Daily Links for 19 April 2010
Published on 19 April 2010 in Daily Links, art, BBC, BBC One, BBC Radio, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6music, Merton, television programmes
Haven’t done one of these for a while, so some of this is a tad old…
In the 6music news…
If you've ever wondered what a Lego version of David Bowie would look like (and lets be honest here, who hasn't?) then this is the video to watch. Oh and it protests about the closure of 6music too.
Meanwhile in the Guardian, they’re interviewing Andy Parfit and leading it with the headline, ‘I wish it hadn’t happened’.
Sadly he's not talking about the proposed closure of 6music in that headline but an expenses scandal. However conspiracy theorists who have been wondering why 6music gets the chop but not the more expensive, less listened to 1xtra will have a field day with this interview which reveals that Radio 1 and 1xtra head Andy Parfaitt was one of those who wrote the review and proposed the closure. What I make of that… well I couldn't possibly comment. But one thing is sure – the constant trotting out of the argument that 6music is competing with commercial radio really is tiring when even commercial radio chiefs have proclaimed they wouldn't run a station like 6music….
Such things are why the music industry has been to tell the BBC Trust that the BBC should “measure the success of the station in terms of its cultural impact”, and apparently even Gordon Brown is a fan according to the Guardian again. I’m sure someone could be cynical and mention votes, but somehow I don’t think 6music fans are going to end up making a huge difference in this election…
(Andy Parfitt incidentally believes it would cultural vandalism to privatise Radio 1. I make no comment.)
And in the rest of the world…
One… be-de-de-de-derrr… One…
Yes, hot on from Chris Evans being brought in to do the Friday One Show, Adrian Chiles quits for ITV. What the One Show is up to, I don’t know – why mess with a formula that's clearly working so well. The big question now is, can The One Show keep soaring without Chiles? People in the Beeb will mutter that it’s bigger than one man. But is it really?
Over at the National Gallery, a new exhibition sounds like it’s worth taking a look. It’s abll about fakes. As I recall, for some years the V&A had a permanent fakes exhibition and I thought it was one of the most interesting parts of the whole museum myself!
And finally, not quite as topical as it should be as I myself delayed this, but the Wimbledon Guardian reports on a thwarted plan to bury pylons at Merton Priory. Apparently…
"Council leader David Williams proposed to improve the site around Merton Abbey Mills and beneath the SavaCentre by burying electricity pylons and laying hidden cable but was defeated by opposition councillors on the grounds of cost last month. "
Wimbledon Guardian. First with the news… (They don’t even appear to have noticed that the SavaCentre became just Sainsburys about four years ago…)