Picks of the Week

[steepholm]

BBC Radio 4 dished up some interesting programmes to pass my time driving there and back again over the last week. Going to Romsey last Thursday, I heard this programme on Galton and Simpson containing the intriguing - and instantly convincing - suggestion that G&S, through Hancock and Steptoe and Son, were major influences on Pinter. Apparently Hancock told G&S, having been persuaded by them to watch The Caretaker, "You've been writing that sort of thing for years." And they had, too.

Then, this morning, en route back to Bristol, a programme on the significance of numbers and counting in different cultures. I'd heard quite a bit of this before, but the last few minutes contained some things that were new and interesting to me. And, for writers seeking inspiration, another on the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb. (You can visit it online, too.)

Finally, my mother mentioned to me today that in the old days, packets of cigarettes cost 11d, and therefore when you bought one from a vending machine (using a shilling), the packet you got out would contain a penny, representing your change. Now there's a job - putting the pennies in the packets of fags destined for vending machines. Maybe this is well known, but it was news to me.

Comments

[drasecretcampus.livejournal.com]

But isn't Steptoe and Son Waiting for Godot?


Let's go.

We can't

Why?

You're a dirty old man.