The film the wooden horse was show the other day.
It is quite amazing to think that the men who tunnelled out of a prisoner of war camp in the escape known as the "wooden horse" managed to tunnel 100 feet in three months. Only the shaft had wooden shoring meaning the rest of the tunnel carried a high risk of collapse. The three men who escaped made it back to re-join the war effort. It makes me wonder about their bravery and whether their return made any difference to the war.
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
Saturday, 10 May 2014
Friday, 9 May 2014
Thursday, 8 May 2014
Remaking Hancocks Half Hour
What a pleasure to be in the company of Kevin McNally and Neil Pearson.
Kevin is playing the part of Tony Hancock in the remakes of 5 Hancock Half Hours radio episodes that were made but were wiped from the BBC archive. Neil Pearson is the producer.
The first thing to say is that Kevin McNally has been a massive Hancock Fan for 50 years and the second thing to say is he is absolutely brilliant. Superb people like Richard Briars and Alfred Molina
have played the part of Hancock but no one has done it better than Kevin McNally.
Things we learnt.
1. The scripts are played using the more fully developed Hancock character/performance from series three onwards
2. It is hoped that the other 15 missing radio episodes will be remade and perhaps even the missing TV episodes adapted for radio.
3. The OTT Kenneth Williams like mannerisms and performance of actor playing Kenneth Williams (Robin Sebastian) started to get on the nerves of the actor playing Hancock - an echo perhaps of real life
4. The actor playing Bill Kerr (Kevin Eldon) was so good "It was like having Bill Kerr in the studio
5. The cast were all the first choice to play the parts - an advantage of radio's short time demands.
6. The cast had one day of getting to know each other and then 2 days for rehearsals / recordings
7. Prior to the recording, the studio audience were given modern day equivalents to think of when contemporary figures from the 1950's were mentioned in the script.
Questions - Will the recording be released on CD or download.
Kevin is playing the part of Tony Hancock in the remakes of 5 Hancock Half Hours radio episodes that were made but were wiped from the BBC archive. Neil Pearson is the producer.
The first thing to say is that Kevin McNally has been a massive Hancock Fan for 50 years and the second thing to say is he is absolutely brilliant. Superb people like Richard Briars and Alfred Molina
have played the part of Hancock but no one has done it better than Kevin McNally.
Things we learnt.
1. The scripts are played using the more fully developed Hancock character/performance from series three onwards
2. It is hoped that the other 15 missing radio episodes will be remade and perhaps even the missing TV episodes adapted for radio.
3. The OTT Kenneth Williams like mannerisms and performance of actor playing Kenneth Williams (Robin Sebastian) started to get on the nerves of the actor playing Hancock - an echo perhaps of real life
4. The actor playing Bill Kerr (Kevin Eldon) was so good "It was like having Bill Kerr in the studio
5. The cast were all the first choice to play the parts - an advantage of radio's short time demands.
6. The cast had one day of getting to know each other and then 2 days for rehearsals / recordings
7. Prior to the recording, the studio audience were given modern day equivalents to think of when contemporary figures from the 1950's were mentioned in the script.
Questions - Will the recording be released on CD or download.
500 million people voting - wheres the democracy in that
500 million people are entitled to vote for their representative in the European Parliament.
In April in 2014 more than a billion people were eligible to vote in a sudden flurry of national elections in some of the world's largest – and newest democracies. 800 million In India, another 190 million have the right to vote in Indonesian. Algeria 21 million could vote to decide on 17 April about whether to give President Abdelaziz Bouteflika a fourth term. And smaller electorates in Hungary, Macedonia and Guinea-Bissau were also be able to exercise their democratic right last month.
Of course democracy is more than about voting - but without voting it is not democracy.
In April in 2014 more than a billion people were eligible to vote in a sudden flurry of national elections in some of the world's largest – and newest democracies. 800 million In India, another 190 million have the right to vote in Indonesian. Algeria 21 million could vote to decide on 17 April about whether to give President Abdelaziz Bouteflika a fourth term. And smaller electorates in Hungary, Macedonia and Guinea-Bissau were also be able to exercise their democratic right last month.
Of course democracy is more than about voting - but without voting it is not democracy.
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Pam Ayres - Perfectly Pitched
Pam Ayres 2 hour show (plus interval) was brilliant. Years of performing meant a finely honed performance and it was clear that Pam works hard to keep the show new and fresh whilst not disappointing old fans.
She even joked that doing "I wish I'd looked after my teeth" was like Frank Sinatra having to do my way.
Pam thrived on the appreciative audience - a couple of times even laughing at the laughter she provoked and she revealed at the end of the show she was getting over a but had been lifted by the warmth of the reception.
A mixture of poems, stories and reading from her memoirs had the audience in stitches. Describing the dull pubs in her village in the 1950's she would hear some old codger say "it's dead in here tonight" long pause before someone else would chime in with "that's a fact" - thank heavens it was or Pam might never had had the feeling that there must be more to life than that nightly ritual.
Just because Pam poetry is usually comic, it is sometimes sniffed at, but writing a funny comic poem, especially one that bears repeating is no easy task. To keep a packed concert hall entertained with nothing on stage apart from a small table, a few books and a glass of water is quite marvellous.
Pam once said a woman approached her and said "Aren't you pam Ayres ? Didn't you used to write limericks. To which she replied, yes that's right, but what she thought was "Poems and I am better than ever." Pam your right, your poems are better than ever and being comic doesn't stop you being profound.
She even joked that doing "I wish I'd looked after my teeth" was like Frank Sinatra having to do my way.
Pam thrived on the appreciative audience - a couple of times even laughing at the laughter she provoked and she revealed at the end of the show she was getting over a but had been lifted by the warmth of the reception.
A mixture of poems, stories and reading from her memoirs had the audience in stitches. Describing the dull pubs in her village in the 1950's she would hear some old codger say "it's dead in here tonight" long pause before someone else would chime in with "that's a fact" - thank heavens it was or Pam might never had had the feeling that there must be more to life than that nightly ritual.
Just because Pam poetry is usually comic, it is sometimes sniffed at, but writing a funny comic poem, especially one that bears repeating is no easy task. To keep a packed concert hall entertained with nothing on stage apart from a small table, a few books and a glass of water is quite marvellous.
Pam once said a woman approached her and said "Aren't you pam Ayres ? Didn't you used to write limericks. To which she replied, yes that's right, but what she thought was "Poems and I am better than ever." Pam your right, your poems are better than ever and being comic doesn't stop you being profound.
UKIP - lacking the courage of their convictions
Why do UKIP want a referendum ? Why not say vote UKIP and the UK will leave the EU. Then if people wanted to leave the EU, they have a mechanism to achieve it. The Farage referendum is no better than Camerons. Neither actually tells us what a post referendum UK relationship with the EU would be like. Funny how the people suggesting the UK will play hardball with Scotland if it votes to leave seem to think the EU will have a happy divorce from the UK, instead of a bitter and destructive one. I think the EU would mind taking a few hits on its own short-term finances and trade with the UK if it sets an example to others. UKIP says it has a whole range of policies on other issues - which again begs the question - why not have a policy on the EU, a referendum is not a policy, it's not even British its a dreadful European device that undermines the parliamentary system.
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