On The Buses

I'm not sure if you like situation comedy? The classic sitcom. Perhaps I am showing my age, but I love the old shows much better than this new genre of alternative comedy (whatever that means). I'm not sure the first time I watched an episode of On The Buses, which ran from 1969 – 1973. Considering I was born in 1970, I may have seen it while sitting on my mum's knee.  

The program was broadcast on ITV and created by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe. In this day and age, it is a spectacle of sexist, racist, and every other ism you can probably think. However, it is still very funny. I used to watch episodes on a daily basis around my late aunt Pam's. We used to look forward to a cup of tea and one if not two episodes. 

Good old ITV 3.  

For those who don't know the background to On The Buses, it is set in a bus depot and bases around a quirky mix of characters who take delight in making each other's lives a misery with humorous consequence.  

Stan Butler and his mate Jack Harper are the workshy bus drivers always on the lookout for ''crumpet'', while bus inspector Cyril ''Blakey'' Blake is forever trying to keep them in line.  

Stan's family play a major role in many humourous situations with Mum Mabel, sister Olive, who is literally the but of every joke, while her husband, Arthur, is ridiculed for being bald, and his man's problem.  

Anyway, I'm sure you are wondering why I'm talking about On The Buses when this is a horse racing website. Well, the impossible to fathom connection is that Sugar Bertie (now named Cheltfest just to add to the confusion) is related to this situation comedy. It relates to the day Blakey decided to keep the bus drivers accountable by installing a radio system. To communicate, each driver's initials were used for identification. So Stan Butler was given the name Sugar Bertie.  

As you can imagine, it resulted in chaos with Jack Harper altering the radio setting so they contacted the police and even an airline pilot.  

Over and out, Sugar Bertie.  

Hilarious.  

Never watched it, then take a look.