Car SOS - New Series!!!

[Phil P]

Have I missed something or is Car SOS on C4? I never saw it though there was another repeat on NatGeo 526 of the Escort RS1600i.

[tractorman]

No Phil, it is on More 4 (channel 14), which often has more interesting stuff than Ch4 (and many repeats of the better stuff from Ch4).

I hope you get some nice royalties from the "mainstream" showings!

John must be young - we only got 625 TV in the late sixties (on a rented Murphy 21" set) and it was about 1973 before Father could afford a new aerial so that we could watch BBC2! The first TV we had was a rental set, with Ferguson insides and the local rental company's cabinet! That would have been in about 1957 (I was just pre school) and we had the pleasure of the Woodentops, Tales From The River Bank and, of course, the news. When we moved to our new "Parsonage" on a housing estate, Border TV were just starting to build their studios (across a road from the estate and about a couple of hundred yards from our house) and I managed to cut my big toe while paddling in the trench for the foundations. I never forgave Border TV for that We'd moved again by the time it opened in 1963 or so and, for some reason, Border wasn't on "Channel 3" on our set - it was somewhere around 10 (on a rotary selector).

I rarely watch ITV1 now - Border TV is no more and the side was levelled a few years ago - it was a training ground for many well known people (Penny Smith, Michael Rodd and Fiona Armstrong were the three I remember at the moment).

[Phil P]

Border TV....most of it is border line line TV.

When I was 6 or 7 my dad used to take me on a Saturday morning to see the TV Mast at Sutton Coldfield being built. There was only Alexandra Palace in existence at that time. He said when it was finished and working we could have a television. We eventually had an HMV 9" cabinet model. You could have a console model that sat on a table. After the main transmitter aerial was built they started to build another aerial alongside it but only about 1/3 the height. Another Saturday ride out in the car (1947 Standard 8 that we had from new) My dad told me the small aerial was for childrens television! I believed him. I could see it from my sisters bedroom window as we only lived about 10 miles away from it. My dad was very convincing and always joking.

There were no car programmes unless you counted Noddy and Big Ears out for a drive. Prudence Kitten, Muffin the Mule, Timothy Telescope, Whirlygig with Humphrey Lestoq......hmmmm....happy days.

Did you know in the HMV logo the gramophone with Nipper the dog sat in front of it is actually on top of a coffin. The reproduction from the gramophone sounding just like 'his masters voice' HMV.

[wheelybin21]

Good, so far! Y do u use KPH we are in UK. MPH PLEASE

[mach1rob]

When I was 6 or 7 my dad used to take me on a Saturday morning to see the TV Mast at Sutton Coldfield being built.

Ahh that one and the mast at Hopwas nr Tamworth occupy a soft spot in my heart, as I knew whenever I saw them, I knew I was 'home'. I'm still sure that on a clear night you can see the red lights from the top of the hill on the M40 just before you drop down to Warwick services, they're the only transmitters I can think of looking in that direction.

Alas a not very good photo of the Hopwas one, as it was a grim day the last time I visited my aunts house after clearing it out following her death.

[rich.]

i watched two shows where they restored a delorean.. one with a shouty bald bloke & the other was quite watchable.. i was looking to replace wifeys galaxy with one until i saw the price tag

[Phil P]

I thought KPH was used because it was sold on main land Europe but thinking about it's probably because we are now metricated in the UK so we have (should) to comply. It's an easy conversion to MPH. Divide by 8 and multiply by 5 to go MPH or miles and divide by 5 multiply by 8 to go KPH or kilometres. I do it all the time when I'm in France.

[EricPolymath]

If they were using KPH so that it would make the programme more suitable for Europe then surely they would also quote prices in Euros and not pounds ?!

Since when are we metricated? The vast majority of people use both metric and imperial e.g. if asked most people would automatically quote their height in feet and inches, their weight in stones and pounds and their speed in MPH. I don't know whether it's true but it is an often quoted "fact" that it is actually illegal to put up road signs that quote distances in anything other than miles.

[JPB]

I suspect that may be a myth. Many road signs along "tourist routes" (a.k.a. "roads where we can keep the grockles out of the way while we go about our daily business") are written up in both Miles/MPH and Kilometres/KM per hour.

Either way it can only be a matter of time. Ireland already uses metric distances and speeds on its signage and car instruments and ordering 0.568L of beer doesn't have the same appeal somehow.

[VFK44]

Partly true.

Specific permission is needed under the Town and Country Planning Act to put up a notice in metric, just like any other notice.
However, road signs in Imperial are exempt from this requirement and can just be put up wherever they are needed.

But it does jar on TV. Can you have a word with the producers?