Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Now and Then Did you know?

I say again, it wasn't Reach for the Sky that featured Nigger the dog but the "Dam Busters" so there would be no need to ban this film. Actually didn't I see something about a remake of it? I bet if it is remade then it will be yanks bombing the dams in B17's and some genius of an American professor inventing the sliding bomb or some such!

I still think the Carling dam busters advert is one of the funniest I have ever seen.

Right repeat after me everyone. Reach for the sky a true story of a man overcoming the loss of both his legs in an air crash and going on to be one of Britains best fighter pilots of the second world war. He did not have a dog called Nigger to my knowledge.

The dam busters, the true story of 617 Squadron RAF formed to use a special bomb invented by Barnes Wallis to breach three Ruhr dams. Only two were in fact breached. This Squadron was led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson (later VC) who did own a dog called Nigger. The dog was run over outside of the camp gates.

Altogether now, der der der der der der der etc et al .... Dam busters theme.

I believe that most, if not all, river mouths have 'leading lights' to guide the boats in. I know that the Taw / Torridge Estuary has them - the lights are on the land around half a mile apart. When the 2 lights merge into one from the sea then the captain knows he is in the correct channel to pass into the mouth of the river.

I didn't say it was either film - I just said I'd seen the film with the dog called Nigger in it a few times - but thanks!!!

I will do my fookin damnedest to find out where I read about the powers that be banning it from being aired because of complaints etc!!

Personally, I don't care which of the films it is, they are both good if the other is the one I remember watching with my Dad. I also don't care about people getting offended because of something that was made donkeys years ago - get over it! Too many complaints about unimportant stuff these days!

I know Jay but you quoted another posters "reach for the sky". I'm pedantic about such things because they are representing true history and one should not get it wrong.

I'm not bothered about using the word Nigger in this context either.

Keep a cool head as they say!

Keeping a cool head is sometimes harder than one thinks!!

I tried to edit my post in order to appease but unfortunately I can't. Oh well, I tried


I have, however, found what I was looking for. It is more about editing it to apease others (again - lot of this going on today lol) but it serves to show my point.

"Revisionist usage in Britain
"Nigger" was famously the name of a Black Labrador[43] belonging to the RAF Second World War hero Wing Commander Guy Gibson. The dog died before the 617 Squadron's 1943 raid on the Ruhr dams (the "Dam Busters raid"), and "Nigger" was adopted as the radio code word signaling the destruction of the Möhne dam. The British television broadcaster ITV now tries to reduce offense by editing out some scenes including the dog when it broadcasts the film Dam Busters. This has been condemned by some as "revisionist", although the edited version apparently produced fewer complaints than a previous uncensored broadcast. However, this scene probably has been viewed more times than any other part of the movie. It was watched by the character Pink (Bob Geldof) in the hotel-room sequence in the Pink Floyd film The Wall, during which the dialogue relevant to the dog's death is screened."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger#Other_names

(Feels like being back at Uni, citing my source )

So what it all boils down to is that some people want to change history?

I'm with Cromwell on this one, warts and all! It may not be nice but it happened, much like our "betters" shoving my ancestors up chimney's and down mines with no regard to their health or safety in pursuit of wealth.

Oops sorry got on my soap box a bit then. Won't happen again

Uni? Jeez, secondary modern here if anyone is old enough to know what that was? I refer to it as factory fodder.

I think revisionist historians should be burnt at the stake, or hung drawn and quartered or.....hold on, surely we did not do this to our fellow subjects? Surely we just poked them with sticks. Yes stick poking sounds a lot more pc than grilling someone or slice and dice.

Oh and Guy Fawkes was not Catholic, he was a Quaker, he didn't use gun powder, it was candyfloss, and parliament pardoned him after the poking with sticks (there may also have been a 'comfy chair')

Brilliant.

Basically yes! All so that they don't have to deal with people NOT watching the film but hearing that it MAY have contained something that they MAY have been offended by had they actually watched it (but probably not as they would have seen it in its true context and not what THEIR interpretation of the word means), complaining!!

*breathes*

Now they want Jeremy Clarkson to either resign or be sacked for "Truckergate"! *screams AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgh*

And that sounds an awful lot like the reason the complaints about Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand kept increasing with every news report.

I stand corrected on (grovelled) bended knee my friend!! You are correct of course, i was having a "blonde" moment!!

Get off your knees you look silly. You are forgiven.

Could you not have left him there for a bit longer?? It's not very often I get to see a man in that position (or any position for that matter)

on the subject of pc correctness , what happend to the golliwog off the robinson jam jars,I heard it was deemed offensive to our coloured population? is that true?

did you know?

there is no gravity at the centre of the earth