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At the time of his collapse [George III] the Prince of Wales [George IV] ... was already 48, under the combined influences of drinks, drugs, like the opium compound Laudanum ... He spent gigantically too. Monarchy by David Starkey s3e5: Survival, Channel 4 2006
George IV: obituary in The Times newspaper had this to say: ‘There never was an individual regretted less by his fellow creatures than this diseased king. What eye has wept for him?’ Dr Lucy Worsley, Fit to Rule: How Royal Illness Changed History II: Bad Blood: Stuarts to Hanoverians, BBC 2013
George really set the tone of the age and he was a notoriously extravagant character. Dr Lucy Worsley, Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency 1/3, BBC 2011
George grew increasingly wayward and resentful. ibid.
There was even an illegal marriage – to a Mrs Fitzherbert, a Catholic no less. ibid.
People called him [George IV] The Grand Entertainment. ibid.
George meanwhile was left with a Bonaparte obsession from which he never really recovered. ibid.
There was an explosion of design: British style was lavish, theatrical, outrageous and brilliant. And at the heart of it all was George. Dr Lucy Worsley, Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency 2/3
The Pavilion captures the craziness of Regency style; its clashing of cultures, its boldness. ibid.
His [George] selfish and extravagant lifestyle had become a national disgrace. Dr Lucy Worsley, Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency 3/3
Mr Speaker, members of the House, I shall be brief as I have rather unfortunately become prime minister right in the middle of my exams. I look forward to fulfilling my duty in a manner which nanny would be proud. Blackadder III: Dish & Dishonesty, Pitt the Younger, BBC 1987
Meet the new Member of Parliament for Dunny-on-the-Wold. Precisely, sir. Our slogan shall be a rotten candidate for a rotten borough. Baldrick, I want you to go back to your kitchen sink, you see, and prepare for government. ibid. Blackadder to Prince, with Baldrick
Pitt the Younger: I intend to put up my own brother as a candidate against you.
Blackadder: Oh and which Pitt would this be? Pitt the toddler? Pitt the embryo? Pitt the glint in the milkman’s eye? ibid.
We in the Adder Party are going to fight this campaign on issues not personalities. Because our candidate doesn’t have a personality. ibid.
Reporter: One voter, sixteen thousand four hundred and seventy two votes – a slight anomaly?
Not really, Mr Hanna. You see Mr Baldrick may look like a monkey that’s been put in a suit and then strategically shaved, but he is a brilliant politician. The number of votes I cast is simply a reflection of how firmly I believe in his policies. ibid.
I shall become best friends with the cleverest man in England. That renowned brainbox Dr Samuel Johnson has asked me to be patron of his new book and I intend to accept. Blackadder III: Ink & Incapability, Prince to Blackadder
It’s the most pointless book since How to Learn French was translated into French. ibid. Blackadder to Prince
Baldrick, I’d bump into cleverer people at a lodge meeting at the guild of village idiots. ibid. Blackadder
It’s taken me seven years and it’s perfect – Edmund: A Butler’s Tale. A giant rollercoaster of a novel in four hundred sizzling chapters. A searing indictment of domestic servitude in the eighteenth century with some hot gypsies thrown in. My magnum opus, Baldrick. ibid. Blackadder
So you’re asking where the big papery thing tied up with string belonging to the batey fellow in the black coat who just left is? ibid. Baldrick to Blackadder
Mrs Miggins, there’s nothing intellectual about wandering around Italy in a big shirt trying to get laid. ibid. Blackadder
Sir, I have been unable to replace the dictionary. I am therefore leaving immediately for Nepal where I intend to live as a goat. ibid. Blackadder to Prince
Blackadder: Yes, and your definition of dog is?
Baldrick: Not a cat. ibid.
Sir, I hope you are not using the first English dictionary to look up rude words? ibid. Dr Johnson to Prince
Nothing a roaring fire can’t solve. Baldrick do the honours, will you. ibid. Blackadder
French is all the fashion: my coffee shop is full of Frenchies. And it’s all because of that wonderful Scarlet Pimpernel. Blackadder III: Nob & Nobility, Mrs Miggins to Blackadder
If the Pimpernel does finally reveal himself I don’t want to be caught out wearing boring trousers. ibid. Prince Regent
The ancient Greeks, sir, wrote in legend of a terrible container in which all the evils of the world were trapped. How prophetic they were. All they got wrong was the name: they called it Pandora’s Box, when of course they meant Baldrick’s trousers. ibid. Blackadder to Prince Regent, with Baldrick
I charge you now, Baldrick, for the good of all mankind never allow curiosity to lead you to open your trousers. Nothing of interest lies therein. ibid. Blackadder
We hate liars, bounders and cads, don’t we, Blackadder? ibid. Prince Regent
These are volatile times, your Highness. The American Revolution lost your father the colonies; the French Revolution murdered brave King Louis, and there are tremendous rumblings in Prussia. Although that might be something to do with the sausages. Blackadder III: Sense & Senility, Blackadder to Prince
They are so poor they are forced to have children simply to provide a cheap alternative to Turkey at Christmas. ibid.
I am about to enter the job market [reads newspaper]. Right, let’s see. Situations vacant. Mr and Mrs Pitt are looking for a baby-minder to take Pitt the Younger to Parliament … ibid. Blackadder to Baldrick
Don’t worry, Mr B. I have a cunning plan to solve the problem. But this is a really good one: you become a dashing highwayman, then you can pay all your bills and on top of that everyone would want to sleep with you. Blackadder III: Any & Amiability, Baldrick to Blackadder
I’m as poor as a church mouse that’s just had an enormous tax bill on the very day his wife’s ran off with another mouse taking all the cheese. ibid. Blackadder to Prince
I’m a gay bachelor, Blackadder. I’m a roarer, a rodgerer, a gorger and a puker. ibid. Prince to Blackadder
I love her more than any pig. And that’s saying something. ibid. Amy’s father to Blackadder
Have you ever been to Wales, Baldrick? Well don’t. It’s a ghastly place. Huge gangs of tough sinewy men roam the valleys terrifying people with their close-harmony singing. You need half a pint of phlegm in your throat just to pronounce the place names. ibid. Blackadder
The girl is wetter than a haddock’s bathing costume. ibid.
I’ve been thinking of bettering myself. I applied for the job of village idiot of Kensington. I got down to the last two but I failed the final interview. I turned up. Blackadder III: Duel & Duality, Baldrick to Blackadder
He’s madder than mad Jack McMad, the winner of last year’s Mr Madman competition. ibid. Blackadder, re his Scottish cousin
I am informed your royal father grows ever more eccentric. And at present he believes himself to be a small village in Lincolnshire commanding spectacular views of the Nene Valley. ibid. Wellington to Blackadder dressed as prince
What do we have for royalty? A mad Kraut sausage-sucker and a son who can’t keep his own sausage to himself. ibid.
I have not a drop of blood in my veins that is not English. George IV