From: bruce@tcom.stc.co.uk (Bruce Munro)
Subject: Re: Captain Pugwash

>In article <9111192151.AA01601@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> KG27515%UAFSYSB@UAFSYSA.UARK.EDU
>
>> Don't tell me that's not true?!  My former roomate, a Brit, told me that
>> she watched that show as a child. She said there was Captain Pugwash ,
>> Seaman Staines, Master Bates and Roger the Cabin Boy.  She never thought
>> the names were dirty until she was at college and heard about it in the
>> papers.  We never could figure out what was dirty about the name Roger.
>i have heard that some brits use "roger" as a verb with approximatley the
>same meaning as "for unlawful carnal knowledge"

You're sadly mistaken I'm afraid. This UL was recently scotched when the
British newspaper "The Guardian" published the following article two
weeks ago:

\beginquote

JOHN RYAN: CAPT. PUGWASH

In the Young Guardian of September 13 we stated that the Capt. Pugwash
cartoon series featured characters called Seaman Staines and Master Bates,
and for that reason the series had never been repeated by the BBC. We accept
that it is untrue that there ever were any such characters. Furthermore,
the series continues to be shown on television and on video.

We apologise to Mr. Ryan, the creator, writer and artist of the Captain
Pugwash films and books. We have agreed to pay him damages and his legal
costs.

\endquote

The cabin boy was not called Roger, but Tom. So there goes another bit
of it. As I remember, two of the crew were Pirates Willy and Barnabas,
and there may have been a M[ai]ster Mate, which may have been the source
for the story.