I can still hear you saying…
..you must never break the chain 
The BBC got the F1 coverage back, and we are now three races in. I, for one, hated ITV’s adverts, and thought James Allen and Mark Blundell were intensely irritating – but still acknowledged ITV did a good job, better than the BBC did before them certainly. I was worried that the BBC – for all the hype generated around no ads, which seemed to be what all the furore was about, even if the BBC didn’t cause that themselves – would fall behind on quality of coverage.
I was so so wrong.
It’s all very good. Highlights for me:
Blogs – Jonathan Legard, Jake Humphrey, Andrew Benson, Murray Walker and the “F1 mole” all have blogs on the BBC F1 website. Jake Humphrey and Andrew Benson’s are very good – Jake H doing a behind the scenes/opinion type blog, and Andrew benson doing a blog more about the plan, methods, hows, wheres and whys of the BBC F1 coverage, coupled with the classic races feature – where you vote for highlights of a classic GP in the lead up to each 2009 event. Brilliant.
Punditry – DC and EJ. EJ talks a bit too much whilst still only making one point, but DC seems to be settling in nicely, and I sense he has a sense of humour that is ready to burst out once he is fully acclimatised to his new role. But – wow – Mike Gascoyne was probably the most interesting, informative and professional pundit I have ever seen in all my years of watching F1. I think he complemented DC perfectly. I like EJ, but for me, Mike Gascoyne was better.
Commentary - One of Jake Humphrey’s blogs asked for comments on the season coverage so far, and Jonathan Legard came in for a lot of stick – with a lot of “get James Allen” comments. Britain must be kidding. I think he suffers from being next to Brundle – an established voice – and the two are clearly not gelled yet – though they are getting better race by race. Do not get Allen. Legard will be good in time, I’m sure. Brundle is as good as ever. On the radio, David Croft, Anthony Davidson, Maurice Hamilton and that Jordan guy (Ian Phillips?) are brilliant – having had to listen to the Malaysian GP on the radio, I have absolutely no complaints…
Talking of James Allen, it is now apparent to me just how good a journalist, and how intelligent and informative he is. I didn’t like his commentary, though I think he got better and better with time – but his blog is absolutely fantastic. I, somehow, luckily, picked it up in it’s first week, and I read nearly every post. Very very informative, and I recommend it whole-heartedly.
Pit Lane – Ted Kravitz – good at ITV – in fact I think he bettters James Allen’s work from 1997-2001 in that role now. Lee McKenzie is OK, but obviously lacking in the rapport with the drivers stakes, compared to Louise Goodman – who had worked in F1 for DONKEY’S years, even before ITV. Willing to give her time. Jake Humphrey is very good, and I think putting the doubters doubts to bed somewhat. Knowledgable, and very coherent, and asking the right things of his pundits etc etc. Like I said, I am very impressed with the whole BBC show…
And the thing is, it’s getting better every week. Hopefully, they can at least hire Mike Gascoyne and rotate him with EJ a bit, as I think he was seriously great at the weekend. I recommend, if you haven’t done so already, watching the F1 forum after a race, reading (and bookmarking) James Allen’s blog, and downloading the 5 live podcast after each race.
Bring on Bahrain
Did the letter about the staff at WRU get posted….! I know you told me I probably shouldn’t read your blog… but…. I couldn’t resist… Geek
P
Not yet, went to Post Office for some stamps but the queue was so long I’d still be there now…
Welcome back! I am all over this shit dawg!
I’m impressed with the BBC so far as well for the most part
The worst part of the team in my mind is EJ, his interview with Bernie in Malaysia was just cringeworthy!
The best bit… has to be The Chain being back
And you’re right about the muppet, his blog is really good, he certainly is coming across better than when he was getting too excited behind the microphone!
Awww, you’re so sweet
)
Well, of course it will rain, as it always does when we actually get some time off together and make plans, don’t you just hate that guy called sod!!! Grrr! xx
Can’t wait, June is gonna be a fantastic month
D yay xx
:’( stupid depressing survival Sunday :’(
Why have you tagged Sheffied Untied… who are they? ;o)
Sorted
Woah…. a posting!!!!
You shouldn’t need any more things to keep you focussed, if you aren’t focussed now then you never will be….
It looks like Turkish coffee. If you’d called it that, everyone’d think you were very cultured.
YOU think oystercards are annoying…. try bloody working with the damn things then you will realise the TRUE extent of their annoyance
Was amazing, got better the further and further forward we got. Song of the night was either “Return of the White Rabbit” or “Girl From Mars” for me, or “Kung Fu” for that matter, on sheer crowd reaction alone
It worried me slightly when the person behind the glass at Gloucester Road rubbed the oyster card on the reader for several second when registering it…
I thought that your paper travel card was far better than anything with a chip in it
Of course it’s a valid hobby. When I went to that very 1st Z1 one day I really didn’t know what to expect and thought it would almost certainly be my 1st and last challenge. I wasn’t expecting to fit in at all or that people would talk to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong, everyone was friendly and chatty and of course the full network talk cropped up. I looked rather terrified at a tube map commenting “I wouldn’t know where to begin” It just looked so daunting, scary and impossible. Pete Lupton (Fat Buoy) said he had a route and would go around with me Amersham – Upminster. It never actually happened and it seems crazy looking back but it wasn’t even going to be a record attempt, just a “we will get around all the stations” which at the time just seemed impossible. The thought of ever doing this for a world record just didn’t seem a remote possibility, it’s madness this person I saw on the tube; Geoff Marshall is brilliant how could we ever even try for a GWR?
We supported Ric Brackenbury, David Scard and John Stark on a full network challenge visiting parts of the network we had never been near before and did a food drop for Peter Miller and his brother on our way to the start of the inaugral “snake challenge”. I can’t remember how the discussion came about to team the Browns up with John Stark and he came up with a full network route one lunch hour and we thought he was brilliant. Wow we have a route to do full the network this is amazing, this must be the only realistic possible route.
So we went out and did it on for children in need in November 2006, we hadn’t even run it through Transport for London journey planner but who cared, who knew we had a route!!
Since then Matt has teamed up with the Browns, Antony and his son Phil and my 2 boys Jamie and Ryan. We have spent many hours route planning at “headquarters” being the Air New Zealand office at Radius Park….
Wow actually there are hundreds of possible full network routes, Geoff Marshall isn’t so great after all, the time is not impossible to beat I have routes over an hour inside that!
So moving to the present day I have 2 world records, neither in great times and neither that satisfying or pleasing. Matt is incredibly unlucky also not to have 2 world records. The time has come down greatly and route planning, strategy and fitness have dramatically improved.
The alternative challenges and other events such as Zone 1 day, The random 15 championships and tube olympics are fantastic get togethers where we have met and made true and great friends. The social side after these events is also great fun with darts at the pub, a darts league and also social drinking and darts days without any tube challenging!
Yes it is indeed a valid hobby
So much for team spirit eh
Olly Olly Olly, oi oi oi, Olly Olly Olly, oi oi oi, Olly, Oi, Olly, oi, Olly Olly Olly, oi oi oi!
You know nothing
Ick.. I know someone with Crohn’s disease (a particularly complicated and tricky case as far as I know, though). It does not look fun.. :S
I don’t know much about it, they assure me it is manageable if indeed I do have it, but I’ll be tested further in due course. It’s wait and see time, taking it in steps – I am back at work tomorrow for the first time in a month and feel vaguely healthy for the first time in over a month, so these are good things
660-1 I get for that. Fancy a quid on it?
Don’t forget to also make a weekend trip to Schloss Wizbit um Deutsch zu sprechen
good luck wiv that he deserves more than most reminds me of July 8th 2008 i was determined that Sara would get her reward for all her hard work.
Hard Work? What hard work? Following you around
lol