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Sim Wood's avatar

A little surprised to see you didn't mention Kevin Turvey, as he is the one I mentally picture - after you, of course - whenever I hear the name Kevin. Also, the name is not reserved solely for males; Ildi worked with a woman called Caroline and her middle name is Kevin (her family told her that it was an old Irish tradition to pop the granddad's name in future progeny somewhere, although she can find no proof of this being an actual tradition, and suspects they were simply having a laugh). The pronunciation of Caiomhe is "keeva", which already 'sounds' feminine, but some do feel the need to add an "a" at the end and make Kevina, to make sure everyone knows the person they are looking at is without doubt a female. I shall show Caroline this post as she used to harbour embarrassment when quizzed about her middle name but has changed her perspective when she learnt about the blackbirds and now embraces it. I shall tell her to roar it out loud next time.

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The House of Winser's avatar

gah, forgot him. May I'll revise it? love that story of caroline. who knew? x

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Sim Wood's avatar

I think it would be a good revision to make, after all, Kevin Turvey embodied such a bizarre combo of anoraked geek but also aggressive oik; undoubtedly an idiot and an example of those who massively over-inflate their own importance, Dunning-Kruger-esque. 1980s comedy was all about the new alternative practitioners bulldozing the old guard out of the way, damning the racist, sexist tropes to oblivion and replacing working men's clubs and bawdy visual comedy with exciting club vibes and (pseudo) intellectual rants and searing observation. Turvey was hilarious as you could picture him sneering at the older generation audience but being completely snubbed by the new. What a time to be alive! :)

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The House of Winser's avatar

indeed, all that comic strip stuff and the young ones were HUGE for me. You can see elements of Turvey spill over into Rik Mayalls, character in that for sure

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The House of Winser's avatar

have added , cheers for the reminder :)

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Sim Wood's avatar

Fantastic clip! I remember rocking with glee whenever Turvey came on. He was a source of many quotes in our household. Thanks!

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