Always look on the Bright Side of Life!

If you have ever seen the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, there is a brilliantly funny scene where King Arthur was riding... that part of the screenplay is below:

Mist. Several seconds of it swirling about. Silence possibly, atmospheric music. SUPERIMPOSE "England AD 787". After a few more seconds we hear hoofbeats in the distance. They come slowly closer. Then out of the mist comes KING ARTHUR followed by a SERVANT who is banging two half coconuts together. ARTHUR raises his hand.

ARTHUR Whoa there!

SERVANT makes noises of horses halting, with a flourish. ARTHUR peers through the mist. CUT TO shot from over his shoulder: castle (e.g. Bodium) rising out of the mist. On the castle battlements a SOLDIER is dimly seen. He peers down.

SOLDIER Halt! Who goes there?
ARTHUR It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of all Britons, defeator of the Saxons, sovereign of all England! (Pause.)
SOLDIER Get away!
ARTHUR I am... And this my trusty servant, Patsy. We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join our court at Camelot.. I must speak with your lord and master.
SOLDIER What? Ridden on a horse?
ARTHUR Yes!
SOLDIER You're using coconuts!
ARTHUR ...What?
SOLDIER You've got two empty halves of coconuts and you're banging them together.

Monday 23 April 2007 was St George's Day. One of the events organised by the Mayor of London and held in Trafalgar Square was the Coconut Orchestra. The public was invited to take part in an attempt to break the Guiness Record for World's Largest Coconut Orchestra. So I thought I'd go along.

On arrival, I had to hand in a form which I got off the internet which proved that I attended. Then I was issued with two half coconut shells. At about 6:45pm, the cast of Spamalot came on stage to teach us how to play the coconuts and we had a short rehearsal playing and singing to the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" (a Monty Python song from the show "Monty Python's Life of Brian). Some rules were also laid out. Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones of the Monty Python also attended.

Then at 7:00pm, we did the real thing and shortly a Guiness World Record representative announced that we have broken the World Record (previously held by New York). The official numbers were announced the next day in the news - 5567 people played in the Coconut Orchestra!!

It was quite a funny experience. Before it started, they were showing silent movies and whenever there were some horses (or indeed any animals) the crowd would do clippity-clop sound effects. After the orchestra, the movie "Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail", but it was quite a cool day so I didn't hand around.

Here is a funny game with the movie theme in mind... SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM.