Money (Blackadder)

"Money" is the fourth episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603.

Plot

Blackadder owes one thousand pounds to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who threatens to have him killed if he does not pay. Blackadder tries unsuccessfully to blackmail the Bishop. He has only 85 pounds, which he loses when the Queen wins a bet about him with Lord Melchett.

Blackadder and Baldrick manage to get sixpence from a sailor, which is also taken by the Queen. Lord Percy tries to make them money by alchemy, without success, only producing a green substance, which he seems convinced is valuable. Blackadder manages to bully a couple into buying his house for 1100 pounds, but is again tricked out of the money by the Queen.

Finally, Blackadder drugs the Bishop and has a painting made of him in a highly compromising position. He uses this to successfully blackmail the Bishop into writing off the debt and giving him enough money to buy back his house and live in comfort. The Bishop is impressed by his treachery, but asks who the other figure in the painting is, at which Blackadder reveals Percy.

Money (KMFDM song)

"Money" is a song by industrial rock group KMFDM from their 1992 album of the same name. It was released as a single in 1992, and released as a 7" in 2008, as the ninth release of KMFDM's 24/7 series. The song charted at No. 36 in July 1992 on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs Chart.

Track listing

1992 release

2008 7" reissue

Personnel

References

Money (play)

Money is a comic play by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It was premièred at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 8 December 1840.

Production history

The play was revived at the Royal National Theatre in 1999, directed by John Caird and with a cast including Jasper Britton, Roger Allam (winner of the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role), Simon Russell Beale, Sophie Okonedo, Patricia Hodge (who won Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 2000 for her role) and Victoria Hamilton.

Film adaptation

In 1921 the play was adapted into a silent film directed by Duncan McRae and starring Henry Ainley, Faith Bevan and Margot Drake.

Radio adaptation

A radio adaptation of the play by Kate Clanchy was premiered by BBC Radio 3 on 19 June 2011 as part of its Money Talks season and repeated on 1 July 2012. It was the first radio play to be directed by Samuel West (who also played the minor and uncredited vocal role of a French tailor). The play was recorded at Bulwer-Lytton's stately home, Knebworth House, and the music was performed by the Endellion String Quartet. The producer was Amber Barnfather. The Financial Times described the production as “faultlessly stylish”.

Sky+

Sky+, or Sky Plus, is a personal video recorder (PVR) service for Sky in the UK. Launched in mid 2001, it allows the user to record, pause and instantly rewind live TV. The system performs these functions using an internal hard drive inside the Sky+ set top box. Its chief competitors in the UK market are the Freeview+, Freesat+, BT Vision, and Virgin Media's V+.

In the Republic of Ireland, Sky+ competes with UPC's Digital+ box which offers 160GB or 250GB of storage. As of 30 September 2009, there were 5.9 million customers with Sky+.

The £10 per month subscription fee was discontinued for subscribers from 1 July 2007, but will continue for Freesat from Sky use.

Technical information

Sky

The sky (or celestial dome) is everything that lies above the surface of the Earth, including the atmosphere and outer space.

In the field of astronomy, the sky is also called the celestial sphere. This is viewed from Earth's surface as an imaginary dome where the sun, stars, planets, and the moon are seen to be traveling. The celestial sphere is conventionally divided into regions called constellations. Usually, the term sky is used informally as the point of view from the Earth's surface; however, the meaning and usage can vary. In some cases, such as in discussing the weather, the sky refers to only the lower, more dense portions of the atmosphere.

During daylight, the sky appears to be blue because air scatters blue sunlight more than it scatters red. At night, the sky appears to be a mostly dark surface or region scattered with stars. During the day, the Sun can be seen in the sky unless obscured by clouds. In the night sky (and to some extent during the day) the moon, planets and stars are visible in the sky. Some of the natural phenomena seen in the sky are clouds, rainbows, and aurorae. Lightning and precipitation can also be seen in the sky during storms. Birds, insects, aircraft, and kites are often considered to fly in the sky. Due to human activities, smog during the day and light pollution during the night are often seen above large cities.

Sky blue

Sky blue is the name of a color that resembles the color of the sky at noon. The entry for "sky-blue" in Murray's New English Dictionary (1919) reports a first sighting of the term in the article on "silver" in Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia of 1728. However, many writers had used the term "sky blue" to name a color before Chambers. For example, we find "sky blue" in A Collection of Voyages and Travels (London: Awnsham and John Churchill, 1704), vol. 2, p. 322, where John Nieuhoff describes certain flowers: "they are of a lovely sky blue colour, and yellow in the middle". The sense of this color may have been first used in 1585 in a book by Nicolas De Nicolay where he stated "the tulbant of the merchant must be skie coloured".

Displayed at right is the web colour sky blue.

Variations of sky blue

Celeste

Celeste (pronounced che-les-te in Italian se-lest in English) is the colloquial name for the pale turquoise blue colour associated with Italian bicycle manufacturer Bianchi S.p.A and sometimes known as Bianchi Green. In Italian, as the name indicates (Celestial), it is an attempt to reproduce the colour of clear skies. In English, this colour may also be referred to as Italian sky blue.