tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45882053628475651972024-03-09T10:14:07.330+00:00Dave GormanThere's much more information at <a href="http://www.davegorman.com">DaveGorman.com</a><p>
DON'T DROP LITTER. DO SAY PLEASE AND THANK YOU. SIMPLE, REALLY.</p>Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.comBlogger832125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-74822866387080621992021-02-10T10:42:00.009+00:002021-06-12T17:05:50.166+01:00Word Chase<p>I had another crossword published in yesterday's Independent. I think I've had 14 or 15 puzzles published now, mostly as Bluth in the Indy but also in the Telegraph where I started setting a wee while ago as Django.<br /><br />Most of my crosswords aren't themed, but yesterday's was. I tweeted about the fact that it was themed... and shortly afterwards, <i>this</i> was trending... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xdGn9q7lnE0/YCO1iJTFgDI/AAAAAAAAEEU/wW_HMwIjiJYPCYAV_qZx2idOsuk-iDbAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/TwitterTrending.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1661" data-original-width="2048" height="520" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xdGn9q7lnE0/YCO1iJTFgDI/AAAAAAAAEEU/wW_HMwIjiJYPCYAV_qZx2idOsuk-iDbAgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h520/TwitterTrending.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Coincidence? Could it possibly be that The Independent crossword is that powerful? <br /><br />Well... of course it isn't. The Chase was on TV. But... The Chase was the theme for my puzzle yesterday. <br /><br />As you can see, I got the nicknames for all of The Chasers into the grid - (The) Governess, Beast, Dark Destroyer, Sinner/Man, Vixen and Menace. And I put Chase at the heart of it all. Bradley Walsh wasn't an answer to any of the clues, but I did hide his name in the grid for good measure. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FDa2jayUFkg/YCO15rkYV_I/AAAAAAAAEEc/5S7kQ8NYTQ4f2R0oH-07hIWmepkKsNwMACLcBGAsYHQ/s707/ChaseXwordMarkup.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="707" height="390" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FDa2jayUFkg/YCO15rkYV_I/AAAAAAAAEEc/5S7kQ8NYTQ4f2R0oH-07hIWmepkKsNwMACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h390/ChaseXwordMarkup.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />None of the clues related to the show. Someone who'd never seen The Chase would have been just as able to solve it as someone who was a devoted fan. But it was there for anyone who found it. <br /><br />As well as being my third themed puzzle it was the first of mine to include a Nina. Nina is the crossword jargon for a hidden word or words. In this case, Bradley Walsh is a Nina. They're called Ninas after the American caricaturist, Al Hirschfeld who used to hide the word, Nina - his daughter's name - in all of his drawings. <br /><br />But I digress. Like I say, most of my crosswords aren't themed. But my next one will be as well. Sort of. <br /><br />On Friday night, I'm going to be joining the setter best known as Paul for an online zoom event. We'll all be setting a themed crossword together - on the topic of Madness. (The band... not the current malaise)<br /><br />It's free to join. If that sounds like your sort of thing, you can sign up for it <a href="https://www.johnhalpern.co.uk/dave-gorman" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CJm5GWY3Lh0/YCO3nOUiUGI/AAAAAAAAEEo/J3Bja3OzHjk6emDroW5chiSGfULVBx4gwCLcBGAsYHQ/s999/JohnDaveGOSH.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="999" height="362" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CJm5GWY3Lh0/YCO3nOUiUGI/AAAAAAAAEEo/J3Bja3OzHjk6emDroW5chiSGfULVBx4gwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h362/JohnDaveGOSH.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>While it's free to join, we're doing it in order to raise some money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. If you feel able to afford it, we'd really appreciate anything you can donate at <a href="http://justgiving.com/fundraising/john-halpern-dave-gorman">justgiving.com/fundraising/john-halpern-dave-gorman</a></p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-19404423700356876822020-09-30T13:06:00.004+01:002021-06-12T17:06:04.676+01:00The Homes Under The Hammer Crossword The World Needs Right NowYesterday's Independent cryptic crossword contained something of a tribute to one of my favourite TV shows... Homes Under The Hammer...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hb5S95e8OvM/X3RrAM3nPYI/AAAAAAAAD-E/kG4c812TiIQTbS-uncJO-tO8R7MlT2GWACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/Xword-HUTHtitle1CLEAN.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hb5S95e8OvM/X3RrAM3nPYI/AAAAAAAAD-E/kG4c812TiIQTbS-uncJO-tO8R7MlT2GWACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/Xword-HUTHtitle1CLEAN.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>
Before I go any further, I ought to say that this post is obviously going to contain spoilers. If you like cryptic crosswords and you think you might like to try this one... you can it's <a href="https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20200929#!202009" target="_blank">here</a>.
<br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> </span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Whenever I mention that I've set a crossword I get quite a few people expressing their surprise. I'm not surprised that they're surprised. I know it's an odd career turn. For what it's worth, I blogged about it a few weeks ago <a href="http://gormano.blogspot.com/2020/06/bluth-will-out_22.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Anyway, seeing as some of the people reading this won't know that I'm a setter of crosswords, it's probably worth me clarifying that this isn't a post about something I spotted, so much as something I've done. I set crosswords for the Indy under the name Bluth.<br /><br /><br />Now... back to yesterday's crossword. </span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Using a couple of clues to get the title of the show in wasn't enough... if you're going to mention Homes Under The Hammer, I think you've got to mention the main man, Martin Roberts. But how best to describe him... I think this does the job...</span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oiF5X5ZZGWs/X3RrLk4UGXI/AAAAAAAAD-M/o9U-_pZOcjcFq_5N914O09hJ9EIkSsyUQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/Xword-HUTHPunningMclean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oiF5X5ZZGWs/X3RrLk4UGXI/AAAAAAAAD-M/o9U-_pZOcjcFq_5N914O09hJ9EIkSsyUQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/Xword-HUTHPunningMclean.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q76AmasHp20/X3Rtn0dKjyI/AAAAAAAAD-0/kwmyTq2p8dsfLR5DcYOMU7PC77GI2Fu9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s920/dubmax.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q76AmasHp20/X3Rtn0dKjyI/AAAAAAAAD-0/kwmyTq2p8dsfLR5DcYOMU7PC77GI2Fu9wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/dubmax.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br />But if you're mentioning one of the presenters... surely the others deserve a mention as well!</span></span><p></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> </span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">What about Dion Dublin and Martel Maxwell? <br /><br />Don't worry... I had them covered too... </span></span></p><p></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FuwffC7p7A4/X3RreKiG1fI/AAAAAAAAD-Y/4ut58s8vGgsChZWXiWlMf6ZCkDqkBx8LACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/DublinMaxwellClean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FuwffC7p7A4/X3RreKiG1fI/AAAAAAAAD-Y/4ut58s8vGgsChZWXiWlMf6ZCkDqkBx8LACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/DublinMaxwellClean.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">At which point, I know what you're thinking.
<br /><br />Yes. I have got too much time on my hands. <br /><br />But also. What about Lucy Alexander? </span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAUJuXR3gLI/X3RsuRjkgzI/AAAAAAAAD-s/3-5c4sW-xj41Wsj8XYA5aBFkNpUsTLqSACLcBGAsYHQ/s634/martinLucy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="634" height="136" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vAUJuXR3gLI/X3RsuRjkgzI/AAAAAAAAD-s/3-5c4sW-xj41Wsj8XYA5aBFkNpUsTLqSACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h136/martinLucy.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></span></div><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br />She co-presented the show with Martin for 13 years before her connection with the series was brought to an untimely end due to... um... advertising carpets.<br /><br /><br />Well... there's a clue to explain that...</span></span></span><p></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br /><br /></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQwyYycWVoI/X3Rt5R9_AMI/AAAAAAAAD-8/FkxBDKki1pcGwBw06EltDm3lsWvvZCc7QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/BrilliantLucy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="517" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FQwyYycWVoI/X3Rt5R9_AMI/AAAAAAAAD-8/FkxBDKki1pcGwBw06EltDm3lsWvvZCc7QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h517/BrilliantLucy.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KlnTYns1lKo/X3RuNw7AXsI/AAAAAAAAD_E/_kIOfjb9-dksM8PPP0FRMwDvAuDMxvM9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1324/ExpressLiteralMusic.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1324" data-original-width="631" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KlnTYns1lKo/X3RuNw7AXsI/AAAAAAAAD_E/_kIOfjb9-dksM8PPP0FRMwDvAuDMxvM9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w191-h400/ExpressLiteralMusic.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br /></span></span><p></p><p></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"> </span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Of
course, it's impossible to think about Homes Under The Hammer without
thinking about the show's incredible Literal Music Selection...<br /><br />I might well have mentioned it once or twice before now myself...</span></span></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br /></span></span></span><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hQEFoH_ijxw" width="560"></iframe>
</p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br /></span>
</p>So, obviously that had to be in the crossword too... <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aYRA2daO5Ic/X3RvBr54tzI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/Oa5tHkjK7S8uekCYi76viYhWU-LKrexJACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/LiteralMusicSelectionClean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aYRA2daO5Ic/X3RvBr54tzI/AAAAAAAAD_Q/Oa5tHkjK7S8uekCYi76viYhWU-LKrexJACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/LiteralMusicSelectionClean.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><br />What more could I add? Well... a sprinkling of other clues that relate to the show... I'm sure there was an episode where they showed an ugly new-build making money in between some short VTs about a motel...</span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tMtc0KQSgXc/X3RvgvVs6RI/AAAAAAAAD_Y/rgPhZCYhi2wrfszKV1w8szgyngTs1MzmgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/NewBuild-Motel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tMtc0KQSgXc/X3RvgvVs6RI/AAAAAAAAD_Y/rgPhZCYhi2wrfszKV1w8szgyngTs1MzmgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/NewBuild-Motel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">There must have been a few episodes where a couple have fallen out because one of them bought a property without seeing it - always read the legal pack! And when they knock through, well, there's always a bit of rubble... <br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vE58jHMtnac/X3RwCOI52ZI/AAAAAAAAD_g/hrAyKvv1PAMdrg2PXoTv42uFAhVtsgrnACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/HousingRow-TradesmansWaste.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vE58jHMtnac/X3RwCOI52ZI/AAAAAAAAD_g/hrAyKvv1PAMdrg2PXoTv42uFAhVtsgrnACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/HousingRow-TradesmansWaste.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fqpdCg9gTI4/X3RyYwfkTkI/AAAAAAAAD_8/5cl2hzHl1UEsOaV-APJNfhYbKoNeyhYJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/Grahams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="500" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fqpdCg9gTI4/X3RyYwfkTkI/AAAAAAAAD_8/5cl2hzHl1UEsOaV-APJNfhYbKoNeyhYJQCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h205/Grahams.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Of course, they feature all the big auctioneers on HUTH.<br /><br /> I mean, yeah, they're normally called Graham, but in the world of property auctioneering, I'm pretty sure these guys represent the big league... <br /><br /></span>And they auction all sorts of properties... and some people buy because their heart is set on a particular location and, of course, they get renovated in all sorts of styles... <br /><br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wtdpJy4yaBM/X3R0JY4cFtI/AAAAAAAAEAY/OKQAnIJaTdM0y_pwpeCnFQ_tWlAdLT3dgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/4clues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1654" data-original-width="2048" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wtdpJy4yaBM/X3R0JY4cFtI/AAAAAAAAEAY/OKQAnIJaTdM0y_pwpeCnFQ_tWlAdLT3dgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/4clues.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Of course, some of you won't be familiar with the show... but I'm sure you'll agree that the...<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uSDUT1ksLsI/X3R0X9IgaoI/AAAAAAAAEAc/GUobVDjBLNQw8h5H8NWrFGSQqWg7l5ypQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/SoundsDelightful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1034" data-original-width="1280" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uSDUT1ksLsI/X3R0X9IgaoI/AAAAAAAAEAc/GUobVDjBLNQw8h5H8NWrFGSQqWg7l5ypQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/SoundsDelightful.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Anyway... if you're the kind of person who is interested in cryptic crosswords but is put off by the lack of content relating to daytime TV property shows, this was all for you.</span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">Or maybe the bit of the Venn diagram showing people who are interested in cryptic crosswords and HUTH has only one occupant... in which case this was all for me.</span> <br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MHSaoFwJo6s/X3RyvQAAaaI/AAAAAAAAEAI/ElM0gOb_MFQIJcv6f_9JfUFNEdOx89eoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/PerhapsHouseOrGarage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-65781322262792957332020-06-22T16:25:00.002+01:002021-06-12T17:06:19.433+01:00Bluth Will OutThe video here contains spoilers for those of you who might want to solve a cryptic crossword... so you might want to read the rest of the blog and come back to it. Or not. It's your call.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IOZPXXktgYk" width="560"></iframe>
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When I write or talk about cryptic crosswords I'm so eager not to exclude anyone and so aware that to many people cryptics appear to be entirely impenetrable and <i>very-much-not-for-them</i>, that I find myself apologising and peppering my words with little, <i>I-mean-I-know-it's-niche-but</i> phrases to try and make it all okay. Which is silly. Because there's no reason why everything anyone does should be for everyone. It's absolutely fine to like something that others don't and if I was writing about a band I loved I wouldn't think, <i>Oh... I'd better make the people who like other sorts of music know that I know this isn't their thing... </i>I'd just get on with it. <br />
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Which is what I'm going to try and do with cryptic crosswords from here on in. I like cryptic crosswords. I started doing them when I was a kid. I didn't like the fact that there was a little corner of the newspaper that didn't make sense to me and so I started trying to solve them. I'd hold on to the paper until the next day and go through the answers and try to work out in reverse why the solutions were indeed the solutions. And slowly it started to reveal itself to me. I'm still not the best solver in the world - not by a stretch - but I can have a fair crack at most that you see in a daily paper.<br />
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There are lots of books and websites that try to demystify the process and I think they can be useful - but I think taking them apart and trying to work it out for yourself is still the best way to proceed initially. If you start with the simple premise that pretty much every clue is: Definition + some wordplay to help you work out the answer (or vice versa) you'll probably find you can edge your way in. Even if you simply start by trying to guess as to which bit is the definition.<br />
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I did write about cryptics in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0091897424?ie=UTF8&tag=davegorman-21&camp=1634&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=0091897424">Googlewhack</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000F5YYCA?ie=UTF8&tag=davegorman-21&camp=1634&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=B000F5YYCA">Adventure </a>, where the fact that I'd won the Everyman Crossword competition one week became a part of the story. After that was published, I was asked to write the foreword to the Observer book of Everyman Crosswords that came out in 2006.<br />
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Cruciverbalists find each other out. I first met Mrs Gorman when I was a guest on a radio show that she was working on. When her boss later found out that the two of us were going on a date, he decided to take it upon himself to teach her the ways of the cryptic crossword as he thought it would help us click. The ruse didn't last long. It didn't stop us clicking.<br />
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When I was making Genius on Radio 4, the head of Radio Entertainment was a man called John Pidgeon. John was a
remarkable bloke. His first career was as a rock journalist. Then there
was radio. And then, in retirement he became a cryptic crossword
setter. He compiled for the Telegraph under the name Petitjean.<br />
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I always fancied I might try and make a go of something similar in my retirement. I've always dabbled with writing clues here and there and while I knew I had a lot to learn, it seemed like the sort of thing I would have a tilt at at some point.<br />
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And then lockdown happened. And I had a bit of time. Not enough time to do any proper work as anyone else who has spent/is spending their lockdown with a four year old can probably attest. But little bits of time here and there that allow the mind to wander. <br />
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And so, in a sort of forced early-retirement, I shuffled together a sort of crossword and - with nothing better to do - I posted it on <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveGorman/status/1241024324506726401?s=20">Twitter</a>.<br />
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It was received far better than I was expecting. A couple of setters I admire offered me advice and encouragement. A special mention here has to go to <a href="https://twitter.com/Tramp_crossword">Tramp</a> who got in touch. He holds a special place in my heart because, around the time we stopped doing Modern Life Is Goodish, he included this clue...<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kmUPeoYi-Ig/XpM1GIzfoYI/AAAAAAAAD3w/LHYqdDsiorQ7cl3S5eVc_OWJ_MQVyvRrQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/TrampClue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="478" height="197" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kmUPeoYi-Ig/XpM1GIzfoYI/AAAAAAAAD3w/LHYqdDsiorQ7cl3S5eVc_OWJ_MQVyvRrQCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/TrampClue.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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... in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27431">this puzzle</a>. If you've read this far, you'll already have a good idea quite how thrilling that was to discover.<br />
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Also amongst the replies was this...<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0CNixF9duXU/XpM4djs7SoI/AAAAAAAAD38/W4EiZbDY4koKARXvbjgahHbNPc_HhTR-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/MikeIndyTweet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="1088" height="364" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0CNixF9duXU/XpM4djs7SoI/AAAAAAAAD38/W4EiZbDY4koKARXvbjgahHbNPc_HhTR-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/MikeIndyTweet.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mike is the crossword editor for the Independent. So... I got in touch to see if he'd be happy for me to submit a crossword if I could generate one with a better grid. (And in spite of my introductory paragraph, I won't bore any of the none-crossword types who might still be reading with quite why the grid was so terrible) <br />
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Anyway, long-story-still-too-long, one thing led to another and in April I had to come up with a pen name for my first published crossword. I went with Bluth, partly because, I'm told that in Gaelic, <i>Gorm</i> means <i>Blue</i> and <i>An</i> means <i>The</i> (and who needs the es) but mainly because I always loved <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J3Q1HT0?ie=UTF8&tag=davegorman-21&camp=1634&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=B00J3Q1HT0">Arrested Development</a> and was eating a frozen banana at the time. <br />
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Anyway... on April 13th, Bluth was born and my first cryptic was published in the <a href="https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20200413#!202004">Independent</a>. Sadly, petitjean is no longer around to see it - I think John would have got a kick out of me joining him in the field.<br />
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My second went in on <a href="https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20200506#!202005">May 6th</a>. <br />
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And a third, last Saturday - <a href="https://puzzles.independent.co.uk/games/cryptic-crossword-independent/?puzzleDate=20200620#!202006">June 20th</a><br />
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And this is where it gets a little strange. You see, there's a Youtube channel called Cracking The Cryptics... which I first became aware of when it was mentioned on the excellent Guardian Crossword Blog back in 2017<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaVWy0xVR1Y/XvC646bcSwI/AAAAAAAAD6w/G03tptCsegwhoafp_HLxMiza-MaoR7MxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screenshot_2020-06-22%2BCrossword%2Bblog%2BCracking%2Bthe%2BCryptics%2Bin%2Breal-time%2Bon%2BYouTube.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1286" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaVWy0xVR1Y/XvC646bcSwI/AAAAAAAAD6w/G03tptCsegwhoafp_HLxMiza-MaoR7MxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screenshot_2020-06-22%2BCrossword%2Bblog%2BCracking%2Bthe%2BCryptics%2Bin%2Breal-time%2Bon%2BYouTube.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
It's run by two incredibly good solvers, Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe - who is a twelve time (and reigning) Times Crossword Champion.<br />
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It's a thing. Trust me.<br />
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As it happens, over time their channel has become far more about sudoku and its variants than about crosswords... indeed, you might have heard of them recently as they appear to have had a surge of interest during lockdown leading to several news outlets labelling them a YouTube sensation and even a brief mention on Have I Got News For You. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lBHuqoroOo4/XvDHgudSomI/AAAAAAAAD7I/OVhUrTqIJtQCMXZoehbeNkYpcTxZISOcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Telegraphsudoku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1358" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lBHuqoroOo4/XvDHgudSomI/AAAAAAAAD7I/OVhUrTqIJtQCMXZoehbeNkYpcTxZISOcwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Telegraphsudoku.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
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Anyway... on Saturday I was alerted to the fact that they were going to upload a video of one of them solving my crossword. Mark <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmMrMagoo/status/1274265755098312706">tweeted</a>:
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Which is already thrilling. I mean... as I said before, Mark is a 12 times world champion crossword solver... so he knows his onions. But also, unlike with most of my other work, when you write a crossword, you don't imagine you'll get the chance to see how it goes down. And watching Simon tackle the crossword - watching the pennies drop and seeing him laugh as and when he found the humour that's in there was an unexpected joy.<br />
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And to top it all... the topical nature of two of the clues has meant I get a mention in the most recent post on the aforementioned, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2020/jun/22/crossword-roundup-no-hill-at-rhyl">Guardian Crossword Blog</a>.<br />
And there's even <a href="https://twitter.com/SquareRoutes/status/1274272579600220161">this</a>...<br />
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I mean... as lockdown projects go, it feels like it's doing okay. And I've no intention of stopping when life returns to normal. Bluth's having a lovely time. And I'm under no illusions that I've cracked it - there's an awful lot more to learn...<br />
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<br />Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-88900740144200632362020-04-16T17:43:00.003+01:002021-06-12T17:06:30.668+01:00YouTube: GormHub<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hvBpk-AqNBk/XpiKsOTk0cI/AAAAAAAAD4U/Uun9fWrGMKYhJZMh9HYgDOGunXB9X0lJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/GormHubLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1322" height="386" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hvBpk-AqNBk/XpiKsOTk0cI/AAAAAAAAD4U/Uun9fWrGMKYhJZMh9HYgDOGunXB9X0lJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/GormHubLogo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
So, I've decided to put a proper YouTube channel together. I'll use it to collect together clips from (and some complete episodes of) Modern Life Is Goodish and - in time - probably some new stuff too.<br /><br />Anyway... someone I work with suggested a name and came up with the logo and, well, it seems nice enough. <br /><br />Hope you enjoy the channel... it's here: <a href="http://gor.mn/GormHub">gor.mn/GormHub</a>Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-69910868742104312712019-11-13T12:41:00.001+00:002021-06-12T17:06:50.268+01:00Cause And Effect Aren't Always Easy To DiscernI will be sorry to see the end of this tour. I still hugely enjoy it every night. Not just the show, but also meeting the audience after the show, something I do wherever possible. So far on this tour, the only time I didn't do it was after the extra afternoon show in Cheltenham... but that's because we were doing two shows that day and we had to empty the theatre and then fill it up again about 15 minutes later... <br />
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I completely understand why not everyone does it - and in truth, if it wasn't for the technical side of my shows, I might not do it either. I come off stage and I'm knackered and the priority is to get to our hotel beds as soon as possible. But because it takes time to take the screen down and pack away all of our kit, I figure I might as well use that time to do something fun and that audiences seem to appreciate.<br />
<br />
But every now and then, something happens to make me think about not doing it. It seems that, for some people, it's not enough and that leads to upset. And maybe if I didn't do it at all that would be avoided. I got a taste of one such thing this week... although it seemed to be a reaction to a show from over a year ago.<br />
<br />
It started with an innocent tweet featuring a picture I'd taken backstage at the Everyman in Cheltenham last Sunday. <br />
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At first glance I thought someone had left a Terrys Chocolate Orange in the toilet... <a href="https://t.co/TXcuJdqJys">pic.twitter.com/TXcuJdqJys</a></div>
— Dave Gorman (@DaveGorman) <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveGorman/status/1193871236461481985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 11, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
It really is what I had first thought when I used that loo before the show. As it goes, I was delighted to discover it wasn't and that the theatre were thoughtful enough to have their loos so well stocked. But the coincidence of the packaging resembling something else so familiar seemed odd. And lots of people seemed to agree. On a computer screen the text might be legible, but when I look at the image on my phone it still looks like a Terry's Chocolate Orange to me and I have to zoom in, in order to reveal it's true nature. I imagine lots of people on Twitter had to do the same. <br />
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But one person seemed to take offence.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-olujxRRyWpY/XcvdfaaDKnI/AAAAAAAADyM/IzuX1_tO8b8nLUdrzp7JaOu5SD6p8QC5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story2_A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1600" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-olujxRRyWpY/XcvdfaaDKnI/AAAAAAAADyM/IzuX1_tO8b8nLUdrzp7JaOu5SD6p8QC5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story2_A.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Which is one of those Twitter moments that just makes you sigh. If it's possible to find offence on Twitter, someone will. My assumption is that they're imagining my tweet to have an undertone (or indeed, a heavy overtone) of old-fashioned, <i>"ugh... periods... tampons... yuk!"</i> Which isn't what I intended at all. So I thought a simple explanation would settle things down.
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-anKD6sFFouI/Xcve5YpZFUI/AAAAAAAADyc/cRQl2xH5ZFMLe_hwsUmNOwX8uR5GQQ7ggCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story2_B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-anKD6sFFouI/Xcve5YpZFUI/AAAAAAAADyc/cRQl2xH5ZFMLe_hwsUmNOwX8uR5GQQ7ggCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story2_B1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Reader, it did not settle things down. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zh83m0RHE68/XcvfRBZBeCI/AAAAAAAADyk/suC3tcvAVFgpMWIZGcpci7DJZggn7TN_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story2_B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="257" data-original-width="1600" height="102" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zh83m0RHE68/XcvfRBZBeCI/AAAAAAAADyk/suC3tcvAVFgpMWIZGcpci7DJZggn7TN_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story2_B2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Okay. Maybe she's unfamiliar with the packaging of a Terry's Chocolate Orange? Maybe she thinks my tweet means that I looked inside the box and saw the tampons and thought they looked like chocolates. Well, surely sight of the box and an understanding that it is really quite similar would explain things...<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HLyDgSQA8mQ/XcvkzZZO-pI/AAAAAAAADyw/KtK_PkDlj8Q4dPPyQgIRVr9HjQPVAae0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story2_C1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1274" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HLyDgSQA8mQ/XcvkzZZO-pI/AAAAAAAADyw/KtK_PkDlj8Q4dPPyQgIRVr9HjQPVAae0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story2_C1.jpg" width="508" /></a></div>
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Reader, it did not explain things...<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHo_AyWaIcM/XcvlsYq3B9I/AAAAAAAADy4/uE_e0pFqCBUvx08a-wdO55ISFo7i0kZ4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story2_D1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="1600" height="118" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHo_AyWaIcM/XcvlsYq3B9I/AAAAAAAADy4/uE_e0pFqCBUvx08a-wdO55ISFo7i0kZ4QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story2_D1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
This strikes me as a slightly odd reply as we seem to have left the topic of whether or not two similarly sized and similarly coloured boxes look alike and moved on to new territory. It seems my correspondent has some more long-standing grievance with me... dating back to the Wolverhampton tour date. Which was nearly a year ago. <br />
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Sometimes the tour dates can all blur into one, but the Wolverhampton show remains pretty clear in my memory for a number of reasons. The show had originally been booked in to the Civic Hall in Wolverhampton. But the Civic Hall needed to be rewired and had problems with asbestos and so all of their events - including the Grand Slam of Darts and shows by me, Jason Manford, Joe Lycett and Sarah Millican were moved to a new venue, Aldersley Leisure Village, 10 miles outside the city centre. There were plenty of discussions about whether the new venue - a large sports complex - would have the required lighting/staging/sound system to cope with our show - but in the end they persuaded us that it would all be in order. And it was. They effectively built a complete theatre rig inside a huge sports hall. <br />
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The idea that I'd expressed any sense of being too good for the audience (that included my Mum, two of my brothers, a sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew) seemed peculiar because... well, because I've simply never felt it, let alone expressed it. So I wanted to know where this was coming from. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4D_vaPEcnSU/Xcv20keZs1I/AAAAAAAAD0M/va-O9eZYV0otW_E04ziUUdCzfuq3qM8GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story2_D2_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1486" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4D_vaPEcnSU/Xcv20keZs1I/AAAAAAAAD0M/va-O9eZYV0otW_E04ziUUdCzfuq3qM8GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story2_D2_edited-1.jpg" width="594" /></a></div>
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All of which seems most peculiar. Because it contains quite specific details. Of course, I know it's possible that someone didn't enjoy the show. But the idea that I'd actually said - or otherwise conveyed - that the Wolverhampton audience was shit and that every other audience had been better just doesn't make sense. I mean, I know it just didn't happen. It's entirely possible that I referred to the change of venue and called it 'Not Wolverhampton' or somesuch... and maybe someone had hugely misunderstood what that meant. But the idea that I'd dissed it, them and noted that other audiences were better... nah... there's no way anyone could come away from the show thinking I'd done that. <br />
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Of course, other people were joining in the conversation at this stage. And my correspondent was giving them short shrift. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g_5GzETc1xo/XcvtxNN6X1I/AAAAAAAADzQ/lRN5bMoorXcExsmOyLWPgx0qv6tWdan0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story3_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1572" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g_5GzETc1xo/XcvtxNN6X1I/AAAAAAAADzQ/lRN5bMoorXcExsmOyLWPgx0qv6tWdan0wCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story3_edited-1.jpg" width="628" /> </a></div>
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I mean... you can't really say, 'Fuck you too' to someone who hasn't said, 'Fuck you' first. And the same person also received a reply to say. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qkoSaNZ00zM/XcvuXBtscmI/AAAAAAAADzY/N5Ut6LBdKRMQ335Rw8yjVFHSHtvSw1g6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story4_edited-2a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1600" height="348" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qkoSaNZ00zM/XcvuXBtscmI/AAAAAAAADzY/N5Ut6LBdKRMQ335Rw8yjVFHSHtvSw1g6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story4_edited-2a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Which repeats the idea that I had somehow attacked that night's audience - or at least some of them - for coming to the show and that I'd said they were a low point. Which I didn't. Because they weren't. And because I wouldn't, even if they were. <br />
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And when TV's Helen Chamberlain explained that she'd thought the photo was of a Terry's Chocolate Orange... she too was given short shrift... <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ia5JRvhxiU/XcvvFNcA5TI/AAAAAAAADzg/9WuC866kb_sLM5CghNtyYvxH1qLXC4kLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Story5TVsHC_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1112" data-original-width="1600" height="444" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3ia5JRvhxiU/XcvvFNcA5TI/AAAAAAAADzg/9WuC866kb_sLM5CghNtyYvxH1qLXC4kLgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Story5TVsHC_edited-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
Now all of what I've described so far is, I'm sure, a fairly common occurrence on Twitter. Someone takes offence, digs their heels in and lets loose with their anger. It clearly happens all the time. <br />
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But it made me wonder if she had mentioned it at the time. Maybe if she had I would discover what had actually happened to give her such a different impression of the night. So I used Twitter's <a href="https://twitter.com/search-advanced?lang=en-gb">advanced search feature</a> to look it up. <br />
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And I found this... which, as I started reading, made me think that maybe something had happened after all and I was the one with a dodgy recollection... <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qs4vSj_huF0/XcvwncOBWwI/AAAAAAAADzs/5mXSTkQ_7HUml8nfZxxuSeL9pRAAXkJmACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NovemberTweetA1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="1600" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qs4vSj_huF0/XcvwncOBWwI/AAAAAAAADzs/5mXSTkQ_7HUml8nfZxxuSeL9pRAAXkJmACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/NovemberTweetA1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Really! I have no memory of losing my shit on stage. How have I blocked that out? How have I failed to remember some, awful, on stage rant? Oh... read on... it turns out I haven't.
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2jwLT8vzrAg/XcvxOR_4LDI/AAAAAAAADz0/bSgx2xkjYq4zjJTZYPtf4QusD4OB6TPVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NovemberTweetA2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="1600" height="309" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2jwLT8vzrAg/XcvxOR_4LDI/AAAAAAAADz0/bSgx2xkjYq4zjJTZYPtf4QusD4OB6TPVQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/NovemberTweetA2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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So it turns out that the person who remembers the show as such a disaster and feels so slighted by the whole experience was actually tweeting a couple of hours after the show to say that she'd enjoyed it and would be booking my next tour too. <br />
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I gather she's since tweeted that the show was good and that it was my attitude after the show that was so upsetting. (I can't corroborate this as she has now blocked me.) <br /><br />That's what I meant when I said I sometimes pause to consider whether I should bother to meet people after the shows. I mean, if it can be taken this badly... <br /><br />But then again... if it's true that I did or said something after the show to upset her, it would suggest it was something I did after 1.11am that night. Which seems unlikely, as at that point I was in the passenger seat of the tour van as we did a night drive to London after that particular show. <br />
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But maybe I did say something that upset her and it's only after she'd dwelt on it a while that the upset overtook any other emotional response to the night. Although... that would make this tweet from February just a little strange also... <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xLlp-NQXPuk/Xcvyt1MbjSI/AAAAAAAAD0A/I5J9mcSAJVo8y7ffr73YC-UfETdQItraACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/FebruaryTweetA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1600" height="362" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xLlp-NQXPuk/Xcvyt1MbjSI/AAAAAAAAD0A/I5J9mcSAJVo8y7ffr73YC-UfETdQItraACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/FebruaryTweetA.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Quite how it's possible to have loved a show on the night, still have fond memories of it three months later, but to then decide you hated it a further nine months on is beyond me. I mean... it can't honestly be just because I think one box looks like another, can it? <br /><br /><br />PS: I've covered up her username and avatar in this post for good reasons. I know it's possible to search for her. Please don't tweet her or try to get involved. I'm not sharing this story because I wish her any ill-will. The last thing I want is to cause a pile-on. I just wanted to share this oddity from my point of view. If anything, I think the take home message is that words expressed in anger are often not to be taken at face value. Although the inability of people to step back and see that perhaps they have the wrong end of the stick does seem to be quite a thing on Twitter in particular and doesn't seem particularly healthy. I do kind of doubt that she'll be booking for my next tour as promised <br /><br />If you want to come along to this tour, you have a small number of opportunities left. Weston Super-Mare on Thursday, Guildford on Friday, Northampton on Sunday and London on Tuesday. Come along and maybe you too will enjoy yourself on the night only to convince yourself that you hated it by this time next year! Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-25169690854917749912019-10-10T10:44:00.002+01:002021-06-12T17:07:02.708+01:00On the road and on the box...<span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I'm
thoroughly enjoying being back on tour. We've just finished the first week of this final leg of touring with the
show, With <a href="http://davegorman.com/live/">Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibilitypoint</a>... so if
you came along to see the show in Aldershot, Wrexham, Liverpool,
Derry/Londonderry, Belfast or Salisbury - thank you. There are now just
20 shows to go on (well 21 because we've added a matinee in
Cheltenham) and I will be genuinely sorry to wave goodbye to it. It's
such a fun show to perform. <br /><br />I'm very much looking forward to this show's first visits to Sheffield, Doncaster, Halifax, Aberystwyth,
Yeovil, Worthing, Dorking, Torquay, Reading, Dudley, Scarborough,
Middlesbrough, Shanklin, Basingstoke and Weston Super Mare - as well as taking it back to Cambridge, Guildford, Northampton and London. </span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-86OynC4kA/XZ7yMXpjR7I/AAAAAAAADxU/r1LncNOeG2slQaMLTQa0CPRZuABd8uP4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/190828_DG_IG_WightFixed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Tour dates for the third and final leg of the tour." border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-86OynC4kA/XZ7yMXpjR7I/AAAAAAAADxU/r1LncNOeG2slQaMLTQa0CPRZuABd8uP4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/190828_DG_IG_WightFixed.jpg" title="With Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibilitypoint Poster " width="640" /></a></div>
<span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There's been a seven month gap between the second leg of the tour and this one so it came as something of a relief to discover that I still know the show inside out. The reason for the seven month break was that we needed to take time out to make the <a href="https://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/dave-gorman-terms-and-conditions-apply/">new series for Dave</a>. </span><span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">When people ask me why I use powerpoint, I always explain that its big advantage is that it broadens the range of topics I can discuss. When I look back through the 36 episodes of Modern Life Is Goodish and the last three tour shows and think about how much material has been chewed up, it's impossible to imagine making most of it work using words alone. I could talk about the ideas but it would sound like I was exaggerating or making things up when often, a big part of what moves the audience to laughter in
those bits is the proof that I'm doing nothing of the sort, that idiocy was hiding in plain sight. <br /><br />A part of the appeal of <a href="https://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/dave-gorman-terms-and-conditions-apply/">Terms And Conditions Apply</a>, for me, is that it allows other people to discuss those topics too. In the first episode my guests are the spectacular
Sara Barron, Phil Wang and Richard Osman. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4gFXc5-iwho/XZ71NIrdfyI/AAAAAAAADxg/MBahTsW2xMkp9SjAVrn3aZoo_Dpk9ASGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/DSC07261.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4gFXc5-iwho/XZ71NIrdfyI/AAAAAAAADxg/MBahTsW2xMkp9SjAVrn3aZoo_Dpk9ASGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/DSC07261.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The show is launching on Monday, October 21st and will be on Monday nights at 10pm for eight weeks. </span></span><br />
<span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span class="font" style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I loved making it and I hope you'll enjoy watching it too. The guests across the eight episodes will also include </span>Katherine
Ryan, Jimmy Carr, Rose Matafeo, Sally Phillips, Ed Gamble, Sophie
Duker, Phill Jupitus, Zoe Lyons, David O'Doherty, Desiree Burch, Jessica
Knappett, Darren Harriott, Rufus Hound, Suzi Ruffell, Cariad Lloyd,
Marcus Brigstocke and Jess Fostekew.<br /><br />During the last few series of Modern Life Is Goodish, I often used to run competitions for my mailing list, giving away things from the show. Shirts, mostly. I intend to do the same again with this series. I thought I'd mention it here so that anyone who isn't on the mailing list already can <a href="http://davegorman.com/contact/">subscribe</a> before the series starts. I'm not sure when I'll get round to setting the first competition up, what with all the travelling in the days before the show launches, but I'll give away the shirt I'm wearing in this trailer... </span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7LTIgsp0xk8" width="480"></iframe>
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<br />Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-42060270140400127952019-10-03T03:21:00.002+01:002021-06-12T17:07:16.729+01:00Terms & Conditions Apply... <div style="text-align: left;">
We've just started the third (and final) leg of the tour, With Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibilitypoint... and there's a reason there was quite a long gap between the second and third leg. I stopped in order to make something new. It's a new show for Dave.
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<br />
Here's the trailer:<br />
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From the moment I decided to <a href="https://gormano.blogspot.com/2017/12/goodish-bye.html">call time on Modern Life Is Goodish</a>... the channel and I started discussing what else we could do instead. And this is what we came up with. I hope you'll like it. Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-79038106601841482692019-04-26T11:11:00.002+01:002019-04-26T11:11:32.858+01:00More 2019 DatesIf you came to any of the tour shows that I did last autumn or this
spring, you'll be aware of quite how much I enjoy playing live. I
don't know why some material is more fun to perform than other bits but
With Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibilitypoint is a show that's
just full of stuff that's really fun to do.<br />
<br />
When
we got to the last show at the end of February quite a few venues had
been in touch wanting to have the show and I was eager to keep on
going... but because I had to start work on other things it wasn't immediately obvious when - or if - we could make things fit.<br />
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But things have finally sorted
themselves out and I'm delighted to say that the show will be back on
the road this autumn for another 24 dates. <br />
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A few of these shows are return visits but the majority of them are to new venues - and to parts of the country that weren't particularly well served before... <br />
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If you're the sort of person who likes to read a review to persuade yourself... well here's a (previously blogged) nice review from The Times... although this time, I've redacted it to make it completely spoiler free!<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nOFdHXkrhOs/XMLX1qh4hHI/AAAAAAAADuw/R9nHsmBs7584I6sJDhlWIUtbCGuQ2Y4-ACLcBGAs/s1600/RedactedReview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="883" data-original-width="1030" height="547" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nOFdHXkrhOs/XMLX1qh4hHI/AAAAAAAADuw/R9nHsmBs7584I6sJDhlWIUtbCGuQ2Y4-ACLcBGAs/s640/RedactedReview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
I think I'm going with the quote,<b>"Dave Gorman, the king of high-concept multimedia shows, the high priest of the comedy Powerpoint talk. He's backed by hundreds of precision-tooled graphics that he controls and interacts with as if he were in a double act with his laptop. The rappor between them is extraordinary. Gorman finds acute new angles on familiar topics in this hugely entertaining 90 minutes of multifacted, multimedia stand-up"</b><br /><br /><br />I hope to see you there... all the details can be found on <a href="http://davegorman.com/">DaveGorman.com</a><br />Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-70368958041044728622018-11-07T12:20:00.001+00:002018-11-07T12:22:26.366+00:00I'm probably pettifogging...Of course, my main motivation for posting this is to share a <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/arts/dave-gorman-comedy-southbank-review-a3981686.html">lovely review</a> for the current tour...<br />
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But, it feels like the typo in the picture caption has been put there on purpose to see if I point it out. I mean, any gold standard pedant would, wouldn't they?<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1QgX7atuaEo/W-LVzNxsvOI/AAAAAAAADsc/79u7HcvC9UIt03t0JFaxrI7UvBTz2pX_gCLcBGAs/s1600/PendantCrop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1432" height="357" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1QgX7atuaEo/W-LVzNxsvOI/AAAAAAAADsc/79u7HcvC9UIt03t0JFaxrI7UvBTz2pX_gCLcBGAs/s640/PendantCrop.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-54403934275144854432018-10-17T16:45:00.005+01:002018-10-17T16:45:52.025+01:00Demütigen Prahlen?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I meant to write about this a while ago... but I was too busy and so it drifted away with a shrug... but, well, here's something that doesn't seem to be quite right.<br />
<br />
On August 25th I was promoting the tour - that I'm now loving by the way - with an interview on Dermot O'Leary's Saturday Breakfast on Radio 2.<br />
<br />
As the name suggests, it's an early show. It's also based in London, where I no longer live. So I was up earlier than normal. Well, we have a toddler so I'm often up early, but I'm not often showered, dressed and out of the front door by 5.20 am. But I was that day.<br />
<br />
Now me mentioning the particular radio show I was on my way to appear on might come across as something of a humblebrag, it is after all almost entirely incidental... but I think the hour of the day <i>is</i> relevant and that it would seem odd not to add <i>some</i> context. (But maybe it's just a humblebrag.) <br />
<br />
The reason I think the hour of the day is relevant is because this is about Twitter... and in my experience a Twitter feed looks different at different times of day. I often only realise that I've stayed up too late working, when I become aware that my Twitter feed has become dominated by Australian comics. <br /><br />Anyway, that morning, as I sat bleary eyed on a train, I had a quick glance at Twitter. And something caught my eye that, had it been there at, say, 10am, would have probably just been washed away on the tide of tweets that swirl around in my feed during normal, up-and-awake, British hours. <br />
<br />
The thing that caught my eye - or rather, the things - looked sort of like these... <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PmD0ywcRvXk/W8c65DOZEfI/AAAAAAAADpg/_AbUkFuXDroJqjifVwv-MiKM62qd0LWCQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1600" height="268" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PmD0ywcRvXk/W8c65DOZEfI/AAAAAAAADpg/_AbUkFuXDroJqjifVwv-MiKM62qd0LWCQCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k0V9kH8qEbI/W8c7za-Ij6I/AAAAAAAADpo/XlPDs3QouOEK58XxMGdSmtQkiH5n7ObMQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1600" height="270" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k0V9kH8qEbI/W8c7za-Ij6I/AAAAAAAADpo/XlPDs3QouOEK58XxMGdSmtQkiH5n7ObMQCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
... but they weren't these. The tweets above were sent today. I've included them as examples because the actual tweets that caught my eye on August 25th have been deleted since. But they were the same shape and style as these. In that they were retweets of spam. <br /><br />So, in this instance, the account Learn Languages (@differlanguages) has retweeted Rubie Rosas (@Rosas_rubie) who's retweeting and commenting on tweets about stuff you can buy that just happen to include links to the places you can buy them from. <br />
<br />
I guess it's possible that, whoever 'Learn Languages' is, they just happen to think that Rubie Rosas comment about the necklace received by Débora Díaz is worth retweeting for its, um, sass(?)... but I doubt it. And I doubt the sincerity of the original tweet about the necklace from Débora Díaz because, well, because here she is tweeting about a bracelet her boyfriend, Josh, got her on October 16th. ..<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BCaxbwZcHIE/W8dAJTG4kZI/AAAAAAAADp0/0hos6dN8h_I_cTgI90NMYeDkUi_PAtFGQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2Bsunflowerjewels%2Bcom%2B-%2BTwitter%2BSearch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1244" data-original-width="1600" height="496" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BCaxbwZcHIE/W8dAJTG4kZI/AAAAAAAADp0/0hos6dN8h_I_cTgI90NMYeDkUi_PAtFGQCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2Bsunflowerjewels%2Bcom%2B-%2BTwitter%2BSearch.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
and here she is tweeting on October 17th about a necklace she got from her boyfriend, Andres...<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ahOG41j1C20/W8dA9BeJ-pI/AAAAAAAADqA/OALOJ5Gh2a4MngXe8omVBu8HMMp2iVgYwCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2Bsunflowerjewels%2Bcom%2B-%2BTwitter%2BSearch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ahOG41j1C20/W8dA9BeJ-pI/AAAAAAAADqA/OALOJ5Gh2a4MngXe8omVBu8HMMp2iVgYwCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2Bsunflowerjewels%2Bcom%2B-%2BTwitter%2BSearch.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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She moves on fast, that girl. <br /><br />And for what it's worth, here she is tweeting about another sunflowerjewels necklace and also a keychain, with both tweets posted on October 8th...<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fcVi7b4sfmk/W8dP-bE7tCI/AAAAAAAADrI/fXl3PqH7yq8YCCl1s3RJXq1LqsMkLnvtACLcBGAs/s1600/Sunflower2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="1600" height="329" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fcVi7b4sfmk/W8dP-bE7tCI/AAAAAAAADrI/fXl3PqH7yq8YCCl1s3RJXq1LqsMkLnvtACLcBGAs/s640/Sunflower2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ijY3N9CJHA/W8dBlJD3ZtI/AAAAAAAADqM/HZ35higjMB4Q2jpEhfXOkAFtokiaTwAxACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2Bsunflowerjewels%2Bcom%2B-%2BTwitter%2BSearch%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ijY3N9CJHA/W8dBlJD3ZtI/AAAAAAAADqM/HZ35higjMB4Q2jpEhfXOkAFtokiaTwAxACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2Bsunflowerjewels%2Bcom%2B-%2BTwitter%2BSearch%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7ijY3N9CJHA/W8dBlJD3ZtI/AAAAAAAADqM/HZ35higjMB4Q2jpEhfXOkAFtokiaTwAxACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2Bsunflowerjewels%2Bcom%2B-%2BTwitter%2BSearch%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
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I guess it's <i>possible</i> that Débora Díaz has two boyfriends and they're both aware that she's obsessed with SunflowerJewels and so buy her gifts accordingly, but it seems more likely that her account is being used to send spam and that Rubie Rosas and then Learn Languages are amplifying it.<br />
<br />
So far, so what?<br />
<br />
I know Twitter is polluted by all sorts of spammy garbage and I spend about 20 minutes a day blocking all sorts of p0rnbot nonsense. But I'm not following <i>those</i> people and I appeared to be following 'Learn Languages' and <i>that's</i> what seemed so odd.<br />
<br />
Because, even setting the spam to one side, it's not really the sort of account I would have followed. Most of its tweets look like this:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mWsqIQo-K9A/W8dF1PekdfI/AAAAAAAADqc/WdJJVPNY6Csh3u7XLO76xxgQhhY4m_8VgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter%25283%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1247" data-original-width="1600" height="498" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mWsqIQo-K9A/W8dF1PekdfI/AAAAAAAADqc/WdJJVPNY6Csh3u7XLO76xxgQhhY4m_8VgCEwYBhgL/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter%25283%2529.png" width="640" /></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lEpv0WBO2Qk/W8dHCjgAQDI/AAAAAAAADqk/FuZ_upwcO9g79fd1UXwMLP_A32vktY1JACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="1600" height="412" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lEpv0WBO2Qk/W8dHCjgAQDI/AAAAAAAADqk/FuZ_upwcO9g79fd1UXwMLP_A32vktY1JACLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter%25282%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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and as I'm not the kind of person who wonders what American for 'cheese' is, it seems highly unlikely that I would have followed them in the hope of finding out.<br />
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So I started scrolling back through their tweets to see if I could see anything that would make me think,<i> "ah... that's the sort of thing that would have persuaded me to follow them!" </i><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tfabdzaFjrc/W8dIXYj6LOI/AAAAAAAADqw/OpYwJMaZdAwHYFrxx3e0GOQUw3M2BeBkQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="334" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tfabdzaFjrc/W8dIXYj6LOI/AAAAAAAADqw/OpYwJMaZdAwHYFrxx3e0GOQUw3M2BeBkQCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BTweets%2Bwith%2Breplies%2Bby%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2Bon%2BTwitter-1.png" /></a></div>
But nothing of that sort turned up. <br />
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What did become apparent is that tweeting cue cards for simple words in various languages was a pretty recent turn of events for @differlanguages. <br />
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They'd only been doing it since August 10th. Prior to that, they'd been tweeting macro photography - close up details of images photographed under a microscope.<br />
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I guess that's a little more interesting to me. I mean, it's just <i>possible</i> that I might have decided to follow that sort of account on a rainy afternoon, one day. <br />
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It still seemed a little unlikely... but not impossible. And it didn't explain how an account dedicated to macro photography had suddenly switched to tweeting bland shit about languages and was also - being paid (presumably) - to amplify spam. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A0n5YsqvNQA/W8dKJ9QTkrI/AAAAAAAADq8/a5AvP3OGQUsRfv2hgGZ9rou8XaR17pBsACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2BTwitter.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="900" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A0n5YsqvNQA/W8dKJ9QTkrI/AAAAAAAADq8/a5AvP3OGQUsRfv2hgGZ9rou8XaR17pBsACLcBGAs/s200/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BLearn%2BLanguages%2B%2528%2Bdifferlanguages%2529%2BTwitter.png" width="200" /></a>What made it all the more curious was the number of followers they had... <i>and</i> the number of people following them that <i>I was also following</i>. Apparently, amongst their 377,000 followers were more than 100 people I follow too. <br />
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In that screen grab you can see the avatars for American comics, Randy Rainbow, Brian Posehn and Sarah Silverman, Australian comic, Celia Paquola, Irish comic, Jarlath Regan and British writer/producers, Ash Attalah and James Serafinowicz. As well as three others whose avatars aren't instantly recognizable to me even though I'm pretty sure the one on the top right is a picture of the magician, Doug Henning. (He died before Twitter existed and having a Twitter account would be quite a trick.)<br />
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A quick scroll through the 105 names of people I follow, that also follow @differlanguages reveals such luminaries as Jerry Seinfeld, Marina Hyde, Greg Jenner, Danny Baker, Lauren Laverne, Bill Burr, Boy George, Ross Noble, Sharon Horgan, Louis Theroux, Amy Schumer, Omid Djalili, Gabby Logan, Greg Proops, Simon Evans, Richard Bacon, Jon Ronson and the Simpsons producer, Mike Scully (who I once persuaded to tell a 'fisting' joke on live TV, but that's another story). <br />
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Oh, and in doing that scroll, the image of Doug Henning leapt out and revealed itself to be the avatar of Mitchell Hurwitz... the creator of Arrested Development, no less.<br />
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I mean, of course it's possible that any of these individuals would have clicked a link and followed an account devoted to macro photography... or even to learning simple words in common languages... but for <i>all </i>of them to be following this account just stretches credulity a little too far.<br />
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I didn't know what it had been before... but it seemed obvious that the change of focus that account had gone through in early August hadn't been its first transformation.<br />
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Surely, at some point before that it had been something more interesting to have so many comics, writers and comic-wranglers following it.<br />
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Unable to work out what it had been, I asked the question... <br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/DaveGorman/status/1033218255979245568"><img alt="https://twitter.com/DaveGorman/status/1033218255979245568" border="0" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="1600" height="406" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j4W3gb9lDEI/W8dRkegILiI/AAAAAAAADrU/BGX4naydJYUfdtSqVhw4uul5yxuln33VgCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BDave%2BGorman%2Bon%2BTwitter.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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It only took about 8 minutes to get a proper informed answer... <br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/grumpygiant/status/1033220382617034752"><img alt="https://twitter.com/grumpygiant/status/1033220382617034752" border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1600" height="290" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NaRKQp0NwKw/W8dSUsADOlI/AAAAAAAADrc/J2k8visMUIcJA8pPotX24hjCo5qZD7DdQCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot_2018-10-17%2BDave%2BGorman%2Bon%2BTwitter%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Which links to <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17820582">this</a>. Which tells us that the account used to belong to Harris Wittels. Harris Wittels was an American comic and writer. He wrote for The Sarah Silverman Show (which presumably explains why she's following the account, as well as cast member, Brian Posehn) and was a writer and executive producer on Parks and Recreation.<br />
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I doubt many British people knew his name. I didn't. But I did know the word, 'humblebrag'. He coined it. He was the man behind the twitter account @humblebrag that simply retweeted tweets of a humblebraggy nature. That's what I followed. <br /><br />He passed away in February 2015. His account was taken over in early June 2018. It must have been quite a valuable account, what with so much influence. All of his tweets were deleted. The name was changed first to @micropics and then, in August to @differlanguages. And that's who they are now. Tweeting rubbish to make them look like an account with a purpose and then also spamming. <br /><br />I don't have anything nice to wrap this up with. It's been written about in a few places now and lots of people have reported it to Twitter. But it's still there, profiting in its own small way, from the death of a man who was creative and funny and changed the language, by adding a word to it. I wonder what the Italian, French, Spanish and German words for humblebrag are? Maybe @differlanguages will tell us one day?Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-10508659531308755742018-10-03T18:22:00.001+01:002018-10-03T19:01:41.246+01:00This is nice... There's a nice review of one of the Brighton shows in today's Times.
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If you're already coming along to the show at some point, then I'd suggest you're better off not reading any further as it contains <i>mild</i> spoilers.<br />
<br />
But if you're the sort of person who (quite reasonably) wants someone else to validate their ticket-buying decisions, then hey, this might put the right amount of wind in your sails (and my sales):<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rIyyxphpcWU/W7T3hhJVMYI/AAAAAAAADpI/ontk4Ri5SLQPJx3WdN59_oOLZwN6G78SACLcBGAs/s1600/TimesReviewTour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Times Review" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="511" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rIyyxphpcWU/W7T3hhJVMYI/AAAAAAAADpI/ontk4Ri5SLQPJx3WdN59_oOLZwN6G78SACLcBGAs/s1600/TimesReviewTour.jpg" title="never been more enjoyable" /> </a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rIyyxphpcWU/W7T3hhJVMYI/AAAAAAAADpI/ontk4Ri5SLQPJx3WdN59_oOLZwN6G78SACLcBGAs/s1600/TimesReviewTour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rIyyxphpcWU/W7T3hhJVMYI/AAAAAAAADpI/ontk4Ri5SLQPJx3WdN59_oOLZwN6G78SACLcBGAs/s1600/TimesReviewTour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div>
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EDITED TO ADD:<br />
<br />
A few people on Twitter have commented on the absence of something in the review... so it seems only fair to mention that the writer addressed that in a tweet himself... <br /><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oNAwZ2BS6qE/W7UCQvJ34dI/AAAAAAAADpU/KzYs9XO-6AAezRvL9YiveJY962DIjPw9gCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot_2018-10-03%2BDominic%2BMaxwell%2Bon%2BTwitter%2BNote%2Bto%2Bthose%2Bwho%2527ve%2Bseen%2Bthe%2Bshow%2Bit%2527s%2Ball%2Bright%252C%2BI%2Bmade%2Bsure%2Bto%2Bgive%2Bnot%255B...%255D.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="1422" height="165" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oNAwZ2BS6qE/W7UCQvJ34dI/AAAAAAAADpU/KzYs9XO-6AAezRvL9YiveJY962DIjPw9gCLcBGAs/s400/Screenshot_2018-10-03%2BDominic%2BMaxwell%2Bon%2BTwitter%2BNote%2Bto%2Bthose%2Bwho%2527ve%2Bseen%2Bthe%2Bshow%2Bit%2527s%2Ball%2Bright%252C%2BI%2Bmade%2Bsure%2Bto%2Bgive%2Bnot%255B...%255D.png" title="" width="400" /></a></div>
Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-41314758620018263662018-06-20T11:11:00.001+01:002018-11-21T10:35:56.060+00:00Extra Extra Extra<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wf7HsRGXnNo/WyofZeBiTHI/AAAAAAAADoo/1oStlU8du04rKT7hWplEI4gF6dLAWcwzwCLcBGAs/s1600/DG_EXTENSION.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wf7HsRGXnNo/WyofZeBiTHI/AAAAAAAADoo/1oStlU8du04rKT7hWplEI4gF6dLAWcwzwCLcBGAs/s640/DG_EXTENSION.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Blimey... when this new tour was first announced, it was going to be a short and sweet 26 nights. A few of the shows sold quickly and some of the venues came back asking for more and we added a further 9. And then another 7. And I thought that was probably that... <br />
<br />
But now we're adding another 19 - all in January/February 2019 - taking the total to 61. <br />
<br />
Some of the new dates are extra shows for existing venues... we're adding a third date at the Royal Festival Hall, London, the Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the City Hall, Hull, the Theatre Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and the confusingly named Warwick Arts Centre, which is in Coventry and not Warwick. <br />
<br />
There's also a fifth show at the Lowry, Salford which means a huge amount to me because Manchester/Salford is where I began my adventures in comedy some 27 years ago. I was a 19 year old soon-to-drop-out student at Manchester University and my first ever gig was as part of a charity night at Salford Uni. Time flies. <br />
<br />
There are some new towns in amongst the new dates also. Northampton, Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Cambridge and Guildford. <br />
<br />
Of course, all of the dates are on my site... but here's a handy map to help show you where we're going:<br />
<iframe height="480" src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1l5_DSBpDtsYmX8VZHCdXkrUWOgrG5AF0&hl=en" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
I know that every time I post something like this I get a flurry of emails and tweets from people asking me why I'm avoiding certain parts of the country. Allow me to head you off at the pass... because the answer is always the same: I'm not. <br />
<br />
Of course, they might be avoiding me. I don't book venues. They book me. Sometimes places want to book the show but don't have dates that work. Sometimes venues want to book the show but can't handle it technically - I am in a double act with a large projector screen, so sight lines and lighting etc etc are more important than if it was just one-man-and-a-mic stand up. Sometimes venues just don't want to book the show. <br />
<br />
Anyway... I hope you can come along. See you there!Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-79153425504769085942018-01-31T09:33:00.004+00:002018-01-31T09:33:55.394+00:00Extra ExtraI can't pretend to be anything other than thrilled at the way the tour is selling - especially given that it's still a fair few months away.
I couldn't really believe it last month when I was told that several of the shows had already sold out and that they wanted to add 9 more nights.
And now - with the tour still 8 months away - we're adding a further 7.<br />
<br />
I know some people find it a bit frustrating that the extra dates are in venues that already had the show - so I can only say that I'd love to playing in all four corners of the country... but I can only go where the show is booked. And it sort of stands to reason that the easiest gigs to add to a tour are ones at existing venues which have sold out 8 months in advance... it's venues who've already put faith in the show responding to the demand they're witnessing.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3lY4fx3aOfM/WnGLpxQcbFI/AAAAAAAADlA/EGN_x5pDPNsWRSVNCayY64UpUQqtLtfsACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot-2018-1-25%2BTwitter%2BMentions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="902" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3lY4fx3aOfM/WnGLpxQcbFI/AAAAAAAADlA/EGN_x5pDPNsWRSVNCayY64UpUQqtLtfsACLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot-2018-1-25%2BTwitter%2BMentions.jpg" width="361" /></a></div>
The Lowry Centre in Salford is one of the ones that has a new date.<br />
<br />
Indeed we've now added three extra shows there. Which means a huge amount to me because Manchester was my home town for many years and is where I started doing stand up.<br />
<br />
(Yes, I know Manchester and Salford are technically not the same city. But they might as well be. They're not twin cities, they're conjoined twin cities.)<br />
<br />
I mention that one in particular because of the email they sent to their punters mentioning this new, extra date... which contains a bit of misinformation.<br />
<br />
If you come along, please don't expect to be stepping into the magical and colourful world of Little Baby Bum.<br />
<br />
That won't be happening. Not on purpose anyway.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the full list of dates - including the extra 9 and the extra, extra 7 are all on my <a href="http://www.davegorman.com/">website</a>.<br />
<br />
And here's an ad in handy gif form... <br />
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Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-81559280576382267232017-12-18T15:55:00.002+00:002021-03-04T22:49:18.816+00:00Goodish ByeAs the credits rolled on episode 7 last Tuesday, the continuity announcer said that...
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... the series would be concluding next week - and added, "and it'll be an emotional show as it'll be the last ever one of the series."</div>
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Which, of course, led to a small flurry of tweets from people, asking if he meant it was the last ever... or just the last of the series... all of which is very flattering. Thank you. <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jC5-yVRl10M/Wje-Dg1vCbI/AAAAAAAADj8/IElzDU7ZKhor-Pv0-6CFcfGiwSZpaHvdQCLcBGAs/s1600/LastEverTweets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="442" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jC5-yVRl10M/Wje-Dg1vCbI/AAAAAAAADj8/IElzDU7ZKhor-Pv0-6CFcfGiwSZpaHvdQCLcBGAs/s640/LastEverTweets.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
As people have continued to ask me since then if this is the last one or not, I thought it was probably worth writing a few short words about it to try and add a little clarity. Or, more likely, I'll write a lot of words. Let's see how this goes.<br />
<br />
The first thing to say is that I love the show and I'm exceedingly proud of the last five years of work. And I'm hugely grateful to have had the opportunity to do quite so much long-form stand-up on TV. <br />
<br />
I add the words 'long-form' for a reason.<br />
<br />
It seems odd to me that TV largely presents stand-up as something that happens in short sets of 7 or 8 minutes - or even as a quick minute, before "we get on with the rest of the show".<br />
<br />
I don't think that's what any of my favourite comics are best at. <br />
<br />
In terms of live work, the only times you really watch someone doing something <i>that</i> short is when they're a brand new act doing unpaid gigs as they learn or, maybe, somebody more established trying a new idea out somewhere.<br />
<br />
A standard set on the circuit is 20 minutes, a one-person show at a festival is expected to be 60 minutes and a tour show is longer.<br />
<br />
If you can get into the position of touring shows in your own name - you have to have worked out how to shape a longer show - and yet the people who have worked that out tend to be the ones being asked to do 7 or 8 minutes of stuff on telly.<br />
<br />
I don't think doing an hour is as simple as just doing three lots of twenty. Or at least it shouldn't be. Because the longer form affords you more opportunities to link things up, to draw out themes, to misdirect audiences in more interesting ways and to make things feel more complete. You have to change things up more or they get wise to your rhythm. A short set can be great - but it's the fast food version of stand-up. It's a dirty burger. But long-form stand-up, done well, can be a banquet. <br />
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It's why I was chuffed to bits with this Sunday Times review of a show in Series 4. <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-awu8G0my9pQ/WCBtfD-cXNI/AAAAAAAADRc/2Ct5r6f3wUIAiopj9ZxljbchhOvN93a6gCEw/s1600/SundayTimes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-awu8G0my9pQ/WCBtfD-cXNI/AAAAAAAADRc/2Ct5r6f3wUIAiopj9ZxljbchhOvN93a6gCEw/s320/SundayTimes.png" width="320" /></a></div>
The idea of <i>'handling an audience like a DJ at a club'</i> sort of gets to the nub of the difference between long-form and short-form stand-up.<br />
<br />
I don't think you can really do that in a short set. I think it's the thing to aim for in a longer show.<br />
<br />
With that in mind; what a fantastic opportunity this series has been. When people say they think it's a shame the show hasn't been on a bigger channel, I always ask them to tell me <i>any</i> other channel that has given <i>any</i> other comic the opportunity to do this kind of show? Not stand-up and sketches. Not stand-up and anything else. Not a package of discreet bits that could be edited together in a different order and make just as much sense. Proper, long-form stand-up that actually represents what a touring comic does live? I can't think of many. I don't think I can think of any. Not just now... but for many years.<br />
<br />
In that sense it is a dream job. And I have always tried to go about my job without complaint. There's no point moaning about <i>having-to-come-up-with-more-stuff</i> when <i>coming-up-with-stuff</i> is one of the key parts of your job. <i>That's</i> what we're supposed to do for a living. <br />
<br />
And I'm not pretending that every last bit of it has been all my own work. I'm lucky enough to have worked with a fantastic bunch of collaborators - producers and writers - all of whom have contributed much. <br />
<br />
So please don't mistake any of what follows for any kind of woe-is-me, moaning. That couldn't be further from the truth. Here's the thing: as lucky as I am to have an almost unique opportunity to do the thing that I love, in the form that I love, on the telly... it's also bloody demanding in terms of time.<br />
<br />
We've always recorded the shows in pairs. So when we've made six episodes (series 1 and 4) we had three recordings... and when we've made eight episodes (series 2, 3 and 5) we've had four. During this final series, we've had 9 weeks between recordings. In each 9 week block I've spent the first week having some time off. I've then spent the next five weeks working 40 to 50 hours a week and then, for the final three weeks of each block - which includes doing a few dry runs of the shows in small theatres while I try to properly hone the shows - working in excess of 100 hours a week.<br />
<br />
Three or four times a week during that time I start work at 10am, work through to 5am try to get some sleep... and am at my desk by 10am later that morning to carry on. And while it doesn't happen every time, there are plenty of occasions where I work through the night and into the next day without sleep because I won't meet the deadlines otherwise.<br />
<br />
And it's simply not possible to keep doing that without making yourself ill. In series 1 we didn't really know what we were letting ourselves in for when it was set up and as a result we only had two weeks between recordings. It's probably not a coincidence that I fainted on stage during the taping of episode 6.<br />
<br />
Everyone involved - the channel and the production company and everyone working on the show - has been aware of quite how labour intensive the show is to make ever since we began. There isn't an executive involved who hasn't, at some point, been in a meeting with me when I've been awake for 48 hours and counting. And everyone has done everything they can to make it easier. But unfortunately, there isn't a short cut when it comes to building the powerpoint.<br />
<br />
We don't write a paper script and then send it to a graphics department to build. We talk about ideas. We throw ideas around. We talk about a vague structure. And then <i>I</i> build it. And I don't build it to a script... me building it <i>is</i> me writing the script. Nobody involved in the show - me included - knows what it's going to look like until I emerge from my shed having built it.<br />
<br />
And then, when I've built it, we talk about it some more, we come up with some definitive ideas for words to go with it. And sometimes that involves me rebuilding it. And then I perform it. And rewrite and rebuild it. Then perform it again. And rewrite and rebuild it. And then all of that a third time. And then we record it.<br />
<br />
A regular show has somewhere between 300 and 500 slides in it. (A tour show, will have many, many more) Here, for example, is a version of what a late-ish draft of this series' episode 4 looked like the day before we recorded it:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7wq8F-wGpc0/WjfOYOUYPBI/AAAAAAAADkM/QWIvYoT3JPYgosrlOJWPxHXOme1UdUvSwCLcBGAs/s1600/Ep4Pptgraphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="1600" height="472" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7wq8F-wGpc0/WjfOYOUYPBI/AAAAAAAADkM/QWIvYoT3JPYgosrlOJWPxHXOme1UdUvSwCLcBGAs/s640/Ep4Pptgraphic.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
There isn't a quick way of building this many slides - especially when there are plenty of moving parts.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, whatever we've done to try and find solutions, the nature of the beast is that this much work has to be squeezed into the final two or three weeks before a recording.<br />
<br />
There are lots of reasons. For one: doing dry runs will always lead to rewriting and rebuilding because it's only when stuff is performed for the first time that you discover both how long it is and how well it works. And the dry runs need to be relatively close to the recording because a performance isn't learned, it's honed. In so much as things <i>are</i> learned, it's muscle memory - it's about instinctively finding what you did last night because that worked, rather than poring over a script trying to commit things to memory which, in my experience (and perhaps with my limitations) robs a performance of authenticity and immediacy. I don't want you to watch me remembering stuff - I want to relate stuff to you. Muscle memory doesn't last very long. A few days off undoes it. There has to be a churn of performing/rewriting/performing/rewriting for there to be any benefit to that process.<br />
<br />
For two: it's unhelpful to build powerpoint for bits until I know what they're going to be a part of. For example, in a recent episode there was a small section about serving suggestions. It's an idea that's actually been knocking around since the start of Series 1 but has never found a home until this series. There'd be no point in me spending a day or two powerpointing it early on because it was one of 60 or 70 similar ideas and we'd never be able to use all of them.<br />
<br />
It only earned it's place in a show because I could see a way of connecting it to other bits. It provided a segue to something else, but also created a really easily understood metaphor that improved a later, seemingly unconnected later bit making it shorter to tell and more immediate to grasp. I need to know these things <i>when</i> I'm making it... and I didn't know those things at the start of Series 1. It took a new idea, generated during Series 5 to provide the context in which that old idea could do two jobs on the show.<br />
<br />
For three: even if I we were able to come up with a paper script that someone else could create powerpoint for... it wouldn't teach me the timing of the powerpoint. On the night it's me who presses the button to fire the next transition/animation/video/whatever. And it's me who's trying to wrap my words around it. The best way of me absorbing the timings is for me to create them. It's easier to learn a song if you're the one who writes the tune.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://dave.uktv.co.uk/">Dave</a> have been brilliantly supportive all round. Before we'd finished series 1, we knew they wanted series 2 and 3. And before we finished series 3, we knew they wanted 4 and 5. And before we started work on series 4, we knew that everyone was committed to trying different schedules and finding ways of solving these issues. We tried all sorts. Most of the time it made it harder. But the efforts were sincere. In the end, the reality is that there are no short cuts. And nor should there be. Like I say, I try to do my work without complaining.<br />
<br />
It's hard to let go of such a wonderful opportunity. I know that if I wanted to make more I could. But I don't want to do it half-cocked. And I don't want to make myself ill doing it either. And I want to do other things too. I want to do more live work. <br />
<br />
In a way, the decision to <a href="http://www.davegorman.com/livedates.html">tour</a> next year, made my mind up for me. It would be impossible to create another series at the same time as creating and touring a new show. So series six was never going to happen in 2018. And I can't help thinking that not-working-100-plus-hours-a-week is probably going to feel quite nice after five years of crazy. So it's probably best to leave it there.<br />
<br />
I know that, with ads, each show is less than an hour long... but creating 36 telly-hours in the space of five years is something I'm hugely proud of. There aren't many comics that will get that opportunity. And I like to think I respected the opportunity - and the audience - and always gave my all to it. <br />
<br />
In the mean time, I'm having a bit of time off over Christmas - and the channel and I are actively looking for ways of working together in the future. <br />
<br />
If you don't know what this rather self-indulgent post is going on about - here's a nice write up of the series from the Christmas Radio Times. (My Mum's chuffed about this)<br />
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<br />
It's rare for a series to end like this, with everyone involved feeling happy that it happened and nobody bearing any grudges.<br />
<br />
If you've enjoyed the shows - thanks for being a part of it. I'm pretty sure they'll be available on <a href="https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/dave-gormans-modern-life-is-goodish/watch-online/">UKTVPlay</a> for some time to come. The final episode airs tomorrow, Tuesday at 10pm. I hope you can catch it.<br />
<br />
If you want to make sure you know what I get up to next, my <a href="http://gor.mn/DGBNML">mailing list</a> is the best way to find out. <br />
<br />
For now, my thanks to Nick Martin, James Fidler, Judy Lewis, Nick Doody, Sarah Morgan, Carrie Quinlan, Carl Cooper, Paul Wheeler, Kumar Kamalagharan, The Bilroth Quartet, Annabel Port, Richard Watsham, Iain Coyle, Jamie Isaacs and a whole host of other people who all came on the ride with me. I've had a blast.<br />
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Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com138tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-65330908541320889982017-11-13T10:42:00.004+00:002021-03-04T22:48:45.542+00:00NEW TOUR: With Great Powerpoint Comes Great Responsibilitypoint<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This is happening next year... </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3nhYXgIIvGo/Wg2AcSJ9_EI/AAAAAAAADiU/A8ehKe6OvoMqffd79oWUVUXClPm1dnsYACLcBGAs/s1600/ResponsibilityPointPoster_smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3nhYXgIIvGo/Wg2AcSJ9_EI/AAAAAAAADiU/A8ehKe6OvoMqffd79oWUVUXClPm1dnsYACLcBGAs/s640/ResponsibilityPointPoster_smaller.jpg" width="452" /></a></div>
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Tickets are on general sale from Friday... but they go on pre-sale from 9am tomorrow, Tuesday 14th via <a href="http://seetickets.com/">SeeTickets.com</a>, then on Wednesday at 9am they go on presale via <a href="http://ticketmaster.co.uk/">Ticketmaster.co.uk</a> and on Thursday morning you'll also be able to get them from <a href="http://tickets.amazon.co.uk/">tickets.amazon.co.uk</a><br />
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And yes, I know 'pre-sale' is a silly phrase but I don't know what else to call it.<br />
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Anyway, live shows are far and away the most fun part of what I do and it's been too long since the last tour so I'm chomping at the bit to get on with this one. I hope to see you there... <br />
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*UPDATE* <br />
Hello... I'm editing this post to explain that the poster has been changed. The original had some errors on it - for which I apologise. It seems that one venue has a refurb scheduled that won't be finished as early as they anticipated so they've changed a date... and it seems another venue was making arrangements while looking at their 2019 diary by mistake! These things happen. I apologise for the confusion caused... oh, and I also have all the correct dates on the <a href="http://www.davegorman.com/livedates.html">live dates</a> page of my site.Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-43673435213026325282017-11-03T11:12:00.003+00:002017-11-03T11:12:56.649+00:00If you want to win some Mockbusters...As a brand new series of Modern Life Is Goodish is underway, I've been asked if I'll be reviving
my competitions for my mailing list... and yes, as and when there's
something to give away, I will. If I can, I use things from an episode that's already gone out - that way, the prize doesn't act as a spoiler for what's coming up.<br />
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Which is why the prize for this week is going to be this assortment of terrible mockbuster cartoons. <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ozuKFuj8ubs/WfxJu03jnGI/AAAAAAAADg4/ZA0_IQVrxdMREd9tzwVPZUmnJ0f1TDH7QCLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot-2017-11-3%2BDave%2BGorman%2B%2528%2BDaveGorman%2529%2BTwitter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ozuKFuj8ubs/WfxJu03jnGI/AAAAAAAADg4/ZA0_IQVrxdMREd9tzwVPZUmnJ0f1TDH7QCLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot-2017-11-3%2BDave%2BGorman%2B%2528%2BDaveGorman%2529%2BTwitter.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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(If you haven't seen the first episode of the new series then the full horror of this, um, prize won't make a lot of sense to you, but, of course, it's always very easy to catch up with the show using <a href="https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/dave-gormans-modern-life-is-goodish/watch-online/">UKTVPlay</a>)<br />
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To be in with a chance of winning these - and who wouldn't want to own them - you need to be on my <a href="http://gormano.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/now-seems-like-good-time-to-try-and.html">mailing list</a>. I'll email a reminder for the new episode on Tuesday along with a question about that night's show. All the people who send an email to a secret address with the right answer go in the hat. One (un)lucky person will win the DVDs. Simple.<br />
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In other news... I filmed an episode of Pointless over a year ago... and it's being shown on Saturday. I was paired up with one of my comic heroes, John Shuttleworth and, well, I'm not allowed to tell you how we did... <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HlAwSuwo2p4/WfxONncWLZI/AAAAAAAADhE/XrKN-8E3ft8NyVUdVugUbLhD5LRsvi4xACLcBGAs/s1600/Screenshot-2017-11-3%2BSpecial%252C%2BSeries%2B10%252C%2BPointless%2BCelebrities%2B-%2BBBC%2BOne.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1480" data-original-width="1600" height="592" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HlAwSuwo2p4/WfxONncWLZI/AAAAAAAADhE/XrKN-8E3ft8NyVUdVugUbLhD5LRsvi4xACLcBGAs/s640/Screenshot-2017-11-3%2BSpecial%252C%2BSeries%2B10%252C%2BPointless%2BCelebrities%2B-%2BBBC%2BOne.png" width="640" /></a></div>
By the way, it's okay, I think everyone involved in the show already gets the irony in the title Pointless Celebrities. It's on Saturday at 6pm. On BBC1. Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-5363506186891167242017-10-31T16:43:00.002+00:002022-06-05T16:39:52.512+01:00Happy Modern Life Is Goodish Day, Everyone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Series 5 starts tonight. 10pm. On Dave. </div>
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And there'll be a new episode every Tuesday for 8 weeks.</div>
Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-18293448742679315742017-10-24T09:19:00.001+01:002017-10-24T09:19:36.331+01:00Series 5 Starts Next Week...<div style="text-align: center;">
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And look... we only went and got the brilliant Cassetteboy to make us a trail...Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-48910600376062681392017-08-23T14:46:00.001+01:002017-08-23T14:46:41.702+01:00Ch-ch-ch-changesHello. Long time, no see. <br />
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I thought it was worth posting something here because I had dozens of people getting in touch with me yesterday about the same thing - largely on Twitter - and I didn't find the limits of Twitter very helpful as a way of responding... <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CNsWAviXhDU/WZ1mdWf5l_I/AAAAAAAADeM/8kOp1aMQP04UNbu3VvPFwxpA9ddvqOXJQCLcBGAs/s1600/GuardianHeadlineJoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="1584" height="130" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CNsWAviXhDU/WZ1mdWf5l_I/AAAAAAAADeM/8kOp1aMQP04UNbu3VvPFwxpA9ddvqOXJQCLcBGAs/s400/GuardianHeadlineJoke.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
It started when the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/22/ken-cheng-pound-coin-gag-voted-edinburgh-fringe-funniest-joke">announcement</a> was made for the "Funniest Joke Of The Fringe" award.<br />
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The award is sponsored by the TV channel, Dave and the joke that, scooped the top prize - because as we all know, <i>scooping</i> is how top prizes are won - was as follows:<br />
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<b>"I'm not a fan of the new pound coin, but then I hate all change" </b>and it's attributed to a comic called Ken Cheng.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx_ba7u7a58/WZ1rCY1IJ4I/AAAAAAAADeY/UthrDv9XAco0nKgFk7-9lz_zsY69jbv8ACLcBGAs/s1600/Chortle1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1450" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx_ba7u7a58/WZ1rCY1IJ4I/AAAAAAAADeY/UthrDv9XAco0nKgFk7-9lz_zsY69jbv8ACLcBGAs/s320/Chortle1.jpg" width="289" /></a></div>
A lot of people were immediately scathing about the selection - with the comedy website Chortle writing,<br />
<i>"The choice is likely to inflame accusations of unoriginality for a gag
that has done the rounds on Twitter. Cheng himself tweeted it as long
ago as March 21, 2014, when news of the design first broke, but he was
still beaten to it by many people." </i><br />
<br />
I doubt there is anyone attending the Fringe who really thinks that is the funniest thing being said on a stage throughout the thousands of comedy shows being performed at the world's largest arts festival. What's more, I'd lay good money that it's nowhere near the funniest joke in Ken Cheng's show either. <br />
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Stand up is a more nuanced art form than that. You almost certainly can't extract the words that lead up to the biggest laugh in any given show, type them up and present them as a one-liner that will work well on the page. <br /><br />I think that's true, even for those comics whose stock in trade is one-liners. Even then, the jokes aren't discrete units of comedy that can be assembled in any order, each standing or falling purely on its own merits. There's <i>always</i> more going on than that.<br />
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And it seems unfair for people to pick on Ken Cheng for telling the joke when we're unaware of the context in which he tells it. Ken Cheng is a relative newcomer, but at least two of the other jokes in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/22/ken-cheng-pound-coin-gag-voted-edinburgh-fringe-funniest-joke">top ten list</a> - both told by very experienced (and brilliant) comics - are every bit as old as that one, if not older. (One of them was even in my original set when I was starting out at 19, but I soon dropped it when I realised it was a thought that had been had by hundreds of people before me.)<br /><br />The truth is of course that the short list of "best jokes" aren't the best jokes at all. Not at the fringe and not even in the shows from which they've been culled. If you compiled a list of the <i>things-that-made-people-laugh-the-longest-and-loudest-at-the-fringe-this-year</i> it wouldn't make any sense in print and would have to be book ended with countless <i>but-it's-the-way-she-tells-it</i> and <i>you-had-to-be-there</i> and <i>but-of-course-it-won't-make-sense-because-you-didn't-see-the-first-fifteen-minutes-where-he-set-up-this-idea</i> codicils. So instead you get a list of <i>these-are-the-only-things-we-could-extract-that-are-understandable-as-jokes-in-isolation-when-put-in-print-but-it's-destined-to-get-a-lot-of-coverage-and-that-works-well-for-all-concerned-okay?</i> <br />
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At this stage, you might be thinking there's no reason why I ought to feel compelled to offer an opinion either way. But it gets more complicated (for me) because a version of the winning joke had been in one my TV shows. The shows that are broadcast by Dave. The channel that gave Ken the prize. <br /><br />It was in Series 2, episode 8 as it goes. We're currently working on Series 5 - so it's more than 3 years old. But by sheer coincidence it happened to be the episode that was repeated last night... on the same day as the announcement. <br /><br />Now this raises the obvious question: <i>why were you telling a joke in your show if you know it's unoriginal and don't think it's very good?</i> <br /><br />Good question. I'll explain. <br /><br />Here's the thing. In that episode there was a found poem about the new one pound coin. I road test all the material. That found poem always went over well. Found poems basically work best when the people writing the below-the-lines comments are pompous. It's an exercise in pointing out how seriously they take themselves by taking them even more seriously in jest. So people expressing outrage and upset about a topic that ought to generate none are perfect. <br /><br />And I like it best when the end results contains comments both for and against because it helps underline that none of the opinions are mine. (You'd be amazed at how many times people write to express their upset at something I said in a found poem believing it to be my heartfelt opinion). <br /><br />But in setting the poem up, I often need to give a precis of the topic. I need to explain why people might be for or against. I need to provide that tiny bit of context that will make people understand where these things have been found. <br /><br />In this case I needed to express the idea that some people were upset about the new pound coin because they don't like it when things change in life. And the simplest expression of that thought is simply, "of course some people are upset about the new pound coin because they fear change."<br /><br />Like I say, before we get to the recording of the show, I run it in over several live shows to try and find the best way through the material. And this simple thought - necessary to make the found poem work - was something of a road block. There basically wasn't a way of saying it that didn't lead to <i>some</i> form of negative judgement. <br />
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If you say it in a straightforward way, without a pause before the word 'because' then some people still hear the joke and some of your audience think you've told a bad joke badly. If you put the pause in and acknowledge that it's a joke the whole audience thinks you've told a not-very-original-joke. If you rephrase it and say, "of course some people don't like it because they don't like it when things are different" some people think, "why are you going round the houses?" and other people think, "oh, you've missed a joke there, you should have said, 'some people fear change'..." and so on and so on. <br /><br />Basically the joke is so obvious that some of the audience will think of it whether or not it is spoken aloud. And so even its absence casts a shadow over proceedings. And yet the singular meaning - that some people don't like things changing - needs to be expressed to make the next section work.<br /><br />Our solution was to acknowledge the sentence for what it was. And so the show started with a warning that later on I would be telling an accidental, but unavoidable joke involving the words 'fear change', that I shouldn't be judged for it etc etc... and then, 20 or 30 minutes later, when it came in to play, I'd be able to play with the audience's reaction, whatever it happened to be. <br /><br />But of course I don't expect everyone to have a 100% recollection of the show and the way in which every word was said. And so a lot of people who had seen the show had a vague recollection that I'd once said something about the new pound coin and the fear of change and then they read the story about the prize and suddenly I was receiving dozens of tweets from nice people saying things like this... <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yScGCRYo1CM/WZ1vWbTQmvI/AAAAAAAADek/unmIqnK8cQY9nL6ng1Run-oJDVqjFfBzgCLcBGAs/s1600/Tweet1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yScGCRYo1CM/WZ1vWbTQmvI/AAAAAAAADek/unmIqnK8cQY9nL6ng1Run-oJDVqjFfBzgCLcBGAs/s640/Tweet1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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and also this...
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-91k1XFUCOjs/WZ1vWfldxsI/AAAAAAAADeo/w7FnDgrYi4oLDFToSYoFUqOWcUXuIMGdgCLcBGAs/s1600/Tweet2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1037" data-original-width="1600" height="414" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-91k1XFUCOjs/WZ1vWfldxsI/AAAAAAAADeo/w7FnDgrYi4oLDFToSYoFUqOWcUXuIMGdgCLcBGAs/s640/Tweet2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And plenty of others like it. <br /><br />At which point the 140 character limit makes it tricky to explain. Because what I want to say is, "yes you heard something similar on my show, but you've forgotten the fact that I was sort of disowning it because it's not my joke it's one of those jokes that everyone thought of but I had a good reason for saying it, but at the same time please don't think I'm being really judgemental about the person who won the prize because I don't know the context in which it sits in his show but I do know that every joke in the list has been taken out of context in some way but people are happy to receive positive PR during a very competitive festival so let's not rain on his parade."<br /><br />In acknowledging that the joke had appeared in the show, some people thought I was claiming it as mine and wanted to tell me that it was a shit joke I shouldn't be proud of. In explaining that I knew the joke was unoriginal and had been in the show in that context, I appeared to be critical of Ken Cheng. Which I don't think is fair either. Good luck to him.<br /><br />Also: it's only a bloody joke. <br /><br />By the way, if you want to watch the show, it's on <a href="https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/dave-gormans-modern-life-is-goodish/watch-online/?video=3827545427001#">UKTV Play</a> as are the 28 other episodes from series 1 to 4. <br /><br />
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<br />Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-12151870616466776392017-03-03T13:22:00.000+00:002017-03-03T13:37:55.331+00:00A Yahoo Spokesperson SpeaksIf you're not sure what this is about, it's probably worth reading <a href="http://gormano.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/at-what-point-does-it-become-okay-to.html">yesterday's blogpost</a>... and possibly the <a href="http://gormano.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/british-sell-con.html">long post before that one</a>... <br />
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But here's Yahoo's response. I've screen grabbed it from the email so that I make sure I maintain the context.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlGRgdurj7g/WLlX-ewg40I/AAAAAAAADbY/oni91VSHtyoX5waxiXCUm4ANdxRkaxw-QCLcB/s1600/YahooBlandStatementMarch3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="190" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vlGRgdurj7g/WLlX-ewg40I/AAAAAAAADbY/oni91VSHtyoX5waxiXCUm4ANdxRkaxw-QCLcB/s640/YahooBlandStatementMarch3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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It doesn't specifically answer <i>any</i> of the questions I raised <a href="http://gormano.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/at-what-point-does-it-become-okay-to.html">yesterday</a> but, at face value, it looks like exactly the right thing to say. They agree that these ads shouldn't be there. And they're telling us that they do take steps to stop it. Regularly.<br />
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It's just a shame that those steps don't seem to, y'know, actually succeed in stopping them...<br />
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Let me give you an example. On February 9th, I sent an email to Michael Todd and Gavin Patterson at BT with a screen grab of this ad:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45UDfnKFKc8/WLRDsEi1bVI/AAAAAAAADXg/ps5pUkVtASkCW2nStvw6xVKbGXb2GIQngCLcB/s1600/2Wave2Ad2_withEmail6crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-45UDfnKFKc8/WLRDsEi1bVI/AAAAAAAADXg/ps5pUkVtASkCW2nStvw6xVKbGXb2GIQngCLcB/s640/2Wave2Ad2_withEmail6crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The business name for the ad has been squeezed on the page, but it was <b>businesscasestudies</b>. The title for the ad is <b>How Bannatyne Got Rich</b> and the tag line is <b>Learn more about Duncan's investment secrets</b>.<br />
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The ad was also being served on Yahoo's home page etc. <br />
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If someone clicked on the ad they were taken to a URL that starts: http://<b>eurowatch.money</b>/gb/duncanwh.php<br />
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I've removed some digits from the end of that URL so that it no longer works - I don't want to send anyone there - but here's a screen grab of the page it lands on. <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FzszOx94BFk/WLRD2cnhdnI/AAAAAAAADXk/LEDs2or3i0oJoPigvKHpB7nUfolD7YUIwCLcB/s1600/2aWave2Ad2LandingPage.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FzszOx94BFk/WLRD2cnhdnI/AAAAAAAADXk/LEDs2or3i0oJoPigvKHpB7nUfolD7YUIwCLcB/s320/2aWave2Ad2LandingPage.tiff" width="264" /></a></div>
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If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you should be able to read the text.<br />
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Or you could not bother and just trust me that it is transparently untrue.<br />
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You know the sort of thing. There's a secret system. It <i>always</i> beats the market. You can't lose. And anyone can use it. <br />
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And Duncan Bannatyne's found out about it. And one of his friend's has accidentally revealed it. The way you do. And now there have been loads of national TV and newspaper articles about it - you know, you've seen them! Haven't you?<br />
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No wonder the establishment is running scared that everyone will find out about it. I mean, it won't be long before everyone's a millionaire.<br />
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Anyway... the important detail is that BT knew about this ad on February 9th. <br />
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On March 1st I sent Michael and Gavin another email. And this time I also included Charles Stewart (PR Manager, Public Policy, Yahoo). The email included a screen grab of <i>this</i> ad that was on Yahoo's home page that day.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y0Jtqzo2J1s/WLlo-osbPOI/AAAAAAAADcE/T-aAB4ITqFQ3vLtIh6LmCJK2m2qYZAuRwCLcB/s1600/YahooPageMarch1stBannatyne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="164" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y0Jtqzo2J1s/WLlo-osbPOI/AAAAAAAADcE/T-aAB4ITqFQ3vLtIh6LmCJK2m2qYZAuRwCLcB/s640/YahooPageMarch1stBannatyne.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
That's an ad from <b>businesscasestudies</b> for <b>How Bannatyne Got Rich</b> with the tag line: <b>Learn more about Duncan's investment secrets</b>. The URL it pointed to started with http://<b>eurowatch.money</b>/gb/duncanwh.php<br />
<br />
That's the same ad. With the same wording. Using the same company name. And pointing to the same website.<br />
<br />
I also emailed them on March 2nd. Because it was still showing up that day.<br />
<br />
I emailed them again this morning. Because it's still showing up today. Same picture. Same words. Same ad.<br />
<br />
But it's okay, because we have their statement. So we know that they <i>regularly</i> take action to block ads in violation of their policies, as well as bad actors who work to circumvent their human and automated controls.<br />
<br />
It's just that they haven't done so on <i>this</i> advertiser in the 22 days since they first became aware of them. <br />
<br />
That's 22 days in which this deceptive and misleading ad appears to have been accepted by Yahoo. But let's not be misled by that evidence of fact. Their statement is more important than the facts before my eyes. The statement makes it perfectly clear: ads like this are unacceptable. It's just that it is, as I type, still accepted. <br />
<br />
So that's that sorted. <br />
<br />Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-42793813927116075462017-03-02T14:53:00.000+00:002017-03-02T14:53:29.734+00:00At what point does it become okay to say that British Telecom and Yahoo are knowingly profiting from fraud?If you are against fraud but then find out that you're unwittingly profiting from it... and you <i>could</i> take steps to sever your connection to that fraud immediately... but you choose not to do so... and days - even weeks later - you're still profiting from that fraud... well then, at some point, isn't it fair to reach the conclusion that you're just, y’know, <i>knowingly</i> profiting from fraud?<br />
<br />
And if that's the case, in what way are you, y'know, <i>against</i> fraud? <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMarissa_Mayer_May_2014_(cropped).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="By Yahoo from Sunnyvale, California, USA [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons"><img alt="Marissa Mayer May 2014 (cropped)" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Marissa_Mayer_May_2014_%28cropped%29.jpg/256px-Marissa_Mayer_May_2014_%28cropped%29.jpg" title="" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, who profit from fraud<br />
Photo used under CC licence.<br />
Attrib: By Yahoo from Sunnyvale, California, USA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGavin_Patterson_at_Chatham_House_2016.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="By Chatham House (Gavin Patterson, CEO, BT Group) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons"><img alt="Gavin Patterson at Chatham House 2016" height="246" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Gavin_Patterson_at_Chatham_House_2016.jpg/512px-Gavin_Patterson_at_Chatham_House_2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gavin Patterson, CEO of BT, who profit from fraud.<br />
Photo used under CC licence, attribution: By Chatham House </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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At this point, I guess I ought to say that this blog post probably won't make a lot of sense unless you've read my post from <a href="http://gormano.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/british-sell-con.html">a couple of days ago</a>. It's long so I recommend making a cup of tea before you start, but it details how I frequently see BT and Yahoo carrying ads for fraud on their networks and how those ads continue to appear on their networks, often for days after they're reported.<br />
<br />
By the way, when I say "fraud" I don't mean "things I don't like" or "products that I think don't work, grrr" I mean actual, criminal, steal-your-money, fraud. <br />
<br />
Sometimes, weeks after they've acknowledged an ad is fraudulent, identical ads leading to the very same websites will still be appearing on their networks. <br />
<br />
This seems to me to be negligent on their behalf. And as I've been corresponding with the two companies about it since July last year - and with particular frequency throughout February - I don't really see how either entity could claim to be ignorant of their role in enabling these scams to prosper. <br />
<br />
This morning, I emailed Michael Todd (Executive Level Technical Complaints, BT), Gavin Patterson (CEO, BT) and Charles Stewart (PR Manager, Public Policy, Yahoo) the following few questions:<br />
<br />
<b id="yiv5596376259yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1488450041295_14528">Question 1: </b>Every
time you run one of these ads, you expose your customers to the risk of
fraud. Are ads subject to any kind of editorial review before they are
accepted on to your network? <br />
<br clear="none" />
<b id="yiv5596376259yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1488450041295_16620">Question 2: </b>If ads <i>are</i> subject to editorial review - how did <i>these</i> ads pass? Even allowing for human error, initially - how is it that ads you have been made aware of, continue to get through?<br />
<div id="yiv5596376259yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1488450041295_17127">
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<b id="yiv5596376259yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1488450041295_17129">Question 3:</b>
It is now abundantly clear that, even after a month of pushing, Yahoo
is a) unable to remove ads quickly and b) unable or unwilling to
adequately block ads. In which case, do you agree that continuing to run
ads through this system means you are now aware that fraudulent ads can
and will get through and won't be removed promptly, exposing your
customers to harm?<br />
<br clear="none" />
<b id="yiv5596376259yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1488450041295_17849">Question 4: </b>BT's
CEO has made it very clear that BT people should turn down business
when it would force the company to compromise their principles. Does
this compromise your principles? Or is there an acceptable amount of
fraud that you are happy to expose your customers to?<br />
<br />
They seem kind of shy of answering straight questions and have previously expressed a desire for me to not publicise the contents of our interactions thus far... but I don't think these are complicated questions - and I don't think there's anything here for companies of this scale to shy away from.<br />
<br />
If they come back to me, I'll let you know what they say.Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-43218789558381457732017-02-28T12:46:00.000+00:002017-03-01T10:08:37.699+00:00British Sell-A-Con<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
The world was a bit simpler when I was a kid. I was brought up in Stafford, which is in the West Midlands. Which meant that the Midlands Electricity Board provided our electricity. and Stafford is in England which is a part of Britain and so, naturally, British Gas provided our gas. And British Telecom provided our telephone line. Simple.<br />
<br />
Of course that was in the days before such things were privatised. And it was before the internet and mobile telephones were a part of our everyday lives. Nowadays everyone seems to offer <i>everything</i>. Sky TV don't just deliver satellite televison, they're internet service providers. British Gas provide electricity. Marks & Spencers provide gas. Tesco are a bank. And British Telecom are a TV sports channel, a satellite broadcaster, an internet service provider <i>and</i> a hawker of fraud. Admittedly that last one isn't something they do <i>on purpose</i>. But they do it. And - perhaps more to the point - even when they know they're doing it they seem unable to stop it happening. <br />
<br />
Allow me to explain...<br />
<br />
BT are my internet service provider. I have a btinternet dot com email address. I use my BT email for friends and family and other non-work related stuff. Adverts are a part and parcel of the experience although I don't often see them because I mostly deal with that email address on my desktop computer's mail program. It's only when I log in to webmail that I see the ads. The top of the page looks something like this:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pd3-OWtQV94/WK8P0fmqkMI/AAAAAAAADU8/lyRdqOCpbYI4_0QqwrbUjtEbOYCVvRJfACLcB/s1600/StandardLookNormalAd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pd3-OWtQV94/WK8P0fmqkMI/AAAAAAAADU8/lyRdqOCpbYI4_0QqwrbUjtEbOYCVvRJfACLcB/s640/StandardLookNormalAd.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
As you can see BT provide their email in collaboration with Yahoo and, at the top of my inbox, there's an ad. It's normally for something innocuous. In the example above it's for Californian holidays. I don't mind that. I do mind when it's an ad for something that's altogether less wholesome... like this next example:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S2Fff38A0aA/WK8T5DXFKsI/AAAAAAAADVM/UcvsFwTieLcEugGDsXa3z28p5EgrZyF9wCLcB/s1600/1stAdJuly4_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S2Fff38A0aA/WK8T5DXFKsI/AAAAAAAADVM/UcvsFwTieLcEugGDsXa3z28p5EgrZyF9wCLcB/s640/1stAdJuly4_edited-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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That's an ad for something called The Oxford Method.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xmghagw_7sI/WK8U0pSPGWI/AAAAAAAADVY/iohQfvPJdKUNHnL3gd0GJCRfufa8D2FEwCLcB/s1600/1stAdJuly4_Detail1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="87" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xmghagw_7sI/WK8U0pSPGWI/AAAAAAAADVY/iohQfvPJdKUNHnL3gd0GJCRfufa8D2FEwCLcB/s320/1stAdJuly4_Detail1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9lq-wgnL8rE/WK8U7yeOcTI/AAAAAAAADVc/LJxMEv5a5DwMDOzshR8S6QVYhOAqVXPJwCEw/s1600/1stAdJuly4_Detail2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="50" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9lq-wgnL8rE/WK8U7yeOcTI/AAAAAAAADVc/LJxMEv5a5DwMDOzshR8S6QVYhOAqVXPJwCEw/s640/1stAdJuly4_Detail2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
... and if you saw the fourth series of Modern Life Is Goodish last year, it might be ringing a faint bell or two. <br />
<br />
Because last year, one of the episodes had a section about something called The Brit Method. And also the Aussie Method and the Canuck Method and the Irish Method and a whole lot more.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--0mhSoi0MVk/WK7sgvu6KiI/AAAAAAAADUo/bhqkURgTnV05MFjWXZx-cBfdqkEbLCzBwCLcB/s1600/BritMethod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="264" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--0mhSoi0MVk/WK7sgvu6KiI/AAAAAAAADUo/bhqkURgTnV05MFjWXZx-cBfdqkEbLCzBwCLcB/s320/BritMethod.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The Brit Method is a a con that sells the idea that a man has found a foolproof way of investing in Binary Options; a special method that <i>guarantees</i> success and will make anyone a millionaire... and that is mysteriously being offered, for free, to a select few.<br />
<br />
All you have to do is invest some money. And then wait until you become rich. Unsurprisingly, there's no such thing as a foolproof way of making millions. People who fall for it will lose their money. <br />
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Now, Modern Life Is Goodish isn't Watchdog. We're not there to warn you off these sort of things - it was in the show to make some other point entirely. That said, I'm sure that nobody who saw the show could be in any doubt as to the nature of the thing. <span style="font-size: small;">(If you're curious to know how and why it appeared in the show the episode is currently available on UKTVPlay, <a href="https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/dave-gormans-modern-life-is-goodish/watch-online/?video=5192906000001">here</a>.) </span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VMIj2PhFfyA/WK8W1aUG96I/AAAAAAAADVw/_M_G-Rvtumcc_C6Z69g2nRZONYvlFh2wgCLcB/s1600/OxfordMethod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="1" height="261" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VMIj2PhFfyA/WK8W1aUG96I/AAAAAAAADVw/_M_G-Rvtumcc_C6Z69g2nRZONYvlFh2wgCLcB/s320/OxfordMethod.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As you've no doubt twigged by now, The Oxford Method is just another Brit Method clone. I'm used to seeing ads for dodgy offerings such as this on awful clickbait sites and in other dark corners of the internet but I was surprised to see it being advertised somewhere as mainstream as British Telecom's network.<br />
<br />
I might be wrong about this, but I reckon BT's history as a fundamental part of British life means they're likely to have an older client base than a lot of other internet providers. They're the trusted British brand that people have known all their lives. They represent 'the establishment' as much as is possible for a company in that business. I reckon a lot of people who find the internet a bit intimidating probably trust BT to deliver the service.<br />
<br />
If that is the case then I think it follows that BT's customers are more vulnerable to this kind of con. And I think the BT brand confers a touch of respectability on the ads they carry. Doesn't an ad that appears as part of BT's branded content carry just a bit more authority than one that appears on one of those, <i>"You won't believe what Susan Boyle looks like now"</i> pieces of guff that so litter the information superhighway?<br />
<br />
To be clear, I don't think <i>any</i> part of the internet <i>should</i> be carrying ads for this sort of fraud. Of course they shouldn't. But I can't help thinking that if a giant company like BT - who trade on a reputation of trust and respectability - are prepared to run ads of this nature then there's no hope of <i>anyone else</i> acting responsibly. It's like discovering your gran is dealing drugs. You know that people do it. But not her. Surely, not her!<br />
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It was July last year when I first saw the ad for the Oxford Method. I can't remember whether it was before or after we'd taped the show with the Brit Method content, but I know it was at a stage when it was too late to go messing around with the material and adding in more details. I knew what the Oxford Method was because of the research I'd been doing for the show - and it may be that the research I had been doing was one of the reasons the ad popped up on <i>my</i> inbox, but even so... if they're serving me the ad, they're serving it to other people too... and they shouldn't be. <br />
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It seemed obvious to me that BT weren't aware that this ad was on their network. The ads were probably bought and sold without much human interaction or oversight. I figured that once they discovered the ad was there, they'd remove it immediately. So I sent an email to BT letting them know it was there.<br />
<br />
That was on July 4th. I sent it to the email address that shows up online if you search for the CEO of BT, Gavin Patterson because, in my experience, emailing a CEO is a pretty good way of accessing the highest level of technical support. I don't know if Gavin actually reads the emails that arrive at that address or not... but I'm pretty sure there's a team of people employed to respond to them that are more empowered than the regular staff on a regular helpline.<br />
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So I emailed Gavin explaining my concerns. And I thought the ads would disappear overnight. Only on July 5th they were still there. And on July 6th too. They did get back to me. On July 6th I spoke on the phone with someone called Michael Todd. He's an Executive Level Technical Complaints man, apparently. He was very polite and seemed genuinely concerned that the ads had been there. I don't remember the details of the call - because I wasn't expecting the thing to drag on and become this sort of a tale - but I'm pretty sure he explained that the ads weren't solicited, were sold via some kind of online auction process. More importantly, I got the impression that they'd now been dealt with. <br />
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And then, on the 7th July, I saw another ad for The Oxford Method. <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PSkGHHD_N4o/WK8jj8RF-_I/AAAAAAAADWM/XBsBgwiD9YwjG1ufeFP0ab_sr79qVqbvACLcB/s1600/2ndAdJuly7_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PSkGHHD_N4o/WK8jj8RF-_I/AAAAAAAADWM/XBsBgwiD9YwjG1ufeFP0ab_sr79qVqbvACLcB/s640/2ndAdJuly7_edited-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IzbJjI9S0Zg/WK8kp8tFFfI/AAAAAAAADWU/lQfihFWHIek6f9tddepO4VMpY5hcPvPegCLcB/s1600/2ndAdJuly7_detail1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="89" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IzbJjI9S0Zg/WK8kp8tFFfI/AAAAAAAADWU/lQfihFWHIek6f9tddepO4VMpY5hcPvPegCLcB/s320/2ndAdJuly7_detail1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9S46OvHsRDo/WK8ktH5vmzI/AAAAAAAADWY/4ZJTXkJGf0wYDji4yQnEobK5EM9XdD9gACLcB/s1600/2ndAdJuly7_detail2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="38" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9S46OvHsRDo/WK8ktH5vmzI/AAAAAAAADWY/4ZJTXkJGf0wYDji4yQnEobK5EM9XdD9gACLcB/s640/2ndAdJuly7_detail2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The wording has changed. But even so. If the Executive Level Technical Complaints people aren't capable of blocking ads for a given name, something has to be amiss. If it takes them three days to try - and still they fail - then that's three days in which I think they can - and should - be held responsible for the ads.</div>
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If the people behind the ad are changing the wording in order to get around the block, doesn't that suggest that the ad is worth their while? And doesn't <i>that</i> suggest that a BT customer or two have fallen for it? Of course, I can't
prove that someone fell for it, but I can't see why the scammers would persist if it wasn't a fruitful route for them, so it's surely a strong possibility.
And that seems like an awful thing to have on one's conscience. </div>
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Anyway.
It was a busy time and I thought little more about it. I happily
assumed that BT had got to grips with the issue. And for all I know they had. I was at home a lot more and so I had little or no need for webmail and so I wasn't seeing the space where the ads appear.</div>
<br />
But then, on February 1st
- nearly 7 months after our first exchange of dialogue on the subject -
I saw another dodgy ad at the top of my BT mail. This time it wasn't
for The Oxford Method. It was for The Brit Method. <br />
<br />
So I emailed Gavin again. And again, Michael Todd was the man to reply. On February 3rd he explained that the scammers had got through by changing the name of the con. Which makes sense from one point of view. But is also basically admitting that the system is very easily abused that they're powerless to prevent it. In which case, I wonder if the system is fit for purpose?<br />
<br />
We exchanged a couple of emails and on February 8th (Wednesday) Michael wrote telling me that he'd get back to me by the end of the week. <br />
<br />
I
didn't give him the time to do so... because I spent Thursday and
Friday letting him know about <i>other</i> Binary Options scams being
advertised on BT. Like this one: <br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lRTpiq7hcYU/WLRCQctyPdI/AAAAAAAADXQ/bClC5ZEz52UQ-Pq9vakDFT324HfIdb5bACLcB/s1600/1Wave2SG1withEmail5crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="104" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lRTpiq7hcYU/WLRCQctyPdI/AAAAAAAADXQ/bClC5ZEz52UQ-Pq9vakDFT324HfIdb5bACLcB/s640/1Wave2SG1withEmail5crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This is even more alarming when I know that the bosses are aware of the problem and are trying to stop it. Especially given that they've explained they have category blocks and word blocks and other systems in place... because this means that words like "Increase your income" and "gets rich" and "over £10,000" aren't setting off any alarm bells...<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cg5wtyzj2TU/WLRDNBCElXI/AAAAAAAADXY/8F681a31FpYqDXrk_5V9CY8dtkF4m5gdQCLcB/s1600/1Wave2SG1withEmail5crop_Detail1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="87" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cg5wtyzj2TU/WLRDNBCElXI/AAAAAAAADXY/8F681a31FpYqDXrk_5V9CY8dtkF4m5gdQCLcB/s400/1Wave2SG1withEmail5crop_Detail1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-joE4-Q8gYak/WLRDND_RiPI/AAAAAAAADXU/ZPlVnxNa4UYPkJiot-_5Q8Eafet23pWfACLcB/s1600/1Wave2SG1withEmail5crop_Detail2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="58" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-joE4-Q8gYak/WLRDND_RiPI/AAAAAAAADXU/ZPlVnxNa4UYPkJiot-_5Q8Eafet23pWfACLcB/s640/1Wave2SG1withEmail5crop_Detail2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Yes, those words <i>could</i> be used in a legitimate ad... but how often are they? And wouldn't having oversight of just <i>those</i> ads at least be possible?<br />
<br />
Oh... and there was also this:<br />
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Which landed on this page of obviously fake newsiness about "secret money systems" and of-its-time references to the "political elite getting nervous about this secret getting out". Which tells you all you need to know about who this ad is aimed at. It's the already-feeling-beaten-up-by-life folks they're trying to seduce. It's the already-shafted who might end up getting shafted further. <br />
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And those are just the two I saw on the 9th. On the 10th, I also let him know about this little lot... <br />
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<br />
... so that's DiCaprio,
Dwight, Stallone, Winfrey and Hewson all dragged into this. It seems it's not just businessmen from
popular culture... anyone from pop culture is up for grabs. <br />
<br />
(Incidentally,
while this is far from the biggest issue here... I reckon DiCaprio, Dwight,
Stallone, Winfrey, Hewson, Bannatyne <i>and</i> Branson would all be rightly irked to discover their names and faces are being abused to
help con people in this way... I wonder, what, if any recourse is available to them?)<br />
<br />
All of <i>these</i> ads pointed to fake facebook pages using the domain fb dash biz dash news dot com... :<br />
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<br />
All these pages are essentially the same - if you click on the pictures they should enlarge enough to make the text legible.<br />
<br />
Personally, I'm most fascinated by this man... <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vV3AHZnoiQ0/WLRW90ANlZI/AAAAAAAADZM/13KVE-wshxQG5DbWsRLDVxfKY8TH3aQ1gCLcB/s1600/NIKOS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="1" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vV3AHZnoiQ0/WLRW90ANlZI/AAAAAAAADZM/13KVE-wshxQG5DbWsRLDVxfKY8TH3aQ1gCLcB/s320/NIKOS2.jpg" width="320" /></a>He seems to be the closest friend of <i>all five</i> of these hugely famous showbiz legends. It's quite a feat for someone to be quite so well connected! <br />
<br />
Especially when his un-pixellated face reveals him to be the Cyprus Government Spokesperson and Director of the Diplomatic Office of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christoulidis <br />
<br />
You think he'd have enough on his plate dealing with Cypriot politics without finding time to hobnob with the stars. <br />
<br />
Hmmm... maybe he isn't their closest friend after all. Maybe some crooks have just stolen his photo online and stuck it in their fake facebook page to make it look a bit more real somehow. <br />
<br />
I've exchanged plenty of emails with BT about these ads which continued to appear on my email for a good few days. I can't think of a good reason why an ad pointing to fb dash biz dash news dot com should be appearing on BT's network a day after BT know about the problem.. let alone two or three days after. But they were.<br />
<br />
I asked Mr. Todd (Executive Level Technical Complaints, BT) if it was okay for me to quote our email exchange in this blog and he replied to say that it wasn't and that the information he'd given me was for my private use only. Although I'm not sure if I'm really allowed to tell you <i>that</i> as it was a part of the email exchange that I now know was for my eyes only. <br />
<br />
But then it's not as if I have much information from him that I could not divine from the situation. It turns out - I believe - that the Oxford Method/Brit Method ads were all from one advertiser and that they have <i>now</i> been blocked. Which rather begs the question: why didn't they block them in July last year... why were they still allowed to be posting adverts seven months after they were first discovered.<br />
<br />
Really the only information I have is that a lot of these ads have been getting through. And days after BT acknowledges them - and sometimes, days after BT tells me they've dealt with them - they still get through. <br />
<br />
I know that nobody vets the ads before they go into the system... but I find it utterly bamboozling that everyone accepts this as the status quo. The advertising world has made a technological leap that streamlines the process and reduces the cost and that is just how it is. But the consequence of it appears to be that there is little anyone can do to prevent it from being abused by people who are trying to con the vulnerable. And that's a consequence that ought to make everyone involved a little uncomfortable.Isn't it?<br />
<br />
And you can't have it both ways. BT makes in excess of 2 billion pounds a year. Either the ads are
profitable enough to afford human oversight. Or they're not profitable
enough to bother with at all. <br />
<br />
Maybe they'd say that this new system allows for huge numbers of advertisers to push ads to fewer people? And maybe that makes human oversight impossible because of the sheer numbers of ads involved? In which case, don't accept the status quo. It means the system doesn't work. Implement a system where <i>new</i> advertisers have to go through some vetting that established advertisers don't have to endure. But make it a privilege that can be revoked. I don't understand the world in which a corporate giant just shrugs its corporate shoulders and accepts that they'll occasionally be used to advertise fraud.<br />
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Oh, incidentally... the CEO of BT, Gavin Patterson used to be the President of The Advertising Association. As I type this, Wikipedia still says that he is... <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nndE2wIP4WE/WLRgAlbHO8I/AAAAAAAADZo/t8ZZV3CkI4EPbfUMAy36oCeoFHzagrQwgCLcB/s1600/GavinPattersonWiki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="305" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nndE2wIP4WE/WLRgAlbHO8I/AAAAAAAADZo/t8ZZV3CkI4EPbfUMAy36oCeoFHzagrQwgCLcB/s640/GavinPattersonWiki.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
As it goes, his presidency ended a few years ago, but I'd like to think that an ex-President remains as committed to the aims of the group as anyone else. And according to Wikipedia, the role of the Advertising Association is...<br />
<br />
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"to promote and protect advertising in the UK by creating and maintaining a climate of responsibility amongst advertising practitioners, encouraging moderation from regulators and building trust with consumers"<br />
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<br />
Way to go, Gavin. <br />
<br />
I suppose there's something broader at work here - something that is an internet-wide problem. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr etc would be unable to function if they had to take legal responsibility for <i>every</i> tweet, post, video and photo that was uploaded to their site. It's not possible to check every bit of content before it's published. <br />
<br />
And so, by analogy, maybe we have to accept that in this democratised, online world of ours, companies like BT and Yahoo just can't be held legally responsible for the ads they carry because they work in the same way. But there is a counterweight to that situation - and that's a responsibility to <i>remove</i> inappropriate content in a timely fashion <i>the moment they are aware of it</i>. <br />
<br />
I might be wrong, but I can't see anywhere on the BT/Yahoo mail page that acknowledges there's even a possibility that fraudulent ads might appear there or that explains a quick and easy way to report one. And my experience demonstrates that they're simply not able to act quickly enough when they are aware. Ads like these simply shouldn't still be in the system days after a company knows about them. <br />
<br />
I know this is an extremely long post. And I don't know what I hope to achieve by it... but I can't help thinking that the idea that online-fraud is just one of those things we have to accept is just bizarre. And if a company with the clout of BT is unable to deal with it properly... then who the hell can?<br />
<br />
<br />
PS: a couple of days after I emailed Michael Todd and asked if I could quote our email chain on my blog I was contacted by someone called Charles Stewart who works for Yahoo PR in the States. He asked if we could have an off-the-record chat about it all. I wrote back explaining that I'd love to chat but that I didn't want to make it off-the-record. It seems to me that what's needed is more transparency here, not less... That was six days ago. He hasn't got back to me yet. <br />
<br />
It's only fair to point out that in those past six days I haven't seen a dodgy ad on my BT/Yahoo webmail page. <br />
<br />
But today, on Yahoo's home page, I saw this...<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f6P0hovew1A/WLVtay6HjzI/AAAAAAAADaQ/ZmLnbcGDa3g7WOZclZdqzYrGbw8faqPogCLcB/s1600/Feb28YahooPage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="1" height="162" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f6P0hovew1A/WLVtay6HjzI/AAAAAAAADaQ/ZmLnbcGDa3g7WOZclZdqzYrGbw8faqPogCLcB/s640/Feb28YahooPage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
... which is an ad for - drum roll please - The Brit Method. The website it takes you to isn't some new URL that could have easily slipped past their radars... it's Brit dash Method dot com. <br />
<br />
Which, by my reckoning, means one of two things.<br />
1: Yahoo and BT are aware of this issue, are trying to stop these ads and are <i>still</i> failing <br />
2: Yahoo and BT are aware of this issue, have successfully stopped these ads from appearing on their shared webmail page, but are happy to allow ads they know are fraudulent to appear elsewhere. <br />
<br />
I'm not sure either of those casts them in a flattering light...<br />
<br />
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************************UPDATE************************<br />Last night - after posting this, I checked my email on an ipad... and the ad for the Brit Method was there also... <br /> </div>
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Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-51211113632539730352017-02-20T11:21:00.001+00:002017-02-20T11:21:52.142+00:00Warm Up Dates For Series 5Hello there. I hope this finds you well... I'm writing this from a new production office where I'm currently sitting around, trying to remember how we make Modern Life Is Goodish. You'd think that after four series and 28 episodes I'd be able to remember something of the process... and yet, every time we start again I find myself cowed by the sheer scale of the task ahead. I'm sure we'll muddle through.<br />
<br />
Still, there's a table-tennis table down stairs, so that's a good start.<br />
<br />
That's not the only good news. It seems the series has been nominated for a Chortle award. That's nice. It's one of those where people <a href="http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2017/02/15/26884/vote_in_the_2017_chortle_awards">vote online</a>. What's the correct way of handling this? Not mentioning it seems a bit wilfully aloof. Begging your indulgence feels a bit needy. It is what it is. Do what you do. Let us never talk of this again.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2017/02/15/26884/vote_in_the_2017_chortle_awards"><img alt="http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2017/02/15/26884/vote_in_the_2017_chortle_awards" border="0" height="231" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vhWtf2JDSK8/WKrNhK4l1AI/AAAAAAAADUM/4pmT99nJONwMuqCtkaOhCGr81sXV8BPEQCLcB/s400/ChortleAwards.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
More tangible is the news that some of the warm up shows for series 5 have been scheduled. <br />
<br />
It would be lovely to wait until they were <i>all</i> organised and to then tell you in one, complete post... but they are more spread out than in previous years so that won't work. So far there are shows in both Andover and Aldershot in May, in Cambridge in July and in Reading in November. The details for all of those are on the <a href="http://www.davegorman.com/livedates.html">Live Dates page</a> of my site. There will be another set in September and there'll be a new season of Screen Guild shows being announced soon too.<br />
<br />
Of course, all this means that the free tickets for the fifth series recordings will be released soon enough. My mailing list always gets first dibs for these and for the last two series all the tickets have gone on the first day... so, if you're interested in coming along, now would be a timely time to sign up... <br />
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<br />Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-28735777430628648152016-11-29T13:59:00.000+00:002016-11-29T13:59:38.131+00:00Radio Times...Well, this is a nice list to be in...<br />
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... of course, you don't have to use the catch up service... you can also watch it on telly. There's a new episode on tonight as it happens.Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4588205362847565197.post-81844380172454598202016-11-11T15:47:00.000+00:002016-11-11T15:47:01.475+00:00Mickypedia... and a Taskmaster shirtWell I've been blown away by the response to episode 1 of series 4... thanks to everyone that has been in touch. Doing live continuity on the night sure makes it fly by... <br />
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I'm going to try and keep this relatively spoiler-free... but if you haven't seen the show yet - and want to, well it's repeated on Saturday night at 10... or you can watch it on UKTVPlay, <a href="http://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/dave-gormans-modern-life-is-goodish/watch-online/?video=5187621383001">here</a>. <br />
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It's often the case with these shows that a lot of people ask the same question... and the nature of social media means that it doesn't matter how many times you answer it... the answer never gets seen by everyone. I like to try and reply to people if I can... and sometimes the easiest way is to put an answer here. I know people will still ask it... but at least I'll have something I can link to by way of reply.<br />
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And with this episode, the thing people most want to know about is Mickypedia...<br />
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So, to answer your questions... we couldn't have an obvious camera in the green room because its presence would have flagged up that something unusual was going on. But we did have a small, hidden camera in there capturing something. But we haven't used it for very good reasons.<br />
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Firstly... that first episode is absolutely packed. There isn't really anything we can cut to make room for it... and what you see on the show is what the audience in the venue saw. <br />
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Secondly, Micky is a smart chap. Imagine you were him. Play the show through in your mind... and imagine being him watching it unfold. The moment that makes the audience gasp in shock and delight, isn't <i>the</i> moment he realises what's been going on... if you're him and you know what he knows, there have been plenty of clues before that. And there isn't really a way of playing <i>the</i> moment he does realise into the show because at <i>that</i> point the audience hasn't yet got the full picture. <br />
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I suppose what people are really interested in, is seeing how Micky reacted when I came into the Green Room after the show was finished. The truth is he took it very well. I think people in that situation are mainly pleased that things finally make sense. And there was obviously no malice involved, indeed it was all done with a great deal of affection. I think the fact that it had spiralled beyond its original target and become something bigger - made it feel like it wasn't just about him.<br />
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But Micky's first reaction was, "I'm not having my face anywhere near it... and please don't put my surname in." And I think he's wise to think that way. It's a courtesy we always afford to people who's tweets or facebook posts we use.... assuming they're not celebs anyway. Because we don't want them to have to deal with people getting in touch - for good or bad reasons. And Micky's no different. He's very happy that it happened... but doesn't want to deal with the fall out every time the show is on. And that's fair enough!<br />
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Oh, if you're on my mailing list, you might remember that, throughout the previous three series I've given away various bits and pieces from the show from time to time. I've had a few people asking if I'm going to do the same this year. And seeing as you've asked... yes I will. <br />
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I'll start with the next episode... and seeing as there's no obvious thing to give away from episode 1, I'll give away one of my Taskmaster shirts instead. <br />
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The one in this photo... <br />
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At which point, I expect a few people who watched the series will say, "hang on, Dave... didn't you take a knife to that shirt? Hasn't that shirt been cut up and distributed to far flung corners of West London?"<br />
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To which the answer is... "that did happen to an identical shirt... but it wasn't actually <i>that</i> shirt." <br />
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The thing with Taskmaster is that the tasks happen over several days spread across various months. I'd spend a day at the house doing various tasks by myself alone (well, with a camera crew and Alex) and the others would all do the same. And when that's happening, they don't know which tasks will sit together in which episodes. And so the easiest thing is for everyone to have a particular outfit that they wear for all of those filming days. And because the tasks are sometimes messy - for example, one of them involved some people rolling in goose poo - it's essential to have more than one outfit so that you can change into something less goose-poo-y. So I had more than one of those shirts.<br />
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And the publicity shots were taken after the tasks... so I know that the one I'm offering up as a prize is the one I was wearing <i>that</i> day. Phew, I think that's clear. <br />
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Some people ask me why I do it via the mailing list rather than, say, on Twitter. The reason is... I don't want to use the competitions to spread the word about the show. Obviously, I'm delighted if people want to spread the word about the show - but doing so because you want to means much more than doing so because you want to win a prize. And it's not exactly a big prize. In fact, I think it's medium. But you know what I mean. I don't want to generate a load of twitter spam. <br />
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I also think it's nice to do things uniquely for those on the mailing list. So if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning that shirt... or you just want to have advance notice of what I'm up to, or when tickets are released for series 5 etc etc... then you can sign up below. <br />
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<br />Dave Gormanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02260701102207639816noreply@blogger.com8