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Tom Browns Schooldays
Background Information: Tom Browns Schooldays Tom Browns Schooldays, first published in 1857, is a novel by Thomas Hughes, set at a public school, Rugby School for Boys, in the 1830s when Hughes himself had been a student there. The novel was originally published as being by an Old Boy of Rugby & it is immediately apparent that much of it is based on the authors experiences. In fact, Tom Brown is based on the authors brother, George Hughes & George Arthur is based on Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. Tom Brown was tremendously influential on the genre of British school novels, which began in the 19th century & is one of the few still in print. Much of the language & sentence construction are the very epitome of mid-Victorian obfuscation. It is singularly dense & impenetrable, with complex & interweaving sub-clauses & is rife with what now appear to be condescending references to Gentle readers etc The characters sometimes sound like real boys, but sometimes reach heights of eloquence that would do credit to a successful preacher. For many years now I have been mithering the BBC to either re-show or make commercially available this absolute classic piece of 1970s Sunday afternoon television, so it was with much delight when I discovered Acorn media had been wise enough to issue this as a 2 DVD set - congratulations to them for this achievement - they should have a big seller on their hands!. As well as Richard Morants superb portrayal as the evil Flashman there is also an outstanding performance from his sidekick the equally ghastly Darcy played by a teenage Christopher Guard. What is interesting is that many from the cast remained in acting - all too often talented youngsters have not gone on to achieve success or stayed within the profession after their 15 minutes of fame has passed. Those who must be mentioned include impressive performances from David Hampshire as the wise & kindly Diggs - Hampshire has performed tirelessly both in theatre & in numerous commercials for over 35 years now, there is the school hero & head boy Brooke played by Barry Stokes who would later appear in UFO & Doomwatch & there is also a classic performance from a pre Tripods & Secret Army Robin Langford as Madman Martin who bumbles through wonderfully. Final mentions must go to our actual hero Tom Brown played by Anthony Murphy - his acting career seemed to come to an abrupt end after this. Mention must go to the school sneak & whipping boy to Flashman Cuthbertson played by Mark Rogers who must have been no more than eight years old but carried off a superb performance but whos acting career also seems to have come to a halt after TBS. I stand to be corrected if they did continue either on stage or screen because both these two were real stars of the programme & deserved to go on to do so much more. Again, thanks to Acorn media, you really have made my year! Biography: Iain Cuthbertson Iain Cuthbertson is a distinguished Scottish character actor born 4 January 1930 in Glasgow, Scotland. At 6 4 he has a tall & imposing build. He has married twice, to the actress Anne Kristen & therafter to Mary Cuthbertson. His most memorable television role was as the pornographer & businessman Charlie Endell in both Budgie with Adam Faith & its sequel Charles Endell, Esq. Other roles include the lead in The Stone Tape, Tom Browns Schoolboys, Sutherlands Law & the villainous Scunner Campbell in Supergran. Minor parts in ongoing series include appearances in Z Cars, The Avengers, Inspector Morse, Bulman, Ripping Yarns, The Duchess of Duke Street, Adam Adamant Lives! & Garron in the Doctor Who story The Ribos Operation. Iain Cuthbertson also has a significant stage career & he directed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1966.
Editors Choice: The Stone Tape, Tom Browns Schooldays, Budgie, View DVDology
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