Ian Jones
@ian-jones.bsky.social
It's October 1987 and Q magazine has categorised helpfully the celebrities du jour.
There's good news for Ben Curiosity, Bill Wyman and Lindas Davidson and Lusardi; less good news for Chris Quentin, Belouis Some and "sundry" Curiosities.
First reserves include Nino Firetto and Gary Glitter.
There's good news for Ben Curiosity, Bill Wyman and Lindas Davidson and Lusardi; less good news for Chris Quentin, Belouis Some and "sundry" Curiosities.
First reserves include Nino Firetto and Gary Glitter.
September 8, 2025 at 7:08 PM
It's October 1987 and Q magazine has categorised helpfully the celebrities du jour.
There's good news for Ben Curiosity, Bill Wyman and Lindas Davidson and Lusardi; less good news for Chris Quentin, Belouis Some and "sundry" Curiosities.
First reserves include Nino Firetto and Gary Glitter.
There's good news for Ben Curiosity, Bill Wyman and Lindas Davidson and Lusardi; less good news for Chris Quentin, Belouis Some and "sundry" Curiosities.
First reserves include Nino Firetto and Gary Glitter.
And it continued with series five, ditching block capitals for mixed-case, before an enforced rejigging in the sixth and final series that at least meant Dulcie returned to the top tier.
September 2, 2025 at 8:37 PM
And it continued with series five, ditching block capitals for mixed-case, before an enforced rejigging in the sixth and final series that at least meant Dulcie returned to the top tier.
While we're celebrating 40 years of Howards' Way, let's also commemorate the faltering evolution of the typeface used during the opening titles, which progressed series by series from slap-this-on-anything to bespoke-ritzy.
September 2, 2025 at 8:31 PM
While we're celebrating 40 years of Howards' Way, let's also commemorate the faltering evolution of the typeface used during the opening titles, which progressed series by series from slap-this-on-anything to bespoke-ritzy.
40 years ago today, I began keeping a daily diary. The first entries are rather prosaic, but a) I was only nine and b) at the time I didn't know I'd carry on. But I did - and I never stopped. (The names of the days are in Cornish; they were printed in a different language each week. Very recherché).
August 30, 2025 at 7:00 PM
40 years ago today, I began keeping a daily diary. The first entries are rather prosaic, but a) I was only nine and b) at the time I didn't know I'd carry on. But I did - and I never stopped. (The names of the days are in Cornish; they were printed in a different language each week. Very recherché).
Has it ever been definitely established who The Firm are depicting in their big budget #totp performance of Arthur Daley E's Alright? At times it seems they're meant to be Arthur and Terry - but then why is "Terry" is dressed like a city gent and "Arthur" like Jay Gatsby?
August 15, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Has it ever been definitely established who The Firm are depicting in their big budget #totp performance of Arthur Daley E's Alright? At times it seems they're meant to be Arthur and Terry - but then why is "Terry" is dressed like a city gent and "Arthur" like Jay Gatsby?
Sally had another go a few weeks later, but again failed to check what else was happening that day.
July 13, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Sally had another go a few weeks later, but again failed to check what else was happening that day.
40 years ago today, my hometown does its bit for Live Aid. Sally should probably have checked Radio Times.
July 13, 2025 at 11:41 AM
40 years ago today, my hometown does its bit for Live Aid. Sally should probably have checked Radio Times.
60 years ago this evening, a TV programme created by my great uncle Glyn was launched on BBC1.
Its name was coined by Glyn's wife, Daphne, when someone from Radio Times rang them at home in a flap, desperate to know how to bill the show in the next issue: "Tell them to call it Tomorrow's World."
Its name was coined by Glyn's wife, Daphne, when someone from Radio Times rang them at home in a flap, desperate to know how to bill the show in the next issue: "Tell them to call it Tomorrow's World."
July 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
60 years ago this evening, a TV programme created by my great uncle Glyn was launched on BBC1.
Its name was coined by Glyn's wife, Daphne, when someone from Radio Times rang them at home in a flap, desperate to know how to bill the show in the next issue: "Tell them to call it Tomorrow's World."
Its name was coined by Glyn's wife, Daphne, when someone from Radio Times rang them at home in a flap, desperate to know how to bill the show in the next issue: "Tell them to call it Tomorrow's World."
This episode of All Creatures Great & Small has thoroughly scrambled my already over-heated brain.
June 19, 2025 at 6:40 PM
This episode of All Creatures Great & Small has thoroughly scrambled my already over-heated brain.
May 1993: a time when Alan Yentob was almost as well-known as Noel Edmonds (though neither were as well-known as Mr Blobby).
May 25, 2025 at 1:16 PM
May 1993: a time when Alan Yentob was almost as well-known as Noel Edmonds (though neither were as well-known as Mr Blobby).
This shot of the office of Smash Hits, from the 1992 South Bank Show on Pet Shop Boys, has stirred some potent workplace memories: not because of the magazine or the PSBs, but because of that monstrously tangled telephone cord. I grappled with dozens of these coiled horrors in my younger days.
April 25, 2025 at 9:51 PM
This shot of the office of Smash Hits, from the 1992 South Bank Show on Pet Shop Boys, has stirred some potent workplace memories: not because of the magazine or the PSBs, but because of that monstrously tangled telephone cord. I grappled with dozens of these coiled horrors in my younger days.
You're made of stronger stuff than me. Not sure I'd willing choose to sit through any of my bottom five.
April 18, 2025 at 1:54 PM
You're made of stronger stuff than me. Not sure I'd willing choose to sit through any of my bottom five.
Watching Funeral in Berlin and wondering if this dazzling form of intra-floor transportation ever made it out of West German office blocks and into the UK.
April 6, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Watching Funeral in Berlin and wondering if this dazzling form of intra-floor transportation ever made it out of West German office blocks and into the UK.
I find the idea of Paul McCartney (for 'tis he) browsing Ceefax irresistibly charming.
March 27, 2025 at 7:37 PM
I find the idea of Paul McCartney (for 'tis he) browsing Ceefax irresistibly charming.
There's a mouse on the premises and I'm deploying as many devices as possible.
March 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
There's a mouse on the premises and I'm deploying as many devices as possible.
Would it surprise you that nothing on this Guardian "list" dates from before the year 2010? Didn't think so.
March 20, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Would it surprise you that nothing on this Guardian "list" dates from before the year 2010? Didn't think so.
The Bond films were many things during the Daniel Craig era - earnest, grisly, humourless, over-long - but they were never camp.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma...
March 9, 2025 at 8:42 PM
The Bond films were many things during the Daniel Craig era - earnest, grisly, humourless, over-long - but they were never camp.
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma...
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ma...
There are no key changes in the song. The chords change, but the key does not.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
March 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM
There are no key changes in the song. The chords change, but the key does not.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
TV ratings for this week 40 years ago, including the first two episodes of EastEnders.
Messrs Barker and Corbett had been parachuted into the prestigious Wednesday 8.10pm slot to plug a gap while Michael Grade kept Dallas on the shelf to annoy ITV.
Messrs Barker and Corbett had been parachuted into the prestigious Wednesday 8.10pm slot to plug a gap while Michael Grade kept Dallas on the shelf to annoy ITV.
February 17, 2025 at 7:37 PM
TV ratings for this week 40 years ago, including the first two episodes of EastEnders.
Messrs Barker and Corbett had been parachuted into the prestigious Wednesday 8.10pm slot to plug a gap while Michael Grade kept Dallas on the shelf to annoy ITV.
Messrs Barker and Corbett had been parachuted into the prestigious Wednesday 8.10pm slot to plug a gap while Michael Grade kept Dallas on the shelf to annoy ITV.
Watching a Fry & Laurie sketch from a 1986 episode of Saturday Live and this visual gag falls completely flat. Not a titter from the audience! Perhaps they were distracted by people elsewhere in the studio (which is understandable, given one of them is Steve Nallon dressed as Mrs Thatcher).
February 10, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Watching a Fry & Laurie sketch from a 1986 episode of Saturday Live and this visual gag falls completely flat. Not a titter from the audience! Perhaps they were distracted by people elsewhere in the studio (which is understandable, given one of them is Steve Nallon dressed as Mrs Thatcher).
Reassuring to see some things on The Traitors haven't changed.
January 2, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reassuring to see some things on The Traitors haven't changed.
