An Aptly Named Program
I switched on the television to get the News at Six on the BBC. Instead I’ve got the most aptly named program called Pointless Celebrities.
Are they anything else?
Aspall’s New Bottle
I went to the Barbican cinema yesterday to see the film, Safety Not Guaranteed. The link is to the review in the Guardian, which gets it about right.
I did though get a bottle of Aspall’s cyder to take in to the screening. The draught cyder was in a new shape bottle.
Aspall’s New Bottle
It looked different and I suspect it saves glass and energy, but at least the cyder tasted the same.
Farewell Gerry Anderson
Sadly.the death of Gerry Anderson has been announced.
He will always be remembered for Thunderbirds. Although, Wikipedia doesn’t mention this, I remember seeing the first episode, Trapped in the Sky, in a prime Saturday evening slot and ITV billed it as Gerry Anderson’s first adult program. Only later did it settle into being a children’s program.
That first episode is one of the best pieces of British television. If it had a problem, it was that it set a standard that was impossible to attain consistently.
Bang Goes Christmas Television
For some reason, my Sunday Times today, didn’t have a copy of the Culture section. So I won’t know how to avoid the total crap on the television over Christmas!
At least as I only watch BBC1 to 4 and Sky Sports1 and 2, I can probably find out what’s on, by just flicking channels.
America – The Sick
This film is being advertised all over London at the moment.
America – The Sick
After the latest shootings in Connecticut, who needs a chainsaw?
Anyway the original massacre happened in Wisconsin, not Texas.
But judging by the number of adverts, the film is probably an absolute dud.
The X Factor Winner Is Not News
The BBC has been reporting who won X Factor last night.
This is not news and why do we clog up the airways with things like this?
Do Actors Sometimes Regret Their Early Roles?
Dame Diana Rigg is a well-respected actress and has appeared in many high-class productions. But there are performances in her past, that she might like to downplay. C and I saw her in the infamous 1970 production of Anelard and Heloise with Keith Michell, which was noted for its full frontal nudity. Everybody leaned forward at the appropriate moment. Wikipedia describes her performance in the play as follows.
A return to the stage and a nude scene with Keith Michell during Abelard and Heloise in 1970 led to a notorious description of her as ‘built like a brick basilica with insufficient flying buttresses’, by the acerbic critic John Simon.
She did of course star as Emma Peel in The Avengers in the 1960s. Some clips on YouTube are interesting to say the least. Would ITV show something like this today?
BBC Sports Personality Of The Year
I like sport, but I don’t care who is the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year.
After all, the program is just one big selection of repeats to fill an evening of television.
Memories Of That Was The Week That Was
They’re talking about That Was The Week That Was on Radio 5, this afternoon.
It was on late at night and I had to get up early in the morning. So my father used to get me up just as the program started.
I can remember several things about the program.
- Bernard Levin’s interviews. My father hated pomposity and nearly got himself a hernia laughing at some of Levin’s interviews.
- Frankie Howerd on the Budget, which is surely one of the greatest monologues ever written and performed. It was written by Muir and Norden.
- The program on the death of President Kennedy. Surely, the finest tribute program ever.
- Millicent Martin’s songs. And her dresses that appealed to a 14-year-old.
- David Frost’s tactics to handle overrunning of the program.
I’ve never seen anything so good since.
The Anonymous Widower 