swarthy waiter pursues a
hamster beneath a table of
dinner guests. chased by a tall. quiverineg angry man with a moustache. The diners erupt with laughter as the waiter re-emerges. accidentally displacing the wig on a female guest‘s head. The furious hotelier cuffs his hapless employee. produces a gun and shoots the rodent. Welcome to A Tribute 7}) Fair/[y 'I'mrr'rs'. a peculiarly Iinglish farce and weekend break being held at hotels around the UK.
An affectionate homage. it‘s the latest development in a growing and lucrative comedy heritage tourism industry. Torquay cashes in on its most famous daughter. Agatha Christie. Morecombe pays homage to liric Morecombe and a statue of Les Dawson is proposed for l.ytham St Annes.
'People just want to hear the great lines in an evocative setting.‘ claims Michael Wilson-Green. who plays Basil in A Tribute To Fair/{y Your/iv.
This is why we‘re staying at Torquay's Hotel Gleneagles. where the Monty Python team first arrived in 1971. The owner at the time was Donald Sinclair. a man whose personality betrayed a staggering lack of basic courtesy not to mention minimal investment in hospitality. During the Python team‘s stay. he denounced Terry (lilliam‘s table manners. allegedly telling the American ‘we don‘t eat like that in this country". He tossed liric ldle‘s bag over a garden wall. claiming it might be a bomb. and threw a bus timetable at a guest who was ill-mannered enough to ask when the next service into town might be. Predictably. the Pythons quickly decamped to another hotel. all except the fascinated .lohn (‘leese. who invited (‘onnie Booth. his wife at
the time. to join him. The rest. of
course. is comedy history.
The hotel underwent a £lmillion refit last year and its current owners are tickled by their establishment‘s notoriety. Behind the hotel‘s rather ugly exterior. it‘s actually a charming place to stay.
Our room offered a lovely view of
Ansteys (‘ove‘s turquoise waters.
We had no inkling of our itinerary as victims of Basil‘s hospitality. but it was worth the suspense.
After we had settled in we went down to the bar where we were overrun by the actors playing
Manuel and Polly. the former
IT FELT NEARER THE END OF BLACKPOOL
PIER THAN THE ENGLISH RIVIERA
hotel inspecto
TRAVEL
The cast of Fawlty Towers provided the inspiration for novel
weekend breaks being held at hotels around the UK
Jay Richardson reports from The Fawlty Towers Experience in Torquay and manages not to
mention the war.
engaging in more slapstick and cruder puns than the series ever allowed for. followed in time by an apologetic Sybil. and eventually. a strutting Basil. the four improvising around the show‘s original storylines. It felt nearer the end of Blackpool pier than the linglish Riviera. but somehow it worked.
Moving through to the dining
room and an excellent three- course meal. our admiration for the actors increased. Maintaining the energy and laughter of almost 30 guests for well over an hour is no small feat. Sybil kept the wine flowing while Manuel sang from the Rene and Renata songbook. and at one point I was whisked onto my feet to dance flamenco. Apparently. the same cast also do a Fur/fer 'l'm/ tribute. so I’m already planning my trip to (‘raggy Island in the autumn.
A Tribute To Fawlty Towers comes to the Dunblane Hydro on 9, 10 and 17 of February, as well as other hotels around the UK. Superbreak Holidays in association with Laughlines Entertainment. Tel: 0870 234 9999. www.superbreak.com
I ‘Nothing can deter the rainy islanders in their lust for cheap flights!’ roared comedian Andrew Maxwell recently. But that may be about to change following Chancellor Gordon Brown’s decision to double air passenger duty (APD) on both short and long-haul flights following reports about the effect our wanderlust is having on the environment. Ryanair responded by inviting its customers to write to ‘Greedy Gordon’. Whether the money will be reinvested directly into offsetting carbon emissions has not been confirmed, but the furore has certainly made everyone more aware of the issue.
I But how is the change. which comes into effect on 1 February. going to affect passengers who have already bought their tickets”? Despite initial scares afic‘itrt delays at check—in desks. most of the airlines have already 'orked out contingency plans. Ac;’:or<iling to Donald Morrison of BAA, which runs the terminais at Glasgow. Edinburgh and Aberdeen. ‘Airitnes are resi’JOnding to the charg '38 in different ways —— some are absorbing the cost IllEilliSt—llVGS. and some are asking passengers to cover costs.‘
Rye-inair is avoiding potential queues and delays by automatically (:li.:irgirig the tax to the cards used to book the flights. while Easydet is contacting their customers by email and requesting new flight (gietails. British Airways has forked out over Sit 1 million to cover the costs for passengers who booked before the charges were annotinci—xl.
I If you’ve got a holiday coming up and you haven’t heard from the airline or travel agent you booked with, Baggage advises contacting them at least two weeks prior to your departure date. You can find advice on offsetting your own carbon emissions at www.responsibletravel.com. (Kirstin lnnes)
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