The Hallucinating Goose

I haven't watched that in years, must be at least 10 years since I last saw an episode and it wasn't great then. BBC seem to keep too many shows going well past their sell by date just because they get ratings and they seem to think they have become a bit of an institution. QI, Mock the Week, A Question of Sport to name a few.

Woops!

Yeah, first lead role, only his 3rd or 4th film altogether, he was 28 if I remember rightly and was credited as Steven McQueen.

One I remember is '5 Gold Rings' where the contestants were asked to locate the Scottish border on a map of the UK. The first contestant said it was around where Hadriens Wall is and the second up by Glasgow.

I have been in love with Gillian Anderson ever since I was a teenager and I first saw her as Agent Scully. She started my obsession with gingers! Gillian Anderson playing Maggie Thatcher does sound like an absolute disaster though...

As I've said before, the lack of geographic knowledge of contestants on game shows truly disgusts me. I was basically born with an atlas in my hands, it's still my favourite book to this day, I consider myself to have a very good knowledge of geography and maybe its just me being ignorant to other people's lack of interest in the subject, because they don't have to like it obviously, but it is absolutely shocking some of the things they don't know, especially things about their own country, the kind of knowledge I've just picked up in passing as I've gone about my life. Sorry about the rant, it's just one of those little things that gets me worked up.

I watched the original version of 'The Blob' (1958) on Horror Channel yesterday, haven't seen it in years, absolute classic, Steve McQueen's first starring role. Interesting little fact about the film, it was originally released as the B-Movie to 'Married a Monster From Outer Space' in a double feature but quickly became the more popular film and was elevated to being the main feature in the double bill. It got me thinking, how many other movies intended to be a B-Movie ended up being elevated out of that category? Anyone think of any?

Too much info? Not enough info, come on Bleep, describe them in as much detail as possible.

Well done sir!

Have you been watching Family Fortunes? The top prize on that is 30K.

I'm unemployed, I basically just sit around watching boxsets and quiz shows all day every day and the presenter mentioned a couple of months back that the 20k has only been won once.

20k if you get the jackpot counter to drop with a double counter at the same time but I think that has only happened once, so yes, it is normally 10k.

I find it upsetting how shockingly bad people's geography knowledge on quiz shows is, especially that about their own country. I remember once seeing one and the question was to name a city in Spain and the contestant said France...

Not a position you want to find yourself in.

Where did Danny Brough place?

As a manic Bond fan, Connery has been a major part of my life since I was a kid. We have lost a true great today and I genuinely had a tear in my eye when I saw the news. Rest in peace Mr. Bond, you're drinking martinis and playing baccarat with Roger Moore in that utopian casino in the sky for all eternity now!

I watched the entire thing in about a month at the start of lockdown though I haven't got anything else going on at the moment aside from just sitting on my backside, getting fat and watching TV. That is the summary of my 2020.

Yep that's the catchphrase of Alexander Armstrong. I'd forgotten actually that they introduce them all and then get into the round and then the first round takes half the show cos of all the talking. One of the most annoying things on that show as well is when they put the clues up on the board but then have the camera on the waffling contestant so we viewers at home can't look at the clues and take part at home. Especially annoying with picture rounds.

I haven't watched it in years, there's a number of quiz shows where I can't help thinking they could be shorter or have an extra round without all the waffling. Pointless is ridiculous for this, it comes on at 5:15 and only really gets going about 10 minutes later after they've introduced all the guests, told you their life stories and then the two presenters have flirted with each other. That show could be half an hour long or have an extra round. I seem to remember when it first started it did have an extra couple on it and had another round. Also why does that show need two presenters? There only needs to be one.

There was three series and a Christmas special. I love the theme song and the gentle pace is what made it so appealing for me, a pleasant, amusing show without too much unnecessary conflict or drama, it's got an innocence to it which not enough shows have these days. I don't think there was much further to go for the characters, I think im just very curious as to where the characters lives went after the end because while there wasn't much more development to do in terms of storyline perhaps there was at least more to tell about their lives, the baby growing up, Andy renovating the cottsge but these things wouldn't necessarily make strong stories, it's just me really connecting with the characters and wanting to know more. The thing that bugged me the most about the ending though was as the camera zoomed out it showed them running to the tree and discovering the gold, I want to know what happened afterwards! I would have preferred them to have either discovered it earlier in the episode and do a flash forward to the future with the baby grown up, the house renovated, everyone settled down or have them not discover the gold at all, not have them discover it but not tell us the consequences! But as I say, that's why it really seemed to me that they were leaving it open to more series.

Finished watching Detectorists, really enjoyed it, ending was rather poor but with the way it does end it seems like more series were maybe planned to be made, been a few years though so don't think that's happening.

Some annoying gets are setting off fireworks round here, I can only assume I've time travelled forward a month.

Just got 3 books about the Napoleonic Wars, all first hand accounts of the events, very excited to get started! They are: The Letters of Private Wheeler The Recollections of Rifleman Harris The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier. The 1st is about Wheeler's account of the whole period from The Peninsular War in Iberia to Waterloo and a bit of the aftermath, the 2nd is about Harris' experiences in Iberia and the 3rd is by a German conscripted into Napoleon's army and talks about his experiences in the Russian Campaign and specifically the Retreat from Moscow.

True Professional: The Clive Sullivan Story. Brilliant account of one of the all-time greats, a player who overcame so much to reach the pinnacle of the sport from being diagnosed with a rare leg muscle deformity when he was a teen and told he might never walk again to being in an almost fatal car crash when he was a paratrooper and the countless injuries he picked up through the first years of his career. The word legend gets thrown around too much these days but it's totally fitting when talking about Clive!

Just started Detectorists. Someone recommended it to me ages ago and I'd completely forgotten until I was just browsing iplayer. I've watched the first two episodes and have to say, very funny so far!