Norman Wisdom: Trouble in Store (1953)

Trouble in Store was an excellent 1953 British comedy film that starred the late, great Norman Wisdom as a department store clerk in his screen debut. For his performance, Wisdom won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The film broke box office records at 51 out of the 67 London cinemas in which it played. The Daily Mirror reviewer wrote of the film: "If you don't laugh at Norman's antics as the downtrodden worker in a big store, trying to get promotion as a window dresser, there is something wrong with your sense of fun."

Norman (Norman Wisdom), a lowly stock clerk at Burridge's department store, is in love with another employee, Sally Wilson (Lana Morris), though he has been unable to muster the courage to let her know how he feels. However, he antagonizes the new head of the store, Augustus Freeman (Jerry Desmonde) and is promptly fired. On his way out, Norman helps Miss Bacon (Margaret Rutherford) carry her bulging suitcases, unaware that she is an audacious shoplifter. Freeman sees Norman assisting a "customer" and rehires him.

Meanwhile, Peggy Drew (Moira Lister), the store's personnel manager, flirts with Mr. Freeman, while plotting with her boyfriend Gerald (Derek Bond) to rob the place. Norman is discharged and undischarged again and again, as his escapades somehow manage to benefit the store. He also finally becomes acquainted with Sally, chasing her down through the city streets to return her purse. His antics make her laugh.

After his latest firing, Norman is alarmed to find the handsome, suave Gerald trying to get to know Sally better. When he goes to the man's apartment to warn him to stay away from her, Norman inadvertently uncovers the robbery plot, scheduled to coincide with a big sale the next day. However, he is unable to get Sally or anyone else to take him seriously.

Sally eventually decides to bring Norman's story to the attention of the management, but tells the wrong person, Miss Drew, and is tied up for her efforts. Norman finds her and together, they foil the thieves. Freeman takes Norman back into his employ...but not for long.

THE

MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN

Published by

THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE

Volume 21, No.240, January 1954, page 13

TROUBLE IN STORE (1953)

In the great West End department store Norman holds a humble position in the stock room. His ambition is to become a window dresser, but all his attempts to advance himself end in chaos, as do his efforts to win Sally, who works in another department. When he helps a lady burdened with suitcases to leave the store, she proves to be a professional shop-lifter; at the Staff Social he sets himself on fire, and ruins his boss's speech; his zealous gallantry wrecks Sally's bicycle. Finally, however, he discovers a plot to rob the store, and, in the nick of time, forestalls the thieves and wins Sally.

This is the first film to star Norman Wisdom; and it is regrettable that so little attention has been given to the plot, which is no more than a series of incidents with the store as their setting. Norman Wisdom brings to the screen his well-known stage personality, "the little man against the world," and with it its basic weakness - its dependence on a first-rate script, which he lacks in this film. There are laughs, but the film is still not as funny as it should be. Margaret Rutherford's shoplifter and Jerry Desmonde's store manager are polished performances.

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The Monthly Film Bulletin was published by the British Film Institute between 1934 and 1991. Initially aimed at distributors and exhibitors as well as filmgoers, it carried reviews and details of all UK film releases. In 1991, the Bulletin was absorbed by Sight and Sound magazine.

McCloud: 1970-1977

Yes folks, it's another blast from 1970s past! McCloud was an American television police drama that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1977. The title role was played by the late Dennis Weaver as Marshal Sam McCloud, a law officer from Taos, New Mexico on semi-permanent "special assignment" with the New York City Police Department.

The first choice for the role of McCloud was Fess Parker who turned it down. Universal hired the highly experienced Dennis Weaver. The pilot, "Portrait of a Dead Girl", aired on February 17, 1970, and established the premise by having McCloud escort a prisoner from New Mexico to New York City only to become embroiled in solving a complicated murder case.

This premise of "a cowboy in the big city" was more or less adapted from the 1968 Don Siegel film, Coogan's Bluff that starred Clint Eastwood. Herman Miller was responsible for the story of Coogan's Bluff and co-wrote the screenplay with (Dean Riesner and Howard Rodman (indeed, Miller is credited as the creator of McCloud). Coogan's Bluff reflects Richard Thorpe's 1942 film Tarzan's New York Adventure and the latter-day career of Bat Masterson. (Siegel himself appears in the "Return to the Alamo" episode as "2nd Desk Sergeant".) Like Coogan, McCloud galloped the length and breadth of Manhattan (he was joined by a mounted unit in "The 42nd Street Cavalry"), and the sight of McCloud on horseback riding down the middle of a busy street (taken from an early episode) became one of the series' iconic images.

NBC renewed the show for six 60-minute episodes in the fall of 1970, placing it in the rotation of its "wheel format" series Four in One, along with Night Gallery, San Francisco International Airport, and The Psychiatrist.

In the fall of 1971, NBC placed McCloud, along with two other new series, McMillan & Wife and Columbo, in the rotation of a new drama NBC Mystery Movie which aired on Wednesday night from 8:30–10:00. The running time of each episode was increased to 90 minutes. The umbrella series was a success, finishing at number 14 for Nielsen ratings for the 1971–72 series. The following season, NBC moved McCloud and the other two shows of Mystery Movie to the competitive 8:30–10:00 Sunday night position and added a fourth series, Hec Ramsey to the rotation as the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie. The rotating series was an enormous success and finished at number 5 in the ratings for the season.

Starting in the fifth season in the fall of 1974, the episodes were two hours long, but were dropped again to 90 minutes for the seventh and final season starting in the fall of 1976. The 46th and last episode, "McCloud Meets Dracula", was aired on April 17, 1977.

Dennis Weaver received Emmy nominations in 1974 and 1975 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series.

The executive producer was Glen A Larson, who also wrote for the series (as did Peter Allan Fields, Lou Shaw, Jimmy Sangster, and others). Larson won an Edgar Award for "The New Mexican Connection".

Since leaving the air in 1977, the show has played regularly and often in syndication. In 1989, Weaver reprised the role in a made-for-television movie, The Return of Sam McCloud, in which his character was now a United States Senator. It first aired on November 12, 1989. Diana Muldaur, fresh from Season Two of, Star Trek: The Next Generation, returned to reprise her role as McCloud's love interest, Chris Coughlin.

The most enduring theme of the show was the conflict between the good-natured, clear-eyed buoyancy of McCloud and the metropolitan cynicism of the residents of New York City, including his fellow officers. McCloud's attire, typically consisting of a sheepskin coat or Western jacket, bolo tie and cowboy hat, allowed for implied comic relief in many encounters with New Yorkers. That New Yorkers might mistake him for a naïf because of his appearance occasionally worked to his advantage. He would often allay suspicion of his motives by insisting he was in New York "to observe and learn".

The signature of McCloud's character was his Western unflappability and seeming inability to recognize an insult, especially from Clifford, whose jibes ("send in the sagebrush Sherlock Holmes") he never would take personally. Weaver's grin and drawling twang represented McCloud as the embodiment of the American law officer who always sees the good in people but knows the real stakes and spares no pain to catch the bad guy. The character's signature catchphrase was "There ya go!", often received with bemusement or puzzlement by the listener. (One exception was a character played by John Denver; at the end of the show they traded catchphrases, Denver responding "There ya go!" to McCloud's "Far out!")

McCloud was filmed partially on location (the unit was in New York for "A Little Plot at Tranquil Valley" notably, and traveled to Hawaii for "A Cowboy in Paradise", to Mexico City for "Lady on the Run", and to Sydney for "Night of the Shark" — second-unit footage came from London, Paris, Monaco, Rome, and Moscow at various times), but utilized the Universal back lot for many scenes.

A recurring theme in many episodes was the incorporation of a plot device from Hollywood Cinema particularly at the climax of an episode. Examples included chases on horseback to lasso cattle rustlers ("The Colorado Cattle Caper"), a 1930s-style gangster shoot-out (the film-within-a-film shot on location in "The Gang That Stole Manhattan,"), a Jesse James - style train hold-up on the Long Island Rail Road ("Butch Cassidy Rides Again"), and a showdown with a vampire on the Third Street Bridge ("McCloud Meets Dracula").

McCloud became the basis for a recurring joke on the movie-mocking TV series Mystery Science Theatre 3000: whenever one character in the featured movie would call out to someone else, host characters Joel Robinson, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot would chime in by calling out to other unrelated fictional characters such as Mr Drysdale and "Mr. Eddie's Father". Invariably, these exchanges ended with Servo calling "Chief?" and Crow responding with "McCloud!" The gag was most prominently featured in episode 303, "Pod People".

On an episode of The Simpsons, "The Lastest Gun in the West", Weaver guest-stars as an old-time cowboy star named Buck McCoy, who in the '70s had starred on a detective show called "McTrigger", about which McCoy admits, "Seems all I did was shoot hippies." A clip showed McTrigger driving through New York in a convertible shooting at random members of the hippie crowd that covered the sidewalks.

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Episode Nineteen: A Sentimental Journey

A reluctant Jeff agrees to take a valuable item worth £10,000 from Glasgow to London on the overnight express. When the consignment turns out to be an attractive blond, Jeff initially concedes that the assignment is to his liking. However whilst on the train Randall becomes gradually suspicious that the girl was being held and is being traded although it seems curious to him that she appears to be very able to take care of herself. On the train Randall knows he is being watched and later that night the carriage of the girl is raided by one of the watchers. However it turns out that he is police officer sent to monitor them keeping in contact later.

Randall delivers the girl in return for a receipt but learns that one of the bosses henchmen is a traitor allowing the girl to escape, taking the receipt. Using Marty, he locates the girl in her London Hotel room as Randall becomes increasingly suspicious. Whilst there he is overpowered by her boyfriend who turns out to be the disloyal henchmen and he discovers that what he was really after was a stolen an extremely rare and valuable postage stamp which was masked in the receipt by a newer stamp.

The duo escape leaving Jeff unconscious, and are again tracked by the ghost Marty as they escape by car. However whilst in their car it turns out the pretty blonde also double-crosses her boyfriend, pretending there is a problem with the rear wheel. As he stops and checks, his supposed girlfriend leaves him in the lurch with the valuable postage stamp. Marty is able to give Jeff and the police the radio number and they contact her in the car but the runaway female thief leaves it off the hook as they keep ringing. In doing so, Marty is able to speak to Jeff by phone and tell them exactly where she is going. Eventually she attempts to leave the country at an airfield, and is stopped by the police as Marty blows away her plane as she attempts to enter it.

Goombay Dance Band - Seven Tears (1981)

"Seven Tears" was a popular song by the Goombay Dance Band, released in 1981.

Written by Wolff-Ekkehardt Stein and Wolfgang Jass and produced by Jochen Peterson, "Seven Tears" was a major hit across Europe in the winter and spring of 1982. The song spent 3 weeks at No1 on the UK Singles Chart being only the second time a German act had topped the UK chart, only six weeks after Kraftwerk had achieved that feat with "The Model".

Preceded by "Lion sleeps tonight" by Tight Fit

UK Number One Single 27 March 1982 - 10 April 1982

Succeeded by "My Camera Never Lies" by Bucks Fizz

Joe 90: Episode 4 - Operation McClaine

"Give him the scalpel. If you don't, the next bullet

will go straight through your patient's head."

Joe dons the mantel of a brilliant brain surgeon,

and carries out an operation which saves a man's life.

Maurice Estoral, one of the world's most famous writers, is facing a major brain operation, but the Specialist, Dr. Emil Kados, is seriously injured when the plane bringing him from Switzerland to England crashes.

The news reaches Professor McClaine, who is very concerned to save the life of the eminent Writer and fears that the less experienced Dr. Blakemore, who will now have to carry out the operation will not be able to succeed. He and Joe therefore pay a secret visit to the unconscious Dr. Kados to collect his brain pattern, which in turn, is transferred to Joe. Because it is obvious that the hospital would not permit a nine year old boy to operate, Mac himself receives the brain pattern of a WIN agent and accompanies Joe.

The patient is wheeled in to the operating theatre and Mac makes the dramatic move. He holds the hospital staff at gun point while Joe carries through the difficult operation. It is a triumphant success, but how can the secret be kept? Mac manages this by pointing out to the hospital staff that they will have to take the credit. After all, who would believe them if they said a nine-year old boy had carried out such an operation?

The Guns of Navarone (1961)

The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 British-American Action/Adventure war film based on the 1957 novel of the same name about the Dodecanese campaign of World War 2 by Scottish Thriller writer Alistair MacLean and is one of my favourite films. It stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Anthony Quayle and Stanley Baker. The book and the film share the same basic plot: the efforts of an Allied Commando team to destroy a seemingly impregnable German Fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea, and prevents 2,000 isolated British troops from being rescued.

In 1943, the Axis powers decide on a show of strength to bully neutral Turkey into joining the war on their side. Their target is 2000 British soldiers who are marooned on the island of Keros in the Aegean. Rescue by the Royal Navy is impossible because of massive radar-directed guns on the nearby island of Navarone. Time is short, because the Germans are expected to launch an assault on the British forces.

Efforts to destroy the guns by bombing have proved fruitless. So that six destroyers can pick up the stranded men, Commodore Jensen of Allied intelligence activates a team of saboteurs to sail to Navarone and destroy the guns. Led by Major Roy Franklin (Anthony Quayle), they are Captain Keith Mallory (Gregory Peck); Andrea Stavrou (Anthony Quinn), a former Colonel in the defeated Greek army; Corporal Miller (David Niven), an explosives expert; Greek-American Spyros Pappadimos (James Darren); and "Butcher" Brown (Stanley Baker), an engineer and expert knife fighter.

Disguised as Greek fishermen on a decrepit boat, they sail across the Ageaen Sea. They are intercepted by a German boat and boarded. They attack and kill all the Germans and sink the patrol boat. During the remainder of the voyage, Mallory confides to Franklin that Andrea has sworn to kill him after the war, because he was inadvertently responsible for the deaths of Andrea's wife and children.

In a violent storm, the ship is wrecked and they lose part of their equipment, but manage to land on the island. Led by Mallory, who was recruited for his climbing skills, they scale the 'unclimbable' cliff. But Franklin is badly injured; the injury later becoming infected with gangrene. They find that the cliff is in fact guarded after all. Miller, a friend of Franklin, suggests that they leave Franklin to be "well cared for" by the enemy. Mallory, who now assumes command of the mission, feels that Franklin would be forced to reveal their plans, so he orders two men to carry the injured man on a stretcher.

Franklin tries to commit suicide, but Mallory lies to him, saying that their mission has been "scrubbed" and that a major naval attack will be mounted on Navarone. They rendezvous with local resistance workers, Spyros's sister Maria (Irene Papas) and her friend Anna (Gia Scala), who is supposedly mute after German torture.

The mission is continually dogged by Germans, and they are captured by Lieutenant Muesel (Walter Gotell) in the town of Mandrakos, when they try to find a doctor for Franklin. Muesel and Hauptmann Sessler (George Mikell) of the SS fail to persuade the commandos to tell them where Miller's explosives are. Andrea pretends to betray the others and surprises the Germans, allowing the group to overpower their captors. They escape in German uniform, but leave Franklin behind so that he can receive medical attention.

In due course, Franklin is injected with scolpolamine and gives up the false "information", as Mallory had hoped. German units are deployed away from the guns and in the direction of the supposed invasion point.

Miller discovers that most of his explosives have been sabotaged and deduces that Anna is the saboteur. It transpires that she is not mute after all and was not tortured by the Nazis; but she agreed to become an informer in exchange for her release. She pleads that she was coerced by the Germans into treachery, but Mallory decides she must be silenced. It is Maria who shoots her dead.

The team splits up: Mallory and Miller go for the guns, while Andrea and Pappadimos create a distraction in the city; Maria and Brown are assigned to steal a boat for their escape.

Mallory and Miller make their way into the heavily fortified gun emplacements. Locking the main entrance behind them — which sets off an alarm — they set obvious explosives on the guns and hide more below an elevator leading to the guns. The Germans cut through the thick emplacement doors, as Mallory and Miller make their escape by diving into the sea, reaching the stolen boat. But Pappadimos and Brown have been killed and Andrea is wounded. Mallory saves him, pulling him into the boat; thus voiding the 'blood feud' between them.

The Allied destroyers appear on schedule. The Germans remove the explosives planted on the guns and begin to fire on the passing Allied flotilla. The first salvo falls short. The second brackets the lead ship. However, just as the guns are prepared to fire again, the elevator descends low enough to trigger the hidden explosives. The guns and fortifications are destroyed in a spectacular explosion. Franklin is able to hear it from his hospital bed.

Andrea, who has fallen in love with Maria, decides to return to Navarone with her. Mallory and Miller observe the aftermath of the destruction from a destroyer.

The film was a major Box Office success and the top grossing film of 1961 earning a net profit of $18,500,000. As a result, MacLean reunited Mallory, Miller, and Andrea in the best-seller Force 10 from Navarone, the only sequel of his long writing career, in 1968. That was in turn filmed as the significantly different Force 10 from Navarone in 1978 by British director Guy Hamilton, a veteran of several James Bond films. Despite a cast that included Robert Shaw, Edward Fox, and Harrison Ford, it was a critical and commercial failure.

Countdown: UFO (1971) Part Two - The Picture Strip: Part One

Issue 1: Week ending 20th February 1971

The year is 1980. It has been established that hostile visitors from deep space are reaching the Earth in machines code-named, UFOs. A UFO manages to evade interception by moonbase and lands on Earth. However, waiting SHADO Mobiles are confused when the UFO only touches down for a matter of seconds before taking off again. But the following morning two Scientists are reported as not turning up for work in the same area. Colonel Alec Freeman investigates, only to be ambushed by an Alien in the runs of Marsham Abbey. Colonel Paul Foster, still in the same area in a Mobile, searches for Freeman when he doesn't report in and is also wounded by the Alien. Realising that the disappearances are all connected, Straker lays an ambush for the UFO which will have to arrive to collect the abducted men. Unknown to the Commander, a Moonferry has sighted the UFO and intercepted it, causing a delay in its arrival. On Earth, the helmetless Alien is weakening, which gives Freeman a chance to escape, just as the UFO arrives. With no chance of capturing it, Skydiver is alerted and Sky 1 is able to destroy it. With a dead Alien and a destroyed UFO, the only positive aspect is that Freeman and the two Scientists were not taken.

Radio Times: 13th-19th March 1971

This cover from the Radio Times dates back to March 1971 and gracing the cover are characters from the classic BBC Crime series, Z Cars.

Tarzan and the Huntress (1947)

Tarzan and the Huntress (1947) was an adventure film that starred the late, great Johnny Weissmuller in his eleventh outing as Tarzan. Brenda Joyce makes the third of five appearances as Jane and Johnny Sheffield marks his eighth and final appearance as Boy. Patricia Morison and Barton MacLane co-star. The movie was produced by Sol Lesser and Kurt Nuemann, written by Jerry Gruskin and Rowland Leigh (based on characters created by Edgar Rice Burroughs) and directed by Kurt Nuemann. It was released on April 5, 1947.

Due to a shortage of animals in American zoos following World War 11, Tanya Rawlins (Patricia Morison), a big-game "huntress," Carl Marley (John Warburton), her financial backer and Paul Weir (Barton MacLane), a cruel trail boss, are given permission by King Farrod (Charles Trowbridge), to capture a male and female of each species of animal on his land.

In a subplot, Oziri (Ted Hecht), nephew to King Farrod, colludes with Weir to allow him to trap more animals than bargained for. He also has Weir's men kill King Farrod and his son, Prince Suli (Maurice Tauzin), in order for him to take over the throne. Farrod is shot in the back and killed, and Suli is thrown into a pit full of crocodiles, but, unknown to all watching, he lands on a hidden ledge and is knocked unconscious.

Boy (Johnny Sheffield) trades two lion cubs to the trappers for a flashlight. When Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) finds out, he returns the flashlight, retrieves the cubs, and calls all the animals from King Farrod's land across the river to his part of the jungle. When the hunters begin trapping on his side of the river, Tarzan and Boy sneak into their camp at night, take their guns and hide them in a cave behind a waterfall. They then begin to systematically release all the trapped animals from their cages.

Cheeta inadvertently reveals the location of the cache of weapons to Rawlins and her safari.

Prince Suli is able to make his way through the jungle, and is found by Tarzan. Tarzan, Boy and a herd of elephants defeat both the usurping nephew and the huntress, but the latter escapes onboard a plane.

Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees) 1975

"Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees)" is a popular song written by Fred Fisher and his daughter Doris Fisher. The song was first recorded by Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra in 1940. The Ink Spots also recorded it the same year.

"Whispering Grass" was a 1975 UK number-one single by Windsor Davies and Don Estelle. Davies and Estelle were actors in the successful sitcom, It Ain't half hot Mum. It was number one in the British singles chart for three weeks from 7 June 1975. The record is a comic version of The Ink Spots' 1940 recording, and was sung in character.

The song has also been recorded by Ringo Starr for his 1970 album Sentimental Journey and Sandy Denny for her 1973 album Like an Old Fashioned Waltz.

Preceded by "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette

UK Number One Single 7 June 1975 for three weeks

Succeeded by "I'm Not In Love" by 10cc

Stranger than Fiction: Department S (1969-1970)

I remember when I was a kid I loved Department S, because basically, it was just weird!

Department S was created by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman, although neither wrote any of the episodes. Episodes were instead written by ITC veterans such as Terry Nation and Philip Broadley. Many of the directors on the show had also worked on several other ITC shows – The Saint, Danger Man, The Protectors and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). Like many ITC shows Department S gained cult status. Department S consisted of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969–1970. It starred Peter Wyngarde as author Jason King (later featured in spin-off series Jason King), Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan, and Rosemary Nicols as computer expert Annabelle Hurst. The trio were agents for a fictional special department (the "S" of the title) of Interpol. The head of Department S was Sir Curtis Seretse (Dennis Alaba Peters).

Department S was a section of Interpol with an office in the Paris headquarters that investigated international cases other crime agencies were unable to solve. Sir Curtis Seretse, an international bureaucrat, was in charge of the team.

Stewart Sullivan was the head of Department S, taking instruction from Seretse. Sullivan did much of the leg work, confronting the criminals. Jason King was the ideas man, but also helped in the field. King was often seen with beautiful women before being called in on an assignment but had no permanent love interest in the series. King's sideline was as an adventure novelist. He managed to use details from their cases to write his novels. A playboy with a woman in every city, he had once been married to a woman named Marion who had died in a plane crash (A Fish Out Of Water episode).

Annabelle Hurst was a computer expert taking an analytical role in investigations. However she also went on assignment as a conventional investigator, sometimes appearing in many seductive, glamorous disguises. There were hints of romantic interest between Sullivan and Hurst. Oh, and not forgetting, the theme music to Department S is probably the best theme music ever written for a TV programme of any kind!

It's A Knockout Annual (1977)

Published by World Distributors (Manchester) Limited in the Autumn of 1976, the It's A Knockout Annual 1977 is one of the few books published about the series. World Distributors were a big name in the publishing of annuals, particularly of those linked to television series. No self-respecting cult TV collector will find their shelves entirely free of World Distributors' fare. Among countless others, they issued annuals for Doctor Who, Dad's Army, The Goodies, Catweazle, The Saint, Tom and Jerry and even James Bond.

In many ways, It's A Knockout was a strange choice for an annual, as these publications normally contained stories, both in prose and comic strip forms. Not something that It's A Knockout naturally lends itself to. This meant that the content was largely factual, although World Distributors did manage to squeeze in one comic strip story!

Normally, annuals are not really that useful to the collector or fan. They have stories that are written by hack writers who often are completely unfamiliar with the series the annual is about. The illustrations are usually laughable. And this is where the It's A Knockout Annual 1977 differs from the vast majority of World Distributors' output in that it actually tells you one hell of a lot about the series it is based upon. In fact, it's invaluable. It introduces the reader to the important people behind IAK, including Barney Colehan, Stuart Hall, Eddie Waring, Arthur Ellis and Cecil Korer. It focuses on individual competitors, goes briefly behind the scenes and has a feature on the scoregirls in the series. It's packed with anecdotes, useful information and photographs (albeit not always very well reproduced, it has to be said) and is a treasured part of an IAK fan's collection - even if it does fall occasionally into the traditional World Distributors traps by featuring articles that are linked to the series by the slenderest of threads. For instance, there is an article which tests the family's abilities to get out of desperate situations - being caught in a landslide, being in a lorry that stalls on a railway crossing, being stuck in a car that has careered into an icy river. Fortunately, this content is kept to a minimum, though of course there is the familiar annual fare - crosswords, games and the like. But all this is easy to overlook, as the major part of the content is fascinating.