Remembering …

Exactly 70 years ago the somber voice of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain spoke from the wireless announcing that Britain was now at war with Germany. Despite attempts and appeasement to avoid another war so soon after the carnage of the Great War, you can hear the sorrow in Chamberlain’s voice as he delivers the terrible news.

The Second World War is often not thought of as being as bloody a war as the Great War, but it was just as horrific, if not more so, especially for the civilian population of the countries involved. But this isn’t the time for horrors or statistics. It’s a time to remember, and pray never again.

Last Post

Today Britain buries the last of its veterans of the Great War. It’s the end of an era – another link with the past has gone forever. But will we ever learn from the past?

Harry Patch died last month at the age of 111. A remarkable feat in itself. But Harry had been in the British Army during the horrors of the Great War and had fought at Passchendaele. He was a hero. All the men who suffered that war, whether volunteer or conscript, should be remembered with great honour and Harry symbolised the last of these men.

It seems that Harry had asked for his funeral to symbolise peace and reconcilliation – the unification of soldiers from the UK, France, Belgium and Germany stands as recognition of his wishes. All these countries that in Harry’s life time were at war not once, but twice, are now peaceful friends. But there is still war and fighting in the world. Perhaps we can all learn from an old man to live in peace. We owe him, and so many who have died before him, the peaceful lives we now live in our country.

We will remember them – it’s all we can do now.

New Who?

A special episode of Doctor Who Confidential was broadcast yesterday to announce the actor who has been cast as the eleventh Doctor. Ever since David Tennant announced that he would be leaving the role after the specials there has been great speculation as to who would be cast as the Next Doctor (actually the speculation had begun way before then, but it began to intensify then). I’m not sure the announcement deserved a whole programme, but it was an excuse to look back at the old Doctors, and that’s never a bad thing.

So now everyone seems to be asking what I think of Matt Smith as the new Doctor. I’ll give the same reply to everyone – I’ll wait until I see what he does with the character on screen before I make any judgements. It’s what I’ve done with all the previous incarnations, even if I have had some misgivings when I’ve heard who’s been cast (Invariably it’s turned out well). What I can say is that from what I’ve seen of him in other television work he’s a good actor and I trust the decision of Steven Moffat and team that he is the right man for the Doctor.

My only tiny problem is how young he is – the actor playing the Doctor can’t possibly be younger than me!

It’s official …

I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue will return!

The Independent have published an article quoting producer Jon Naismith as saying

“We have decided we want to continue with the show. We enjoy it too much to stop altogether.”

Now we wait patiently …

(and watch with interest the debate over who should be the new chairman)

Humph

Humphrey Lyttelton was chairman of my very favourite radio show. He always made me laugh, whether it was by reading his script, a witty ad-lib or just a look. And he always made time to say hello at the stage door when I was lucky enough to go to recordings or the tour. He was also a wonderful jazz musician and played his trumpet with such beauty, heart and soul.

Yesterday, sadly, he died.

He will be missed.

Whole lot of Shaking

Last night we had an earthquake.

I knew something strange had happened when I woke up suddenly around 1am this morning – it was pitch black outside and yet the birds were twittering away in the trees across the way. But it wasn’t until I heard on the radio this morning that there had been an earthquake that I realised what had happened.

Apparently last night’s quake had a magnitude of 5.3, but to me it didn’t feel as strong as the 2002 quake, which was only 5.0. But the epicentre of that one had been just down the road from me in Dudley, whereas last night’s was over 150 miles away near Market Rasen in Linconshire.

Just another strange quirk of the planet we call home.

Lust

Can I have one of these please?

There must be no regrets, no tears

It is with very great sadness that I write, on this the 44th anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who, that Verity Lambert has died at the age of 71. She was the very first producer of the programme and helped to create such a great format and character. She also produced many other great series including Jonathan Creek and Sleepers.

Not only was she a producer of great television, but she was also a personal inspiration to me – here was a woman who worked in what, at the time, was very much a man’s world and yet she proved to be as good, if not better than her male contemporaries. What better feminist icon could a young girl want! And Verity Lambert was a name and a person who I grew up knowing about, through reading books about Doctor Who and then through recognising her name in programme credits.

And it was wonderful that she got a mention (even if it was slightly obscure) in the new series episode Human Nature. A lovely and fitting tribute. 

Time Waits For Nobody

The BBC News website is celebrating it’s 10th birthday, which made me think – it’s ten years since I first went online too.

I can remember that first time really clearly. I had been taken into the local university’s IT centre to see this thing called ‘the internet’ that everyone was talking about. I was logged in and … actually it wasn’t quite as exciting as I was expecting. But I discovered a thing called a ’search engine’ and did my first search for (you guessed it) Doctor Who! Even then there was a huge amount of stuff about it on the internet. Some things don’t change in ten years!

Beep Beep

It’s fifty years today since Sputnik was launched.

On 4th October 1957 Korolev and his team successfully launched the first artificial satellite into orbit around the Earth. It was the beginning of the Space Race which put man on the moon and gave us those Space Pensthat everyone thought so clever (apart from the fact that an ordinary biro will work in space). 

Sputnik also scared the living daylights out of the non-Soviet world as no one expected the announcement!