Dad's Army

[firefly]

What was 'Uncle Arthur' a euphemism for?

[GuavaHalf]

Nothing as far as I know. Uncle Arthur was Sergent Wilson who was 'intimately involved' with Pike's mother.

[inferno]

Pike had to call him 'Uncle' to maintain the pretense that he was a relative rather than his mother's fancy man. Keeping up appearances you know.

[splodger]

jimmy Perry always maintained that Pike was Wilson's illegitimate son.

[johngammon]

It was an old piece of cultural shorthand, now almost lost to history: when her kid would ask who the strange man was who kept staying the night, the mum was supposed to explain "It's your uncle". A similar sexual subtext was given to the word "lodger". It would have been obvious to people who grew up in the war years that Pike was the son of Sergeant Wilson. His affair with Pike's mother out of wedlock was the key reason why Mainwaring was the bank manager and Wilson was the deputy.