Oh no!

[Bryn]

There are no doubt people who are (marginally) younger than us who might have said "Rolf Harris mode" until recently. What did Johnny Morris get up to????

I used to know one of his step-sons, a film-maker, quite well, and still bump into him now and then. Johnny's step-sons and their children were all specifically excluded from his will. His house was left to his television co-presenter Terry Nutkins. They contested the will on mental health grounds, but it was upheld.

[hmvman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwxsaTaVhC4

Las Vegas, indeed, hmv - and by Laurie Johnson. Mainly strings and Latino (including Harp) percussion but with winds and some brass in the Intro and middle section (which we never heard on Animal Magic).

Anthropomorphical as it was, it was a children's programme and successfully aroused the interest of kids. This "new" style presentation is meant to be for adults - which merely shows the loathing and contempt with which the Beeb holds its funders.

Thanks for the link - enjoyed. Magic indeed!

[Pabmusic]

Johnny liked to give voice to his animal friends' thoughts

Indeed. Zoo Time - I remember it well!

Something likeable about Bristoians - Long John Silver, for instance.

Or Eddie Shoestring!!!!! (Ii's taken me much too long to remember that! )

[Richard Tarleton]

Or Eddie Shoestring!!!!! (Ii's taken me much too long to remember that! )

Now that could do with a repeat! Perhaps on the new Drama channel. Though I've no idea how it would play today...

[Pabmusic]

Now that could do with a repeat! Perhaps on the new Drama channel. Though I've no idea how it would play today...

Yes it could. Also Travelling Man (with Leigh Lawson). Oooh! I feel my age.

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes it could. Also Travelling Man (with Leigh Lawson). Oooh! I feel my age.

...and Sutherland's Law, with Ian Cuthbertson....these "regional" UK drama series have always been pretty good, and done wonders for the local tourist trade , though I've read that the recent - outstanding - drama series "Happy Valley" has done the opposite for Hebden Bridge

[Pabmusic]

...and Sutherland's Law, with Ian Cuthbertson....

Would we have known "The Land of the Mountain and the Flood"without it? (I've conducted it twice!)

[Richard Tarleton]

Would we have known "The Land of the Mountain and the Flood"without it? (I've conducted it twice!)

Wonderful, Pabs! That's certainly how I discovered it. One of the numerous occasions when I wrote to the BBC to ask what the theme music was.

Sorry this is going wildly OT.

[amateur51]

Wonderful, Pabs! That's certainly how I discovered it. One of the numerous occasions when I wrote to the BBC to ask what the theme music was.

Sorry this is going wildly OT.

Lovely piece, and what a fine actor Mr Cuthbertson was

[french frank]

Thanks for the link - enjoyed. Magic indeed!

One point about the programmes like Animal Magic/Zoo Time is that back in those days there were no dedicated children's television channels. Now that programmes like Blue Peter are being shunted off to CBBC it should leave the way open for more serious programming on the other channels. Is this latest series to be 'it'?

[Richard Tarleton]

I can't work out when this is going to be on - it seems to be one of the "offending" new breed of programmes but the following seems a reasonable premise for a series - I haven't missed it have I?

Talk To The Animals
Talk To The Animals sees real life Dr Doolittle Lucy Cooke on a mission to answer one of life's mysteries - can we really talk to animals?

Produced by Boundless (part of FremantleMedia UK) for BBC One, this two-part series follows zoologist Lucy as she takes an in-depth look into the world of animal communication, travelling across the globe to debunk long-held myths and open our eyes to what animals can teach us. Meeting up with scientists who specialise in decoding animal communication, Lucy will be exploring their methods and translating their findings to reveal just how complex animal 'speak' really is.

From compiling a chimp dictionary, chatting up fire flies, learning the names of dolphins and even holding a meeting with hippos, Lucy will be getting up close and personal with these very special species to prove that animals use grammar, pack a lot of information into their sentences and have pretty good social lives. In fact they're more like us than we ever imagined.

Charlotte Moore says: "Lucy Cooke is an exciting new face for the channel, bringing a unique wit and insatiable curiosity to natural history programming. Have you ever wondered whether spiders can talk to each other or whether monkeys gossip? Lucy invites us all to think about the natural world in new and surprising ways you haven't thought of before."

Several clips of Lucy Cooke on You Tube.

[french frank]

I can't work out when this is going to be on - it seems to be one of the "offending" new breed of programmes but the following seems a reasonable premise for a series - I haven't missed it have I?

That seems to be the one Radio Times mentioned:

"In an interview with the Radio Times ahead of the new BBC One programme Talk To the Animals, which she will present, she said she was “all about being popular”. "

[Richard Tarleton]

I see it now - Wednesday 8.00 pm. Shall watch with interest. Ready to eat my words.......

[Richard Tarleton]

Anyone else see part 1 last night? I enjoyed it. They must have blown the travel budget but presumably make it back by selling the programme. The presenter Lucy Cooke I thought was engaging and entertaining, and rather than her telling us stuff she'd been told by others the basis of the programme was her interviewing/doing fieldwork with the experts.

The programme decoded the various noises and social interactions of banded mongooses, the ability of hippos to communicate above and below the water simultaneously (a unique ability apparently), the body language of chimpanzees, decoding and replicating the light signals of mating fireflies (both sexes), ditto the mating dance of some jumping spiders, a species of frog that sings and inflates his throat simultaneously (by making an artificial frog and doing song and inflation asynchronously the expert able to demonstrate that both parts of the performance had to be there....)

Good use of on-screen graphics, I thought (think "Sherlock"). Like another on-screen Lucy (Worsley) the camera loves her, she has an easy manner with the experts and with us. Plenty of hard science - I didn't feel a bit patronised, only informed and entertained. I liked the bit where she asked the jumping spider expert where he got those tights (his girlfriend's mother, apparently, without her knowledge). Her producer didn't seem to feel she had to wear an identical outfit in every shot, á la Mary Beard, just sensible kit which looked like what she probably wore anyway. And not brand new, like when Kate Humble did Big Cat Diary....

Part 2 tonight - hyenas, vervet monkeys, bats and frogs, infra-red communication. No birds so far.

PS The spider expert used the tights to construct an arena for the spiders. He was not wearing them.