Sunday Newspapers - Traditional - I love to read

I love Sunday morning papers! I buy enough of them four this morning at a cost of £4.90, don’t tell the wife. You can blame my Dad for the Sunday newspaper collection he always and still dose love reading Sunday papers, Sunday is about a roast dinner, we are having loin of pork today and reading the papers with an eye on the football for me.

No one in the house but me will read them so there is no competition for them if I do see something I would like to share they are straight onto mobiles or laptops to check out the story, whatever. I do mainly buy them for the football and other sports not pages of trivia about Z-list celebrities.

So why the Daily Star Sunday? Its better than the Sunday Sport only just. It’s my first read of the day, a light read for breakfast normally full of reality TV and the Z-list celebrities like the Kardashian an awful American family. The front page sums up the paper really, “BB Babes: We’ll bed hunky Grant” not Grant Mitchell from EastEnders but that bloke who was married to Anthea Turner just top journalism.

Buying the Sun on Sunday is very controversial especially among football fans many of them still boycotting the paper over Hillsborough. Over the years, I have boycotted the paper from time to time but in the end the sport coverage is extremely good if like most papers Premier League heavy in its reporting. What a let down today even with the Football League kicking off next weekend and the Premiership a week later they were counting down the Premier League kick-off.

This week a player was bought by Manchester United for £112million or less depending on which newspaper you read and a weekly wage-packet of £280,000 unconfirmed could be higher has the deal is not official yet. With all this craziness I would rather read the Non-League papers were Spalding United have signed one of the best defenders in Evo-Stik NPL Division One South after swooping for Jordan Lemon, fee and wages unknown.

I have more interest about Level 9 – 15 of non-league than the Premier League does and the Non-League paper the results pages during the season are just magnificent to read and study. I follow a few teams from a distance Guernsey FC being one. I love the fact they have to pay all the expense of the visiting team to play their football on the mainland.

The last paper I read around teatime is the Sunday Mirror my heavyweight paper it has always been my favourite paper with fantastic sports coverage and a Wales edition although I haven’t see the Welsh flag on the cover for a while. The papers politics are to my liking being a major supporter of the Labour Party

Must see TV - Week beginning 30/07/2016 - My Choice

Another week for TV I would recommend for your viewing pleasure. Last week there was plenty to at me at the Gogglebox including Christmas films but it Fleabag at caught my eye.

Fleabag is a comedy series I found on BBC 3 the online BBC channel and it was very funny and surprised me. Starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a woman living in London whose life is a mess adapted from her award-winning Edinburgh play, she a dry-witted, angry, cash-strapped, grief-riddled, porn-watching young woman trying to come to terms with a recent tragedy.

More4 Sunday Spying on Hitler’s Army: The Secret Recordings 11:05pm

I am totally fascinated in the history of the Second World War and just lap up programming on the subject. These secret recordings are not new to me I have heard of them before, but this should be just as interesting.

During the war, captured high-ranking Germen staff were housed in a stately home where every room was monitored, nowhere was safe, even the trees in the grounds had ears. The luxury offered to the officers was a ploy to ensure they would relax and open up to one another about what they knew.

Nat Geographic Monday Yukon Gold 9pm

There is gold in them hills and if I can’t find it I like to watch people who can. It’s not about nuggets, but fine gold no bigger than a grain of sand in most cases.

In this series I am hoping Nika Guilbault and Chris St. Jean hit the gold besides working their claim at Stowe Creek (Yukon) they also have their three young children with them. Compare to others they are working on a shoes string and after one clean out were happy for an ounce an hour after eleven hours. The clean out was just over 12 ounces in the end banking them $18,000 for the eleven hours.

Channel 5 Tuesday Borderline 10pm

A comedy about the British border and the border force may just be a straw too far for some. This mockumentary-style sitcom follows the employees at the fictional border security office of Northend Airport - a small provincial airport in the UK.

With immigration, high on the political agenda has well as national security on the news in recent weeks, is it possible to show the funny side of border control. Some members of the watching public will probably believe it is real and that how stupid the border force are.

Wednesday Gogglebox: Brexit Special 9pm

A bit late but being a fan of Gogglebox I am interested to see their take on Brexit question. Among my circle of friends, there were some heated debate, which is always healthy.

I chose to vote to stay after years of telling anyone in earshot I wanted out but Brexit has really shaken up British politics. New Prime Minister, the Labour Party in turmoil, Scotland talking referendum and breakaway with Northern Ireland thinking the same this is great for someone like me who loves politics.

Discovery Thursday Homestead Rescue 10pm

Back to another favourite of mine off grid living but this as a twist. Marty Raney along with two of his children Matt & Misty help homesteads in all kinds of trouble.

Last week the Raney's travelled to Virginia in any attempt to help, a couple who moved off the grid 12 months ago to pursue their homesteading dreams, but things aren't going as planned. They intended to farm free-range pigs was their dream but with their homestead surrounded by predators killing their livestock and with their money running out and a huge oak threatening flatten their cabin time was against them. Needless to say the Raney’s pull them on the right road.

Sky Movies Premiere Friday The Men from UNCLE 8pm

Been really looking forward to seeing this film because when I was a young lad many moons ago I was a member of UNCLE, I had my card and my suitcase full of gadgets. UNCLE is an acronym for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement and yes, I had to look it up.

I remember the TV series fondly the spin off films of the era were a bit of a miss this film has had good reviews in the main. Directed by Guy Ritche and the two main protagonists are, CIA agent, Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB operative, Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), team up against their wishes to foil the attempts of a mysterious organisation to produce and profit from nuclear weapons.

Championship Football - Cardiff City

The start of the new Football season is getting closer as the days to kick-off countdown and I am going into this season more positive than I have for a few years.

We have plenty of talk doing the rounds that the lost legions of fans could be returning that would be great news. That could be all thanks to the good feeling off the back of the Welsh performance in the Euros and more positive news coming out of Cardiff City. New manager Paul Trollope was better received then former boss Russell Slade and the pre-season as been going along nicely.

Last season I was predicting a mid-table finish would be ok but some credit to Slade he fell just short of a top six spot. I expect Trollope will be under orders from owner Vincent Tan for a top six place, at the least but I hope its automatic promotion with my personal dislike of the play-offs. Looking at the teams in the Championship like most seasons it will be no pushover but I believe top six is do a buel

In the press, reports suggest that Trollope has to reduce the wage bill at the club with a number of players told they can go and find new clubs. Replacements have been sauced without the fanfare and they have been received well as it should be, it is and should be about the team. With the season days away, there could be a few more transfers on the cards a striker for one maybe.

Players in: Lex Immers (Feyenoord, free), Kenneth Zohore (KV Kortrijk, undisclosed), Jazz Richards (Fulham, swap), Frederic Gounongbe (KVC Westerlo, free)

Players out: Ben Turner (Burton, free), Kenwyne Jones (Atlanta United, free), Joe Lewis (Aberdeen, free), Etien Velikonja (NK Olimpija Ljubljana, free), Filip Kiss (FK Haugesund, free), Idriss Saadi (KV Kortrijk, loan), Deji Oshilaja (Gillingham, loan), Eoin Doyle (Preston, undisclosed), Jazzi Barnum-Bobb (Newport, free), Scott Malone (Fulham, swap),

Can leave the club: Kagisho Dikgacoi, Adam le Fondre, Federico Macheda

Winter Break for England - One Day Maybe

New England manager, Sam Allardyce called for a mid-season break for the Premier League in his first press conference as England manager old news as he as been calling for a season break for years. He said it would benefit his players and it would be in line with leagues in Germany and Spain.

I know the Bundesliga break over Christmas, which just happens to be in football over here the most popular time for crowds with attendance up particularly on Boxing Day. There has been talk of taking a break after the Boxing Day fixtures but again the likes of Sky and other TV broadcasters have pumped a lot of money into football and I can’t see them being happy with a break in the season.

Listening to Allardyce and others the break would turn the England team into world-beaters with Euros and World Cup soon finding their way into the FA trophy cabinet. That would also reduce the demands on the players both physically and mentally from the cruelty of their footballing masters with their pain diminishing. Christ I bleed for them.

While the Premier League is awash with money the same can’t be said of all but a few teams in the lower leagues where I wouldn’t think chairman would be happy losing two or three week’s income. That is if Allardyce is thinking about players in general or just the elite, probably the precious few. Then again, England players are 99.99% made up of Premier League players and the break would not be helpful for Wales and Northern Ireland who are more likely to use players from the lower leagues.

Didn’t the old Scottish Premier League have a winter break and wasn’t that a great help to the Scotland international football team.

I can see this happening with a Premier League break!

Pick a team say Manchester City. They could go away for a couple of weeks warm weather training and while they are there have a friendly or two. Maybe Liverpool are also on a warm weather break they could play an exhibition game they wouldn’t be playing for nothing, as there would be prize money for the game gate money as a sweetener.

Leave a lone I say but it’s bound to come one day only if the Premier League owners want a mid-season break. It will be a chance for foreign owners to take their club home to play games. Top line football will soon be totally owned by foreign investors.

Pingu - Gogs - Laughter

While watching the film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh I entered into a conversation with the wife and her carer about the film and the fact I love old Disney films. I was reminded that I would use my baby sister as a Trojan horse so I could watch them in the cinema.

The carer reminded me of pingu and that brought back the memory of the episode in which pingu had to rush home for the toilet because he has drunk too much.

When he gets home his brother was on the potty and his father is in the bathroom, and when he does get in the toilet, it's simply too high and he ends up weeing all over the floor. At this time, I had rolled off the settee in laughter and I think I scared my kids.

One of the plus sides of being a house-husband you got time to watch shed loads of kid shows.

However the daddy of all laughter fits happen during an episode of ‘Gogs’ which revolves around a family clan of dumb, primitive and socially inept cavemen in a fantasy prehistoric Stone Age setting. Made in Wales commissioned for the Welsh TV channel S4C later to get a national airing on BBC2. So what got me rolling in the aisle in my greatest bout of laughter, an episode called, The Hunt.

We find Oglas (Father) and Ogo (Son) setting off on a hunting trip they come across a Therizinosaur eating leaves. Ogles goes in for the kill only to step on some worm creature, which gives out a loud scream alerting the Therizinsaur to which all hell breaks loose. The dinosaur turns out to be the Bruce Lee of the Stone Age more than proficient in the act of martial arts. I just couldn’t stop laughing for most of that day even going to bed laughing. Think about it there was never a dry eye in the house while we were watching Gogs.

Link to episode 3 here

My TV - Must see TV - Week beginning 23/07/2016

There was a number of highlights on my TV last week but the stand out show was last night People’s History of Pop on BBC4. If you missed it, you can check it out on the iPlayer.

Billed, as pop music from 1966 to 1976 it should have just been music from that time, did we use the term pop back then. It was presented by Danny Baker with is infectious passion of the subject and the music my memory buds were refreshed has I slipped back in time. Has well as the music Danny did is stuff to camera with interviews with people who lived the times it was great viewing.

TCM Saturday The Faculty 9pm

In the genre of the Bodysnatchers movies but with teenagers, this time the savers of the human race. We have typical high-school movie stereotypes (The Jock, The Nerd, The Outcast, The Stoner, The Head Cheerleader) bonding into a group as first the teachers and then their fellow students are taken over by alien parasites.

Among a good amount of creepy teachers, excluding Famke Janssen (Miss Burke) who goes from making statements like “Eat me, you asshole” to Zeke the stoner. Then becoming the ultimate alien siren in a red dress trying to lure Zeke into the alien fold. All good American entertainment

BBC2 Sunday Robot Wars 8pm

It is official I can be a big nerd with the return of Robot Wars proving it. I am grinning like the Cheshire cat and can’t wait for Sunday. I loved it the first time around and I can’t see it changing much but for the presenters.

The first series of Robot Wars saw Jeremy Clarkson co-hosted with Philippa Forrester (Crush Alert) has presenters. Clarkson left after the first series to be replaced by the daddy Craig Charles. With Forrester still involved the duo became popular with the shows nerds crating a massive cult following but neither are involved in the new show.

BBC2 Monday Only Connect

I don’t know why I like this quiz show as my IQ doesn’t stretch for this. I have more luck with University Challenge and I am crap at that as well with it being a good watch if I get one right.

Victoria Coren hosts the quiz in which two teams of three contestants have to find the connection between seemingly unrelated clues. Still has much is I find it difficult I still religiously watch the show just in case I will ever make a connection.

You can play on line and you can see just how good a player I am.

Sky Cinema Premiere Tuesday Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse 10pm

As a believer in a Zombie Apocalypse will fall upon us one day, any guide to survival is welcome no matter how fatuous it may seem. Scouts Guide had a modest budget for this comedy horror but promises lashings of gore with plenty of raucous laugh aloud and strippers and boobs with the latter selling it to me.

The simple plot three scouts on a camp out join forces with a cocktail waitress and battle to save the world has their peaceful town suffer a zombie invasion. The zombie flick is becoming overcrowded having recently seen Pride and Prejudice… and Zombies at the cinema and I am thinking there can’t be many scenarios left but I have an idea. What about ‘Jesus and the 12 zombie slayers’.

Channel 4 Friday Amazing Spaces Shed of the Year 8pm

I have proven my nerdy credentials earlier in my ‘must see this week’, remember Robot Wars. I do love a shed, I don’t own one so I like looking at other peoples, I am a bit of a voyeur. I feel seedy after saying that.

I would like to own a shed and build an amazing one and I have something in mind for the day I may have a suitable garden. Should be a fun watch I am sure can rely on the crazy mind of the British shed nerd oh yes the curious side of me did google shed porn just to see.

Eden - Reality TV - Survival Show

I sat down hoping Eden would be everything I was hoping for and on this first showing was disappointed. Yes, there should be a starter pack with basic tools, food and a few animals but I think they got too much too soon they should have felt the pang of hunger sooner.

The survival show started Monday night involving a group of 23 men and women. They are stranded in the Scottish Highlands for a whole year as they try to build a society. The break down on the sexes is 10 females and 13 males and there is a supply of free condoms, just in case. It is the new thing to have sex on reality TV in the UK after Big Brother and in particular Love Island.

Everyone brings something to the group. There is a hunter, fishermen, doctor, chef and a life coach a major cop out in my book and what really pissed me off was one of the first things they built was a shower with hot water. No living off the edge here.

Again, instead of prioritising somewhere to live other than, a temporary structure any 10 year old could build and useless in winter and building a greenhouse should be a priority. However most of the group were wasting time around building somewhere to meet. The need to replenish the basic stores and it was time to despatch a pig cue vegetarian, tears and a dilemma, will she or won’t she. What would you do…? Eat the meat or shag the chef and have him make you veggie meals.

No one wanted to have a meeting or work even deciding on a six hour a day work schedule most want a holiday. A look into next week and the beachcombers find some goodies like you do walking the tide line. Smacks of the film Mysterious Island (1961) when a hiding Captain Nemo supplies the castaways with a chest full of things they need. Scrub Nemo for the producers of Eden giving a little extra. Alone, fending for themselves I don’t think so.

Anton is not the most popular of housemates and caused a stir when he realised the camp shelter was all but useless and decides to build a log cabin in the woods. After some home brew, the camp becomes the Scottish Sodom and Gomorrah as sex was in the air. My hero is Anton who like me would hate the rest of the children in the camp. At the end, he failed in getting some plastic and a few other things losing the vote 10 to 12 and now the kiddies are thinking of cutting him out of the food. They did have some use for the plastic to make a steam house. Come on Anton. This is no BBC Castaway, which is still the daddy.

"Take it or Leave it" - Film Review

What do you do when wifey has control of the TV for two hours? Get out of dodge and cruise the internet for something, anything to watch before I become brain dead.

Last night I checked out what YouTube was recommending to me expecting it to be full of suggestions about the ‘Fall of Berlin’ in 1945, which I have been engrossed in recently. There was also a film suggestion, a film I add not seen in years and it was about time we were reacquainted. The film Take it or Leave it (1981) autobiographical account of the rise of the group Madness.

This low budget film of the early years of Madness and a lot of music we fans love to hear. The acting if you can call it acting is amateurish but in my book helps the film. There is no glorification we see the trials and tribulations of an emerging band.

Although they started life, back in 1976, it was not until 1979 and the release of the single "The Prince" that charted at 16th in August of that year that they really began to take off and within under two years the film was released. It was funded by each member of the band throwing in £20,000 each and £250,000 by their label Stiff Records. I didn’t see it at the cinema I rented the video out a years later and I don’t think it was a major success on its release.

The music is what you expect and interesting to see the group develop. My favourite scene in the film when the boys play a gig, get in a skirmish with some skinheads, and do a runner to my all-time favourite Madness track the appropriately named Madness.

Full link to the film on YouTube 

FA Cup - Extra Preliminary Round - My team is round Maltby Main FC

After checking the FAW website, I thought what about the FA Cup draw so I checked out the FA website and low and behold the draw for the Extra Preliminary Round had been made. I have really been slow of the mark this summer.

I checked the fixture list in search of a team to follow, maybe with an unusual name or a team I could relate to who knows. In the end, Maltby Main caught my eye who have a home game against Squires Gate. I have no idea who either team were so I took to the internet to source some information.

Maltby Main FC begun life has a pit-team with all the players were employed at the nearby pit - indeed, a good footballer was often guaranteed employment at the colliery so he could represent the football club! According to the official website. Home based just outside Rotherham they play in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division and finished seventh last season.

Squires Gate FC are a Blackpool based team playing in the North West Counties League Premier Division finishing 19th last season.

Last season’s cup run was disappointing with my trail running slap bang into Manchester United and I am afraid that was the end of that route. Why! Because there are two teams, I refuse to follow in anyway Manchester United and Swansea. I automatically transfer my support to their opponents and if they were both drawn together, I would class the game null and void I would do the same even if I were reading one of those roads to Wembley books.

Welsh Cup Draw - The Road begins again in August - Welsh Football

That happened quietly it was only the fact I was wondering when the Welsh Cup draw would take place that I just found out it had. People who read my blog know I like to follow the Welsh Cup and the FA Cup from a far and today it was time to pick a team to begin this season’s road.

Last season I started the Welsh Cup final with Brecon Corries who made it to the Third Round before being knocked out. This season I will be choosing a team from the JD Welsh Cup QR 1Draw (South East) with 193 clubs have entered play in the competition, which will be the 130th edition of the famous competition. Full draw with the South East section below.

JD Welsh Cup QR 1Draw (South East)

Abergavenny Town v Chepstow Town

Abertillery Bluebirds v Treowen Stars

AFC Perthcelyn v Aber Valley

Blaenrhondda v Ynysddu Welfare

Bridgend Street v AFC Butetown

Caerleon v Cwm Welfare

Dynamo Aber v Penrhiwceiber Rangers

Gelli Hibernian v Dinas Powys

Llanrumney United v Cwmbran Town

Merthyr Saints v Cardiff Hibernian

Newport City v RTB Ebbw Vale

Newport YMCA v Cardiff Corinthians

Risca Whiteheads v Nelson Cavaliers

STM Sports v Llantwit Fardre

Sully Sports v Clwb Cymric

Tiger Bay v Blaenavon Blues

Trethomas Bluebirds v Panteg

Wattsville v Tredegar Town

You may know the game I play. I like to follow a team from the first game until they lose and I then follow the winner and so on until however reaches the final. They are seven Cardiff based teams in this opening round I like to start with a Cardiff team with a home game.

Two of the fixtures just jumped out at me Bridgend Street v AFC Butetown and Tiger Bay v Blaenavon Blues being a Docks boy. Butetown/Tiger Bay were our neighbours our lives growing up was intertwined in school and friendship has I grew up. So feel I have some kind of infinity with the two team and so I will begin this journey from my armchair with Tiger Bay. It's great to smell the start of new season coming.

Ties to be played over the weekend of 19, 20, 21 August 2016

The Lost Continent - Gem of the film find - Dana Gillespie ..... stop it Pete

I have had an image of a film for years trapped in the back of my mind that I could not remember next to nothing about but a few snippets. All I could remember was a ship sails into this seaweed stuff, man-wearing balloons to help walk on the seaweed and the Spanish inquisition. I really began to believe I had dreamt this entire movie.

While searching for a picture of Dana Gillespie for another project I spied a small thumbprint of what I thought was the film I have so long been searching for and after a click, there it was ‘The Lost Continent’ (1968). Then to my surprise, I found she was only in the film, a double result.

The Lost Continent was a Hammer production. It's scientifically implausible, childish but fairly inventive in plotting, and surprisingly enjoyable if you allow yourself to be drawn into the story without clinging too stubbornly to reality.

We have a ship fleeing customs officials in Africa when heavy weather in uncharted waters leads to the passengers and crew abandoning ship. Later they rediscover it, trapped in a peculiar section of sea infested with weeds. After re-boarding the ship, they drift towards a graveyard of all kinds of ships from different eras. They soon find out they are not alone in this seaweed world as it turns out to be the home of a long-lost community of sailors, ruled (somewhat tyrannically) by descendants of the Spanish Inquisition.

Things take a turn for the surreal when a lone girl reaches the ship its Gillespie, see photo to see why the interest. The only way to get around on this seaweed is with giant balloons on their shoulders and big paddles under foot like snowshoes it helped to stay clear of the blood sucking seaweeds, and the giant crabs. The leader of the Spanish soldiers is a child and descendant of the Spanish Conquistadores...and a brat. They have enslaved all who enter their domain but the new arrivals were not going to sit back and allowed that to happen.

This is undoubtedly a wild, wacky, and downright infantile adventure film. But, in spite of its many faults, I like it to a certain degree because it has the courage to ignore its own daftness and run along at an entertaining and lively pace.

My TV - Must see TV - Week beginning 16/07/2016

I have forgotten to keep up with my weekly TV choices mainly because there hasn’t been much on the TV box to excite me but things have turned like a worm. Over the last 2 weeks since my last post on this subject the only programmes or events to excite me was Wales in the Euro 2016 and the films Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Spectre (reviewed)  and along with a few other shows I have liked before.

Look forward to this upcoming there is some humdingers of shows to look forward to in my book.

ITV Saturday (Film) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 7.45pm

The sequel to the Hobbit and the party of dwarves and there hobbit ally continue the quest to reclaim their lost kingdom, journeying through the forest home of ancestral enemy the elves and finally facing the terrifying dragon that drove them from their home.

All the while Gandalf the wizard investigates the rise of a mysterious dark power. Problem is that it’s on ITV that means add breaks although it is good to see a film bypass the grasp of Sky who seem to hoover up all the new films.

BBC1 Sunday The Secret Agent 9pm

A new BBC drama over three parts and an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novel. Starring Toby Jones, Vicky McClure, and Stephen Graham in a tale about a shopkeeper in Victorian London a spy who is monitoring anarchists for the Russian Government.

His masters then give him an order to plant a bomb.

Channel 4 Monday Eden 9pm

I have been looking forward to this new reality series since I saw an advert on my Twitter feed looking for people willing to take part. It’s like the BBC’s Castaway many years ago now but sounds tougher no contact with the outside world. That we will have to wait and see.

We will see 23 men and women try to build a new life and new society from scratch, isolated from the rest of the world. The participants were only allowed to take in what they could carry but no mobiles and laptops at kind of thing. They were provided with livestock, animal’s pens, basic safety equipment, and reference books along with the tools of their respective trades.

For an entire year, the group - which includes a doctor, vet, chef, carpenter, and shepherdess - will get the chance to start again, deciding how they want to live as a community isolated.

Drama Channel Tuesday Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads 7.20pm

I have seen this so many times I am nearly word perfect on the dialogue and I never tire of watching it. ‘No Hiding Place’ sees the Lads try to avoid learning the result of an England football match before the TV highlights are shown that evening. Flint (Brian Glover) tries to spoil it for them, having bet them £10 that they won't get through the day without learning the result.

The Lads get to the TV highlights none the wiser about the score, except for Terry seeing a newspaper headline that says "England F...". When Flint tracks them down to Bob's new house, an angry Terry pays him off with £10 (borrowed from Bob). After all that, the match turns out to have been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch: "England – flooded out..."

Channel 4 Wednesday Man Down 10pm

Starring Greg Davies this half hour comedy is about a 40 something, still living home with mummy. He is a teacher a childish idiot trapped in an adult's life. Last week he was sacked from his job. In this episode, he is disappointed to hear how his former pupils have reacted to his departure.

Discovery Channel Thursday Alaskan Bush People 9pm

It’s fake! That’s the question on the mind of most viewers. I like watching TV shows of people living on the edge, or perceived as Alaskan Bush People. If fake I don’t really care it can be an enjoyable watch. The Brown family all seem like crazy idiots.

One thinks he is a wolf, the two older brothers argue a lot. Despite what has been described as their unique dialect, the sons are extremely articulated which is surprising given the isolation in which they supposedly lived all of their lives. As for the daughters, nice nails.

BBC4 Friday People’s History of Pop 9:30pm

I love my music and this show is billed as the British public’s love affair with pop music from 1966 to 1976. Me down to the ground the music I grew up with where my musical taste was built.

The bedrock of me and my music are in those 10 years and I am so looking forward to this programme.

The Phantom of the Jukebox - It was me

Nice to see Lionel Richie on Breakfast being interviewed this morning. It brought back happy memories of my courting days with the wife.

When we first decided to date, we decided to keep it a secret from our group of friends to see how it would develop. It was a joint decision although we had been friends for over a year but politics within the group just made it a bit better to keep silent for a while.

While secretly, dating there was lots of socialising in pubs,  happy times but for the phantom of the jukebox. Well today, I will out myself and come out of the closet to the fact I was the phantom with the help of the future wife we would driving our mates mad by loading the jukebox with two songs.

What was driving everyone mad was who the hell was constantly putting Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’ and George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ on the jukebox and after the fourth, fifth or tenth time it would be grinding everyone down. Comments like “Who put that shit on again” could regularly be heard coming from the direction of our table.

There was a bit of a code with the songs which made us giggle to ourselves, ‘Is it me your looking for’ a line from ‘Hello’ and ‘Careless Whisper’ well we had a secret to keep until one night in the bus station.

Olympics - My top Olympics Films

Now the Euro 2016 competition is over roll on the start of the Football season and a special shout out for the upcoming Olympics. I have always been a massive fan of the Olympics I love all the sports you rarely see and I revel in them.

Mountain Biking is one and Modern Pentathlon, Trampolining will all get a viewing and much more. Rio de Janeiro hosts the Olympic Games in less than four weeks, but economic crisis and crime mean the party-loving city is glum and struggling to find its vibe.

Some of the venues are going down to the wire along with some of the infrastructure and there is a mad dash to sign off on everything. There is still plenty to worry the team managers. The condition of the water at the water venues has been a major concern. I distinctly remember the day when Rio was chosen as the host city for the Olympics when the Brazilian economy was buoyant. Even the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo have downgraded some of their spending plans.

With the opening of the Olympics weeks away, I reset my not so big brain to come up with some films based around the Olympics. Three came easy but even after searching the internet other films were rare most being of the documentary type. I come to the conclusion the Olympics are not a great subject for films maybe Quentin Tarantino next film should be an Olympic epic.

Chariots of Fire (1981)

I cannot have a best of without the Chariots of Fire. I remember Colin Welland shouting when receiving the award for Best Original Screenplay for Chariots of Fire at the 1982 Academy Awards, "The British are coming” in his acceptance speech.

It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice. Ian Charleson and Ben Cross in the starting roles.

Well-acted, well-scripted, great cinematography and great soundtrack by Vangelis, including the theme song hit. Why can't films use synthesizers in the score as they did in the 70s and 80s? They often sound so good with films.

A great historical story deserves a great film to preserve it for eternity. This film does the events and characters justice. This film was a huge critical and box office success. As you can see, today's "groupthink" critical minions no longer think so. Fair to them, the film has not held up well 35 years after its release. This is not as complex and sophisticated as many movies of today, but still provides a perfect cinematic viewing every time.

The Games (1970)

A film I love and is my favourite of the three. The Games is set during the Rome Olympics. The film zeroes in on four contestants in the 26-mile marathon race. Michael Crawford plays the British competitor Harry Hayes a milkman by trade who likes to run and is encouraged to join an athletics club. Taken under the wing of obsessive coach Bill Oliver played by screen stealer Stanley Baker Hayes makes the Olympics where he is destroyed after Oliver sets him an impossible winning time.

Ryan O'Neal, Scott Reynolds is a free spirited party loving American ‘Jock’ who the ladies flock to and takes competing as a means to travel. After a medical check, O'Neal finds he is suffering with a dangerous heart condition and would have to give up running. He lines up at the start after setting up a deal with a friend to spot him some pills along the route.

Charles Aznavour is a Czech runner and record holder past forty who is pressured out of retirement by his government to compete. A refusal could mean prison for the devoted family man then there is Australian Sunny, Athol Compton an aborigine. He learnt to run chasing kangaroos in the bush. A chance meeting with bookie Jim Harcourt played by Jeremy Kemp, sweet talks him into racing in fairs around Australia so he can make money through betting.

Overall, it is a great film with top performances all around.

Geordie (1955)

Wee Geordie grows up from a stunted weakling into a braw man with shoulders of an ox. His amazing growth was down to a bodybuilding correspondence course offered by Henry Samson, he sends for the course and embarks diligently on Samson's fitness programme. He's no longer Wee Geordie. He is Geordie who excels at throwing a hammer guided by Alistair Sim the Laird on whose land Geordie is the happy gamekeeper.

News of Geordie’s hammer throwing attracts officials of the British Olympics team and he is soon whisked off to Australia to compete in the Olympics. He is a fish out of water yearning to be back in Scotland instead of a ship to Australia, which was full of other competitor’s from around Europe. In Australia, he becomes a national hero for lifting a van off a man caught under it.

Geordie tells the British officials he will not take part in the opening ceremony unless he can wear his father's kilt during the event. There's also a brief misunderstanding concerning a blond female Danish shot putter who finds Geordie attractive and is not afraid of demonstrating her affection, much to the shock of his girlfriend back home.

It's a charming story in the end, it's one of those movies that you watch in delight and, when it's over, wistfully wonder what it would be like to live in Geordie's world.

Piers Morgan is an idiot - Wales Wales - Lets all that a party

Controversial TV presenter Piers Morgan just won’t let it go about the welcome home of the Wales Euro 2016 football team. Using his social media platforms and the breakfast TV show ‘Good Morning with Piers’ it should be called because he tries to monopolise the TV screen much to the detrimental of his co-presenters. He lives off being controversial which probably gives him a hard-on cheaper than Viagra.

Morgan just doesn’t get it the whole idea didn’t come from the players who were not calling for an open top bus welcome home through the streets of Cardiff. Morgan questioned why tens of thousands lined the streets to welcome home the Euro 2016 semi-finalists, insisting they were not worthy of such adulation as they did not win the tournament.

It was the fans wanting to thank the players in this fan driven celebration. That showed in the fans who came out to support the team and living on the route I had never seen such a crowd.

Was it “over the top” the homecoming parade! Maybe the fans push the boat out and so what if BBC Wales showed it live. Wales is not just Cardiff everyone with an interest wanted to feel part of the celebrations. I did not want to see the team sneak back home we left that to England.

He said, "I guess I prefer my sporting achievements to be measured in silverware”, that coming from an Arsenal fan the bridesmaid of the Premier League. Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey and Welsh international is no stranger to the acid mouth of Morgan and Ramsay previously refused to shake his hand at a public function.

Morgan has been reminded of England's similar open top bus celebrations after reaching the semi-finals in Italia 90, while several concluded he would be incapable of understanding the bond between a small nation and their team.

Action double bill - Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Spectre

Last night on Sky Premiere Movies what a treat for someone like me who loves a good action movie and two come along at once. Well that was what the scheduling was telling me and I had to wipe my eyes in disbelief.

I love an action movie and a Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation and Spectre a Bond film double bill both I have yet to see and all in one night is a bit of overkill for me but I couldn’t wait. For one thing there will be little interest from the wife.

Mission Impossible took the prime 8pm spot – Rogue Nation Tom Cruise giving is Ethan Hunt franchise another run out. From the oh so familiar opening music I was pulled in snug to the TV. Most of the time when a Franchise gets to its fifth movie, the film is either dragging the film around fingers cross in hope they have done enough to keep the critics at bay but with this movie there was nothing to worry about.

This franchise is getting better and better and Rouge nation might be the best MI movie yet, what makes it so great is that it takes parts of the other movies and puts them together. From the first second we see the baddie I wanted him dead and some of the action and chases were breath taking

Rouge Nation adds more humour, more gadgets, and more suspense, more everything. The acting was fantastic by everyone. Tom Cruise was amazing and the fact that he does all his stunts just makes him one of the best action stars today. Simon Pegg stands out a lot in this one, they gave him more screen time, which is great because the chemistry between Cruise and Pegg is also great. The action was incredible and you could tell the actors were very content doing it.

Overall Rouge Nation was amazing and improved in everything. The action and acting was fantastic.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre was next up in what is to be his last run out as Bond and I found it a bit disappointing after the other Daniel Craig outings as Bond. The story line was strong but the action was not what one would expect. However, but for the car chase I am hard push to remember anything else.

You still get the epic opening scene, which all Bond fans expect. Daniel Craig shows a more vulnerable bond in this outing by doing something bond rarely does and that is trust people. We are given a snippet of Bonds ever so secretive childhood. A complaint I have is there is too many light hearted comedy moments.

I am also tired of Bond bedding just about anything with a heartbeat. Bond and looks to be feeling his age maybe he is right to move on from the 007 franchise finally but overall it is worth viewing.

Not for me Jeremy - Labour Wars - For the Party

So it begins the battle to put the future of the Labour party before the worship of the demigod and champion of the left Jeremy Corbyn. We are treated with flash mob love-ins and we love you Jeremy meetings around the country? They talk about the youth rushing to the barricades to defend democracy when it students, hipsters and the dinosaurs who in particular dream of returning to the 70s.

There is little democracy in the mind of some of the Corbyn’s supporters with talk of de-selection of those not towing the Jeremy line. Would that mean those selected would have to sign some kind of contract to say they would support Corbyn?

The party's deputy leader, Tom Watson, cancelled talks with the Unions because there is 'no realistic prospect of reaching a compromise’. Angela Eagle will challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the Labour Party with the official announcement coming Monday. She will then explain her vision for the country and the difference a strong Labour Party can make.

To have a chance to win the next general election we need Corbyn to walk through the door and back on the backbenches. He can’t even full his shadow government positions and after a bruising leadership battle, his support within the Parliamentary Labour party will not change. Who would be next to stand against him and will it ever end.

Is the end call to split the Labour party if not there will be a wedge unseen since the days of the old right and left battles? The word being used for any labour supporter against the present leader is a Blairite. It is a name that has been laid at my door but my politics have not changed. I have always be left of centre and proud to be.

His refusal to stand down is disappointing but expected with his ego bolstered up with union and constituency votes, many new members, and the £3 to vote ticket from the last Labour leadership battle.

There were three distinct electorates, the electors of which cast their votes on a "one member, one vote" basis in each applicable category:

1. Labour members of the House of Commons and the European Parliament

2. Individual members of the party

3. Individual members of affiliated organisations, such as trade unions and socialist societies.

I was one of the £3 members last time around and I didn’t for Corbyn and if I had a vote this time around it would be a cold day in hell I would put my x against his name.

Will the shootings and killings never end

I normally keep away from writing on subjects like this because one missed place word can bring shed loads of trouble and argument. The news out of America saddens me but in a country awash with guns, what do you expect! Everyone is scared of everyone but no one is scared of the gun until it is pulled out and used.

What can anyone do about the gun culture? It is a right for Americans to bear arms, because years ago a bunch of men wrote it on a piece of paper. If they could have stepped into the future, would they have omitted it from the constitution? I would hope so the world and people change the guns just get better and more dangerous.

In the last, few days two black men have been killed by police officers and in the last few hours’ five police officers killed by snipers and six or more others wounded. I expect limited calls for gun control while the NRA will call for snipers on every rooftop as they said everyone should be armed in school to stop High School massacres.

Officers tackled Alton Sterling, a street seller in Baton Rouge, to ground after a 911 call was made - allegedly by a homeless man - about a black man who had flashed a firearm. Officers Howie Lake and Blane Salamoni pinned the father-of-five down before firing six shots at Sterling, who had a gun in his pocket but did not appear to make any attempts to take it out during the confrontation until police officers removed it from his pocket.

Sterling was on probation and should not have been carrying a weapon. It is not clear which of the two officers - who are now on administrative leave - fired the shots. The blame game started almost immediately with officers saying he was reaching for his gun and bystanders saying he wasn’t.

Philando Castile was shot by an officer in St Pauls, a suburb of Minneapolis on Wednesday after his car was stopped for a routine traffic stop for a busted tail light. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds livestreamed the moments after the shooting on Facebook showing Castile dying in the front of the car as blood seeped from his chest.

Castile had told the officer he had a firearm on him and a license, and while reaching for his driving license and ID the cop began shooting 'for no reason'. Along with his girlfriend, there was a child in the car.

Is every white cop a racist? Surely not. While one person of any colour killed by a cop is one to many there are more black on black killings tied to gangs in the USA, the same in any gang culture latino, asian, or white. Death is cheap in the USA be for a wrap of drugs or standing on the street corner or walking in the wrong neighbourhood.

You step over the border into Canada and the gun culture is totally different. First-time owners must fill out a survey that asks about mental health and criminal record. There is a background check and mandatory 28-day waiting period. Canada also has no law or constitutional provision guaranteeing the right to bear arms.

Groovy TV space chicks

It’s been a while since I did one of my top 5 lists mainly because of a lack of a subject until that is I happened on an episode of UFO on YouTube and I had that eureka moment. Back in the seventies in particular these kind of shows where a fantasy for young boys with the beautiful woman in the shows.

The first entrance is a blast from my past and you need to be of an age to remember her. I will start with UFO and Col. Virginia Lake played by Wanda Ventham who was not a regular but her appearances surely lit up my enjoyment of the show.

Her character was a designer who was responsible for SHADO’s UFO tracking equipment. Later she return as a Colonel in SHADO HQ reporting directly to Commander Straker.

Expert in programming SHADO's main computer, and sometimes sent out on special assignments. Self-confident of her abilities, and with good reason. On good terms with Commander Straker, and had a brief relationship with Colonel Foster and very easy on the eye is why she was so memorable.

Princess Ardala played by Pamela Hensley, who plays the Draconian leader in Buck Rogers TV series. In the first series, she was chief baddie with eyes on conquering earth and bedding Buck Rogers. Ardala is sly, confident, manipulative, and sneaky, and Hensley, a strikingly attractive woman, brings all of this off with a grace.

Her outfits in the show consisted of sequin-bedecked bikinis the heating in these vast space ships must be really good to wander around like that. She is of course easy on the eye to watch and gave the series goody Colonel Wilma Deering, Erin Gray who was her competition for Buck Rogers a run for her money.

Seven Of Nine, Star Trek Voyager played by Jeri Ryan who played a Borg drone who had been "liberated", or freed, from the Borg's collective consciousness and joined the crew of Voyager. She was the eye candy of the Delta Quadrant where Voyager finds itself stranded and it would take 75 years to get home.

Seven of nine figure hugging uniform turned a few head within the male crew and the audience. Still with some Borg tech about her adding to her sexy look and even when she was a Borg  was the sex one.

Commander T'Pol, was a fictional character portrayed by Jolene Blalock in Star Trek: Enterprise. She is a Vulcan who serves as the science officer aboard the starship Enterprise the first to bare its name (NX-01). There was love interest on the Enterprise with the guy bating way out of his league in my book.

Being a Vulcan who are famous for not have showing any emotion, which makes her just even more desirable. Her clingy uniform she gets the pulse racing helped by are ample bosom.

It is back to the TV series UFO for the final space chick but it’s not just one it is the numerous ladies of SHADO Moon base Operations in body in Lieutenant Gay Ellis Page, Gabrielle Drake.

Again it could be the clingy uniform that seem to be important for your average space chick. She may have worn a purple wig and a silver miniskirt, the style was pure, late Sixties' "mod" and nowhere was that more evident than in the outfits designed for SHADO's female staff.