The Carry On Legacy. Carry On Dick - 1974

Carry On Dick was the 26th Carry On Film. It was released in 1974 and marked the end of an era for the series. It featured the last appearances of Sid James after 19 entries in the series. It was also the last appearance for Hattie Jacques after 14 entries in the series. Although both would make a further appearance in the Carry On Laughing TV series. Carry On Dick was also the 20th and final Carry On to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell. This was also Barbara Windsor's final acting role in a Carry On film although she would co-present That's Carry On! three years later. Other regulars in Carry On Dick were Kenneth Williams, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth and Jack Douglas. The story is based on the Dick Turpin legend and features Turpin (Sid James) as an anti-hero, attempting to evade capture by the authorities.

Highwayman Big Dick Turpin (Sid James) is terrorising merrie olde England with his henchmen Harriet (Barbara Windsor) and Tom (Peter Butterworth)--(Tom, Dick and Harry.) When they rob the powerful Sir Roger Daley (Bernard Bresslaw) and his prim wife (Margaret Nolan), the befuddled Bow Street Runners are determined to track him down. Captain Desmond Fancey (Kenneth Williams) and Sergeant Jock Strapp (Jack Douglas) are ineptitude-personified and can't see through Dick's disguise as the local Reverend Flasher. The Reverend's faithful housekeeper, Martha Hoggett (Hattie Jacques) is also blind to his mischievous double life.

However, with a tip-off from the greasy old hag, Maggie (Marianne Stone) Fancey and Strapp discover their man has a curious birthmark on his manhood. Strapp wastes no time in carrying out an inspection in the public convenience of the Old Cock Inn and is unceremoniously dumped into a horse trough for his troubles. Madame Desiree (Joan Sims), a travelling show-woman with her Birds of Paradise (Laraine Humphreys, Linda Hooks, Penny Irving and Eva Rueber-Staier), having been robbed by Dick Turpin, also fails to make the connection with the kindly Reverend. However, Desiree does swallow his story that the undercover Bow Street Runner, Fancey, is, in fact, the wanted highwayman!

The girls pull down his breeches but fail to find an incriminating birthmark. Miss Hoggett begins to put two and two together when Mrs Giles (Patsy Rowlands), apparently sick and used for a cover-up story for Dick's raids, is seen fit and well at the church jumble sale. Not only that but Harriett is caught wearing Lady Daley's bracelet. With the net tightening, the Reverend Flasher gives an elongated sermon before outwitting his would-be captors and making a speedy getaway with Harriett and Tom across the border.

Carry On Dick
The DVD cover
Directed by	Gerald Thomas
Produced by	Peter Rogers
Written by	Talbot Rothwell
Starring	Sid James Barbara Windsor Kenneth Williams Hattie Jacques Bernard Bresslaw Joan Sims Kenneth Connor Peter Butterworth Jack Douglas
Music by	Eric Rogers
Cinematography	Ernest Steward
Editing by	Alfred Roome
Distributed by	The Rank Organisation
Release date(s)	July 1974
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£245,000

The Eurovision Song Contest (On the Radio Times)

Yes folks, tonight is the night we have the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Personally speaking, I hate the fucking thing, but there you go, there for the grace of God! This is also an opportunity for me to continue with my Radio Times Front Cover obsession and see how the great magazine has covered the contest over the years.

UK entrant Kathy Kirby came second in 1965 with the song 'I Belong.'

Sandie Shaw became the first UK winner in 1967 with 'Puppet on a String.' The song was chosen by viewers from five sung by Sandie on The Rolf Harris Show.

In 1974, RT pictured Eurovision veteran Cliff Richard alongside the UK's latest entrant, Olivia Newton-John.

Angela Rippon made the cover of RT in 1977 as she presented Eurovision.

In 2004, RT celebrated the 30th anniversary of Eurovision's biggest success story

Delivering the Punchline! 1981

Punchlines was a comedy game show series that was produced by London Weekend Television and aired on the ITV network from January 3, 1981 until December 22, 1984. The programme was hosted by Lennie Bennett.

Each week 2 teams of a celebrity guest and a member of the public had to match the punchlines which were given by 8 other guests who were seated in 'Celebrity Squares' style boxes to the questions that were asked by the host, the first team to reach 150 points won the chance to win a major prize while the losing contestant left with a 'Lennie Bennett' doll in the first 2 series then from series 3 onwards they left with a case of champagne and some glasses. In the first two series the panel of 8 Punchliners consisted of actors and comedians who weren't yet well known to the British public.

At the beginning of each show they would all look into the camera one at a time and introduce themselves.. 'I'm Matthew', 'I'm Patti' etc... From the third series onwards the Punchliners consisted of a mixture of the original Punchliners and more well known celebrities. In the final round the winning contestant had to match 7 of the 8 punchlines correctly to win the star prize but if they failed to do so they went away with the prize that corresponded to how many correct punchlines they had matched.

Elvis, starring Elvis Presley, was the title of a 1968 United States television special. Sponsored by the Singer Sewing Machine company, it aired on December 3, 1968 on the NBC television network. The special is commonly referred to as the '68 Comeback Special, because of subsequent developments in Presley's career, but the soundtrack album was released simply as NBC - TV special. It was directed by Steve Binder and produced by Binder and Bones Howe.

Presley's informal jamming in front of a small audience in the '68 Comeback Special is regarded as a forerunner of the so-called 'Unplugged' concept, later popularized by MTV.

Despite huge success in both his music and acting careers following his release from the army in 1960, Presley's career had declined steadily in the years leading up to 1968. The music scene had changed dramatically since his last U.S. No1 single in 1962, and Presley was in no doubt that bands such as The Beatles were leading "the swinging sixties".

Partly due to the repetitive scripts and laughable song choices, as well as the general feeling that he was "uncool", Presley's films had been making less money with each release and he was tiring of Hollywood. Colonel Parker, Presley's manager, had found it increasingly difficult to secure the usual $1,000,000 fee for a Presley film, and had no alternative than to take a different approach. Parker negotiated a deal with NBC for $1,250,000 to finance both a television special and a film (1969's Change of Habit).

Parker wanted the show, which was scheduled as a Christmas season broadcast, to be little more than Presley singing Christmas carols. He believed the special could simply be a TV-version of the Christmas radio show Presley had contributed to the year before. Binder argued that the special was an opportunity to re-establish the singer's reputation after years of formulaic movies and recordings of variable quality. He and Howe hired writers to script a show with specific themes: they envisaged large set designs, dance sequences and big productions of Presley's hits. However, Binder was open to any variations on this that would showcase the singer's talent, and Presley was apparently very happy to go along with this flexible approach.

The special eventually included an extravagant musical sequence featuring Gospel-style numbers, a semi-autobiographical "mini-movie" centered around the song "Guitar Man" and other re-recordings given lavish set designs. A segment set in a bordello featuring the song "Let Yourself Go" was initially passed by the network's censors, but was removed at the request of the show's primary sponsor, Singer Corporation, as it was deemed too risqué. (The first public appearance of this sequence was in the expanded video version of the 1981 documentary film This is Elvis. It was later restored for RCA's 3-DVD release in 2004.) The special ends with Presley appealing for world peace with the song "If I Can Dream."

Studio recordings for these segments were made at Western Recorders in Hollywood, California between June 20 and 23 and featured an orchestra and The Blossoms as background vocalists: Fanita James, Jean King and Darlene Love. Other musicians included drummer Hal Blaine, pianist Don Randi, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, bass player Larry Knetchel and harmonica player Tommy Morgan.

It was after rehearsals at Western Recorders that Binder took special note of how Presley and the other musicians would spontaneously unwind by improvising old blues and rock 'n' roll numbers. Binder commented: "...and that's when I really got the idea: Wouldn't it be great if I had a camera in here and they didn't know I was here?"

Presley is said to have been very apprehensive about the idea of performing live. His last live concert had been at the Bloch Arena in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on March 25, 1961. Binder offered a lot of support and reassurance to stop the singer from rejecting the idea of any live segments. He realized some songs already re-recorded or scheduled would need to be cut (The special was only an hour long). He quickly arranged for rehearsals to take place to capture the feel of Presley's informal studio jamming, drafting in the surviving members of Presley's original backing band - Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana (bassist Bill Black had died in 1965).

The edited broadcast of December 3 - combining the big, choreographed numbers, lavish sets and some of the informal live sessions - was an enormous success. The show was the highest-rated television special of the year. According to Binder, it was probably the first one-man TV special to appear on commercial American television. Previously, TV specials tended to be packed with guest stars, like Frank Sinatra's Timex Special of 1960, in which Presley himself appeared with other celebrities, including Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr..

At the beginning of the '68 Special project, a nervous Presley had said to the executive producer Bob Finkel: "I want everyone to know what I can really do." Critics generally agree that the broadcast did show what Elvis Presley really could do - in addition to making profitable, if generally uninspired movies and soundtracks. The '68 Special is widely credited with revitalizing his career: chart statistics for the summer of 1968 suggest that Presley's recording career was becoming all but non-existent. After the special, he began his stint in Las Vegas and toured, achieving a string of record-breaking sell-out performances across America. Chart successes returned, including a U.S. number one in 1969 ("Suspicious Minds") and a U.K. number one ("The Wonder of You", (1970)) - his first since 1965.

The live segments of the '68 Comeback Special in particular gave the audience more than a glimpse of Presley's charismatic and emotionally charged performing style that won him his first fans in the 1950s. This is arguably even more evident in the later uncut versions of the special (see below). His career had been considered by many to be artistically fallow since his return from the Army (1960), the subsequent Beatles invasion and since the new and varied musical directions forged by the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix.

Silva waves farewell to Dales:

Adele Silva will be saying goodbye to Emmerdale once again.

The 30-year-old actress, whose character Kelly Windsor has been pivotal to Jimmy King's amnesia storyline, is to leave the village within weeks, having finished filming her latest stint on the ITV soap.

A spokesperson for the soap confirmed the news, saying: "The character of Kelly was brought back specifically for the amnesia storyline which will conclude shortly. Adele therefore finished filming two weeks ago but there is every chance Kelly could return later in the year."

Adele - who is working on a new film titled Strippers Vs Werewolves - was tempted to return to the Dales last year, after leaving in 2007 to pursue other roles.

Her alter-ego Kelly made her memorable return in February, taking advantage of her ex-boyfriend's memory loss, which she caused after attacking him. Following weeks of scheming and manipulation, things are expected to head downhill for her as more of Jimmy's memories come back.

Way down on Baker Street - 1978

"Baker Street" is a ballad written and first recorded by the late Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in 1978, it reached No 2 in the US, No 3 in the UK, No1 in Australia and No9 in the Netherlands. The arrangement is famous for its Saxaphone solo, played by Raphael Ravensctroft

In October 2010 the song was recognised by the BMI for surpassing 5 million performances worldwide.

Named after the famous London Street of the same name, the song was included on Rafferty's second solo album, City to City, which was Rafferty's first release after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the formal breakup of his old band, Stealers Wheel in 1975. In the intervening three years, Rafferty had been unable to release any material due to disputes about the band's remaining contractual recording obligations.

Rafferty wrote the song during a period when he was trying to extricate himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts, and was regularly travelling between his family home near Glasgow and London, where he often stayed at a friend's flat in Baker Street. As Rafferty put it, "everybody was suing each other, so I spent a lot of time on the overnight train from Glasgow to London for meetings with lawyers. I knew a guy who lived in a little flat off Baker Street. We'd sit and chat or play guitar there through the night." The resolution of his legal and financial frustrations accounted for the exhilaration of the song's last verse: "When you wake up it's a new morning/ The sun is shining, it's a new morning/ You're going, you're going home.

"Baker Street"
Single by Gerry Rafferty
from the album City to City
B-Side	"Big Change in the Weather"
Released	3 February 1978
Format	7"
Recorded	1977
Genre	Rock
Length	4:10 (single edit) 6:01 (album version) 6:34 (long version)
Label	United Artists
Writer(s)	Gerry Rafferty
Certification	BPI: Gold (400,000 sales)
Gerry Rafferty singles chronology
"Baker Street" (1978) "Night Owl" (1979)

The album City to City, including "Baker Street", was co-produced by Rafferty and Hugh Murphy. In addition to a guitar solo, played by Hugh Burns, the song featured a prominent eight-bar saxophone riff played as a break between verses, by Raphael Ravenscroft. The melody had originally intended to be sung but was then tried on guitar. Ravenscroft, a session musician, was in the studio to record a brief soprano saxaphone part and suggested that he record the now famous solo using the alto saxaphone he had in his car. The solo led to what became known as "the 'Baker Street' phenomenon", a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and TV advertising.

The saxophone solo was also the subject of an urban myth in the UK, created in the 1980s by British writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie. As one of the spoof facts invented for the regular "Would You Believe It?" section in the NME, Maconie falsely claimed that British actor and television presenter Bob Holness had played the saxophone solo on the recording. Later, the claim was widely repeated

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well another crazy day, youll drink the night away
And forget about everything.

This city desert makes you feel so cold
Its got so many people but its got no soul
And its taken you so long to find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything.

You used to think that it was so easy,
You used to say that it was so easy
But youre tryin, youre tryin now.
Another year and then youd be happy
Just one more year and then youd be happy
But youre cryin, youre cryin now.

Way down the street theres a light in his place
He opens the door, hes got that look on his face
And he asks you where youve been, you tell him who youve seen
And you talk about anything.

Hes got this dream about buyin some land
Hes gonna give up the booze and the one night stands
And then hell settle down, in some quiet little town
And forget about everything.

But you know hell always keep movin
You know hes never gonna stop movin
Cause hes rollin, hes the rollin stone.
And when you wake up its a new morning
The sun is shining, its a new morning
But youre going, youre going home.

Action Man (Part Three) 2004 - GI JOE 40th Anniversary Figure

A 40th Anniversary Action Man was made available in 2004 which is very close to the original figure and includes Soldier, Marine, Sailor and Pilot.

The Anniversary box is a shoe-box style 2 piece box, the lid in full colour, and the tray a brown card, inside there is badges to apply to the figure, and a period style manual. In the picture opposite the original 1966 figure is to the left (value approx £45-£65), and the new reproduction figure (approx £15-£20).

The new figure is the closest thing yet to a reproduction of the original, only minor changes in production technology separate them. The new figure is well made well and has the feel of real durability - much better in fact than the departed 1994-2006 Action Man range! Standing a little taller, he has GI JOE dog tags 'by Hasbro' and "G.I.JOE™ ©2003 HASBRO, INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MADE IN CHINA' is reverse embossed diagonally across his right buttock.

A range of Anniversary period accessory cards in the first issue style, has also been launched, again stating discreetly that is is 'ANNIVERSARY EDITION'. You should take care that you identify which is which when buying - a collector will have little difficulty differentiating the new from old. Both old and new figures are both very attractive purchases, but there is obviously a great price differential between the two!

2006 - Action Man 40th Anniversary Figure

Who said nostalgia isn't what it used to be? Life truly begins at 40, or so it seems. As Action Man once more goes AWOL from our toy stores, the original Action Man reappears for duty. This time he has been carefully aimed at the growing number of action figure collectors and is as authentic as you could possibly wish. Modellers Loft, a specialist model shop chain based in the south of England has gained the production rights to recreate the original Palitoy Action Man in his 1960's guise.

The key figures, uniforms and packaging have been painstakingly recreated and on launch cost £35.00 for a figure in its original cardboard box, and a uniform tray, packaged as an irresistible bundle. Also included in some bundles are items associated with a third accessory card, which thoughtfully have been included in the set. So this time around, you can buy Action Man, and have him kitted out in just one purchase. Other uniforms are set to follow in a number of phases.