O, to be in England...

July 1, 2015 8:59 AM

I recall having seen something on TV maybe a decade or two ago in which a female character (or a male with a very high-pitched voice) was reciting the line, "O to be in England now that April's there[...]" several times with a very exaggerated/attempted British accent ("Eauuuugh to be in EEEEEEEEEEngland..."). I don't remember much more, and all my Google searches turn up is the actual poem that the line is from. I'd like to find this again; does it ring a bell to anyone?

I thought it might possibly have been from Monty Python, but I did a pretty thorough search of their canon and couldn't find it. Any leads will be much appreciated.

posted by Juffo-Wup to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Was it this Art of Noise song? She says the line "To be in England in the Summertime..." at the 3:25 mark.

Thanks for this flashback to the 1980s!
posted by bondcliff at 9:04 AM on July 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

I thought of the Art of Noise right away, too.
posted by Malla at 9:36 AM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Perhaps Kate Bush's "O England my Lionheart"?
posted by svenvog at 9:42 AM on July 1, 2015

You are looking for "Sir Henry at Rawlinson End" by Vivian Stanshall. I grew up listening to the audio recording, and didn't realise there was a film until today, so thank you, I will have to see if it is still available on DVD (it was only released on DVD in 2006). It was certainly available on CD a few years ago as I bought a copy.

There's a script for it here. Luckily for you I am typing this on a phone, and am therefore unable to quote choice bits at you!
posted by kumonoi at 9:47 AM on July 1, 2015

Best answer: You're thinking of a scene in The Buccaneers, where Virginia St. George is practicing her diction.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 10:02 AM on July 1, 2015

Response by poster: You're thinking of a scene in The Buccaneers, where Virginia St. George is practicing her diction.

I strongly suspect you're right. Happily, The Buccaneers is on Netflix streaming at the moment. I am running through it to try to find the scene in question.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 10:22 AM on July 1, 2015

Response by poster: You are looking for "Sir Henry at Rawlinson End" by Vivian Stanshall.

I'm afraid that wasn't it, although that sounds hilarious. I am on vacation and don't have proper speakers at the moment, but I will be listening to the whole thing upon my return.

The scene I'm looking for was definitely not part of a song.
posted by Juffo-Wup at 10:23 AM on July 1, 2015

I'm not sure if the Art of Noise example was really the one you had in mind. But, for the 80s flashback record, that was done by Karen Clayton -who also did the voice section on ABC'd "Poison Arrow".
posted by rongorongo at 10:27 AM on July 1, 2015

Response by poster: I found the relevant scene in The Buccaneers, and that was indeed what I was looking for. Thanks!

The next question is why on earth did I watch this. It's nothing I would have been interested in at that age, and nobody in my immediate family remembers having seen it. But I don't suppose AskMe can help with that one :).
posted by Juffo-Wup at 10:37 AM on July 1, 2015

Eh, it was on Masterpiece Theater, and back in those days (1995) we didn't have as many viewing options as we do now. All in all, it wasn't a bad production, but they did take a lot of liberties with Edith Wharton's unfinished manuscript, providing more happy endings than Wharton is likely to have done.
posted by ereshkigal45 at 12:41 PM on July 1, 2015