Exercise and British Old-Time Radio

As someone who spends a lot of time sitting in front of a computer (I work from home, and most of my volunteer and other activities involve computer work), I've been very conscious recently that I'm not getting enough exercise. I recalled Stephen Fry on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (and elsewhere) talking about how he'd lost a lot of weight and become fitter by walking. Being someone who easily got bored by exercise, he had discovered that he could cover long distances without realizing it, simply by listening to audiobooks on his MP3 player while walking. This appealed to me, so I decided to do a similar thing. I would start walking in the vicinity of my daughter's school before picking her up, listening to my MP3 player on the way.

Being a cheapskate, I thought I would try to find some free audiobooks online. After asking around on Twitter and my Facebook page, someone suggested trying The Internet Archive. This site is a vast repository of texts, audio and video in the public domain, all free to download. I discovered a lot of audiobooks, but what caught my attention was that there were also many old-time radio shows. I downloaded some and I have been listening to them on my (mostly) daily walks.

Being a good son, I usually talk to my parents on the telephone every Sunday. During a recent call, I mentioned to my Father that I had been listening to these old-time radio shows. He started talking about some of the radio shows he remembered from his youth. On a whim, while we were talking, I did a search in The Internet Archive, and found a collection of episodes of radio shows from the 1940s. These were all shows that he had loved.

ITMA, one of the most popular of these shows, starred comedian Tommy Handley. ITMA was an acronym coined by the newspapers when reporting about Hitler's activities, and stood for "It's That Man Again." Other shows in this collection included Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, Merry-Go-Round, The Will Hay Programme, Life With The Lyons, (which featured American couple Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels and their children), and Band Waggon, the first regular comedy series on British radio. There's an amazing array of famous comedians and actors who appeared in these shows; Tommy Handley, Arthur Askey, Kenneth Horne, Hattie Jacques, Jon Pertwee and Charlie Chester, to name a few.

Of course, there are many "in-jokes" and references to long-forgotten events that go over one's head. But a lot of this stuff is still really funny. Not only is it a great way to pass the time while exercising, but I shall also be making a CD compilation of these as a gift to bring back some memories for my Father.

I thoroughly recommend spending some time exploring The Internet Archive to rediscover an old favorite, or to find a new one! Let me know what you find, or share some memories by making a comment.

I Don't Get Guns, Cowboy

I'm now convinced this is an irreconcilable cultural barrier linked to "The Old West" and other historical events, but I cannot get my head around the American fascination with guns.

Mrs. Adolph Topperwein. [with gun] (LOC)

How ever many times someone says "guns don't kill people, people kill people," I have to say that if that person didn't have a gun in their hand, they probably would not be doing as much damage.



I know there has been a big problem with knife violence in Britain, but I believe there's a fundamental difference between using a knife and a gun. You use a knife, and you actually have to connect with the person you're attacking. Forgive me for putting this image in your head, but you have to feel it going in your victim. With a gun, it's almost like pushing a button - there's no connection. Plus there's all that room for "collateral damage," not to mention gun accidents.



I originally thought the guns/no guns argument was political - that Republicans were pro-gun and Democrats were anti-gun, but that's not entirely true. On a semi-related theme, I can't understand why someone can think that keeping records of gun-owners is an invasion of individual's privacy, while at the same time thinks that keeping DNA records of participants at a perfectly legal political protest is fair game. Or for that matter why so many "pro-lifers" are also pro death-penalty.



Having talked about guns, I will point out an interesting fact for the benefit of my British friends: Maybe it's just the circles I move in, but despite living in New Jersey (legendary home to mobsters and all sorts of shady characters) for more than ten years, the only people I've ever seen with a gun in real-life are cops.

Marmite - Love It or Hate It?

There are only a few British products I must have in the US. Branston Pickle is one of them (and I am sure that will be the subject of a forthcoming post here). Marmite is another. When I first moved here, I had some difficulty finding it, and so I instructed English friends coming over here to bring a jar over. I have since found it from time to time in the so-called "International aisle" at some grocery stores, and I usually make a point of picking some up if I see it in a place like that, because it can be expensive in specialist British food stores or online.

If you have never heard of Marmite or you are not certain what it is, I am not sure a description will suffice. Of course, even if you know what it is, you may be one of those in the "Hate It" camp. Marmite is a great divider. People either love it or hate it. The manufacturers of Marmite have actually exploited this characteristic of their product, and "Love It or Hate It" has become an advertising slogan. The official Marmite website even has Love It and Hate It sections. I love it. The rest of my family hates it.

So what exactly is in the characteristic glass jar that causes such a love/hate reaction? Originally a by-product of the brewing industry, the thick, salty, sticky dark-brown goo is yeast extract. It is also rich in Vitamin B complex, which helped sales of the product when vitamins were discovered in the early 20th Century. It was also given to troops suffering from beriberi (a vitamin deficiency) during World War I. The name Marmite comes from the French word for an earthenware pot, and it did originally come in an earthenware jar. You can find out more about the history of Marmite on the Marmite Wikipedia page.

It has a very strong taste. Often used as a spread on bread or toast, I recommend people to spread it very thinly, so as not to be overpowering. Many people enjoy it with cheese in a sandwich. Because spreading the thick substance often destroys soft bread, the company introduced a slightly thinner product in a "squeezy" plastic jar ideal for this purpose. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the removal of the cute 57g size jar from the product range.

Marmite is also produced in New Zealand, although it has a different flavor, being slightly sweeter than the British version. That product is available in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Readers may also be familiar with the Australian product Vegemite. I have always described Vegemite as "Marmite for Wimps."

What else can you do with Marmite? An English friend, Emma Bruce, recommends it spread on toast with scrambled egg on top, or in a sandwich with cucumber. Chef Gary Rhodes came up with some recipes featuring Marmite, to help celebrate the launch of the "squeezable" product. A British photographer, food blogger and host of an underground restaurant who goes by the nickname of MsMarmiteLover even came up with a special menu, which featured Marmite in each dish, for an evening at her dining establishment. It apparently went down rather well!

So where do you stand on the "Love it or Hate it" question? Do you have any favorite recipes or Marmite stories? Let me know!

The Monument vs. The World's Tallest Water Sphere

Somewhere I have a certificate, given to me years ago for ascending the 311 steps to the top of The Monument in London. This month sees the re-opening of The Monument, following renovations costing £4.5m (about $6.5m US) and taking eighteen months to complete. At 202 feet tall, (30 feet taller than the more well-known Nelson's Column) it is the tallest freestanding stone column in the World. It commemorates The Great Fire of London in 1666 and the height represents the exact distance from the base of the column to the origin of the fire in a bakery in Pudding Lane. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, it originally housed a telescope, and scientific experiments were conducted there.

Even though The Monument is surrounded by tall buildings, the view from the platform at the top is worth the exhausting climb up the narrow spiral staircase. For those who cannot (or do not want to) make it, part of the refurbishments include a 360 degree panoramic camera, that relays the view to a screen at ground level. The Monument also boasts its own website, which includes live views from the camera. At the top are new talking telescopes that explain what you are seeing. Although you might not notice, The Monument is London's own "Leaning Tower." It is actually slightly off-center, leans, and slightly sways in high winds, although it is apparently quite safe. The renovation retained the column's weathered look, including a gash in the iron railings around the base, made during air-raids in WWII. The work included cleaning the entire structure, repairing damage to steps, replacing the bars around the viewing platform with a lightweight mesh "birdcage" and re-gilding the "flaming orb" at the top. Some have described the newly renovated Monument as representing London's hope for the future following the recession, in much the same way as it represented hope for a newly rebuilt London after The Great Fire.

In Union Township, near Newark in New Jersey, stands The World's Tallest Water Sphere, sometimes referred to as WTWS. Alternatively known as The Union Water Tower, it was built in 1964. Originally 212 feet tall, it is now about 6 feet taller, following the addition of a red beacon on the top. Its record is unlikely to be challenged, since the water sphere is of a design no longer used. Still in use, the tower provides water at a constant pressure to Union Township residents and sports five banks of cellular telephone antennae. A nearby sign, erected by the original local owners, Elizabethtown Water Company, once proudly announced that it was the biggest, but subsequent new ownership by a national company has resulted in the painting over of the sign. Painted about once every 10-20 years, WTWS was once a distinctive shade of blue, but is currently "ghost-gray."

Still, there are people around who remain proud of the WTWS. Dan Becker, a former local who moved to Austin Texas, created The World's Tallest Water Sphere web site, a blog that has since 2005, featured history, trivia, reminiscences, photos and art. He even hosts the World's Tallest Water Sphere Museum. Models of the water tower and other exhibits are displayed in the by-appointment-only museum.

By way of comparison, here are two films of our featured structures:

Ledger Live: The World’s Tallest Water Sphere

Have you seen either of these? Do you have any similar record-beating attractions on either side of the pond that we could compare? Please do post a comment and let us know. Incidentally, the superb night photograph of The Monument on this page is by Max Sang. Please click on the photo itself to see it on Flickr, together with more of Max's excellent photos. The photo of the Union Water Tower was by kind permission of Dan Becker of The World's Tallest Water Sphere web site.