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Welcome @zaphod – That’s a smashing avatar you’re sporting!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m really looking forward to the episode tonight.

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@janetteb

Planning ahead, the … ahem … arse end of my post on the G tomorrow. Last week, in a rush I quoted @juniperfish and @bluesqueakpip horribly. If you don’t mind, I’m going to quote you tomorrow. Is this OK?

(Insert Review)

…and in our alternate mirror dimension, I dwelled on the possible relationship between a Cumbria Priory in 1200 AD with “The Cartmel Masterplan”, while JanetteB came up with an interesting thought on why “Carlisle is ignorance” involving Border Reivers and the family name of the current showrunner. If it isn’t true, it should be.

As we move towards the endgame, my thoughts are that the Doctor, the inspiration for that title over space and time, will have to renew his own Hippocratic Oath:

I will keep them from harm and injustice…….. If I fulfil this path and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honoured with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

Enter the Dark Mirror at http://www.thedoctorwhoforum.com

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@ardaraith

On the padding space, it’s a good question – I had limited time when I posted my note in the Spoilers thread and played about with the header a few times but could not get it quite right. I’m at home tomorrow morning and intend to try it again and give some advice (the way this WordPress blog is set up is new to me as well).

In general.

Sorry about coming in a bit strong arm, BUT I’ve seen myself, @scaryb, @chickenelly, @juniperfish and many others retire when too many spoilers start coming up. I would prefer we sort this issue out at this stage because it will raise its head in a few short weeks.

These will not be what amounts to speculation on blogs, or the odd snippet taken on set. These will be links to national newspapers. The professional spoilers, if you will.

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Thanks @bluesqueakpip and @lula

IF EVERYONE COULD JUST READ THIS:

On series 5 I was spoiled because I found out what was going to be in “The Pandorica” before it aired. In the week before “The Angels in Manhatten” we had, well, children, running onto the Who blogs screaming that the Statue of Liberty was an Angel. Because Canada had released a screenshot that the Daily Mail had picked up. I would have preferred to remain ignorant. I do not intend to participate on the Guardian blogs before the final episode because of this.

Nothing kills discussion and the kind of speculation we enjoy on these threads faster than it becoming spoiler ridden. At the end of the run, you can guarantee that true spoilers will come thick and fast.

We do have a thread for it, and I ask you to use it freely AND add text so that those who do not want to participate (and that includes many) do not see it on the “Activity” thread.

The choice of text is your own. Abuse and blame me if you wish. I may award points for creative abuse!

But don’t spoil the conversation. I may need to become….. sarcastic.

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I’ll send this ping-pong ball towards @juniperfish as I think we both like this bloke (discovered on the ancient “Lodger” Guardian blog). The title of this track, I think, is a fantastic description of this site: “An Elegant Chaos”. Mr Julian Cope, take it away:

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For anyone thinking in indulging in some classic Who for this year, this looks like a dream.

The Regenerations Box set contains all the regeneration episodes for the Doctors in a nice book package.

Even for the First Doctor, it contains a pre-release of “The Tenth Planet” with the lost final episode animated.

The cover will delight those who antipate a surprise regeneration, and it looks lovely for the money. Amazon have it listed at £43.25.

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@galactus

You seem to have the hang of the @ thing fine. There may be a couple of exceptions though. The one known as @IAmNotAFishIAmAFreeMan may only be summoned through the magic incantation “@pedant“. It keeps us on our toes, if nothing else.

I’m glad you’ve read the threads, but don’t be intimidated by their content. We started out a happy few after “The Snowmen” blog finished on the Guardian, and have had nearly four months to generate this amount of rambling, memories, ideas, etc. Just dive in if you want to contribute to any open forum (or even suggest something you think isn’t covered).

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Huzzah for the weekend!

I would just like to thank those for their support over my stance. @juniperfish and her fishy wiles and nano-bots shall not sway me!

@craig

Thanks for setting up the blog. Have a good trip. May your accomodation be blessed with BBC America, large HD TV and mini-bar paid for by the client. (I believe this to be an old Shakri blessing).

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@ardaraith

Agree with the Downcast look. It occurred to me that if you could wrap the image round, you have the Doctor glaring at Clara who looks a bit taken aback and defensive and, in the background the Doctor looking despondent as Clara runs away from something. Him?

@whisht – I wouldn’t show this to designers. It might scare them!

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Can I just make an announcement? It’s no good you shoals of fish nibbling my toes, I am not going to become “Phasefish” to humour you. Sorry. 🙂

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Ah @juniperfish, I thought you’d like it.

I find it interesting the Doctor front facing image is on the “wrong” side of the mirror image (BOX is spelt the right way, so the wrong way from the POV of inside the TARDIS).

I can’t shake the feeling the split reminds me of part of the crack from Series 5 turned on on edge.

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@haveyoufedthefish

He’s Rasillon…… Omega

Either of those would be splendid.

Can you imagine it:

River: “The time has come Doctor….. tell us your name!”
Doc: “It’s…….”(endless dramatic pause, the sounds of Murray Gold swelling in the background)”….Rassilon/Omega*!”
FANDOM GOES INTO MELTDOWN….TWITTER EXPLODES…..FISTFIGHTS BREAK OUT AT CONVENTON
River: “What, you mean your the reincarnation of one of the living embodiments of the noble TimeLord society!”
Doc: “What!? No – my mother was a Fan. You know, like all those boys in the 60s who got John, Paul or George as a name. Girls called Kylie. Uuuurgggh. It was bloody embarrassing at the Academy, I can tell you!”

Why?
FANBOYS CONTINUE TO THROW DARTS AT MOFF PICTURE

*Delete as applicable.

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@haveyoufedthefish

I think you have meant @jimthefish, rather than me on that last one.

Yes though, Theta Sigma was his academy nickname. River seemed to know this as her message to him at the start of Pandorica Opens (carved in the mountain) are the characters for theta sigma with a number of other greek symbols after a space (presumably co-ordinates).

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@lula

Happily, we never get “talkie” trailers in the UK. Way back when the trailers for series 6 were released, BBC America did a good promo with Mark Sheppard doing the voice over – “Doctor Who is coming to America….” etc. Some good clips at the end, but it seemed a bit lifeless after the UK promo (which made me feel like a seven year old, overdosed on sugar).

That trailer is here, and is pretty standard. Absolutely no talking allowed!

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Thanks to everyone for adding their thoughts on Tom to the thread. I’ve been distracted by new episodes, but I have some nice long posts to read through now.

There is an article here about the recent showing of “Robots of Death” at the BFI. It sounds as if Tom was on typical form. The footage from the Q&A should be available in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll try to post it as soon as available.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-04-22/doctor-who-legends-tom-baker-and-louise-jameson-at-the-bfi

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@htpbdet – Good luck with it. I think we may have a lot to talk about with this episode!

Night all – Early to rise for me again I fear.

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@craig

Yes there are lots of little things in that image. On a wider note I thought I’d post it because I keep getting the impression I’ve seen something very similar in style somewhere else. I thought I might throw it open to see if anyone had any suggestions.

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@wolfweed

I saw those images, and yes, there are only a few possibilities for that one. I think, if the book is opened, it may very well be full of blank pages. 🙂

I’ll just carry one image over – not spoilery, but just because I like it. It looks like an alternative for the “movie poster”. While I like the “Castrovalva” look of the official one, this has so many pleasing details. In many ways it’s better for speculation with themes or mirroring, etc.

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@htpbdet – Splendid wasn’t it?

Hope you’re feeling better – all the best for a speedy recovery.

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@lula and @elwingt, thanks for the info! I agree, things like those Amy lead-ins are usually pretty horrible, but I do have an interest in how the show is promoted and seen overseas, so I thought I’d ask.

When I post trailers and suchlike from YouTube I’ll usually watch the UK, US and occasionally other territories if available. I find the “Talkie” US version really disconcerting when I see them. Feels wrong somehow.

@elwingt – Bombay to the US via Newcastle-upon-Tyne!? Now that has to be one hell of a story.

@lula – if you like Idris, and ever got the opportunity to see it, there was a short series called “Ultraviolet” in the UK in which he was as great as ever. There is a link to a wiki entry here about it. It also features Stephen Moyer, in a vampire role way before True Blood.

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@scaryb – We were really polite! Honest!!

Well, except for all the complaining about the blog closing early. 😳

I shall see you all tomorrow – sorry for the flying visit.

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@bluesqueakpip, @chickenelly & @craig

Yes, that’s weird. So glad we did this (all thanks really to @craig). I don’t think the G is a particularly happy ship since the redundancies (at Christmas – I ask you). The opening times for articles are all over the place.

But I can’t help thinking @danmartin was very helpful on that last blog with his questions about “the other place”. Maybe he knew something? I don’t know. Many thanks to him though.

I can still remember the frustration when the end of series blog finished early, and a lot of us ended invading the Red Dwarf thread! 🙂 At least we don’t have to resort to that kind of thing in the future.

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Goog Evening/Morning/Afternoon/Elevenses/Tiffin (Gosh – the demands of an international group :-))

@thommck – Congratulations on your prize!

@elwingt – welcome. Could I ask you or @lula something if you watch on BBC America?

I was led to believe the Amy years saw a short spoken intro by Amy to each episode (once upon a time I had an imaginary friend, etc). Have they replaced that with something similar for Clara? I meant to ask a while ago, but forgot.

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As I’ve not been deployed yet, I’ve had time to put put a long post (sorry) together on a train of thought.

The Name of The Doctor

I think I agree that what we may learn is not “Who is The Doctor”, but “Why The Doctor”.

In the RTD run, the Master (rather sneeringly) suggests “the man who tries to make everyone better”. Later according to River in AGMGTW, the people of the Universe have (in the main) adopted “The Doctor” as a term for healer and wise man because of him.

In that episode, the Doctor says:

Madame Kovarian: The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules.
The Doctor: Good men don’t need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.

Well, all Doctors have rules. On Earth outlined in the Hippocratic Oath. Translation 1 is interesting,

“I will keep them from harm and injustice” would seem like his mission statement.

Then read the end of the Oath:

“If I fulfil this path and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honoured with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.”

In the first half we had a couple of “Doctor” references to show that people are not directly associating him with the name. His “fame among all men” is fading. This series we have a couple of “Professors” not “Doctors”. Perhaps his erasing of his exploits, reducing his fame has had consequences in rendering “The Doctor” name meaningless. As his fame reduces – he has less of a (mirror) image to live up to and his standards are slipping. The Dark Doctor awakes, if you will.

In Rings of Ankhaten, the Doctor talks of the things he’s done and they do not work. Perhaps they would have if his fame were still alive?

Clara uses the power of the things that never happened. When you ponder those “might-have-beens” you are usually indulging in regret that they never happened.

The only way the Doctor can move on is to remember why he adopted his name and his “many rules” in the first place. Remembering a key event that made him adopt the name and his many rules. A BIG Regret. Get back to basics. A good way of looking back and looking forward for the 50th perhaps?

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Ahhh. @janetteb. The Border Reivers.

I could kick myself for that, because my partner has a Reiver name as well. That could be the link to Carlisle. Here is his family name (along with all the other Reiving families) carved in an underpass near Carlisle Castle.

Sourcepage: http://briansimpsons.wordpress.com/elsewhere/carlisle-the-great-border-city/

Maybe that is why he holds Catlisle up as an example of unreason? Why celebrate a people who gave us the words “Blackmail” (after what they wore) and “Bereaved” (To Be Reived)?

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@inspectorspacetime

Welcome to the forum. I’m being haunted by images of the third Doctor! Yes, some discussion on the “whiskey is the eleventh worst thing” in this episode. As far as I can remember he hasn’t told her he is is the “Eleventh” so some subtle hints at pre-knowledge perhaps.

I really must go however – make yourself at home.

@haveyoufedthefish

Heheh!

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@bluesqueakpip

Classic Who had a fairly robust approach to Companion motivation – it usually came down to ‘no actual alternative to travelling on the TARDIS’.

😆

I actually forgot in my last post that Tegan left once (aunt dead), was re-united with the Doctor in another adventure that left her cousin traumatised and potentially brain damaged – AND SHE BUGGERED OFF AGAIN WITH HIM.

Some people just ask for it!

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Hey @whisht, no problem. The end of the week is better for me too (and it can be good to have something to clear the mind before another episode brings more conflicting thoughts!).

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@Shazzbot

The companion’s families have been integral to their travels with the Doctor since the reboot (was it like that in Classic Who, too?)

Ohhhhh no. If you got to see them at all they usually had fairly rapid exits. If you look at the three companions Peter Davison inherited –

Adric – Only living relative, a Brother, killed trying to save him.
Tegan – Aunt left as a shrunken corpse on a main road by The Master.
Nyssa – Stepmother killed, Fathers body invaded by the Master, and in the following story, she saw her entire planet destroyed (boy, that girl was unlucky).

Being cast as a family member in ye olden times was like being issued a Red Shirt in the original series of Star Trek. 🙂

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As @lula has given some information on Cumbria, I’ll confess that I was thinking about Bells of St. John and did have the thought it could be a big in-joke if this series is about to be some secret of The Doctor.

A priory in Cumbria in 1207? Well it could be Cartmel Priory which was founded towards the end of the 1100s. The last time a “big secret” was supposed to be revealed it was Andrew Cartmel’s “Masterplan”. Something so bonkers even we wouldn’t have thought of it (You can probably guess I wasn’t a fan of the idea and was glad it never was completed officially). You can read about it here.

We may have moved passed this with references to Kendal and Carlisle though.

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@juniperfish

red as the colour of love and blue as the colour of ice

Hmmm…. substitue red for fiery passion perhaps and you remind me of the description of the Doctor in Family of Blood – “I’ve seen him. He’s like fire and ice and rage. He’s like the night and the storm and the heart of the sun”. 🙂

If you take that colour symbology, can we make anything of The Doctor suddenly getting the taste for a bit of purple?

I shall ponder in my bed and return, hopefully refreshed, tomorrow evening.

@bobbyfat

Welcome! Make yourself at home.

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@juniperfish

Congrats to anyone who made it this far!!

(Gives self pat on back – dislocates arm).

And that my friends, is some colour symbolism, it-all-hangs-together, bonkers bow-tie theorising for you!

Bravo! Imagine the sound of enthusiastic applause (unfortunately, it will have be the one handed variety). I enjoyed reading that. Take me ages to think it through, but I’ll get there before the next episode.

(Resolves to go away and think up new theory)

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@shazzbot

I’ve been re-reading the 5 books of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy

You reminded me of something I meant to post on the speculation thread to @miapatrick when she talked about Hitchhiker/Who crossovers.

Around the time he was Script Editor for Who in the Tom Baker years, Adams was a bugger for getting references to his own universe in there. One of the best is The Doctor trapped in “Destiny of the Daleks”, killing some time reading a book called “The History of the Unverse”, picking faults with it and generally abusing the author.

The author was shown to be Oolon Colluphid (author of “Where God Went Wrong”, “Some More of God’s Greatest Mistakes” and “Who is this God Person Anyway?”).

Made me laugh.

@bluesqueakpip

Loved the checklist of psycopath traits 🙂 Brilliant.

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Owwwwhhh! Our counter has reached 100 members (sorry only a virtual “Well Done” as prize for our 100th member). Welcome new people. I recognised @galactus from the blogs of course and saw @arkleseizure who I recognise not only from the new Who blogs but also Dan’s retrospectives. Just jump in when you are comfortable.

@juniperfish – a very good way of putting it. 😉

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@haveyoufedthefish

Mr. Shift, Phase, P.S. or “get of this planet” (I watched the Doctor, Widow and Wardrobe again yesterday) will all do fine. 🙂

Yes – I saw the Swimming Pool as well, but I want to watch it again to see if anything else leaps out.

“Nightmare Man” was great. I bought the DVD when it came out as well. If I remember in the same week they also released the 80s version of “Day of the Triffids”. That was a splendid weekend.

@charlie-cook

Yes – I’ve think its been established for a while that humans do eventually get the tech to a limited extent to conduct time travel. It started with Talons with a throw away reference to “Time Agents” who Magnus Greel thought might be hunting him from his own period in the 51st century. This presumably became “The Time Agency” that Jack was supposed to belong to (he came from around that period). I wondered during series 6 if the Tesselecta and crew were associated as well?

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@juniperfish

Yes, the Chin reference. I thought of River as well, but more immediately to Oswin in AotD who refers to him a couple of times as “Chinboy”.

@janetteb

story reminded me of late 70s series The Omega Factor

A great call. In terms of tone it remimded me of Sapphire and Steel (which I’ve banged on about on the general TV thread) and to a certain extent “The Nightmare Man” which was great and starred, amongst others, a young Celia Imrie. Great series with lots of behind the scenes links to Who.

@shazzbot

Damn you Whovians, I have been sucked into your world and am now looking for every arc-based nuance in every single bit of dialogue!

Resistance is futile. “YOU _ WILL _ BECOME _ LIKE _ US”

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I can’t help but think that Dan is being delightfully playful with his innocent “what’s all this about then” on the front page to allow us to post more links.

I took the opportunity to post on his reply to my first page post:

@Daniel Martin –

Yes Dan, a small start-up forum that some of your devotees started after “The Snowmen” blog ended to continue the conversation and resist the nesting consciousness.

A friendly place for the genuine Doctor Who Enthusiast to gather. The Doctor Who Forum operates a “Bring your own bottle and bonkers theory to the party” Policy.

That’s The Doctor Who Forum. Your one-stop shop to fulfil all your requirements for Bonkers Who theories.

I’d just like to apologise to @bluesqueakpip for not attributing the “nesting consciousness” joke to him in that post (I did mean to add it but forgot before pressing submit), and thank @danmartin (if indeed, it is he) for allowing me time for some shameless promotion.

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Morning all. Welcome @branfish (I knew we’d get you eventually). Great to see our “international man of mystery” @blenkinsopthebrave back as well! @whohar will be pleased. He’s looking to boost the overnight shift if you have the time in your schedule. Enjoy the free drinks!

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OK – I’m probably going to get modded on the G blog for this:

@olderiamthelessiknow –

Got a bit bored after 10 minutes and was distracted.

My dear chap. How awful for you. Attention deficit disorder is a cruel mistress. Have you considered medication? Or not taking it?

Best wishes

Just saving it because I’ve wanted to post something along those lines for a while.

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That was really good (but I thought that about “Rings”). No – genuinely engaging, a different pace and loads of stuff to pour over in terms of analogies between the Doctor and his companions relationship.

The scenes with them traversing the entire life-span of the Earth and Jenna’s sad “are you OK with that” – absolutely lovely. She really is a class act. It seems the TARDIS does have a couple of issues. I think this is going to reward multiple views.

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@craig

Oh, I just realised… Doctor Who… with about 15 minutes of adverts for pharmaceuticals stuck in between. Oh… no….

You say that like it’s a bad thing. You can learn loads. Look at this recent infomerial about the wonder drug Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin and you will be astonsished. :-))

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@wolfweed – she’s bloody brillianr isn’t she? I used to watch the odd episode with my youngest neice and it is fantastic when they get that astonished “Did I just see that/ Am I allowed to listen to that!” look on their face.

@craig

@lula will correct me if wrong but I think it’s shown 9pm on BBC America. The problem is that local networks/establishments may not carry the channel itself. BBC America being a bit of a niche market.

Good luck with the trip though. If you want me to set up next weeks blog or any other stuff let me know with a PM.

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I’d just like to congratulate @htpbdet on his demolition of asgill on page four of the Guardian Cold War thread.

My God – that is an epic “nest”.

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“Cute as a button” Lindalee reviews Cold War.

Just a note for new users – we got used to posting these on the Guardian blogs, because if you don’t get the opportunity to watch Doctor Who with kids it can be great to see the show through their eyes.

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As @juniperfish has announced the next Who prom on this forum, I think a Medley is in order.Some people think the the proms is this bizare high brow thing. NOPE.

OK,

I love the music of Ennio Morricone. Here are five Austrialians doing it true justice. The Spaghetti Western Orchestra

Hear about the corpse they dug up in a car park? What a nice guy.

To celebrate 11 faces of the doctor:

The proms is great.

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Bugger. I have three of @whisht‘s balls bouncing towards me.

I’m dead. There is the magnificence of Max Romeo. There is the adaptive brilliance of “Night boat to Cairo”. I have a late doubles partner in @janetteb with “Ghost Town”.

I’m under attack. All I can unleash is the taste of innocence. Once upon a time the boy called @phaseshift went into a store called Woolworth and purchased a record. With his own money. For the first time. This was it.

For added “hits” I will admit that legend suggest the first record I demanded my parents purchased was “Rock and Roll” by Gary Glitter. I had real taste.

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@juniperfish

Yep – just the base http code for YouTube stuff. Don’t create a link, just the raw address.

That Roxy track is the best ring tone and has saved my ass once and a while. Believe me.

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@juniperfish

Apologies – I took hold of your post because you are having trouble with the format. If you would like a fun recomendation in turn for your Roxy Music, can I suggest you download the first 50secs of this to your Mobile. 🙂

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@haveyoufedthefish and @bluesqueakpip

THIS IS WHAT WE WANT! (as Chris Tarrant used to bellow on TISWAS). Let’s get some more barking suggestions into the mix.

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@wolfweed

You’re one of the few people I’ve come across online who knows of Ed. You splendid chap!

I originally got to know the name because he worked with New Model Army who were so associated with Bradford the NME asked “why do they bother to tour? Why not just play 30 nights in Queen’s Hall”.

Hearing their stuff always reminds me of University days. All those dodgy nightclubs. In particular Champaign’s (groan) where the carpet sucked at your feet and there should have been a “Now wipe your boots” sign before exiting onto the street. Marvellous times. Here’s Ed looking much younger, but then didn’t we all back in early 90s?

[Author]

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