23-1207: The secretary of state for culture, media and sport , also referred to as the culture secretary , is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom , with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department for Culture, Media and Sport . The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom . The office has been dubbed "Minister of Fun". King Charles III [REDACTED] William, Prince of Wales [REDACTED] Charles III ( King-in-Council ) [REDACTED] Starmer ministry ( L ) Keir Starmer ( L ) Angela Rayner ( L ) ( King-in-Parliament ) [REDACTED] Charles III [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The Lord Reed The Lord Hodge Andrew Bailey Monetary Policy Committee The secretary has overall responsibility for strategy and policy across
46-518: A fictitious British government ministry responsible for developing silly walks through grants . Cleese, throughout the sketch, walks in a variety of silly ways. It is these various silly walks, more than the dialogue, that have earned the sketch its popularity. Cleese has cited the physical comedy of Max Wall , probably in character as Professor Wallofski , as important to its conception. Ben Beaumont-Thomas in The Guardian writes, "Cleese
69-553: A film on silly walks. (The segment is a parody of early 20th-century cinema, with Michael Palin dressed up as Little Tich ; this film is also shown as part of the Hollywood Bowl performance of the sketch.) After tossing the projector offstage, Teabag offers Putey a grant that will allow him to work on the Anglo-French Silly Walk, La Marche Futile (a parody of Concorde 's Anglo-French development), which
92-632: A separate department, had no minister in the Cabinet , sport was part of the Department for Education , film was part of the Department of Trade and Industry , broadcasting was part of the Home Office , tourism was part of the Department for Employment and heritage was part of the Department of the Environment . He also wrote that the system tended to favour the interests of the articulate and well-connected London -based arts lobby. Thus, when he became Prime Minister, Major said that he saw that
115-528: Is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show Monty Python's Flying Circus , series 2, episode 1, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired on 15 September 1970. A shortened version of the sketch was performed for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl . A satire on bureaucratic inefficiency, the sketch involves John Cleese as a bowler-hatted civil servant in
138-461: Is then demonstrated by a man ( Terry Jones ) dressed in a mixture of stereotypical English and French outfits, with a sped-up version of " La Marseillaise " playing. Mrs. Two-Lumps, presumably the minister's secretary , makes a brief appearance, bringing in coffee with full silly walk. As she enters, the cups fall all over the tray, completely spilling their contents. The minister looks at the tray, says "Thank you, lovely" and she exits again, taking
161-517: Is utterly deadpan as he takes the stereotypical bowler-hatted political drone and ruthlessly skewers him. All the self-importance, bureaucratic inefficiency and laughable circuitousness of Whitehall is summed up in one balletic extension of his slender leg." According to research, published in British Medical Journal a 'silly walk' would take about 2.5 times as much energy as normal walking. The sketch as originally depicted in
184-404: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport . Responsibilities include: The office was created in 1992 by Prime Minister John Major , as Secretary of State for National Heritage. In his autobiography, Major says that, before the office was created, responsibility for cultural interests was shared among various departments, but important to none of them. For instance, arts and libraries, although
207-554: The Monarch exercising royal prerogative on the advice of the government. By convention secretaries of state must be a member of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords , but the prime minister can advise the monarch to confer a peerage to satisfy this requirement. Most secretaries of state are incorporated as a " corporation sole ". This gives the minister a separate legal personality, allowing continuity in areas such as
230-566: The Act, but could theoretically exercise the powers of, for example, the Secretary of State for Scotland at any time. There are exceptions, in that legislation sometimes refers to particular secretaries of state. Under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975 , a maximum of 21 secretaries of state can receive a salary. Secretaries of state and other government ministers are appointed by
253-504: The United Kingdom . Secretaries of state head most major government departments and make up the majority of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom . Legislation in the United Kingdom is often written like this example section of a hypothetical Silly Walks Act 1970 : 1. Grant powers On the appointed day, the Secretary of State shall be empowered to grant money towards the development of fatuous ambulations as seen fit. In legislation,
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#1732771806798276-433: The delay, explaining that his walk has become particularly silly of late and it takes longer for him to reach his destination. Putey explains that he has a silly walk he wishes to develop with grant money. He demonstrates his walk which, to Teabag, isn't particularly silly ("The right leg isn't silly at all, and the left leg merely does a forward aerial half-turn every alternate step."). He tells Putey that he does not believe
299-510: The embryonic offices of foreign secretary and home secretary . Over time, the number of secretaries of states grew, so that there were five in 1900 and 14 by 1996. There are currently 16 secretaries of state. The secretaries of state that have been used for the matters of health, education, work, business, energy, environment, transport and the regions are shown in the graphic below. It shows how portfolios of responsibilities have been broadly passed down from one secretary of state position to
322-621: The form of the offices of the secretary of state for the Northern Department and the secretary of state for the Southern Department , was made in 1689, though the office had been first divided into the Northern and Southern Department purviews in 1660. In 1782, the responsibilities of these offices were changed, so that one would be responsible for foreign affairs and one for domestic affairs, thus establishing
345-425: The ministry can help him, as Putey's walk is not silly enough and funding is short. The government, he explains (whilst walking around his office in increasingly silly ways), is supposed to give equally to Defence , Social Security , Health , Housing , Education , and Silly Walks, but recently spent less on Silly Walks than on national defence. After a visit by his secretary Mrs. Two-Lumps, Mr. Teabag shows Mr Putey
368-457: The only way to give culture and sport the higher profile that he thought that they deserved was to establish a new department, under a minister of Cabinet rank, to bring together all aspects of the arts, sport and heritage. Secretary of State (United Kingdom) His Majesty's principal secretaries of state , or secretaries of state , are senior ministers of the Crown in the Government of
391-522: The ownership of property between office-holder changes. The origin of the office lies in the office of the king's private secretary . However, by the Tudor period , the office's purview had become more onerous. In 1539 or 1540, Henry VIII appointed two people to the office. After the Stuart Restoration , the practice of appointing two secretaries of state resumed. A formal division, in
414-710: The position(s) directly below it. However, it is impossible for such a graphic to be completely accurate; it cannot show smaller changes, or gains or losses of responsibilities within a position due to changes of responsibilities for the UK Government (for example, due to devolution or Brexit ). It is not to scale. In the gaps, and before the first of these secretaries of state, relevant responsibilities were taken on by ministers not titled 'Secretary of State'. Key: The Secretaries of state that have been used for culture, heritage and sport are as follows: The Ministry of Silly Walks " The Ministry of Silly Walks "
437-630: The series begins with John Cleese playing Mr. Teabag, a civil servant who, after purchasing The Times from the newsagent in the previous sketch, walks through the streets of London (at the crossing of Thorpebank Road and Dunraven Road ) in a very peculiar manner. He eventually arrives at his place of business: The Ministry of Silly Walks, on the northern end of Whitehall . In the hallway, he passes other employees all exhibiting their own silly walks before arriving at his office (the Hollywood Bowl performance omits this preamble). Once there, he finds Mr Putey ( Michael Palin ) waiting for him and apologizes for
460-475: The term "Secretary of State", thus capitalised, is interpreted under the Interpretation Act 1978 as referring to any one of the secretaries of state in use; in practice, such secretaries of state are each allocated a portfolio by the prime minister, and only exercise the powers in that portfolio. In this example, a "Secretary of State for Silly Walks" would be appointed to exercise the provisions of
483-419: The top 50). In 2014, an official video game adaption of the sketch was released for Android and iOS . It features Cleese, as the minister of silly walks, leaving his office and walking through London. It takes the form of an endless runner game, except with an appropriately absurd walking animation. The game includes voice acting from John Cleese. Unofficial signs stating that certain sidewalks are under
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#1732771806798506-405: The tray with her, complete with upended cups. In the Hollywood Bowl version, Carol Cleveland plays Mrs. Two-Lumps, and spills some of the coffee on Cleese during the sketch. As the years went by amid repeated requests to do the sketch, Cleese found it increasingly difficult to perform these walks. He would say, when told about a new Python tour, "I'm not doing silly walks." Accordingly, the sketch
529-491: Was not performed during Monty Python Live (Mostly) , the troupe's 2014 reunion show. It was replaced by "The Silly Walks Song", which was performed by a group of (younger) dancers who mimicked Cleese's original walks while wearing bowler hats and carrying briefcases. In 2005, the sketch was chosen in a poll taken by Channel 4 in Britain as the 15th greatest comedy sketch of all time (and one of five Monty Python sketches in
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