Posts in category "TV"

The BBC have a program called Pay off your mortgage in 2 years. Tonight's episode featured a couple from Cornwall with a mortgage of £90,000.

The program is moderately interesting for the various ideas people come up with to earn extra income (not for the scrimping, living off baked beans and giving up alcohol).

However, the program is spoiled by some very basic flaws.

Firstly, any extra income seems to be tax-free. If they did raise £45,000 in one year, the Inland Revenue would demand a significant element. It's a shame but it's the law, you see.

The mentor repeatedly refers to his very clever 'accumulator principle' which involves simply multiplying a weekly income of 'X' by 104 to determine the additional income over two years. He (and the participants) seems to view this basic mathematics as some startling revelation.

Secondly, the mentor also dangles the thought of all the mortgage interest payments saved as an incentive to realise a livelong dream.

For example, he told tonight's couple that if (surely when) they eventually do achieve their goal and pay off their mortgage of £90,000, this would free them from the shackles of 22 years of interest payments totalling £76,000.

The couple could then use this 'money' to buy a large, light, airy studio for painting and a home office.

The couple looked genuinely astounded and delighted. They did not have the basic common sense to understand that the very intelligent mentor had neglected to point out one important fact; to obtain this dream studio, they will either have to raise a further £76,000 (which might take a while) or take out another mortgage.

Oh, the del.icio.us irony of it all.

What would you do with £1 million ?

Would you buy a mansion, a yacht and a Ferrari, give up your job, go on holiday, donate it all to charity, buy your parents a new house, take over your local football club or get U2 to play at your son's birthday party ?

Don't worry - I haven't succumbed to the lure of '1001 subjects to blog about' for people with vacuous brains.

This was precisely the quandary facing Patrick Gibson in 2004 when he scooped the top prize of 1 million pounds on the ITV show 'Who wants to be a Millionaire'.

Anyway, Patrick chose to buy the complete Iain Banks' books catalogue together with DVD's of Quentin Tarantino's films and every single episode of Channel 4's hilarious TV comedy 'Father Ted'. The reason was that these were to be Patrick's specialist subjects for BBC's Mastermind quiz.

Don't laugh - Patrick was crowned Mastermind of Great Britain on last night's enthralling show ! Even better, the narrow victory for the Irish software developer prevented an Australian gentleman hoisting the impressive, crystal glass fruit bowl aloft.

Another crushing defeat for the Aussies - oh dear.

There was an interesting program on ITV last night called The Shot That Shook The World about photographs of historic moments.

9/11¶

Mesmeric, tragic, horrific and yet somehow those images are always compelling. I guess this was the JFK moment for my generation where everyone can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing.

I was working for a small Internet company and a colleague was idly surfing and memorably announced 'A plane has just hit the World Trade Centre'. The internet soon ground to a halt and we watched the tragedy unfold on portable TV in disbelief.

I remember early editions of an English newspaper carried photographs of two people holding hands jumping to their deaths that were subsequently pulled when they realised that this was real people in real life with real mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

Sport¶

The Brazil goal against Italy in the 1970 World Cup. My favourite goal of all time. The way Pele flicks the ball to Carlos Alberto. Pure art.

Moon Landing (1969)¶

I remember the whole school being assembled in the hall to watch these grainy images on a black and white TV.

Challenger disaster¶

I visited the Kennedy Centre a few years ago and there is a nice, simple, understated black memorial to all the astronauts who have lost their lives during the space program. Ironically, one was killed in a car crash.

Concorde crash¶

Interesting as this footage was shot by a member of the public from a moving car. This is much more prevalent now with the widespread use camera phones which provided almost immediate access to photos of the London bombings in July 2005.

Hillsborough¶

This wasn't actually featured but those photographs on the front page of The Independent newspaper of ordinary people dying, squashed against the railings in the Leppings Lane terrace at a football match in Sheffield had a big effect on me.