3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

There wasn't a single piece of food there I'd have attempted!  

Aahhh, you too worship at the Richard Hammond culinary school of experimentation 😂

Watched the first 2 episodes of Ellis, the story of the trial and execution of Ruth Ellis. Something very fishy went on with the police, witnesses, lawyers and QC's

 If it had been today she would have got manslaughter or less due to her circumstances and the life she had.

AS you know i've been following RDJ Dreams, another interesting thought provoking episode, tho am still not sure how i feel about what he did to his 65 Corvette Stingray.

Found the bit on mushroom leather [mycellium] fascinating tho what to do with the millions of cow hide surplus unless we can breed skinless cows.

On 8/21/2024 at 10:01 AM, TomsFocus said:

Don't know if any of you have been watching Flintoff's cricket tour on BBC1?  I'm not a fan of cricket but it's genuinely really interesting. ...

Just watched a further episode tonight. Such a rare show genuinely filling you with happiness! Seeing those lads getting their custom made suits and attending the High Commissioner reception was a pleasure. Flintoff cannot be underestimated in his ability of managing teamwork, just a joy to watch. Seeing his face bearing the scars of that awful crash he had, I have such respect for the way he has coped with what life has thrown him... If you've missed it, definitely worth a dip into the iPlayer. 

11 hours ago, StephenFord said:

Just watched a further episode tonight. Such a rare show genuinely filling you with happiness! Seeing those lads getting their custom made suits and attending the High Commissioner reception was a pleasure. Flintoff cannot be underestimated in his ability of managing teamwork, just a joy to watch. Seeing his face bearing the scars of that awful crash he had, I have such respect for the way he has coped with what life has thrown him... If you've missed it, definitely worth a dip into the iPlayer. 

I saw it and can only agree with everything you've said there.  

Also brought back a few memories I thought had been deeply buried!  I didn't go to my school prom for exactly the same reason Finn didn't want to go to the reception.  And have been dressed up and sat outside similar places a few times since then.  Genuinely took pride in seeing him able to push past it within a matter of minutes and get back inside, and even seem to be enjoying it, which is a feat I never managed personally.

Must admit I wasn't really a fan of Flintoff on TG, often seemed to be reckless to the point of putting other people at risk as well as himself.  I had assumed that came from a lack of empathy, but this show completely disproves that.  Have to admire the way he's put himself back in the public eye with the scars as well.

Will be sad when the series ends next week!

On 8/28/2024 at 9:40 AM, TomsFocus said:

Will be sad when the series ends next week!

Sad the series is over - episode 4, simply inspirational...

Saturday Dune 1

Sunday Dune 2

Tuesday  the 1080p extended original version

Roll on 2026 for the 3rd and final instalment

The Zelensky Story

A 3 parter from BBC now on iPlayer. An amazing story how one man went from a comedian, to star in a movie named, 'Servant of the People', about a teacher who became president of Ukraine. Pure fantasy, until it wasn't. Portrays the origin of the disrespect that Putin had for Zelensky right from the very start.

Admittedly, this series won't be for everyone, there's no fast car chases, or special effects. Just an insight into current events that have effected every single one of us, from the cost of energy, to the cost of our supermarket shop.

BBC rightly get much beating up these days, correctly so, but this one has slipped through the net. We could do with our own comedian as PM, though sadly, we have a genuine one in office. Well worth a watch...

Fifth Gear

Been around as long as Top Gear, but concentrates on the cars rather than the 'entertainment' quota. Watched the most recent episode last night which is now on the 'Discovery' channel, so some may miss it if you aren't an avid channel hopper like me. If you're a petrol head, definitely worth a watch. They also did a series last year concentrating on battery cars 😪

Vicky Henderson still looks good LOL

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Fifth Gear

Yes, I'm enjoying that too at the moment.

Started watching David Olusoga's new series "A House Through Time: Two Cities at War", looking at the stories behind apartment buildings  in London and Berlin which I thought was very good.

His co-presenter at the Berlin end is the journalist Sophie von der Tann. Being a bit of a history nut I thought the name was familiar - Von der Tann was a German battle cruiser which fought at Jutland and was named after an aristocratic Bavarian General in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Turns out Sophie is a descendant of the ship's namesake. 

Tenuous link here with @Turvey - Von der Tann was scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919.

James May and the Dull Men - Quest

New series on Quest and is a delight! Basically, it's grown men working in a huge well equipped shed, finding solutions to useless trivial problems, just brilliant! I've always liked James approach to 'engineering' issues, his solution to scare off nuisance deer in his garden, or  a device for using a sledge hammer to crack a nut, or a lathe created holder for a pencil nub, very enjoyable...

I wasn't impressed with the cooking in the washing machine. That seemed deliberately designed to fail just for entertainment. If they were really serious they could have used some of those clips that hold the lids of tins that are liable to be under pressure and put their tins inside rubber balls.

The other devices were good though.

1 minute ago, mjt said:

I wasn't impressed with the cooking in the washing machine.

Thought it really dumb when the guy sampled the 'beef' immediately spitting it out complaining it tasted of soap! What did he think it would taste of after being run through a cycle in a washing machine 😂 Still, that pencil holder - I want one, and I don't even use a pencil LOL

I've just watched this week's episode in which James succeeded in driving acros Milton Keynes without having to stop in order to prove the efficacy of roundabouts compared with traffic lights. This is something I've repeatedly beefed about as the number of traffic lights has proliferated. They are a very efficient way of creating congestion - maybe so local authorities can then justify the introduction of congestion charging. Also, apart from the congestion, their maintenance and energy consumption is a continual drain on scarce resources.

James also made the rather interesting point that traffic lights take all responsibility away from the driver whereas at roundabouts and other uncontrolled junctions they have to think and make a decision. I feel this is also an issue with all the "driver aids" added to modern cars.

The 1% club...

Not a religious viewer of the show, but like to join in when I catch it. For the 1st time ever tonight, I got every question correct bar the last, '1%' question - feeling a bit smug 🤣

42 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

The 1% club...

Not a religious viewer of the show, but like to join in when I catch it. For the 1st time ever tonight, I got every question correct bar the last, '1%' question - feeling a bit smug 🤣

Watched last night's one. Got a few right. Not watched tonight's yet but partners gone to bed so may quickly watch the  answers now then pretend I've not seen it. Done it before and she never knew how clever I was😂😂😂

I don't know why they've put 4 of these on in a row.  What happened to weekly programming?  

Didn't see last nights as wanted to watch the final ep of Sue Perkins Istanbul trip.  But Monday nights 1% was a wild ride.  For one of the questions I answered '2', and the actual answer was Thursday...    In my defence, it was poorly written/laid out lol... 

I was much more disappointed in myself for getting 3 electrical bonus questions wrong on University Challenge earlier that evening.   One was 'what does RMS stand for?', another 'what is the combined effect or resistance and reactance?'.  Can't remember the third now.  All 3 are definitely things I knew in the past, learnt at college, but have slipped away now.  

11 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

   One was 'what does RMS stand for?'

Oh, I'd have got that one, but being a nerd, I was in the 'Radio & Tape recording Society' at school (unfortunate acronym of RATS LOL)

I have no consistency at all in the 1% club! Tonight's episode was a disaster for me, I'd have had to use a pass about a dozen times 🤣  Though I did get the 'hot dog' question right! The one guy who made it to the 1% was brilliant, despite losing!

I had to use my pass on the AD________ question due to my own unconscious bias.  Went through all the 5 letter clothes I could think of...shirt, shoes, jeans, socks, etc...didn't think of a single female garment! 😮 

Then made a silly mistake with 31st Nov lol, so was technically out from that point on.

Annoyingly I did get the 1% question right immediately, but then kept doubting it as it didn't 'look' right, so I would have locked in a different answer.  Though in fairness, given that he had to use his pass on the final question and was on his own, I would have taken the £10k instead of gambling it.  It's different when there are 3 or 4 in the final so it drops to £2.5/3.3k.

Did anyone see last nights 1% club?  One of the questions is still bugging me.  The one with all the punctuation symbols.  I thought the question was asking for the same symbols backwards and forwards (like a palindrome) but then the answer given wasn't that at all, and I still don't get it!   Oddly they didn't give any explanation for it, unlike some of the more obvious questions.  

I didn't get last nights 1% question...was 1 out lol, that would have been annoying if I was actually there!  

44 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

and I still don't get it!   Oddly they didn't give any explanation for it, unlike some of the more obvious questions.  

No, we thought along the same lines and still don't get it either! Annoying they didn't explain it.

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

No, we thought along the same lines and still don't get it either! Annoying they didn't explain it.

There is quite a lot of internet chatter on this very question 😂

4 hours ago, StephenFord said:

There is quite a lot of internet chatter on this very question 😂

Those people need to get out more!

They are right though, I get it now.  It needs to READ the same backwards and forwards when said out loud.  

So the one we were looking at started with 'open brackets' but ended with 'close brackets'.  It needed to end with an identical symbol, not the symbol that looked aesthetically opposite. 

Very clever and sneaky.  I never would have worked it without seeing the workings online.

Gavin & Stacey - Final episode

I'm a massive G&S fan, having watched every single episode multiple times. Can quote bits of script, know every story line. Was excited as a kid watching the final show on Christmas day. I was not disappointed. The writing was as crisp as ever, acting was effortless with great comedic timing, edited perfectly with appropriate music soundtrack, just fabulous.

Of course, gave the ending that all G&S fans wanted. Will be sad to see it go, but have years of repeats to look forward to. It's rare now for the nation to share a TV experience as most now watch their own individual schedule, but glad that over 12 million shared it live...

Now, what's occurin'??