Hello Shipmates

Today we are bringing a bit of culture to you philistines (apologies to any non-philistines reading this): a couple of satirical songs from Gilbert & Sullivan's immortal "HMS Pinafore". These are from a 1949 recording by the D'Oyly Carte Company.

26 or 27 years later I appeared in a production at the Christian Brothers College Boksburg. It being an all boys' school and my voice having not broken by that point, I played a sister or a cousin or an aunt. Looking back, and knowing what we now know about some of the Christian Brothers, I could consider that by being made to dress up as a woman and sing I was getting off lightly.

The two songs are those with which Sir Joseph Porter (First Lord of the Admiralty) and Captain Corcoran (position self-explanatory) introduce themselves.

"When I Was A Lad" - D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

"I Am The Captain Of The Pinafore" - D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Those of you who know me will now be expecting some Gilbert O'Sullivan, but you would be wrong. You are getting more Joseph Porter. Not the fictitious First Lord of the Admiralty, the leader of Blyth Power. Like W S Gilbert, he also regularly undermines figures of authority in his songs.

"Guns Of Castle Cary" - Blyth Power

Ah, who am I kidding. Of course we have some Gilbert. I love Gilbert!