Melinda said:
I feel rather sad now for the regular spoddy fantasist types who get off on dressing up, they'll be tarred with the same brush.
I couldn't help but think of my old boss when I was watching this programme.
I don't think he actually went as far as getting dressed up, but I bet he'd probably been along to few of these re-enactments in his time. Him and his mates were obsessed with WW2 airplanes, building scale models, and going on weekend trips to various WW2 sites on the continent, etc. (-Yeah, I know how dodgy that bit probably sounds...). I'd bump into him and his mates in the pub, and, without fail, they'd
always be discussing the specific technical details of Spitfires vs. Messerschmitts, etc...
We used to constantly tease him about being some kind of secret Nazi-lover, but in truth, he was as much into Allied stuff as he was Axis, and he realised just how ridiculous and vaguely sad his obsessions must seem to us. He had a fantastic sense of humour too, really twisted and deadpan. If his wife would've let him, he'd probably have got married in full regalia like in tonight's programme; but not because he was a Nazi sympathiser, but just because he's got a completely daft sense of humour. Huge Monty Python fan, of course...
On the day he left our office, a colleague even presented him with a painting of him mocked up as a German officer, complete with comedy monocle and facial scar, with a Messerschmitt going down in flames in the distance. He knew it was a complete pisstake of him, and he loved it.
I realise he must sound a bit dubious (-like that episode of
Peep Show...), but he really was no Nazi sympathiser; he was just obsessed with all things WW2. The best boss I've ever had, tbh.