Popular beat combo, which originated as a synonym for "pop group", is a phrase that occurs in British culture.OED Third Edition (December 2006). "popular beat combo, n.": " "humorous or ironic. Chiefly British." It may also be used more specifically to refer to The Beatles, or other such purveyors of beat music.
The phrase is frequently used in Private Eye and in the BBC panel game Have I Got News For You, making fun of Ian Hislop's supposed lack of knowledge about modern music.
Derivation It is widely held that the phrase "popular beat combo" was coined in an English courtroom in the 1960s, where a judge asked (for the benefit of the court's records) "Who are The Beatles?" and a barrister replied "I believe they are a popular beat combo, m'lud."
However, neither the question nor the answer has ever been reliably attributed, and they remain the stuff of urban legend. Marcel Berlins, legal correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, failed in his attempt to track down any verification. "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." In 2007, Berlins restated his offer of "a bottle of best Guardian champagne to any reader with a solution". Christie Davies attributes the encounter to Judge James Pickles.Davies, Christie. "Judges and Humour in Britain: From Anecdotes to Jokes" in Jessica Milner Davis and Sharyn Roach Anleu (eds.) (2018). Judges, Judging and Humour, p. 68.
The phrase is part of a trope in postwar British culture where judges are seen to be out of touch.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 discrimination regulations that come into force in October." An archetypical example is from the 1960 obscenity trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover, in which the legal profession was ridiculed for being out of touch with changing social norms when the chief prosecutor, Mervyn Griffith-Jones, asked jurors to consider if it were the kind of book "you would wish your wife or servants to read".
See also Recurring jokes in Private Eye
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