Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts

Saturday, May 19, 2018

This was their finest hour - Perspective on a #TurningPoint: Winston Churchill - Their Finest Hour speech (Complete) His most-famous speech made after reflection at the most-famous moment in British history

This was their finest hour - Perspective on a #TurningPoint: Winston Churchill - Their Finest Hour speech (Complete) His most-famous speech made after reflection at the most-famous moment in British history

Meant to post this yesterday afternoon...












So, naturally, with me, as always, there's a backstory...

Family Trivia: My paternal ancestors, the ones who came to America in the 17th Century, left an area of central England corresponding roughly to where the story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men in Sherwood Forest was set, eventually making their way to a town in New England where history of a different sort was made - Salem, Massachusetts, before and during the infamous Witch Trials.
That same family had the second Minister of the very first Baptist Church in the Colonies, in that very Baptist city of... Newport, Rhode Island! :-)

One of their descendents marched in the French and Indian War with British Gen. Braddock, directly under a young and overly-confident George Washington, from present day Alexandria, VA towards French-held Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh), in a quite disastrous effort by the British that killed Braddock and which was nearly the undoing for good of Washington and his reputation. Same ancestor, years later, was a spy for Gen. Washington against the British in the American Revolution -he knew his way around the area like a realtor!- and for his efforts, was later given land in the Ohio Territories.

Which is why my family has been in Ohio since before it became a state in 1803, settling in a town on the Ohio River south of Canton, where the NFL was born, southwest of Pittsburgh.
That's why my late father was born in Steubenville, a couple of years after singer Dean Martin.


https://youtu.be/esU7kPQLEck
David Cameron's Favourite Past Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
Published on Mar 13, 2012

Prime Minister David Cameron's personal reflections on why Winston Churchill is his favourite former Prime Minister.


PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON "My favourite Prime Minister is this man right here, Winston Churchill. He was an incredible leader for our country and indeed for the whole free world at the most impossibly difficult time. Just a few yards away from here is the Cabinet Room, and Winston Churchill, as Prime Minister, sat in that Cabinet Room and decided, with his colleagues, to fight on against Nazi Germany and Hitler, even after France had fallen. That was a heroic decision, a right decision, and actually meant that the world was saved from Nazi tyranny. It was the most important moment in British history, and I think it's because of his courage and guts that we made the right call."

ARCHIVE NEWS FOOTAGE "Behind Winston Churchill we stand united as never before in history."

PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON "Well obviously he came to office in Nineteen Forty at a desperately difficult time; France was about to fall, the war was going extraordinarily badly from Britain's point of view, Hitler was rampant across Europe, it looked like the end for the free world, the end for Britain, and the end for Churchill too. But he showed incredible bravery, incredible courage, at bringing the nation together, forging a courageous spirit, taking on Hitler, and eventually winning. So it was a very difficult time for Britain, a time when you needed the best possible leader, the most courageous possible leader to come forward, and in Winston Churchill we were incredibly fortunate to have that man."


Winston Churchill - Their Finest Hour Speech - Complete

"If the Empire lasts a thousand years men will say, this was their finest hour."










Wednesday, December 24, 2014

#BorisBus - A public policy must-read over the holidays: "Boris's Bus (A Political Journey)" by The Guardian's London blogger Dave Hill, @DaveHill, who's been chronicling energetic London Mayor Boris Johnson's controversial effort to place his stamp on London's future transportation scene




Here's the series in reverse-chron order:
Boris's Bus (A Political Journey) Boris Johnson's wish to create a modern successor 
to London's legendary Routemaster buses has been a signature policy of his mayoralty. 
The Guardian's London blogger Dave Hill has been following the unfolding saga of its creation

Dave Hill's main blog on London is here:  
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/davehillblog









It goes without saying that we could really use this willingness to shake things up in government in Florida, especially South Florida, to say nothing of having double-decker buses along certain main streets.

Then again, ever since it started less than 10 years ago, the Broward County Transit express bus that runs on traffic-clogged US-1, back-and-forth from Aventura Mall to downtown Fort Lauderdale, the Buzz #1, after leaving the Aventura Mall, next to its food court near Macy's, does NOT stop at a single bus SHELTER in Aventura, Hallandale Beach or Hollywood. Really.
Waiting bus passengers get to wait and wait in the rain, sun, wind...
Just like bus passengers at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport waiting for public transportation, whether visitors who have just landed and eager to get to their hotel, or airline, vendor or Homeland Security employees simply looking to get home, who also have to wait for it at a place with NO shelter, NO benches to sit on and with NO posted bus schedules present. 
It could hardly be less well thought-out and half-assed.

And the people manning the information desk inside the airport consistently CAN'T tell you where the one-and-only bus stop at the airport is, as I discovered first-hand there this summer when I did some investigating and snooping around.
The signs for it are seemingly an afterthought. 
The whole enterprise is a #RealityCheck for #BestPractices.

I've got a photo-filled blog post on that embarrassing transportation situation, esp. at the airport, coming sometime in January, and will publicly question how -yet again- Broward County citizens/taxpayers are clearly being mis-served by Broward's bureaucrats on something that is NOT that complicated, and yet is clearly being botched.

Yes, Broward, the same County that has an Advisory Board for every matter and problem under the sun, real and imagined, but which does NOT have an Advisory Board for the Airport, one of the principal economic engines we have here.
That is something that clearly needs to change in the near-future and with meaningful citizen representation, too

To make that change happen, in the new year I plan on speaking directly to the people and interest groups who make the decisions in this County. 
Then we'll see who wants to do what's best for the public and who wants to keep doing what clearly ISN'T working. 
#Resolutions

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Battening down and bracing for a battering! Met Office warnings re UK weather has Britons buzzing amid very bad memories of the Great Storm of 1987. As most powerful storm to hit Britain in 26 years approaches, much-wider area than first expected will be pounded by gales, downpours and powerful winds of 60-80 mph, with flooding and widespread power outages expected; @metoffice

Battening down and bracing for a battering! Met Office warnings re UK weather has Britons buzzing amid very bad memories of the Great Storm of 1987. As most powerful storm to hit Britain in 26 years approaches, much-wider area than first expected will be pounded by gales, downpours and powerful winds of 60-80 mph, with flooding and widespread power outages expected; @metoffice

Even as your faithful blogger posts from his home in South Florida, two miles west of the Atlantic, way across the North Atlantic, a huge storm riding the jetstream from east of the United States, is preparing to batter southern England & Wales on Sunday night and Monday morning, bringing gales and downpours and causing widespread disruption, with powerful winds of 60-80 mph winds expected.
Winds are expected to be even higher in coastal areas, where risk of damage to property can and should be expected.

The storm, moving SW to NE, will then continue across The North Sea and arrive in Norway, Denmark and Sweden on Monday night, with heavy snowfall expected in parts of western Sweden currently experiencing autumnal temperatures.

I've been watching SkyNews the past two nights and have seen their video of much of the advance preparation for the storm that's expected to lash parts of Great Britain for hours, with ferry and shipping cancellations already taking place, trimming of some trees to reduce damage and possibility of becoming projectiles, and removal of anything movable on piers and in dockage areas, where some destruction seems highly likely.


Two storm-related video pieces done by veteran Sky News correspondent David Bowden that aired Saturday night:  
http://news.sky.com/story/1160250/britain-braced-for-severe-80mph-storm
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/warning-major-storm-way-172515226.html

Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Eastern Saturday, I heard a number mentioned during the newscast as an estimate by some group (?) that total clean-up costs could hit 1000 £1m, i.e. a Billion Pounds.

Again, there are still memories present among many over what can happen when there is a lack of proper preparation by those in charge and they are caught up short:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987

Last I heard, there's an expectation that very windy and rainy conditions will exist in the affected areas from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m.

That means cabin fever.
I'd have those candles, junk food and coolers of ice-filled drinks and pre-prepared sandwiches ready for when the lights go out -and stay out .

Below, a screenshot I snapped of Aftonbladet's website mid-Saturday night about the approaching storm:


HÖSTSTORM PÅ VÄG! (Autumn storm on its way!)
Early Sunday morning, SMHI, the Swedish equivalent of NOAA here in the U.S., issued Gale Warnings for ships in and around the Baltic Sea, and they have also issued a warning to my friend Andreas and everyone else living in Gotland that there is a very great risk of powerful dust storms there, though that will obviously be before all the heavy rain gets there and soaks them as well.








The most recent public dispatch from the Met Office is this one:

Severe storm heading for the UK
26 October 2013 - The Met Office is warning of the risk of a significant storm bringing exceptionally strong winds to parts of England and Wales on Sunday night into Monday morning

Currently forecasts suggest a low pressure system will rapidly deepen just to the south west of the UK on later on Sunday, before moving across the country to be out over the North Sea by the afternoon on Monday.
This is expected to bring gusts of 60 - 80 mph widely across the southern half of the UK, with gusts of more than 80 mph possible in places - especially on exposed coasts.
Any major storm which occurs in early autumn has the potential to cause widespread severe disruption through falling trees, structural damage, transport disruption or power cuts and possibly flooding.
Frank Saunders, Chief Forecaster at the Met Office, said: "We are confident that a severe storm will affect Britain on Sunday night and Monday. We are now looking at refining the details about which areas will see the strongest winds and the heaviest rain.
"This is a developing situation and we'd advise people to stay up to date with our forecasts and warnings over the weekend, and be prepared to change their plans if necessary. We'll continue to work closely with authorities and emergency services to ensure they are aware of the expected conditions."

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Awesome & winsome! M&C Saatchi's brilliant TV ad for NatWest featuring Johnny Cash singing "Thing Called Love" for NatWest's "e-ISA"; @MCSaatchiLondon @NatWest_Help

<iframe width="325" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-QNgXBgtkR4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
M&C Saatchi's new TV ad for NatWest featuring Johnny Cash singing "Thing Called Love" for NatWest's ad called "Mustang" promoting their new "Easy ISA" feature. Uploaded March 3, 2013. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QNgXBgtkR4

See the spot-on post about it by Nick Gale in Oxfordshire at his "Read all Ad-bout it!" blog: http://readalladboutit.blogspot.com/2013/03/natwest-thing-called-love-tv-ad-my.html


Hippekuln YouTube Channel: Johnny Cash - A Thing Called Love. 
Uploaded July 20, 2009. http://youtu.be/-QLSwGvotas

Monday, August 13, 2012

#London2012 - Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies because of NBC's editing, and the Tom Brokaw one-hour documentary that allowed him to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing niche

Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed Sunday night at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies while people because like me continue to question  NBC-TV putting Tom Brokaw front-and-center Saturday night to showboat a bit, and to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing nicheduring a completely unnecessary one-hour program about 1930's Britain and WWII and the economic and social aftermath, "Their Finest Hour."

Nice original title(!) and contrary to what's been reported, I HAD seen much of the footage before.

And if you insist on doing something like this, why would you schedule it on the last weekend the Olympics instead of the first weekend?
It's completely illogical, even on its own terms -even if you support something like it airing on U.S. television.

There's a very good reason why so many smart people in the U.S. saw the original "The World at War" anthology by ITV about WWII when it first aired in the U.S. came out in the late 1970's, with Laurence Olivier's narration.
Because of its quality and clarity and depth, unlike most high school and college textbooks.

It aired here in South Florida on Channel 10 on Sunday nights before ABC-TV's entertainment  programming began. I never missed it and have seen every episode about a dozen times thanks to the Military Channel, DirecTV Channel 287. http://www.theworldatwar.com/ )


NBC Cut Nearly An Hour From Its Closing Ceremony Telecast. Here’s Everything They Didn’t Show You (Including The Kinks’ Ray Davies)
By Timothy Burke
August 13, 2012 1:44 PM 
We knew NBC would heavily edit its broadcast of last night's London Olympics closing ceremony; they cut out a bunch of stuff from the opening ceremony, too, in the name of "tailoring programming to our American audience."

IF you are one of those rare Americans who had somehow missed the point for the last forty years that Brokaw was from South Dakota, you couldn't have missed it during this self-indulgent one hour.
Since it was all recorded, there was no actual reason for Brokaw to even physically be in London save high self-regard and him throwing-his-weight-around and/or NBC wanting to trot him out to how how serious they were, and in any case, wasn't the latter role actually Bob Costas' role as Everyman, who felt it necessary to state the obvious, sometimes, in grave tones?

Meanwhile, these are the same NBC geniuses that waited until the 15th day of the 17-day Olympics to do a segment on Roger Bannister, when it should've been done the first weekend.

The same geniuses who DIDN'T show the medal ceremony for the Men's Marathon winner, the last contest of the Games, and always a highlight.
Thank goodness an American runner didn't do something silly and win and throw NBC's minute calculations off.

Me, foolishly, I thought that the hour of coverage that NBC promised us after the Local NBC affiliate newscast would be what we missed.
Instead, they re-played what they'd already run, awkwardly picking it up during the narrative of the U.S. Women's gymnastics team battle for the team gold against Aliya Mustafina, Victoria Komova and the rest of the Russian team.  

See clips of the rehearsals of the Closing Ceremonies at
http://www.youtube.com/user/london2012

My grade for NBC for the whole Olympics is C-.
In a nutshell, with plenty of examples I could cite jere, probably just like you: The winner of the Women's 100 Meters speaks English, being from Jamaica, but NBC chose not to interview her - THE fastest women in the world.

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http://olympicclosingceremony.tumblr.com/

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Jubilant! Liam Gallagher's best day of the year! Watches his Man. City beat Man. United, take over top of Premier League in global telecast seen by 650 million, tweets about meeting Maradona, and then crashes press conference


Manchester City FC video: TUNNEL CAM: Man City 1-0 Man United Behind the scenes at the Etihad Stadium. April 30, 2012. http://youtu.be/90xoWo5Eah8
At 17:06, Diego Maradona and his daughter and grand-son arrive to see son-in-law Sergio Agüero...



City1 Utd 0 Liam Gallagher, Hey Jude. April 30, 2012.
http://youtu.be/mm8gLIS4ygA


My biggest fear when I woke up Monday morning was that the scheduled torrential downpours in South Florida would come during the broadcast of the Manchester Derby on ESPN at 3 p.m., and absolutely ruin things, since I have DirecTV and I lose reception during those sort of heavy end-of-the-world thunderstorms we get down here.
Or that Manchester would have similar weather during the match in this, the wettest April in recorded history.





Fortunately for me, everything happened before and after in my corner of South Florida and City won a fabulous game.
Well, at least one team I root for actually wins!



Liam Gallagher crashes the post-match press conference at Manchester City. 
"The league top, how about that?" April 30, 2012.
http://youtu.be/dGBbbwRpNzc


"Maradona shakes the hand of God!" 
Photo at: http://twitter.com/#!/liamgallagher/status/197082620566319104/photo/1
http://twitter.com/#!/liamgallagher



Oasis - Wonderwall (Live at Jools Holland 2000)
http://youtu.be/vmybmVNjfbI


I'd have posted all this all sooner, as well as posts about the FA's Roy Hodgson vs. "people's choice" Harry Redknapp public debate over the manager of the English National Team, but the perpetual downpours we've had down here of late have played havoc with my access to the AT&T server, rendering me frustrated.
More on this very soon, though, as it's the burr under everyone's saddle there.


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http://www.youtube.com/user/mcfcofficial


http://twitter.com/#!/liamgallagher


http://www.youtube.com/user/england

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Tears soon to be flowing like rivers: Robin Gibb remains near death in a coma in a west London hospital, just days after his 'Titanic Requiem' premiered at Westminster Central Hall on Tuesday




BBC Breakfast: R.J. Gibb on the Titanic music requiem that he and his father Robin have created for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic. April 12, 2012. http://youtu.be/ZDnR8OhZArQ





RobinGibb video: Robin Gibb discusses his work on The Titanic Requiem (trailer). January 12, 2012. http://youtu.be/6I8Q-maVZyo





RobinGibb video: Robin Gibb - "Don't Cry Alone". March 20, 2012.
http://youtu.be/jY7p1zxBYZI

Tears soon to be flowing like rivers: Robin Gibb remains near death in a coma in a west London hospital, just days after his 'Titanic Requiem' premiered at Westminster Central Hall on Tuesday.
My last two posts on Robin Gibb both appeared last year, February 12, 2011 and were titled:


a.) Robin Gibb on the sad state of pop music -a lot of karaoke!- and raising $ for the RAF Bomber Command Memorial, on BBC's HARDtalk with Stephen Sackur
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/robin-gibb-on-sad-state-of-pop-music.html


b.) Robin Gibb and Carola sing "How Deep Is Your Love" on SVT's "Skavlan"; 20-minute interview also!
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/robin-gibb-and-carola-sing-how-deep-is.html


I urge you to read them and learn more about this amazingly creative and caring man.


One of my favorite record albums that I brought with me from North Miami Beach to IU in the Fall of 1979 and just loved to play -and show-off a bit- whether I was living in my dorm room at Briscoe Quad or in my apt., was an album that friends of a certain musical sophistication never tired of listening to, in large part because no matter where they were from -Fort Wayne, Chicago, Long Island, Kansas City, London, Oman, Santa Monica- they had never heard any of the songs before.


It was great to be the person who had the rarity, which in this case, was an album compilation I'd been given by someone I knew who was a British music producer which consisted of the most-popular songs recorded by The Bee Gees while they were growing-up in Australia, of which this song below is one.


For my friends and I, that album was like the Rosetta Stone of pop music of the previous 25 years, because it gave you an early look at the sounds, rhyming schemes, singing patterns and vocal dering-do of the Brothers Gibb that the world would soon come to know and try to copy once they moved back to Great Britain and began getting international attention.


More importantly, that album gave you the key to unlocking a better understanding of their true genius. And no matter how old the song was or how old they were when recording it, or even sometimes how good or corny the song might really be, there was always that melody and harmony.
ALWAYS!


Today, Robin Gibb and his extended family are very much in our thoughts and prayers in this very trying time.



The Bee Gees "I Was A Lover, A Leader Of Men" 1965
http://youtu.be/U5KR81CCCGg

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/audio/2012/apr/11/robin-gibb-titanic-requiem 


http://www.robingibb.com/ 


http://www.youtube.com/user/robingibb 


http://www.youtube.com/user/bbcbreakfastsalford 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Looter who started the infamous Croyden fire during last August's riots, which resulted in the destruction of the iconic 144-year old, family-run Reeves furniture shop, causing damages of £3m, has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years




BBC News video - 2011 Croydon riots arson case: Trevor and Graham Reeves comment on the sentencing of Gordon Thompson and losing the town icon - 'Losing shop like a bereavement' April 11, 2012. http://youtu.be/hrZH5dAA3tg


Gordon Thompson, the looter who started the infamous Croyden fire during last early August's riots in England, which resulted in the destruction of the iconic 144-year old, family-run House of Reeves furniture shop, causing damages of £3m, has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years.
No word on whether he will be prosecuted for the two fires he started at other stores before setting a sofa afire at the House of Reeves shop in south London, which consists of a series of shops on the block.


This is the logical follow-up to my August 9th post of last year, titled, Listening to BBC's 5 live Breakfast reports LIVE from Croyden reporting on rioting aftermath; www.riotcleanup.co.uk

That post featured these two videos: 


Channel 4 News (U.K.) Monday's 7 p.m. newscast: Police braced as clashes erupt across London http://bcove.me/j4tah6mb
And this was before the fires in Croyden later that night.

Croydon: on the edge of riot, http://youtu.be/crSATCwwUYk


Eight months ago I mentioned having heard for myself on-air via 5 live the mournful words of
A woman who owns a maternity boutique described seeing her life's dream literally going up in smoke, finding small hangers on nearby streets that had fallen from the clothes that were stolen. The hangers got in the way of how much they could carry out.
If you've gone back to read the that post from last year, and I strongly suggest you do, then I'm here to tell you now that my own thoughts then are the same as they are now with respect to the Labour Party's mis-guided notions that simply "communicating" with society's have-nots was the things that was missing. It wasn't.
Some people can never accept the fact that their high-minded approach, however well motivated, has failed, which the last three nights has thoroughly proven. Or recognize that some people are, in fact, criminals.
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http://www.facebook.com/pages/CROYDON-CLEAN-UP-CREW/264330046925822

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live
To keep up on the latest from Channel 4 News
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Trending at Hallandale Beach Blog: Pressure cooking with celebrity chef Andrew Nutter



http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00qh5b1


Celebrity chef Andrew Nutter visited the newly-opened BBC MediaCity in Salford late  Monday afternoon his time to talk about the time-saving benefits of pressure cooking and the intense tastes that emerge. I happened to be among those listening closely - via my computer- to his interview by BBC Radio 5 live Drive's Peter Allen and Anna Foster, who described the tastes that Andrew had prepared for them to nibble on in the studio via some pressure-cooked food.
Having heard this discussion on Monday afternoon, I couldn't wait to see if there was a vid for it to see how it actually looked -success!
Bon Appétit!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/
http://twitter.com/#!/bbc5live


http://twitter.com/#!/nutsfood
Homepage for Nutters Restaurant - Rochdale, Lancashire:
http://www.nuttersrestaurant.co.uk/

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Next Wednesday, the 2003 British political thriller mini-series 'State of Play" begins airing on BBC America; watch 'Page Eight' online until Tuesday


BBC America video: Dramaville Presents STATE OF PLAY Launch Trailer, http://youtu.be/67QZy4lLuCs

Speaking of the often messy, ego-driven, class-driven nexus of contemporary British politics and news media, as I was in my last blog post... I've heard lots of great things about this mini-series over the years but I've never seen it for myself.
The first episode of State of Play airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. Eastern, DirecTV Channel 264.

Bill Nighy, who stars in the mini-series as a newspaper editor, was EXCELLENT as an MI5 operative playing alongside his curious neighbor, longtime HBB favorite Rachel Weisz, in the David Hare-directed BBC thriller, "Page Eight," which ran on PBS' Masterpiece Contemporary early last month.


Lots of people I know all over the country say that was one of the best things they've seen all year on TV the past year, along with Downton Abbey, of course.

*You can also STILL watch Page Eight online for free at the PBS website until December 6th.
It's one hour and 44 minutes long -and remember to hit full screen -fullskärm.


Material on the mini-series is at: http://www.bbcamerica.com/state-of-play/ and

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BBC America YouTube Channel: