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Steptoe and Son



 
 
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom
British sitcom

A British sitcom is a situation comedy produced in the United Kingdom. Like sitcoms in most other countries, they tend to be based around a family, workplace or other institution where a group of contrasting characters are brought together each episode....
 written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
Galton and Simpson

Ray Galton Order of the British Empire , and Alan Simpson OBE , are United Kingdom scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium, the Surrey county sanatorium near Godalming....
 about two rag and bone men
Rag and bone man

For the The White Stripes song, see Rag and Bone.Rag-and-bone man is a United Kingdom phrase for a junk dealer. Historically the phrase referred to an individual who would travel the streets of a city with a horsedrawn cart, and would collect old Cloths, , bones for making glue, scrap iron and other items, often trading them for other it...
 living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush

Shepherd's Bush is a district of west London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, situated 4.9 miles west of Charing Cross. Although it is primarily residential in character, its focus is the shopping area of Shepherds Bush Green, which has a small shopping centre with a supermarket, cinema and gym, and a large number of small a...
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. Four series were broadcast on the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer
Ron Grainer

Ron Grainer was an Australian-born composer who worked for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. He is mostly remembered for his film and television music....
. In a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom

Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. The winner by over 60,000 votes was Only Fools and Horses....
 of all time, Steptoe and Son was voted 15th.

show had its roots in a 1962 episode of Galton & Simpson's Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse

Comedy Playhouse was a long running United Kingdom series of one-off unrelated Situation comedy that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1974....
.






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Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom
British sitcom

A British sitcom is a situation comedy produced in the United Kingdom. Like sitcoms in most other countries, they tend to be based around a family, workplace or other institution where a group of contrasting characters are brought together each episode....
 written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
Galton and Simpson

Ray Galton Order of the British Empire , and Alan Simpson OBE , are United Kingdom scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium, the Surrey county sanatorium near Godalming....
 about two rag and bone men
Rag and bone man

For the The White Stripes song, see Rag and Bone.Rag-and-bone man is a United Kingdom phrase for a junk dealer. Historically the phrase referred to an individual who would travel the streets of a city with a horsedrawn cart, and would collect old Cloths, , bones for making glue, scrap iron and other items, often trading them for other it...
 living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush

Shepherd's Bush is a district of west London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, situated 4.9 miles west of Charing Cross. Although it is primarily residential in character, its focus is the shopping area of Shepherds Bush Green, which has a small shopping centre with a supermarket, cinema and gym, and a large number of small a...
, London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
. Four series were broadcast on the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer
Ron Grainer

Ron Grainer was an Australian-born composer who worked for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. He is mostly remembered for his film and television music....
. In a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom

Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. The winner by over 60,000 votes was Only Fools and Horses....
 of all time, Steptoe and Son was voted 15th.

Background

The show had its roots in a 1962 episode of Galton & Simpson's Comedy Playhouse
Comedy Playhouse

Comedy Playhouse was a long running United Kingdom series of one-off unrelated Situation comedy that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1974....
. Galton and Simpson had split from Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock

Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was a popular British actor and comedian....
, for whom they had written Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour

Hancock's Half Hour was a ground-breaking and influential BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series of the 1950s. It starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; with the radio version also co-starring Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams....
, and had agreed to write a series of six comedy shows for the BBC. The fourth in the series, "The Offer", was born both out of writer's block
Writer's block

Writer's block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of Artistic inspiration or creativity....
 and budgetary constraints. Earlier shows in the series had cost more than expected, and so Galton and Simpson decided to write a two-hander
Two-hander

Two-hander is a term for a play or movie with only two main characters.See also * EastEnders two-hander episodesReferences ...
 set in one room.

Galton and Simpson were not looking to make a pilot, having recently ended a seven-year stint writing Hancock's Half Hour and Hancock for BBC radio and TV. However, Tom Sloane, the BBC's Head of Comedy, told them during rehearsals that "The Offer" was a definite series pilot: he saw that the Steptoe idea had legs, as did the audience of that edition of Comedy Playhouse. Galton and Simpson were reportedly overwhelmed by this reaction, and later that year, the first of eight series was commissioned, the first four of which were made in black and white. Each series comprised five to eight half-hour episodes, and the last was transmitted in 1974. At the peak of the series' popularity, it commanded viewing figures of some 28 million per episode. In addition, the early 1970s saw two feature films
Steptoe and Son (film)

Steptoe and Son is a 1972 in film United Kingdom comedy drama film and a spin-off from the popular British television comedy series of the Steptoe and Son about a pair of rag and bone men....
, two 46-minute Christmas
Christmas

Christmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts Twelve Days of Christmas....
 specials and a number of radio shows based on the TV scripts. In 2005, the play Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane
Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane

Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane is a play written by Ray Galton and John Antrobus that brought the Steptoe and Son saga to an end....
, written by Ray Galton and John Antrobus, brought the storyline to a close.

The series was one of the first UK situation comedy programmes to employ actors rather than comedian
Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laughter. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy....
s in the principal roles. Galton and Simpson had decided themselves that they wanted to try to write for performers who "didn't count their laughs".

The series' title music is "Old Ned" by Ron Grainer
Ron Grainer

Ron Grainer was an Australian-born composer who worked for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. He is mostly remembered for his film and television music....
, the series had no standard set of opening titles but the opening sequences would often feature the Steptoes' horse, Hercules. "Steptoe and Son" is the Steptoes' trading name, but as established in the first episode, the "Son" is not Harold but Albert: the name dates from when he and his father — Mister Steptoe — worked the rounds.

Characters

The father, Albert Steptoe (portrayed by Wilfrid Brambell
Wilfrid Brambell

Wilfrid Brambell was an Ireland film and television actor, born in Dublin, best known for his role in the United Kingdom television series Steptoe and Son....
), is lazy, stubborn, narrow-minded, foul-mouthed, and has revolting personal habits. Albert is content with his place in the world, utterly unpretentious and downright cynical. He can be extremely vindictive and does everything he can to prevent Harold, his son, improving himself — especially if it means him leaving home.

Harold (played by Harry H. Corbett
Harry H. Corbett

Harry H. Corbett Order of the British Empire was an England actor.Corbett was best known for his starring role in the hugely popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom Steptoe and Son in the 1960s and 70s....
) is also obstinate, though prone to moments of enthusiasm about an idea. He wants to move up in the world — most of all to escape from the family home and his stifling relationship with his father. Harold has aspirations. He likes to see his business as being in antiques
Antiques

An antique is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age, rarity, condition, utility, or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era in human society....
 rather than junk. He is a dreamer and idealist. Politically, Harold is a Labour
Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Left-wing politics in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently organised again....
 supporter who is appalled at his father's reactionary views. He aims to improve his mind and his social circle but always fails, often thanks to Albert's deliberate put-downs or sabotage. Harold's exasperation and disgust at his father's behaviour often results in his repeating the catchphrase "You dirty old man."

Situation

The episodes often revolve around (sometimes violent) disagreements between the two men, Harold's attempts to bed women and momentary interest over things found on his round. As with many of the best examples of British comedy, much of the humour derives from the pathos
Pathos

Pathos is one of the three modes of persuasion in rhetoric . Pathos appeals to the audience's emotions. It is a part of Aristotle's philosophy in rhetoric....
 of the protagonists' situation, especially Harold's continually-thwarted (usually by the elder Steptoe) attempts to "better himself" and the unresolvable love/hate relationship that exists between the pair.

A common theme is that Albert almost always comes out on top. Despite his lack of effort Albert routinely and easily proves himself superior to his son whenever they come into competition, such as in their frequent game-playing, e.g., the Scrabble
Scrabble

Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid....
 and badminton
Badminton

Badminton is a List of sports#Racquet sports played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net....
 games from the 1972 series. Harold takes them desperately seriously and sees them as symbols of his desire to improve himself, but they come to nothing every time. His father's success is partly down to superior talent but aided by cynical gamesmanship and undermining of his son's confidence. In addition, Albert habitually has better judgement than his son, who blunders into all sorts of con-tricks and blind alleys as a result of his unrealistic, straw-clutching ideas. Occasionally the tables are turned, but overall the old man is the winner, albeit in a graceless fashion.

Harold is infuriated by these persistent frustrations and defeats, even going to the extent in "Divided We Stand" (1972) of partitioning the house in two so he doesn't have to share with his selfish, uncultured and negative father. Predictably, his plan ends in failure and ultimately he can see no way out. However, for all the bitterness there is an essential bond between the pair. Deep down, Albert seems to love his son and his behaviour is perhaps a selfish but misguided way of holding on to him so he doesn't have to face life alone. When the crunch comes, Harold sticks by his father. This protective bond is much in evidence in "The Seven Steptoerai" (1974) when they are menaced by a local gangster running a protection racket. Typically though, it is Albert who gets them ingeniously out of a very hazardous predicament.

Actors

A 2002 Channel 4
Channel 4

Channel 4 is a UK Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television broadcaster which began transmissions on 2 November 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the #Channel Four Television...
 television documentary, When Steptoe Met Son, told the story of how Brambell and Corbett were like chalk and cheese — similar to their on-screen characters. Corbett felt he had a promising career as a serious actor, but was trapped by his role as Harold and forced to keep returning to the series after typecasting limited his choice of work. Brambell was in reality homosexual, something that in the 1960s was still frowned upon and illegal, and thus driven underground. The documentary went on to describe an ill-fated final tour of Australia, during which the already strained relationship between Corbett and Brambell finally broke down for good. It therefore revealed that there were in fact a great many parallels between the lives of the two actors and those of the characters that they portrayed. However, both of the main actors used voices considerably different from their own. Wilfrid Brambell — despite being Irish — spoke with a prestige Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation is a form of pronunciation of the English language which has long been perceived as uniquely prestigious amongst British Accent ....
 English accent. Wilfrid Brambell was aged only 49 when he accepted the role of Albert; he was only 13 years older than Corbett. For his portrayal, he acquired a second set of 'rotten' dentures to accentuate his character's poor attitude to hygiene.

Humour

During the time of its production in the 1960s and 1970s, Steptoe and Son marked itself out as radical compared to the great majority of sitcoms. This was an age when the predominant sources of laughter were farce
Farce

A farce is a comedy written for the stage or film which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced Plot whose speed usually increases, culminat...
, coincidence
Coincidence

Coincidence is the noteworthy alignment of two or more events or circumstances without obvious causal connection. The word is derived from the Latin co- and incidere ....
, slapstick
Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated extreme physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense, such as a character being hit in the face with a heavy frying pan or running into a brick wall....
 and innuendo
Innuendo

An innuendo is, according to the Advanced Oxford Learner's Dictionary an indirect remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad or rude; the use of remarks like this: "innuendoes about her private life" or "The song is full of sexual innuendo." ...
. However Steptoe and Son brought greater social realism
Social realism

Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realism , which depicts working class activities....
. Its characters were not only working class
Working class

Working class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in specific fields or types of work....
 but demonstrably poor. The earthy language and slang
Slang

Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language....
 used were in marked contrast to the refined voices heard on most television of the time. Social issues and debates were routinely portrayed, woven into the humour. The programme did not abandon the more traditional sources of comedy but used them in small doses. The characters, and their intense and difficult relationship, highlighted deeper qualities of writing and performance than comedy fans were used to.

Episodes

Steptoe and Son is rare among 1960s BBC television programmes in that every episode survives for posterity, despite the mass wiping of BBC archive holdings between 1972 and 1978. However, all the instalments from the first 1970 series and all but two from the second that were originally made in colour only survive in the form of black and white domestic videotape recordings. Myth has it that the episodes were recorded off-air by Galton and Simpson themselves, but in fact they were copies made from the master tapes for them by an engineer at the BBC using a Shibadan SV-700 half-inch reel-to-reel b/w video recorder — a forerunner of the video cassette recorder. In 2008 the first reel of a b/w telerecording of the series 5 episode 'A Winter's Tale' (lasting approx 15mins) was returned to the BBC, this is the only telerecording of a colour Steptoe and Son episode known to still exist.

All the episodes of the original 1962-1965 series survive on 16mm black and white telerecordings, film transfers of the original 2" Quad Videotapes, which were wiped
Wiping

Wiping or junking is an action by radio and television companies in which old audiotapes, videotapes and telerecordings , are erased, reused or destroyed after several uses....
 in the late 1960s.

The BBC has released ten DVD
DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
s of the series to date — the first two being compilations of the "best" colour episodes, and the other eight containing the complete eight series, respectively. Two Christmas specials are also available on DVD, as are two feature films: Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son (film)

Steptoe and Son is a 1972 in film United Kingdom comedy drama film and a spin-off from the popular British television comedy series of the Steptoe and Son about a pair of rag and bone men....
, and Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Steptoe and Son Ride Again

Steptoe and Son Ride Again is the 1973 in film sequel to the 1972 film Steptoe and Son . Again the film starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H....
. A boxed set of Series 1–8 and the Christmas specials was released on Region 2 DVD by 2entertain on 29 October 2007.

Remakes

The show was remade in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 as Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son

Sanford and Son is an American sitcom that premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972 in television, and was broadcast for six seasons....
, a top-rated series that ran for five years (1972–1977) on the NBC network. A Swedish
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 remake with Sten-Åke Cederhök and Tomas von Brömssen
Tomas von Brömssen

Tomas Birger von Br?mssen is an actor famous for his parts in Mitt liv som hund , Dykaren , Mannen fr?n Mallorca and Sofies verden ....
 was called Albert and Herbert, the pair living at Skolgatan 15, an address in a working-class neighbourhood of Haga, Gothenburg
Gothenburg

Gothenburg ) is the second largest city in Sweden after Stockholm and the fifth largest amongst the Nordic countries. The city is located on the south west-coast....
. In the Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 there were also seventeen episodes of a Dutch version called Stiefbeen en Zoon.In Portugal
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
 there was a remake called Camilo & Filho Lda., starring famous Portuguese comedian Camilo de Oliveira, with Nuno Melo as his son. In South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
 a radio play version was titled Snethersthwaite and Son and was additionally a spin off of the radio play The Men from the Ministry
The Men from the Ministry

The Men from the Ministry was a United Kingdom radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler....
.

Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane

In October 2005, Ray Galton and John Antrobus premiered their play, Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane, at the Theatre Royal, York. It then went on tour across the country. It was set in the present day and related the events that led to Harold killing his father, and their eventual meeting thirty years later, with Albert appearing as a ghost. By the end, it is clearly established that this is very much a conclusion to the Steptoe saga. It was not the first time this idea had been considered. When Wilfrid Brambell left the UK after the third series to pursue an eventually unsuccessful Broadway musical career, Galton and Simpson toyed with the concept of killing Albert off. This was in order to continue the show without having to wait for the actor to return. The character would have been replaced with Harold's illegitimate son, Arthur (thought to be played by child actor David Hemmings
David Hemmings

David Hemmings was an England film actor and film director, whose most famous role was the photographer in Blowup. In his later acting career, he was known for his distinctive eyebrows, and gravelly voice....
). This idea was detested by Corbett, who thought it ridiculous, though the 2008 drama The Curse of Steptoe
The Curse of Steptoe

The Curse of Steptoe is a television play which was first broadcast on 19 March 2008 on BBC Four as part of a season of dramas about television personalities....
 depicts Corbett as being delighted with the concept, since assuming the role of father would allow the character of Harold some development and growth, which he felt was long overdue.

The Curse of Steptoe

The single, hour-long drama The Curse of Steptoe was broadcast on BBC Four
BBC Four

BBC Four is a BBC television channel available to digital television viewers in the UK. The part successor to BBC Knowledge, it launched on 2 March 2002....
 on 19 March 2008; it examines the fractured relationship between Corbett and Brambell and the difficulties they had with being typecast. Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs

Jason Isaacs is a United Kingdom actor born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, who is known for his performances as Death Eater Death Eater#Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series films, and as lifelong criminal Michael Caffee in the internationally-broadcast Television in the United States series Brotherhood ....
 plays Harry H. Corbett and Phil Davis portrays Wilfrid Brambell. The film was part of a series looking at British TV comedians and personalities, including Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock

Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was a popular British actor and comedian....
, Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd

Frankie Howerd Order of the British Empire , was a distinctive England comedian and comic actor whose career spanned six decades....
 and Hughie Green
Hughie Green

Hughie Green was the host of numerous British television shows & founder of Expro group....
, and followed the success of BBC Four
BBC Four

BBC Four is a BBC television channel available to digital television viewers in the UK. The part successor to BBC Knowledge, it launched on 2 March 2002....
's award winning 2006 play Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!
Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!

Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! is a 2006 BBC Four television play starring Michael Sheen as the England comic actor Kenneth Williams, based on Williams' own diaries....
, starring Michael Sheen
Michael Sheen

Michael Sheen, Order of the British Empire is a BAFTA Award- and Laurence Olivier Award-nominated Wales actor best known for his portrayal of Tony Blair in the Stephen Frears directed films The Deal and The Queen , and for his portrayal of David Frost in both the Frost/Nixon and the film version of Frost/Nixon ....
 as the eponymous star Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams

Kenneth Charles Williams was a United Kingdom Comedy actor, star of 26 Carry On films and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne, as well as being a witty raconteur....
. The writer, Brian Fillis, had also written Fear of Fanny, starring Julia Davis
Julia Davis

Julia Davis is an England comedy writer and performer. She is perhaps most famous for her BBC Three creation, Nighty Night....
 as television chef Fanny Cradock
Fanny Cradock

Fanny Cradock was an England restaurant critic, television cookery and writing who mostly worked with Johnnie Cradock, whose surname she adopted long before they married....
.

DVD releases

  • The first series with all six episodes was released in 2004 followed by the second series in 2005 and the third, fourth and fifth in 2006. Series 6, 7 and 8 were released in 2007 alongside the Christmas specials.
  • The two Steptoe movies were released in 2006.
  • The complete boxed set containing all eight series and two Christmas specials was released in October 2007.


In Australia, Season 1 was released in 2004, Season 2 and Season 3 in 2006, Season 4 and Season 5 in 2007, Season 6 in 2008, Season 7 in 2008 with Season 8 due in 2009.

Future 2008 -

In conjunction with the ITV's Raiders of the Lost Archive it was announced that the first reel of a b/w telerecording of Steptoe & Son's 1970 colour episode 'A Winter's Tale', lasting approx 15 minutes, had been returned to the BBC archives.

This is the first time that a telerecording of the first colour series of Steptoe and Son has been found, albeit all the telerecordings are in black and white, which were for overseas sales. Previously all wiped/junked episodes of series five and six were present in the archive as open-reel skip-field b/w VT recordings returned to the BBC by the writers themselves in 1989. Open-reel recordings are a lower quality than the TRs. These tapes were recorded for Galton and Simpson from the master tapes using a domestic (1968) Shibaden SV-700 b/w video recorder by an engineer at the BBC. The Curse Of Steptoe is to be released in an edited version, due to court action taken against the BBC re-this programme by Harry H Corbetts relatives, on 2nd March 2009 according to Amazon
Amazon

Amazon or Amazons may refer to:* Amazons, members of a legendary nation of female warriors in Greek mythology** Dahomey Amazons, an all-female regiment of the African kingdom of Dahomey...


In popular culture

  • Wilfrid Brambell appeared in The Beatles
    The Beatles

    The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
    ' 1964 film, A Hard Day's Night
    A Hard Day's Night (film)

    A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 Cinema of the United Kingdom comedy film written by Alun Owen starring The Beatles?John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr?during the Beatlemania....
    , playing the role of Paul McCartney
    Paul McCartney

    Sir James Paul McCartney Member of the Order of the British Empire is a multiple Grammy Award-winning England singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer, Painting, and Animal rights....
    's scalliwag grandfather. The Beatles apparently lobbied to get Brambell since they were fans of Steptoe and Son. As counterpoint to the younger Steptoe's catchphrase ("You dirty old man") the repeated phrase used to describe Paul's grandfather in the film was "He's very clean".
  • In the film Carry On Screaming
    Carry On Screaming

    Carry On Screaming! is the twelfth "Carry On films" film and was released in 1966 in film. Of the regular cast, it features Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey , Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth....
     (in which Harry H. Corbett plays the main character) the Steptoe and Son theme is played as Corbett's character pulls up to a store in a horse and cart.
  • In the English translation of the Asterix
    Asterix

    The Adventures of Asterix is a List of Asterix volumes of France comic strips written by Ren? Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on 29 October 1959....
     book Asterix and the Great Crossing
    Asterix and the Great Crossing

    Asterix and the Great Crossing is the twenty-second volume of the Asterix List of Asterix volumes, by Ren? Goscinny and Albert Uderzo ....
    , Herendthelesson's second in command for his trip to America was called Steptohanson.
  • When original Pink Floyd
    Pink Floyd

    Pink Floyd are an English Rock music band who initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock and space rock music, and later, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music....
     frontman, Syd Barrett
    Syd Barrett

    Syd Barrett was an England singer, songwriter, guitarist and artist. He is most remembered as a founding member of psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, providing major musical and stylistic direction in their early work, although he left the group in 1968 amidst speculations of mental illness exacerbated by heavy drug use....
    , came up with the riff to "Interstellar Overdrive
    Interstellar Overdrive

    "Interstellar Overdrive" is a psychedelic rock composition by Pink Floyd, which appears on their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn at almost ten minutes in length....
    ", the group's bassist, Roger Waters
    Roger Waters

    George Roger Waters is an England rock music musician. He is best known as the bass guitar player and one of the main songwriters in the English rock band Pink Floyd from 1964 to 1985....
    , told him it reminded him of the theme to Steptoe and Son.
  • Elton John
    Elton John

    Sir Elton Hercules John Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s....
     took his middle name, Hercules, from the Steptoes' horse.


External links