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'How Now Brown Cow' skit??

posted 15 years ago by jeremygordonmarch
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Can anybody tell me where I can find the following Benny Hill sketch - which I strongly remember from my childhood - on DVD or YouTube?

When I was about nine years old, I saw a short (maybe ten-minute) sketch - which I am virtually certain was a Benny Hill sketch - involving a kind of a takeoff on "My Fair Lady." In the sketch, Benny Hill - at least I'm almost certain it was him - played a very dim medieval English peasant who some English nobles were trying to turn into a gentleman (by teaching him to speak properly, dress well, etc.) and introduce to the Queen of England.

If I remember correctly, about half of the sketch involved the nobles trying to teach the man to say "how now brown cow," which he kept mispronouncing horribly (repeating the phrase in an unusually loud, grating Cockney voice ("'ow nehw brewn cehw!") At some point, they taught him how to say "how now brown cow" correctly, and moved him on to quoting Shakespeare (or something classy like that).

At the very end of the sketch, the man met the Queen. The nobles told him to speak to her, and he said, with perfect diction, "how now brown cow?" One of the nobleman urgently whispered something to him like, "no, no, no, not that! The other stuff we've taught you!" Whereupon the man went back to 'ow nehw brewn cehw!'

Does anyone know what this sketch is called and where I can find it? I'd love to see it again after thirty long years. Thanks.

[–] nhanina 15 years ago

If you’re a fan of the British comedy of Benny Hill, but always wished that it had a Jewish twist, then you should check out my web series, “The British Jew with a Loose Screw.” The series can be viewed on YouTube at YouTube.com/britishjewloosescrew

[–] W.B. 15 years ago

That bit was actually from a sketch that originally aired on Dec. 22, 1971, "The Great Pretender." And yes, Mr. Hill played both the King and the dim peasant brought forth to impersonate him. Nicholas Parsons and Bob Todd were his "mentors," and also appearing were Rita Webb, Johnny Greenland (as the messenger), Clovissa Newcombe (in her only TBHS appearance; she wore a blonde wig in the sketch) and Bettine Le Beau.

The show, depending on where you live, is featured on A&E's R.1 DVD set Complete & Unadulterated: The Naughty Early Years - Set 1: 1969-1971 and Network Video's R.2 DVD set The Benny Hill Annual: 1971.