AGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!There is a persistent urban legend, originating in the now-defunct UK newspaper the Sunday Correspondent, which ascribes sexually suggestive names - such as Master Bates, Ben Dover, Seaman Staines, and Roger the Cabin Boy - to Captain Pugwash 's characters. John Ryan successfully sued both the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian newspapers in 1991 for printing this legend as fact. [1] According to one version of the legend, the character was referred to as "Bates, the ship's master" to avoid making this too obvious. According to another version, "Pugwash" also had sexual connotations e.g. it could be a term for oral sex used in Australia, but no evidence to back this up has ever been found.
The wide acceptance of this falsehood probably owes something to the long standing associations in people's minds between sailors and ribaldry, as in the song, "'Twas on the Good Ship Venus". This legend may also have been subconsciously reinforced in some people's minds by the fact that there actually were fictional nautical characters with names a bit like these suggestive names. Swallows and Amazons, a very well-known British children's novel, really did have a male character called "Roger the ship's boy" and a female character called "Titty". In The Onedin Line, a very popular BBC television programme in the 1970s, the ship's mate was called "Mister Baines", which in some people's minds could become merged with "Master Mate" to create "Master Bates", and Charles Dickens regularly refers to The Artful Dodger's accomplice Charley Bates as "Master Bates" in the literary classic Oliver Twist.
It has also been suggested that the pronunciation of "Master Mate" was slurred at times thanks to Pugwash's rather nasal voice, and some people could mishear it. Popular industry screenwriting website Scriptmania, presenting a feature on UK Children's television, have produced a soundbite which they claim is taken directly from an episode of the show, containing the words "I certainly did, Master Mate", which can be heard here: - Click this link.
There may even be a sly reference to the myth in the title of the DVD of the computer animated series Captain Pugwash - Sticky Moments And Other Swashbuckling Adventures.
Nevertheless, it should be stressed that the characters' names were Master Mate, Tom the cabin boy, and pirates Barnabas and Willy,
(The wide acceptance of this falsehood probably owes something to the long standing associations in people's minds between sailors and ribaldry, as in the song, "'Twas on the Good Ship Venus". This legend may also have been subconsciously reinforced in some people's minds by the fact that there actually were fictional nautical characters with names a bit like these suggestive names. Swallows and Amazons, a very well-known British children's novel, really did have a male character called "Roger the ship's boy" and a female character called "Titty". In The Onedin Line, a very popular BBC television programme in the 1970s, the ship's mate was called "Mister Baines", which in some people's minds could become merged with "Master Mate" to create "Master Bates", and Charles Dickens regularly refers to The Artful Dodger's accomplice Charley Bates as "Master Bates" in the literary classic Oliver Twist.
It has also been suggested that the pronunciation of "Master Mate" was slurred at times thanks to Pugwash's rather nasal voice, and some people could mishear it. Popular industry screenwriting website Scriptmania, presenting a feature on UK Children's television, have produced a soundbite which they claim is taken directly from an episode of the show, containing the words "I certainly did, Master Mate", which can be heard here: - Click this link.
There may even be a sly reference to the myth in the title of the DVD of the computer animated series Captain Pugwash - Sticky Moments And Other Swashbuckling Adventures.
Nevertheless, it should be stressed that the characters' names were Master Mate, Tom the cabin boy, and pirates Barnabas and Willy,
IndieSinger watch my Mentos thing - http://tinyurl.com/6au8jl,
Fri 9 Mar 2007, 18:15,
archived)
I hope that's a copy and paste jobor you are far too easily wound up by Captain Pugwash ;-)
(,
Fri 9 Mar 2007, 18:18,
archived)
Haha!I have to paste it so often that it may as well be written by me.
That sentence makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Anyway, it's from Wikipedia.
(That sentence makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Anyway, it's from Wikipedia.
IndieSinger watch my Mentos thing - http://tinyurl.com/6au8jl,
Fri 9 Mar 2007, 18:20,
archived)
I see.Now if I was the sort of bastard who vandalised wikipedia...
(,
Fri 9 Mar 2007, 18:22,
archived)
Wow, I'm amazed I actually sat through that
AutoPrawn is glad we're living in the future now,
Fri 9 Mar 2007, 18:30,
archived)
Do you feel better for it? IndieSinger watch my Mentos thing - http://tinyurl.com/6au8jl,
Fri 9 Mar 2007, 18:32,
archived)
I feel more educated AutoPrawn is glad we're living in the future now,
Fri 9 Mar 2007, 18:36,
archived)