I missed the announcement that Raleigh were releasing a reworked version of the Mk2 Chopper, or I’d have told you about it before the first batch sold out.
What I’d like to see is a modern reimagining of the bike as well- slightly larger, for adult riders, with geometry tweaks from the lessons learnt in the decades since the original. Give it a five or seven speed hub, or maybe even make it electric. I doubt the market wouldn’t be as assured as for the retro version, so it’s unlikely to happen.
I was talking about my dream of owning some original Roy Cross artwork recently. Well, there’s a load of it up for auction soon, if anyone would like to buy me some.
On Monday, I went to an auction in town specifically to buy this. It’s a signed print of a painting by Roy Cross, and I bought it because of the artist, rather than the subject matter.
Don’t worry if you don’t know who Ry Cross is. I didn’t either until a couple of years ago, but he played an important part in my youth. Roy Cross painted much of the box art for classic Airfix kits- action packed shots of planes, tanks and ships in battle. Every so often some of his original art comes up for sale on eBay, and my long term plan is to have one of those original paintings on the wall. If it can be from something I’ve built, that’ll be even better.
I got the print for £10 (plus fees), a total bargain. The I foolishly went and bid on another lot, thinking it was a few prints of old Manchester and some bits and pieces. Now I have two dozen framed pictures, of various sizes and subjects, that I don’t know what to do with.
It’s interesting that an information film from 1965 should voice what you tend to think of as more modern concerns about consumer waste. Shame not enough people took heed of its message.
Thirty years ago children’s cartoon Danger Mouse topped the TV ratings, beating even Coronation Street. But what happened to the legendary Manchester animation house Cosgrove Hall Films, which created the rodent secret agent?
Voiced by Only Fools And Horses star David Jason, Danger Mouse was the flagship of Cosgrove Hall Films, based in a quirky studio in the Manchester suburb of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
I’m currently working my way through The Professionals on dvd, courtesy of Lovefilm. I’m surprised how many of the episodes I’ve already seen, I’m almost at the end of the second series and there’s only been one episode I’d never seen any part of before. This was the Klansmen episode, which never aired in the UK, supposedly because of some fairly racist language (as the story was about racism).
But the question that bugs me in every episode is- what’s that clip in the title sequence of the car smashing through a window from? So far it’s definitely not from any of the episodes. I have the weirdest feeling it’s from something Sweeney related.
Harry pointed this out to me a couple of weeks ago. Sturmey Archer hubs were stamped with the year and month of manufacture. This one dates back to May 1979, and runs quite smoothly despite being 32 years old.
How eighties is this? It’s a bike from my youth. I never had what I’d consider a proper BMX, but I’m sure I had a Raleigh Grifter for a while.
Harry turned up with this on Sunday. The first thing I did was get on it and try to pull some wheelies.
As far as I can tell all the components are original. There’s a little surface rust, particularly on the chromework, but it’s in really good condition considering what it is and its age. The only things missing are the padding on the top tube and handlebars. If you’d like it, it’s for sale.
That was my thought just before going to bed last night. An odd one, I know, but somehow my brain had worked its way around to packaging.
I seem to remember that wooden crates of a standardised size, generically or accurately- my memory’s a little fuzzy- described as “tea crates”, used to be the default packaging medium for moves. Nowadays there are any number of plastic boxes or origami cardboard constructions available and it seems the old fashioned tea crate has been consigned to history. They have been relegated to collectors’ items and subjects of nostalgia tinged blog posts.
(A little digging revealed that you can still buy “tea crates“, but these are not the old fashioned, recycled kind. Rather, they are modern plywood boxes with a similar construction to their namesakes.)
I used to have this on video, years ago, a feature length tale full of the Magic Roundabout’s surreal goodness. According to Bleeding Cool the special edition DVD will include-
Serge Danot’s original French language version
Eric Thompson’s incredible English language version
Interview with Eric’s family, Emma Thompson, Sophie Thompson and Phyllida Law
Interview with co-star Fenella Fielding
Interview with be-quiffed, famous fan Mark Kermode
Figure of eight banger racing from World of Sport, back in the days when Grandstand on the BBC had all the dull stuff like football and ITV tried to compete with stuff which was cheaper and generally more fun. Things like this and wrestling with Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy (“Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was said to be a fan of Big Daddy, as was then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is said to have quoted him several times during union negotiations in 1983 regarding the long-term unemployed.”???!!!!)
Pre-’68 banger racing from last year.
Heavy Metal Classic from earlier this year at Standlake Arena. The banger racing and stock cars at Belle Vue are fun, but it looks like we’ll have to go further afield for the really spectacular stuff.
Thunderpix has banger racing pictures. I think I’m going to turn a Base-Toys Rover 100 into a banger. Where’s my Dremel?
This was one of the tunes I’d stick on the car stereo and play really loud whilst driving around the Lake District in tourist season. It was also on an album that I kept losing, so I ended up buying it at least three times.
Perhaps this could be the beginning of a trend. There are enough of us with access to iTunes that we could start getting better music into the charts. Next time someone should try it with a band not tied to one of the major record labels though.
Whilst in the Corn Exchange earlier my sister and I checked out a mini exhibition on the history of the “Triangle” (as it now wants to be called) and reminisced about its shabbier glory days. I thought I’d go looking for remnants of the Exchange online. Didn’t find mny links.
I saw you sitting on the pavement Watching the goose-step of the crowd You were a picture of rebellion A kleptomaniac and proud
Well I should’ve seen it coming from miles away kiss the pavement goodbye and say hello to the ice age
Queen Jane You’ve got everything to fight for Queen Jane You’ve got everything to lose Queen Jane You’ve got everything to live for And there’s a lot more people worse off than you
Well let’s just pretend we’re human beings for a while Chronic Shyness Can drive us to a smile
Queen Jane You’ve got everything to cry for Queen Jane You’ve got everything to win Queen Jane You’ve got everything to die for And there’s a lot more people better off than you
The say your vacant face Helps the tourist trade If they could see you in your leisure time… well
A funny thing happened on the way to here The headlines read like the end was near For Queen Jane
The say your vacant face Helps the tourist trade If they could see you in your leisure time…
Queen Jane You’ve got everything to fight for Queen Jane You’ve got everything to lose Queen Jane You’ve got everything to die for And there’s a lot more people worse off than you
Queen Jane
It wouldn’t happen in another world It couldn’t have happened to a nicer planet It would’ve happened in another world So don’t pretend to care when you don’t care
Ten years asleep In the queue for the late night bus With all of us
Breakfast television Is the biggest decision I’ve made In the last decade
It wouldn’t happen in another world It couldn’t have happened to a nicer planet It would’ve happened in another world So don’t pretend to care when you don’t care
Ten years asleep It’ll be far too late To call 0898
Ten years asleep Every mind is UXB So don’t pretend that…
It wouldn’t happen in another world It couldn’t have happened to a nicer planet It would’ve happened in another world So don’t pretend to care when you don’t care
All the punks are pushing thrity years And are hardly feared All the young dudes Work for all the old brutes In expensive suits
Ten years asleep ’cause your grave is empty But already dug
Ten years of sleeping knees Instead of news So don’t complain that…
It wouldn’t happen in another world It couldn’t have happened to a nicer planet It would’ve happened in another world So don’t pretend to care when you don’t care
The comic is large format and printed on quality paper with highly detailed ligne claire artwork complemented by fine colouring. I did find, as you can with this style, the figures occasionally lack animation- appearing to be holding uncomfortable “running” poses rather than expressing the motion- but there is no such problem with the machinery. It helps that Biggles and his squadron are flying one of the most beautiful machines ever built, but it’s not just the Spitfires that swoop around the panels.
Thankfully the translation is good, or Cinebook went back to the original novel for the dialogue. Either way, this comic is lacking the poor English that afflicts some other translated strips. It still reads as slightly stiff, but in the way you’d expect lines from a different era to.
I want to dig out my old Biggles books (handed down from my father), but I think I may have finally said goodbye to them a couple of years ago and sent them off to a charity shop. I want to read the Red Fox editions of the comics, but I also know that Cinebook should be supported in bringing them back to market so I should wait for their version. Blimey, I’m just a little frustrated chaps.
, a comic adaptation of one of W.E. Johns’ tales of his pilot hero, adapted and drawn by a 
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