“I'm marrying you because I want to join the Army and see the world.”
Why it's great
A wedding vow disguised as an enlistment joke, so the romance lands sideways.
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Use it yourself
I'm taking the job because I want to see the world.
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Barbara Lists 50 Reasons to Marry Candy, Explained
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp · 1943
Chapter 21 of 30 · 3'40"
Candy and Barbara trade reasons and questions until she answers the one he keeps asking: "I'm marrying you for 50 different reasons, and they all mean that's how I imagined my future husband." Later, at a ball, Candy confesses to the bishop how he first saw her — as one nurse among seventy.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 1:47–2:46
The Bishop's Speech
59s - 2:48–3:18
❝ Monologue · 7 lines The general's confession
He turns a love story into a military search, letting the bishop fill in the punchline.
29s
Barbara Lists 50 Reasons to Marry Candy, explained
What happens
Candy courts Barbara, asking her again and again why she is so sure. After a joke about being twenty years older and a soldier, he invites her question with "Fire away," and she answers with a list: she is marrying him for fifty reasons, all of which add up to her future husband. Later, at a ball, Candy tells the bishop how he first noticed her in Flanders.
What's really going on
The chapter is about how a marriage is actually made: not by one great declaration but by repetition and play. Candy keeps asking the same question, and Barbara keeps giving the same answer, and both of them enjoy it — "I'm asking you again, because I want to hear it again." Her list of fifty reasons is a joke with a plain truth inside it, and his reply, "That's how I imagined my future wife," meets it exactly. Later, at the ball, the tone shifts. The bishop praises Candy for being a man "whose heart is in the right place," and Candy answers with a confession about seeing Barbara once in Flanders, then engineering a ball just to find her again. What looked like romance turns out to have been a campaign — and the scene lets both readings stand.
Key lines & what they mean
- “I'm marrying you because I want to join the Army and see the world.”
- One of Barbara's joking reasons: she treats the marriage as a ticket to adventure, which is both a tease and a kind of truth.
- “I'm asking you again, because I want to hear it again.”
- The heart of their exchange: the question and answer are repeated because both of them want to keep the moment going.
- “"There is a man whose heart is in the right place."”
- The bishop's praise of Candy, which the scene lets us hear as sincere, and also as the kind of thing said at a charity ball.
- “I'm marrying you for 50 different reasons, and they all mean that's how I imagined my future husband.”
- Barbara's answer in full: the many reasons are a joke, but the point is plain — he is exactly the husband she pictured for herself.
- “I first saw Barbara in Flanders on the last night of the war.”
- Candy's confession to the bishop: he saw her only once, a nurse among many, and set about finding her again.
- “That's how I imagined my future wife.”
- Candy's matching answer, which completes the exchange: they each turn out to be exactly what the other pictured.
Theme
- Romance — The scene is courtship as a running joke: a question asked again for the pleasure of the answer, and fifty reasons that mean one thing.
- Marriage — Candy explains not the romance but the plan behind it: a wartime glimpse, a charity ball, and a wife found on purpose.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level3/6
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“I'm asking you again, because I want to hear it again.”
Why it's great
The repetition turns a question into a compliment: she wants the words as much as the answer.
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literary
Use it yourself
Sing it again, because I want to hear it again.
“"There is a man whose heart is in the right place."”
Why it's great
It praises character rather than achievement, and the fixed phrase makes the verdict sound final.
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Neutral
Use it yourself
He is clumsy, but his heart is in the right place.
“I'm marrying you for 50 different reasons, and they all mean that's how I imagined my future husband.”
Why it's great
The joke of fifty reasons collapses into a single meaning, so the long line lands as one clear confession.
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literary
Use it yourself
I chose this city for a dozen reasons, and they all mean I want to stay.
“I first saw Barbara in Flanders on the last night of the war.”
Why it's great
One plain sentence fixes who, where and when, and the coincidence of the war's last night turns romance into fate.
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Use it yourself
I first saw my wife in a bookshop on the last day of term.
“That's how I imagined my future wife.”
Why it's great
A short echo of the line before turns love into a prophecy coming true, and the plainness is its power.
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Use it yourself
That's how I imagined my first real home.
Monologue
One character carrying the scene — shadow the whole passage❝ The general's confession
My Lord Bishop, I want to make a confession. I first saw Barbara in Flanders on the last night of the war. She was a nurse among 70 other nurses. I never knew her name, but I found out that most of the nurses came from Yorkshire, and the West Riding. And, of course, she was a nurse. So, I thought to myself... Well, Yorkshire's a big place, my Lord Bishop.
He turns a love story into a military search, letting the bishop fill in the punchline.
Up next · 22change one's spotsThe scene: Candy and Barbara See Their New HouseTakeaways
What you walk away with- A yes can sound like an enlistment order.
- Fire away hands the floor over in two words.
- Drive at asks what someone really means.
- Wriggling is dodging, not dancing.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhy does Candy ask the same question twice?
Because he wants to hear the answer. As Barbara says, she asks him again "because I want to hear it again" — for the two of them, the repetition is part of the pleasure.
What does "Fire away" mean, and why does it matter here?
It is an invitation to speak freely, like "go ahead." Candy uses it to hand the conversation to Barbara, which is what lets her deliver her list of reasons.
What is Candy's confession to the bishop?
That he first saw Barbara in Flanders on the last night of the war, as one of seventy nurses, and that he never learned her name. He then found a way to find her again.
How did Candy find Barbara after the war?
Through patience and planning. He learned most of the nurses came from Yorkshire and the West Riding, and he arranged the charity ball that finally brings them together.
Is the bishop a matchmaker or just a guest?
He is a guest praising Candy's good heart at the ball, and he has no idea he is being told the story of a courtship. Candy uses the speech as cover for his confession.