Line #13 Radio/TheVeryWorldOfMiltonJones


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/very_world.jpg]]
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3	''The Very World of Milton Jones'' is a British {{radio}} series starring "[[OverlyNarrowSuperlative Britain's funniest Milton]]", {{Creator/Milton Jones}}. Each show begins with Milton's [[OnceAnEpisode life flashing before his eyes]] due to a near-death experience; his guardian angel comes down to visit him, and together they discuss his life. At the end, the angel leaves him, but by some staggering coincidence - usually relating to something mentioned earlier in the episode - he survives.
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5	Milton Jones has done some other series as well. ''Another Case of Milton Jones'' featured Milton's life in various jobs, including chessmaster (featuring the Russian university town of Untergrad), architect and mayor of London ("I discovered there was a [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground secret network of tunnels under the city]]. Why hadn't I been told of this earlier?"). ''The House Of Milton Jones'' was a ''slightly'' more conventional DomCom. And on occasion he pops up as a comic elsewhere.
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7	Not to be confused with the other [[Creator/JohnMilton Milton]].
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
10	* AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering
11	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: If you consider homeopathy to be medicine, at any rate. One episode involves [[spoiler:Prince Charles]] plotting to cure all the world's illnesses by putting a drop of an extremely potent medicine into the ocean, thus (by the laws of homeopathy) making it infinitely diluted and infinitely powerful. In fact, 'real' homeopathic solutions are diluted by ''considerably'' more than 'one drop in all the water on Earth'.
12	* BrickJoke: Many, usually forming the resolution of the progamme.
13	* CatchPhrase: "Bother!"
14	** Anton's MadLibsCatchphrase, used OnceAnEpisode in ''Another Case...'', is "No, I can never X again. [[TroubledBackstoryFlashback You see...]]"
15	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: "I'm the most famous undercover journalist in the world! I could walk into any drug den or illegal betting syndicate and everyone would know who I am!"
16	* TheComicallySerious : Anton, who is usually a genuine expert in whatever Milton's career is this week.
17	* DontExplainTheJoke: Milton's BizarroUniverse counterpart Milton Smith explains his 'jokes' all the time. And yet the women still love him.
18	* ExpositoryThemeTune: ''The House Of Milton Jones'' has one, which describes all the characters and also clarifies that it's not actually ''his'' house, it's Auntie Dilys's.
19	* ForgottenBirthday: In Another Case Of Milton Jones, Milton makes a throwaway mention of the entire nation of Britain pretending to forget the Queen's official birthday. Despite this, a later episode shows that they forget his birthday every year.
20	* HurricaneOfPuns: The entire show.
21	* HypocriticalHumor:
22	--> '''Milton''' ''(to a New Zealander)'': Yeah, you go away, with your weird accent and your land full of sheep. Not like us Welsh.
23	* ICouldaBeenAContender: In ''Another Case'', it always turns out that Anton was a high-flyer in whatever field Milton was involved in, but had to abandon his dreams due to some unfortunate mishap (the anecdotes where he explains this mishaps are always introduced by a piece of melancholy harp music, and the audience are beginning to catch on to this). In the Racing Driver episode, this is followed by the music swelling and Anton vowing that this time, he's going to push past his trauma and drive again... only for Milton to drive off instead while he was busy talking.
24	* ImagineSpot: One of the purposes of the guardian angel is to show Milton what life would be like under some strange circumstance. For example, one episode has Milton pondering what it would be like to be a Jehovah's Witness in the Middle Ages.
25	* InterruptedIntimacy: The third main character in ''Another Case'' (alongside Milton and Anton) is Milton's sister, Susan, who spends most of the episodes smitten with Anton and tries multiple times to spend some alone time with him, only for Milton to inevitably (and obliviously) interrupt the proceedings.
26	* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: OnceAnEpisode in ''The Very World...'', and in fact the whole of the episode.
27	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: The BBC Young Musician of the Year announcer in the Musician episode of ''Another Case'' had his only suit at the dry cleaners, so he just showed up wearing nothing, and is still wearing nothing when he returns to commentate another performance in Russia. Likewise in the Microbiologist episode there is a supporting Red Indian character called "Running Bear" who is actually Running ''Bare'' (and it's a RunningGag that everyone keeps telling him to put some clothes on).
28	* NegativeContinuity: Each episode gives Milton new parents, a new job, a new previous love interest and new circumstances. Of course, this is all because of the RuleOfFunny (see below).
29	%%* NoOneShouldSurviveThat
30	* OnTheMoney: In "Jockey", Milton's father's donkey sanctuary will be shut down if he doesn't find £137 million. This is coincidentally exactly the amount Milton won in a race before.
31	-->'''Milton:''' And it is also the cost of a white chocolate horse I saw in the window at Harrods. But don't worry, I know where my priorities lie.
32	-->'''Truck:''' Chocolate horse for Mr. Jones!
33	* OrphanedPunchline: Original broadcast episodes of ''Another Case'' included numerous musical segments, where Milton would "interact" with popstars through the lyrics of their songs. These segments were cut from the commercial releases (presumably because of licensing issues) with the exception of a single moment in the Musician episode. A RunningGag had been extending the chorus from Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" so he was saying the titular words over and over again; the origin of the joke was cut from the release, but in the middle of what ''was'' released Milton opens the wrong dressing room door and Bill is still going with no context whatsoever.
34	* PocketProtector: The "Mexico" episode ends with Milton surviving death by firing squid when the bullets bounce off his Tesco Clubcard.
35	* PretentiousPronunciation: Sir Alan 'Mill-AY' Millet in the "Explorer" episode of ''Another Case''. Milton mocks this for the rest of the episode: "...and then the Bay of Biscay - sorry, Biscuit...
36	* ProductPlacement: {{Parodied}}. Milton's father (or, at least, one of them) was a donkey ride operator on Blackpool Beach.
37	-->'''Milton:''' I think I was closest to Cillit Bang Stain Remover Removes Stubborn Stains. I used to call him Cillit Bang Stain Remover for short, and every day we marched up and down the sands with "Cillit Bang" printed proudly on his side.
38	-->'''Mrs Truly-Barrington:''' So you had sponsorship?
39	-->'''Milton:''' Sponsorship? Bother!
40	* RuleOfFunny: Why else would Milton have an [[MadScientist evil genetic engineer brother]] who creates a set of giant vegetables that Milton manages to destroy other than to set up the line [[spoiler:"Your evil flan has failed!"]]?
41	** Not to mention the Bank of England's gold reserves being in the shape of a giant pound coin, to set up [[spoiler:the pound dropping through the floor]] and someone being [[spoiler:hit by the falling pound.]]
42	* RunningGag: Not across the episodes, but within them. For example, the Mexico episode involves many instances of Milton failing to emulate the famous Zorro symbol ("That's not a Z, that's an N." "Yes. For I...am Norro! As the path to freedom is not wide; it is Norro!").
43	* ShoutOut: To various [[Creator/TheBBC Radio Four]] bedfellows, including ''Radio/TheArchers'' and ''Radio/DesertIslandDiscs''.
44	* SoundToScreenAdaptation: ''Milton Jones's House of Rooms'' on Creator/Channel4, based loosely on ''The House of Milton Jones''.
45	* TakeThat: Against, among others, Wandsworth and Liverpool, Music/ThePolice, Phys Ed teachers, and the Welsh rugby team.
46	** In an episode where Milton is a journalist, [[Series/TopGearUK Jeremy Clarkson]] gets invited onto Milton's [[LiteralMinded "hard-hitting"]] TV show.
47	-->'''Milton''': Welcome to the show, Jeremy.
48	-->'''Jeremy''': Thank you so much!
49	-->[''Sounds of somebody getting hit'']
50	-->'''Milton''': Well, I think we all feel a lot better now.
51	* TroubledBackstoryFlashback
52	* WaxingLyrical: A common joke, as well as using snippets from songs as dialogue. For example, one episode has Milton interviewing Music/SamCooke for a job as a teacher; all of Cooke's responses are lines from "Wonderful World (Don't Know Much About History)".
53	--> '''Milton''': How about teaching PE?
54	--> '''Cooke''': ''But I do know one and one is two''
55	--> '''Milton''': Ah, overqualified then.

Context Radio / TheVeryWorldOfMiltonJones