danny baker the racist - now fired

I've been listening with great pleasure to various Danny Baker podcasts for years now, and although he can have certain convictions that l completely disagree with, l have never thought that he was a racist. Last night however, he made a serious error of judgment on his twitter feed, by posting a picture of a posh couple with a suited monkey, straight after the naming of the new royal baby (Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor). There was  a backlash about the picture on racist grounds, due to the mixed race parentage through Megan Markle, and Danny apologised a few times (although often with a caveat) and took it down, saying he did not mean it to be perceived as racist. He has also had years of ongoing jokes of a non racist kind about monkeys dressed as famous people without complaint. Twitter however, would not let it lie, and despite other apologies from Danny, he has now been sacked from his BBC5 Live show.
Now a lot of people may argue that as Danny comes from a working class background and supports Millwall, there may be racist connotations to the post as he may be subliminally racist. However, forget his background and the team he supports, this does not make him racist. It's actions and deeds that count.
Only Danny knows the truth, but l for one, was extremely disappointed that the following tweets from Danny could also have been seen to be linked to the one that was taken down, although no-one seems to have really mentioned this. One referred to 'Brown' being added to a drink, and the next referring to a microphone he was holding from an early show of his being in the shape of a banana. I think if there was a genuine heartfelt apology after the monkey pic, without the next couple of tweets, he should have been forgiven.
Maybe these were intended as racist. Maybe these were just poor attempts at humour and coincidental. Maybe there is nothing of note in these tweets and l am the racist one, finding meaning in them.
As l stated, only Danny knows, but these were seriously stupid posts, and this could be a sad end to a career.
Posts are below, his twitter feed is here, and there are plenty of podcasts out there for you to make up your own mind.

toodle pip

serial - the podcast series from an american life

Adnan Syed

Hae Min Lee

Serial is a podcast series, a spin off from 'This American Life', and was one of the most riveting pieces of real life drama that l have had the pleasure of listening to, despite (or because of) the fact the series was dealing with real events, real people, and a real murder. Plus because you are only listening to the show, your mind fills in loads of gaps, and it is easy to become really engrossed and involved with it, probably more so than if you were watching it on TV.

From episode to episode you are left reeling, not knowing what to believe, or who to trust, and swinging from 'That person must have done it' to 'Damn! It's probably that person instead'.

The gist of it is this. The murder of Hae Min Lee takes place in Baltimore, and her ex boyfriend, Adnan Syed, is charged and convicted of the murder, mainly on the testimony of one of his so called 'friends' who said he helped Adnan move the body.

There are phone calls aplenty to Adnan, and interviews with others involved. Court records and statements are scrutinised, and re-enactments of movements undertaken. Even the person behind the interviews and podcasts, Sarah Koening, doubts her own judgement as the evidence mounts one way or another.

I don't want to give away the ending, but all of this is in the present, and still ongoing, and l cannot recommend it enough.

Superb stuff.

It can be downloaded from here.

Do it!

Now!!

As a bonus, here's the spoof Saturday Night Live Christmas version

toodle pip

tony hancock and mrs brown's boys

Some of my Tony Hancock related books (yes -  l know l am sad!!)

I still love the old radio shows of Tony Hancock's 'Hancocks Half Hour', but found the TV versions less satisfying, because when he was on the radio, your imagination visualised a lot of the material, plus there were other characters such as Bill Kerr and Sid James that added to the charm.
However, whether it was on the radio or TV, one of the hooks to it's immense popularity, was that you felt everyone was having a laugh together, and in a way, playing themselves (which they were to a degree). Mistakes that were left in only added to the charm, a common theme with 'Mrs Brown's Boys', as that has a close nit (and often related) cast, and the mistakes and general playfulness make the TV audience and viewers at home feel as though they are in on (and part of) the joke, creating a climate where all are wanting the show to succeed.
Sadly for Hancock, he lost his way, left behind the people that helped make him successful (especially Ray Galton and Alan Simpson), and ended up committing suicide in 1968 while filming a (very poor) series in Australia. The magic, scripts and timing had left him, and l guess it all got too much for him, so he left us. There are some of the Australian shows on You Tube, but they are cringe worthy to look at, especially compared to what had gone before.
Luckily a lot of the old shows, especially the radio ones, have survived, so at least the humour can be enjoyed and rediscovered by new generations, and help pass the time for demented old bastards like myself, even if l am too young to remember the shows when they were first transmitted.
It's dated, but good humour is still good humour.
As for Mrs Brown's Boys, who knows what direction that will take. I just hope it isn't dragged on way past its sell by date, although l have a sneaking suspicion it will be, because most comedies are.




toodle pip

attack the block (2011) - joe cornish

I had been looking forward to 'Attack The Block' for a while, as l loved Joe Cornish on the (now sadly no longer with us apart from in cyberspace) 'Adam And Joe Show' on the radio (even if they are posh boys - they are still funny).

A group of youths mug a nurse, get involved with an alien invasion (as you do), but turn out not to be such bad lads after all, as they try to defend 'their block'.

Joe Cornish obviously loves his monster and horror movies, but l got a bit bored of all the chases with the aliens/monsters, and you always thought that the kids would redeem themselves and turn out to be OK in the end, but it was still a decent film that l was not disheartened by (and that is saying a lot).

Now if only they would crack on with some more radio shows.....

Nearly forgot. Nick Frost is getting bigger. I thought my brother lived in Leeds.

toodle pip

hp lovecraft - the tomb - the cats of ulthar - the statement of randolph carter

I had a long day at work yesterday (8am until 11pm, then sleepover), but at least l survived the night. With my depression about having to go back to work in the first place, that was a bleeding miracle.

rather sadly, l woke up about 5am and couldn't sleep, so l put on my ipod to listen to stuff. Nothing unusual in that, apart from this time it was audio books of horror stories by HP Lovecraft. Pretty good they were as well, he is one hell of a fine writer, and the stories were read in a way that did not annoy me. That, trust me, is always a bonus, as l am so easily annoyed by these things.

Anywho's, the best bit was nearly falling asleep to The Statement of Randolph Carter, with it's

early calling from the depths (l won't spoil the story). Just what you need as you try and drift off into the land of nod. I could feel my body kind of reacting to it, feeling scared in a kind of hairs rising kind of way, but was also aware of what was happening and being fascinated by it and trying to encourage my body/subconsciousness to carry on being scared, although l know that is not a really feasible thing to do (still worth trying though).

A splendid time was had by all, the stories were good, and l still had time to listen to Alice Cooper and Robert Harris (Fatherland (1992)Enigma (1995)Archangel (1999)Pompeii (2003)The Ghost (2007)

on Desert Island Discs. Result! (although l am knackered now).

toodle pip