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| affiliation = [[British Army]]
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'''Basil Fawlty''' is the main character of the 1970s British sitcom ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', played by [[John Cleese]]. The proprietor of the hotel Fawlty Towers, he is a [[Cynicism (contemporary)|cynical]] and [[Misanthropy|misanthropic]] [[snob]], desperate to attract hotel guests from the [[British upper class]]. His inept attempts to run an efficient hotel, however, usually end in [[farce]]. Possessing a dry, sarcastic wit, Basil has become an iconic British comedy character who remains widely known toin the publicUnited despite only 12 half-hour episodes ever having been madeKingdom.
 
Cleese would receive the 1980 [[British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance]].<ref>{{cite news |title=See all of John Cleese's BAFTA wins and nominations |url=http://awards.bafta.org/keyword-search?keywords=John%20Cleese |access-date=7 September 2022 |website=BAFTA.org}}</ref> In a 2001 poll conducted by [[Channel 4]], Basil was ranked second (to [[Homer Simpson]]) on their list of the [[100 Greatest (TV series)|100 Greatest TV Characters]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/tv_characters/results.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531160558/http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/tv_characters/results.html |archive-date=31 May 2009 |title=100 Greatest TV Characters |access-date=26 May 2019 |publisher=[[Channel 4]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/ITVProgs/2001/05/05/Y22090001/ |title=100 Greatest ... (100 Greatest TV Characters (Part 1)) |publisher=[[ITN Source]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221233837/http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/ITVProgs/2001/05/05/Y22090001/ |archive-date=21 February 2015 |access-date=13 May 2019}}</ref> Known for his quotable rants,<ref>{{cite news |title=Fawlty Towers: 20 of Basil's best rants |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/Fawlty-Towers-20-of-Basils-best-rants/ |access-date=25 May 2019 |work=The Telegraph|location=UK}}</ref> the character was inspired by [[Donald Sinclair (hotel owner)|Donald Sinclair]], an eccentric, inhospitable, and boorishly impolite hotel owner whom Cleese had encountered when he stayed at his hotel ([[Gleneagles Hotel, Torquay|Gleneagles Hotel]] in [[Torquay]], [[Devon]]shire) along with the rest of [[Monty Python]] in May 1970.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fawlty hotelier was bonkers, says waitress |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1394580/Fawlty-hotelier-was-bonkers-says-waitress.html |access-date=24 May 2019 |work=The Telegraph|location=UK}}</ref>
 
==Origins==
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==Personality==
 
{{Original research|section|date=February 2024}}
 
Basil, who runs the titular hotel in [[Torquay]], is a misanthropic, lazy, and egotistical snob. In the episode "[[Communication Problems]]," Spanish hotel waiter [[Manuel (Fawlty Towers)|Manuel]] said Basil is from [[Swanage]], although Manuel is prone to making mistakes. Basil is alleged to have served in the [[British Army]]. He once claims: "I fought in the [[Korean War]], you know. I killed four men" to which his wife sarcastically replies, "He was in the [[Army Catering Corps|Catering Corps]]; he used to poison them". He often wears military ties, and sports a military-type moustache. He also claims to have sustained a [[Shrapnel shell|shrapnel]] injury to his leg, which has a tendency to flare up at convenient moments – usually when Sybil asks him an awkward question.
 
InBasil contrast,mainly Basil'saspires farto moreattract customer"respectable" hotel guests from titled members of the [[British upper class]] and invariably refers to his overwhelmingly [[working class]]-serviceaccented orientedguests as "plebs" and "riff-raff". By contrast, Basil's wife [[Sybil Fawlty|Sybil]] often has to deal with the fallout of his horrible behaviour, with varying degrees of success. Basil is generally desperate to avoid his wife's wrath, and his plans often conflict with hers, but he mostly fails to stand up to her. She is often [[Verbal abuse|verbally abusive]] towards him (describing him as "an ageing, [[brilliantine]]d [[phasmatodea|stick insect]]") and though he is much taller than Sybil, he often finds himself on the receiving end of her temper, expressed both verbally and physically.<ref name="Best moments"/> ▼
In reality, Cleese was only 14 when the Korean War ended, suggesting that Basil is either several years older than the actor playing him, or is a textbook case of a [[military impostor]]. Basil is often seen wearing regimental ties, most frequently that of the [[East Lancashire Regiment]], and sometimes that of the [[Gordon Highlanders]]. He is also seen wearing a [[Winchester College]] tie (in "The Kipper and the Corpse"), and a [[Balliol College, Oxford]] tie (in "The Germans"). It is likely that Basil wears these regimental and old boy ties dishonestly, further demonstrating Basil's snobbery and pretentiousness.
 
Basil has been married to Sybil since 17the April 19641960s, although Sybil once sarcastically stated that they have been married since 1485. They very rarely show any signs of affection towards one another (in "The Wedding Party" they are shown to sleep in separate beds); in "A Touch of Class", Basil kisses Sybil but she tells him not to, and in "Gourmet Night" Sybil shows affection towards Basil while she is drunk, to which he responds telling her to "drink another vat of wine". "The Anniversary" is one of the few episodes in which Basil tries to be nice to Sybil, who misreads the situation and believes he has forgotten their anniversary.▼
Basil mainly aspires to attract "respectable" hotel guests from titled members of the [[British upper class]] and invariably refers to his overwhelmingly [[working class]]-accented guests as "plebs" and "riff-raff". He knows that the successful running of the hotel is the only means of attracting [[high society]] as guests, yet Basil lacks the necessary [[work ethic]] to run the hotel to the standard the aristocracy would insist upon and refuses to be pleasant to employees or hotel customers who he despises. For this reason, Cleese has described Fawlty as a man who could run a top-notch hotel if he did not actually have hotel guests always getting in his way.
 
▲In contrast, Basil's far more customer-service oriented wife [[Sybil Fawlty|Sybil]] often has to deal with the fallout of his horrible behaviour, with varying degrees of success. Basil is generally desperate to avoid his wife's wrath, and his plans often conflict with hers, but he mostly fails to stand up to her. She is often [[Verbal abuse|verbally abusive]] towards him (describing him as "an ageing, [[brilliantine]]d [[phasmatodea|stick insect]]") and though he is much taller than Sybil, he often finds himself on the receiving end of her temper, expressed both verbally and physically.<ref name="Best moments"/>
 
▲Basil has been married to Sybil since 17 April 1964, although Sybil once sarcastically stated that they have been married since 1485. They very rarely show any signs of affection towards one another (in "The Wedding Party" they are shown to sleep in separate beds); in "A Touch of Class", Basil kisses Sybil but she tells him not to, and in "Gourmet Night" Sybil shows affection towards Basil while she is drunk, to which he responds telling her to "drink another vat of wine". "The Anniversary" is one of the few episodes in which Basil tries to be nice to Sybil, who misreads the situation and believes he has forgotten their anniversary.
 
Basil does occasionally manage to gain the upper hand. In "[[The Kipper and the Corpse]]", Sybil refuses to help Basil dispose of the body of recently deceased guest Mr. Leeman. Basil gets his revenge towards the end of the episode, when he asks a number of disgruntled guests to direct their complaints towards Sybil. In "[[The Psychiatrist (Fawlty Towers)|The Psychiatrist]]", he has an argument with Sybil during which Basil calls his wife a "rancorous, coiffured old sow". He often addresses her (in a faux-romantic way) with insults such as "my little nest of [[Viperidae|vipers]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=Fawlty Towers 40th anniversary: Britain's finest sitcom was TV's most perfectly constructed farce |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/fawlty-towers-40th-anniversary-britains-finest-sitcom-was-tvs-most-perfectly-constructed-farce-10506552.html |access-date=26 May 2019 |work=The Independent}}</ref> Cleese has made the point that, on account of Basil's inner need to conflict with his wife's wishes, "Basil couldn't be Basil if he didn't have Sybil".
 
Fawlty routinely expresses staunchconservative [[Extreme nationalist]] and [[High Tory]] ideologyopinions. For example, in "[[The Wedding Party (Fawlty Towers)|The Wedding Party]]", Basil shows open disgust towards a young couple having [[premarital sex]],. evenIn though"[[The heGermans]]", isBasil neverblames shownthe readingfailure of the hotel's [[Christianfire Bibleextinguisher]] oron attending"[[Harold religiousWilson|bloody services. This is becauseWilson]]", similarlyreferring to otherthe then [[narcissistLabour Party (UK)|Labour]]s, Basil[[Prime refusesMinister toof livethe upUnited toKingdom|Prime hisMinister]]. ownBasil ideals,is also frequently suchfurious asabout [[Christianlabour moralityunion]]s or theand [[traditionalstrike valuesaction]] and– etiquettein "[[A demandedTouch of anClass English(Fawlty gentleman.Towers)|A InsteadTouch of Class]]", Basilhe alwayslaunches insistsinto thata everyonetirade ''else''against followdustmen them.and He,postmen going on thestrike, otherand hand,in treats"[[The everyoneKipper aroundand himthe withCorpse]]" ahe constantis barrageso enraged by news of insults,a [[narcissisticcar rage]]strike tantrums,that andhe afails chillingto notice that levelone of disrespect.his guests is dead.
 
In "[[The Germans]]", Basil blames the failure of the hotel's [[fire extinguisher]] on "[[Harold Wilson|bloody Wilson]]", meaning the Left Wing [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]]'s then [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]. Basil is also frequently furious about [[labour union]]s and [[strike action]] – in "[[A Touch of Class (Fawlty Towers)|A Touch of Class]]", he launches into a tirade against dustmen and postmen going on strike, and in "[[The Kipper and the Corpse]]" he is so enraged by news of a car strike that he fails to notice that one of his guests is dead.
 
Cleese has also described Fawlty as "buried in the past",<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Colin |title=Traces of War: Interpreting Ethics and Trauma in Twentieth-century French Writing |date=2018 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1-78694-042-1 |pages=5–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIJZDwAAQBAJ&dq=don%27t+mention+the+war+fawlty&pg=PA5 |access-date=10 July 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Whatever you do, don't mention the war. Oops! |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/whatever-you-do-don-t-mention-the-war-oops-486582.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/whatever-you-do-don-t-mention-the-war-oops-486582.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=10 July 2021 |work=The Independent |date=14 January 2005 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Malik |first=Kenan |author1-link=Kenan Malik |title=We can mention the war. Should we now talk about Britain's darker history? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/13/we-can-now-mention-the-war-should-we-talk-about-britains-darker-history |website=The Guardian |access-date=10 July 2021 |language=en |date=13 October 2019}}</ref> as he utterly despises living in the England of the 1970s and instead pines for the "good old days" when the [[British Empire]] still existed, when the [[Federal Republic of Germany]] was still [[Nazi Germany]], and when Great Britain was still a Great Power and the main center of world [[geopolitics]]. Basil also often mentions [[British military history]], but never battles in which the [[British armed forces]] were anything other than victorious. ▼
 
For this reason, Fawlty is particularly unwilling to move on from the era of the [[Second World War]], particularly because the aftermath witnessed [[West Germany]]'s reconciliation and [[Cold War]] alliance with Great Britain and, even worse from Basil's perspective, the rapid global collapse of the [[British Empire]] and the supplanting of the United Kingdom as a great power by both the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]].
 
This is why, in the 1975 episode "[[The Germans]]", which Cleese has explained was intended, "to make fun of the British [[Fixation (psychology)|obsession]] with the Second World War",<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Colin |title=Traces of War: Interpreting Ethics and Trauma in Twentieth-century French Writing |date=2018 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1-78694-042-1 |pages=5–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIJZDwAAQBAJ&dq=don%27t+mention+the+war+fawlty&pg=PA5 |access-date=10 July 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Whatever you do, don't mention the war. Oops! |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/whatever-you-do-don-t-mention-the-war-oops-486582.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/whatever-you-do-don-t-mention-the-war-oops-486582.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=10 July 2021 |work=The Independent |date=14 January 2005 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Malik |first=Kenan |author1-link=Kenan Malik |title=We can mention the war. Should we now talk about Britain's darker history? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/13/we-can-now-mention-the-war-should-we-talk-about-britains-darker-history |website=The Guardian |access-date=10 July 2021 |language=en |date=13 October 2019}}</ref> Basil Fawlty expects hotel guests visiting from [[West Germany]] and orders everyone about with the panic-stricken [[catchphrase]], "They're Germans! Don't mention the war!" But after receiving a severe concussion from a falling moose head, Fawlty obliviously waits on the German guests with a highly insulting barrage of [[anti-German sentiment]], German-equals-Nazi jokes, a [[goose step]]ping [[Adolf Hitler]] impression, and tasteless references to [[Royal Air Force]]'s firebombing attacks against German cities.
 
▲Cleese has also described Fawlty as "buried in the past",<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Colin |title=Traces of War: Interpreting Ethics and Trauma in Twentieth-century French Writing |date=2018 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-1-78694-042-1 |pages=5–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIJZDwAAQBAJ&dq=don%27t+mention+the+war+fawlty&pg=PA5 |access-date=10 July 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Whatever you do, don't mention the war. Oops! |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/whatever-you-do-don-t-mention-the-war-oops-486582.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/whatever-you-do-don-t-mention-the-war-oops-486582.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=10 July 2021 |work=The Independent |date=14 January 2005 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Malik |first=Kenan |author1-link=Kenan Malik |title=We can mention the war. Should we now talk about Britain's darker history? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/13/we-can-now-mention-the-war-should-we-talk-about-britains-darker-history |website=The Guardian |access-date=10 July 2021 |language=en |date=13 October 2019}}</ref> as he utterly despises living in the England of the 1970s and instead pines for the "good old days" when the [[British Empire]] still existed, when the [[Federal Republic of Germany]] was still [[Nazi Germany]], and when Great Britain was still a Great Power and the main center of world [[geopolitics]]. Basil also often mentions [[British military history]], but never battles in which the [[British armed forces]] were anything other than victorious.
At first, the German tourists are heartsick and one of the German women, who is just the right age to have [[PTSD]] from childhood memories of Allied bombing raids, is visibly weeping. But then, Fawlty, and [[racism in England|racist]] and [[senile dementia|senile]] British [[World War I]] veteran [[Major Gowen]], proceed to make such complete fools of themselves that the German tourists are left shaking their heads in shocked and speechless disbelief. One of the German men finally wonders out loud, "How ever did ''they'' win?"
 
[[File:Austin 1100 MkI Countryman (estate) 1098cc Nov 1967.JPG|thumb|left|[[BMC ADO16|Austin 1100 Mk.I Countryman]]. A red version was immortalised in the ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' episode "[[Gourmet Night]]". When the car breaks down and won't start, Basil gets out and tells it, "I'm going to give you a damn good thrashing", before he starts beating it with a branch.<ref name="Best moments">{{cite news |title=The 10 best Fawlty Towers moments |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/18/the-10-best-fawlty-towers-moments-40th-anniversary |access-date=23 August 2019 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>]]
Basil takes many of his frustrations out on the hapless waiter [[Manuel (Fawlty Towers)|Manuel]], physically abusing and bullying him in a variety of ways. The relationship between Basil Fawlty and Manuel has been the subject of academic discourse.<ref name="Journal of Pragmatics">{{cite journal | title= Gricean theory and linguicism: Infringements and physical violence in the relationship between Manuel and Basil Fawlty | last1= Greenall | first1= Annjo K.| date= March 2009| journal= [[Journal of Pragmatics]]| volume=41 | issue= 3| pages=470–483 | doi=10.1016/j.pragma.2008.05.017}}</ref> On occasions he also assaults others, such as choking a guest in "[[The Hotel Inspectors]]", kneeing [[Major Gowen]] in "[[Basil the Rat]]", "accidentally" elbowing a young boy in the head in "[[Gourmet Night]]" and, in the same episode, famously beating his [[AustinBMC 1100ADO16|"vicious bastard" of a car]] with a tree branch when it breaks down.<ref name="Best moments"/>
 
Another eccentricity affecting Basil is that of occasionally swapping words around in a sentence while propounding a falsehood, for instance in "[[The Anniversary (Fawlty Towers)|The Anniversary]]" when he announces to the party guests that it's "''perfectly Sybil! Simple's not well. She's lost her throat and her voice hurts''", and – less obviously – reassuring himself as much as his wife in "[[The Wedding Party (Fawlty Towers)|The Wedding Party]]" that the sound of knocking on his bedroom door was "probably some key who forgot the guest for their door". He also has difficulty disconnecting his thought- process from unrelated events, as in "The Wedding Party", when he is looking through Polly's sketchbook of life-drawing pictures and answers the telephone with, "Hello, Fawlty Titties?" or in "The Psychiatrist", where, after inadvertently staining a female guest with paint, he realises that Sybil has noticed, and in a panic puts his hands on the guest's breasts as a means of stopping her from seeing it.
 
His desire to elevate his class status is exemplified in the unusual care and respect he affords [[upper class]] guests, such as Lord Melbury (who turned out to be a con man and an impostor), Mrs Peignoir (a wealthy French antiqueantiques dealer) and Major Gowen, an elderly ex-soldier and recurring character – although Basil is sometimes scathing towards him, frequently alluding to his [[senility]] and his frequenting of the hotel bar ("drunken old sod"). He has particular respect for doctors, having once aspired to be one himself, and shows a reverential attitude to Dr. Abbott in "The Psychiatrist" (until he learns that Dr Abbott is a psychiatrist), and Dr Price in "The Kipper and the Corpse" (until Dr Price begins to ask awkward questions about the death of Mr. Leeman, and inconveniently requests sausages for breakfast).
 
Basil is constantly spiteful and abusive to guests, and liable to pick up a tail-end of a situation (often panicking when things go wrong) and turn it into a farcical misunderstanding. Basil is known for his tight-fisted attitude to the hotel's expenses, employing completely incompetent builder O'Reilly in "[[The Builders]]" simply because he was cheap. Notoriously, he also becomes indignant whenever a guest makes a request, even if the request is quite reasonable. In "The Kipper and the Corpse", he is offended when a sickly guest politely askedasks for breakfast in bed, and Basil responds by sarcastically asking him which type of wood he would like his breakfast tray made out of.
 
==Reprisals==
John Cleese portrayed Basil in a 1980 special offor the British rock band, [[Queen (band)|Queen]]. Basil is seen at a bar and is asked what he thinks of Queen, to which he shows disgust and calls the music "rock rubbish." He asks, "What do you need that for when you got Beethoven?" <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nQlcCKItRQ | title=1980 John Cleese Talks about QUEEN | website=[[YouTube]] }}</ref>
 
John Cleese reprised the role of Basil in the song "[[Don't Mention the World Cup]]", an allusion to "don't mention the war" from the ''Fawlty Towers'' episode "[[The Germans]]", for the [[2006 FIFA World Cup]], which was played in [[Germany]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Sherwin |first=Adam |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article718221.ece |title=Don't mention the War, says Cleese in World Cup peace bid |publisher=The Times (archived at Wayback Machine) |access-date=2014-05-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809055508/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article718221.ece |archive-date=9 August 2011 }}</ref><ref name=abc>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1642618.htm |title=Soccer fans learn World Cup etiquette according to Cleese |work=ABC |date=2006-05-19 |access-date=2014-05-29}}</ref>
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Cleese appeared as Basil in a 2016 TV advertisement for [[Specsavers]] during which, in a reference to the ''Fawlty Towers'' episode "[[Gourmet Night]]" where the character thrashes his car with a branch, Basil accidentally attacks an adjacent police car, mistaking it for his own.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9tSN0178Us/ Specsavers Fawlty Car, featuring John Cleese #shouldve]</ref>
 
In February 2023, a revival of ''Fawlty Towers'' was announced with Cleese reprising the role as an older Basil still running the hotel whilst trying to fit into the modern world.<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64563839</ref>
 
==Cultural references==
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