Neighbours the Australian soap started 37 years ago and is due to end in August. In the early days I watched virtually every episode but haven't seen one for years. I have no idea who is in it now or what the storylines are and I don't really care.
That of course is the problem. Viewing figures have dropped. Soaps and TV programmes all seem to have a shelf life (apart from Corrie and Eastenders, although the latter should have) and Australian soaps Neighbours and Home and Away are probably well past theirs.
There is a massive number of people who grew up with Neighbours (including my sons who would have been three and one when it started). I will probably dip into the programme before it finishes just to see who is there. It will be interesting to see how they end the show. Will it involve a massive reunion of some of the stars who went on to become household names - the likes of Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, Holly Vallance, Jason Donovan and Margot Robbie. By my reckoning it should make its 9,000th edition before it closes.
The Press have called it an end of an era (or should that be error?). The other Australian soap Home and Away is continuing. I remember the first episode of Neighbours, Charlene and Scott's wedding (what a pathetic old romantic I am) and much more. I remember Harold Bishop who I'm sure was written out of the show only to be written back in by turning up on some foreign island, having lost his memory. That was almost as ridiculous a return as the most ridiculous return of all time - Bobby Ewing coming back into Dallas with the entire previous series of the programme being wiped out as a dream! As they say you just couldn't make it up (or in this case of certain scriptwriters you just could make it up).
People often ask why did that character behave like that and my answer is always because the scriptwriters decided they should.
Then there was Lou Carpenter who was always battling with Harold. I wonder what happened to him? Well actually I know. The actor Tom Oliver is now 83 and lives in retirement in Australia. He was actually born in England.
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Dominic Raab the deputy prime minister (an irrelevant title if there ever was one) was on television yesterday morning talking about unlawful acts of war and the rules of war. Putin doesn't play by any rules other than his own. That man(!!!!????) isn't going to play by any rules.
As you know I am involved with a small group commemorating and remembering 97 British soldiers massacred at Le Paradis in northern France. We have a full website and I am currently putting the finishing touches to a book on the subject. The order to shoot the 97 (there was actually 99 but two survived) was given by a German Nazi by the name of Fritz Knoechlein. Knochlein was eventually arrested and stood trial in Hamburg after the war on charges of war crimes. Part of his defence was that the British used dum dum bullets which were illegal and this gave him the right to kill the soldiers in cold blood. There was never any evidence that dum dum bullets were used. Knoechlein was using rules of war to try to save his own neck. It failed and he was hanged (always think that should be hung).
So here we are expecting Putin to play by some so called rules of war when the reality is this isn't a game. This man would cheat at Monopoly and claim he had won despite being bankrupt.
It was very heart-warming to see the reaction of the German people in Berlin. Refugees from Ukraine were met by hundreds of people holding up placards and notices inviting them into their homes. Some of the wording on the notices were along the lines of "We can take three refugees" or "We have a home for a Ukranian family" or "We have a room in our home for you." This is the other side of this war.
I did a little research on Putin yesterday and note that he has an ex-wife and two grown up daughters. I wonder what they think of the fact that their father is a murdering monster and a piece of human filth?
There was an interview with a man from Cambridge on the news. He has a mother and relatives trapped in Ukraine and he beautifully summed up what has been happening.
"It looks like medieval warfare something Genghis Khan would have done. Barbaric, " he said.
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It was bad enough when Tony Blair was awarded a knighthood. Then it got worse when Nick Clegg was given one. Now I understand that former Education Secretary Gavin Williamson will become a Knight of the Realm. This makes a mockery of the award. Williamson was a poor education secretary and has been abjectly dreadful in any position he has held. Perhaps his award is for "not achieving very much."
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People who know me will know about my love of cricket. I have played the game, been chairman of a local club and am still a vice-president of Hethersett and Tas Valley. So I was hugely saddened to hear of the death of two great Australian cricketers within 24 hours.
Rodney Marsh was a fine wicketkeeper. I'm sure I saw him play against England at some point. The other death came as a huge shock. Shane Warne - the second greatest spin bowler of all time, the professional archetypal Australian, the blond haired poster boy, the general good egg who was one of the best commentators and students of the game.
I can still hear his dulcet tones "Good day Beefy, good day everyone" on the television. Warney had become the voice of summer. He died of a suspected heart attack just hours after tweeting about the death of his old mate Rod Marsh (not to be confused with the English footballer of the same name).
Warne took 708 test match wickets (only Sri Lanka's Muralitharan has taken more). He was a great great spin bowler and will be a great loss to the game.
NOTE - Beefy is the nickname of England cricketer Ian Botham.