"To inform, educate and entertain" |
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In 1922 John (later Lord) Reith established the principles of the BBC as being "to inform, educate and entertain" and this remains the mission statement of the corporation. Having worked closely with the BBC in the South, I know the number of times this statement is referred to.
Yesterday a question in a light-hearted interview fulfilled all three of these concepts in one go. The interviewer was Chris Evans (BBC 2 The Chris Evans Breakfast Show) and the interviewee, Brian Cox, presenter of Seven Wonders of the Solar System.
The Mystery Interview section of Evans' programme is meant to be light-hearted, as I say. The production team sets up an interview with a guest but Evans doesn't know who it is. He then has three minutes, without preparation, to interview the guest and make the interview humorous. |
Professor Brian Cox is an interesting sort of guy anyway, a highly-qualified physicist who makes science interesting, a former member of pop group D-Ream and, at two years younger than me, annoyingly looks about 25 (but I won't hold that against him).
Chris Evans asked the question "If you were in a hot air balloon with the earth, the sun and the moon, and you had to throw one out, which would it be?" Whilst not exactly a highbrow question, Cox turned it into one by responding, without missing a beat. "The moon, we could manage without for a bit." He then went on to explain why.
I am certain Lord Reith would have approved. I was informed, I learnt, I laughed.
Cox's programme is one of those rare gems that makes understanding science really interesting (also look out for Bang Goes the Theory, next Tuesday). I wish he had been my physics teacher; I might have scraped through with a better grade at O Level (and the C was only achieved by my dad teaching me how to wire a plug the night before the exam!)
Watch out for the second programme (of 5) in the Seven Wonders of the Solar System series, on BBC 2 on Sunday evening. This is the BBC. At its best.
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Posted 10 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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Don't worry...the economy is safe! |
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As with many people of my age, as a child I had a National Savings Bank account. A simple blue passbook which we were encouraged to use to learn the basic principles of saving.
In a recent clear out of my filing cabinet, I discovered my passbook for the account which had been opened on 23 October 1978. The balance in the account - which appeared to be still open - was 50 pence. The last transaction was dated 20 October 1980.
I was quite excited when I wrote to National Savings, or NS&I as it is now trendily called. How much interest had accrued over the last thirty years?
Today I received the reply I had been anxiously awaiting. I was rather pointedly told that the account had been closed by NS&I in 2004 and they had written to me to tell me, presumably to the registered address on the account. |
Unfortunately I had moved from that address some six years earlier so had not been aware of the news. More importantly I learnt that in the thirty years since last using the account I had earned the grand sum of one penny interest.
I suspect the passbook is worth more than the 51p invested in the account and would probably raise at least that by selling it to a collector of curios on ebay. Whilst the government may be accused of frittering away money on bonuses for the many nationalised banks we now have, we can be certain they are not sparing any cash on lavish interest payments.
Have you any passbooks lurking in the back of your drawers? Click here and tell us. |
Posted 9 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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Yorkshire pudding, the EU and astronauts. |
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As an interesting postscript to my piece about the longevity of modern day record keeping, I was interested to read that the provenance of the Yorkshire pudding has been proved.
In an attempt to attain Protected Designation of Origin Status from the European Union, three Yorkshire-based manufacturers have been trying to prove that the Yorkshire pudding does, in fact, hail from Yorkshire rather than being a coincidental description of the pudding. And documentary evidence has been found in the 1747 publication The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse. |
It is clearly important to the populace of Yorkshire (who have just achieved similar status for Yorkshire-forced rhubarb) but the status may cause a problem for those pubs and restaurants outside the county who serve the batter pudding.
What this story does prove is the importance of record keeping in a manner which can be accessed by future generations. How, in 263 years time will such arguments be settled, by trying to read the contents of a CD ROM created on what will then be seen as ancient technology.
Already, as one reader of this blog as told me, the problem is with us. Apparently, and I have been unable to verify this story, NASA has lost a lot of early computer records relating to man's trips to the moon, simply because the tapes on which they were recorded had either deteriorated or could no longer be read.
But back to Yorkshire puddings. Do you think they should be given Protected Designation of Origin Status from the European Union, placing them alongside Champagne, Parma ham and Cheddar cheese? Click here and tell us. |
Posted 7 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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The Ministry of Truth |
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In the mid-nineties, by virtue of the fact I was the regional PR Manager for a government department, I was appointed the regional archivist. Among many serious responsibilities for protecting public documents for future viewing, I paid an educational visit to the National Records Office (now the National Archives) at Kew. It is the sort of place that attracts incredibly enthusiastic workers to whom future generations will be very grateful. |
An interesting point was raised about developing technology. In the mid-nineties we had not yet settled down to reasonably standard defaults for IT systems (Microsoft Office and Outlook for example). The boffins at Kew were keen to retain several operating systems so that retained electronic files would be able to be read in years to come. For hundreds of years before that civil servants - like me - had written messages by hand on minute sheets on card folders (or "registered files") and these had been sent to vast warehouses for storing. They were obviously easy to read in the future.
I am sure the debate on how to retain modern public documents, continues to rage in the dust free laboratory conditions of the National Archives.
The Times has this week admitted that it has altered an online version of a newspaper article that appeared in print. The article related to reporting of suicides and the alteration was made in light of concerns from The Samaritans about copycat suicides.
This does raise a similarity to the way the future was foreseen by George Orwell in 1949 when his novel 1984 was published. Winston Smith amended records to rewrite history, in the Ministry of Truth, obliterating previous records.
The Times had good cause, they claim, but are they right? Should future generations only see a sanitised and considered revision to the contemporaneous reporting of events of the early twenty-first century, or should they see how we lived, warts and all? What do you think? Click here and tell us. |
Posted 7 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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It was. Are you? |
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It is widely anticipated that The Independent and The Independent on Sunday are to be sold to Alexander Lebedev, owner of The Evening Standard, the London based freesheet. |
If it goes ahead it might just be the saving of the titles. The Evening Standard, since becoming free has increased its circulation from a quarter of a million to a readership of 1.3 million. The Independent, once having a constitution which prohibited a single powerful majority shareholder, has seen its circulation fall from 400,000 to 186,000. More worrying is that the two titles lose about £10 million a year (or around 15p for every paper sold).
Clearly Lebedev knows a thing or two about reviving flagging newspapers and it will be interesting to see what he does to The Indy. It is rumoured that the editor-in-chief will report into the editor of The Evening Standard. Is this the first time that a national paper effectively will become a subsidiary of a regional paper?
Incidentally, Geordie Grieg, said editor of the Standard and former editor of Tatler, is the latest in an illustrious line of journalists to have run the London title - including Michael Foot (see Political oratory below) who was editor at the age of 28. |
Posted 6 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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In praise of books |
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Yesterday was National Book Day. With it came the sad statistic that last year 102 independent book shops closed in the UK. Even the likes of Waterstones are feeling the pinch; Borders UK went out of business last year.
Books have always played an important part of my life. As words have been the basis of my income for nearly twenty years and the fact that my father is an author (see www.grahamison.co.uk for further details) you will probably not be surprised.
When I was very small, my father brought home a book for me and a book for my brother, which he had purchased from the Army and Navy Stores in Victoria Street in his lunch hour. My brother got a Sherlock Holmes book and I was given The Secret Seven. Before this, as far as I can recall, books had been read aloud before bed by my Dad. |
The Secret Seven changed all that. I started reading it myself that night and then began nagging dad to bring home the next one, then the next until I had read all fifteen. After school a special treat would be to be taken to The Regency Bookshop in Surbiton, a tiny half sized shop with a faint musty smell that still means books to me. One bookcase of Puffin children's books provided a constant supply of reading material and I can still spend hours browsing through a bookshop to this day. Waterstones in Piccadilly is heaven to me.
However efficient Amazon and other internet bookstores may be, you still cannot beat picking up the book and browsing through it. Recently I have completed A Week in December (Sebastian Faulks); Paul O'Grady's autobiography; The Time Traveler's Wife and the even better Her Fearful Symmetry (Audrey Niffenegger) and The Shipping News (Annie Proulx). If you haven't read all of these, then do!
The end of the net book agreement and the sudden monopolisation of bookselling by the internet has put our local booksellers at risk of extinction. Don't let it happen. Support authors. Support booksellers. Buy local. What do you think? Click here to comment. |
Posted 5 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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Political oratory |
 Michael Foot circa 1930.
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The death this week of Michael Foot has prompted a number of observations in the press about the way politics has changed over recent years. Michael Foot was, undoubtedly, a great orator, rather than a great party leader. The Times yesterday observed that his death "caused a brief cessation in pre-election hostilities as politics paid tribute to a life so sharply at odds with the spin-dried and airbrushed posturing of the modern era." Apposite.
People would go and listen to Foot's public addresses because of his oratory skills rather than because they agreed with his sentiment. The ability to hold and persuade an audience is something which modern day politicians just can't do. But is this because they don't need to be able to do it? And when did it change? Interestingly another quote in The Times suggests that it was the very election that Foot lost which saw the turning point. While Foot was swaying thousands around the country, Thatcher was swaying millions on television. |
Margaret Thatcher was perhaps the last great political orator; remember the "this lady's not for turning" speech, not so much for the content but the delivery. Now think of Tony Blair's comment on the day of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales: "A day like today is not a day for soundbites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders."
There was a stark contrast with the tribute paid to Foot by David Cameron which was reported as: "I'm obviously not old enough to have been in the House of Commons at the same time, but reading some of his speeches [they] were incredibly powerful." Not really the stuff to be remembered is it? But another Tory tribute, from Lord Tebbit, once described by Foot as "a semi-house trained polecat" was more amusing: "he did a lot for my career". Only seven words but strikingly superior to Cameron, well thought out with enough double-meaning to make it a quote, rather than a Cameronesque (or Blairite) soundbite.
But communication has changed - and I think for the worse. Another lead story in the papers yesterday was the return to custody of one of James Bulger's killers. Comment on the decision was obviously sought from the mother of James Bulger, Denise Fergus. Once upon a time, the comment would have come from the family's solicitor or a family liaison officer or a friend. Instead The Times reported "Ms Fergus said on Twitter: 'Is this my son's justice?' ". This is not criticising the actions of Ms Fergus. In fact she probably made a very clever move in making her statement in a means that was readily received by the intended audience. What a shame that by using Twitter, her valuable comment is restricted to the 146 character restriction employed by that medium. But that is perhaps all we can cope with these days. What do you think? Click here to comment. |
Posted 5 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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Blue Peter and the importance of the BBC |
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You can generally judge someone's age by the question "who was your Doctor Who?" or "who were your Blue Peter presenters?" I was slightly alarmed to read that Helen Skelton, the Blue Peter presenter who has just completed a kayak journey along the Amazon, in aid of Sport Relief, was born after I stopped watching the show. |
But I don't hold that against her. Congratulations to Helen on completion of her epic adventure and for breaking two world records (the longest documented solo journey in a kayak and the longest distance travelled by a woman in a kayak in 24 hours - 75 miles). I can hear the naysayers of the BBC saying that it is our licence fee that was wasted for the coverage that was given to the journey.
Well, Blue Peter itself, of course, covered it, There will be two Blue Peter Specials on March 16 and 17. BBC Radio and BBC News followed the journey with regular contributions into BBC Breakfast. The corporation certainly made the most of the opportunity.
But it also has a responsibility to use its position of influence to encourage and inspire its young audience. On arriving in Brazil Helen Skelton said: "I reckon that you shouldn't shy away from things because they're tough or you might fail. Get stuck in and you never know where you might end up." Good advice for youngsters - and for that matter adults - everywhere. What do you think? Do we get value for money from the BBC? Click here and tell us. |
Posted 2 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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The future of the BBC |
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I know that I have become a bit boring at home this week, commenting on the future of the BBC, as foreseen by The Times following their access to the corporation's future size and scope report, to be released shortly.
I also do not get dragged into arguments, with the rest of my family, about public service broadcasting and the way it is funded in this country any more. This is because my views are well known. |
BBC 6 Music and their Asian network is to close it would seem and the corporation's long-term future is thrown into doubt by the outcome of this year's general election. The quality of public service broadcasting in this country is second to none internationally. Just sit for an hour in a foreign hotel room and see the quality of output on other nation's broadcasting to see how awful it could be (or for that matter just tune in to Michael Winner's Dining Stars for about three minutes to see the quality that ITV now proffers).
BBC's television, national and local radio, digital radio, podcasts, iPlayer and range of magazines provides exceptional value for money from our TV licence and contributes to the rich cultural mix of the nation. It is our culture, as much as our politics and our education which make the United Kingdom what it is. Throw away part of our national identity at your peril. What do you think? Click here and tell us. |
Posted 1 March 2010 | Russell Ison |
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Newspapers: Newsbreakers or newsmakers? |
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As mentioned earlier this week, the relaunch of The Observer made the news for other reasons. The serialisation of Andrew Rawnsley's book, in the first of the new-look papers, indirectly prompted the furore over the National Bullying Helpline. It is interesting that the charity involved seems to have caused itself more damage in attempting to damage the reputation of the Prime Minister.
Also this week The Times has brought cost-cutting measures of the BBC to public attention. |
The Daily Telegraph, last year, jumped in on a developing story to bring about the expenses scandal that saw resignations of The Speaker of the House of Commons, cabinet ministers and will result in a largely experienced collection of MPs after this year's election.
Should newspapers create news or just report it? One cannot help but think that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has become a useful tool for journalists to stir something up on a quiet news day. Is it the responsibility of the media to create news through aggressive investigative journalism themselves, or is its role to report news created by others? What do you think? Click here and tell us. |
Posted 27 February 2010 | Russell Ison |
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| The Batphone PR London Blog Archive |
We have now moved the older articles from our blog to the archive. Click here to go to the archive. |
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