TWiL 36 How Many Rivers?

In preparation. How many London rivers do you know?

What's this England Britain Scotland UK thing all about?

[Before I get started - there's a new This Week In London below this post - all about Pubs and Beer]

A lot of people get confused by the number of ways we here in Her Majesty's lands refer to ourselves. You could be talking to someone who is from any of the following:

England
Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Great Britain
Britain
United Kingdom

So I thought I'd try to clarify things a bit for you.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is formed of two bits - Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain itself, is England, Scotland and Wales.

We English were an aggressive bunch back in the day (some would say we still are but thats a different story) and we essentially invaded and subjugated Wales and Scotland. Wales is now a "Principality" - as in the Prince of Wales and Scotland is a country in its own right. The Scots would argue that they merged with us and not us with them - but that's them rewriting history IMHO. We lost the King (James I and James VI) but we won the war. As for Ireland - where do you start? England treated the Irish like dirt for several hundred years. In the end they fought for and won their independence in 1921 when The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed which created the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland or Ulster.

So to summarise:

Great Britain is comprised of England, Scotland and Wales plus a number of smaller islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, the Scilly Isles, the Hebrides, and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland. It doesn't include the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands who form a Federacy with the UK as "The Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man".

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland plus the 14 overseas territories we still own[1].

So there you have it. We're a bunch of small islands with a lot of history, a few chips on the shoulder, and the ability to be the best and worst of things.

I love my country. British by birth, English by the Grace of God.

And in the words of Bill Shakespeare:


"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"




[1] (British Antarctic Territory / South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
/ British Indian Ocean Territory / Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia / Pitcairn Islands / Falkland Islands / Saint Helena / Anguilla / British Virgin Islands / Cayman Islands / Montserrat / Gibraltar / Bermuda
/ Turks and Caicos Islands)

This Week In London #35 - Great British Boozer

Pubs! Yay! Boozers! I'll have half! Yeah right - I'll get you the top half..

Greetings all and I'm really happy to be releasing this, the 35th This Week In London. Today I'm covering the Great British Boozer. Lots of stuff to talk about and stay tuned after the end for a special.


Listen to it here



The piece on pub names is here 


Mitre Tavern
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Dirty Dicks
Link 1
Link 2 Read the comments!
Link 3

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

The Wheatsheaf, Borough Market
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3 Oh yes.. London is a rich tapestry alright

No mention of the British Boozer would be complete without a mention of CAMRA, the Campaign For Real Ale. Camra has been around since 1971 and I've been attending beer festivals organised by them for some years. The Catford Beer Festival is a particular favourite.

Here's a decent summation of the various types of beer. Lager is noticeable by its absence (!)

Finally here is the list of pubs with special things going for them.

Da Moozik
Three Blind Mice - Watchstar
Amplifico - Logic Kills The Fire 
Keith Varon - Intoxicated


Hope you enjoy the show!

HMS Belfast will be next. Probably.

A new show is in the works,

Profuse apologies for the lack of shows. I've been holidaying and partying (and working!) for the past month but I do have a show in the works and it should be with you mid week all other things being equal.

It's either going to be about HMS Belfast OR about pubs in London. Which would you prefer first?

Parky

Cheapside Market

Here are selection of pictures taken from my trip to London yesterday for the Cheapside Market - the first one to be held on Cheapside for over 250 years.

London airship video

I saw the airship flying around London last week and when I saw this courtesy of Londonist I couldn't resist a cross post. An excellent video.

This Week In London #34- Ruby Murray

Hello loyal listeners. Sorry it's been soooo long - I explain why in the show but it was too long. This TWIL is all about a British institution - the curry. I talk about the history of the curry, where it came from and how the British have changed it in its home country as well.

Listen to it here



Music is by Slashed Seat Affair, Nick Cave and Bad Seeds and Black Lab.

Please do email or leave comments - I really do appreciate and reply to every single one. Thanks!

Paul

Next show

Right. Mr. Gates and Mr. Ballmer take some of the blame for this post along with the muppets at Nvidia who cannot write a Video Card Driver to save their lives.

I was all geared up, research ready, voice in good working order and ready to record last night. Went to my PC, switched on and the next thing I knew was that it was 01h30 and I had just got my PC back up and running.

What had happened? I had updated my graphics card software. Big mistake. BIG mistake.

In the end I had to format my C: drive and reinstall Windows. So - until my PC is back up properly - it still has issues - and all the audio software is back on it - my latest show "Westminster Abbey" will have to wait.

Believe me I am as narked as you. Later.

New show in the works

Just to let you all know that I'm working on a new show. It's been a while but This Week In London will be back in the next couple of days. Thanks for bearing with me. June was tough.

I'm taking requests for the music. What would you like me to play?

Paul

June - a great month and a miserable month

Hi there one and all.

I just wanted to post a quick update and let you know what was going on. Long and the short of it is that June is going to be a right-off for new This Week In London podcasts. I've got a strong need to record one but no time.

I just got back from a fortnight in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Next Sunday I'm off to Orlando and then on to the Bahamas. Yeah, I know "you. poor. thing".

Trouble is YoungestSon pointed out to me that I will only have seen him for six days in June. Which is a massive downer. I haven't travelled for a while and this month is exceptional. But...

Anyway, I want to do a show, I have a show to do (two out of three ain't bad) but have no time to do it. D'oh. And that's the third thing I need. Time.

Please do keep the comments and emails coming in - don't forget, you can leave me a message on the Skype phone and I can pick them up. I'll reply to everyone. Just maybe not in June! :-(

Thanks

Paul

Downloads on This Week In London

I just wanted to post a huge thank you to all my listeners out there in Podcast Land. I've been looking fairly closely to my stats and realised that for the last few months I've been averaging 10,000 downloads a month!

When I first started doing This Week In London I always thought that it would be niche audience - how many people want to listen to me warbling on about London after all? It seems I was wrong! 10,000 downloads wrong...

So, thank you for your support. I really appreciate your continued participation in the show.

Don't forget you can send email, leave a comment or even ring me up and leave a message. I'll reply to everyone and if you do leave an audio comment I'll do my best to use it in the show.

I'm always looking for ideas for the show so don't be shy!

Did I say thanks? Thanks.

TWIL #33 - Docklands Light Railway

Greetings! In this show I interview two top guys from the Docklands Light Railway. I hope you enjoy it. It's my usual blend of interesting background information combined with my irreverant prattlings.

You can play the podcast by clicking the PuPu Player (no, really) up there at the top of the page. Alternatively you can listen to the show here:




I have one of the DLR Goody Bags here if anyone wants it enough. Best comment detailing why they should have it will get it.

Music is by
Twelfth Night - Sequences
Wes Brookes - Parka
Black Lab - Ghost In Your Mind

Thanks

TWiL #32 - Buckingham Palace

Greetings one and all and welcome to This Week in London #32 - Buckingham Palace.

You can play the podcast by clicking the PuPu PLayer (no, really) up there at the top of the page. Alternatively you can listen to the show here:




This time I'm putting Buckingham Palace under the viewing glass. Interesting place and a builders dream. It's been built and rebuilt since the early part of the 18th Century with some humungous heavy lifting jobs done to it.


The picture at the very top is a great panoramic by Meichimite from FLickr under Creative Commons. The rather wet one is one I took when Flat Stan went on his trip round London in 2002. The lower one is of a Garden Party, courtesy of the CC-licensed image from Flickr by Mark Hillary. Thanks to them both for making it available under Creative Commons.

Music this time out is:

Black Lab with Ghost in your Mind - where you can buy the album Passion Leaves a Trace and See The Sun (strong recommendation for both these albums - awesome stuff )

Beyond7 with Smoke. You can buy the album at iTunes - click here
Thanks to Steven for the CD and a strong recommendation to go listen to the music.

and

DJ Earworm with Funky goes to Hollywood
Which I thought was just terrific and worth playing on the show even if it is "just" a mashup.

As always, your feedback is appreciated and all emails ARE read AND replied to by yours truly.
I hope you enjoy the show and look out for another show PDQ!

This Week In London #31 - Three Very Important People

Hi everyone. Here's Episode 31 where I talk about three very important people. The three are the Chelsea Pensioners, the Pearly Kings and Queens and the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London.

You can listen to the show here:


Music is by Sender with Sleepwalker
Wes Brookes with Autumn Sun and
We The Living with Atlantic. Also at the Podsafe Music Network and at iTunes.

Update: I just had a lovely email from Wes Brookes:
"Thanks for the request! My name is Wes Brookes and the band was called the Wes Brookes Band simply because we couldnt think of a suitable name. We are called Resination (for now) but I think that will change it to Resonation in the next week or so (we are currently debating the spelling - we were Rezination last week).....just advertise us as the reggae band from West Yorkshire (I think we are the only reggae band up here) called Resonation featuring Wes Brookes ! Cheers for interest."


I got a phenomenal response to the the Sender track last time out so I was delighted to receive an email from the band's manager with a link so you can go download the tracks. There are 8 tracks for download here (updated with correct link)

I wanted to play Beyond 7 tonight but the track kept bombing out my Acid Pro set up. If I can ask Steven to send the tracks again that would be v. cool.

Anyways, enough prattling on from me. Thanks to Paul Nicholls for the idea and heartfelt commiserations on your bad luck mate. I hope they catch the *^$£%$ thugs and kick some sense into them. Chances are though they'll get away with it in this country. You need to be... Nope - not for this site. Please send messages of support to Paul Nicholls at www.podcastpaul.com

Take care.

TWIL #30 - The Crown Jewels

Greetings all!

Tonight's show is all about the Crown Jewels of the royals of Britain. I changed my format with this show - rather than having general bullet points I have actually written out a script of sorts (I still deviate a little ;-) so it flows better. It's a bit more work upfront but better in the recording stage. I'm *really* interested in what you think about it - please do email me with your thoughts!

You can listen to the show here:


Music on the show is provided by

Sender - Alive and Kicking (demo)

Penda's Fen - Walking on the Edge

Ehren Starks - The Tale of Room 620

Please do support the bands who give their music to be played on podcasts - we get to play it to you for free - they make nothing from the podcast plays on shows like this. They hope you will like the music enough to go buy it!

So there you have it - a tad longer than usual but not as much as I thought at the beginning of the show. I hope you enjoy it and if you feel the need to send me a mail, call me on Skype or leave comment then please do! Thanks.

TWIL #29 - London Heathrow Terminal 5

Hi all. This show is all about London Heathrow Terminal 5. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours earlier this week being given a guided (chaperoned) tour of LHR T5.

For the record, the building is amazing - deisgned by the Richard Rogers Partnership and opening on 27th March 2008 it's going to take London Heathrow into the 21st Century in a big way. Everything about LHR T5 is huge - from the 96 check in desks to the 18km of baggage belts... mind blowing.

You can listen to the show here:


I'm sure I've left stuff out so I suggest you go visit www.BA.com for the most up to date information. In fact it's essential you do so as the various terminals that BA uses at the moment are gradually transitioning over to T5 but some are NOT. Be aware of that and double check before you go to the wrong one!

Plenty of pictures from Terminal 5 are available here.
Thanks for link to the pictures at the BBC (see comments in previous post) but I have permission to post these ones.

Other bits of news are the new "enhanced" security checks for internal flights in the UK. I think Civil Liberties people should dig a little deeper here. Taking Liberty? You betcha. Listen for the low down.

Music is by

Esteban with Santiago

Lato with London Girl

Finniston with Another Love Song from the Organised for Hi Fi album

So, to wrap up. An awesome building, great logistical feat to get it built. Not sure about the domestic flight civil liberties issue but elsewise - fab.

Next Show: London Heathrow Terminal 5

Very nice, very interesting, visit to London Heathrow Terminal 5 yesterday afternoon. Fascinating place and wonderful looking. I'll be doing a show about it over the next couple of days but watch out for the Civil Liberties issue I've uncovered. They've been keeping this very quiet and no wonder...

TWIL#28 - Marylebone

Hi all!

This show was prompted by an audio comment sent to me by Paul Nicholls, a good mate and great podcaster who recorded something for me while he was in London. He mentioned Marylebone and I thought that's a great place. I hope I do it justice.

You can listen to the show here:


I cover 221B Baker Street, the "home" of Sherlock Holmes, Madame Tussauds, the London Planetarium and Lords with a bit of a detour to talk about the movie "Plunkett & Macleane" via the River Tyburn, the hanging tree and Newgate Prison.

The music in this show is provided by Sera via www.myspace.com/seramusic

Don't be shy - send me email (I reply to every mail!) and comment below.

Have a great day.

QR code - can ya read it - can ya?

This Week In London #27 - BT Tower / Post Office Tower

I'm on my last legs as I write this; the jet lag is almost gone - but it's done. This Week In London #27 is available for your musical and Londonist needs. This time I take a peek at The BT Tower or as I keep calling it, the Post Office Tower. My pictures are at the bottom of this post....

Built in 1964, opened in 1966, the Post Office Tower was the tallest building in London for quite some time. The views from the (still)(just) rotating restaurant area are stunning (see below) but only if you go to the Tower - you'll need to listen to the show to get that joke.

You can listen to the show here:


Music from the Podsafe Music Network courtesy of

Manic Street Preachers with two tracks from their "Send Away The Tigers" album
first up was "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough" followed by "Autumn Song". Good solid rock out tracks. Don't forget the fast forward if they are not to your taste. But - for heavens sake - it is the Manics!

The bonus track this evening is from Punam Verma who is also on the PMN - this was HUSH...

Thanks for all your emails and comments over the past few weeks. Daz - if you're reading this - send me the file and I'll edit and link to it here.

I'll be back with another show, in a week or so. Three for February - or should that be FreeFerFeb? Peace.

I've posted them to my Flickr page... you know how to find me right? Just google parkylondon... Or if you're feeling less inquisitive click here