The General (The Prisoner)
"The General" is an episode of the television series The Prisoner. It was the tenth episode to be produced, and the sixth to be broadcast. The central themes of this episode are rote learning and indoctrination.
Plot summary
Number Six — along with the rest of the Village population — is subjected to a new mind-altering education technology called "Speed Learn" which can instill a three-year university level course in history over a television screen in just three minutes. It was invented and is "taught" by an avuncular individual known as "The Professor" who is nevertheless seen trying to escape from the Village along the beach at the episode outset. Number Six finds a tape recorder on the beach which he hides in the sand. He witnesses the professor being recaptured, who then proceeds with the education program which instills a detailed, but fairly sterile, set of data on "European history since Napoleon" into all Village residents' minds. Speed Learn is also apparently supported by someone known as "The General". Number Two tries to find the tape recorder, which he thinks Number Six has, but fails; he then quizzes Number Six on the lecture, and Six answers correctly. After Number Two leaves, Number Six goes back to the beach to find the tape recorder, only to find that Number Twelve has it. Number Twelve agrees to help Number Six. On the tape the professor states that speed learn is an abomination and slavery, and that The General must be destroyed.
The General
The General or The Generals may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
In print
The General (1998 film)
The General is an Irish crime film directed by John Boorman about Dublin crime boss Martin Cahill, who pulled off several daring heists in the early 1980s, and attracted the attention of the Garda Síochána, IRA, and Ulster Volunteer Force. The film was shot in 1997 and released in 1998. Brendan Gleeson plays Cahill, Adrian Dunbar plays his friend Noel Curley, and Jon Voight plays Inspector Ned Kenny.
Cast
Plot
After selling stolen paintings to the UVF Cahill realizes he has made a dangerous mistake. When the PIRA hear of this, they order his assassination, which is carried out on 18 August 1994.
The General (TV series)
The General was a BBC fly-on-the-wall Television series hosted by Yvette Fielding, Chris Serle and Heather Mills. Based at Southampton General Hospital, the programme tracked the progress of selected patients, including outpatients, at the hospital. The series was broadcast live every weekday on BBC One, in a daytime slot. 61 episodes of the programme were aired in total; 58 of them in 1998 (from April to June), and the other three in 2002. The original director of the series was Dave Heather.
As well as the presenting team tracking patients and staff in the hospital, the programme also featured Heather Mills abseiling down the side of the hospital and demonstrating various uses for her prosthesis. However, it was alleged some years after the series finished that Mills was appointed to the presenting role under false pretences, having claimed that newspaper articles written by a journalist namesake were written by herself.
The show also featured occasional celebrity guest appearances, including a visit from endurance expert Mike Stroud.
Podcasts:
