{"id":13916,"date":"2025-07-02T11:55:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T18:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=13916"},"modified":"2025-05-02T12:02:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T19:02:31","slug":"are-you-being-served","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=13916","title":{"rendered":"Are You Being Served?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Are_You_Being_Served%3F\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Are_You_Being_Served%3F\">Are You Being Served<\/a> is one of my favorite British comedies. It very much reminded me of the funny and interesting characters that worked with me at one of my first jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It turns out, his amazing characters\/stories were based in some truth. In the early 1950s, scriptwriter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/areyoubeingserved.fandom.com\/wiki\/Jeremy_Lloyd\">Jeremy Lloyd<\/a>\u00a0was employed as a junior assistant at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly\">Simpson of Piccadilly<\/a> and he drew on his experiences to come-up with the idea for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/areyoubeingserved.fandom.com\/wiki\/Are_You_Being_Served%3F\">Are You Being Served?<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Simpsons opened in 1936, it was the largest menswear store in Britain. It&#8217;s now owned by Waterstones chain of bookshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" data-attachment-id=\"13917\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?attachment_id=13917\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/croft2_215209c.jpg?fit=620%2C413&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"620,413\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"croft2_215209c\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/croft2_215209c.jpg?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/croft2_215209c.jpg?fit=620%2C413&amp;ssl=1\" data-id=\"13917\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/croft2_215209c.jpg?resize=620%2C413&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13917\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/croft2_215209c.jpg?w=620&amp;ssl=1 620w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/croft2_215209c.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/croft2_215209c.jpg?resize=405%2C270&amp;ssl=1 405w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"965\" data-attachment-id=\"13919\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?attachment_id=13919\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?fit=1024%2C1544&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1024,1544\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"1024px-Simpson_57_40419\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?fit=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?fit=640%2C965&amp;ssl=1\" data-id=\"13919\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?resize=640%2C965&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13919\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?resize=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1 199w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?resize=679%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 679w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?resize=768%2C1158&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?resize=1019%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1019w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/1024px-Simpson_57_40419.jpg?resize=179%2C270&amp;ssl=1 179w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" data-attachment-id=\"13920\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?attachment_id=13920\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?fit=1920%2C2560&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1920,2560\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?fit=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?fit=640%2C853&amp;ssl=1\" data-id=\"13920\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?resize=640%2C853&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?resize=768%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?resize=1152%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1152w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?resize=1536%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?resize=203%2C270&amp;ssl=1 203w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattfife.com\/wp-content\/themes\/mattTheme\/headerimgs\/2025\/05\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly_2005-1.webp?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Are_You_Being_Served%3F\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Are_You_Being_Served%3F<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/areyoubeingserved.fandom.com\/wiki\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly\">https:\/\/areyoubeingserved.fandom.com\/wiki\/Simpsons_of_Piccadilly<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are You Being Served is one of my favorite British comedies. It very much reminded me of the funny and interesting characters that worked with me at one of my first jobs. It turns out, his amazing characters\/stories were based in some truth. In the early 1950s, scriptwriter\u00a0Jeremy Lloyd\u00a0was employed as a junior assistant at Simpson of Piccadilly and he drew on his experiences to come-up with the idea for\u00a0Are You Being Served? When Simpsons opened in 1936, it was&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=13916\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cool"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WECr-3Cs","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13921,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13916\/revisions\/13921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}