Cavete Quod Idibus Martiis
Today is the Ides of March so I thought I’d keep post this priceless bit of British cultural history relevant to such a fateful day.
This is from the First Folio Edition of Carry On Cleo, and stars the sublime Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar delivering one of the funniest lines in the whole Carry On series. The joke may be nearly as old as me, but it’s still a cracker…
And if one old joke isn’t enough for you, here is a Caesar Salad:
In the Dark 
March 15, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Chemistry in Britain (as it then was) did a special edition covering snake venom in medical technology, and featured Sid James on the cover – just after biting the head off Cleo’s asp. This did not go down well with some RSC members, who wrote in to condemn this frivolous, unprofessional choice of picture.
March 15, 2023 at 2:11 pm
The dialogue in that scene states that the asp was poisonous when in fact it was venomous. No doubt this is was Sid James realized it would be safe to bite its head off.
March 16, 2023 at 9:55 pm
It is doubted that Cleopatra actually used an asp, because – supposing that there is historical continuity in the snake described as an asp – death from the bite of an asp is slow and painful, the asp being a viper with largely heamotoxic venom, whereas the Egyptian cobra offers a rapid and relatively painless passing, having neurotoxic venom. These facts about the bites would have been known at the time, and many believe she used a cobra.
March 16, 2023 at 10:21 pm
I thought that “asp” was just another name for the Egyptian cobra…
March 20, 2023 at 11:13 am
Irony! Irony! They’ve… er, hang on.