Merry old England.

The cultural hotbed.

It’s the birthplace of some of the greatest playwrights, authors, actors and filmmakers of all time. Not to mention the country that spawned eight of the 10 best rock bands ever.

But when it comes to television, things get a little spotty.

Sure, there have been some wonderful shows, such as “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” “The Office,” “Fawlty Towers,” etc. But on the whole, viewers are more likely to find American programming on the BBC as frequently as British-made entertainment.

Recently, I came across a story on the wire about a poll in which British viewers were asked to list the 10 most memorable TV moments of the past 50 years. The results were as follows:

1) 9/11 – Fall of the Twin Towers

2) Funeral of Princess Diana

3) First televised landing on the moon

4) Fall of the Berlin Wall

5) Bob Geldof asking for our “(expletive) money” during Live Aid

6) Two Ronnies’ “Four Candles” sketch

7) Ricky Gervais’ dance in “The Office”

8) Monty Python’s “Dead Parrot Sketch”

9) England winning the World Cup in 1966

10) Shooting of JFK

My reaction to this formidable list is probably the same as that of most Americans:

What the heck is the Two Ronnies’ “Four Candles” sketch?

Through the miracle of the Internet, I found the answer.

The Two Ronnies is the name of a comedy team composed of Scottish funnyman Ronnie Corbett and Brit Ronnie Barker. They delivered their signature sketch on their “Two Ronnies” TV show in 1976.

This six-minute bit involves a hardware store employee (Corbett) becoming increasingly aggravated by a cockney customer (Barker) because he keeps misunderstanding his requests.

The customer seems to ask for four candles. But after much confusion, the customer rephrases his request to reveal he actually wants fork handles – as in pitchforks.

(View this sketch and others by the Two Ronnies.)

Both a metaphor about the difficulties of communication and a simply hilarious bit of writing and acting, the piece is as beloved in the U.K. as some of the great moments from “Saturday Night Live” or “The Carol Burnett Show” in America.

This led me to more sketches by the Two Ronnies, including an ingenious parody of the game show “Mastermind.” In this, Corbett plays a contestant and Barker the host.

Host: And so to our first contender. Good evening. Your name, please.

Contestant: Good evening.

Host: In the first heat, your chosen subject was “answering questions before they were asked.” This time you have chosen to “answer the question before last,” each time. Is that correct?

Contestant: Charlie Smithers.

As the joke goes on, each answer from the previous question seems to comment on the next.

For instance, the contestant is asked, “For what purpose would a decorator use methylene chlorides?” After he answers the preceding question, he is then asked, “What did Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec do?

He replies, “Paint strippers.”

Some of the references might be a little too British (and dated) for that matter, but it’s pretty easy to figure them out given the context of the gags.

Of course, Americans have been exposed to the other nine entries on the poll with much greater frequency than the Two Ronnies’ “Four Candles.” But how convenient that the greatest moments in British TV history are so readily available on the Internet.