The Telephone..

Alexander Graham Bell was a Scot, and had he developed the telephone and made the first long distance call from the UK, we could have laid claim to it being a British invention. But it was not to be. The idea was in his head and didn’t come to anything until he reached Ontario Canada.

Anyway, the telephone in question is the 712/722 Trimphone. When these were announced in 1964, everybody wanted one, but unlike today’s phones, a man from the GPO had to come and install it, so the wait could be a long one. The wait was worth it because the 712 was the hippest thing on the planet.

This is the info card for the 722. Note the exciting colour range. These phones were very light and easy to carry, and they had as standard the world’s longest cable.For the first time, you could sit further away than six feet from the wall, but it’s weight worked against it too. Dialling the phone resulted in it sliding around and being small, there was not a lot to hold. It was the first phone that didn’t ring too. It warbled, but we still used the phrase ‘I’ll ring you’.

The other issue was the luminous dial. Seen originally as a good idea, when users found out that it was radioactive, albeit very mildly radioactive, that was enough for people to take a step back.

Eventually, the Trimphone turned to tone dialling and then user pluggable (8766/8786) in the late 70’s and early 80’s which overcame the radioactive element and having to wait forever to get a new style phone.

The Trimphone was a GPO telephone. Towards the end of its life, there was an influx of novelty phones, none of them authorised, and all resisted by the GPO as being incompatible with the existing lines.

British Telecom took over from the GPO, promising to make the British telephone system the best in the world, and with that promise came a whole range of BT approved novelty phones, some with advanced features for the time.

Alas, the swinging Trimphone was replaced as the standard telephone, but for a few years blazed the first designer phone trail.

If you want to see what followed it, see here..

http://www.telephonesuk.co.uk/phones_1980on.htm

Welsh slate..

So good that it has been transported across the world and has been the roofing material of preference on some Chinese pagodas.

If fixed down using wooden pegs, a Welsh slate roof can have a useful lifespan of around 400 years. Iron nails are not good as the deterioration in the nails over time also affects the slate. There is no roof more perfect in appearance than a Welsh slate roof, and if you ever go to North Wales, you will know exactly what I mean.

Not just roofing, slate floor tiles have a quality all of their own.

Slate was mainly quarried, but in the case of the slate of Blaenau Ffestiniog, it was mined.

Was it easy work? About as easy as any quarry or mine can be. Open cast on the sides of the Dinorwig escarpments in the middle of winter or any time really would have been difficult on poor quality food, and many fell to their deaths because they no longer had the strength to hold on.

In the Llechwedd deep mines, explosions as the slate was blasted always presented obvious dangers, and like coal miners, the dust was unforgiving.

Quarrymen and miners were only paid for good workable slate blocks. There was always a considerable amount of waste that came away with the blocks, and it all had to be cleared manually and for no wages.

Weather in North Wales is changeable to say the least, in no small part due to its proximity with the Irish Sea, a particularly rough part of the North Atlantic Ocean. Blaenau Ffestiniog has been recorded as having more rain then anywhere else in England and Wales, and there are days in the area when it is impossible to see where the clouds stop and the mountains of waste begin.

If ever you find yourself in this part of the world, I strongly suggest that you do the Llechwedd tour, and while in Dinorwig a visit to the Miners Hospital. The records there will give you a very clear idea of just how tough it was. In the records, you will see the word ‘Marusmus’ in many of the entries. See here for details of the condition..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marasmus

Don’t worry. It is not contagious and your visit will be a safe one. For more on Welsh slate, see here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_industry_in_Wales

.. and what you can still buy..http://www.welshslate.com/

Other mining in Wales..

There is a coal mine in Blaenavon, South Wales which has public tours. Here too is a real eye opener into the life of a miner.. see here..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Pit

As nasty a job as mining or quarrying may seem to you, the miners and quarrymen of North and South Wales were all proud of what they did, and all will tell you that they would do it over again.

It would be good to end on a high note, but there is a scar on the face of coal mining in South Wales. The name of the village was Aberfan..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster

Tony Robinson

You may know him best as Blackadder’s sidekick, Baldrick.

That scene was back in 1989 and marked the end of probably the funniest sitcom ever, but Tony had a cunning plan way before.

He started acting aged 12 back in 1958, playing a role in the original West End production of Oliver. After appearing in a few West End shows, the die was cast.

Or was it?

Tony Robinson had bit parts in quite a lot of productions, both on TV and the big screen, and also did a stint on the kids show Play Away. He a very easy manner which suited the job as a television presenter well.

His real fame came with a role in Blackadder which made him a household name. Since then, he has become the face and voice of archaeology and history on TV.

Hey, there is an unofficial Tony Robinson website which is full of facts..

http://www.unofficialtonyrobinsonwebsite.co.uk/

Here in Canada, we got the Blackadder series, and we also get Tony’s history and archaeology television presentations, and I must admit to being able to listen to them all day.

Light where you need it - any angle..

Recognise this?

It is the model 75 Anglepoise table lamp, designed and developed originally by George Carwardine, a car suspension designer in the UK. These lamps are not cheap but there is no other multi-position lamp that does it as well as an original Anglepoise.

The original appeared in 1932 and could only handle a 40w light bulb. These days, they have LEDs, but apart from some styling changes, they have remained pretty much the same. You can even buy remakes of the original 1227 design. How cool is that?

Where wouldn’t you find one of these? Anywhere where there is no electricity supply. They were and are still used in homes, offices, hospitals, workshops etc.

Floor mounts, table stands, desk clamps, even a wall mount, there is always a way to make one of these lamps work for you.

Variations of this type of lamp have appeared, but none will be as versatile or long lasting as a real Anglepoise. A full range of spares is available for them too, so you will never have to commit an Anglepoise to the landfill like you do for so many of the other cheap look-a-likes.

For more, see here.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglepoise_lamp and for the current range.. http://www.anglepoise.com/

BBC and the Acorn..

Did you know that while other computer companies were struggling for traction in the early days, the BBC sponsored Acorn Computer Company was leading the world?

Did you also know that an offshoot of the original Acorn Computer Company, ARM, is into processors (CPUs) and is bigger than Intel? ARM = Acorn RiSC Machines.

People always associate computers with the USA, but the first useful computer was made and used in Britain? It was used at Bletchley Park to help break the Axis Powers codes.

The Acorn team in Cambridge UK were a bright bunch. Look what they produced over time.. http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/sec/79/Acorn-Computers/

The most famous is the BBC Micro which was the mainstay of computer learning in British schools. Click on the BBC B Micro in the link I gave you above to see the huge array of software and connectibles for the machine. There was absolutely nothing like them anywhere else.

The language was BBC BASIC, a step up from regular BASIC which embodied commands not seen in the original. It made the language very powerful indeed while still remaining simple to use. Even I managed to produce a few games and bits, even an assembly language clock which stayed on top of whatever was on-screen. Well, not quite always. The trouble is that I was no programmer and didn’t have the mindset to sit for hours bug checking, but what this period did teach me is how everything comes together.

I have more sympathy for the programmers when their stuff fails to interact with whatever else is on a computer. I know how difficult it is to test a program or utility and ever guarantee that it will not affect anything else that is running..

So what beat Acorn and why are they still not making computers? This is a company that built stuff to a high standard. There was nothing flimsy in their lineup. The 90’s saw the rise of the cheap and very often flimsy IBM clones, a market in which the Acorn way of doing things could not compete.

The Archimedes RiSC computer and the associated operating system was way ahead, closer to midrange business machines than for home or school use. Sadly, production of computers was halted.

This is not the end of the story.

The ARM processor which spawned the Archimedes range is a very powerful, very fast, and very power efficient processor, so much so that it is ideal for use in cellphones, PDA’s, tablets, essentially anything where mobility and performance are necessities. The computers may have disappeared, but the technology is alive and well, and huge business for what is left of the original Acorn company.

Also, the Domesday Project of 1986 has been saved from destruction. The laser disks upon which all of the data was stored eventually suffer what is called ‘laser rot’. Very few could ever afford the system on which the Domesday Project ran, but it is now being transferred from the laser disks and updated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday

Fish and Chips

There are a few factors which make British Fish and Chips the envy of the world.

1. Nowhere in Britain is too far away from a sea or ocean. This is an important factor re availability of fresh fish across the nation.
2. The seas and oceans surrounding Britain have fish that is eminently suitable for deep frying, including Cod, Haddock, Plaice, Sole, Halibut.
3. Specialized fish and chip frying equipment is made in the UK for the 8500 or so outlets
4. Greek Cypriot immigrants who came to Britain years ago, all of whom seemed to have the ability to produce world class Fish and Chips. 

There is a huge difference between fresh chilled fish stored temporarily in dry ice and deep frozen fish. Anything deep frozen tends to lose its texture and taste and to transport fish across huge continents, deep frozen is the order of the day. I feel sorry for you all..

Fresh water fish is really good if sautéed but you never want to deep fry it. Salmon or Trout in breadcrumbs maybe. In Beer batter? No thanks. The white ocean fish already mentioned are the best anywhere.

The fryers seen in burger joints are ok for frozen French Fry style chips, but fish and chips need space to fry properly, just as pasta needs a large pasta pot if it is to be anything other than mediocre.

Not only are Greek Cypriot people super friendly, they are the top fish and chip producers in the world. They also introduced Kebabs and chips. While I was still resident in the UK, I knew a few good Fish and Chip shops whose kebabs were so good that I stopped eating the fish.

British Fish and Chip shops also do a range of products, including fish, fish cakes, roe, sausage, saveloy, chicken, Mars bars, scallops, pickled eggs, gravy, curry sauce, mushy peas and kebabs. There is something for everybody.

Why don’t fish and chip shops do as well in other countries?? I believe that it is because only the concept is carried across, not the full product. We call them Fish and Chip shops in Britain still, but they are more than that, way more.

A note about Harry Ramsden’s. This is what made the company famous.

.. White Cross, Guisley, West Yorkshire, a large dining room with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. I have to admit that I did not care for the fish and chips here. In the North, there was a tendency to use lard in the fryers, where in the South, oil was used. As a consequence, I found the fish batter to be too heavy, and the whole meal left an after taste which I didn’t like.

HR expanded into a chain, but Fish and Chip shops are not about chains. The best are where the skills of a master fryer are passed down through generations, not an instruction sheet taped to a wall.

There was a Fish and Chip shop opposite the church on the A61 out of Skipton in Yorkshire where the fare was so good, I had to go in and get more. North, South or the bit in the middle, there are some excellent Fish and Chips shops and long may they succeed. I could list many which I regard as worth a visit, but it has been a few years and they may not exist anymore, or have changed hands.

One thing I can tell you,, the Fish and Chip places here in Ontario Canada are ok, but not like back home. The Fish and Chip shop is one of Britain’s Best that I really do miss.

Dr Who?

November 23rd, 1963, a half hour before the BBC National News slot, we heard this. Then we were taken into a set and introduced to a straight faced and slightly intimidating old man.

We have never looked back, well maybe to check to see if the Daleks or the Cybermen are on our tails.

It is the longest running Sci-fi series ever and is popular across the globe. The sets were cheap as were the special effects, but it scared us all to death. Remember that in 1963, we still had monochrome TV sets. There were no bright colours to make it all seem more playful.

After the first showing of the Daleks, I doubt that there was a schoolboy alive who didn’t walk into school, extend his arm and exclaim “Exterminate”.

Eventually, William Hartnell morphed into Patrick Troughton, then Jon Pertwee and for me, finally Tom Baker. As each character appeared, I liked the new one better, but when Tom Baker morphed into Peter Davison, I couldn’t watch it anymore. He just didn’t come across as Dr Who to me. I tried to watch the newer ones, I really did.

I picked up watching it again maybe three years ago having seen it in the cable TV program listings here in Canada. The doctor was played by David Tennant and I have to admit to liking the character.

Why is Dr Who better than Star Wars and StarTrek.? There is no sanitization in Dr Who. Space travel is haphazard and a generally dangerous business. Dr Who doesn’t try to befriend his enemies, and they wouldn’t want to be friends anymore than we would want to be friends if some strange beings arrived tomorrow with powers so obviously well in advance of our own.

Dr Who isn’t about ‘they all lived happily ever after’. It is a continuing struggle just as life has been a continuous struggle on our planet. This is why Dr Who is still being produced and why the others have all finished their missions.

For more on the best Sci-fi series in the Universe, start here.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw