MetaFilter posts tagged with british and england

Bob Godfrey 1921-2013

louche mustachio — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:04:34 -0800

On Thursday, February 21st, influential British animator Bob Godfrey passed away at the age of 91. (Guardian, BBC,Cartoon Brew, Mirror, Rueters, Telegraph, and yes, even the Daily Mail. Godfrey created the televison series Henry's Cat, Roobarb, and Noah and Nelly. He won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for his 1975 film Great, a satirical biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In 1961, he made a short, Do-It-Yourself Cartoon Kit which eventually spawned the Do It Yourself Animation Show, which showed people the ways of tabletop animation and influenced many young British animators: Episode 1, First, Catch Your Camera is not available, but... Episode 2 1, 2, 3 Episode 3 (This is the one with Terry Gilliam, as featured here in a previous thread I cannot link to here, for it borks my post.) 1, 2, 3, 4 Episode 4 1, 2, 3 Episode 5 1, 2, 3 Godfrey is also the subject of this BBC2 documentary (an episode of their series The Craftsmen: 1, 2 He directed many other wonderful short films, including Henry 9 til 5, Alf and Bill and Fred, and Kama Sutra Rides Again (which was banned until Stanley Kubrick chose to play it before the premiere of A Clockwork Orange

Brown And Also Blue

The Whelk — Sun, 08 May 2011 21:29:18 -0800

VE and VJ Day, in London. In Colour.

It's always September 13, 1999 somewhere

filthy light thief — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:54:00 -0800

Space: 1999 (1975-77) is a British sci-fi series, the last production of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson who were first recognized for their work in "Supermarionation." This series saw the end of the couple, with Sylvia Anderson leaving the show at the end of the first season. She was replaced by Fred Freiberger, who brought in some Star Trek sensibilities and attempted to cater the show more to the American action-adventure audience. A third season was planned but not produced, and left the series unfinished, ending on an episode that was "like bad Shakespeare, or worse, bad Star Trek." Fans still support the show in many forms, even creating a semi-official fan-produced mini-episode entitled Message from Moonbase Alpha to bring some completion to the series, which was shown on September 13, 1999 at the Breakaway: 1999 convention. Another group of fans has recently taken to updating the whole series, to bring Space:1999 into the future. The Anderson's first efforts with live action TV was a series called UFO, which only lasted one season, though a second season was prepared. Space: 1999 was built in part from the preparation for the second season of UFO, though the new series was wholly unrelated to UFO. The new series was, as previously noted, the most expensive series made in England at $270,000 per episode. One main repository for Space: 1999 fandom is Space: 1999 Net, with support for German, English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. The site brings together many personal mini-sites, covering volumes of information on the episodes (those aired, unaired, and compiled into movies) and associated paraphernalia, including the (minute) variations of the Eagle 1 toy. Some fans have created tributes in the form of fanfiction and a continuation of the first season in "classic" first season form, a Max Payne mod called Payne 1999, and home modifications to replicate Moonbase Alpha (covered previously). The site also has fan clubs for Catherine Schell (Maya, the science officer in season 2), Nick Tate (Alan Carter, the third in command/chief pilot in both seasons), as well as a mailing list for gay and bi fans, Gaybase Alpha. More videos: - Another version of Message from Moonbase Alpha, edited to include "what could have been season 3 tiles" and unused music from season 2 - Space 1999: Darkside trailer, a teaser to a new series re-edited from the old series, which included "Defending Alpha" (part 1 and part 2) - YouTube user Films R Reel has uploaded much of the original series in segments - Three episodes from season 1 are available on Veoh: ep 4: Ring Around The Moon, ep 21: The Infernal Machine and ep 23: Dragon's Domain - a fourth long clip of Space:1999 on Veoh: Guest Spaceships, featuring raw footage of special effects from the series - Cosmic Princess was used in KTMA era MST3k, and is currently available from Google video

Secrets of The Great British Sex Clubs by Tony Perrottet

jason's_planet — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:18:40 -0800

(NSFW) So Much For the Stiff Upper Lip. Slate writer gets jiggy wit the history of Georgian Britain's aristocratic sex clubs.

James Hewitt Jr

chuckdarwin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:08:30 -0800

The 'bullet magnet' is back. I can't believe that the British press kept a secret for so long (10 weeks is a miniature eternity in journalist time). It was supposed to last six months... I also can't believe that the odious Drudge has broken yet another big story. Was it all just a PR stunt? I'm sorry for the lateness of this post. I really can't believe it didn't make the blue before this.

"Gee, I just love your accent."

badlydubbedboy — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:03:12 -0800

BBC News: "Gee, I just love your accent." The American nation may be more wary of crossing borders, but their love affair with the British accent continues unabated. Despite the fact that there are multiple variants therein, and what may be considered a "low-class" accent in the UK is still considered a "high-class" posh accent in the US. Naturally, the Brits will play this up to the hilt - and it may help in getting them jobs, credibility, Oscars and Emmys, by no less an authority than Stephen Fry.

That's 2 shillings and sixpence in old money

greycap — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:56:51 -0800

Ever wondered what old amounts of money would be worth today? Or what you could buy with your current salary if you went back 200, 400, or 600 years? Now you can find out with a tool that converts English currency from 1270 onwards into today's prices. Based on Treasury records, it tells you that Mr Darcy's £10,000 a year would now be worth nearly £350,000, or that your house would only have to be worth the equivalent of £500 now to qualify for the vote after 1832.

How To Say Yes (Or No) To British Food:

MiguelCardoso — Sat, 03 Aug 2002 16:25:47 -0800

How To Say Yes (Or No) To British Food: Apart from the language barrier (ably demolished by Mike Etherington's magnificent online dictionary), British food has a dreadful reputation all over the world. Yet people who try it, whatever their nationality, often find they enjoy it. If it's properly made, that is. Enter Helen Watson's impeccable and ethnically correct recipes. And those who can't be bothered to cook can always plump for the many ready-made goodies (and some real stinkers) now offered by internet mail order firms. The most promising has got to be, with over 2,500 goodies, the FBC Brit Shop. Unfortunately it's based in Japan and will only start delivering in September. The best of the rest is probably yummy British Delights. My mother's English so I'm obviously biased, but aren't a lot of people missing out on the unique gastronomic charms of the good old United K? Oh yes![FBC link pilfered from the Boing Boing larder.]

Jonah Goldberg on why the British are like dogs,

Ty Webb — Mon, 12 Nov 2001 10:23:14 -0800

Jonah Goldberg on why the British are like dogs, and the French like cats.