I think one contribution to the lack of awareness of Offenbach in the UK was the bowdlerised versions of some of the works in the 1960s for amateur performances. With the keys changed, the scoring amended, characters drastically re-written and songs, in some cases the hits from the original, dropped for other pieces from other works the result was anaemic, rather like a pale copy of G&S. These versions were apparently aimed at school performances, so one could manage without a viola, and sharp-heavy keys were ditched for those kinder to transposing wind players, regardless of the musical colour, and of course the endings were rendered ‘respectable’ with Eurydice apparently going to marry Bacchus and Métella engaged to Gardefeu! I cannot imagine what the arrangers were thinking when they produced a version of La Belle Hélène without ‘Dis-moi, Vénus’, ‘Amours divins’ (the tune is used but turned into a chorus in Act 2, replacing ‘O reine, en ce jour)), ‘The Judgement of Paris’ or the Patriotic Trio, though to be fair the two last were included at the end as alternative numbers! The results were indeed ‘plats et fades, plus d’amour, plus de passion!. Thank goodness more authentic versions of the operas are making a comeback on recordings at least, and perhaps even amateur companies can now hire them.