Gastric's and Entwistle's jacket

Seymour Upperthong

Dedicated Member
I noticed that Gastric and Entwistle both wore the same jacket, black fabric with fake plastic leather shoulders and upper back. This jacket was out of style when Entwistle wore it in Summerwine and really out of style when Gastric wore it in SOAH. I also notice that the jacket was big on Entwistle and small on Gastric which makes me think it is actually the same jacket recycled. I also believe that this is the only clothing prop recycled in Roy Clarke's shows. Entwistles toyoyo truck was red, as was Gastric's mini. Are there any other parallels?
 
Pretty sure their respective Donkey jackets [what those type of jackets are referred to as] were discreet although both actors are 1.68 metres , 5ft 6in in old money, their frames are so different in size I am sure they are not the same coat. Tim Healy was one of the stars of Auf Wiedersehen Pet and he wore a Donkey Jacket in that perhaps he used that one although he was nowhere near the size he was in SOAH.
 
Pretty sure their respective Donkey jackets [what those type of jackets are referred to as] were discreet although both actors are 1.68 metres , 5ft 6in in old money, their frames are so different in size I am sure they are not the same coat. Tim Healy was one of the stars of Auf Wiedersehen Pet and he wore a Donkey Jacket in that perhaps he used that one although he was nowhere near the size he was in SOAH.
Captain Clutterbuck,
Thank you for making me aware of the Donkey Jacket. Wikipedia provides a description 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_jacket' and history. It originated in the UK. I never have seen one in the US, so I had no idea. I remember in the days of disco (late 70s), there was a leisure suit that had a jacket that resembled the donkey jacket somewhat. It had the plastic imitation leather upper back and shoulders, which extended through the collar and lapels. The fabric that comprised the rest of the jacket contained no natural fibers, all polyester or some other plastic. The large lapels usually extended into the armpit. I am proud to say I never had a leisure suit or a quiana shirt which was all the rage back then. I did smoke back in those days and I was always concerned that an errant cigarette contact to the fabrics could prove lethal.

When I first saw Entwistle wearing his donkey jacket, I was thinking it was some version of of a similar leisure suit jacket. I was really perplexed when I saw Gastric wearing the same jacket, which is what prompted my suspicions and query.

I've learned a lot about English customs through this forum. Pearl patiently answered my questions about Yorkshire cuisine. I thought fried bread was french toast, and I had no idea what mushy peas might be. I've only seen a couple of British offerings in the international food aisle at Stop and Shop, a can of Spotted Dick (whatever that is) and Colman's Shepherd's pie mix. I did incorporate the Colman's into my Shepherd's pie recipe. I make a low fat, low cholesterol version of shepherd's pie using ground white meat chicken, in place of other meats, for health reasons. It looses a lot of flavor this way, but the Colman's spice blend really zips it up a lot! Thank you all again.
 
Spotted dick is a steamed suet based pudding[the spots are currants] that is always served with custard and was the darling of school children's dinners [NOT!] personally I love it . It is the sort of dessert that sticks to your ribs on a cold autumnal day. The implied innuendo was of course the go to of many scriptwriters in the 1960s .:)
 
Interesting, I did not realize that Entwistle and Gastric wore the same style of jacket. Always thought that Donkey Jackets were the ones with the patches on the elbows. Or the type of sweater / varsity style jacket that upper class, elite college graduate guys might wear around the private golf club bar table while enjoying drinks and a cigar.

Captain, seems we have two very different definitions for suet. The hard beef or mutton with currants sounds really good and I would love to try sometime. My knowledge of suet is a hardened block of fat with nuts and seeds which gets put out to feed birds. Something that is not fit for human consumption.

Seymour, that bread pudding of your Mom's sounds amazing. I adore bread pudding.
 
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