For day 4, we come to a relic from the brief period where LWT tried to wrest control of Saturday nights from BBC1 by Bruce force. Whaddyamean, you don't want to watch Steve Jones and his £1000 Pyramid or the Glums, to say nothing of the world's only voice-controlled video game, Teletennis (shudder), or a woman dressed as the GPO Tower? As it turned out, all they needed to own the biggest night of the week was Duncan Goodhew's scalp in a box. More follows tomorrow...
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Cheeseford Virtual Archive TV Advent Calendar day 4
For day 4, we come to a relic from the brief period where LWT tried to wrest control of Saturday nights from BBC1 by Bruce force. Whaddyamean, you don't want to watch Steve Jones and his £1000 Pyramid or the Glums, to say nothing of the world's only voice-controlled video game, Teletennis (shudder), or a woman dressed as the GPO Tower? As it turned out, all they needed to own the biggest night of the week was Duncan Goodhew's scalp in a box. More follows tomorrow...
Friday, December 03, 2010
Cheeseford Virtual Archive TV Advent Calendar day 3
Moving slightly away from festive greetings, we turn to 1959-ish, and this trailer caption for the BBC's coverage of the Le Mans 24-hour race. It is the work of graphic designer Terence Greer, and represents an early outing for the Richard Levin-designed BBC tv logo which, quite frankly, has never been bettered in terms of corporate identity. I'm a fan of Eric Gill (well, his work), but nothing in the BBC's post-1997 look can hold a candle to Levin's logo.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Cheeseford Virtual Archive TV Advent Calendar day 2
Ah, this is more like it. A relic from the days of the only two-pronged Trident there's ever been. Interesting that it uses the staple 1970s TV graphic colours of blue and yellow, as Tyne-Tees did for its colour ident, but which Yorkshire, very much the dominant half of the partnership, never did.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Cheeseford Virtual Archive TV Advent Calendar 2010 day 1
Another year, another Cheeseford Virtual Archive TV Advent Calendar. There's a bumper crop of clips, pictures and broadcasting ephemera to open day-by-day this year, and we open with this cheery welcome from Auntie, taken from the souvenir programme of the 1973 Royal Variety Performance. A tad mundane compared to the various ads placed in the same publication by the various ITV contractors, as we shall discover in the fullness of time.
Friday, November 05, 2010
Fry's no longer a delight
I am a fan of Stephen Fry. By which I mean that I regard A Bit of Fry & Laurie as one of the high watermarks of television comedy, have read and enjoyed most of his books and find myself relistening to my recordings of his 1980s Radio 4 series Saturday Night Fry on an alarmingly regular basis. I do not, however, follow him on Twitter. A similarly-minded friend put it perfectly the other night. "I don't follow Fry because I am a fan of his and I want to remain one," said my chum. Too right. It's not just Fry. I tend not to follow celebrities of any description. There are a couple of exceptions. Peter Serafinowicz (@serafinowicz) is one. He doesn't babble on about the minutiae of his doubtless very exciting life. He just tries one-liners out, and some of them are fantastic, so I find him very worth following.
However, if you are on Twitter, it's almost impossible to avoid Fry. Even if he weren't all over social networking like shit in a field, people tend to re-tweet his bon mots in lieu of their own insight and wit. So, when he flounces, as he did last week, following volleys of criticism about some ill-advised remarks he made in an interview with the magazine Attitude, the ripples reach even those who shelter from his sprawling online presence.
I'm not remotely impressed by the way he's handled the affair. Flounces are twatty, whether you're famous or a whohe like me. The difference is in the response. When a whohe flounces, the usual reply is "Don't let the door hit you on the arse as you leave". This, generally, is the correct reaction. When a celebrity flounces, though, hundreds, even thousands of people beseech said personality not to go. "We love you, we need you." Really? You need some bloke/woman off the telly posting inconsequential messages about what they're having for dinner and who they're having dinner with? Why? Also, you can only flounce convincingly once. Fry's flounced from Twitter now twice, oddly enough, both times on 31 October. Do trick or treaters annoy him that much?
When Fry typed "Bye bye" last Saturday, the floodgates opened. "Come back, fluffy clever man. We wuv oo". I knew he'd be back. So it has proved. Instead of pretending nothing had happened and carrying on as heretofore, or even (and I appreciate that this is radical) admitting that he said what he was quoted as saying, Fry has returned with a long, blustering, self-justifying blog post, seeming to deny responsibility for any aspect of the whole sorry affair.
"Was it naïve in me that it never for a second crossed my mind that this conversation would be sold on to other papers? That it would be “picked up” and make a disastrous move from being a conversation to some kind of public “declaration”?" Yes, Stephen, it was. Don't come the innocent. You know how it works. By saying that it was "sold on" makes Attitude look grubby and venal, but do we know that money changed hands? Isn't it far more likely that Attitude sends complimentary copies to the mainstream press month-in, month-out, and occasionally the mainstreamers pick up on something within it?
For me, the worst aspect of Fry's bluster is his attempt to besmirch the author of the piece, Paul Flynn. "Maybe I should have guessed that the interviewer wanted not an interview but a story," Fry informs his blog readers. If this stuff was such dynamite, and Flynn wanted to capitalise on it, why did he put it in the sixth page of an eight-page feature? However, the public perception of journalists is so low that this sort of horseshit obfuscation actually works. Fry hammers his disdain home with "You will perhaps say that after nearly 30 years in the public realm I should have known better than to allow myself to have a free-wheeling happy, explorative and silly conversation with any journalist." Countless fans have replied dutifully along the lines of "What do you expect from a journalist?"
Ah, but what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. When the Daily Mail laid into Fry recently and dismissed him as a 'quizmaster', he responded by saying that, with his many contributions to esteemed publications over the years, he was more a journalist than a quizmaster, but that a journalist would never use the word 'journalist' as an insult. At the time, I thought "Good on you, Stephen", but now, I fear that this claim might come back to bite him on the arse. He claims that journalists can't be trusted. OK, but he also described himself recently as a journalist. Why then should anyone trust Fry? You'd think he'd have been too clever to set a trap for himself like this, wouldn't you?
However, if you are on Twitter, it's almost impossible to avoid Fry. Even if he weren't all over social networking like shit in a field, people tend to re-tweet his bon mots in lieu of their own insight and wit. So, when he flounces, as he did last week, following volleys of criticism about some ill-advised remarks he made in an interview with the magazine Attitude, the ripples reach even those who shelter from his sprawling online presence.
I'm not remotely impressed by the way he's handled the affair. Flounces are twatty, whether you're famous or a whohe like me. The difference is in the response. When a whohe flounces, the usual reply is "Don't let the door hit you on the arse as you leave". This, generally, is the correct reaction. When a celebrity flounces, though, hundreds, even thousands of people beseech said personality not to go. "We love you, we need you." Really? You need some bloke/woman off the telly posting inconsequential messages about what they're having for dinner and who they're having dinner with? Why? Also, you can only flounce convincingly once. Fry's flounced from Twitter now twice, oddly enough, both times on 31 October. Do trick or treaters annoy him that much?
When Fry typed "Bye bye" last Saturday, the floodgates opened. "Come back, fluffy clever man. We wuv oo". I knew he'd be back. So it has proved. Instead of pretending nothing had happened and carrying on as heretofore, or even (and I appreciate that this is radical) admitting that he said what he was quoted as saying, Fry has returned with a long, blustering, self-justifying blog post, seeming to deny responsibility for any aspect of the whole sorry affair.
"Was it naïve in me that it never for a second crossed my mind that this conversation would be sold on to other papers? That it would be “picked up” and make a disastrous move from being a conversation to some kind of public “declaration”?" Yes, Stephen, it was. Don't come the innocent. You know how it works. By saying that it was "sold on" makes Attitude look grubby and venal, but do we know that money changed hands? Isn't it far more likely that Attitude sends complimentary copies to the mainstream press month-in, month-out, and occasionally the mainstreamers pick up on something within it?
For me, the worst aspect of Fry's bluster is his attempt to besmirch the author of the piece, Paul Flynn. "Maybe I should have guessed that the interviewer wanted not an interview but a story," Fry informs his blog readers. If this stuff was such dynamite, and Flynn wanted to capitalise on it, why did he put it in the sixth page of an eight-page feature? However, the public perception of journalists is so low that this sort of horseshit obfuscation actually works. Fry hammers his disdain home with "You will perhaps say that after nearly 30 years in the public realm I should have known better than to allow myself to have a free-wheeling happy, explorative and silly conversation with any journalist." Countless fans have replied dutifully along the lines of "What do you expect from a journalist?"
Ah, but what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. When the Daily Mail laid into Fry recently and dismissed him as a 'quizmaster', he responded by saying that, with his many contributions to esteemed publications over the years, he was more a journalist than a quizmaster, but that a journalist would never use the word 'journalist' as an insult. At the time, I thought "Good on you, Stephen", but now, I fear that this claim might come back to bite him on the arse. He claims that journalists can't be trusted. OK, but he also described himself recently as a journalist. Why then should anyone trust Fry? You'd think he'd have been too clever to set a trap for himself like this, wouldn't you?
Friday, October 15, 2010
Writers' rights - PLR under threat
As part of Dave and Gideon's bonfire of quangos, it looks like the Public Lending Right administration system will be dismantled and the admin staff made redundant. For the uninitated, the PLR is the payment that each author receives when their works are borrowed from a public library. Currently, it stands at around 6p per loan. At the moment, the PLR payments themselves are not under threat, but is this the thin end of the wedge? Unless you're Katie Price or someone else who earns so much from books that you can pay some other bugger to write them for you, writing isn't a well-paid business, and for most authors, the annual PLR payment is a welcome boost. This year, I received £52.78, which might not sound a great deal, but came in handy for replacing the failing hard drive in my desktop PC. The great and the good fought for PLR back in the 1970s, and it still seems like something worth protecting. The current administrative arrangements have long been praised for their efficiency. As The Writers' Guild points out, placing the administrative centre in an employment blackspot like Stockton does a lot of good for the local economy. I have a distinct and horrifying feeling that whoever takes on the running of PLR won't do it as economically or as well as Jim Parker and his small team have done up until now. I believe that this is one quango that offers excellent value for money, and which should be saved. Anyone else with me?
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Pope pourri
Very occasionally, I wish I still lived in London. Now is not one of those occasions. Watching the news last night, and seeing all of the streets blocked up with nutters hoping to catch a glimpse of a German in a silly gown, I realised that I'm better off out of it. Meanwhile, the aforementioned German pensioner made comments about religion being marginalised in the modern world. Sadly I don't think it is being marginalised. If it were, that would be progress. Anyway, can someone wake me when he's pissed off back to the village where he kids himself he's 'head of state'? Ta.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Nazi Gold - not a new radio station
Have a listen to the clip on this page. It's from Richard Bacon's BBC Radio 5 Live show a few days ago, and features an excerpt of an interview with sacked TalkSPORT presenter Jon Gaunt. Well, I say interview. It is, unsurprisingly, a Gaunt monologue. It's interesting to imagine what it would have been like if a guest had tried the same tricks on Gaunt's show, back when he had one. In particular that hideous, smug "Over to you". Said guest would have been reminded in no uncertain terms whose show it was, I'm guessing.
As it happens, I believe there is a place for Gaunt's style of radio, but I also believe that, to pull it off, you have to be far cleverer than Gaunt seems to be. By all means be contrarian and controversial. Go ahead and wind people up. Feel free to cloak yourself in righteous indignation. Don't, however, lose your rag, whatever you do. You'll have lost the argument, and your job too.
As it happens, I believe there is a place for Gaunt's style of radio, but I also believe that, to pull it off, you have to be far cleverer than Gaunt seems to be. By all means be contrarian and controversial. Go ahead and wind people up. Feel free to cloak yourself in righteous indignation. Don't, however, lose your rag, whatever you do. You'll have lost the argument, and your job too.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Idents World Cup - final results
Well, the votes have been totted up and the result of the Idents World Cup final is as follows:
ATV 4 Thames 2
If it had been a Prodcaps World Cup, the boot might have been on the other foot, but I think that this is a fair and decisive result, and I'd like to thank Sir Lew Grade and Howard Thomas for the clean way in which their teams played. Let's hear that Midlands marvel once again.
ATV 4 Thames 2
If it had been a Prodcaps World Cup, the boot might have been on the other foot, but I think that this is a fair and decisive result, and I'd like to thank Sir Lew Grade and Howard Thomas for the clean way in which their teams played. Let's hear that Midlands marvel once again.
Semi-final results and, holy crap, it's the final
LWT 1 ATV 3
Thames 3 HTV 1
Bad luck for LWT in the semi-finals, scoring a lone goal against Sir Lew and the might of the Midlands. Bad luck also to the HTV aerial, the only ident in this semi-final line-up not to feature any vuvuzela-like brass scoring. However, HTV does take back to Pontcanna the 3rd place title. Which means that, live and at the same time as the footballers go at it, we ident fans see a stand-off between the ATV in Colour 'Zoom' ident and the Thames skyline. A few classics have fallen by the wayside, but personally, I think two stunning teams have made it to the final. Now all that remains is to decide the victor. Votes will close at the final whistle in South Africa. Get on with it.
Thames 3 HTV 1
Bad luck for LWT in the semi-finals, scoring a lone goal against Sir Lew and the might of the Midlands. Bad luck also to the HTV aerial, the only ident in this semi-final line-up not to feature any vuvuzela-like brass scoring. However, HTV does take back to Pontcanna the 3rd place title. Which means that, live and at the same time as the footballers go at it, we ident fans see a stand-off between the ATV in Colour 'Zoom' ident and the Thames skyline. A few classics have fallen by the wayside, but personally, I think two stunning teams have made it to the final. Now all that remains is to decide the victor. Votes will close at the final whistle in South Africa. Get on with it.
Quarter-final results and semi final matches
No time Toulouse. The results are as follows:
Harlech eye test 1 LWT river 5
Thames skyline 5 Channel 4 original 2
ATV Zoom 7 Westward galleon 0
HTV Aerial 4 BBC mirror globe 3
Oh dear. That means it's:
LWT river vs ATV Zoom
Thames skyline vs HTV aerial.
Votes by 2pm Sunday.
Harlech eye test 1 LWT river 5
Thames skyline 5 Channel 4 original 2
ATV Zoom 7 Westward galleon 0
HTV Aerial 4 BBC mirror globe 3
Oh dear. That means it's:
LWT river vs ATV Zoom
Thames skyline vs HTV aerial.
Votes by 2pm Sunday.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Block of 16 results and quarter finals
Apologies for the delay in getting these results to you. I really didn't expect to spend Wednesday to Friday of this week in hospital. Best be quick.
Harlech eye test 5 BBC Schools Diamond 1
Grampian saltire 1 Thames skyline 6
LWT river 5 BBC2 stripey 2
TSW tree of bras 1 Channel 4 original 5
ATV Zoom in Colour 5 Open University 2
Yorkshire Television Colour Production 1 HTV Aerial 6
Anglia knight 3 Westward galleon 4
Central cake mark 1 1 BBC1 mirror globe 5
So, that means the quarter finals look like this:
Harlech eye test vs LWT river
Thames skyline vs Channel 4 original
ATV Zoom vs Westward galleon
HTV Aerial vs BBC mirror globe.
As we're playing catch up, I'm calling a curfew of 2am on this one, with voting on the semi-finals to follow, running into the morning, then the finals to run at the same time as the football World Cup final.
Harlech eye test 5 BBC Schools Diamond 1
Grampian saltire 1 Thames skyline 6
LWT river 5 BBC2 stripey 2
TSW tree of bras 1 Channel 4 original 5
ATV Zoom in Colour 5 Open University 2
Yorkshire Television Colour Production 1 HTV Aerial 6
Anglia knight 3 Westward galleon 4
Central cake mark 1 1 BBC1 mirror globe 5
So, that means the quarter finals look like this:
Harlech eye test vs LWT river
Thames skyline vs Channel 4 original
ATV Zoom vs Westward galleon
HTV Aerial vs BBC mirror globe.
As we're playing catch up, I'm calling a curfew of 2am on this one, with voting on the semi-finals to follow, running into the morning, then the finals to run at the same time as the football World Cup final.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Group H results & block of 16 matches
And so the group stages of the Idents World Cup draw to a close. Over to Camp Julian in Belfast for the group H results:
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe 6 BBC TV bat wings 1
BBC TV bat wings 3 Westward galleon 4
Westward galleon 4 Tyne Tees 1980s 3
Tyne Tees 1980s 1 BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe 6
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe 4 Westward galleon 2
BBC TV bat wings 3 Tyne Tees 1980s 4
I make that BBC1 on 9 points, Westward on 6 points and Tyne Tees on 3 points. Which means that the block of 16 is as follows:
Harlech eye test vs BBC Schools Diamond
Grampian saltire vs Thames skyline
LWT river vs BBC2 stripey
TSW tree of bras vs Channel 4 original
ATV Zoom in Colour vs Open University
Yorkshire Television Colour Production vs HTV Aerial
Anglia knight vs Westward galleon
Central cake mark 1 vs BBC1 mirror globe
Let's be having your votes, in by 23.59 on Tuesday 6 July.
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe 6 BBC TV bat wings 1
BBC TV bat wings 3 Westward galleon 4
Westward galleon 4 Tyne Tees 1980s 3
Tyne Tees 1980s 1 BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe 6
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe 4 Westward galleon 2
BBC TV bat wings 3 Tyne Tees 1980s 4
I make that BBC1 on 9 points, Westward on 6 points and Tyne Tees on 3 points. Which means that the block of 16 is as follows:
Harlech eye test vs BBC Schools Diamond
Grampian saltire vs Thames skyline
LWT river vs BBC2 stripey
TSW tree of bras vs Channel 4 original
ATV Zoom in Colour vs Open University
Yorkshire Television Colour Production vs HTV Aerial
Anglia knight vs Westward galleon
Central cake mark 1 vs BBC1 mirror globe
Let's be having your votes, in by 23.59 on Tuesday 6 July.
Group G results and Group H matches
Yes, I know the group stages are dragging on longer than the real thing, but I don't have FIFA's resources. I do still aim, somehow, to get this thing finished at the same time as the football shiznit. Anyway, we must move with all speed to the Michael Speake Leisure Centre on Norwich's busy Prince of Wales Road for the group G results.
Anglia knight 4 From the North - Granada 2
From the North - Granada 4 Teledu Cymru dragon 2
Teledu Cymru dragon 2 Central cake mark 1 5
Central cake mark 1 5 From the North - Granada 1
Teledu Cymru dragon 3 Anglia knight 4
Anglia knight 4 Central cake mark 1 3
So, that's 9 points for the Narvicensian silver knight and 6 points for the Central cake. The Granada arrow's lone victory against the Teledu Cymru dragon is not enough to see it through. We can only speculate on how the blue Granada Colour Production card would have fared. And so to H:
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe vs BBC TV bat wings
BBC TV bat wings vs Westward galleon
Westward galleon vs Tyne Tees 1980s
Tyne Tees 1980s vs BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe vs Westward galleon
BBC TV bat wings vs Tyne Tees 1980s
We're playing catch-up, so votes by 8pm tonight - Monday 5 July - please.
Anglia knight 4 From the North - Granada 2
From the North - Granada 4 Teledu Cymru dragon 2
Teledu Cymru dragon 2 Central cake mark 1 5
Central cake mark 1 5 From the North - Granada 1
Teledu Cymru dragon 3 Anglia knight 4
Anglia knight 4 Central cake mark 1 3
So, that's 9 points for the Narvicensian silver knight and 6 points for the Central cake. The Granada arrow's lone victory against the Teledu Cymru dragon is not enough to see it through. We can only speculate on how the blue Granada Colour Production card would have fared. And so to H:
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe vs BBC TV bat wings
BBC TV bat wings vs Westward galleon
Westward galleon vs Tyne Tees 1980s
Tyne Tees 1980s vs BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe
BBC1 1974-1981 Futura mirror globe vs Westward galleon
BBC TV bat wings vs Tyne Tees 1980s
We're playing catch-up, so votes by 8pm tonight - Monday 5 July - please.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Group F results and Group G matches
England having given us what we all expected sooner or later, the Idents World Cup becomes the only game in town. ATV flags will be available in all branches of Poundland before the end of the week. And so to the Mike Prince Velodrome in Tamworth for the Group F matches.
HTV aerial 7 Open University 2
Open University 6 Scottish Television spinning lion 3
Scottish Television spinning lion 0 BBC2 Colour 1967 9
BBC2 Colour 1967 4 HTV Aerial 5
Open University 5 BBC2 Colour 1967 4
Scottish Television spinning lion 2 HTV aerial 7
A clean sweep for the aerial, and, in second place, the improvers of Milton Keynes.
Right, let's crack on with the next round:
Anglia knight vs From the North - Granada
From the North - Granada vs Teledu Cymru dragon
Teledu Cymru dragon vs Central cake mark 1
Central cake mark 1 vs From the North - Granada
Teledu Cymru dragon vs Anglia knight
Anglia knight vs Central cake mark 1.
Answers by 00.01 on Thursday 1 July.
HTV aerial 7 Open University 2
Open University 6 Scottish Television spinning lion 3
Scottish Television spinning lion 0 BBC2 Colour 1967 9
BBC2 Colour 1967 4 HTV Aerial 5
Open University 5 BBC2 Colour 1967 4
Scottish Television spinning lion 2 HTV aerial 7
A clean sweep for the aerial, and, in second place, the improvers of Milton Keynes.
Right, let's crack on with the next round:
Anglia knight vs From the North - Granada
From the North - Granada vs Teledu Cymru dragon
Teledu Cymru dragon vs Central cake mark 1
Central cake mark 1 vs From the North - Granada
Teledu Cymru dragon vs Anglia knight
Anglia knight vs Central cake mark 1.
Answers by 00.01 on Thursday 1 July.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Group E results & Group F matches
How remiss of me. I appear to have dropped the ball slightly. Never mind, we go live now to t where they're using Peter Lewis's jumpers for goalposts for the Group E results in the Idents World Cup. The games were scored as follows:
Channel 3 North East 2 Border chopsticks 7
Border chopsticks 2 Yorkshire Television Colour Production 7
Yorkshire Television Colour Production 0 ATV in Colour Zoom 9
ATV in Colour 'Zoom' 9 Border chopsticks 0
Channel 3 North East 0 ATV in Colour 'Zoom' 9
Yorkshire Television Colour Production 9 Channel 3 North East 0
As expected, C3NE got nowhere, and is slinking back to Newcastle as we speak. A fixture against the hated ident gave Border's chopsticks its only win, but the worthy qualifiers are Yorkshire on 6 points and the sheer class of the ATV in Colour Zoom ident on 9 points.
And so to Group F.
HTV aerial vs Open University
Open University vs Scottish Television spinning lion
Scottish Television spinning lion vs BBC2 Colour 1967
BBC2 Colour 1967 vs HTV Aerial
Open University vs BBC2 Colour 1967
Scottish Television spinning lion vs HTV aerial
Another very strong group, I feel. Can monochrome beardies in kipper ties writing quadratic equations on a roller blackboard outclass Paint Along With Nancy? Or will BBC2's first colour symbol bring the trophy home to Pres B? Or will revolving wildlife spin the cup back to Hope Street, Glasgow? It's over to you.
Channel 3 North East 2 Border chopsticks 7
Border chopsticks 2 Yorkshire Television Colour Production 7
Yorkshire Television Colour Production 0 ATV in Colour Zoom 9
ATV in Colour 'Zoom' 9 Border chopsticks 0
Channel 3 North East 0 ATV in Colour 'Zoom' 9
Yorkshire Television Colour Production 9 Channel 3 North East 0
As expected, C3NE got nowhere, and is slinking back to Newcastle as we speak. A fixture against the hated ident gave Border's chopsticks its only win, but the worthy qualifiers are Yorkshire on 6 points and the sheer class of the ATV in Colour Zoom ident on 9 points.
And so to Group F.
HTV aerial vs Open University
Open University vs Scottish Television spinning lion
Scottish Television spinning lion vs BBC2 Colour 1967
BBC2 Colour 1967 vs HTV Aerial
Open University vs BBC2 Colour 1967
Scottish Television spinning lion vs HTV aerial
Another very strong group, I feel. Can monochrome beardies in kipper ties writing quadratic equations on a roller blackboard outclass Paint Along With Nancy? Or will BBC2's first colour symbol bring the trophy home to Pres B? Or will revolving wildlife spin the cup back to Hope Street, Glasgow? It's over to you.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Group D results & Group E matches
You join us live at the Tom Edwards Space Centre, Teddington Lock, Middlesex, TW11 9NT, for the thrilling stand-off between some of the greats of identdom. As Tanya Jones of Gypsy Creams pointed out, this was a strong group, but I think honour has been served. The rule of thumb so far has been 'black and white idents don't make it', and this round doesn't buck that trend, with Rediffusion London winning one of its games and drawing another, but failing to overcome the might of the BBC2 stripes on 6 points or the original Channel 4 blocks on 7 points.
And so to group E (the way you like it, really like it). Pick the bones out of this little lot:
Channel 3 North East vs Border chopsticks
Border chopsticks vs Yorkshire Television Colour Production
Yorkshire Television Colour Production vs ATV in Colour Zoom
ATV in Colour 'Zoom' vs Border chopsticks
Channel 3 North East vs ATV in Colour 'Zoom'
Yorkshire Television Colour Production vs Channel 3 North East
I think I know the way this one's going to end up. Can one of the most hated rebrandings of broadcasting history and a still ident with no music overcome the majesty of two of the ITV system's biggest hitters? I'm going to go out on a limb and say no chance. Vote with your hearts and heads, please, and don't just be perverse to prove me woefully wrong.
And so to group E (the way you like it, really like it). Pick the bones out of this little lot:
Channel 3 North East vs Border chopsticks
Border chopsticks vs Yorkshire Television Colour Production
Yorkshire Television Colour Production vs ATV in Colour Zoom
ATV in Colour 'Zoom' vs Border chopsticks
Channel 3 North East vs ATV in Colour 'Zoom'
Yorkshire Television Colour Production vs Channel 3 North East
I think I know the way this one's going to end up. Can one of the most hated rebrandings of broadcasting history and a still ident with no music overcome the majesty of two of the ITV system's biggest hitters? I'm going to go out on a limb and say no chance. Vote with your hearts and heads, please, and don't just be perverse to prove me woefully wrong.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Group C results & Group D matches
As the chorus of "He's coming home, he's coming home, he's coming...Rooney's coming home" gets loud enough to drown out the Uwe Seelers, as, thanks to Danny Baker, vuvuzelas are now properly known (and if you're the twat who was blowing one in Norwich market place yesterday, a pox on you), we at the Idents World Cup alone give hope. Yes, like the old Home Internationals, it's a contest where the trophy's guaranteed to stay in the British Isles. And so we move swiftly to the Tony Curriedrome in Glesga for the Group C results.
Southern star 2 LWT river 11
LWT river 12 BBC1 COW 1
BBC1 COW 4 TSW tree of bras 9
TSW tree of bras 4 LWT river 9
Southern star 3 TSW tree of bras 10
BBC1 COW 8 Southern star 4
An unsurprising clean sweep for the LWT river, but a sharp intake of breath for number 2. I was quietly expecting the bucolic lilt of Steve Race's jingle to bring home the locally-produced, farm-assured bacon for Jack Hargreaves' Out of Towners, but the sheer barking majesty of TSW's tree of bras nabbed it 2nd place. Sadly, the BBC1 COW (computer-originated world) didn't induce the same "HOLY FUCK IT'S COMPUTERS!" frenzy in everyone that it generated in Mr Nesmith, but BBC1 has another bite at the cherry with the 1981-1985 mirror globe. And shame on you Kecske Bak for suggesting that the BBC COW is now known as Jana Bennett, although the utterly true story of her having to ask directions to TC4 after God knows how many years with the Corporation makes me sympathetic to your cause. And so to Group D. Pick the winners from these stand-offs:
BBC2 stripey vs BBC tv map
BBC tv map vs Channel 4 original
Channel 4 original vs Rediffusion London
Rediffusion London vs BBC tv map
BBC2 stripey vs Channel 4 original
Rediffusion London vs BBC2 stripey
As I have been unable to find a decent copy of the Rediffusion London ident on YouTube, most of them being from multi-multi-gen VHS or terrible mocks by 12-year-old windowlickers, I've taken the liberty of encoding and uploading a recreation of a full Rediffusion startup, made by Kecske Bak and Rory Clark of Farcical Films, who are the Morecambe and Wise, nay the Rolls and Royce, to say nothing of the Dandelion and Burdock of archive TV graphics research. Get your votes in by 6pm, Sunday 20 June.
Southern star 2 LWT river 11
LWT river 12 BBC1 COW 1
BBC1 COW 4 TSW tree of bras 9
TSW tree of bras 4 LWT river 9
Southern star 3 TSW tree of bras 10
BBC1 COW 8 Southern star 4
An unsurprising clean sweep for the LWT river, but a sharp intake of breath for number 2. I was quietly expecting the bucolic lilt of Steve Race's jingle to bring home the locally-produced, farm-assured bacon for Jack Hargreaves' Out of Towners, but the sheer barking majesty of TSW's tree of bras nabbed it 2nd place. Sadly, the BBC1 COW (computer-originated world) didn't induce the same "HOLY FUCK IT'S COMPUTERS!" frenzy in everyone that it generated in Mr Nesmith, but BBC1 has another bite at the cherry with the 1981-1985 mirror globe. And shame on you Kecske Bak for suggesting that the BBC COW is now known as Jana Bennett, although the utterly true story of her having to ask directions to TC4 after God knows how many years with the Corporation makes me sympathetic to your cause. And so to Group D. Pick the winners from these stand-offs:
BBC2 stripey vs BBC tv map
BBC tv map vs Channel 4 original
Channel 4 original vs Rediffusion London
Rediffusion London vs BBC tv map
BBC2 stripey vs Channel 4 original
Rediffusion London vs BBC2 stripey
As I have been unable to find a decent copy of the Rediffusion London ident on YouTube, most of them being from multi-multi-gen VHS or terrible mocks by 12-year-old windowlickers, I've taken the liberty of encoding and uploading a recreation of a full Rediffusion startup, made by Kecske Bak and Rory Clark of Farcical Films, who are the Morecambe and Wise, nay the Rolls and Royce, to say nothing of the Dandelion and Burdock of archive TV graphics research. Get your votes in by 6pm, Sunday 20 June.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Group B results and Group C matches
The engineers at London's busy Museum telephone exchange are giving the patch cords a last-minute check, and, any moment now, we should be going over to the Sylvia Peters Continuitydrome at Alexandra Palace for the results of the Group B fixtures in the Idents World Cup (guaranteed vuvuzela-free since last week). The scores on the doors, collated from votes here, on Twitter, on Facebook and on Cook'd and Bomb'd, are as follows:
Thames skyline 11 ABC triangle 2
ABC triangle 5 BBC Schools diamond 8
BBC Schools diamond 11 Ulster oscilloscope on a stick 2
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick 4 ABC triangle 9
BBC Schools diamond 4 Thames skyline 8
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick 2 Thames skyline 10
I make that 9 points for Thames, 6 points for the BBC Schools Diamond, 3 points for ABC and sod all for Ulster. As one commenter said, it may well be that Ulster wasn't fielding its best formation. Better luck in 2014, chaps. I must say that I'm surprised at the lack of love for the ABC chimes, but that's identball. So in Group B, it's a clear win for geography and geometry, and in the next stages it looks very much to me as if Thames will be playing Grampian, with the BBC Schools Diamond competing against Harlech.
This, however, is getting ahead of ourselves, and we must deal with the remaining group fixtures first. And so to Group C, which I believe to be a very strong combination of the iconic and the memorably strange. So, we're looking for scores in the following matches:
Southern star vs LWT river
LWT river vs BBC1 COW
BBC1 COW vs TSW tree of bras
TSW tree of bras vs LWT river
Southern star vs TSW tree of bras
BBC1 COW vs Southern star
While I have, in the interests of fair play, mostly kept ident clips to the bare minimum, I feel that the plucky Plymouth outsider's offering is best seen in the context of first few minutes of the station's gala opening show. Never before have leotards, blacksmithery and rapid-cut vision-mixing been combined to such devastating effect. And that's before you get to a studio full of TSW staffers in party hats being exhorted to enjoy themselves by Lennie 'TV's Mr Punchlines' Bennett. Voting on this round closes at 6pm on Thursday 17 June.
Thames skyline 11 ABC triangle 2
ABC triangle 5 BBC Schools diamond 8
BBC Schools diamond 11 Ulster oscilloscope on a stick 2
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick 4 ABC triangle 9
BBC Schools diamond 4 Thames skyline 8
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick 2 Thames skyline 10
I make that 9 points for Thames, 6 points for the BBC Schools Diamond, 3 points for ABC and sod all for Ulster. As one commenter said, it may well be that Ulster wasn't fielding its best formation. Better luck in 2014, chaps. I must say that I'm surprised at the lack of love for the ABC chimes, but that's identball. So in Group B, it's a clear win for geography and geometry, and in the next stages it looks very much to me as if Thames will be playing Grampian, with the BBC Schools Diamond competing against Harlech.
This, however, is getting ahead of ourselves, and we must deal with the remaining group fixtures first. And so to Group C, which I believe to be a very strong combination of the iconic and the memorably strange. So, we're looking for scores in the following matches:
Southern star vs LWT river
LWT river vs BBC1 COW
BBC1 COW vs TSW tree of bras
TSW tree of bras vs LWT river
Southern star vs TSW tree of bras
BBC1 COW vs Southern star
While I have, in the interests of fair play, mostly kept ident clips to the bare minimum, I feel that the plucky Plymouth outsider's offering is best seen in the context of first few minutes of the station's gala opening show. Never before have leotards, blacksmithery and rapid-cut vision-mixing been combined to such devastating effect. And that's before you get to a studio full of TSW staffers in party hats being exhorted to enjoy themselves by Lennie 'TV's Mr Punchlines' Bennett. Voting on this round closes at 6pm on Thursday 17 June.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Group A results and Group B matches
Time to go over to the Redvers Kyle Stadium, Kirkstall Road, for the Group A results:
TVS glass revolve 3 Harlech eye test 12
Grampian saltire 9 TVS glass revolve 6
TVS glass revolve 6 BBC2 'Firecracker' 9
Harlech eye test 10 Grampian saltire 5
BBC2 'Firecracker' 8 Harlech eye test 7
Grampian saltire 8 BBC2 'Firecracker' 6
Three idents each won two games, bringing in 6 points, so we go to goal differences to break the tie and decide which two go ahead. Harlech is a clear winner, scoring 22 goals in winning games where its opponents managed 8, bringing a net figure of 14. BBC2 and Grampian each achieved 17 goals in the two games it won, but BBC2's opponents racked up 13 goals in those same games, compared to the 12 scored by Grampian's opponents, so Grampian joins Harlech in the knockout stage. So, Harlech will play the 2nd team to win Group B, while Grampian will take on that Group's winners.
Which brings us neatly on to the Group B matches:
Thames skyline vs ABC triangle
ABC triangle vs BBC Schools diamond
BBC Schools diamond vs Ulster oscilloscope on a stick
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick vs ABC triangle
BBC Schools diamond vs Thames skyline
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick vs Thames skyline
Voting will close at midnight BST on 15 June. You know the drill by now.
TVS glass revolve 3 Harlech eye test 12
Grampian saltire 9 TVS glass revolve 6
TVS glass revolve 6 BBC2 'Firecracker' 9
Harlech eye test 10 Grampian saltire 5
BBC2 'Firecracker' 8 Harlech eye test 7
Grampian saltire 8 BBC2 'Firecracker' 6
Three idents each won two games, bringing in 6 points, so we go to goal differences to break the tie and decide which two go ahead. Harlech is a clear winner, scoring 22 goals in winning games where its opponents managed 8, bringing a net figure of 14. BBC2 and Grampian each achieved 17 goals in the two games it won, but BBC2's opponents racked up 13 goals in those same games, compared to the 12 scored by Grampian's opponents, so Grampian joins Harlech in the knockout stage. So, Harlech will play the 2nd team to win Group B, while Grampian will take on that Group's winners.
Which brings us neatly on to the Group B matches:
Thames skyline vs ABC triangle
ABC triangle vs BBC Schools diamond
BBC Schools diamond vs Ulster oscilloscope on a stick
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick vs ABC triangle
BBC Schools diamond vs Thames skyline
Ulster oscilloscope on a stick vs Thames skyline
Voting will close at midnight BST on 15 June. You know the drill by now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)