As I’ve probably stated many times previously, I don’t watch a great deal of television or cinema. The last time I went to a cinema was on my 50th and that’s getting on for ten years ago now.
Most of the films I rate were what I viewed in my childhood and a number were influenced by what my parents liked to watch. As a sixties child a lot of those films were “War” based films as the 2nd World war had only ceased some 19 yrs before my arrival on the scene.
So here are 10 films (I may struggle to get that many) that feature in my top ten but in no particular order:
The Dam Busters
The great escape
The Glenn Miller story
Robin and the seven hoods
Priscilla Queen of the desert
The exorcist
American werewolf in London
Jaws
Close encounters of the third kind
Saturday night fever
Quite a range I’d say, and pretty much nothing falling within the last 20 years or so reflecting the fall from personal grace of this entertainment medium, in my personal point of view.
Now… make that a question about radio and I can go on, and on, and on….you get it 😂
As a child of the 60s, Tv was very much still in its infancy and has never really had a hold on me. To this day I watch very little Tv whereas my wife is the total opposite, and all those Tv subscriptions really add up.
I however prefer the radio, always have done and always will do, you can take the Tv away and I truly would not miss it for a single second.
I was brought up on radio, the excitement of owning your very own transistor radio that went everywhere with you. In bed late at night listening to those old sports broadcasts as well as walking the streets with it permanently held to your ear listening to your favourite channel, way before Walkmans and MP3 players got in on the act.
The radio I always have on in my workspace
I learnt about radio at an early age, how it worked, who invented it as well as participating in its experimental usage as I grew up, I even took the RAE exam and got my City and guilds qualification in radio, I became a radio Amateur and the experimentation went up a few notches. I think this is where my fascination in repairing all these devices comes from, an incessant, absolute thirst for knowledge and a fascination in just knowing how things work.
I sit in my little work area and have a simple radio I recently repaired, set on my station of choice, and in the Uk that is “Boom radio”. It plays my type of music and still has familiar DJs I grew up with as a child, I’m stuck in a fantastical time warp.
Radio, I use it all the time, and to me it will always be the premier medium of entertainment that i will always turn to.
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?
There are a number of movies and tv series that I have watched multiple times over the years, however one from each category really stands out for me.
I have grown up with the James Bond franchise, as have many in my age group, and these films are still watched and enjoyed to this day.
But these are not my favourites. These are my favourites below.
Film wise I absolutely love the old James Stewart classic “The Glenn Miller story” this remains my favourite movie of all time and when it is on, that is my time, sit down, shut out all the noise and enjoy the wonderful story on how he created a unique sound that is still practiced to this day. And just like any good story it abruptly ends with his sad demise. A wonderful film in my eyes.
Glenn Miller
Secondly a tv series. That goes to the amazing Carl Sagan and his years ahead of its time “Cosmos” series. For a youngster brought up through the space race years there was a hunger for knowledge of our universe, that this series more than catered for. I have this entire series on DVD and it has even been updated from its original issue date in 1980. In 1986 more animations and commentary were added. Sagan passed away in 1996. He was the science teacher we all wished we had at school.
Carl Sagan
So that’s it for me, two of the finest televisual treats that I am aware of and still watch to this very day.
Have a wonderful day. Don’t let anyone take you down.
I had to think about this question and just what has influenced me most in my lifetime.
Radio commenced a good few years prior to my appearance on this earth but it has been the most featured aspect personally within my life.
As a kid of the 60’s and 70’s we grew up with radio being a massive influence to us, all the celebs and stars we knew were probably radio DJ’s and pop stars and all we ever wanted was a small transistor radio of our own to walk around with constantly held to one of your ears. It preceded television that in the 60’s was still really in its infancy, and back then we only really had two television stations that only broadcast for parts of the day.
Radio was the go to medium. Pirate radio stations were popping up all over the place being constantly hounded by the BBC and the government until the BBC gradually softened and realised this was what the younger generation wanted, so all of a sudden we had pirate DJ’s appearing on national radio stations, however they were tightly controlled and governed.
The first item I ever remember repairing was a radio, given to me broken by a neighbour, I repaired it and they were so impressed they brought it back off me, how good was that? At this point my interest in radio was heightened and i realised I could make a living myself, if I wanted to learn. And learn I did.
That’s my personal reasoning for believing radio was the best invention, if you look at how it has affected all our lives, not just in creating a fantastic communication medium, then the effects are long ranging and global. Here’s just a few items that have radio to thank for their arrival into our everyday lives.
Television
Mobile phones
Satellite communications
GPS
Radar
Remote control
MRI scanners and many other medical applications
Data WiFi
And the good old internet probably would not have been born without radio waves to assist it.
These are just a few of the applications that have had their roots in old fashioned radio science. We really have to thank the founders, Heinrich Hertz who discovered radio waves in 1886, and Guglielmo Marconi who sent the first Morse code radio message over a short distance nine years later in 1895.
These two men changed the way the world developed from that point onwards in my eyes.
Radio was and still is, the most important invention throughout my life time.
I was a product of the 60s and the only choice we had back in my childhood was 405 or 625 lines B/W Tv. Once turned on you had to give all the valves good time to warm up until a picture appeared, in truth you could probably go into the kitchen and make a snack before the ghosting even started to appear on the screen.
An old 405 lines tv
Back then we only had two channels, BBC and ATV, that was the forerunner of ITV.
No Adverts and only a few hours scheduling a day meant that you were more likely to see the test card transmission than any real TV program.
To be honest I probably listened more to my little transistor radio, or tranny as it was known then, nowadays I’d probably be pulled up by the PC brigade for even saying that.
We spent most of our days outside playing and exploring so TV never really factored into my formative years, I can’t really pinpoint specific programs I did watch however one really stuck in my mind as a funny moment. That used to be when we would watch a program called “Pot Black” it was a snooker program. However it was hard to determine colours of the balls on a black and white screen. It was funny when the commentators mentioned a coloured ball that they would refer to as “the grey looking one in the top corner” In fact they all had this colour as they were all just shades.
Aye, what with all your 1080, ultra HD 4K super duper vision you have now, you’ve never had it so good. But back in the day when it was a new technology it was truly ground breaking. I remember my old man saying “it’ll never take off”, how wrong was he?
FAULTY no power, NOT WORKING for Spare Parts or Repair.
TEST NOTES: Does not power up, no further testing, unable to check any functions. Battery leakage with corrosion in and around battery compartment.
Ebay
The unitYes…there is corrosion
Another low priced item that I fancy getting working. And as is standard with me it has corrosion. This item is from 2003, it is a self contained game arcade system that plugs into the tv. It has five games installed including classics such as Galaxian and PAC Man, so compared to some items I’ve purchased of late, at 21 years old this one is a relative baby.
Well, we now await its arrival where we can give it a good look over and assessment. Hurry along now delivery person…..
It’s arrived.
It’s in pretty much perfect condition, all stickers are in place and it hasn’t been previously opened.
I’ve put in 4 new batteries, and damn it. It powers on. It’s working.
It switches on
I’ve plugged it into the back of a television and it also plays.
Damn, it works
Yes there is a little corrosion on the battery springs but I’ve seen a lot worse. I’ll give these a little clean just so I can say I’ve done something.
It’s quite rare these days to get a bargain off of EBay, and for the seller to be truthful in his description, in fact he’s been exceptionally honest, just writing it off without testing. A big bonus to me.
As the saying goes, if it ain’t broken, don’t try to fix it.
Makes a boring post though, sorry about that. A bargain, yes, and another one kept from the tip and will be used at home in the garden pub, the wife will love this as she’s a big Pac-Man fan.
From Series 9 Episode 26 broadcast on 29/07/15 The Barrister is on fine form but will Hayley and Dave be able to walk away with £7,000?
The Chase
I was just looking around what’s on my YouTube channel and to be honest there’s not a great deal. However I saw this little nugget of Tv gold and thought I’d share it with you.
Me – on the Chase
Yep that’s me almost 9 years ago when I had most of my faculties about me, what went wrong?
I had my hour of fame to be honest and in the end myself and Hayley came away with a win. My share went towards a kitchen we were installing at the time and I believe Hayley, who was a student nurse at the time was going to put it towards her first car.
Me with Sean Wallace – The Chase
Sean Wallace the chaser was a lovely guy. Nothing like his tv persona, he came and met up with us after filming and was a right charmer. I have met him since travelling on the Bakerloo underground line as I believe he used to live in and around the Willesden area in London.
Perhaps I need to get one of those “I beat the chaser” tee shirts.
It was a fun day and created a lot of good memories.
Foxes Den 
You must be logged in to post a comment.