Just finished reading Yes Prime Minister.
It is a classic comedy that maintains its class so classically that while classifying my list of favourite pieces of classic comic literature, I literally may classify this classic piece of classic comedy into an altogether unique class of its own, with no other piece of literature to match its class with the exception of its prequel i.e. Yes Minister.
While my favourite actor while watching the series of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister will remain the man playing the character of Sir Humphrey Appleby(Sir Nigel Hawthorne, who I remember played a role in Ben Kingsley's Gandhi), I am still at a loss so as to decide which character among the three best entertained me while reading ...
1. PM Jim Hacker, for his amusing style of dictating memoirs; for his mixed metaphors, for his outright denial in self-criticizm and desperate attempts to seize any credits for the 'novel' ideas that his political advisor or Principal Private Secretary give him, his
hypocrite moralism, his occasional and frequent outbursts of honesty(while dictating memoirs), his hunger for a place in history, his priorities and his anxieties, his political advisor(I love her), his admissions of hypocrisy and farse to his wife, his gradual progress in handling beaurocratic replies and counter blackmailing the permanent secretaries, his confidence in Bernard, his state of being drunk, and much more.
2. Sir Humphrey, for his witty and downright insulting remarks to the PM's ideas ànd suggestions, his prolix clarifications so as to make things more unclear to the PM, the utmost care he takes while lying to not be seen as technically a liar, his self-righteousness, his unnecessarily prolonged explainations, his style of leaking things among the press and friends, his vested interest in almost anything that the PM takes up, his threats to both PM and Bernard, his struggle and helplessness when beaten, his spontaneous reactions to the PM's 'novel' ideas, his constant suggestions of setting up an inter departmental committee, his
opinions about the 'ordinary people' of England, his lust for power and its centralization in his hands, his insecurities, and much more.
3. Bernard - (this guy, rocks!) For his platitudes, often interrupting serious and important (important to the PM personally) discussions, and continuing with his rants, as the PM describes it, upon being goggled at by Hacker, mistaking the glare as an expression of confusion. His own confusion, so as to his loyalty, which is often divided, partly to the PM who promotes him to his current position and partly to Sir Humphrey who has great influence over both him and his career. His style of clarification, though innocently adopted, leaves Hacker as confused as he is, when deliberately put into the state of confusion by Sir Humphrey's explainations. Bernard's demonstrations of technical errors in Hacker's mixed metaphors are thouroughly entertaining. Excerpts of his conversation with the editors are bound to leave you rolling on the floor. His sheer innocence, his excellence in all the
technicalities, his unbelievably powerful memory, leaves me dumbfounded. His occasionally unintended insults of the PM and his evident delight of seeing his master (Sir Humphrey) in personal trouble show the menace and thus make it possible for the reader to believe the possibility of the prosperity and progress of a seemingly innocent private secretary to the Head of the Home Civil Service. It also explains his changed attitude towards Jim Hacker, lacking any trace of respect.
When these three team up trully to fight some deadly situation, the episode becomes a sheer delight for the reader.
What more can I say? I loved it. The book didn't make me laugh out loud a lot, but it definitely added infinite smirks to my face.
- Kaustubh Anil Pendharkar
It is a classic comedy that maintains its class so classically that while classifying my list of favourite pieces of classic comic literature, I literally may classify this classic piece of classic comedy into an altogether unique class of its own, with no other piece of literature to match its class with the exception of its prequel i.e. Yes Minister.
While my favourite actor while watching the series of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister will remain the man playing the character of Sir Humphrey Appleby(Sir Nigel Hawthorne, who I remember played a role in Ben Kingsley's Gandhi), I am still at a loss so as to decide which character among the three best entertained me while reading ...
1. PM Jim Hacker, for his amusing style of dictating memoirs; for his mixed metaphors, for his outright denial in self-criticizm and desperate attempts to seize any credits for the 'novel' ideas that his political advisor or Principal Private Secretary give him, his
hypocrite moralism, his occasional and frequent outbursts of honesty(while dictating memoirs), his hunger for a place in history, his priorities and his anxieties, his political advisor(I love her), his admissions of hypocrisy and farse to his wife, his gradual progress in handling beaurocratic replies and counter blackmailing the permanent secretaries, his confidence in Bernard, his state of being drunk, and much more.
2. Sir Humphrey, for his witty and downright insulting remarks to the PM's ideas ànd suggestions, his prolix clarifications so as to make things more unclear to the PM, the utmost care he takes while lying to not be seen as technically a liar, his self-righteousness, his unnecessarily prolonged explainations, his style of leaking things among the press and friends, his vested interest in almost anything that the PM takes up, his threats to both PM and Bernard, his struggle and helplessness when beaten, his spontaneous reactions to the PM's 'novel' ideas, his constant suggestions of setting up an inter departmental committee, his
opinions about the 'ordinary people' of England, his lust for power and its centralization in his hands, his insecurities, and much more.
3. Bernard - (this guy, rocks!) For his platitudes, often interrupting serious and important (important to the PM personally) discussions, and continuing with his rants, as the PM describes it, upon being goggled at by Hacker, mistaking the glare as an expression of confusion. His own confusion, so as to his loyalty, which is often divided, partly to the PM who promotes him to his current position and partly to Sir Humphrey who has great influence over both him and his career. His style of clarification, though innocently adopted, leaves Hacker as confused as he is, when deliberately put into the state of confusion by Sir Humphrey's explainations. Bernard's demonstrations of technical errors in Hacker's mixed metaphors are thouroughly entertaining. Excerpts of his conversation with the editors are bound to leave you rolling on the floor. His sheer innocence, his excellence in all the
technicalities, his unbelievably powerful memory, leaves me dumbfounded. His occasionally unintended insults of the PM and his evident delight of seeing his master (Sir Humphrey) in personal trouble show the menace and thus make it possible for the reader to believe the possibility of the prosperity and progress of a seemingly innocent private secretary to the Head of the Home Civil Service. It also explains his changed attitude towards Jim Hacker, lacking any trace of respect.
When these three team up trully to fight some deadly situation, the episode becomes a sheer delight for the reader.
What more can I say? I loved it. The book didn't make me laugh out loud a lot, but it definitely added infinite smirks to my face.
- Kaustubh Anil Pendharkar
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