Sky High Art

Tower update:

Here at last top secret plans of the GPO tower! Firstly can I explain the secret part, the plans come from a rather wonderful book the “Eagle annual of cutaways”.

It goes like this one of our family stories was that my Dad use to read Eagle in 50’s and had collected a number of these centre page cutaway pictures. A rare splash of colour in the black and white world of rationing Britain. Sadly as parents do his mum chucked them out which is slightly ironic as my Nan's house was full of dusty useless old tut in later years.

Anyway I found this reprint book (the Eagle Annual of Cutaways)in a comic shop a while ago and bought it for my Dad’s Birthday. On getting it how you can imagine my delight on opening it last week to find on the first page was this marvellous plan of the GPO Tower but I couldn’t post it in case me Dad wandered past here and the surprise was spoilt, hence the secret.

So anyway enjoy the pic sorry for the blurry edge but I couldn’t break the spine of a present to scan it better.

I know most of the world isn’t turned on by cutaway diagrams of 1950’s cargo planes etc but I would heartily recommend you at least open the book in Foyle’s as its a marvel for anyone interested in drawing, design, history, culture, graphics etc.
It's a 100 pages of incredibly detailed technical drawing mostly in colour. It’s dripping with the sensibility of 1950-60’s Britain and even though everywhere is smoky chimneys and meat and 2 veg there’s refreshing optimism of the choice subject. The enthusiasm for science and for a better world is pleasing. It’s also refreshingly un-patronising towards children as the artists assumed that they’ll be interested in more things than football and trainers. They perhaps naively assume that not only racing cars and jet fighters might spark interest but also dustbin Lorries and spectacularly oddly a potato harvester might pique some interest in young minds.

Jonathon Glancey writes an entertaining introduction revelling in a world were we still made stuff and even where even the most glamorous of motor boat is piloted by men in car coats and trilbies. So have a look you never know what you’ll learn.

In a similar vein whilst searching for Tower relate stuff I came upon this site which seems to about old telephone exchanges etc it’s even named after the colour (light straw) the metal shelves were painted in the post office. It’s worth a trawl for the old pics of holiday camps etc alone.
I’ll be back soon with new stuff honest.

Ps. there’ll be rocket cutaway on my out of this world site as a Brucie bonus
Yours space cadet Bltp second class

Go here for the more details of Eagles Cutaway

Bang Bang machines:

What we learnt from tonight’s telly
BBC4 Big Bang night: Was fascinating, one show was an excellent portmanteau collection of various episodes of Horizon, which not only tried to explain how we got to today’s knowledge about the universe but was also an excellent review of the styles of science shows since the 60’s.

So we got badly dressed scientists, shots of Saturn 5 blasts off, lots of glorious animations of atoms. I can but think that life was easier in 70’s when science programme always had fantastic helicopter shots of some new kit complete with a pumping prog soundtrack.

One scene tonight cross cut from a boffin in Alpha Spyder speeding down an accelerator tunnel with a chopper shot of the countryside above. Top stuff.

The modern programme that followed was as clichéd as the previous ones. In it we get mock aged film , edgy shaky camerawork and Dr Brian Cox a cool hipster Simon Armitage look a like crossed with the drummer from Toploader. The sound track to this was the penguin café orchestra. It had lots of shots of machinery and interviews with wild looking scientist, Dr Cox walked about in the snow and looked enthusiastic.

What’s in a name?
It was only tonight did I work out that CERN was the name of an organisation until now I think I imagined it was the next town along from Bern! It’s one of these French names that’s the wrong way round
It stands for the European Centre for Nuclear Research much like The International Federation of Football Associations or International Federation of Automotive Sport are the wrong way round.

Clueless
I’m afraid after all the classes I’ve attended and books I’ve read and episodes of Horizon I’m still not clear what was around before the big bang!

Neologism
I do find physicist slightly annoying in the way they always over name things. The “God particle” anyone which as far as I can see if we find it there’ll be a smaller series of particles lurking inside it the “godlets” presumably.

Leave it to Dicky!
Lastly what the programmes showed was that any show that has bits of Richard Feynman in it is always better. There are lot worse ways to spend your time than watching these 5 sections of a Horizon on RF bits of which were shown tonight.



this seemed like an appropriate tune "Geek love" By Bang Bang Machine!