Thursday 11 April 2013
John Lloyd on The News Quiz
Three things about this:
1. I had NO idea John Lloyd was responsible for The News Quiz. Turns out he's responsible for most of my favourite things.
2. Jeremy Hardy looks nothing like I expected him to.
3. Francis Wheen, less so.
Tuesday 12 March 2013
An A+ for creativity, but not so hot on ethics
I love this story which comes via the Futility Closet website . You can read it for yourself, but the synopsis is:
1. Australian journalist needs to fill a hole on the front page of his paper, so makes up a story about a
sex-pest.
2. Police contact the journalist to say they've caught the (imaginary) sex-pest.
3. Journalist realises police have used his story as an excuse to charge a minor sex-offender they've had
their eye on for a while, and feels so guilty he vows never to make up a story again.
Of course, like all good stories the devil is in the details and here the details are the nature of the invented crime, which was nothing if not creative and involved using a long wire hook to surreptitiously raise the hems of women's skirts in order to peek at their stockings.
As an aside, if you Google 'Hook Hoax' you'll discover there are all sorts of conspiracy theories suggesting that the Sandy Hook school shootings last December were a hoax perpetuated by the anti-gun lobbyists in America. These theories were quite a big thing, apparently - the youtube videos have had over eleven million views - but I didn't know about them until this morning. Part of me wishes I still didn't know about them.
As another aside, the Hook Hoax story also features in this book,
which I am now desperate to own. Some entries from the index:
British Military Fainting Epidemics
Husband-Poisoning Mania
Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
Zimbabwe Zombie School
Spouse Dropping Revival
Sardine Packing Hysteria
Genital Shrinking Scares
Genital Vanishing Scares
Phantom Hat-pin Stabber
1. Australian journalist needs to fill a hole on the front page of his paper, so makes up a story about a
sex-pest.
2. Police contact the journalist to say they've caught the (imaginary) sex-pest.
3. Journalist realises police have used his story as an excuse to charge a minor sex-offender they've had
their eye on for a while, and feels so guilty he vows never to make up a story again.
Of course, like all good stories the devil is in the details and here the details are the nature of the invented crime, which was nothing if not creative and involved using a long wire hook to surreptitiously raise the hems of women's skirts in order to peek at their stockings.
As an aside, if you Google 'Hook Hoax' you'll discover there are all sorts of conspiracy theories suggesting that the Sandy Hook school shootings last December were a hoax perpetuated by the anti-gun lobbyists in America. These theories were quite a big thing, apparently - the youtube videos have had over eleven million views - but I didn't know about them until this morning. Part of me wishes I still didn't know about them.
As another aside, the Hook Hoax story also features in this book,
which I am now desperate to own. Some entries from the index:
British Military Fainting Epidemics
Husband-Poisoning Mania
Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
Zimbabwe Zombie School
Spouse Dropping Revival
Sardine Packing Hysteria
Genital Shrinking Scares
Genital Vanishing Scares
Phantom Hat-pin Stabber
Tuesday 8 January 2013
Bits and Bobs
Sorry for the radio silence - I've been on holidays. I meant to say I was going before I left but I ran out of time so Happy Christmas and Merry New Year and all that. On the bright side, the burglars didn't know I was away either, so my flat is still intact.
The Bits:
1. A transcript of 'Some Days in the Life' - a twitter storytelling project I took part in last year - is now online if you want to have a look.
2. I'll be reading from my Stations story at the Ideas Store in Whitechapel on Thursday January 17th - details here
3. Speaking of Stations, I was interviewed by the editor a while ago, and there is a video snippet here where I talk about my inspiration for the story, and do an un-inentional impression of a nodding dog. (Seriously. If you are prone to any kind of motion sickness, you might not want to watch.)
The Bobs:
The Bits:
1. A transcript of 'Some Days in the Life' - a twitter storytelling project I took part in last year - is now online if you want to have a look.
2. I'll be reading from my Stations story at the Ideas Store in Whitechapel on Thursday January 17th - details here
3. Speaking of Stations, I was interviewed by the editor a while ago, and there is a video snippet here where I talk about my inspiration for the story, and do an un-inentional impression of a nodding dog. (Seriously. If you are prone to any kind of motion sickness, you might not want to watch.)
The Bobs:
Answers here. How many did you get?
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