Quantity Surveyor - Pop Culture

Pop Culture

This fairly obscure profession is familiar to some who would otherwise not have heard of it because it is referenced twice in sketches by Monty Python:

1. In "Bookshop Sketch" the sketch ends when a bookshop owner, infuriated by a troublesome customer's requests for ridiculous books, is able to satisfy the customer's request for "Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying" (this sketch was originally from "At Last the 1948 Show" but was performed by Monty Python on stage).
2. In "Bicycle Repairman", in which everyone is a Superman but no one can repair a bicycle, the Python team parody the famous "Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's Superman!", line with "Oh look - is it a Stockbroker? Is it a Quantity Surveyor? Is it a Church Warden? No! It's Bicycle Repairman!"

In series 2 of "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", the "Dancersize" sketch features Stephen Fry pretending to be a Quantity Surveyor, using the line "Good morning, do you have any quantities for me to survey?"

In the British crime TV series Blackpool (TV serial) David Tennant's character, a police inspector investigating a murder, pretends to be a Quantity Surveyor to make advances on the wife of a suspect.

In Not the Nine O'Clock News, there is a sketch lampooning Ask The Family, in which the Brainie and Smaughtarse families (played by exactly the same actors in different costumes) are all Quantity Surveyors.

In Series 2, Episode 10 of Keeping Up Appearances, Richard attempts to discuss their son's progress with Hyacinth:

Richard: Well, we put him into higher education because you wanted him to be a quantity surveyor.

Hyacinth: Mm-hm?

Richard: So why has he drop maths in favour of needlework?

Hyacinth: Because he started to make all his own clothes, that's why