Street. He had his own struggles with crack addiction.
Jane McDonald is a singer and presenter who got famous on a reality show about cruising, and who does a lot of day time tv.
Butlins is a cheap and cheerful holiday camp, dating back to the 1950s, located at seaside resorts like Minehead. They do lots of weekend breaks for adults outside of the holiday season, and 90s boy bands are known to play there
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u/SweetValleyHayabusa 1d ago
And by cruising, we mean performing on cruise ships.
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u/ZweitenMal 1d ago
Oh. Frankly disappointing.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Lynx204 1d ago edited 1d ago
A very much intentional mixup. Her TV show was called "Cruising with Jane McDonald". She did a cover of "Cake by the Ocean" that someone's posted lower down.
Camp icon.
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u/MysteriousHat3705 1d ago
Can't believe that you failed to enlighten OP to Jane McDonald's cover of Cake by the Ocean on one of said cruise programmes she presented
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u/Temporary-Daikon2411 1d ago
oh my god I love her
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u/MysteriousHat3705 22h ago
she's become a bit of an icon for obvious reasons. She's been on our UK Celebrity Gogglebox series and she's one of the funniest people on it! Her Yorkshire accent is so soothing and friendly too haha.
here's a clip and she's never without a glass of wine
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u/racloves Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert 19h ago edited 19h ago
She’s a camp queen and loved by the gays! Over the summer she did appearances at some pride festivals
I think I should also explain that her tv series was like a travelogue, the cruise ship departs at a various different location each episode, she explores the city, then ends with a cover of a song.
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u/SignificantArm3093 1d ago
I think importantly about Butlins, like with everything else in the UK there’s a real class element to it. Butlins is certainly perceived as a working/lower class destination - cheap, a bit tacky, and certainly not a place you’d go in your music career if you had other options.
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u/aitkhole 1d ago
having said that Butlin's now host various music festivals, including previously the very influential All Tomorrow's Parties. class signifiers are, as ever in the uk, fractally complicated.
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u/Significant_Fox9290 None of this is real! 1d ago
Oof, TIL Craig Charles got into crack. Hope he’s well.
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u/BlakeC16 None of this is real! 1d ago
This was back in the 2000s, he's spoken about being one of the few people to be glad to have been in a tabloid exposé because it led to him straightening himself out.
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u/Significant_Fox9290 None of this is real! 1d ago
That’s crazy. I grew up watching RD on PBS in the States. Didn’t hear anything about this. Glad he is well.
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u/jubileeandrews I've completely fucked it 1d ago
Tall quiz host
Actor turned radio presenter with history
Cruise ship singer who employs double entendre
Cheap family holiday destination in a place with nothing else in it (well, a nice beach and a nice park perhaps)
Other destinations on the list colder and windier but similar.
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u/sackbomb Mip Mip 1d ago
For an American, you can substitute "Branson, Missouri" for "Minehead, Skegness, and Bognor Regis" and the joke still means the same thing.
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u/Carra144 1d ago
Just for the punchlines, without the broader context:
Richard Osman = Tall Man
Craig Charles = Celebrity who famously had addiction issues
Jane Macdonald = Aged, fairly boring but benign TV presenter (so a Band aging and becoming boring, one of them might marry Jane Macdonald)
Butlin's: Cheap holiday resort chain (so a band who are post-fame but hard up for cash might perform at various Butlins's)
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u/xoxojdramagirl 1d ago
From another American, thank you to all
for the explanations. I'm usually googling to figure stuff out.
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u/Maccorcrain 1d ago
The Minehead, Skegness and Bognor Regis could best be explained by this...and I refuse to explain further
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u/Temporary-Daikon2411 10h ago
I forgot to ask about the Pizza Express in Woking but I looked it up!
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u/W35TH4M Lost some, but not all, of his fans 1d ago
First bit of clarification, don’t use /s in a UK sub
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u/DayMurky617 1d ago
You are just making this up
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u/Temporary-Daikon2411 1d ago edited 1d ago
it's a fair cop, I did debate it and I can accept I came down on the wrong side
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u/ChaucerBoi 1d ago
Richard Osman - tall, very centrist TV Producer/Presenter/Author. That's why it'd be funny if he agrees with the Tory that vaginas should be in foreheads
Craig Charles - from cult sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf and presenter of Robot Wars, a show where people make robots in their garages and have them fight. An inherently funny person to mention even outside of a past with drugs.
Butlin's - range of holiday camps with with shows at night, typically family friendly enough. Their locations are Minehead, Skegness, and Bognor Regis.