Talk:Melchett (Blackadder)

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Melchett was not a drinking 'lightweight' - the previous evening, as every fule no, he had had two flagons of claret and a double helping of curried turtle, it being no holds barred at the annual communion wine tasting (though it might reasonably be wondered what the communion was doing serving curry with wine).

Melchett may be a favourite name of Fry's. A very much younger Fry mentions the name in his piece 'The Letter', currently listed at youtube 12:48, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Melchett's medals

I'm not sure the paragraph on General Melchett's medal ribbons is correct. See Talk:Captain Blackadder#Captain Blackadder, MC?. 20:21, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

The image used for this paragraph was taken from a BBC publicity shot - now a wallpaper available from the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/content/images/2007/02/21/orders_1600_1600x1200.jpg . This in conjunction with the MOD's medals booklet (available widely) shows the medal i've described as correct, however there may be some differences between the image i used and Melchett's medals on film. One obvious error on the image i used was that he was not wearing the KCB round his neck as he clearly is in widely available pictures of him in his Mess Kit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.108.188.231 (talk) 15:16, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The medal ribbons worn in that photograph are the same as those I identified from the costume worn in the series itself. I just believe you've misidentified some of them, and miscount twelve where there are thirteen. I'll explain why.

Firstly you identify the Victoria Cross alone. There are actually two ribbons there, the wine-red of the Victoria Cross and the crimson of the Order of the Bath, though the first is obscured by the lapel. The bronze VC medal itself (in miniature) is clearly identifiable in photographs of the character in mess dress. All grades of the Order of the Bath are identified by the same crimson ribbon on service dress, but, as you say, Melchett is a KCB, as shown by his wearing the badge round the neck and star on the breast with mess dress, as opposed to the badge on a riband and the star (for a GCB) or the badge alone (for a CB). Next comes the blue-red-blue of the Distinguished Service Order, on which we both agree. Having got the Orders out of the way, we move on to the campaign medals, which are worn in order of the campaign for which they are awarded. The next ribbon, which appears as yellow with dark edges, you identify as "the Territorial Force War Medal"; I think it is the South Africa Medal (gold with dark blue edge stripes), which was awarded for service in the Anglo-Zulu War. Next is the red-green-red of the Afghanistan Medal, on which we both agree again.
The second row starts with a yellow ribbon with dark stripes; this seems to me to be the East and West Africa Medal, awarded from services in the region from 1887 onward, but for some reason you have identified it as the General Service Medal (1918), which would be out of sequence here and is purple-green-purple anyway. Then comes the blue-and-white Egypt Medal. You've missed out the dark blue ribbon of the Khedive's Star, which was awarded by the Khedive of Egypt to personnel who also qualified for the Egypt Medal. Fourth in the row is the red-green-red-green-red of the India Medal.
I don't have any dispute with your identifications for the third row (Queen's South Africa Medal, King's South Africa Medal, India General Service Medal) except to say that the last ribbon must be the 1914 Star (established 1917) and not the 1914-15 Star (established 1918), as Blackadder Goes Forth ends in 1917 with Goodbyeee... (Darling: "Thank God! We lived through it! The Great War, 1914 to 1917").

Please do point out any errors I've made - and I'm sorry if I sound overly pedantic! It's remarkable such a plausible campaign history for Melchett can be derived from such a minor costume detail in Blackadder Goes Forth, especially given the deliberately cavalier (badoom) approach to historical accuracy in previous series. Opera hat (talk) 02:15, 31 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

the third

He was not only in the final episode of the third blackadder series; he was also in the episode where the new PM is elected and is a teenager. I don't believe he has any lines and doesn't get any spotlight, but he is there. ~~Lordloss210 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.175.97.87 (talk) 16:21, 11 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]