In the Adam Adamant episode where they visit Blackpool, Georgina enthusiastically points out Blackpool Tower as they travel along the Golden Mile in an open top tram. "Oh, yes," Adam says casually. "I opened it." And then adds: "It rained all day."
I rather think John Bickerstaffe would have something to say about that, though of course Adam Adamant may have been present at the opening ceremony. John Bickerstaffe was the Chairman of the Tower Company, so on 14th May 1894 he was the obvious choice to cut the ribbon and allow all the holidaymakers who had paid their 6d into the Tower Building. It was 6d extra to get in the lift to the top of the Tower, and an extra payment for the Tower Circus, which also opened for the season that evening.
In his early days, according to his obituary in the Lancashire Post, he was a member of the local lifeboat crew "and participated in several exciting sea rescues", which makes him sound like the sort of person Adam Adamant would have got on well with.
He made his fortune as the licensee of the Wellington Hotel, got onto the local council and became an Alderman and later, the Mayor of Blackpool. As Mayor, he was responsible for the building of Victoria Hospital, and after that he was Chairman of the Fylde Water Board for 28 years. He was also involved in the local Territorial Army, and recruited men locally for the First World War.
He was knighted for his services to the development of the town of Blackpool and the Conservative Party in 1926, but he seems to have been the sort of old school Tory who believed in public service, who wanted to improve the lives of all the people of Blackpool. He wanted every child to have a decent education and a chance in life, and was also involved in the building of several local schools.
When he died in 1930, at the age of 82, the flags at all the public offices in Blackpool, and the Tower and Winter Gardens, were flown at half-mast.
Saturday, 2 May 2020
Thursday, 30 April 2020
Adam Adamant Lives!
Recently on Twitter, @archivetvmus71 (Archive TV musings) posted a couple of clips from the 1960s series Adam Adamant Lives! which were amusing enough to give me a desire to watch an entire episode.
The DVDs of all the episodes that still survive are eye-wateringly expensive, but I still have a video machine, and I was able to pick up a video of two episodes for under a fiver.
As it turns out, I got the first two episodes of the series, A Vintage Year For Scoundrels and Death Has a Thousand Faces.
The first episode gives Adam Adamant's backstory - how he was captured by an arch-villain in 1902, frozen in a block of ice, and revived in 1966, where he is found by Georgina Jones, who can explain the strange new world of the 1960s to him. He, in turn, can help her against the villainous woman running a protection racket threatening the disco where Georgina works.
There's an amusing scene where Adam has been allowed to stay the night in Georgina's flat, and she admits to other men having stayed overnight, so he assumes that she is a prostitute, and he wishes to save her from her fallen state. But really, Tony Williamson's script could have been better (but he was also the script editor, so had overall responsibility for the quality of the scripts) - the woman Adam loves in 1902, Louise, really should have had more lines, especially when he was declaring his undying love for her, for instance.
Also involved were Sydney Newman and producer Verity Lambert, who had also been involved in the creation of Doctor Who. The concept of an Edwardian gentleman taking a satirical look at the Swinging Sixties was a good one but - well, there's a reason the Avengers was more popular and lasted better, and I think it's in the writing, despite the occasional witty scene. Of course, it might have improved as the series went on.
The second episode takes Adam and Georgina to Blackpool, at the height of the popularity of the Golden Mile, before holidaymakers started going on cheap package holidays to Spain. To give them credit, they really did go to Blackpool to film, with scenes along the Golden Mile and on the beach, as well as travelling on an open top tram. I was also delighted to see them walk past a stall selling Pablo's ice cream - we bought ice cream from that very stall, and it was delicious! In 1966, I would have been a small child playing on the beach at Blackpool, and I'm certain I saw the Illuminations that year, which play a large part in the plot - which actually doesn't make a lot of sense. The idea of hiding plans in a stick of Blackpool rock was a good one - but why did they need to when all the conspirators knew each other? And why had the man who stole the plans gone to London, apart from being a plot device to alert Georgina and Adam to the villainous scheme?
Once again, the main villain is a woman - I don't know if this continued as a theme - and once again Adam throws villains off high buildings to their deaths.
The episode also introduces William Sims, a Punch and Judy man who becomes Adam's servant. I can only assume that Adam's bank account had been quietly gathering interest over the 64 years he was frozen, because he seems to be independently wealthy with no visible means of support. By the second episode he has managed to buy a penthouse on top of a multi-storey car park (his original home having been knocked down ten years before) and he's learned to drive a Mini, with the number plate AA 1000. He also manages to pull the wool over the eyes of the man at the planning department of Blackpool Town Council while looking for information, so he's not helpless in the modern world, though he does suffer from flashbacks to the night he was betrayed and frozen every time he gets drugged or hit over the head, poor chap.
On the whole, I think the first two episodes have sated my desire to see the whole series, but I understand Big Finish had done some audio adventures which might be fun.
The DVDs of all the episodes that still survive are eye-wateringly expensive, but I still have a video machine, and I was able to pick up a video of two episodes for under a fiver.
As it turns out, I got the first two episodes of the series, A Vintage Year For Scoundrels and Death Has a Thousand Faces.
The first episode gives Adam Adamant's backstory - how he was captured by an arch-villain in 1902, frozen in a block of ice, and revived in 1966, where he is found by Georgina Jones, who can explain the strange new world of the 1960s to him. He, in turn, can help her against the villainous woman running a protection racket threatening the disco where Georgina works.
There's an amusing scene where Adam has been allowed to stay the night in Georgina's flat, and she admits to other men having stayed overnight, so he assumes that she is a prostitute, and he wishes to save her from her fallen state. But really, Tony Williamson's script could have been better (but he was also the script editor, so had overall responsibility for the quality of the scripts) - the woman Adam loves in 1902, Louise, really should have had more lines, especially when he was declaring his undying love for her, for instance.
Also involved were Sydney Newman and producer Verity Lambert, who had also been involved in the creation of Doctor Who. The concept of an Edwardian gentleman taking a satirical look at the Swinging Sixties was a good one but - well, there's a reason the Avengers was more popular and lasted better, and I think it's in the writing, despite the occasional witty scene. Of course, it might have improved as the series went on.
The second episode takes Adam and Georgina to Blackpool, at the height of the popularity of the Golden Mile, before holidaymakers started going on cheap package holidays to Spain. To give them credit, they really did go to Blackpool to film, with scenes along the Golden Mile and on the beach, as well as travelling on an open top tram. I was also delighted to see them walk past a stall selling Pablo's ice cream - we bought ice cream from that very stall, and it was delicious! In 1966, I would have been a small child playing on the beach at Blackpool, and I'm certain I saw the Illuminations that year, which play a large part in the plot - which actually doesn't make a lot of sense. The idea of hiding plans in a stick of Blackpool rock was a good one - but why did they need to when all the conspirators knew each other? And why had the man who stole the plans gone to London, apart from being a plot device to alert Georgina and Adam to the villainous scheme?
Once again, the main villain is a woman - I don't know if this continued as a theme - and once again Adam throws villains off high buildings to their deaths.
The episode also introduces William Sims, a Punch and Judy man who becomes Adam's servant. I can only assume that Adam's bank account had been quietly gathering interest over the 64 years he was frozen, because he seems to be independently wealthy with no visible means of support. By the second episode he has managed to buy a penthouse on top of a multi-storey car park (his original home having been knocked down ten years before) and he's learned to drive a Mini, with the number plate AA 1000. He also manages to pull the wool over the eyes of the man at the planning department of Blackpool Town Council while looking for information, so he's not helpless in the modern world, though he does suffer from flashbacks to the night he was betrayed and frozen every time he gets drugged or hit over the head, poor chap.
On the whole, I think the first two episodes have sated my desire to see the whole series, but I understand Big Finish had done some audio adventures which might be fun.
Tuesday, 7 April 2020
Goodbye to The Virginian
I grew up in the era where one of the main genres of TV show was the Western. I loved Bonanza, the Big Valley, High Chaperral - and The Virginian, starring James Drury.
James Drury has just died, aged 85. I've been looking at his screen credits, and he was in a lot of Westerns, but I hadn't realised that he also appeared in Forbidden Planet as one of the crewmen of the C-57D.
The article in Variety says that, in recent years, he toured Western events, talking about the Old West and cowboy values.
James Drury has just died, aged 85. I've been looking at his screen credits, and he was in a lot of Westerns, but I hadn't realised that he also appeared in Forbidden Planet as one of the crewmen of the C-57D.
The article in Variety says that, in recent years, he toured Western events, talking about the Old West and cowboy values.
Monday, 6 April 2020
Cathy Gale has Died
I just looked at Twitter, and Honor Blackman is trending. She's just died aged 94.
In The Avengers (the UK 1960s version, that is) Steed had other partners before, but the series really found its feet when he teamed up with Cathy Gale. She was a great character, independent, no-nonsense, and able to throw a man across a room, often doing her own stunts.
Then she went on to be one of the best Bond girls as Pussy Galore.
And here she is, still being badass at the age of 87 in Cockneys vs Zombies!
According to imdb, apart from her acting, she was involved in the Fairtrade movement.
In The Avengers (the UK 1960s version, that is) Steed had other partners before, but the series really found its feet when he teamed up with Cathy Gale. She was a great character, independent, no-nonsense, and able to throw a man across a room, often doing her own stunts.
Then she went on to be one of the best Bond girls as Pussy Galore.
And here she is, still being badass at the age of 87 in Cockneys vs Zombies!
According to imdb, apart from her acting, she was involved in the Fairtrade movement.
Friday, 3 April 2020
Arab Saddles
My characters are visiting a Middle Eastern kingdom, and Owain has been invited out for a ride in the countryside. I needed to know what an Arab saddle looked like, and I came upon the perfect picture for the horse being ridden by his host the Amir.
I found this picture on the blog Blind to Bounds (thinkloud65.wordpress.com), posted back in 2012, where they say it is a Moroccan saddle.
I found this picture on the blog Blind to Bounds (thinkloud65.wordpress.com), posted back in 2012, where they say it is a Moroccan saddle.
Tuesday, 31 March 2020
Writing in a Time of Enforced Idleness
I'm sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. I have entertainment of various kinds - I listened to a podcast episode of Breaking the Glass Slipper yesterday, and I'm in the middle of Francis Pryor's fascinating book about the excavations at Flag Fen - but I also want to be doing something creative with my time.
So I read the Mah Jongg oracle cards the other day, and they told me I should be doing more writing.
It occurred to me that I'd intended to write a sequel to the very first story I'd put up on Smashwords, way back in 2012, but then I moved on to other stories instead. Since I made the story (Raven's Heirs) free, more than 700 people have downloaded it, which is very gratifying.
I can't find the notes I made for the sequel now, but I have a rough idea of what I was planning, and today I sat down and immersed myself in that world again.
I'm feeling quite enthusiastic about getting back to work on it - and it'll keep me out of mischief for the duration.
So I read the Mah Jongg oracle cards the other day, and they told me I should be doing more writing.
It occurred to me that I'd intended to write a sequel to the very first story I'd put up on Smashwords, way back in 2012, but then I moved on to other stories instead. Since I made the story (Raven's Heirs) free, more than 700 people have downloaded it, which is very gratifying.
I can't find the notes I made for the sequel now, but I have a rough idea of what I was planning, and today I sat down and immersed myself in that world again.
I'm feeling quite enthusiastic about getting back to work on it - and it'll keep me out of mischief for the duration.
Tuesday, 24 March 2020
Smashwords Sale
Because of all the people stuck at home at the moment, Smashwords decided to hold a special sale for a month. I decided to put all my stories in the sale for free - and more people have downloaded them in the last week than in the previous 5 years! Which is lovely, and I hope they enjoy reading them.
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