Made in 1942, The Black Sheep of Whitehall is a wartime comedy film, starring Will Hay, John Mills and Felix Aylmer. This article is about the year. ... William Thompson Hay (December 6, 1888 – April 18, 1949) was a British comedian, actor and amateur astronomer. ... John Mills as Professor Bernard Quatermass in the Thames Television science-fiction serial Quatermass (1979). ... Sir Felix Aylmer Jones (born February 21, 1889 in Corsham, Wiltshire, England; died September 2, 1979 in Sussex, England) was a distinguished English stage actor who appeared in the cinema and on television. ...

Plot summary

When he is forced to vacate the office of his debt-ridden correspondence college, 'Professor' Will Davis goes to the Ministry of International Commerce at Whitehall in order to confront his one-and-only student, PR man Bobby Jessop. To get Davis off his back, Jessop proposes to get him a job at Whitehall. Jessop then leaves in order to fetch Professor Davys at the train station. Professor Davys is a leading economist who has returned from a long stay in South America in order to advise the government on a trade treaty with the South American nations, which could be crucial to Britain's war effort. Whitehall, London, looking south towards the Houses of Parliament. ... Public relations is, simply-stated, the art and science of building relationships between an organization and its key audiences. ... An economist is an individual who studies economics and writes about economic policy. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ...

Will Davis is mistaken for the expert and gets involved in a series of interviews, giving answers based on gambling, con jobs, double entendres or just plain ignorance! Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. ... A double entendre or innuendo is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. ...

Jessop later returns with 'Professor Davys' and the confusion is sorted out, though it has left the BBC interviewers in a state of mental collapse! Jessop then discovers that the man he brought with him is in fact Crabtree, a member of a group of Fifth columnists working for Nazi Germany. Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... interview An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked to obtain information from the interviewee. ... A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermines from within a larger group to which it is expected to be loyal, such as a nation. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Jessop promises Will Davis a job if he helps him track down the real Professor Davys, who is being held in a safe house by Crabtree's associates. Assuming a number of disguises, Will Davis and Jessop set off to foil the plot before the treaty is compromised! A safe house is a location where people may go to avoid persecution of their activities by authorities. ...

Notes

Full of puns, pursuits, running around and double-entendres, this is a wonderful comedy which pokes fun at espionage, the medical and transport services and bureaucratic red tape. Espionage is the practice of obtaining secrets (spying) from rivals or enemies for military, political, or economic advantage. ... Red tape is a derisive term for regulations that are considered excessive or for bureaucratic procedures that are considered time- and effort-consuming. ...

Hay and Mills had worked before, most notably on Those Were the Days (1933). They make a great pairing, with Mills being allowed to display his fair share of comedy ability. 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Thora Hird features at the beginning as Will Davis' secretary, who is owed, rather than paid, to deal with the equally unpaid bills! Dame Thora Hird (May 28, 1911 - March 15, 2003) was a veteran British actress born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. ...

Wartime audiences must have enjoyed seeing broadcaster Leslie Mitchell driven to a nervous breakdown while interviewing Hay! (Mitchell was the first commentator for the new BBC Television Service when it began transmissions on 2 November 1936. He also provided the commentary for the Movietone News.) Note: broadcasting is also the old term for hand sowing. ... BBC One (or BBC1 as it was formally styled) is the oldest television station in the United Kingdom, and indeed, the world. ... November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Movietone News produced cinema newsreels from 1929-1979. ...

External links

• The Black Sheep of Whitehall at The Internet Movie Database