Radio Times

Tomorrow the Radio Times Christmas issue 2014 hits the shelves and I for one can’t wait. It has always been a Christmas must to have in my household. I will probably know much of the Christmas TV schedule before it comes out, but I will still buy it anyway. Not a cheap options compared with others at £3.60 but 'hey ho' its Christmas.

I remember in the time before multi-channels you would have to buy the Radio Times for all the BBC programming and you would have to buy the TV Times for the commercial TV. These days you only have to buy one. Most TV magazines cover all the channels and the news press will helpfully supply you with reams of information ‘spoilers’ on the programming. I was ruddy annoyed to find out the (Radio Times) has been available in London and the south for days and only goes national from tomorrow.

Thing is the Christmas and New Year’s holiday programming has been known for weeks but I still feel the need to buy this magazine.

I feel traditions like this are important. It also helps me remember particularly of happy times from my childhood. Putting the order in with the shopkeeper at our local newsagents then pestering the shopkeeper for when they would be in. If you did order them, they would undoubtedly sell-out. I remember flicking through looking at the pictures and growing up trying to get my choice on the only TV in the house was not easy.

If you look to the top of my blog, we can see a link to a page of the 1967 TV schedule, my chosen year this Christmas. I was only six coming on seven at the time so unsure what I would likely be watching. However, at a guess, Billy Smart’s Circus would be top of the list. It was always a regular at Christmas time along with Disney Time Christmas Special one of my favourites as a child. How times have changed, no more Billy Smart’s Circus because of the PC brigade and the animal rights people and Disney as its own channel now in the world of multi-media television.