origins of 'toodle pip'

[orangerful]

For those of you that don't know, I used to sign all of my emails and end all of my IM conversations with a short and simple - "Toodle Pip". But where, you might ask, did I pick up such a silly phrase?

Arnold Rimmer.

I was watching Red Dwarf last night, series III, Episode :Marooned. And I saw the exact scene where I snagged it from. It was one of the first scenes that I printed off the internetz, back in the day, from one of the Red Dwarf message boards on good ol' prodigy. *sighs* aaah the memories. (I know Arnie didn't invent the phrase, but it was the first time I was exposed to it.)

And because I've figured out how to embed video on this thing, I googled and found the clip on YouTube. Actually it's a good portion of the episode, but if you don't feel like watching the whole clip, just fast forward to the 5 minute mark and that should begin Rimmer's brilliant 'Don't burn the Shakespeare' bit.

Watch on YouTube

Or, if you don't feel like watching, I found the script online and you can read it under here (though there will be no british accents when you read it, and as beckanon pointed out, this might lend to the funny).

LISTER: _Complete Works of Shakespeare_.  That should be good for a  couple of hours.

RIMMER: Three days without food, and the walls of civilisation come  tumbling down!

LISTER: What d'you mean?

RIMMER: They say that every society is only three meals away from  revolutiuon.  Deprive a culture of food for three meals, and you'll  have an anarchy.  And it's true, isn't it?  You haven't eaten for a  couple of days, and you've turned into a barbarian.

LISTER: I'm just burning a book!

RIMMER: It's not just a book.  It's the only copy of probably the  greatest work in English literature.  Probably the only copy left in  the entire universe, and you're quite happy to toss it on the fire to  keep your little mitts warm for fifteen minutes?

LISTER: There's nothing else to burn.

RIMMER: That's it, then, is it?  Goodbye  Hamlet?  Farewell Macbeth?  Toodle-pip King Lear?

LISTER: Have you ever read any of it?

RIMMER: I've seen West Side Story.  That's based on one of them.

LISTER: Yeah, but have you actually read any?

RIMMER: Not all the way through, no.  I can quote some, though.

LISTER: Go on, then.

RIMMER: (Declaims grandly) "Now..." (Long pause.) That's all I can  remember.

LISTER: Where's that from, then?

RIMMER: Richard III, you moron.  The speech that he does at the  beginning.  (Declaims) "Now..." something something something.  It's  brilliant writing.  It really is.  Unforgettable.

LISTER: OK, I'll save it till last.  

Hm...I need to make some Red Dwarf icons...

Comments

[sideflip1.livejournal.com]

yes, i remember you saying Toodle Pip!! i've heard of Red Dwarf, but not familiar with it.