The Inter City 125 On BBC4
There was a documentary last night on BBC4 about the legendary High Speed Diesel Train or Inter City 125. It described how the politics, finances and some clever thinking produced a real icon.
Catch the documentary before it disappears from the BBC iPlayer!
The programme said that they’ll still be running in the 2030s on some routes. I wouldn’t bet on them still being running long after that.
Because of their speed and acceleration, they have proven that they can mix it on lines with both slow and higher speed traffic, so unlike heritage units like steam trains, they don’t cause pathing problems. Since they have now been updated with new engines, they produce a lot less noise and emissions too.
It is still proposed that they will be used for services to the far south west for many years, as electrifying the route from Exeter will be very difficult and expensive. They even did the journey from Plymouth to London in well under three hours recently. I reported it on this post.
But if they did a bit of marketing and perhaps uprated the catering, they could create a line, that would be a must-ride one for all visitors to Cornwall from London.
I have believed for a long time, that these trains will never go quietly. They’ll be like Routemasters and even if they’re not in main line service, they’ll turn up in the most surprising of places. The ghost of Jimmy Saville will see to that!
How Slovenly!
As BBC Breakfast cut to the local news, you could just see Louise Minchin kicking her shoes off. I wonder what the style police, that insist all women on the show wear stilettos, will say later.
Steph McGovern Wears A Bustle
The BBC breakfast’s business reporter, Steph McGovern, looked like she was wearing a bustle. The black of her black and white dress. this morning was the same shade as the chair she was sitting on. From some angles, it looked like she was wearing an enormous Victorian bustle.
Or was it just a simple case of a “My bum does look big in this” picture.
NBC Treats Paralympics With Contempt
Two of the UK’s broadsheets; The Times and The Telegraph, have turned their ire this morning on to the American broadcaster NBC, for its appalling coverage of the Paralympic Games. read the report in The Telegraph here.
I know I’m not watching the Paralympics live, as I don’t watch channels with adverts, unless it’s an important sporting event, that I’m interested in. But I am following the Games on BBC Radio 5 Live and television news reports.
I could cynically suggest that no-one in America would advertise in the breaks of the Paralympics, as it might give your organisation the wrong image. But I don’t know the facts.
Here in the UK, all the major channels have back-up digital channels, like BBC with BBC3 and BBC4 and Channel 4 with More4 and E4, which they use to compliment their major coverage, so can’t NBC put the Paralympics on a back-up free-to-air digital channel or is America so sophisticated that it doesn’t have an equivalent of our Freeview.
Naga Munchetty Has Wings
That’s what it looks like on BBC Breakfast this morning. It’s probably the way Naga Machetty is sitting and the silly chairs on the picture behind, look like she’s wearing a pair of red wings ready for a pantomime or a kid’s party.
The New Dallas Is On Channel 5
The BBC is giving a plug to the new series of one of the silliest television programs, ever to appear on British television; Dallas.
Why?
The original programs were crap, and this one is probably crap too as it’s on that broadcaster of crap; Channel 5.
I’ve just sent this e-mail to the BBC.
I don’t pay my licence fee to have you promote rubbish like this on Channel 5! It gives me a good break to have a shower.
Let’s hope they are being paid well for the plug!
I shall not be watching!
Footballers On The Couch
Susanna Reid said on BBC Breakfast this morning, that they’ve never had a current footballer on the couch, whereas virtually all the British medallists from the Olympics, have joined them.
She has a point, but I don’t think it’s down to intelligence, but imagine if say a Chelsea player was on describing how he’d just scored an amazing hat trick against Manchester United, think of all the abuse they’d get. They used to have current footballers on A Question of Sport and they don’t now.
Or it could all be down to agents wanting something like image rights!
But i still think she has a point.
Sharon From East Enders Was On The Bus!
Well not Sharon, but the character is certainly based on observing women in the East of London.
How Do You Get Away From The Golf?
My two favourite channels, BBC 1 and Radio 5 Live are both broadcasting continuous golf. Now I will watch it in moderation, but I’m not keen to have it rammed into both my eyes and ears.
Admittedly, I have the cricket on Sky and soon the cycling will start, but the sooner the Open golf goes to Sky, the better.
As someone famously said, golf is a good way to ruin a walk.
The Olympic Torch Relay is not even on the red button!
Man Hunt
I’ve been wanting to catch this episode of Dad’s Army for some years. I can only ever remember seeing it once with C and that would have probably been in the 1990s. I can also remember her roaring with laughter, when our intrepid heroes acquired a tracker dog, which suitably for them was an English Setter. Two of the English setters, we had are shown in this post, which makes the episode even funnier for me. Some dogs are comedians, but English setters are almost the most natural straight-men of the dog world.
I found this on a page of English setter trivia.
English Setters are excellent with children. They make very good family dogs. However, they make terrible watchdogs . They are almost excessively friendly and will wag their tails and try to make friends with anyone who comes to your house. They may sleep through someone trying to break in. This is not the dog to get if you are looking for protection.
It sums the breed up well. I always remember the time, we mated our dog, Charlotte. Her husband-to-be had a very grand pedigree, but the two of them had no idea, what they were supposed to be doing, bringing this statement from the Brummie lady, who owned the dog.
If it hadn’t been for humans, English setters, would have died out years ago.
They were playing the straight-dog again, which is exactly what the dog called, Bran, did in Dad’s Army tonight. You should be able to catch it on iPlayer for a few weeks.
The Anonymous Widower 