Popular beat combo
 | This article possibly contains original research. (August 2019) |
Popular beat combo, which originated as a synonym for "pop group",[1] is a phrase within British culture.[citation needed] It may also be used more specifically to refer to The Beatles, or other purveyors of beat music.
The phrase is frequently used in Private Eye and in the BBC panel game Have I Got News For You, making fun of Ian Hislop's supposed lack of knowledge about modern music.
Derivation
It is widely held that the phrase "popular beat combo" was coined in an English courtroom in the 1960s by a barrister in response to a judge asking (for the benefit of the court's records) "Who are The Beatles?"; the answer being "I believe they are a popular beat combo, m'lud."[2]
However, neither the question nor the answer has ever been reliably attributed, and remains the stuff of urban legend. Marcel Berlins, legal correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, failed in his attempt to track down any verification.[3] In 2007 Berlins restated his offer of "a bottle of best Guardian champagne to any reader with a solution".[4] Christie Davies attributes the encounter to Judge James Pickles.[5]
The phrase is part of a trope in postwar British culture where judges are seen to be out of touch, the ultimate example being in the 1960 obscenity trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover in which the legal profession was ridiculed for being out of touch with changing social norms when the chief prosecutor, Mervyn Griffith-Jones, asked jurors to consider if it were the kind of book "you would wish your wife or servants to read".[6][7]
See also
References
- ^ Games, Alex (2011). Kick the Bucket and Swing the Cat: The Complete Balderdash & Piffle Collection of English Words, and Their Curious Origins. Random House. p. 274. ISBN 9781446415115.
Informally defined as the description of a pop group from the early days of rock and roll.
- ^ Julian Champkin (25 November 2011). "Editorial/Letters". Significance. Royal Statistical Society. doi:10.1111/j.1740-9713.2011.00531.x.
- ^ http://www.legalbanter.co.uk/uk-legal-moderated-legal-topics/24253-who-beatles.html Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine "If anyone would like a magnum of champagne in return for a little literary sleuthing, Marcel Berlins, legal correspondent for the Guardian, has a competition. There are many references (check Google for confirmation) to a judge who once asked, during a case (perhaps in the 60s) "Who are the Beatles?". Berlins contends this is apocryphal and will award said fizz to anyone who proves otherwise."
- ^ The Guardian, 21 May 2007. Accessed 2 May 2018.
- ^ Davies, Christie. "Judges and Humour in Britain: From Anecdotes to Jokes" in Jessica Milner Davis and Sharyn Roach Anleu (eds.) (2018). Judges, Judging and Humour, p. 68. ISBN 978-3-319-76737-6
- ^ Daily Telegraph: Google has eroded a judge's right to be heroically out of touch
- ^ BBC ON THIS DAY | 10 | 1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold out