Plus there’s an interview with Dan Freeman, the man behind the Minister of Chance. WARNING! There is some strong language in the following outake from Stephen Fry and Sylvester McCoy. You have been warned.
How do we get away with it? Well assuming nobody answers that question, we’ll be back shortly with a new podcast and more extras.
Finally, here are some pictures of the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, England, taken from Lillibet’s introduction to the age of steam and the English countryside.I’m going to try and get them set up as a slide show. Here goes.
As referred to in the podcast, accusations of plagiarism have been made against Edith Nesbitt over “The Railway Children”, because of some similarities with “The House By The Railway” by Ada J. Graves. There were a couple of newspaper articles at the time in “The Daily Mail” and “The Telegraph“, which make interesting reading and here is a copy of the cover.
In 2010, the BIFF (Bradford International Film Festival) held at the UK’s National Media Museum held a special screening of the 1970 film version of “The Railway Children”. Invited to speak at the event were three stars of the movie: Sally Thomsett, Bernard Cribbins and Jenny Agutter (who managed to keep her clothes on throughout). A short section of the interview they gave in connection with the screening has been posted on line and I thought I would share it here:
First up is a scene from the 1970 film version of “The Railway Children”, since I can’t find a copy of the theatrical trailer on line. This scene is specifically referred to in the podcast and is presented here especially for Danielle. Yes! It’s the scene with the Ents! (And for Professor Dave it features Jenny Agutter taking some clothes off, so he’ll no doubt enjoy it too.)
The latest podcast (number 42) is now out and you can get to it, as usual, by going to the website. This one looks at Edith Nesbit’s 1906 children’s classic “The Railway Children” as well as the 1970 and 200 film versions, both of which starred Jenny Agutter. Additionally, we mention Lillibet’s experience of visiting the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, England, in the summer of 2011. Extras will ensue in due course.
If you had ever wondered what the theme tune was for PDAIS, then you might be interested to know that it comes from a song entitled “Yodel In The Canyon Of Love”, which came second to Katrina and the Waves in the BBC’s hunt to find an entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997. Katrina of course won the whole shebang with “Love Shine A Light”.
Anyway, “Yodel In The Canyon Of Love” was written by Kenny MacDonald and performed by his band Do Re Mi featuring Kerry (on vocals). Kerry McGregor, of course, went on to find further fame on the 2006 series of UK show “The X Factor”. The sad news is that she has just lost her fight against cancer at the very young age of just 37. “The Daily Mail” had a very good piece, which gives lots of information about what a determined and brave lady she was. Our thoughts at this time are with her partner and her young son.
The following is not great quality-wise, but as a tribute, I thought you might like to hear the full live version of “Yodel” from 1997.
And here is the much better quality official video (how this wasn’t a smash hit, I’ll never know). Even the Professor liked this one, that’s how good it was!
And, a little late for the appropriate season, here’s one that will get you right there.
