Better to Have Loved and Lost

"Better to Have Loved and Lost" is the eighth episode of the first season of Mind Your Language. It was first broadcast on the 17th of February 1978.
==Plot==
The students are playing a game of shove ha'penny. Mr. Brown sees Giovanni drinking a bottle of wine; despite his and Max's insistence that it's water, Mr. Brown takes a sniff and warns the students not to bring alcohol to class. Mr. Brown asks his students what they did for the weekend, which leads Anna to tell a sad story about what happened when she was dating a man named Kurt back in Germany. The other students go on to tell what they did for the weekend: Taro tells about his visit to Buckingham Palace; Danielle went to the Isle of Man; Jamila watched a film, Gigi; Max went to a football match and brought his girlfriend to the Tower of London; Giovanni went to the church; and Juan just slept after work in his bar.
Su-Lee and Ali arrive late and tell Mr. Brown they're going to get married in the morning. While the students are celebrating their upcoming marriage, Ali's wife shows up in Miss Courtney's office. She sends her to the tearoom while Mr. Brown brings Ali to the office, where he tells Ali that he just met his wife and asks what will happen if Su-Lee finds out. Ali replies that a Muslim man is allowed to have multiple wives, and he wants to marry Su-Lee because he and his wife have been trying for a baby for 4 years with no luck. Mr. Brown tells Ali that he can't marry Su-Lee because it's against the law in England to have more than one wife.
Su-Lee then comes to the office. Mr. Brown prompts Ali to tell Su-Lee the truth, but he is nervous about doing so and runs out of the office, telling her that Mr. Brown will be telling her. She, however, tells Mr. Brown that the wedding is not going to happen. Mr. Brown informs the class that the celebration is canceled, but Ali announces that his wife is going to have a child, so they go to the pub to celebrate anyway.
==Quotes==
Mr. Brown: What about you, Anna? Did you spend the weekend with your boyfriend?
Anna: Nein, I have no boyfriend.
Mr. Brown: Oh, that's a pity. Everyone should have a boyfriend.
Ranjeet: I have no boyfriend.
(Giovanni comforts him.)
Mr. Brown: I was referring to the girls.
Anna: I once had a bed experience with a boy.
Mr. Brown: A bed experience?
Anna: Ja.
Mr. Brown: You mean he tried to get you into bed?
Anna: Nein, not bed sleep, bed, opposite of good.
Mr. Brown: Oh, bad.
Anna: Ja, bed.
Mr. Brown: And what happened?
Anna: I cannot tell you. It voz too awful. 
Taro: Japanese philosopher say: "Confession very good for soul."
Max: Yeah! Tell us what happened.
Mr. Brown: Well, you don't have to if you don't want to.
Anna: Maybe it is better I get it off my breast.
Mr. Brown: Chest.
Anna: Ja. It voz dreadful. I still blush when I am sinking of it.
Mr. Brown: Yes, well perhaps you'd better not tell us then.
Max: She must!
Ranjeet: Most definitely, I am all earholes.
Anna: It voz about 5 years ago when I was going out with this boy Kurt, I was young and innocent. One night we had been to ze beer garden und we had been drinking a lot of schnapps. Afterwards I am inviting him to my apartment for coffee.
Danielle: Ooh la la!
Taro: Japanese philosopher also say: "Man goes to lady's apartment for a drink-o but usually end up having nibble."
Mr. Brown: Well, I think we'll leave your Japanese philosopher out of it if you don't mind, Taro. Go on, Anna.
Anna: Well, we sat together on ze bed und he was stroking my ends.
Mr. Brown: Which end?
(She puts up her right hand.)
Anna: Zis end.
Mr. Brown: Oh, your hand. Ah I see.
Ranjeet: Oh dear, I am thinking I am too young to be hearing any more.
Mr. Brown: Well, you can leave the room if you wish to, Ranjeet.
Ranjeet: Oh no, I stay. It is good to be knowing the ways of the world.
Danielle: What happened next Anna?
Anna: Kurt vos kissing me on my neck.
Danielle: Sacre bleu!
Anna: Zhen he vos kissing me on my shoulder zen he vos kissing me all over ze place. 
Danielle: Go on.
Anna: I vos feeling all romantisch. Zen mit all the trink zat I had drunk und ze warmth of his body by mine on ze bed I did something I have always been ashamed of.
Mr. Brown: Well what did you do?
Anna: I fell asleep.
----Mr. Brown: How did you spend your weekend?
Taro: I go to Parace.
Mr. Brown: Oh, Paris.
Taro: Yes.
Mr. Brown: Ah, weekend in France.
Taro: No, no. Not France, in London.
Mr. Brown: Um, Taro.
Taro: Yes, teacher?
Mr. Brown: Paris is in France.
Taro: Not Buckingham Parace.
Mr. Brown: Buckingham Palace. I followed you here.
Taro: You followed me?
Mr. Brown: Yeah.
Taro: But I didn't see you there.
Mr. Brown: No, no, no, no. I mean I understand that you went to the Buckingham Palace.
Taro: Yes. There, I see royal frago.
Mr. Brown: Royal frago? Royal flag.
----
Miss Courtney: Well, the school is holding a draw next weekend, and I am selling tickets for it.
Ranjeet: Excuse me. This draw you're selling tickets for...
Miss Courtney: Yes?
Ranjeet: What sort of draw is it? Is it from the dressing table, or what?
----
Mr. Brown: You're a practising Catholic then?
Giovanni: I no practise, I'm-a perfect. In Italy when I was a little boy I was gonna be a priest.
Mr. Brown: Really? What made you change your mind?
Giovanni: It's like-a this; one day the priest he give a big sermon in-a church all about women, girls and the pleasures of the flesh. And the more he spoke the more I realised what I would be missing.
----
Mr. Brown: Well, what about a toast then? Eh?
Giovanni: Uh, we have no toast, only biscuits.
Mr. Brown: No no no no no, I mean a toast for Ali and Su-Lee.
Giovanni: We have no toast for them either.
----
Mr. Brown: I have just met your wife.
Ali: Oh, jolly good!
Mr. Brown: And I must say, it came as rather a shock.
Ali: 'Scuse, please? She is not all that bad-looking.
Mr. Brown: No no no, Ali, you don't understand; you are a married man.
Ali: Oh, yes.
Mr. Brown: Well then, how can you possibly be thinking of marrying Su-Lee tomorrow?
Ali: Why not?
Mr. Brown: It's bigamy!
Ali: Oh, no. It is big of me.
==Videos==
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==External links==
* 's IMDb page
Category:Season 1 episodes
Category:Episodes with mention of an unseen character