"You Tube, I Tube, we all tube for YouTube.."

"What has social media ever done for us?" That's the question which has been asked time after time... Well, in some cases it has opened up the world for us. Otherwise it has brought us closer to home and to ourselves. Our world was first revolutionised by radio, then television, video recorders etc. right upto the internet's inception. Now from the early dial-up days when any video took ages to down, there was rarely any sites out there for the media and pop-culture enthusiast.


With TV Cream and also the Television Ark being the exceptions to the rule, it was hard for someone like me to find about programmes apart from the knowledge I knew myself. For the others out there who had a love of television too, it was good to see the odd ident on a site. But for a long time this glimpse was enough, it wasn't until YouTube came along that I could see again half the things which had gone into my head.


It is a treasure trove of clips, all recorded by people and uploaded onto the site. Looking through everything, it gains itself a reputation as a resource. For instance, someone has uploaded the whole of End of Part One up there. Now because of varying issues, it has never been released on DVD. Being a fan of Marshall and Renwick's work, it comes as no surprise that the sketches still hold up today. Maybe not the contents but the style, the influence is seen through other's work. Peter Serafinowicz is an example of this, by using the spoof style of an actual broadcast or advert, this blurs the line between comedy and reality but to an extent which makes you question if its real or spoof.

Denise Coffey... and cream..

Where it comes into its own, thanks to 'filmnet' s YouTube channel who uploaded End of Part One on there, that they have uploaded Hardwicke House there too. This was a series dropped by ITV owing to its contents, starring Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall and the likes of Duncan Preston too. It seems tame now, that a comedy series which portrayed a secondary school as it is, would provoke so many people. Where as this is another lost gem found again, YouTube reminds us of the past too. 


In British cinema of the 50's, 60's, 70's and the early 80's, short features would be shown in front of a main feature, much the purpose of the newsreel had fulfilled this role in early times. Harold Baim made a lot of short films to be shown in cinemas highlighting things and places of the British Isles, showing people who had never been to these places a view of what they were like. One example of this is 'Telly Savalas Looks at...' A series made by Baim and voiced by the Kojak actor, clearly Telly has not even been to any of these places, rather then being in a voice-over booth in London. But that's by the by, Savalas' own style makes you want to go there and explore the place he is talking about. I will be coming back to a certain one of these films over the weekend, but let me leave you with a example of one and say 'YouTube, thank you for being there and for the people who upload the good bits of nostalgia, thanks...'

Mid-atlantic? No, its the Midlands!

Next time of Boggenstrovia's Bit...

We look inwards at ourselves and see how Telly Savalas took one city and made it 'One hell of a town...' He comes to Portsmouth, and I'll guide you through as we go... So hold on tight and all fares to the driver please!

Boggenstrovia's 11th Bit of Christmas - Baxter's Choice Cuts

Christmas, what does it mean for you? It might be the Christmas spirit, it might be the food, it might be the presents etc.. But it comes as no surprise, that the highlight of Christmas must be the Queen's Speech. But hold on, that's not the Queen...

"I never watch him..."

Stanley Baxter, what can we say about him? Well, for many years he was the highlight of Christmas both on ITV and the BBC as well. Baxter in himself was a master of comedy, but the cream of the crop had to be the Duchess of Brendagh. At that time an impression of the Queen was seen to be taking the mickey of the head of state, never referenced as such in the sketches but such was the influence of Baxter, that staff in the royal household used the the title privately. For nearly 25 years, his specials and series were as good anything and such was the influence that in 2008 when ITV made a retrospective about his shows, young comedians queued up to praise him for what influence that he had on them. Plus Baxter made new sketches for the show, serving as a reminder of what a performer he is.

The shows were made lushious by the orchestration from Alyn Ainsworth but not only that the direction of what was highly technical scenes which may involved Baxter play all the parts being filmed individually piece by piece and the skill in editing as well to stitch it together to make it look as real as possible. The set pieces especially in the Christmas shows were written wonderfully, but captured the essence of what ever movie or television programme they were taking off. A perfect example of this is Towering Quake '75 from Stanley Baxter's Christmas Box, with disaster movies being all the rage at this time, Baxter used this to be able to pull off a perfect parody of the genre. Below is the 9 minutes and 32 seconds of joy which is that, showing what a master he is.

Oh dear, what can the matter be?

All of Stanley's characters are stuck in the lavatory...

But the one sketch which get me is Stanley's Nationwide sketch, taking the process of Nationwide and giving a spin from Stanley... Enjoy and don't forget to pass that cake around the regions.... 

Getting away with it Scot-free...

Back tommorow as we arrive at the 12th and final bit of Christmas, so I do hope you can join me then...

Boggenstrovia's 6th and 7th Bits of Christmas... Cold, damp turkey...

So here we are again after technical problems, back again with the twelve bits of Christmas and in honour of not being able to blog for a few days. This time we are talking Turkey or more like food at Christmas, as its the time of the year when we are meant to eat drink and be merry. But who can be after four days of food? You're usually laid up with the Alka-Seltzer and a gas mask after all of that.


So where can we start? How about some pre-dinner action? Fancy a drink?

"Blimey, I'm so drunk I can see an animated deer..."

Babycham, the bubbly tipple... Often found at the back of cupboards, brought out at Christmas to bring sophistication of the big day. It was often a worry that an animated deer would advertise it, what exactly was that suggesting? Two or three of these and you'll be seeing Bambi and saying "Huey... Lewis and the News.." after more of them. Along with Malibu which would be seen at this time, was it a ploy to think that we were all in some sun-kissed nirvana, rather then looking at drizzle run down a window accompanied with battleship grey skies and sleet? 

Apart from egg-nog, this ranks amongst the drink to curl a lip, but of course the ladies would advertise the more exotic fare, from Tia Maria with the sultry lady to Lorraine Chase wafting back from a week in Marbella for some Campari or even Rigsby and Joan Collins camping it up for some Cinzano. People say that that advert was more popular then the programmes of that time, but the tin foil medal has to go to Jenny Clulow... Ms Clulow, announcer on TVS had spent time advertising Contreau on the television... Wheither she had a bottle hidden under the desk, to help her get through another episode of 'The Littlest Hobo' I don't know...

And now onto the main part of the meal, there's only one Turkey we can have around here...

"Turkey..."

"Oh, stuff it! You've cost us a holiday!"

Yes, Mr Turkey... The truth goes he thought he heard the previous person's answer of 'Name something you can stuff' now from there where exactly did he get that all the answer were Turkey I don't know... Along with the Beethoven/Chopin clip which gets dragged out to show 'Ha, ha, ha! Aren't they stupid contestants' this is one which rankles with me. How exactly was he daft? He got big points for it, it could have been worse he could have dropped trousers and mooned the audience... By being 'dumb' he got smart and this clip is a goto clip for any quizshow blooper compliations, wherever you are Sir, alive or dead. I salute you for being a maverick and showing the way of others to follow.

So you've settled down after your pudding and need something to wash it down with?

How about an Avenger, Aunt Sally and a lady who's now a doctor?

"Keen bedside manner? Just as long as she warmed her thermometer!"

Arriving back not from Luton Airport, but the local cornershop Diane Keen and Una Stubbs come back to Gareth Hunt's pad for some bean shaking with Nescafe, before the Gold Blend couple jumped into bed this was class... Mike Gambit inviting two classy ladies in for coffee, now that sound like the start of a film! But no matter, because a coffee solved it all, with the aroma of the beans and that famous handshake of course. The reputation of the brand was such that Gareth was the long time face of Nescafe, but I'd much rather have him then George Clooney trying to flog frothy coffee to us, but on the opposite side, there's people who hate coffee...

Time for tea anyone? Though the post meal thing can be set off with a nice brew though, for so long the chimps would advertise PG Tips until one day birds took over. Birds, I ask you! If anything birds would remind you of custard and not tea at all... So how do you modernise PG Tips for a new age, still the monkey link? Well, you call on a woolly monkey of course and his friend Al! Now Monkey and Al had been through the ITV digital fiasco, with us thinking that another character gone for a burton, but credit to Mother, the ad agency and Comic Relief that monkey was brought back to his rightful place, advertising tea of course... This made the brand even bigger it was before, with giveaway of free woolly monkeys two Christmas' ago now. Sealing Monkey's place as one of the best characters along with the Smash Aliens and Homepride's Fred as well...So for now, I leave you with Monkey and Al and say bottoms up, thanks for being patient through these technical troubles of the past few days... And cheers!

"Gawd save 'im and all who drink from his mug!"