GOOD TV

[Stanley]

I watched the Panorama programme on the terrible conditions in some care homes and was thoroughly depressed. Then I watched the next programme about the last weeks of production at Kellingley Pit in Yorkshire. A brilliant and inspiring programme. Where else would you find spirit like that in a work place? (LINK)
I look forward to the second programme.....

[Tripps]

They are not all the same Stanley.

I watched Our Guy in China on Ch4 at 8.00 pm, featuring Guy Martin - who us a bit of an acquired taste. Interesting slant on the country which will surely be No 1 in the world sometime this century. He traveled down the Yangtse river, and saw the Three Gorges Dam which can generate 22 GW which is about half last nights demand for the whole of UK.

He got engaged in everything he encountered, including carrying heavy loads as they still do. Some of his figures were a bit fanciful - such as the acreage of Shanghai container port, but overall it was impressive, and in view of the muscle flexing in the S China sea perhaps a bit scary. Too much to comment in detail. All should watch it.

[Moh]

We enjoyed the Guy Martin programme also.

[Wendyf]

We did too, any Guy Martin programme is worth a watch.

[Stanley]

'Hyper Normalisation' on BBC 4 iPlayer. Not the most catchy title but well worth watching.

[Stanley]

I forgot to mention yesterday that I watched the second episode of 'The Miners'. It lived up to the promise of the first programme. What grabbed me particularly was the men's attitude to the fact that suddenly they were headline news and all the media was there for the last day. I said exactly the same thing at Bancroft when we wove out.......

[Whyperion]

Speaking of Bancroft
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-17-Vint ... 1999073692

[Stanley]

Bancroft is the name of the firm that made it.

[Tripps]

Bancroft is the name of the firm that made it.

I knew that. Warm glow of smugness I bought one from fleabay thinking it came from Bancroft Mill. Soon corrected by Sir though. I think it was cheaper than £15 , from memory though.

[Tizer]

There were two Bancroft shuttle-making firms, one near Bingley and the other in Blackburn, and no connection between them - two different Bancroft families. There isn't much information but here is some on the Bingley firm: LINK

In the early 1900s my grandfather was a master shuttle-maker at the Bancroft firm which had it's workshop in a mill next to Bastfield Mill at the corner of Whalley Old Road and Beech Street in Blackburn. Bancroft later bought Bastfield Mill.

We have a Crossley's shuttle which was made in Todmorden Crossley's During WW1 my grandfather was saved from the trenches by being in a protected trade as a shuttle-maker but he had to travel to other towns to wherever he was needed and he spent time in Todmorden, so may have worked for Crossley's too.

[Stanley]

LKF. The best wood for shuttles was Persimmon.

[Tripps]

I caught the end of The Apprentice last night. Lord S in the denouement did a good job of misdirecting us, and chose the cake lady.

I think the fact that she said she made them for 18 - 19pence each, and sold them for £3 may have had something to do with it.

[Tizer]

Not TV but radio - if you haven't already heard this episode of Jim Al-Khalili's `Life Scientific' then you've missed a treat. Listen to the very end and don't miss the last few words!

`Neil de Grasse Tyson, on Pluto' LINK
The US science superstar, Neil de Grasse Tyson grew up in the Bronx, and studied astrophysics at Harvard, Columbia and Princeton Universities before becoming director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. But he's best known for his TV and movie appearances, his books, podcasts and his tweets or 'scientific droppings' as he likes to call them. He has over 6 million followers on Twitter and is often credited with turning millennials around the world on to science. Neil tells Jim al-Khalili why he's so committed to making science feel exciting, why we are all stardust and why Pluto isn't a planet.

[Stanley]

Always good, that one is even better.

[Stanley]

I loved Alan Bennett last night and the film 'Lady in the van'. (I like his politics as well.....)

[Stanley]

I'm enjoying the re-runs of the Harry Potter films. Good films don't age, you can always go back and lose yourself in them. By the way, I've found a new channel on Freesat, 'Talking Films' and it shows very old archive films some of which are a real trip down Memory Lane.

[Tripps]

As pointed out in my post from March this year. Do keep up.

"There's a new channel on 306 - called TalkingPics TV. They have old films 1950's stuff in Black and white. 'I'm all right Jack' has just been on. Nice simple films where you can understand the plot, and see the gags coming a mile away. Suits me. Must dash - it's Dick Barton now."


PS - just noticed this is my 2000th post. Incredible - literally.

[Tizer]

You only need another 31000 or so and you'll catch up with Stanley!

`Nice simple films where you can understand the plot, and see the gags coming a mile away. Suits me' - I agree with that sentiment. It's great when you can hear the dialogue without your ears being blasted by the background music.

[Stanley]

And no zoom lenses!

[Tizer]

And no trendy handheld cameras giving jerky images....oh, and none of those shots of somebody walking down a busy London street talking to a distant camera but looking like they're talking to themselves.

[Stanley]

All the above! And why does any shot with clouds in it have to be shot in time lapse?

[Tizer]

Yes, that's another bugbear, speeding up the film so that pedestrians race down the streets like demented chickens. Yet another is when they illustrate historical events or facts with film of modern equivalents - for example, talking about the old wind-driven tea clippers while showing container ships.

Over the Christmas holiday we haven't been able to use our digital radio's auto record function. Most of what we want to listen to, other than news, is recorded for later consumption using the radio's Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) which is like the one on TVs and their recorders. You can set multiple programmes for many days ahead. But over the holiday period, and even now, it hasn't been showing programmes so searched for a way to complain to the BBC. Having eventually found an appropriate page on their web site I worked my way through it and sent the online email. I've now had a response but it's the usual generic type and ends with "This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided." It doesn't say anything specific about my problem but directs me to http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception. Using their transmitter checking tool it tells me that that in the south-west there is some disruption to TV signals due to the weather; but the only comment under `DAB radio' is `Listeners may experience temporary loss of reception'. In my case the radio reception is OK, it's the EPG that's lost. We've had problems before at weekends and I suspect the problem is really due to BBC staff being on holiday and nobody checking that the work is being done.

[Tripps]

And don't forget Hetty Wainthrop. Tonight's offering.
Quite why Patricia Routledge was never ' damed' I don't understand.
(If knighted is a word then I'm saying damed.)

Looks like someone who matters is reading this site.

[Tizer]

Looks like someone who matters is reading this site.

And it looks like someone who matters at the BBC has read my message to them. The full Electronic Programme Guide suddenly appeared this morning after about seven days' absence. It's a pity they don't seem to notice that their system isn't working until a listener tells them. I've had to tell them in the past when their animated weather maps aren't working. But I shouldn't expect too much - they've only got 23,000 employees.

[Wendyf]

Tomorrow night's offerings look good. I'm looking forward to watching the admirable Dr David Unwin on Food Unwrapped followed by the new series on Orkney.