The Greasy Pole [SEP] series
The Greasy Pole
"The Greasy Pole" is the eleventh episode of the BBC comedy series "Yes Minister" and was first broadcast 16 March 1981. In this episode, the final "Yes, Minister" is uttered by Bernard Woolley. The episode's title is an allusion to a famous quotation by Benjamin Disraeli: "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole". In Disraeli's case, it referred to achieving high political office while being of Jewish parentage.
Plot.
Sir Humphrey Appleby
La cucaña
The Greasy Pole (in , ) is a painting by Francisco de Goya.
Analysis.
Like the rest of the series, the painting is based on a popular scene of a vertical greased Cockaigne pole.
The greasy pole is a popular theme of the iconography of the eighteenth century that Goya had already used for his tapestry drawings. During Cockaigne, boys climb and fight to reach the top of the pole. The background landscape is blurred, but it is possible to distinguish farms and a crowd