What are Dino and Luigi trying to extort from the Army in Full Frontal Nudity?
In the Season 1 Episode 8 of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the Army Protection Racket sketch, two cliché Italian mafiosi are trying to blackmail the Colonel into giving them money:
[...] not a single armoured division will get done over for fifteen bob a week.
and then go down to
Twelve and six.
and then
Eight and six...
and finally
five bob.
What does this mean and what purchasing power would this be today?
A sketch video and episode script are available.
Best Answer
Bob is another word for Shilling (s), which before decimalisation in 1971 was 1/20 of a Pound (£) and could be split into 12 pence (d).
The episode was filmed 25 November 1969.
From context it's clear that n and m stands for n Shilling and m Pence, so the 2014 values of the negotiated weekly sums are:
1969 | 2014
-----------+--------
£0 15s 0d | £11.02
£0 12s 6d | £9.19
£0 8s 6d | £6.25
£0 5s 0d | £3.68
Calculated with a simple purchasing power calculator.
This partially explain the Colonel's reaction:
No, no this is silly.
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Le Scrawl – Full Frontal Nudity (High Quality)
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