And now for my sad git moment for the weekend. We have been very taken with Inspector George Gently - a gritty and resolutely gloomy detective show set in Northumberland in 1964. In this week's episode a man was taken from his flat and beaten up. The obligatory sidekick (a flawed but likable man in need of a good ethical education it has to be said) visits the man's home where the TV is showing the above test card with the 625 lines statement. Of course rather than the complexities of the plot my mind raced over whether the BBC was broadcasting 625 lines in 1964. I thought that 625 lines came in with PAL and colour in 1967 but the test card gallery website (click on the image to get there if you lean that way) says that it was broadcast from the birth of BBC2 in 1964 so move along people - nothing to see here. Isn't it lucky that they didn't get anything really important wrong like hanging the murderers at the end of the show. Oh sorry! My mistake - the death penalty didn't end until 1965 though there were actually only two people hanged in 1964 - one just down the road from here.
Do not let your children watch Tronji - you will go mad. It is like someone gave The Teletubbies something pharmaceutical and then said the result wasn't mad enough. Unfortunately the children love both the programme and ALL the catchphrases. They also like the Tronjiworld song but luckily the lyrics are so obscure as to be impossible to memorise - like a sort of children's version of La Bamba. Remember - Mind the gap. How long is a piece of string? Exactly twice as long a half a piece of string.
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