Its the same food... Only with sand in it...

So you've been wondering where the midweek blog was then? Oh, you haven't... Well, so... No, that's not the way to make friends or enemies. But I spent five days in Dorset on holiday, in October I hear you say. Well, that's how I roll. So apart from two lovely days it was cold and the 3G signal was more holey then a fishing net combined with a perforated teabag, meaning Twitter reading and doing anything vaguely internetty was out of the question.

With this opportunity, its time to go and annoy the blue, red, green and what other colour you can have coats, without infringing the copywrite of who owns it nowadays. So with no money following about, many people are taking the plunge and rediscovering the holiday camp after many years again now where they would take a break in the sun to remind everyone of how a holiday can be, might be and also experiencing through the lens and on the screen in Boggenstrovia's guide to knowing your holiday camps...

Everything you're wanting is at Pontin's!

Name: Pontins
Colour of Coat: Blue

Ah good ol' Fred himself, this was the choice for Jack and Stan in Holiday on the Buses. With camps throughout the land of course with at its height 30 in total with the first of them opening in 1946 which was an ex-US Army Base. So much was also made about Fred's idea to take the idea to Spain with 'Son of Pontins - Pontinental' the same shit food, only with sand in it as Victor Lewis-Smith put it in Ads Infinitum. An idea ahead of its time in which Benidorm would have just looked at and said that's what we want. The company was sold in Coral in 1978 for £56 million, a bookmakers buying a Holiday camp group? Hmm, I wonder where they got the idea for that from? Think that's weird? Coral's got taken over by Bass Breweries in 1980, so from betting to booze, maybe not the most obvious bedfellows but another world I suppose!

Trevor Hemmings led a management buy-out in 1987 but the booze was back as it was sold to Scottish and Newcastle in 1989. Newky Brown is now available in the bar! The naughties was a time where things were lean for Pontins going through administration and coming out the other side without loss of jobs or parks.

Bobby 'Nankers' Davro leads the names of famous bluecoats via Shane Ritchie, so like other camps the grounding for the these names was one of jollity entertaining people who are mostly there for a good time or either that a good booze up. Its reflective now that Pontins is trying to look towards to Disney for its ideas, taking that influence for its revamp of its parks, but having gone there in the past they may have to think again about a crocodile mascot or the surreal situation where they also had an in-camp television station which showed one story read by an old man which went through the night and was on the next morning much to my family's amazement. Who said that ITV had the monopoly on 24-hour television.

Hi-de-Hi set the benchmark for comedy in the 1980's with another smash for Jimmy Perry and the late David Croft, by using Perry's experiences of being a Redcoat for Butlins at Pwllheli they manage to create a holiday which people could recognise themselves, the frustrated turns, the bright and breezy staff and also the entertainments manager who seemed to be out of place in what he was dealing with. Though the 80's was the right time for the show to be broadcast in with the nostalgia in the 50's coming back into fashion and people seeing there own holiday experience at the camps. In terms of what it set out to do, the target was hit with the sense of the changing nature of what Britain was going through at that time with the last episode suggesting that major changes were needed with modernisation to be able to compete in the 1960's.

Want to bet there's a better holiday? Well, there is! How about this effort from Ladbrokes Holidays to tempt you to go to one of their camps, by using the stars of "Who Do You Do?" This effort

The atmosphere of camps changed over the years where people would look down on them for being cheap and cheerful, where as a knowing wink is appropriate to what it maybe seen as. It might not be the Ritz, but as with everything you pay your money and take your choice as such. Most people make do with this attitude or as it would have pleased Billy Butlin to see them take this attitude with the words "That's the spirit!" ringing in the ears of the campers or is that just Gladys Pugh's glockenspiel?

A trip to the Dream Factory...

As you can guess by now if you've been reading the blog from day one, I do like my television. Nothing wrong with that at all, I'm sure you like sitting down in front of it after a hard day. But the workings have always fascinated me, so much so I wrote to the BBC asking if I could be in the testcard even going as far as sending a photo of myself. But when reciving a bog standard letter basically saying 'No, you can't' and sending me some stickers for various shows such as Saturday Superstore etc. Which I duly put at the end of my bed so I could see the double striped BBC1 logo when I went to be bed and woke up every morning.

"Well, its hardly C3-PO isn't it?"

Though this didn't put me off at all, as when bored during the 1989 Summer Holidays thinking what could I do with myself, I thought I would write off to TVS, the local ITV company just cheekly asking if I could have a look around their studios. This was July and I didn't think much about it at all, almost giving up on it as a busted flush. But one day in early August this was going to change, I got a enveloped stamped with the TVS logo on it. Thinking it was going to be another knock back, I braced myself for disappointment. Then I opened it, it was from their press officer Mr Simon Theobolds, later I learned that he had co-written the Southern drama Spearhead as well. I had a look and it said yes...

What, I couldn't believe my eyes at all! They said yes, this never happens to me at all. OK I might have used the disability angle with as well, but I didn't expect even that was going to sway them. So after some more communication with Mr Theobalds it was arranged that me, my father and my brother would be allowed to go Northam and take a look around.

The Dream Factory...

So on the 1st September 1989, it came to the day of the visit and we all arrived after lunch at the studios wondering what we were about to see, we met Mr Theobalds in the reception and after the niceties of saying who were and all that, he led us Willy Wonka like around the studios. Viewing the props department and make-up, through the galleries we came to a studio. Now we were told they were going to record a piece for a programme and we were allowed to look in on it. Wondering what is it was going to be, then a young man who I found out later to be Graham Rogers, then a young lady came into the studio... I recognised her! It was Michaela Strachan! I knew her off TV-AM and also knew she did The Hitman and Her with Pete Waterman. But what was she doing here?

Really wild...

It turned out she was recording an interview for 'Late Night Late' TVS' own late night programming strand, at that time she was branching out into a musical career and had just released a single. Well, working with Mr Waterman, it seemed obivious... But this wasn't the highlight, but during the interview we were meant to keep quick... I dropped something which made a clang, the looks were like daggers at me! I know now it was wrong, but the one person who didn't seem to care I had done that was Michaela herself... She giggled actually and if it wasn't for that I think we would have got turfed out there and then...

Documentary evidence m'lord...

So the tour went on, we went around the other studios which weren't recording but in the main studio where they made the entertainment programmes, we met a man with white-ish grey hair and glasses. He said his name was Alan, I thought he must make some of the programmes, he asked us what we liked on TVS. I just said eveything and he said 'Good boy' in a Scottish accent. I thought what a strange man...

The tour ended and they gave me some stuff like pens, a Motormouth T-shirt and something special...

Here is the news...

A news script from that afternoon's news bulletin, fresh from the newsreader's hands...

I treasure that now as a memory of that day and that white haired Scottish man?

It was only Alan Boyd, Generation Game and Game For A Laugh producer and then Head of Programmes at TVS...

Strange who you meet whilst going out for a daytrip....

Great Summer Holiday Experiences No1 - Digby, The Biggest Dog in the World

All too often the summer comes around and the schools break up for the marathon six weeks ahead. To parents trying to keep children amused is half the battle, now its even more difficult to do so....

Boredom, boredom...

Without sounding all 'When I were a lad, all the grass were green...' etc. Only in hindsight can we look back at those six weeks when the sun shone, well almost all the time...

First starting off with a movie which seems to be have forgotten by television, but after the event a glimpse of how good British comedy used to be...

In December 1973, a film came out which was to be a precursor to tales to come... At that time Britain need an escape from what was a very dull, depressing time. Like Ian Botham, there was a new hero needed and that hero was of the four legged variety. When the movie was first released, it didn't really pull its weight at the box office but having been on the shelf like most movies of the time. It was forgotten by people until New Years Day 1982, when Digby was sent for to help launch the new ITV franchises and was put on as a remedy to sore heads.

With appearances all through the eighties, especially on Bank Holidays but mostly as a way to fill the time where schools programmes would be without spending money on making new programmes, so it was an ideal solution for ITV really...

Digby, Digby...

Even then we haven't scratched the surface of why this film is enjoyable, it might not be the best film in the world. But as a romp, it ticks all the boxes...

Taking for a start the cast itself, starting with a post Carry On... and pre Disney and Harry Potter in America audiobook reader Jim Dale. Jim himself was a part of the Carry On from the mid-sixties right up to Carry On Again, Doctor with a gap until 1992's Carry On Columbus. He was family friendly and the kids loved his knockabout style, so he was the perfect choice to be the main human lead as Jeff Eldon, the scientist who accidently super-sizes Digby to extraordinary size leading to Digby, to be stolen by John Bluthal and Norman Rossington ready to be paraded a la King Kong in a circus...

Jack Black not included...

Along with Angela Douglas, who Jim had played opposite to her as Marshall P. Knutt in Carry On... Cowboy with her playing Annie Oakley. It seemed like the right chemistry had been found with young actor Richard Beaumont playing Billy White, Digby's child owner and friend of Jeff. Added to the mix were Milo O'Shea, Dinsdale Landen and also Victor Spinetti plus Bob Todd putting in turns to the film.

The interesting thing is the director of the film. Mr Joseph McGrath, who is better known as one of the Executive Producers on Pete and Dud's 'Not Only, But Also'. Having cut his teeth on Peter Sellers vehicles Casino Royale and The Magic Christian, he seemed like a natural choice to helm a film which need laughs and slapstick for the kids but also enough to keep the adults entertained at the same time.

But there's something missing, maybe a bit of pepper or spice if you will... The added ingredient to make the film, that comes in the of a post-Goons Spike Milligan. Milligan is exceptional in the film as Dr. Harz, his little asides come close to stealing the film to add that surreal edge which is needed to keep the story going along at a good pace. If you ignore the attempt at German accent, Spike shows that he can hold it against the new generation and some of his peers as well. On reflection, he is always good at the smaller parts just popping up in films as a relief from the main action. But it wasn't to be him who got the better deal, Jim went onto do Disney films leading the way for Michael Crawford in Condorman it seems. Finally getting the recognition for his turn as the narrator on Pushing Daisies, he have moved to America... He made part of the school holidays pleasurable....

Here is the title music to the film, everyone sing along now!

http://soundcloud.com/boggenstrovia/digby-the-biggest-dog-in-the

Thanks Jim...