Watching and listening to the Royal Wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton via BBC-TV and Radio's 5live

On the 5 live website yesterday, I spotted a very interesting video in which former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond "explains what life as a Princess for Kate Middleton could be like."

You can see it here, along with some other Royal Wedding related videos:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/bestbits/

Above, my screen-shot of David Furnish and Elton John at Westminster Abbey around 10:05 a.m. looking around at the impressive scene all around them.

This morning, as planned, I'm listening to BBC Radio 5 live's coverage of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton -the future Duke & Duchess of Cambridge- and watching the BBC-TV's worldwide coverage, the latter of which I'm watching on the local Miami PBS affiliate, WPBT, Channel 2.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/#two

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

5 live's Victoria Derbyshire, Richard Bacon and Gabby Logan are hosting the coverage on the radio side and have already been mentioning some good factoids, anecdotes and stories of a sort that American reporters flown over to London for the occasion couldn't possibly know or tell as well, which is one of the reasons that I'm observing the wedding this way, and not watching the U.S. TV networks.

More of those factoids are here from Channel 4 News:
http://www.channel4.com/news/royal-wedding-prince-william-and-princess-catherine

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

And if you didn't already know, the nasty business with the Syrian Amb. to Great Britain and the Royal wedding invite has been resolved -he's out!

Channel 4's Snowmail of yesterday put it this way:

Syrian Ambassador's wedding invitation withdrawn
http://www.channel4.com/news/syrian-ambassador-uninvited-to-royal-wedding

SERVICE REVEALED
St James’ Palace, which is the official residence of the bridegroom's father - has issued an order of service for tomorrow’s proceedings which it boldly claims to be “the epitome of Britishness'. We will be examining whether it is, with three people who have some degree of access to the question of what ‘Britishness’ actually is.

Prince William and Kate's Royal Wedding details revealed http://www.channel4.com/news/prince-william-and-kates-royal-wedding-details-revealed

You can watch the last seven days of Channel 4 newscasts on their catch up player - available on iPhones and iPads too:
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/

And Hip Hip Hooray for Pippa!!!
http://www.celebuzz.com/2011-04-29/pippa-middleton-and-bridemaids-dresses-what-they-wore-photos/

Video of Rich Johnston, author of new graphic novel comic book from Markosia Comics: 'Kate & William: A Very Public Love Story'

Leicester Square TV video: Interview with Rich Johnston at Forbidden Planet Megastore, London, on his new lighthearted graphic novel comic book from Markosia Comics titled Kate & William: A Very Public Love Story, presaging the royal wedding in a month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvb55MmCUlg

http://www.markosia.com/wordpress/

Actually sounds quite amusing and the sort of interesting concept that I think would go over very well over here on subjects of interest to Americans, whether sports fans or pop culture enthusiasts... and yes, Markosia Comics ships outside the U.K.
Contact them here: http://www.markosia.com/wordpress/faqs/

Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Kate-William-Very-Public-Story/dp/1905692455

This Daily Mail article below includes some great photos of the panels in the Rich Johnston comic book that gives you a real sense of what it's like.

Daily Mail
Drawn to each other: Now William and Kate's love story gets comic strip treatment
Created 5:55 PM on 30th March 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1371633/Kate-Middleton-Prince-Williams-love-story-gets-comic-strip-treatment.html

Incredible global response to Kate and William comic!
Posted Tuesday, February 15, 2011 http://www.markosia.com/wordpress/2011/02/15/incredible-global-response-to-kate-and-william-comic/

ABC News
Kate & William: A Very Public Love Story A portrayal of the royal love story through comic illustrations.

Photo gallery at:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/slideshow/kate-william-public-love-story-12910542

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/19/the-royal-comic-book-behold-the-kate-william-graphic-novel/

Leicester Square TV YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LeicesterSquareTV

Video: Prince William flying to disaster-ravaged areas of New Zealand and Australia next week

Ten News video: Prince William flying to disaster-ravaged areas of New Zealand and Australia next week
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wmtlSkklno&tracker=False

Prince William to visit New Zealand and Australia disaster zones
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-william/8370159/Prince-William-to-visit-New-Zealand-and-Australia-disaster-zones.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/ten
http://ten.com.au/

Three Lions make their best pitch for World Cup 2018 as English bid team flies to Zurich led by Prince William, David Cameron & David Beckham

Channel 4 News
November 30, 2010 World Cup 2018 bid heads to Zurich
Reporter Keme Nzerem in Zurich reports on England's bid to secure the FIFA World Cup competition in 2018. The omens are not looking good.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=693409974001

FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS

The BBC Panorama program that's at the center of the FIFA World Cup bid controversy, Fifa's Dirty Secrets, is here, http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/default.stm where you can read about some of the accusations leveled against FIFA officials, but for copyright reasons, the program can't officially be seen in the U.S..
http://www.epltalk.com/how-you-can-watch-bbc-panorama-fifas-dirty-secrets-in-the-u-s-26989

Long story short: The alleged bribes to three officials are included in a confidential document listing 175 payments totalling about £64m.

Here are two videos on YouTube that comprise the FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS program, so watch it while you can before the BBC makes them take the videos down.

BBC Panorama: FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjlZw9NGSlU

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BBC Panorama: FIFA'S DIRTY SECRETS - Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wQy4eT4M9I


The Channel 4 website article that accompanies this video at the top is here:

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham fly to Zurich to try and boost England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup - but hopes have been dampened by the latest publication of bribery allegations. As delegates gathered to press the flesh at the headquarters of FIFA - football's governing body - ahead of Thursday's announcement of the winner, the English bid team have been frustrated by the timing of the BBC Panorama programme which accused three FIFA officials of taking bribes in the past.

Read the rest of it at:
http://www.channel4.com/news/world-cup-2018-bid-team-fly-to-zurich

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I wrote about the bid process on my blog on Monday and just loved Australia's bid videos, esp. the one hosted by Nicole Kidman, which emphasized the sorts of things that real fans care about: fun, safety and ease-of-access and no hassles.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/even-before-2018-2022-fifa-world-cup.html

As you know by now, the announcements about who'll be hosting the 2018 and 2022 FIFA spectacles are to be made on Thursday, or Friday Australian time.

Nicky Campbell talked on his BBC Radio 5 live show Tuesday morning with some very knowledgeable guests and well-informed listeners about Monday night's Panorama program and whether there'd be a backlash among the FIFA officials against England's bid to host in 2018, or whether the truth is more important than commerce.

The podcast for the informative program is here and well worth listening to:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/5lnpi/5lnpi_20101130-1045a.mp3


Tony Livesey’s show on BBC Radio 5 live on Thursday December 2nd will originate from the City of Manchester Stadium and "will gauge reaction to the FIFA World Cup vote which will have decided the host country for the 2018 World Cup."

"Win or lose, a panel of football pundits will discuss the result including former Hull Boss Phil Brown and 5 live football commentator Connor McNamara, and an audience of 5 live listeners."

It airs 10:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m. U.K. time, or 5:30 p.m. Eastern/2:30 p.m. Pacific in the U.S. and Canada.

Catch it here at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/bbc_radio_five_live