249:"If anyone would like a magnum of champagne in return for a little literary sleuthing, Marcel Berlins, legal correspondent for the Guardian, has a competition. There are many references (check Google for confirmation) to a judge who once asked, during a case (perhaps in the 60s) "Who are the Beatles?". Berlins contends this is apocryphal and will award said fizz to anyone who proves otherwise."
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The Times: Slow, but steady, move forward. "AGEISM in the legal profession seems an unlikely concept. The stereotype is of an aged — usually male — judge being informed that the Arctic
Monkeys are “a popular beat combo, m’lud”. But at the commercial end of the profession, firms are gearing up for the
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It is widely held that the phrase "popular beat combo" was coined in an
English courtroom in the 1960s, by a barrister in response to a judge asking (for the benefit of the court's records) "Who are The Beatles?"; the answer being "I believe they are a popular beat combo,
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newspaper, failed in his attempt to track down any verification. In 2007, Berlins restated his offer of "a bottle of best
Guardian champagne to any reader with a solution".
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The phrase is part of a trope in postwar
British culture where judges are seen to be out of touch, the ultimate example being in the 1960 obscenity trial of
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Kick the Bucket and Swing the Cat: The
Complete Balderdash & Piffle Collection of English Words, and Their Curious Origins
109:, in which the legal profession was ridiculed for being out of touch with changing social norms when the chief prosecutor,
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However, neither the question nor the answer has ever been reliably attributed, and remains the stuff of
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OED Third
Edition (December 2006). "popular beat combo, n.": " "humorous or ironic. Chiefly British."
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Informally defined as the description of a pop group from the early days of rock and roll.
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discrimination regulations that come into force in
October."
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352:"1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold out"
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