The Cuckoo Waltz begins a new season of none-too-funny domestic comedy

Well. For the last few months, I've been beavering away at a project - a magnificent folly, even - that has pretty much consumed me. Since I discovered the online archive of the Times newspaper, I've been trying to produce the definitive compilation of television and radio listings for the UK. It's something that absolutely fascinates me. There's no better way to chart the history of broadcasting than by leafing through pages of listings for any given year, seeing what was on a particular channel - what the other channels put on in opposition, what the reviewers said about the previous nights fare - and indeed, the stuff they chose to highlight in the preview columns.

I thought I'd have a go, see how far I got before boredom set in.

Boredom comprehensively failed to set in. A nagging feeling of hopelessness set in, but boredom didn't. So - may the lord have mercy on my soul - I present the fruits of my labours. A 99 percent complete set of television and radio listings for the UK as published by The Times, for the years 1955 - 1985. The archive ends at 1985, and it makes a useful cutoff point. If anyone from The Times is reading this and doesn't want these up here, please let me know and I'll remove them immediately. I hope you don't though, because I'm about to try and steer some business your way. Go and look at the Times Archive -

http://archive.times.co.uk .

It's a fascinating resource. Hundreds of years of history as it happened. One of the best resources on the Web.

None of this would have been possible without my partner in obsessiveness - I received an email from a colleague when I first expressed my interest in doing this, and he's worked like a trouper alongside me and used his substantial technical know-how to not only compile an equal amount of listings, but also tidying up and formatting pages, and generally making them presentable. Thanks, Ian.

Anyroad, the listings - the reason that these are only 99 percent complete is that the Times was hit harder than most by industrial action over the years. It started in the early fifties, continued on and off over the next two and a half decades and eventually caused the complete shutdown of the paper for nearly a year over 1978 and 1979. We couldn't fill in these pages, but everything else should be there.

Go and dig in if you feel so inclined. There's almost 5 and a half gigs worth of data here. And I'm not finished yet. I've got every intention of marching back to the first night of broadcasting on the BBC. I've already got 1939 to 1954 compiled and complete. If anyone expresses interest, I'll be glad to share those as well.

1955 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/26rasi
1956 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/29g49g
1957 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/03bbig
1958 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/g1gggx
1959 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/yquu7t
1960 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/wwk3qb
1961 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/4c4hmp
1962 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/8ouu2p
1963 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/dy3u8i
1964 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/hc2704
1965 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/g5tvw7
1966 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/fhf5v7
1967 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/r62fu4
1968 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/2t0xbs
1969 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/0mk03r
1970 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/x6pzv6
1971 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/35cmd5
1972 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/0r6k9a
1973 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/rvhr9q
1974 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/ql5p87
1975 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/48tkkt
1976 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/busboo
1977 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/b1k83q
1978 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/48lk4n
1979 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/iyhgeq
1980 1of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/0hjvvy
1980 2of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/llzne8
1981 1of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/e5vzd0
1981 2of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/ics0jb
1982 1of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/dj77i1
1982 2of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/l3u1si
1983 1of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/ci9f0m
1983 2of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/o2h50q
1984 1of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/infmnn
1984 2of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/yw1wh8
1985 1of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/a9fhw6
1985 2of2 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/sn28y2

The inaugural mumblings of whispering Difbrook

Well folks, here it is. The first ever Catholic Taste podcast. And it's a bit of a shambles, frankly. My intro and outro links are recorded at painfully low volume, the first track comes in far too quickly and I managed to add an track that isn't actually there into my playlist details at the end.

Sorry about that. If you can stand all that (and do remember to turn the volume down before the first track begins), I do hope you'll enjoy it. I'm quite proud of the choice of music - seems to flow pretty well together and hopefully you'll find a few things in there that you may not have heard before.

Have fun. And be gentle with me. I'm still learning. Not that that's an adequate excuse.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/80x6um

Blimey, Walt's alive!

Nice to know he's around. It's been quiet without him.

And now, without further ado, it's time for me to post another embedded YouTube video. Becuase that's how I roll.

Here I present proof that, if nothing else, the potential next President of the United States is an incredibly funny man:

I hope he's been behaving himself

Aye, aye.

I note that Dave's been busy while I've been away. Good lad. Lots of good stuff. I've been feeling somewhat poorly of late and that's kept me out of circulation (or at least, away from the keyboard). Pleased to see he's been Keeping The British End Up while I've been AWOL.

As a matter of complete disinterest, I found myself sitting a few days ago nursing a cup of coffee and feeling sorry for myself, watching episodes of Crown Court. And I realised that was exactly how I spent my days off when I was off sick from school, many more years ago than I care to mention. The more things change...

Anyroad, all thanks to Chairman Dave for looking after things.

Maybe they have him confused with Jan Putrid

News today that the last survivor of the sinking of HMS Hood has passed away made me stop by the website of the HMS Hood Association.

And they have a rather handy list of all the crew who served on board Hood.

So that made me curious to see this entry, which I looked up:

Linky

That's Jon Pertwee. Of Doctor Who fame. Honestly, how many Jon Pertwees are there in the world? How many Jon Pertwees, who wrote in their autobiography that they left the Hood for officer training shortly before it sank, do you think there are in the world?

Honestly guys, do a bit of research. Try Google. I'm sure you might even find a photo or two...