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Ahoy me hearties! ⛵ Enjoy this clip of singer-songwriter turned swashbuckler Peter Allen playing the Pirate King in the Gilbert and Sullivan 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘻𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 TV movie from 1982. It is from a series of Gilbert and Sullivan operas shown on PBS and the BBC. Peter and the gang sing “When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold”, also known as “The Paradox Trio”.
How did Peter Allen end up in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘻𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦? According to a 1981 𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 article, the producer of the TV movie saw Peter performing on the Miss Universe Pageant (watch it here: and wanted him to play the part of the Pirate King since she saw his potential. Peter wasn’t so sure about the part since he never sang opera, never acted, and didn’t care for Gilbert and Sullivan. Despite this, the producer and his manager persuaded him to do it and he agreed. For the role, Peter took diction lessons, fencing lessons, and listened to Gilbert and Sullivan operas. He ended up having a great time in his first acting role. He especially liked having hair! His hair was fake for the role, but his beard was real.
“When You Had Left Our Pirate Fold” (“The Paradox Trio”)
Written by: W. S. Gilbert & A. Sullivan
When you had left our pirate fold
We tried to raise our spirits faint
According to our custom old
With quip and quibble quaint
But all in vain the quips we heard
We lay and sobbed upon the rocks
Until to somebody occurred
A startling paradox
A paradox?
A paradox
A most ingenious paradox!
We’ve quips and quibbles heard in flocks
But none to beat this paradox!
A paradox, a paradox
A most ingenious paradox
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
A paradox.
We knew your taste for curious quips
For cranks and contradictions queer
And with the laughter on our lips
We wished you there to hear
We said, “If we could tell it him
How Frederic would the joke enjoy!
And so we’ve risked both life and limb
To tell it to our boy.
A paradox?
A paradox
That most ingenious paradox!
We’ve quips and quibbles heard in flocks
But none to beat this paradox!
A paradox, a paradox,
A most ingenious paradox.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
A paradox.
For some ridiculous reason
To which, however
I’ve no desire to be disloyal
Some person in authority
I don’t know who
Very likely the Astronomer Royal
Has decided that
Although for such a beastly month as February
Twenty-eight days as a rule are plenty
One year in every four
His days shall be reckoned as nine and twenty
Through some singular coincidence
I shouldn’t be surprised
If it were owing to the agency of an ill-natured fairy
You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement
Having been born in leap-year
On the twenty-ninth of February
And so, by a simple arithmetical process
You’ll easily discover
That though you’ve lived twenty-one years
Yet, if we go by birthdays
You’re only five and a little bit over!
Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!
Dear me!
Let’s see!
Yes, yes; with yours my figures do agree!
Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!
How quaint the ways of Paradox!
At common sense she gaily mocks!
Though counting in the usual way
Years twenty-one I’ve been alive
Yet, reckoning by my natal day
Yet, reckoning by my natal day
I am a little boy of five!
He is a little boy of five!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
A paradox, a paradox
A most ingenious paradox
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
A paradox
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
A curious paradox
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
A most ingenious paradox…(read more at source)
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