On the menu are flapjacks {pancakes really, as flapjacks are actually biscuits}. So if No.6 has been conditioned to eat flapjacks on sight, why doesn't he do so for breakfast while in No.2's office? Ah, perhaps the answer is in the question, No.6 is offered pancakes for breakfast, that's why he take but a nibble of said dish!
I'll be seeing you
That business of flapjacks has always suggested the possibility that Curtis was American, since flapjack was the American term for what the British called pancakes back then. McGoohan was born in America of course, however much a British icon he had become by 1967. Given your points elsewhere about No6 being McGoohan (rather than John Drake) this is a curiosity to amuse perhaps.
ReplyDeleteSignificant? No idea... :-D
Hello Moor,
ReplyDeleteThere are several Ammerican words and phrases used throughout 'the prisoner' series which makes one think that No.6 is an American. 'Flackjacks' are a hard biscuit, British pancakes, as in 'The Schizoid Man,' are made from batter. That's the difference I was trying to make.
There maybe no significance in this whatsoever, and is in all probability an error.
Regards
David
BCNU
A flapjack is a biscuit/cake in Britain but I wonder if the rise of American-style diners in Britain in the Sixties, allied to the ubiquity of American movies generally in this country, had led to the term *flapjack* as representing a sweet pancake becoming fashionable at the time. The script for Schizoid was written by Terence Feely wasn't it, so I wondered why he introduced that term. It's not even alliterative is it, Like Flapjack Frankie perhaps.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Flapjack Charlie, I suppose we are meant to conclude that No12 's full name would have been Charles Curtis. We should remember that it was not No6 who was supposed to like pancakes for breakfast but the man the village were trying to brainwash No6 into accepting he was, and that was Curtis - the guy with the Lord Lucan moustache - all in all not a very American-looking guy; it's a real prisoner puzzle this one.
Moor
I'll add an American's perspective: A flapjack around here is a thick pancake, and looks nothing like what No. 6 is served. To me, those look like crepes. A flapjack is too thick to roll up. Watching The Prisoner, I always figured that "flapjack" was a British term for a crepe. Huh!
ReplyDeleteI agree. When I Google search for flapjack, it neither looks like a pancake nor what is shown on The Prisoner.
DeleteHi, Yes those things were more akin to a British pancake:
ReplyDeletehttp://londonbaking.com/2011/03/08/pancake-day-recipe/
Things went awry someplace in the mid-Atlantic clearly.... ;-D
Hello Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThe pancakes which are served up to No.6, are British pancakes which are a dish generally served here in the UK on Shrove Tuesday which this year was on February 21st. Pancakes which are made from batter are cooked and tossed in frying pans, we even have pancake races. They can be served with sugar and lemon juice, jam, or anything.
Regards
David
Be seeing you
Hello Moor,
ReplyDeleteAt least when they made up No.6, we can see what "Charles" Curtis looked like before they made him up as No.6!
Regards
David
Be seeing you
I suppose if they'd called him Pancake Pat, it'd have been a bit of a giveaway... :-D
ReplyDeletehttp://londonbaking.com/tag/english-pancakes/