Turning-point for the BBC? - the new DG

[Northender]

It is rather fine.
[Courtesy Sky News, apparently. Oh, well, Chablis is Chablis when all's said and done ]



I don't know the history of this vessel - was it built especially for the Jubilee?

(Reminds me of Salad Days: "The barge she sat in was of burnished gold." Better not continue beyond that point )

I think it's a conversion of a standard Thames barge.

[DracoM]

Nicholas Whichell of the BBC R4 evidently has an A* in GCSE Geography. He talked of the Queen travelling WEST along the Strand to St Paul's.

[Anna]

I don't know the history of this vessel - was it built especially for the Jubilee?

Privately owned, used the ply the Rhine. Owned by a Phillip Morrell who was a Barnardos Boy, real rags to riches story.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9108745/Barnardos-boy-who-will-float-the-Queens-Jubilee-boat.html

[Panjandrum]

Nicholas Whichell of the BBC R4 evidently has an A* in GCSE Geography. He talked of the Queen travelling WEST along the Strand to St Paul's.

He obviously doesn't want Matt "One Show" Baker to feel left out for his HRH the Queen gaffe.

[salymap]

ITV had the additional benefit of David Starkey talking passionately and amusingly about anointment etc. Much better. And yes, the pictures and sound were far superior. Didn't try SkyNews (like you I'm on freeview)...

Sky News is the only Sky Channel on Freeview - channel 82. I don't like the ads but today I alternated between Sky and ITVi. The BBC werein a little studio talking to Lloyd Webber.

[french frank]

Privately owned, used the ply the Rhine. Owned by a Phillip Morrell who was a Barnardos Boy, real rags to riches story.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ilee-boat.html

Merci, ma chère, tu as toutes les informations indispensables

A slightly bizarre story, though - after the Royal Yacht ...

[Nick Armstrong]

in fairness to the BBC, there really wasn't that much going on - boats processing slowly down the river for hours in pretty miserable conditions, so I can understand the need to find other Jubilee-related diversions.

While I accept that the weather didn't help, I really disagree that the sequence of boats meant there wasn't much going on. Each of the 1000-odd boats had a story attached. Some research and preparation could have led to a fascinating programme. Gondoliers, maori oarsmen, the Dunkirk boats, historic steam ships (fantastic steam whistles!! I loved them!!), servicemen of all kinds including some heroic amputees... There were stories of all sorts, historical and contemporary, all over that river!

I regretted very much that due to the weather we arrived later at Butler's Wharf where I was lucky to have a fantastic vantage point... I wish I had studied the programme before - or even during (not really possible in the driving rain) because each boat was described and depicted.

For example, one pretty little boat caught my eye particularly - I wish I had known the following as it went by:


Knight Errant 50ft 1934


Legend has it that she towed a water skier in evening dress on a silver tray past the Houses of Parliament in the early 1950s… but no-one seems able to produce a photo. A famous boat though – once owned by actress Diana Dors, now restored and a familiar sight on the upper Thames.



The BBC coverage was an underprepared travesty, a shocking wasted opportunity.

I don't agree with the posters who would have inflicted the severe, austere tones of bygone commentators to make it even drabber viewing than it already was!

I'm not sure this sort of polarised reductio ad absurdum is particularly useful. No one's suggesting the thing be presented by Alvar Liddell sound-alikes in dinner jackets, are they?!

[Hornspieler]

I'm sure Stephen Pollard really relished being able to have a go at the BBC for (seemingly) legitimate reasons on this occasion. I don't relish it. At all. (Unlike Pollard) I have no political axe to grind with the BBC, but I do have a cultural one, and:

"It has become a truism that our national culture has been infantilised and made stupid. But if ever anything could be relied on to provide a temporary halt in that slide it would, surely, be the BBC’s coverage of the Diamond Jubilee. Much to the irritation of other channels, we turn to the national broadcaster at times of national togetherness. The BBC just gets it right.

Not any more. Sunday’s broadcast was not merely inane, it was insulting. The instruction had clearly gone out from on high that the audience would comprise imbeciles with a mental age of three and a 20-second attention span. And that any celebrity sighting, no matter how minor, would trump anything happening on the river."

I do believe that this the new spirit at the BBC which is insidiously creeping into Radio 3. As with the Jubilee itself (in my view, of course!) there's nothing wrong with the material they are given the opportunity to broadcast; it's the childish, stupid, trivial - and all too often - downright amateurishness of the presentation, just to ensure that not a single person in the country could possible complain that they feel 'excluded'. The result is that an increasing number of people do feel excluded.

Diamond Jubilee, Young Musician, Radio 3: everything they touch seems to have the stamp of this BBC 'brand'.

Well spoken, FF!

[Serial_Apologist]

For example, one pretty little boat caught my eye particularly - I wish I had known the following as it went by:[/COLOR]


Knight Errant 50ft 1934


Legend has it that she towed a water skier in evening dress on a silver tray past the Houses of Parliament in the early 1950s… but no-one seems able to produce a photo. A famous boat though – once owned by actress Diana Dors, now restored and a familiar sight on the upper Thames.

Interesting to note the unusually high roofline - presumably designed to accommodate Ms Dors in her reclining pose.

[Pegleg]

The trouble is, the bigwigs at the Beeb simply do not get it. They are embarrassed by these great occasions and wish they’d go away so they can get back to throwing money at programmes like The Voice. They’d never dream of being out there, waving flags, dressed in red, white and blue. Almost certainly they regard streets decked with red, white and blue as a somewhat pathetic throwback to an outmoded, deferential age. It’s worth remembering that the memoirs of veteran broadcaster Peter Sissons revealed how on the death of the Queen Mother he was ordered not to wear a black tie to present the news and that ‘there was high-level opposition among senior [BBC] managers to going overboard when she died’. The sad truth is this: these highly paid people regard with contempt those men and women — rich and poor, young and old, British and foreign — who are thrilled by the longevity of Elizabeth II’s reign.

Not my words, but written by Bel Mooney, wife of Jonathan Dimbleby for 35 years, who might just have some insight into he mindset of the today's BBC and is well placed to make the comparison with the great age of Richard Dimbleby's broadcasts. She add this:

Richard Dimbleby saw television as a mirror held up to society to reflect reality. He knew that the commentator at a great event would, through preparation, language and attitude, show respect not only to the event being televised, but to all those who — through the medium — would have a ringside seat.

FF is absolutely right. Sunday’s broadcast was not merely inane, it was insulting.

[Nick Armstrong]

Interesting to note the unusually high roofline - presumably designed to accommodate Ms Dors in her reclining pose.

Interesting rear end too. I really wanted to get a better look. At the boat.

[Pegleg]

While I accept that the weather didn't help, I really disagree that the sequence of boats meant there wasn't much going on. Each of the 1000-odd boats had a story attached. Some research and preparation could have led to a fascinating programme. Gondoliers, maori oarsmen, the Dunkirk boats, historic steam ships (fantastic steam whistles!! I loved them!!), servicemen of all kinds including some heroic amputees... There were stories of all sorts, historical and contemporary, all over that river!

I regretted very much that due to the weather we arrived later at Butler's Wharf where I was lucky to have a fantastic vantage point... I wish I had studied the programme before - or even during (not really possible in the driving rain) because each boat was described and depicted.

For example, one pretty little boat caught my eye particularly - I wish I had known the following as it went by:


Knight Errant 50ft 1934


Legend has it that she towed a water skier in evening dress on a silver tray past the Houses of Parliament in the early 1950s… but no-one seems able to produce a photo. A famous boat though – once owned by actress Diana Dors, now restored and a familiar sight on the upper Thames.



The BBC coverage was an underprepared travesty, a shocking wasted opportunity.




I'm not sure this sort of polarised reductio ad absurdum is particularly useful. No one's suggesting the thing be presented by Alvar Liddell sound-alikes in dinner jackets, are they?!

A shocking waste indeed. You can learn more about the flotilla craft by spending five minutes on the http://www2.thamesdiamondjubileepage...ticipants.aspx website than in hours of the BBC so-called coverage.

The Sundowner is listed as a participant amongst the Dunkirk Little Ships. Did anyone catch sight of her on the day?

[Serial_Apologist]

The trouble is, the bigwigs at the Beeb simply do not get it. They are embarrassed by these great occasions and wish they’d go away so they can get back to throwing money at programmes like The Voice. They’d never dream of being out there, waving flags, dressed in red, white and blue. Almost certainly they regard streets decked with red, white and blue as a somewhat pathetic throwback to an outmoded, deferential age. It’s worth remembering that the memoirs of veteran broadcaster Peter Sissons revealed how on the death of the Queen Mother he was ordered not to wear a black tie to present the news and that ‘there was high-level opposition among senior [BBC] managers to going overboard when she died’. The sad truth is this: these highly paid people regard with contempt those men and women — rich and poor, young and old, British and foreign — who are thrilled by the longevity of Elizabeth II’s reign.

Not my words, but written by Bel Mooney, wife of Jonathan Dimbleby for 35 years, who might just have some insight into he mindset of the today's BBC and is well placed to make the comparison with the great age of Richard Dimbleby's broadcasts. She add this:

Richard Dimbleby saw television as a mirror held up to society to reflect reality. He knew that the commentator at a great event would, through preparation, language and attitude, show respect not only to the event being televised, but to all those who — through the medium — would have a ringside seat.

FF is absolutely right. Sunday’s broadcast was not merely inane, it was insulting.

One takes it then that you see the usual obsequiousness towards Royalty normally displayed by the BBC as the only alternative to the above-

[Anna]

One takes it then that you see the usual obsequiousness towards Royalty normally displayed by the BBC as the only alternative to the above-

No S_A, nothing to do with being obsequious towards Royalty, merely a wish to have presenters who are well informed about the different types of river craft, who know their history of The Thames and London, have a knowledge of music, ceremony and regimental history and not cutting away from the live proceedings to feature inconsequential banter about drag queens, shark wrestling, pre-recorded interviews etc., and thereby missing such things as The Chartwell proceeding under Tower Bridge, not cutting off the firework display with running of titles just to fit in an Euro 2012 ad ......... etc., etc. Matt Baker may be very good on Country File with lambs but he had never heard of semaphore (amongst other gaffes) Alastair Bruce on Sky News was superb in his commentary and they concentrated solely on what was going on. In fact, it was a proper grown up programme that they produced.

[Nick Armstrong]

One takes it then that you see the usual obsequiousness towards Royalty normally displayed by the BBC as the only alternative to the above-

Come on S_A... I think that's a total non-sequitur...

(I find the obsequious tone you mention just as awful as the infantilised cr*p on Sunday)