Janet W on the Plinth
Janet W is someone who is also a member of the Yahoo UK-Coeliac list. I went to support her on Sunday when she did her hour on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Anthony Gormley‘s One and Other project.
The video shows her on the plinth.
Click here to see the video footage taken, whilst she was on the plinth by One and Other.
Fun and Games at the Fourth Plinth
This morning I went to London to support an Internet friend who was appearing on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. I took a lot of video at seven in the morning and it will be going up soon.
But the twist was, that someone had called off at the last minute, so they went looking for volunteers. As Sir Arnold Bax once said, “One should try everything once, except incest and folk dancing”.
So I accepted and you can see the result here.
I shall post my video in the next couple of days.
The Programme Wife
I’m watching BBC Breakfast Time.
Sian Williams has just referred to herself on her first day back as “The Programme Wife”.
The Price of Repeats
Christopher Biggins used to play Lukewarm in Porridge.
He has just revealed on radio, that he got £90 an episode all those years ago. Now if an episode is repeated he gets over a £1,000.
Interesting!
Big Brother
So Channel Four has finally pulled the plug on Big Brother.
I shall not be missing it, as I have only watched a few episodes in all the years it has been running.
What always gets me about these reality shows, is that the only one that has been real entertainment is I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! And why? The contestants tend to be a lot brighter than the fame-wannabees and dundaheads on Big Brother and often work together to turn the program against the makers. A lot of the winners have been really nice people, which contrasts sharply with Big Brother.
Let’s hope it’s replaced with something more worthwhile.
But then I tend not to watch Channel 4, as the programmed are always interrupted by adverts.
Leader of the Pack
I had never heard of Ellie Greenwich, but I have heard many of her songs, like Leader of the Pack, Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Kentucky Woman, Chapel of Love and River Deep, Mountain High, to name just a few.
Sadly she has died of a heart attack.
Her songs though gave me a lot of pleasure.
I particularly remember seeing Manfred Mann singing Do Wah Diddy Diddy at Liverpool University.
Thanks for all the memories.
The Five Live Riddle from Gethin Jones
He always asks a question on Saturday morning on his show.
Today’s question was.
Which footballer scored 8 goals in his home league and then came to the Premiership, where he didn’t score. He then played in Europe and didn’t score for his new club, but did for his country. He then came back to the Premiership and scored another goal. He was then transferred to another Premiership club, but didn’t score. He is recognised as one of the best footballers of all time.
I heard it driving back from Cambridge and thought it might well be a goalkeeper. Possibly Edwin van der Sarof Manchester United, who had played before for Fulham. I just wondered if he’d actually been in the Premiership earlier before Fulham. He hadn’t according to Wikipedia.
But searching for goalkeepers, who’d scored goals led me to José Luis Chilavert, who was famously nicknamed El Loco. No prizes for what that means. He scored 74 including eight for Paraguay, which is way ahead of anybody else at his level.
A link there to a video of one of Peter Schmeichel‘s goals gave me the answer.
Moon
I wouldn’t say it was one of the very best films I have seen, but it was certainly one that I enjoyed.
In some ways the story was very much like those that you read in the 1960s from authors, who published in yellow covers on Gollancz. You used to go through public libraries looking for those covers.
I won’t say too much about the story, as I don’t want to spoil it for everyone, but it concerns a man isolated on the far side of the moon mining Helium 3. As with most science fiction stories it is fairly feasible and could actually happen. The mining of Helium 3 was actually covered in a BBC Horizon program.
It was also a very well made film, from Sam Rockwell’s acting to the sets and the special effects and models.
Go and see it.
If you look at Moon on the Internet Movie Database, you’ll see a post from the director, Duncan Jones, in response to the feedback. He says that he made the film for $5,000,000 in 33 days. It was money well spent and much better value than a lot of films I’ve seen.
One thing that spoilt the film was the BO of the man sitting next to me. It is much nicer going to the cinema with a fragrant lady!
Status Quo at Newmarket
I went to Newmarket Races last night and after racing Status Quo performed.
Status Quo at Newmarket
They were very good. Strangely they are not a band that I’ve followed, which was probably because I was at Liverpool University in the 1960s and tended to follow the bands I’d seen there.
It was interesting to note that Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt got together in 1967. That means that they have been a partnership longer than I was married to my late wife, who I met coincidentally early in the same year.
It’s almost sad for me!
Captain Pugwash Sails Away
John Ryan, the creator of Captain Pugwash, died last week. He gave generations of kids, myself included, lots of fun.
Thank you, John!
One anecdote on the radio was that when first aired in the 1950s, the animation was done live using three easels. That’s shows a certain confidence.
The Anonymous Widower 