September 2, 2010

Spitfires Mark Churchill Speech Anniversary

You can file this under ‘I wish I was in London today.’ To mark the 70th anniversary of Churchill’s famous Battle of Britain Speech – a special ceremony was held in London today outside the Churchill Museum.

The star of the show was one of the last original Spitfires doing a flyby along with some Hurricanes. Very cool.

Here’s a couple videos from ITN News of the day.

Brit News Round-Up: Patrick Stewart Knighted, Summer Wine to End, New Head for BBC America and More!

There were a lot of happenings in the Britosphere today, so I thought I’d try something new and put together a larger posts similar to Mandy’s Royal Round-up (Every Tuesday like clockwork!).

Patrick Stewart Knighted Officially

We reported earlier this year that Patrick Stewart was given a Knighthood by the Queen in her New Year’s Honours list. Well, yesterday she finally physically gave it to him and he can now be called Sir Patrick Stewart.

Stewart Praised a Teacher that inspired him:

”When I leave here I will be going to a luncheon that has been arranged and sitting on my right will be a man called Cecil Dormand who was my English teacher when I was a child.

”Although many people in my life and career have had great influence on me, without this one man, none of it would have happened.

”Because he was the one that put a copy of Shakespeare in my hand, he was the one who told me it was a play and not a dramatic poem, he was the one who said ‘now get up on your feet and perform, this is a play, it’s life’.

”He was the one who said when I was leaving the secondary modern ‘have you ever thought of doing this as a profession?’.

”He put me in a play with adults, so I owe literally everything to this man.”

Read More About his day here at the Telegraph.

Last of the Summer Wine Cancelled

The longest running TV Show in the UK – Last of the Summer Wine has been cancelled by the BBC after 37 years on TV.

From the BBC:

Long-running BBC comedy Last of the Summer Wine is to be axed after 37 years, the BBC has announced.

The series – which has followed the exploits of Compo, Nora Batty and friends – made its TV debut in 1973.

Over the years it has featured a host of famous faces including Eric Sykes, Dame Thora Hird and Bill Owen as Compo.

Jay Hunt, controller of BBC One, said the final series to be shown this summer will be a “fitting farewell” to the well-loved characters.

It will feature Peter Sallis as Norman Clegg alongside several other cast members including Russ Abbott as Hobbo and Brian Murphy, who plays Alvin.

Every single episode of the sitcom has been written by Roy Clarke and produced and directed by Alan J W Bell.

Read the rest here at the BBC.

BBC America Gets a New Boss

Herb Scannell, a former Nickelodeon Executive has been appointed the head of BBC Worldwide America, effectively immediately.

His plans for the network?

In a telephone interview, Mr. Scannell said that he would push for BBC America to be fully distributed in the country’s 100-million-plus cable and satellite households. (It is currently available in about 67 million households.)

He said he harbors ambitions for the BBC to be “an expanded and more diversified producer of television.” That includes “made in America programs,” “which I’m hoping to usher in,” he said.

Last week the BBC announced the first such program, “Come Dine With Me.” A reality show featuring amateur chefs, it is based on a British format, and it will be produced in New York.

Eyeing potential ratings gains, Mr. Scannell said that programs made in the U.S. would be relevant to American audiences while maintaining “the D.N.A. of the BBC, which is smart, innovative and irreverent.”

Read more about the appointment here at the New York Times.

I question the logic in appointing an American to the role of running a British themed network – but we’ll see what he does. BBC America has been improving over the last few years, so hopefully that will continue apace.

Churchill Memorabilia Auction Snags £600k

File this under “I wish I had a huge amount of disposable income.” A huge collection of Winston Churchill Memorabilia from through his life went on the auction block yesterday.

One of the largest collections of Sir Winston Churchill memorabilia, including an unsmoked cigar, has sold for nearly £600,000 at auction.

The items were sold by US publishing magnate, Steve Forbes, who amassed them over three decades.

The collection also featured a candid letter from the wartime leader, and a set of his free trade speeches.

Auctioneer Christie’s says the items, being sold in three parts, provided an exceptional insight into the man.

The first sale, of about 150 lots, will be followed by a second in New York in December and a third in London next summer.

Described as “the most important and comprehensive private collection of letters and books related to Winston Churchill ever assembled”, the items realised £577,063 in total.

Read the rest at the BBC here.

Winston Churchill Collection to go up for Auction

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File this under “I wish I had a lot of money.” For the first time in years, a sizable collection of Winston Churchill related materials are going up for Auction.

From the Guardian today:

A Boer policeman described the missing prisoner in less than flattering terms: 5ft 8in, 25-year-old Englishman with a slight stoop, pale features, reddish-brown hair with an almost invisible moustache. “Speaks through his nose and cannot pronounce the letter S.” Also, “cannot speak one word of Dutch”.

The prisoner in question was Winston Churchill and the reason for the telegram was his escape from a Pretoria prisoner-of-war camp, just before Christmas 1899. The alert had little effect. The future leader had managed to vault a wall behind the toilets before sauntering down the road to a railway where he leapt onto a moving train to safety. The telegram is just one item in what is the most comprehensive private collection of Churchill items ever assembled. Christie’s today said it was to auction the hundreds of items in three sections beginning in London on June 2.

The collection, remarkable by any standards because of its historical importance, was assembled by Steve Forbes, grandson of Forbes magazine founder B C Forbes. It includes etters, books, photographs and even a cigar (unsmoked).

Sadly, the cheapest item up for auction is £1,000, putting these items out of most poeple’s price range. Still, it would be magnificent to own a piece of Winston Churchill’s life!

This Week in Doctor Who: BBC America Premiere, Victory of the Daleks Videos, Photos, Plot Details and MORE! SPOILERS!!!

Wow! It’s hard to believe we’ve now entered week 3 of the new series of Doctor Who! It’s been a roller coaster ride so far and I’ve been enjoying the new Matt Smith based series greatly. Karen Gillan is lovely and a great addition to the Doctor Who team. Can’t wait to see what showrunner Stephen Moffat has in store for us! The big news is that Series Five premieres in the USA this week on BBC America and BBC America HD.

Doctor Who Series 5 Premieres on BBC America Saturday

The big news for Doctor Who fans based in America is that this week, the new series finally makes it’s way to BBC America Saturday April 17 at 9/8c with the American premiere of The 11th Hour. To mark the occasion, BBC America managed to bring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Showrunner Stephen Moffat to the US to make the publicity rounds.

Here’s a video from their appearance at the Apple Store in Manhattan Yesterday:

Victory of the Daleks Review Schedule

Victory of the Daleks airs in the UK Saturday at 18:30/6:30pm on BBC One. We plan to watch Victory of the Daleks live and have a review written as soon as it’s over. I’m very much looking forward to this episode as I’m a huge Churchill fan and am very interested in the time period.

LSD Inspired The Concept of Regeneration

The BBC reported this week that the idea behind the Doctor’s regeneration was inspied by a bad acid trip.

From the article:

Doctor Who’s regenerations were modelled on bad LSD trips, internal BBC memos have revealed.

The Doctor’s transformations were meant to convey the “hell and dank horror” of the hallucinogenic drug, according to papers published on the BBC Archive.

Regenerations were introduced in 1966 to allow writers to replace the lead actor. New Doctor Matt Smith is the 11th Time Lord.

The papers also reveal the difficulties of bedding in a new Doctor.

In an internal memo dating from 1966, producers outlined how the original Doctor, William Hartnell, would be transformed for his successor Patrick Troughton.

Read the rest of the article here.

Series 5 – Episode 5 Synopsis Released – Flesh & Stone

The BBC have released the synopsis for the 5th episode of the new series:

There’s no way back, no way up and no way out. Trapped among an army of Weeping Angels, the Doctor and his friends must try to escape through the wreckage of a crashed space liner, in the fifth epsiode of Doctor Who, written by Steven Moffat.

Meanwhile, in the forest vault, the Doctor’s companion, Amy Pond, finds herself facing an even more deadly attack.

Flash & Stone airs Saturday 1 May, 6.25-7.10pm

Promo Stills and Pictures of Victory of the Daleks Released

The BBC have pushed out several excellent promo pics from this week’s episode Victory of the Daleks. I especially like the one of the dalek serving tea!

7 Big Changes in Doctor Who Series 5

SciFiWire is reporting that there are 7 BIG changes in series five worth noting (keep in mind this is geared towards Americans who haven’t seen the first two episodes). I’ve summarized them below:

  1. The show is younger and sexier
  2. The Doctor isn’t a loner anymore
  3. Sexual tension is back
  4. More stories will use time travel as a plot device
  5. The sonic screwdriver, TARDIS interior get a makeover
  6. The opening titles are different… unfortunately
  7. This isn’t Season 5, after all

Read the details of each change here at SciFiWire.

Victory of the Daleks Intro Clips – SPOILERS!!!

Thanks to the wonderful Blogtor Who for posting these cool videos. Beware of SPOILERS!

Stay Tuned to Anglotopia for the latest Doctor Who news!

Winston Churchill Motivational Posters

The fine folks over at Art of Manliness have put together a fine selection of Winston Churchill Related motivational posters.

Here’s my favorite:

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The old codger was really a romantic at heart.

Check out the rest of the Winston Churchill Motivational posters here.