Farewell – Norman Painting
Norman Painting, the voice of Phil Archer has died.
My late wife would have been very sad, as she was an avid listener to the programme. It’s funny, but I used to listen, but about ten or fifteen years ago, I gave up on it. It was one of the few things we disagreed about. She always wanted to listen and I didn’t.
Nick Griffin on Question Time
I’m actually quite looking forward to Nick Griffin appearing on BBC Question Time.
I should say that this is not because I support his politics in any way at all. In fact, my father always claimed he caught one of Nick Griffin’s predecessors, Oswald Mosley, with a tomato at the Battle of Cable Street. Interestingly, my father was not of the left, but had voted Conservative most of his life and sat happily at the left of that party. But he was of Jewish ancestry and Mosley’s march was all about baiting the Jews.
So why do I want to see him appear?
There is nothing better than to see someone odious taken apart in a totally humane way. Especially, if it would not be the way they would deal with their critics.
I can remember the great Bernard Levin‘s interviews on That Was The Week That Was. Griffin would just be an hor’s d’oeuvre for Bernard. I also watched David Frost demolish the evil Emil Savundra, one of the first crooks to be destroyed by television.
If I have a doubt about Griffin appearing on Question Time, it is will the calibre of the other panelists be in the same class as Levin and Frost.
So who will be appearing with Griffin?
Jack Straw, Labour – Very much a worthy guy, but is the Justice Secretary the right man from that party? Perhaps John Prescott would be a better choice, as he is more combative and would rightfully claim to represent the same people that Griffin says he does. I should say that I’m not a fan of Prescott, but at least he is someone who would be entertaining on a long flight. A point to make about Jack Straw is that his great-grandfather was a Jewish immigrant. I wonder if this will get brought up on the programme.
Baroness Warsi, Conservative – She is of Pakistani origin although she was born in Yorkshire. She is also on record as saying, “People who back the BNP, criticised for its racist and homophobic agenda, may even have a point. They have some very legitimate views.” I doubt that this will not be brought up.
Chris Huhne, Lib Dem – He will be interesting, as he is a good debater and his pro-Europe views will be attacked by Griffin.
Bonnie Greer, Playwright – Another good choice and someone who will bring some fire to the discussion.
I shall be watching.
The Plinth Closes
I wasn’t sure how to title this post. Close is probably best, as ends sounds rather final. It won’t be the end, as there is so much recording that has been made. There is my tiny piece for a start.
Incidentally, as I write this, I’m watching the last person come down. The guy helping her is on my video as he placed me up there.
I did some up my feelings about it this morning though in an e-mail to the BBC.
Is It Art?
I had no intention of appearing on the plinth, but went to support a friend very early one Sunday morning. Someone didn’t turn up and I was asked to substitute. I refused, but eventually relented.
It was strangely invigorating and helped me very much to face the next day, which would have been my 41st wedding anniversary, but sadly my wife had died almost two years previously.
So perhaps it isn’t art in the true sense of the word, but here’s one man, who because of the plinth felt a lot better on a difficult day.
Thanks to Anthony Gormley and everybody else who gave me my one hour in the limelight!
How to Show Football on Television – 2
It seems that the farce of showing the Ukraine-England match on television has had an effect.
The FA, who don’t really have a reputation for being media savvy have decided to show the England-Macedonia Under-21 International on Friday on the web.
Here’s their press release.
The FA has announced exciting details of the first England game to ever be screened live and for free exclusively on TheFA.com.
On Friday 9 October, The England v Macedonia 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier at Coventry City’s Ricoh Arena will be streamed live on TheFA.com (kick-off 7.45pm BST).
The FA took the landmark decision to air the game for free on TheFA.com after UK broadcasters confirmed they were unable to schedule the match during peak-time.
Commenting on the move, Ian Watmore, Chief Executive Officer of The FA said: “This is the best way to ensure as many fans as possible around the country get the chance to see England’s young stars in action for free.”
Fans logging on to watch the game can look forward to seeing some great young players in action. Stuart Pearce has assembled an impressive squad including Theo Walcott – returning to the England Under-21s set-up fresh from scoring in Arsenal’s 6-2 defeat of Manchester City at the weekend.
Watching the game is simple. Just visit TheFA.com at 7.45pm on Friday night, click on the link to the game and enjoy all of the action free of charge.
Note the words “free of charge”.
The FA have certainly got this one right. To be fair they had nothing to do with the other farce.
Moon River
Andy Williams was on Jools Holland last night and it made me think about his song, Moon River, which is strongly associated with him.
I hadn’t realised that kit was actually written for Audrey Hepburn to sing in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. But I do remember the Danny Williams version that predates Andy, being a bit hit in the UK.
It’s all here on Wikipedia.
How to Show Football on Television
Or rather how not to! This article in The Independent outlines the mess and problems caused by making Ukraine-England Internet only on a Pay-per-View site.
But like the earlier fiasco with ITV-Digital and the Championship and the failure of Setanta, it probably illustrates that there is a price viewers will pay and a price they will not. And those broadcasters that pay too much will end up going bust.
I have Sky and watch quite a bit of sport on their channels, like cricket, tennis and of course football. In general it is good value and it sustained me through some of the darker times since my wife died.
I have also subscribed to ESPN to take the extra Premier League matches. Whether I will continue to take the extra coverage for ever, is open to debate, as I have no interest in American Mickey Mouse sports, like basketball, baseball and American football.
But to return to the Ukraine-England match, that will only be shown over the Internet. I have watched some football in this way, through the Sky web site. The quality wasn’t that good and I suspect that here in deepest Suffolk, I would only get a very bad picture.
But in a few years time, this will be the way that many of us will not only watch football, but much of our television. But it will need much faster broadband and a proper device to put the pictures on a large screen.
I won’t be in England this weekend, but if I was, I’d be listening on BBC Radio Five. When it was pointed out to a pub landlord that it was being broadcast this way, he hadn’t realised it. But at least it might get a few punters in his pub! Especially, if he had wi-fi for a few laptops!
Was That Right?
Just watching the new BBC series of Emma.
It looked like they’re walking past a field of oil seed rape. It was certainly very yellow!
Three Men who Gave Pleasure
I always read the obituary columns of the Times. Yesterday’s was interesting in that the three featured, although different, had all gave us a lot of pleasure.
Keith Floyd had been a very unusual celebrity chef and had perhaps departed in a way that fitted his persona to a tee, with a heart attack after a very good lunch. We need more people like him on television. Brilliant, but flawed!
Brilliant, but flawed and from the obituary, it would appear he shared Floyd’s financial acumen, could also be applied to Troy Kennedy Martin. But he did give us the iconic Z-Cars and wrote the script for that thoroughly British film, The Italian Job. It is a pity that a lot of his other and possibly better work never made the screen, small or large.
And then there was an obituary for Patrick Swayze. I have never seen his two most famous films, Dirty Dancing and Ghost, but I do remember him in that excellent film, City of Joy. From his obituary he seems to have had his flaws, but he will be someone, who will be missed by many. My thoughts go out to his widow, who was his wife of nearly forty years.
I know how she feels.
The Petticoat Line
The Petticoat Line was a four woman quiz show/discussion program on BBC Radio many years ago. You can’t find many references to it on the Internet, but I remember listening sometimes as it was funny and put different slants on various topics. Panelists included the usual suspects, like Isobel Barnett and Anona Winn.
I think in the end it was discarded because it really wasn’t done thing to have an all-woman show. It was just too patronising for some.
But last night as I was driving back from Manchester and there was a sports discussion program on Radio 5, led by Eleanor Oldroyd. And guess what it was called Ladies’ Night.
Everything goes full circle. I enjoyed it too.
On the Plinth
I said earlier that yesterday, I ended up on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Sqaure.
Whilst I was on the plinth, I took about thirty minutes of video of what I saw around me.
This is the video. Or at least the edited version after taking out some of the most boring bits. There are still plenty of those there, so don’t watch it too often.
If you want to see the official one produced by One and Other, then click here.
How I got to be on the plinth is a complicated story. Let’s say that I came down to support Janet and ended up coming on as a substitute because someone had to cry off at the last minute. And you know how you have to scape the barrel to get anybody sensible at seven in the morning, as all sane and sensible people are in bed.
But it was all great fun and well worth doing. It’s probably not too late to go to their web site and register.
The Anonymous Widower 