Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Flowery Twats

I had an in-depth conversation with a fellow "motella" the other day and we ended up discussing one of the the accommodation industry's greatest real-life television documentaries: Fawlty Towers.

We agreed that Basil Fawlty may have had some customer service issues, however just once we would have loved to see him have a win over one of those pesky guests.

Sadly, we could only remember "Flowery Twats" as one of the rearrangements of the Fawlty towers sign that appeared at the beginning of every episode.

...So what were the others?

Thank goodness for Google and Wikipedia  - the oricles that know all were able to shed light on this frustrating dilemma:
The Paperboy, though rarely seen, is significant as he is revealed to be the prankster who rearranges the letters on the "Fawlty Towers" sign to read various (sometimes crude) phrases. This may have been because of Basil's sharp attitude towards him when he was late with a delivery. The shot of the sign (with the hotel exterior in the background) appears at the beginning of every episode but one, "The Germans", when a shot of a hospital is used, as this is the only episode which doesn't begin at the hotel. 

During the first series, the sign slowly deteriorated throughout the season until almost no letters were left in episode four. Episode five brings the first semi-anagram: "Warty Towels". In the second series, the first episode sign spells 'Fawlty Tower', with the letter "L" being noticeably askew, and changes in each subsequent episode, from the correct spelling to various semi-anagrams (only "Flowery Twats" from the 11th episode, "The Anniversary", is a proper anagram using all original letters.) The changes progress as follows:

Episode 1. Fawlty Towers
Episode 2. Fawlty Tower
Episode 3. Fawty Tower
Episode 4. Fawty Toer
Episode 5. Warty Towels
Episode 6. NO SIGN
Episode 7. Fawlty Tower
Episode 8. Watery Fowls
Episode 9. Flay Otters
Episode 10. Fatty Owls
Episode 11. Flowery Twats
Episode 12. Farty Towels

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