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Cleese: I've never met a German offended by goose-stepping Fawlty

Sunday Express

|

April 28, 2024

JOHN Cleese says he has never met a German who was offended by Basil Fawlty repeatedly mentioning the Second World War and goosestepping around a room.

- By Marc Baker

Cleese: I've never met a German offended by goose-stepping Fawlty

The former Monty Python star has adapted classic BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers for the West End stage and reassured fans that famous episode The Germans, which spawned the catchphrase, “Don’t mention the war”, will feature.

But the use of the N-word by the Major in relation to an anecdote about the West Indies cricket team in the same episode has been removed.

The Germans, which first aired in 1975, saw Basil – after a knock on the head by a stuffed moose – trying not to offended his Teutonic guests, but ending up goose-stepping around the hotel dining room, upsetting them.

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