On TV...

[white exec]

Thought I might as well start a new thread for this.
Must stop flagging up tv programmes on what seem to be areas of fascination for several of us, but some are just too good to miss.

Have today fallen over a newish BBC iPlayer clutch:
BBC Four
"Transport Revolutions" series
9 progs
including Concorde, E-type (with Q.Willson+), Steam (Quest for Speed), 747 Jumbo, The Mini, Tunnelling,
and, what I have just finished watching:
"How They Dug the Victoria Line" (great 1969 BBC documentary, with Max Hastings)
All sorts of fascinating detail about construction, train control, automated electro-mechanical systems, LU battery trains, and enough lack of H&S to make you wince. Anyone into switchgear, Lots Road, and '70s optimism will love this.

I cannot promise not to add to this thread. Feel free.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Haven't watched Television for 4-months now, but...I-Player et al, and youtube et al, don't count of course, and there's plenty of interesting stuff to go at. In addition there's the old "newsreel" stuff from the Rank Organisation like "Look at Life" with some tremendous content for the nostalgia buff.

Doing a bit of DIY in the kitchen, so Tommy's yard /Tradessupermarket plastering videos have been brilliant for me recently, but unlikely to make it to mainstream TV.

Recently I was looking for a particular episode which I had seen before of Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journeys which wasn't on I-Player or youtube, but found it here,

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ir9f4

Regards Neil

[bobins]

The whole BBC Four Collections page is a good way to waste many hours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/collections

[white exec]

iPlayer (and others, after a fashion) rapidly becoming like a well-stocked library, and does reward a bit of selective browsing. Some incredibly good programming there, from virtually every Horizon, to John Betjeman. The historical footage since 1950 is extraordinary, including that from Rank too.

[Zelandeth]

Looks like I'll be giving Get-iPlayer a bit of work later on then, those programme sound right up my street...

Thanks for the heads up!

[bobins]

One of the torrent sites I used to frequent was running The Horizon Project where they were trying to piece together all of the old Horizon programmes. They were doing remarkably well until they got shut down I think the project still lives on though I must admit to preferring TV from the 70s, 80s and early 90s - there was less of the 'celeb' about it then

[CitroJim]

An excellent start to what I know is going to be an excellent and most valuable thread Chris Thanks for opening it

"How They Dug the Victoria Line" (great 1969 BBC documentary, with Max Hastings)
All sorts of fascinating detail about construction, train control, automated electro-mechanical systems, LU battery trains, and enough lack of H&S to make you wince. Anyone into switchgear, Lots Road, and '70s optimism will love this.

I saw this a while back. It was wonderful...

Only wish I had time to watch more... I delve into it when I'm too ill to do much else and that, mercifully, is now not often so it could take some time!

[white exec]

There could never be a better reason not to watch tv, Jim.
May it continue for a good while yet!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Having spotted this e-type, and dutifully having lobbed it up on the "classics" thread, I couldn't not watch Quentin Wilson's 20 minute little piece on it mentioned by Chris. I am starting to get nostalgic for Quentin Wilson now and did enjoy his little description of the e-type.

...No other car offered the same sort of cocktail of glamour, danger and excitement..it was like a racing car in a mini-skirt

and another interesting snippet, nicely summed up by Quentin....(is he still as good today?..I am really beginning to appreciate his wordsmithing!)

.....but behind all the brouhaha lay a little fib. Those first 3.8's weren't quite as fast as the newspapers said. Years later it emerged that Jaguar had been naughty and souped up the cars they had lent to the press. They knew those 3 magic numbers one, five, zero, would bless their new prodigy with instant fame, which is why few people noticed the lousy brakes, cramped cockpit, graunchy Moss gearbox, and seats that would have kept an oesteopath in work for months.

Nicely put....little fib, and being naughty, VW would have loved a verdict like that on their little misdemeanour!

Regards Neil

[white exec]

Yes, he's quite something, and hasn't changed much over all the years.
As you say, a real wordsmith. Reading Setright was a similar delight.

You've probably seen this...
"Rover - The Long Goodbye". 2005, BBC Bristol, 40mins
It''s on YouTube.
Plenty of Willson, as well as other great classic car writers, including James Taylor, Zog Ziegler, plus a bit of a very young Clarkson being unimpressed with SD1.
Not to be missed, if you have ever worried about British industry.

[NewcastleFalcon]

As you say, a real wordsmith. Reading Setright was a similar delight.

Have to admit it Chris never heard of him before, but have just read his piece on the E-Type Jaguar which I will link to below for anyone who is interested.....absolutely wonderful piece of refreshing writing

LJK Setright on the Jaguar E-type-Car+ Archive November 1979

Shows a pic of the article from the mag, but the text is reproduced in full below the picture, so no need to zoom in on the pic to read it. Here's a little excerpt....

........To take me, I had the car that was the sensation of the early ‘60s, the car that, even two years after production had begun in 1961, could still turn more heads than a platoon of poachers in a poultry farm. It fitted like a glove, went like the wind, looked like a million dollars, and sold for a little more than a couple of thousand pounds. Even though it might be doomed in some hands to idle its life away in a top-gear London loiter, it carried about itself everywhere the immense and unquestioned authority of a car that was known to be capable of 150mph.

It was time for me to fulfil a long-cherished ambition, to see the dawn from the top of Worcester Beacon, to watch the sun come upon the 12 counties within the purview of that loftiest of the Malvern Hills. From my home then in Hampton it was a moderately long drive, but it should not feel long, or take long in an E-type; and in any case I was free to set off whenever I liked.........

and so it goes on...thanks for pointing me in the right direction to find that little gem Chris, enjoyed it

Regards Neil

[white exec]

I discovered LJK Setright only a few years ago, when a friend lent me a book of his on Bristol Cars. An extraordinary character, and plenty about him on the web.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/s ... publishing

He loved Citroen, not least for its innovative engineering. We managed to find a copy of him on XM:
http://www.club-xm.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... ght#p93686

Most of his books are now collectors' items. The one I borrowed (Bristol Cars and Engines, 1974) was on Amazon for a bit more than £200.

[CitroJim]

Did LJK once used to write a very interesting column for 'Car' magazine back many years ago? I seem to recall it was the best part of a magazine that otherwise seemed to deal in what was little more than automotive p0rn!

[white exec]

The very same, Jim.




His attention to detail was legendary. It included the way he filed his copy (paragraph 3)...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... right.html

[CitroJim]

I didn't realise LJK was no longer with us

Great obit though, very interesting. Thanks for posting it Chris