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Once a Jolly Swagman


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Just in case there may still be someone who hasn't seen Jack Lee's 1949 movie, there is a showing on Talking Pictures TV today at 16:20 (CEST).  Freeview HD & SDTVchannel 81, Virgin Media UK: channel 445,  Sky: channel 328, Freesat: channel 306.

 
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1 hour ago, Mr Snackette said:

Just in case there may still be someone who hasn't seen Jack Lee's 1949 movie, there is a showing on Talking Pictures TV today at 16:20 (CEST).  Freeview HD & SDTVchannel 81, Virgin Media UK: channel 445,  Sky: channel 328, Freesat: channel 306.

 

Always worth a view.

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Although the speedway bits are the best: the writer was too keen on pushing his hard-left politics.  Did they really welcome the International Brigade home as heroes?

BTW, the screenwriter also wrote the book for Brittan's opera 'Peter Grimes'!

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2 hours ago, *JJ said:

Although the speedway bits are the best: the writer was too keen on pushing his hard-left politics.  Did they really welcome the International Brigade home as heroes?

BTW, the screenwriter also wrote the book for Brittan's opera 'Peter Grimes'!

Really? You watched that film and got annoyed by the politics? I didn't even notice that there were any politics in it.

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4 hours ago, *JJ said:

Although the speedway bits are the best: the writer was too keen on pushing his hard-left politics.  Did they really welcome the International Brigade home as heroes?

BTW, the screenwriter also wrote the book for Brittan's opera 'Peter Grimes'!

Of course they were welcomed back as heroes. At least in their communities. Don’t forget there were many ‘hard-left’ communities at the time and many people and of course unions donated funds to the cause. But did you really need to be ‘hard-left’ to be anti- fascist? But in Glasgow I met a couple of ex International Brigade heroes who were still in the 1980s revered

One such story and it mentions the heroes welcome home

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/north-wales-heroes-spanish-civil-15488892.amp

And  Of course there was a real speedway link with the IB

https://spartacus-educational.com/SPbeckett.htm

Edited by iris123
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Having finally watched once a jolly swagman  due to the fact never heard of it till now . It got me thinking what if they remade it  and brought it update I wonder if  done the right way it might attract younger generation  hopefully get crowds back to how use to and hopefully in process attract some big major sponsors to invest in speedway and make it a success like f1 wrestling cricket  for example. 

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On 4/30/2019 at 10:38 AM, iris123 said:

If I can shoot rabbits/then I can shoot fascists a volunteer is supposed to have said and off he went

While others were keen to shoot communists ...

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50 minutes ago, *JJ said:

While others were keen to shoot communists ...

No doubt. I was just trying to help you with the post that seemed to have you dumbfounded !

Not many from the UK fought against communists. Far far more fought fascism, even if a number ended up having their first foreign holiday in Franco’s Spain.....

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On 4/30/2019 at 10:18 AM, *JJ said:

Eh?

It was the slogan of a recruiting poster for the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, inspiring many British volunteers to sign-up (including George Orwell who can hardly be described as a communist). WW2 broke out not long after, making it all very prescient. 

It's of course better known these days as the title of the Manic Street Preachers song about the subject. 

Edited by Humphrey Appleby
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I guess if you have Irish blood you could sort of take pride in the irish Brigade, formed from the pseudo-Fascist Blue Shirts, under the command of their leader who they eventually nicknamed 'O'Scruffy' B) Bit of a shambles and Franco didn't really want them and was quite happy when they dissolved and returned to Ireland. Even Ireland weren't happy about their involvement and destroyed all record of them.....

There is also the heroic story of Hans Beimler, who was a Marine in the first world war and after became a communist politician, but when Hitler came to power he was put in a concentration camp,escaped and went to fight with the International Brigade and was killed in Spain. To bring us full circle his grandson is a well known  screen writer who worked on a number of Star Trek projects. No speedway involvement there though

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Beimler_(communist

Edited by iris123
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George Orwell's book 'Homage to Catalonia' is well worth reading on the Spanish Civil War. It's worth noting that the Communists backed by Stalinist Russia didn't only fight the fascists but also those who were ostensibly fighting on the same side. The revolution like Saturn devours its own children.

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On 4/29/2019 at 9:02 PM, Cometfan4eva said:

Having finally watched once a jolly swagman  due to the fact never heard of it till now . It got me thinking what if they remade it  and brought it update I wonder if  done the right way it might attract younger generation  hopefully get crowds back to how use to and hopefully in process attract some big major sponsors to invest in speedway and make it a success like f1 wrestling cricket  for example. 

It would be to expensive to make i'm afraid, the story and action shots no problem but can you imagine the cost of hiring all those extras to fill a stadium and have crowd scenes like that again? ;):D

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