Origins
The sketch is clearly inspired by the real-life story of notorious London gangsters the Kray twins, although the Piranhas' methods seem to resemble more closely those used by the rival the Richardson Gang and their associate "Mad" Frankie Fraser. Spiny Norman is a subtle reference to the notorious former head of the London Drug Squad, Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, while Superintendent Harry 'Snapper' Organs is a reference to Inspector Leonard "Nipper" Read.
Read more about this topic: Piranha Brothers
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)