On the 18th November 2022, my oft-mentioned Aunt
Marion died. She was ninety-four years old, and had been in declining health
for a while. At the funeral, we met countless other family who, like myself and
Cat, had been raised by our Aunt from an early age.
She is also the only person I’ve ever met, who left strict
sealed instructions to her local parish priest in advance of her own death.
Those instructions were that her funeral was not to be all about her.
4. Harold Wilson
“Since Harold Wilson’s stock has plummeted so sharply for
so long, one can only suppose that it will someday register an upward
movement. It is likely, indeed probable,
that historians will take a more charitable and compassionate view of his
career and achievements than do commentators who delight in trampling on a man
when he is down.”
Kenneth O Morgan, quoted in Reappraising Harold Wilson, Andrew Crines and Kevin
Hickson, Fabian Society 7 March 2016
“Wilson’s first administration was one of the great
reforming governments in British history. Without the prime minister’s
blessing, parliamentary time would never have been found to abolish capital
punishment, liberalise the laws on homosexuality, divorce and abortion, or for
the first positive action to promote racial equality. We should think of Wilson
as the architect of social reform.”
Roy Hattersley, Harold Wilson: The Winner by Nick Thomas-Symonds review – a
second look at the victorious Labour leader, The Guardian 10 October 2022
“This is government of the people, it is government for all
the people.”
Harold Wilson, Labour Party Conference speech 28 September 1965, quoted in The
Times 29 September 1965
The Tenth Planet
(Episode 1)
We've landed in the coldest place in the world!
We see a rocket taking off (stock footage from an Australian launch!) and the story is written by Kitt Pedler. So not only did he invent the Cyberman, and predict the internet, he was in fact also Knight Rider. No end to the man's talents.
The Smugglers
(Episode 1)
Only 8 more Hartnell episodes.
And this is another bloody recon. Bloody as in the episode is bloody missing, not bloody as in "these wonderful people have put together what we've got left through hard work". Thanks, folks. You recon folk are great. It's the episode junkers who get the Paddington Bear stare.
Not helped by this episode being a very visual one, the gory
bits - kept because the Australian censors axed them - look visually
attractive, and the limited location footage left suggests this story was very
visually attractive. Bah and humbug.
The War Machines
(Episode 1)
Doctor Who is required? Yes, he bloody well is.
Ian Stuart Black returns immediately. Now, Black was a
highly regarded bon viveur, acclaimed for witty after dinner speeches well into his early 80s. The Savages showed very little of this spirit, but let's
see what this story does.
Oh, look, its London! Modern London!
Oh, ok, London of 1966, which is now older than subjects taught in actual school history. But its contemporary swinging 60s London and instantly recognisably so.
We start with a bird's eye view of London before the camera swings round to show us Bedford Square, one of the more instantly recognisable bits of posh, conservation protected London. The widow Asquith lived in that long shot. Well, not in 1966, she died in 1945, but you get the drift.
From this long shot from above, we hear and see the TARDIS
materialise at street level.
The Savages
(Episode 1)
So, I am going into this tale with very little memories of my last watch of it, over 20 years ago. I remember Steven leaving clearly, and one of my favourite Doctor moments ever, but that's about it.
The Doctor announces he has landed in a place of peace and prosperity and leaves the TARDIS for a walk. He's in a forest.
A much more relaxed Dodo (who knew Doc Holliday was such a mood fixer) jokes with Steven about the Doctor getting lost, all the while some old men creep up on him.
8. William Grenville
(1806-7)
William Grenville had one year as Prime Minister. He wanted three achievements. Catholic Emancipation. Peace with France. An end to the British slave trade. You already know Catholic Emancipation was blocked time and again, and peace with France was a way off yet. The third seemed unlikely, given the numbers in the Commons and Lords who directly benefitted financially off the slave trade. William Pitt the Younger claimed to be pro-abolition, only, when the chips were down, to send the troops across the ocean to defend the institution of slavery. William Wilberforce demanded abolition from the back benches.
10. Gordon Brown
The latest in a long line of Prime Ministers who were better
Chancellors.
I tell you what, Brown’s National Care System would have
been bloody useful these days…
16. Earl of Shelburne
The Prime Minister who made peace with America. He gave them
considerably more territory than either side expected. This cemented the foundations for the US/UK trading alliance. The Father of the Special
Relationship. You might not like ever closer union; you might regret some of
the decisions made under it. However, it is inarguable that the closeness of the
two nations hasn’t been to the UK’s benefit on multiple occasions. And it all
stemmed from Shelburne.
Welcome to another edition of "Michael explains historical economics". Dear god...
"Popularity isn't everything. In fact, it isn't the most important thing. What matters is doing what you believe to be right, and that's what I've always tried to do, and I shall go on doing."
Ted Heath, Panorama 16 October 1967
"Ted Heath had some of the best ideas of a post-war Prime Minister. He was quite a radical person."
David Owen, to Peter Hennessy, Hennessy, Peter. The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945. United Kingdom: St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2001.
Have you ever known a Prime Minister who is bloody hard to rank? The man who brought the UK into the EU, yet also the man who, when the Sunningdale Agreement failed, brought internment to Northern Ireland. The man who orchestrated an arms embargo on all combatants in the Yom Kippur War, yet officially acknowledged Pinochet. The man who brought in the eligibility for free school meals yet ended free school milk in the same instance. He increased welfare spending, pensions and index linked benefits to inflation, yet imprisoned striking dockworkers.
A brief Prime Minister, who died very young (he was only
forty-four). He sent troops to America and increased the war budget, but was
almost entirely a figurehead so that William Pitt (the Elder) could govern.
Curious how someone who did nothing of note can still be better than so many
actively bad Prime Ministers.
47. David Cameron
(2010-16)
Here we go, the man who said on TV that he wanted to be Prime Minister because he “thought he’d be good at it”.
Spoiler alert, he was not.
Ranking the Prime Ministers of the UK is an idea which has been conducted surprisingly few times, compared to the number of articles doing the same for US Presidents. The Times, and a few select political journalists (most recently Iain Dale) have given it a shot. But as these things are reliant on personal bias as much as history, it takes a considerable ego to consider putting a list together. So, take that as read.
So I used to love Home Improvement back in the day as it was very Al Murray type comedy - it deliberately looked superficial but then would try and tackle real issues in parenting and the like. But I've sort of ignored it especially as Tim the Toolman in real life went full MAGA. (Although I note two of my favourite actors are massively rabidly right wing, and yet it's never stopped me watching Sleuth or Rear Window!)
Ah, 2001. Not exactly a legendary
year of music. The albums of the years were anthologies by older bands like The
Monkees, or new albums by bands yet to have their day in the sun (Snow Patrol),
or by new hit sensations like American Hi-Fi. You don’t remember American
Hi-Fi? They had a song called Flavour of the Weak, which, ignoring the pun, is
about how long they lasted as the biggest band ever.
Gunfighters (episode 1)
I don’t remember exactly when I first realised there was a thing such as Doctor Who in the world. I used to joke that my first word was Dalek. I recall vividly seeing the inside of a video cover, which promoted Doctor Who videos and being terrified by Jon Pertwee’s face. Strange how you remember things like that, yet don’t remember what you had for tea last week!
Eventually, I saw The Moonbase (yes), The Green Death (terrifying), Pyramids of Mars (more so) and Genesis of the Daleks (you wouldn’t believe quite how terrifying). I was hooked. I even remember finding out that my hero, Jon Pertwee, had died just before a primary school parents night, and for lots of concerned adults to think I was upset about the teachers comments, only for me to cry: “No, Doctor Who died!” I was nine.
Sadly, something even worse threatened to drive a wedge between me and this beloved show.
I think its called “being a teenager” in scientific circles.
I stopped watching the show.
And then, one evening in 2002, I was channel flicking and UK Gold came on. They were showing The Pirate Planet. I remembered it being rubbish.
Five minutes later, I was thinking: “this isn’t so bad!”
Two hours later, Doctor Who and I had been reunited.
Celestial Toymaker
(part 1)
OK, I'm not going into this one with great expectations.
To start I'm taken aback that the pictures move. Then I realised it was a replay of the end of The Ark.
Ah, there are the pictures alone. We're back in missing episode territory.
The Ark
(part 1)
Right, let's crack on with this one and see what it gives us.
It's a monitor lizard on a sandy floor.
The lizard stands so still you might think it was a recon photo until suddenly a toucan crashes down into the shot screeching. Roll over Exorcist III, we've got a new jump scare champion in town!
We open up in proper horror movie territory as a young woman opening a gate in heavy rain is slashed to death by an unseen maniac.
We then cut to one of the greatest Taggart openings, as Dr Janet Napier (Hannah Gordon) is arrested on suspicion of murder by Taggart, and the opening theme plays as we watch her slowly escorted out of the building as everyone stops to watch. We've joined in this story when its already seemingly near a conclusion.
The Massacre (episode 1)
The Massacre ended the night of 23rd and 24th August 1572, but started hundreds of years earlier. Long before Luther, the Reformation and Henry VIII, even. Ever since the Bible had began to be translated into French and English and so on (around the 13th Century), disagreements on how to interpret the messages within had been born. France itself was no stranger to ecumenical problems. When the French King (Philip IV) arrested Pope Boniface VIII (who liked to get involved in wars and conflicts) and he subsequently died weeks later in jail, the French then placed French subservient Popes into power who reigned from Avignon, until a schism which led to a French anti-pope, which splintered again into 3 or 4 different pretenders to the throne until a big conference was held in Germany to sort the mess out.
Complicated sentence for complicated geopolitics!
It's time for us to look at the top UK charting songs of 1989. It's a Jive Bunny Free Zone, before you start, because feck that rabbit. As with previous years, for a song to qualify for the years top 40, it has to have reached the UK top 40 in that year. Again, I tend to err against repeats that could have been listed in an earlier year. And yes, at least one controversial artist from the time period will show up on the list, because you have to separate art from artist in these matters.
That's right, Mick Hucknall will show up at one point. You have been warned!
