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Posted: 20-11-2012 23:21 Post subject:

They say that Greeks are well hung.

Posted: 20-11-2012 23:26 Post subject:

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Posted: 21-11-2012 00:04 Post subject:

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Posted: 21-11-2012 01:01 Post subject:

Posted: 24-11-2012 10:03 Post subject:

That Was The Week That Was is 50
Satirical comedy That Was The Week That Was celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first broadcast tomorrow.
By Ben Bryant
5:23PM GMT 23 Nov 2012

Despite running for just eight months before it was axed by the BBC, the show was an enormously influential force in the 'satire boom' of the 1960s.

Devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost, TW3 arrived at the end of the satire boom that laid the groundwork for the careers of influential writers including Alan Bennett and Christopher Booker.

The show opened with a satirical song by Millicent Martin about the week of news and then launched into an array of sketches, debates and monologues lampooning figures from around the world.

The Saturday night programme ran for just two series and attracted an enormous number of complaints, but reportedly pulled in an audience of 12 million.
It revelled in its self-styled slipshod manner, with cameras in shot and performers waving scripts. It also frequently overran.
Arriving just in time for the Profumo affair, it quickly developed a reputation for brutal, unforgiving satire.

Its youthful cast, including 24-year-old David Frost, showed no mercy as they lampooned figures such as Harold Macmillan, and, in one particularly brutal sketch - the 14th Earl of Home.

Christopher Booker was responsible for penning the sketch which featured Benjamin Disraeli (played by David Frost) ridiculing Sir Alec Douglas-Home.
It led to to more complaints than the BBC had ever received at the time.
In the end, the BBC bowed to pressure and cancelled the show to avoid political controversy in the run-up to the 1964 General Election

Ironically, two of the rebellious, young BBC executives who had green-lighted TW3, Donald Baverstock and Alasdair Milne, would go on to become controller of programmes and director-general at the BBC respectively.

Earlier this week Christopher Booker, the former lead political sketch-writer for TW3 wrote in the Telegraph about his belief that the legacy of TW3 was the ushering in of a "less reverential" attitude at the BBC and a liberation from old values.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9699468/That-Was-The-Week-That-Was-is-50.html

Posted: 01-12-2012 23:27 Post subject:

A 65th anniversary:

Posted: 10-01-2013 08:17 Post subject:

150 years of the Underground:

‘Sulphurous’ fumes and class division on Victorian Tube
By Debabani Majumdar, BBC London News

At first families feared they would be poisoned by the "sulphurous exhalations" that spewed from below.
Some imagined the tunnels would collapse under the weight of traffic and houses above.
One newspaper thought the prospect of travelling underground was so horrid it suggested criminals should be "condemned to round trips".

But it did not take long for London's masses to take the Tube to their hearts, won over by the speed of travel across the capital and freedom from the chaos of the city's increasingly crowded streets.
The world's first underground railway was opened to the public 150 years ago out of a necessity to keep the city moving.

Roads were a chaotic mix of horse-drawn carriages and cabs jostling for space with pedestrians, and London's population had jumped from one million in 1800 to 2.5m by 1851.
With no space above the ground, the solution was to dig deep.

Sam Mullins, London Transport Museum's director, said: "It was a conventional Victorian railway just placed underground.
"An underground railway had excited all sorts of fears of the dark and of being underground."

Railway tunnels were nothing new but this was the first time that all stations between Paddington and Farringdon were below the surface.
While researching the Tube's history, the museum reported the differing opinions about the project in a newly-published book, called Underground: How the Tube Shaped London, to mark the anniversary.
In it, residents are seen complaining during the construction, with one describing it as a "monstrous tyranny and oppression".
But, the mood had changed by 1862, with the Illustrated London News likening the tunnels to "a well-kept street at night".

On the eve of the public launch, a special train carrying 500 VIPs made the three-and-a-half-mile journey.
It took them two-and-a-half hours instead of 18 minutes as they stopped at every station, Mr Mullins said.

The next day, 10 January 1863, curious spectators joined thousands of passengers.
Mr Mullins said: "There was a huge sense of expectation.
"There was something clearly novel and exciting about this new form of travel, and hundreds of people gathered to see this kind of wonder of the age and 40,000 people travelled on day one."

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20901856

Posted: 10-01-2013 10:13 Post subject:

The history of the Tube in pictures: 150 years of London Underground

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/9791007/The-history-of-the-Tube-in-pictures-150-years-of-London-Underground.html

Posted: 10-01-2013 10:55 Post subject:

Some excellent stuff there!

Posted: 09-03-2013 09:03 Post subject:

Canberra: Deathly dull at 100?

Australia's capital city turns 100 this weekend, but Canberra, like so many other purpose-built capitals around the world, is still struggling to convince outsiders that it has more to offer than political hot air, says Madeleine Morris.

"Canberra: Why wait for death?" was Bill Bryson's blistering judgement in his 2000 travelogue Down Under. "Pyongyang without the dystopia," was the verdict of the Economist in 2009.

If Sydney is brash and bold, and Melbourne is cool and classy, then Canberra, at least in the Australian public imagination, is dull and devoid of soul.
"Canberra: it's not that bad" is the caption on a well-known car licence plate in the capital city. Talk about damning with faint praise.

"My friend put it well - Canberra is like going to grandma's house," says Jenna Clarke, life and entertainment editor of the Canberra Times. "Other Australian cities are doing brash, creative things but here everything is wrapped in plastic. It doesn't mean it's bad. Canberra is just very mature and knows what it's doing."

Poor old Canberra. Few cities do well when they begin as a compromise.
After Australia became a federation in 1901, Melbourne and Sydney couldn't agree on which of the two would host Australia's new parliament. After years of bickering, a middle way was found - a tiny rural community 300km (186 miles) south-west of Sydney would be the national capital.
Following the example of Washington DC, it would be situated in a specially designated capital territory, so no state could hold sway over federal politicians.

An international competition was held to choose the best design for the brand new city. Chicago husband and wife architects Walter and Marion Griffin won and construction of their bold geometric pattern featuring circles, triangles and hexagons eventually began in 1913.

etc...

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Six not remotely boring facts about Canberra

Australian Capital Territory, where Canberra is located, is Australia's only jurisdiction where making hardcore porn films is legal

It has some of the most lax cannabis laws in Australia

One theory is its name comes from the local Aboriginal word for "woman's cleavage" because it's nestled between two hills

Pronounced with only two syllables, Can-bra - calling it Can-beh-ra will mark you out at a tourist

Other names suggested for Australia's capital included Olympus, Paradise, Shakespeare, Kangaremu and Sydmeladperho

Since The Lodge became the prime minister's official residence in 1927, every PM has lived there except John Howard

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21715754

Posted: 10-03-2013 00:38 Post subject:

Canberra bashing seems to be in season at the moment. As is complaining about people who call it out.

As someone who lives in Canberra, and doesn't find it particularly dull, I do take some umbrage at articles claiming it is. It's not Sydney, but it's hardly as dull as many people outside like to make out.

The people who claim otherwise, presumably don't visit it during any of the festivals, or even on a Friday or Saturday night. Parliament traditionally rises on Thursday so people can get home to their constituencies, and the press usually leave about then, too. Which is another odd thing, the Canberra Press Gallery mostly seem to live in Sydney or Melbourne and only visit while parliament is in session.

The real problem is that everyone believes that, as a purpose built capital and a "company" town, it must be dull. Because everyone knows public servants are boring. It doesn't matter how much it might have developed or changed over the past century, people won't change their minds because they know that Canberra is boring.

As for "Sydmeladperho", it must have been upsetting to Brisbane to be skipped over like that. Especially when Perth rates a mention, and WA nearly didn't join in.

And the centre of Canberra actually nestles between three hills, not two. They mark the points of the Parliamentary Triangle. So unless the people who came up with the name had a very strange idea about female anatomy, I suspect it actually does mean "Meeting Place". Unless, like Cunnamulla, it's actually something obscene that the local tribespeople conned them into using.

Finally, I refuse to accept that anything relating to John Howard is even remotely interesting.

Posted: 10-03-2013 09:55 Post subject:

Is it as bad as Swindon?

Frankly all of Australia must be as bad if not worse than Swindon

Posted: 10-03-2013 12:41 Post subject:

Or Milton Keynes.