• Christmas Quiz 2025 [OT]

    From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 21 12:06:34 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    The Christmas Quiz 2025 is now available for download at:

    http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/quiz.htm

    As usual it follows a theme - and as usual I'm not going to tell you
    what the theme is.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ashley Booth@removetab@snglinks.com to uk.tech.broadcast on Wed Dec 24 11:26:23 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    The Christmas Quiz 2025 is now available for download at:

    http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/quiz.htm

    As usual it follows a theme - and as usual I'm not going to tell you
    what the theme is.

    Coming from Keynsham, I got no.6 right away! :)
    --


    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com
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  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Wed Dec 24 12:07:22 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 2025/12/24 11:26:23, Ashley Booth wrote:
    Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    The Christmas Quiz 2025 is now available for download at:

    http://www.poppyrecords.co.uk/quiz.htm

    As usual it follows a theme - and as usual I'm not going to tell you
    what the theme is.

    Coming from Keynsham, I got no.6 right away! :)

    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of one of their
    songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Wed Dec 24 16:44:41 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of one of their
    songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song has that
    word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Wed Dec 24 17:03:21 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of one of their
    songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song has that
    word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...
    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find ..." as "The
    lonely ram song". Sorry.
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Wed Dec 24 22:29:07 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 24/12/2025 17:03, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of one of their
    songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song has that
    word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...

    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find ..." as "The lonely ram song". Sorry.

    Duh! Of course ;-) I like it.

    It's almost a mondegreen rather than just a pun, in the same vein as
    Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (about a very trendy vicar?)
    instead of "Forever in Blue Jeans", or Belinda Carlisle's "Blue Heaven
    is a place on earth" (which even after multiple listenings is what I
    *swear* she sings) instead of "Ooh heaven is a place on earth".

    Favourite Seekers song? "Walk With Me" or "Time And Again", probably.
    Though "I'll Never Find Another Female Ovine", "A World of Our Own",
    "The Carnival is Over", "Morningtown Ride" and "All I Can Remember" are
    good. I'm sure a lot of males of a Certain Age could happily have spent
    a lifetime "Sheltered from the world behind the ivy-covered wall" with
    Judith ;-) She personified the adage that the most attractive women are
    those who don't even know it and so don't boast about it incessantly.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From onion@onion@anon.invalid (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Mr_=D6n!on?=) to uk.tech.broadcast on Wed Dec 24 23:59:50 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:

    "I'll Never Find Another Female Ovine",

    Chirpy, chirpy, cheap sheep. [relurk]
    --
    \|/
    (((-))) - Mr +n!on, NPC

    When we shake the ketchup bottle
    At first none comes and then a lot'll.
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  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Thu Dec 25 11:07:12 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 2025/12/24 22:29:7, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 17:03, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of one of their
    songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song has that
    word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...

    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find ..." as "The
    lonely ram song". Sorry.

    Duh! Of course ;-) I like it.

    It's almost a mondegreen rather than just a pun, in the same vein as
    Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (about a very trendy vicar?)
    instead of "Forever in Blue Jeans", or Belinda Carlisle's "Blue Heaven
    is a place on earth" (which even after multiple listenings is what I
    *swear* she sings) instead of "Ooh heaven is a place on earth".

    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called you
    last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a
    thing!). I think the first one I remember was about Good King Wences,
    who last looked out on the feast of Stephen ...

    Favourite Seekers song? "Walk With Me" or "Time And Again", probably.
    Though "I'll Never Find Another Female Ovine", "A World of Our Own",
    "The Carnival is Over", "Morningtown Ride" and "All I Can Remember" are good. I'm sure a lot of males of a Certain Age could happily have spent
    a lifetime "Sheltered from the world behind the ivy-covered wall" with Judith ;-) She personified the adage that the most attractive women are those who don't even know it and so don't boast about it incessantly.

    They closed their (final!) farewell tour with "Carnival" - not a dry eye
    in the house. (I was at the Sage in Sunderland.) Morningtown and the Ram
    song for me - or, for just Judith, either of her "Danny Boy"s, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mpJYIACehQ - I can die happy. Not only
    lovely, but she gets that high "here" without straining or belting,
    unlike most singers. Or Eriskay, or This is My Song, or ... there are so
    many. (Email me if you wish, so we don't bore the other UTBers!)

    Danny Boy is about two pipers, both called Glen, on a hillside ...
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    You know what the big secret about posh people is?
    Most of them are lovely. - Richard Osman, RT 2016/7/9-15
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Thu Dec 25 12:04:04 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called you
    last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a
    thing!). I think the first one I remember was about Good King Wences,
    who last looked out on the feast of Stephen ...

    The ABBA thing is one of those cases where the real word is far more
    mundane and underwhelming than anything you might invent - "When I
    called you last night from... Glasgow (WTF!)". You'd think they might
    have chosen a *slightly* more exciting place than Glasgow. Mind you, it
    was through that song that I leaned that Supertrouper was not a
    reference to the performers but a make of "follow-spot" stage light, so
    no experience is ever wasted.

    Yes, I thought it was Good King Wences who last looked out. The hymn
    that always baffled me was "There is a green hill far away, without a
    city wall" because I (and everyone else that I knew) thought "why
    doesn't it have a city wall". The "lacking" meaning of "without" is
    *far* more well-known than the "outside" meaning. How common was the
    latter meaning when the hymn was written, I wonder? Would it have
    provoked WTF cognitive dissonance even in those days? "Outside" would
    still have scanned in the hymn and would have been far more
    understandable. I know that Scottish English still uses "without" (or
    even "outwith") in the "outside" sense, but then they use "messages" to
    mean "errands, shopping" as opposed to "written communications".

    Then we get onto words which have changed their spelling. In the 1940s
    and 50s, my Dad remembers a sign "All tickets to be shewn" on the local
    buses, and even in those days "shew" was regarded as a very archaic and risible spelling of "show", to the extent that almost everyone, adults
    as well as schoolchildren, offered to "shoo" their tickets to the
    conductor. It's like "alarum" (alarm) and "connexion" (connection), and "luncheon" pronounced with three exaggerated syllables "lun-shee-on"
    like my great aunt did - but then she had had "electrocution lessons" to
    lose her West Riding accent and talk like a duchess... which never
    fooled anyone.


    Mondegreens: "there is a bathroom on the right" (Bad Moon Rising),
    "excuse me while I kiss this guy" (Purple Haze) and "go and get stuffed"
    (The Going Gets Tough). The last is another of those "I'm *sure* that's
    what he really *does* sing" mondegreens where even if you listen
    carefully the mondegreen "wins" over the real lyric.

    The ultimate "triggers my pedantry/tautology detector" lyric is in
    "Moonlight Shadow" - "4 AM in the morning". Is that as opposed to "4 AM
    in the afternoon" ;-) Why not "4 o'clock in the morning" which would
    also scan and would avoid tautology.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Thu Dec 25 13:24:09 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 2025/12/25 12:4:4, NY wrote:
    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called you
    last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a
    thing!). I think the first one I remember was about Good King Wences,
    who last looked out on the feast of Stephen ...

    The ABBA thing is one of those cases where the real word is far more
    mundane and underwhelming than anything you might invent - "When I
    called you last night from... Glasgow (WTF!)". You'd think they might
    have chosen a *slightly* more exciting place than Glasgow. Mind you, it

    I suspect it was just simply truthful, recounting where they'd been on
    one of their British tours! They wouldn't have known any connotation of Glasgow. (And watch out for the Glaswegians coming for you ...)

    was through that song that I leaned that Supertrouper was not a
    reference to the performers but a make of "follow-spot" stage light, so
    no experience is ever wasted.

    Indeed! (It is actually illustrated in the video - and in the lyrics,
    actually: "the Supertrouper beams are gonna find me".) Yes, a song to a spotlight operator! Why not, of course.


    Yes, I thought it was Good King Wences who last looked out. The hymn

    I'm sure we're not alone there!

    that always baffled me was "There is a green hill far away, without a
    city wall" because I (and everyone else that I knew) thought "why
    doesn't it have a city wall". The "lacking" meaning of "without" is
    *far* more well-known than the "outside" meaning. How common was the
    latter meaning when the hymn was written, I wonder? Would it have
    provoked WTF cognitive dissonance even in those days? "Outside" would
    still have scanned in the hymn and would have been far more

    I think my parents or teachers were very hasty to inform us of the
    "correct" meaning, before we had a chance to be confused. Mournful tune.

    understandable. I know that Scottish English still uses "without" (or
    even "outwith") in the "outside" sense, but then they use "messages" to
    mean "errands, shopping" as opposed to "written communications".

    Language is fun (and in my blood, though I was in electronics by
    profession, hence my interest in this 'group).


    Then we get onto words which have changed their spelling. In the 1940s
    and 50s, my Dad remembers a sign "All tickets to be shewn" on the local buses, and even in those days "shew" was regarded as a very archaic and risible spelling of "show", to the extent that almost everyone, adults
    as well as schoolchildren, offered to "shoo" their tickets to the
    conductor. It's like "alarum" (alarm) and "connexion" (connection), and "luncheon" pronounced with three exaggerated syllables "lun-shee-on"
    like my great aunt did - but then she had had "electrocution lessons" to lose her West Riding accent and talk like a duchess... which never
    fooled anyone.

    Evolution of words - for example, hyphens disappearing: to-day used to
    often be spelt thus, though I think mostly before my time.

    :-) Words that would fit better - in TYFTM, I wish ABBA had said "who
    first found that music ..." rather than "who found out that music".
    Would have made a much better lyric. And for ones that really fit
    atrociously, I cite later verses of "in the bleak midwinter", and most
    verses of "Rule Britannia". (Which is the one hit single from what was effectively a musical, which sank without trace.)



    Mondegreens: "there is a bathroom on the right" (Bad Moon Rising),
    "excuse me while I kiss this guy" (Purple Haze) and "go and get stuffed"

    Jimi Hendrix's MoDem was a purple Hayes ...

    (The Going Gets Tough). The last is another of those "I'm *sure* that's
    what he really *does* sing" mondegreens where even if you listen
    carefully the mondegreen "wins" over the real lyric.

    The ultimate "triggers my pedantry/tautology detector" lyric is in "Moonlight Shadow" - "4 AM in the morning". Is that as opposed to "4 AM
    in the afternoon" ;-) Why not "4 o'clock in the morning" which would
    also scan and would avoid tautology.

    "... AM in the morning" (and its counterpart) are commonly (mis)used. I
    always want to say as you do above, and don't always resist the temptation.
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    That's the key to wisdom: being delighted when you're wrong because
    you've learn something. - (Professor) Brian Cox, RT 2019/5/25-31
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From James Heaton@heatonandmoore@gmail.com to uk.tech.broadcast on Thu Dec 25 17:40:24 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 22:29:7, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 17:03, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of one of their >>>>> songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song has that
    word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...

    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find ..." as "The >>> lonely ram song". Sorry.

    Duh! Of course ;-) I like it.

    It's almost a mondegreen rather than just a pun, in the same vein as
    Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (about a very trendy vicar?)
    instead of "Forever in Blue Jeans", or Belinda Carlisle's "Blue Heaven
    is a place on earth" (which even after multiple listenings is what I
    *swear* she sings) instead of "Ooh heaven is a place on earth".

    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called you
    last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a
    thing!).

    The large Tesco near us had a couple of payphones in that era - useful
    given my Mum's writing... saved a few moans that way...

    James
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Thu Dec 25 18:55:46 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 25/12/2025 17:40, James Heaton wrote:
    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called you
    last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a
    thing!).

    The large Tesco near us had a couple of payphones in that era - useful
    given my Mum's writing...-a saved a few moans that way...

    The Morrisons in the town where I used to live had no Vodafone reception inside: you had to go about 10 yards outside the entrance to get a
    signal. That was annoying if I needed to check with my wife "they don't
    have any X; would you like me the get Y instead?".

    But they had a bank of Amazon lockers just inside the entrance. I
    encountered an error when I tried to retrieve a parcel I'd had delivered there, so I had to phone Amazon Help. Imagine the farcical situation:
    every time they asked me to try something, the call dropped as soon as I
    went inside to press the relevant buttons so I had to redial (and
    re-explain) every time I had "no, that doesn't work" feedback. Rinse and repeat...
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Woody@harrogate3@ntlworld.com to uk.tech.broadcast on Thu Dec 25 19:34:42 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On Thu 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 22:29:7, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 17:03, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of one of their >>>>> songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song has that
    word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...

    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find ..." as "The >>> lonely ram song". Sorry.

    Duh! Of course ;-) I like it.

    It's almost a mondegreen rather than just a pun, in the same vein as
    Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (about a very trendy vicar?)
    instead of "Forever in Blue Jeans", or Belinda Carlisle's "Blue Heaven
    is a place on earth" (which even after multiple listenings is what I
    *swear* she sings) instead of "Ooh heaven is a place on earth".

    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called you
    last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a
    thing!). I think the first one I remember was about Good King Wences,
    who last looked out on the feast of Stephen ...

    Favourite Seekers song? "Walk With Me" or "Time And Again", probably.
    Though "I'll Never Find Another Female Ovine", "A World of Our Own",
    "The Carnival is Over", "Morningtown Ride" and "All I Can Remember" are
    good. I'm sure a lot of males of a Certain Age could happily have spent
    a lifetime "Sheltered from the world behind the ivy-covered wall" with
    Judith ;-) She personified the adage that the most attractive women are
    those who don't even know it and so don't boast about it incessantly.

    They closed their (final!) farewell tour with "Carnival" - not a dry eye
    in the house. (I was at the Sage in Sunderland.) Morningtown and the Ram
    song for me - or, for just Judith, either of her "Danny Boy"s, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mpJYIACehQ - I can die happy. Not only lovely, but she gets that high "here" without straining or belting,
    unlike most singers. Or Eriskay, or This is My Song, or ... there are so many. (Email me if you wish, so we don't bore the other UTBers!)

    Danny Boy is about two pipers, both called Glen, on a hillside ...

    Wenceslas!!

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ashley Booth@removetab@snglinks.com to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 09:12:38 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    James Heaton wrote:

    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 22:29:7, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 17:03, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of
    one of their songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song
    has that word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...

    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find
    ..." as "The lonely ram song". Sorry.

    Duh! Of course ;-) I like it.

    It's almost a mondegreen rather than just a pun, in the same vein
    as Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (about a very trendy
    vicar?) instead of "Forever in Blue Jeans", or Belinda Carlisle's
    "Blue Heaven is a place on earth" (which even after multiple
    listenings is what I *swear* she sings) instead of "Ooh heaven is
    a place on earth".

    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called
    you last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a thing!).

    The large Tesco near us had a couple of payphones in that era -
    useful given my Mum's writing... saved a few moans that way...

    James

    That reminded me of the Morecambe and Wise sketch!
    --


    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ashley Booth@removetab@snglinks.com to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 09:19:00 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast


    'She's a must to avoid' Herman and the Hermits was to me 'She's a
    muscular boy'
    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 10:36:03 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2025/12/25 12:4:4, NY wrote:
    [...]

    was through that song that I leaned that Supertrouper was not a
    reference to the performers but a make of "follow-spot" stage light, so
    no experience is ever wasted.

    Indeed! (It is actually illustrated in the video - and in the lyrics, actually: "the Supertrouper beams are gonna find me".) Yes, a song to a spotlight operator! Why not, of course.

    They were called 'limes' when I operated them in the theatre. I suspect Supertrouper is an American term used in the film industry.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 15:06:07 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 26/12/2025 10:36, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2025/12/25 12:4:4, NY wrote:
    [...]

    was through that song that I leaned that Supertrouper was not a
    reference to the performers but a make of "follow-spot" stage light, so
    no experience is ever wasted.

    Indeed! (It is actually illustrated in the video - and in the lyrics,
    actually: "the Supertrouper beams are gonna find me".) Yes, a song to a
    spotlight operator! Why not, of course.

    They were called 'limes' when I operated them in the theatre. I suspect Supertrouper is an American term used in the film industry.

    In the 1970s, when I was a lad, my dad recorded a conversation with his
    father and grandmother (my grandpa and great grandma) in which they
    talked about their memories of their early lives.

    Grandpa recounts how his father (who died long before I was born) worked
    as a "lime-light man" in a local theatre in his spare time (he was
    foreman of an iron foundry as his day job).

    In the early days it *was* lime-light - a hydrogen/oxygen flame playing
    onto "lime" (calcium oxide) which made it give off intense white light.

    Only later did the theatre get arc lights for the "limes". There was no automatic feed of the carbon rods so it was someone's job to keep
    screwing one rod towards the other as they were "used up" in the arc
    process.

    The list of lighting cues on a typical play was immense. There was a
    trend (fad?) at the time (I'm guessing 1910s-1930s) to have a
    narrow-beam spotlight trained on various items as they were referred to
    in the dialogue - "My pipe is over there on the mantelpiece", so on cue
    a lime lit up the pipe. How they aimed the limelight beam at each item
    in turn, without the beam being visible to the audience until the cue,
    is a mystery ;-)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Trouper_(spotlight) says that the
    Super Trouper is an American make of spotlight (originally arc, later
    xenon discharge).
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 15:11:37 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 26/12/2025 15:06, NY wrote:
    On 26/12/2025 10:36, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Trouper_(spotlight) says that the
    Super Trouper is an American make of spotlight (originally arc, later
    xenon discharge).

    The Strong company which made the Super Trouper was based in Toledo,
    Ohio. I can never think of that town without thinking of the piss-taking
    song that John Denver used to sing which alleged that it was a boring, under-whelming place "They roll back the sidewalk precisely at ten /
    And the people who live there are not seen again."

    Interestingly the song refers to "the folks of Toledo / Unselfishly gave
    us the scale", suggesting that there was a company which made weighing machines, but no mention is made of the Super Trouper.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Max Demian@max_demian@bigfoot.com to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 17:20:15 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 25/12/2025 18:55, NY wrote:
    On 25/12/2025 17:40, James Heaton wrote:
    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I called you
    last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile moans were a
    thing!).

    The large Tesco near us had a couple of payphones in that era - useful
    given my Mum's writing...-a saved a few moans that way...

    The Morrisons in the town where I used to live had no Vodafone reception inside: you had to go about 10 yards outside the entrance to get a
    signal. That was annoying if I needed to check with my wife "they don't
    have any X; would you like me the get Y instead?".

    You could use WhatsApp via the in-store Wi-Fi (perhaps).
    --
    Max Demian
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 18:48:26 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 2025/12/26 15:6:7, NY wrote:
    On 26/12/2025 10:36, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    []

    They were called 'limes' when I operated them in the theatre. I suspect
    Supertrouper is an American term used in the film industry.

    I had assumed they were European (ABBA being Swedish), though your later researches show otherwise; I'd come across the term "Klieg lights"
    somewhere. But looks like they're both just trade names.

    []

    Grandpa recounts how his father (who died long before I was born) worked
    as a "lime-light man" in a local theatre in his spare time (he was
    foreman of an iron foundry as his day job).

    In the early days it *was* lime-light - a hydrogen/oxygen flame playing
    onto "lime" (calcium oxide) which made it give off intense white light.

    I remember it being shown to us in school (chemistry I think). I think
    it may have had a greenish tinge, but I could be wrong about that.


    Only later did the theatre get arc lights for the "limes". There was no automatic feed of the carbon rods so it was someone's job to keep
    screwing one rod towards the other as they were "used up" in the arc process.

    I had a friend at work who had worked as a cinema projectionist; I had
    always assumed that it was the arc itself which was the source of the
    light, but according to my friend, it was the carbons themselves that
    glowed with the _heat_ from the arc (and thus had to be constantly
    adjusted).


    The list of lighting cues on a typical play was immense. There was a
    trend (fad?) at the time (I'm guessing 1910s-1930s) to have a
    narrow-beam spotlight trained on various items as they were referred to
    in the dialogue - "My pipe is over there on the mantelpiece", so on cue
    a lime lit up the pipe. How they aimed the limelight beam at each item
    in turn, without the beam being visible to the audience until the cue,
    is a mystery ;-)

    Shutters, I presume, with detailed rehearsal to get the aims right. I
    remember my school had a big light - at the back of the auditorium -
    that had steel shutters to control it (rather than turning it on and
    off, which presumably would have shortened the life of the bulb - it was
    a kilowatt [1970s, so just tungsten]; I felt for the operator, having to
    work next to it!).

    []
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    The first draft was "flick me all over with ..." (RT Chtr 2020)
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 19:19:38 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2025/12/26 15:6:7, NY wrote:
    On 26/12/2025 10:36, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    []

    They were called 'limes' when I operated them in the theatre. I suspect >> Supertrouper is an American term used in the film industry.

    I had assumed they were European (ABBA being Swedish), though your later researches show otherwise; I'd come across the term "Klieg lights"
    somewhere. But looks like they're both just trade names.

    []

    Grandpa recounts how his father (who died long before I was born) worked
    as a "lime-light man" in a local theatre in his spare time (he was
    foreman of an iron foundry as his day job).

    In the early days it *was* lime-light - a hydrogen/oxygen flame playing onto "lime" (calcium oxide) which made it give off intense white light.

    I remember it being shown to us in school (chemistry I think). I think
    it may have had a greenish tinge, but I could be wrong about that.

    Gas mantles gave light with a greenish tinge; Tilley lamps still do.

    In Malvern many of the roads are lit with pseudo-gas-lamps. The LEDs
    have quite a convincing colour and you could well imagine they are the
    genuine article except for one absolute give-away: The lamp posts have
    no side arms near the top. These were essemtial to stabilise the ladder
    of the maintenence engineer who had to replace the mantles and clean the
    glass (and wind up the clockwork timer).


    Only later did the theatre get arc lights for the "limes". There was no automatic feed of the carbon rods so it was someone's job to keep
    screwing one rod towards the other as they were "used up" in the arc process.

    I had a friend at work who had worked as a cinema projectionist; I had
    always assumed that it was the arc itself which was the source of the
    light, but according to my friend, it was the carbons themselves that
    glowed with the _heat_ from the arc (and thus had to be constantly
    adjusted).

    Cinema carbons used carbon rods with a core of lime; most of the light
    came from the lime being heated to incandescence in the crater of the
    carbon. The outsides of the carbons were covered in copper to improve
    the conductivity, this melted away as it neared the arc and dropped on
    the floor of the lamphouse.


    The list of lighting cues on a typical play was immense. There was a
    trend (fad?) at the time (I'm guessing 1910s-1930s) to have a
    narrow-beam spotlight trained on various items as they were referred to
    in the dialogue - "My pipe is over there on the mantelpiece", so on cue
    a lime lit up the pipe. How they aimed the limelight beam at each item
    in turn, without the beam being visible to the audience until the cue,
    is a mystery ;-)

    Shutters, I presume, with detailed rehearsal to get the aims right. I remember my school had a big light - at the back of the auditorium -
    that had steel shutters to control it (rather than turning it on and
    off, which presumably would have shortened the life of the bulb - it was
    a kilowatt [1970s, so just tungsten]; I felt for the operator, having to
    work next to it!).

    Additionally, carbon arc lamphouses were fitted with heavy cast-iron
    shields which were swung into place when firing-up the arc. This was to prevent particles being thrown onto the mirror and damaging it.

    The trick for precise alignment of carbon arc limelights was a diagram
    of the stage drawn on the ceiling of the projection booth. A small hole
    in the top of the lamphouse cast a spot of light on the diagram, so the operator could aim the dowsed light where it was next required. When
    the dowser was opened, it would be exactly on the actor (assuming the
    actor was standing in the right place).

    This didn't work with filament lamps, so either the operator had to
    'crack open' the dowser to get just enough light to see where the beam
    was pointing or be very quick indeed to correct any errors. Both of
    these expedients looked a bit amateurish - but with amateur productions:

    a) Nobody cared.

    b) The actor was never in the same place two nights running.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 21:54:40 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 26/12/2025 18:48, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    I had a friend at work who had worked as a cinema projectionist; I had
    always assumed that it was the arc itself which was the source of the
    light, but according to my friend, it was the carbons themselves that
    glowed with the _heat_ from the arc (and thus had to be constantly
    adjusted).

    I remember discovering that a rechargeable battery (eg a NiCad) can
    supply enough current (because of its lower internal resistance than an alkaline battery) to make a pencil "lead" glow white hot. Strip the wood
    off a stump of a pencil, use croc clips to attach wires to the ends and connect these to a charged rechargeable battery, having placed the
    "lead" on something that can withstand the heat. And the "lead" glows
    intense white until a) the battery goes flat, or b) the "lead" shatters.

    I imagine an arc lamp produces some of its light (in addition to that
    from the lime insert that Liz talks about) from the tips which glow at a similar temperature to that from resistive heating.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Marland@gemehabal@btinternet.co.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 22:18:12 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2025/12/26 15:6:7, NY wrote:
    On 26/12/2025 10:36, Liz Tuddenham wrote:


    carbon. The outsides of the carbons were covered in copper to improve
    the conductivity, this melted away as it neared the arc and dropped on
    the floor of the lamphouse.

    I have a pack of electrodes for my resistance soldering unit that are manufactured like that,
    must have a go at making an arc lamp with a couple.

    GH


    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 22:25:58 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 26/12/2025 19:19, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    The trick for precise alignment of carbon arc limelights was a diagram
    of the stage drawn on the ceiling of the projection booth. A small hole
    in the top of the lamphouse cast a spot of light on the diagram, so the operator could aim the dowsed light where it was next required. When
    the dowser was opened, it would be exactly on the actor (assuming the
    actor was standing in the right place).

    I would have thought it would need to be on the front wall of the
    projection booth so it registered both side-to-side and up/down movement
    of the lamp and hence the real beam. Wouldn't a tell-tale beam projected
    at 90 degrees to the real one (so it's on the ceiling) only have
    registered the up/down but not the side to side rotation about a
    vertical axis?

    This didn't work with filament lamps, so either the operator had to
    'crack open' the dowser to get just enough light to see where the beam
    was pointing or be very quick indeed to correct any errors. Both of
    these expedients looked a bit amateurish - but with amateur productions:

    Why didn't it work with filament lamps? Was it because the light source
    was larger and less of a point source? Surely arc, xenon and filament
    spot lights all have parabolic mirrors and lenses which focus the light
    into a narrow beam, and a similar system for getting a narrow "finder"
    beam to project onto the ceiling diagram. I feel I may be about to learn something about the differences between arc and filament lights ... ;-)



    It must have been a major job keeping up with the script, preparing the follow-spot for the next cue by "invisible" means in the hope that when
    you opened the dowser, the correct object would be highlighted. It shows
    that everything goes in phases: rather like early word-processed
    documents often used every available font under the sun, there is an overwhelming tendency with any new technology to do something "because
    we can do it" ;-)

    At least with a performer, you can align the beam to where you expect
    him to be and then (once you have built up the muscle memory) you can
    follow him after that because your "finder" beam is the real one: you
    are not having to align your beam "blind".
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Fri Dec 26 22:40:42 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 26/12/2025 17:20, Max Demian wrote:
    On 25/12/2025 18:55, NY wrote:
    The Morrisons in the town where I used to live had no Vodafone
    reception inside: you had to go about 10 yards outside the entrance to
    get a signal. That was annoying if I needed to check with my wife
    "they don't have any X; would you like me the get Y instead?".

    You could use WhatsApp via the in-store Wi-Fi (perhaps).

    I could, if they'd advertised that they *had* in-store wi-fi for
    customers...
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Roderick Stewart@rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Sat Dec 27 09:17:28 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 26 Dec 2025 22:18:12 GMT, Marland <gemehabal@btinternet.co.uk>
    wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2025/12/26 15:6:7, NY wrote:
    On 26/12/2025 10:36, Liz Tuddenham wrote:


    carbon. The outsides of the carbons were covered in copper to improve
    the conductivity, this melted away as it neared the arc and dropped on
    the floor of the lamphouse.

    I have a pack of electrodes for my resistance soldering unit that are >manufactured like that,
    must have a go at making an arc lamp with a couple.

    GH

    I remember generating an arc with a couple of pencils and a 120V radio
    battery. (It would also work with a 90V one, just about, but not so impressive). You have to sharpen the pencils with a knife so enough of
    the 'lead' is exposed for a small croc clip to attach to each one but
    leaving the ends exposed, and of course the other ends of the leads go
    to the battery. You then hold the two pencils very carefully so that
    the pointed ends are very close but not touching and you'll get an
    intensely bright pinprick of light and a faint hissing sound. It stops
    if you allow the pencils to touch or if you move them too far apart;
    it has to be exactly right.

    Rod.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ashley Booth@removetab@snglinks.com to uk.tech.broadcast on Sat Dec 27 09:29:57 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Ashley Booth wrote:

    James Heaton wrote:

    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 22:29:7, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 17:03, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of
    one of their songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song
    has that word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...

    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find
    ..." as "The lonely ram song". Sorry.

    Duh! Of course ;-) I like it.

    It's almost a mondegreen rather than just a pun, in the same
    vein as Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (about a very
    trendy vicar?) instead of "Forever in Blue Jeans", or Belinda Carlisle's "Blue Heaven is a place on earth" (which even after
    multiple listenings is what I swear she sings) instead of "Ooh
    heaven is a place on earth".

    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I
    called you last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile
    moans were a thing!).

    The large Tesco near us had a couple of payphones in that era -
    useful given my Mum's writing... saved a few moans that way...

    James

    That reminded me of the Morecambe and Wise sketch!

    Sorry, it was the Two
    Ronnies.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6jWCVO38iA
    --


    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.tech.broadcast on Sat Dec 27 11:02:55 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:

    On 26/12/2025 19:19, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    The trick for precise alignment of carbon arc limelights was a diagram
    of the stage drawn on the ceiling of the projection booth. A small hole
    in the top of the lamphouse cast a spot of light on the diagram, so the operator could aim the dowsed light where it was next required. When
    the dowser was opened, it would be exactly on the actor (assuming the
    actor was standing in the right place).

    I would have thought it would need to be on the front wall of the
    projection booth so it registered both side-to-side and up/down movement
    of the lamp and hence the real beam. Wouldn't a tell-tale beam projected
    at 90 degrees to the real one (so it's on the ceiling) only have
    registered the up/down but not the side to side rotation about a
    vertical axis?

    That does make sense but perhaps the hole in the lamphouse wasn't
    directly above the arc (or not on the rotational axis) so the was some
    sideways movement? I have never worked the 'limes' in a theare where
    this was done, but a friend has and he told me about it. Perhaps I misunderstood and the diagram actually was on the wall, not the ceiling.


    This didn't work with filament lamps, so either the operator had to
    'crack open' the dowser to get just enough light to see where the beam
    was pointing or be very quick indeed to correct any errors. Both of
    these expedients looked a bit amateurish - but with amateur productions:

    Why didn't it work with filament lamps? Was it because the light source
    was larger and less of a point source?

    Yes, the pinhole-camera effect would give a fuzzy picture of the
    filament, rather than a single spot.


    Surely arc, xenon and filament
    spot lights all have parabolic mirrors and lenses which focus the light
    into a narrow beam, and a similar system for getting a narrow "finder"
    beam to project onto the ceiling diagram. I feel I may be about to learn something about the differences between arc and filament lights ... ;-)

    Filament-lamp follow-spots tended to occupy the cheaper end of the
    market, so anything more elaborate than a hole in the lamphouse would be
    too expensive. Also, they were more portable and would rarely have
    been installed in a booth with a ceiling.

    If you want to find out some interesting facts about the
    quite-considerable differences in optical systems used for arcs,
    high-voltage and low-voltage cinema projector lamps, there is a wealth
    of information scattered throughout the Philips Technical review.


    It must have been a major job keeping up with the script, preparing the follow-spot for the next cue by "invisible" means in the hope that when
    you opened the dowser, the correct object would be highlighted.

    It gets even more complicated when there is only one operator for two follow-spots (at least they were dimmable filament-lamp types). I have
    done this whilst sitting on a plank at the top of a sectional
    scaffolding access tower with the two dimmers screwed on another plank
    below me. I worked barefoot with my toes curled around the dimmer
    handles and had to learn the script, as there was nowhere to pin it up
    and I had no free hand to turn the pages.

    The coloured 'gels' were in frames which I kept on the plank beside me.
    When one needed changing I had to lean out forwards to the front of the
    lens housing and change it with one hand whilst holding on to the
    scaffolding with the other (and trying not to disturb the other lamp if
    it was operating at the time).

    I learned the skills by being apprenticed to the stage electrician's
    teenage daughter who, it turned out, had been working twin spots like
    this ever since she could reach the handles!
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to uk.tech.broadcast,uk.telecom on Sat Dec 27 13:38:06 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 2025/12/27 9:29:57, Ashley Booth wrote:
    Ashley Booth wrote:

    James Heaton wrote:

    On 25/12/2025 11:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 22:29:7, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 17:03, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/24 16:44:41, NY wrote:
    On 24/12/2025 12:07, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    Being a Seekers fan (so knowing the alternative title of
    one of their songs), I got 7 (and thus 8) fairly quickly!

    I've got 7 and 8, but I'm trying to think which Seekers song
    has that word (answer to Q7) as an alternative title...

    Unofficial! A friend and I always refer to "I'll never find
    ..." as "The lonely ram song". Sorry.

    Duh! Of course ;-) I like it.

    It's almost a mondegreen rather than just a pun, in the same
    vein as Neil Diamond's "Reverend Blue Jeans" (about a very
    trendy vicar?) instead of "Forever in Blue Jeans", or Belinda
    Carlisle's "Blue Heaven is a place on earth" (which even after
    multiple listenings is what I swear she sings) instead of "Ooh
    heaven is a place on earth".

    Oh, I love mondegreens. One of my favourites is ABBA "when I
    called you last night from Tesco" (recorded long before fobile
    moans were a thing!).

    The large Tesco near us had a couple of payphones in that era -
    useful given my Mum's writing... saved a few moans that way...

    James

    That reminded me of the Morecambe and Wise sketch!

    Sorry, it was the Two
    Ronnies.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6jWCVO38iA

    Thanks - loved hearing it again!

    Anyone know what year it was? (I've added uk.telecom as someone there
    may be able to say - or at least put a range on it - from the telephones/booths/etc. shown.)
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    If it's nice to look at and it makes you feel good, it's art.
    - Grayson Perry, interviewed in Radio Times 12-18 October 2013
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Sat Dec 27 13:39:44 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 2025/12/27 11:2:55, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:

    []

    And all others who have contributed to this thread: I just wanted to say thanks, and how much I've enjoyed reading all of it.
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    If it's nice to look at and it makes you feel good, it's art.
    - Grayson Perry, interviewed in Radio Times 12-18 October 2013
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.tech.broadcast on Sat Dec 27 16:00:14 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Marland <gemehabal@btinternet.co.uk> wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2025/12/26 15:6:7, NY wrote:
    On 26/12/2025 10:36, Liz Tuddenham wrote:


    carbon. The outsides of the carbons were covered in copper to improve
    the conductivity, this melted away as it neared the arc and dropped on
    the floor of the lamphouse.

    I have a pack of electrodes for my resistance soldering unit that are manufactured like that,
    must have a go at making an arc lamp with a couple.

    If you have an arc welder for car repairs that supplies around 40 to 60
    amps, it will be a suitable power source (but beware of running it too
    long continuously and oveheating it). A lime-cored theatre arc is even brighter than a welding arc, so don't be tempted to go without dense
    goggles or you will get 'arc-eye' from even the briefest of flashes.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From John Williamson@johnwilliamson@btinternet.com to uk.tech.broadcast,uk.telecom on Sat Dec 27 17:09:35 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 27/12/2025 13:38, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2025/12/27 9:29:57, Ashley Booth wrote:

    Sorry, it was the Two
    Ronnies.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6jWCVO38iA

    Thanks - loved hearing it again!

    Anyone know what year it was? (I've added uk.telecom as someone there
    may be able to say - or at least put a range on it - from the telephones/booths/etc. shown.)

    There is an on screen caption saying 1981 in the first few seconds... ;-)
    --
    Tciao for Now!

    John.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 02:13:21 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 27/12/2025 11:02, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    I learned the skills by being apprenticed to the stage electrician's
    teenage daughter who, it turned out, had been working twin spots like
    this ever since she could reach the handles!

    That sounds like the start of a Two Ronnies sketch laden with
    double-entendres :-)

    I did a bit of work with stage lighting for school plays and operas when
    I was in the fifth and sixth forms. The atmosphere was great: mine was
    an all-boys school and it teamed up with the all-girls school across the
    road (*), so there was a certain amount of ribaldry whenever people
    thought they could get away with it.

    Our school hall had old wire-wound slide-rheostats with huge Bakelite
    knobs for the stage light dimmers, and am enormous rotary wire-wound one
    with a little wheel for the house lights.

    We were warned that with all the house lights on, with a 200 W bulb in
    each lamp (and there were a *lot* of them) we had about five seconds to
    go from full on to fully dimmed, otherwise "magic smoke" would billow
    from the cage that surrounded the dimmer. The person on house lights was encouraged to practice with the house lights off, until they could do it
    in the allotted time without making the dimmer produce a godawful
    screeching noise... or "magic smoke".

    The stage light dimmers were mounted vertically on a wooden panel with
    several desk fans blowing onto them from behind to keep them cool. Each
    dimmer could be connected to a variety of lighting circuits: there were
    more lighting circuits than dimmers, and a fully-on circuit was
    transferred from a dimmer to a straight-through connection to free up
    the dimmer. I was presented with a piece of wood about an inch by half
    an inch by eighteen inches; this was used to operate several dimmers at
    once, either operating all at the same time (wooden bar horizontal) or
    with the bar at an angle so some lights faded to black before others
    did. The secret was to switch circuits that needed to be operated simultaneously onto *adjacent* dimmers. No prehensile feet were needed!

    More than one, a dimmer's wire fuse blew in the middle of a play as we
    were fading the lights up or down, so we rehearsed the transfer of the
    failed circuit onto a different dimmer with its knob in roughly the same position so the visible effect was not *too* apparent. If it was a
    critical light, someone actually shadowed the movement on a spare dimmer
    and another lighting engineer was ready to transfer the circuit from one dimmer to another in record time.

    Being on a hot stage lit by lots of hot lights, on a lighting gantry
    high up in one of the wings, and with a grandstand view of the stage
    from above where we could see nubile High School girls' cleavages in
    low-cut costumes (**), the sweat was pouring off us, which was not a
    good combination with all that electricity.


    The school did have a modern thyristor-controlled lighting system that
    was operated by a bank of little slide switches in a projection booth,
    but it was a great white elephant. It was in the lecture theatre (tiered seats, dimmable fluorescent house lights etc) but it lack one crucial
    thing for performing plays in it: there was no proscenium arch and
    therefore no wings where actors could wait until their cue, so the only
    way to make an entrance was through one of the pair of fire exits either
    side of the stage, which led onto the playground so the actors arrived
    frozen to death and covered in rain. They only tried it once, and
    abandoned the idea for future plays.



    (*) Our headmaster pompously referred to it as "a welcome opportunity
    for a bit of cross-fertilisation" until a boy and a girl took the "fertilisation" bit rather too literally at the last-night party and she became pregnant :-)

    (**) Best seat in the house, we had!
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 10:21:49 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:

    On 27/12/2025 11:02, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    I learned the skills by being apprenticed to the stage electrician's teenage daughter who, it turned out, had been working twin spots like
    this ever since she could reach the handles!

    That sounds like the start of a Two Ronnies sketch laden with double-entendres :-)

    I was very careful how I phrased that.


    I did a bit of work with stage lighting for school plays and operas when
    I was in the fifth and sixth forms. The atmosphere was great: mine was
    an all-boys school and it teamed up with the all-girls school across the
    road (*), so there was a certain amount of ribaldry whenever people
    thought they could get away with it.

    Our school hall had old wire-wound slide-rheostats with huge Bakelite
    knobs for the stage light dimmers, and am enormous rotary wire-wound one
    with a little wheel for the house lights.

    We were warned that with all the house lights on, with a 200 W bulb in
    each lamp (and there were a *lot* of them) we had about five seconds to
    go from full on to fully dimmed, otherwise "magic smoke" would billow
    from the cage that surrounded the dimmer. The person on house lights was encouraged to practice with the house lights off, until they could do it
    in the allotted time without making the dimmer produce a godawful
    screeching noise... or "magic smoke".

    The stage light dimmers were mounted vertically on a wooden panel with several desk fans blowing onto them from behind to keep them cool. Each dimmer could be connected to a variety of lighting circuits: there were
    more lighting circuits than dimmers, and a fully-on circuit was
    transferred from a dimmer to a straight-through connection to free up
    the dimmer. I was presented with a piece of wood about an inch by half
    an inch by eighteen inches; this was used to operate several dimmers at
    once, either operating all at the same time (wooden bar horizontal) or
    with the bar at an angle so some lights faded to black before others
    did. The secret was to switch circuits that needed to be operated simultaneously onto *adjacent* dimmers. No prehensile feet were needed!

    More than one, a dimmer's wire fuse blew in the middle of a play as we
    were fading the lights up or down, so we rehearsed the transfer of the
    failed circuit onto a different dimmer with its knob in roughly the same position so the visible effect was not *too* apparent. If it was a
    critical light, someone actually shadowed the movement on a spare dimmer
    and another lighting engineer was ready to transfer the circuit from one dimmer to another in record time.

    This all sounds so familiar. I have used a single-dimmer board with 6
    circuits and a dummy load (electric fire) which could be switched in to
    the low wattage circuits when required to ensure that the lamps dimmed completely.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Andy Burns@usenet@andyburns.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 10:29:28 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    This all sounds so familiar. I have used a single-dimmer board with 6 circuits and a dummy load (electric fire) which could be switched in to
    the low wattage circuits when required to ensure that the lamps dimmed completely.

    Ours had two axles, with several (8?) levers that could be rotated to
    lock them onto their axle, or free them from it, so circuits could be
    dimmed in groups or independently.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Charles Hope@clh@candehope.me.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 12:15:03 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 28/12/2025 10:29, Andy Burns wrote:
    Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    This all sounds so familiar.-a I have used a single-dimmer board with 6
    circuits and a dummy load (electric fire) which could be switched in to
    the low wattage circuits when required to ensure that the lamps dimmed
    completely.

    Ours had two axles, with several (8?) levers that could be rotated to
    lock them onto their axle, or free them from it, so circuits could be
    dimmed in groups or independently.

    Strand Grand Master?
    There was one at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge around 1960.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Andy Burns@usenet@andyburns.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 14:01:05 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Charles Hope wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Ours had two axles, with several (8?) levers that could be rotated to
    lock them onto their axle, or free them from it, so circuits could be
    dimmed in groups or independently.

    Strand Grand Master?
    Not as impressive as the images I can see of those ...
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 15:49:35 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

    Charles Hope wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Ours had two axles, with several (8?) levers that could be rotated to
    lock them onto their axle, or free them from it, so circuits could be
    dimmed in groups or independently.

    Strand Grand Master?
    Not as impressive as the images I can see of those ...

    Furze made some like that - so did Holophane.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Andy Burns@usenet@andyburns.uk to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 16:53:43 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Charles Hope wrote:

    Andy Burns wrote:

    Ours had two axles, with several (8?) levers that could be rotated to
    lock them onto their axle, or free them from it, so circuits could be
    dimmed in groups or independently.

    Strand Grand Master?
    Not as impressive as the images I can see of those ...

    Furze made some like that
    This looks a lot closer to what my school had

    <https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10160290699127191&set=gm.10160648729077115&idorvanity=16225877114>
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From NY@me@privacy.net to uk.tech.broadcast on Sun Dec 28 20:30:47 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.tech.broadcast

    On 28/12/2025 10:29, Andy Burns wrote:
    Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    This all sounds so familiar.-a I have used a single-dimmer board with 6
    circuits and a dummy load (electric fire) which could be switched in to
    the low wattage circuits when required to ensure that the lamps dimmed
    completely.

    Ours had two axles, with several (8?) levers that could be rotated to
    lock them onto their axle, or free them from it, so circuits could be
    dimmed in groups or independently.

    <four Yorkshiremen>

    Luxury!

    </four Yorkshiremen>
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2