GOOD TV

[Stanley]

I refuse to look it up! I shall wait for next week's programme.....

[Stanley]

Phillipa Gregory gave the answer last night. Good programme and she managed a clear explanation of what happened with some fascinating insights that are at odds with the version given to us by the Tudors. Fascinating stuff and I will get 'The Cousin's War' and read it.

[Nolic]

I agree Comrade good TV. I like Philllipppa now as a presenter as well as an author. Her views on Richard of Gloucester now seem to be more widely accepted now that people are looking at the bigger picture than that based on Tudor hype. Clear that there is no evidence to link him with the deaths of his two nephews and Margaret Beaufort and her son seem to have gained most from their deaths. Nolic

[Sue]

I watched the first programme in France last week but missed the beginning of last night. I love that period of history.

[Stanley]

Sue, well worth looking it up on Iplayer. It triggered me to order the Cousin's War trilogy..... By the way, remember that the evidence of the bones found in Leicester was that he hadn't got a crook-back either! Shakespeare might have quite a bit to answer for.....

[hartley353]

New series The Mill, starts 20.00 hours on channel 4 Sunday, Set at Quarry bank Mill Style.

[Stanley]

Watched the first 15 minutes of the Mill and went to my recorded FI Hungarian race. I saw enough of the programme to suss out what they had done. They have looked for every re[port of wrongdoing, they started with cleaning moving machinery, went on to attempted rape, followed this by an industrial accident and an amputation and then switched to the hard-faced mill owner. In passing they touched on the evils of the apprentice system. Enough for me....
The programme is filmed at Quarry Bank and is based loosely on the Gregs. In fact the Gregs were good and progressive mill owners. They built good housing for the workers and looked after their apprentices, even gave them music lessons. Many of the apprentices stayed on as adult workers. I'll lay you a small bet that they won't be able to resist William Greg's death, he was gored by a pet stag he kept in his garden. This could have been a good series but they have spoilt it by going for the shock horror factor. Bit like the White Queen actually, the lowest common denominator and not good history.

[hartley353]

Stanley I endorse every thing you say, I was bitterly disappointed at the story line, and a chance wasted to portray a lifestyle long gone. My channel change was quickly back to countryfile. Future episodes will be ignored.

[Stanley]

I wonder whether they'll mention that the Gregs established on of the earliest Co-operative stores in the mill village....

[Tripps]

I lasted ten minutes before giving up. On a par with Emmerdale. The word 'drama' is usually a warning these days I won't be back.

[Stanley]

I think you have good taste. The pity of it is that Greggs at Styal is the best restored 18th/19th C water powered mill and the best researched after the work of my friend Dr Mary Rose. The waterwheel from Pately Bridge on the waterwheel thread went in there. I was a resource for David Sekers when he was overseeing the restoration of the mill after he'd done Gladstone Pottery.



David Sekers, Fred Madders and Peter White at Glasshouses. May/June 1979. I was with them and we were discussing the ethics of taking the wheel out and using it at Styal. Actually they needed me to have a fall guy if there were any protests.... Fred was the engineer at Styal who rebuilt the wheel. Peter White was the English Heritage Inspector.

[Stanley]

I had recorded the third of Kate Humble's programmes on shepherding and watched it last night. Three good programmes and well worth seeking out if you haven't seen them.
(I liked the guinea pigs living under the hearth in Peru which Kate thought were pets until the grandma cooked one....)

[Stanley]

Interesting juxtaposition last night. Top Gear did a good piece celebrating the current level of activity in the British motor industry and this was followed by 'Das Auto', an examination of the rise and rise of Germany since the war with some very sharp and accurate comments about where the management went wrong in the 1950s and 60s.

[Stanley]

Enjoyed Rick Stein in Germany last night. My mouth watered at the sight of the smoked ells and the herring salad. Two of my favourite foods. Hot smoked eel from the IJsselmeer in a butty straight out of the smoker is food for the Gods!

[Stanley]

Enjoying the new series of New Tricks. I do admire the way Amanda Redman refuses to hide the scars on her left arm caused by being scalded when she was 15 months old. I can think of few things worse than this for an acting career, especially a woman in our flawed society.

[Wendyf]

I'm enjoying watching Michael Wood's King Alfred & the Anglo Saxons.

[Stanley]

He's good isn't he. I'm keeping up with the series. Wonderful how far our understanding of the history of inward migration has advanced in recent years. When I was a lad it was dead simple, the invaders drove the 'Ancient Britons' into Wales and the West country, end of story! The new view is far more complicated but wonderfully rewarding.

[PanBiker]

Digging WWII presented by Dan Snow. Three programs I think, first last night, mainly on the story of a Canadian airman flying spitfires out of a station in Northern Ireland protecting inbound convoys. He got into difficulty and had to bail out from an overheating engine. He was OK but the aircraft crashed into a bog just over the border in the Republic. Program covered the recovery. they retrieved 6 of the 8 machine guns (2 were recovered at the time). The guns were so well preserved they cleaned one down and it was found to still be fully functional, they test fired it on a range. Second half was about the Churchill tank regiment that took on the Hitler Line in Italy after Monte Casino. They dug out one of the German fortifications and found evidence of ordnance from both sides in the close quarter battle. Next week is about diving onto lost tanks from inbound convoys, worth another watch.

[Tripps]

I watched bits of this, and have just rechecked - the airman was in fact American - (Bud Wolfe from Nebraska) - one of 20 'volunteers' who joined the RAF's effort before the USA had entered the war. Fascinating to see that he was interned at The Curragh, in the company of German Navy people, where they had access to free Guinness and Irish Whiskey. He 'escaped' by catching a train from Dublin to Belfast, but he was actually sent back, for fear of upsetting the neutral Irish!
I note that Dan Snow used the name Derry throughout, rather than Londonderry, perhaps on the same basis.

It all reminds me of the Irish song which I have in my collection.....

Oh the winter it has passed and the summer's come at last.
The small birds are singing in the trees
and their little hearts are glad ah, but mine is very sad
since my true love is far away from me

and straight I will repair to the Curragh of Kildare
for it's there I'll finds tidings of my dear.........

PS - they said the Spitfires were paid for by the Canadian Garfield Weston who donated £100,000. Wasn't he the chap who invented the Wagon Wheel biscuit?

[PanBiker]

Yes my mistake Tripps, he was indeed American although I knew there was a Canadian in the mix somewhere. No idea about the Wagon Wheels though!
Tonight's episode was good again with the sunken cargo ship that had been previously blown in two by a mine but subsequently repaired and put back into service before being torpedoed by the U Boat. A massive cargo ship with all the vehicles and tanks it was carrying strewn across the sea bed. Another Spitfire recovery and the garden dig from the Arnhem offensive.

[Tripps]

" straight I will repair"

I really love that phrase - it would make a good tag line for some of the engineers on here......

[Stanley]

I managed to stop myself from analysing that meaning of 'Repair'! But only just....
Watched Dan Snow. Funny how small things nag. The ammunition in the hotel grounds was in clips and not bandoliers as he said.

[PanBiker]

Amazing what's just under the surface if you know where to look. SMLE clips and the Sten magazine from the Dutch garden. The bog in Ireland that preserved the Spitfire machine guns also preserved the bandolier clips from the ammo boxes. They didn't run the risk of using those though when they test fired the weapon but used a shiny new ammo belt.

[Stanley]

Only gun I ever used that needed an ammo belt was the old Vickers MMG. Shows how old I am!

[Stanley]

Horizon and hackers last night. In a word, SCARY!