Moving Time

No, I have not moved house again, this time I am referring to my blog. Ceredigion (as did every other council in Wales bar Ynys Môn) held elections last Thursday to elect members of their county councils. I stood for the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the Llansantffraed ward and although I polled 141 votes, I was not elected. I was, however, elected unopposed to Llansantffraed Community Council as, following in the tradition of the other Ceredigion councillor I know who blogs (namely Cllr. Mark Cole, the Lib Dem member for Cardigan, Rhydyfuwch who was re-elected for a third term in office), I have created a new blog specfically to record what happens to me as a councillor for the community council. Therefore, it doesn't seem proper to have two blogs doing more or less the same thing, so therefore will not be updating this one (but will keep it around for archive purposes). So, that in mind, I hope that you will follow my new council related blog at my new blog where I shall hope to be a little more active in the world of blogging (and might even ponder the idea of entering the competition for best new Lib Dem blog as well)

Over the next few weeks I am going to be doing something a little odd

Now, I think we can all agree that walking is good for you? Not only is it good exercise, it is less likely to provoke an injury and if you live in a rural area (like the west of Wales) it gives you a chance to go "Awww, look at all the ikkle lambies!"

And indeed that will be something I shall do, as starting Monday I shall be attempting to walk across an area of some forty eight square miles covering the villages of Llanon, Llansantffraed, Aberarth, Bethania, Nebo and Cross Inn. And why I am doing this you may ask? Well, I can't say completely until Monday, but here's a clue

St. David's Day (Gwyl Dewi Sant) 2012

Today marks the anniversary day of the patron saint of Wales (Saint David) who has a lot of connections with Ceredigion. He is said to have born between 462 AD and 512 AD (no one is entirely sure when though) but whenever he was born, he went to school in the village of Henfynyw (which is next door to the village where I used to live) specifically in the monastery now marked by the local parish church

and grew up in Llanon (the village where I live now). The village is named after his mother (Non) who like her son also became a Saint. Here's a little interesting fact for you, anywhere in Wales with the prefix Llan means an enclosed piece of land, normally associated with a church so Llan non is the parish of Saint Non, Llan rhystyd is the parish of Saint Rhystyd, Llan trisant is the parish of three saints and Llan pumsant is the parish of five saints (although that said I have never heard of a Llan saithsant or Llan nawsant)

Now being a saint, David was attributed with miracles and his was of a geological nature. He was speaking to a crowd at the Synod of Brefi (a bit like the General Synod of the Church of England) which was convened in 545 AD to discuss the teachings of Pelagius. Now, he had managed to get himself into a bit of bother by stating that he was convinced that the Church at that time was stating that man had no free will. This was deemed a heresy (in other words the Synod did not like it one bit!) and during the Synod, David was giving a speech on the subject when the back of the crowd complained that they couldn't hear him. Being of that sort of person, a small hill rose out of the ground so that everyone could see him and he carried on. That hill became the village of Llandewi Brefi (yes, there's than Llan again) and a mere two thousand years later gained international cult status as the home of "the only gay in the village"

And so every year to celebrate the patron saint of Wales, everyone you meet is usually decked out with leeks (the national vegetable), daffodils (the national flower) and is more than likely to hum (or as Wales is considered the land of song) sing something Welsh

It's Shrove Tuesday (or to put it another way)

It's Pancake Day, yes, it's Pancake Day, it's P...P...P...P...P...P...Pancake Day and across the United Kingdom millions of amateur cooks will be attempting that annual tradition of trying to toss a pancake to that it arrives back in the frying pan with the cooked side on top and the yet to be cooked side on the bottom. Whilst some people can do this, about 95% of the time this happens:

However, that little trouble does not stop a village in Buckinghamshire from making a competition of it. The village of Olney has an annual pancake race which in recent years has grown to become a sort of international pancake version of "Jeux Sans Frontieres" where they compete against the town of Liberal in Kansas. The competition has been going for over sixty years and so far the tally is thirty four wins to Liberal, and twenty five wins to Olney. But for those of you who think that tossing a pancake is not really the way to spend the day and fancy something to give the old muscles a workout, might I suggest that you travel to the town of Atherstone in Warwickshire and announce "I WANT THE BALL!" and then be prepared to barge through thousands of people

and if you think that's bad enough, then remember this. At the same time that is happening in Atherstone, something very similar is happening in Alnwick in Northumberland, Ashbourne in Derbyshire, Sedgefield in County Durham and St. Columub Major in Cornwall. If you're of a feeble frame, best avoid those towns for the next twenty four hours (as that is how long some of those matches can last!)

The death has been announced of Whitney Houston

(Source: BBC News)
The American singer and actress Whitney Houston has died in Los Angeles at the age of 48. Ms Houston died on the eve of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. She had been due to attend a pre-awards party in the Beverly Hilton Hotel organised by her long-time mentor and record industry executive Clive Davis on Saturday evening. He went ahead with the party, holding a minute's silence and telling the audience he was "personally devastated by the loss of someone who has meant so much to me for so many years".Jazz legend Herbie Hancock, who was attending the event, said: "It's difficult not to be sad about it because it's a great loss. Her soul, her spirit, lives within all of us."

A question to my international readers

That clip comes from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "Patience" about a "fleshly poet" who is overpowered by "rapturous maidens" when all he wants to do is be married to "a diary maid". The fact that the "rapturous maidens" were, a year previously, in love with a group of dragoon guards has no bearing on the fact. One of the commanding officers of this Dragoon Guard is the Duke of Dunstable (a lieutenant) who states after his first entrance:

"Great heavens, what is there to adulate in me?  Am I particularly 

intelligent, or remarkably studious, or excruciatingly witty, or 

unusually accomplished, or exceptionally virtuous?"

This is the question I would like to pose to my international readers (who have been added to since Christmas by readers from Italy, the Phillipines, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Jordan, Poland and India) after all I just consider myself a humble resident of a small village in Ceredigion who doesn't do anything that demands such international attention.

Do you recognise these two people?

Dyfed Powys Police, the local police force in my area, have placed this photograph online in an appeal to find people who can assist them in enquiries following  a crime where a sign was taken from the Star of Bengal restaurant in the vicinity of Terrace Road, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion. This picture was taken on February 2nd 2012, just before the alleged offence. If you do recognise them or know about the actual crime itself, contact Dyfed Powys Police by telephone (within the United Kingdom) by either calling 101 (15p per call) or 01267 222020 (if you live outside Ceredigion, Powys, Pembrokeshire or Carmarthenshire at a cost of your standard network rate) or by e-mail with the subject heading "Star of Bengal Theft ID"

I am posting this request because of the fact that a) I am a resident of the Dyfed Powys police force and b) as I recently played a policeman in our community theatre group I have a great deal of respect for the police force not only in Dyfed Powys but across the whole country

Yes, I know it is cold, but for pete's sakes use some common sense!

Over the past few days you will have no doubt read reports about the extreme cold covering most of Europe with night time temperatures ranging from -11°C (+14°F) in the United Kingdom to -38°C (-39°F) in some parts of Finland, however I have to take extreme objection to the headline in tomorrow's Daily Express for it's factual inaccuracy.

-12°C BRITAIN FACES SNOW CHAOS it declares whilst forgetting one small thing. That -12°C (+11°F) figure refers to the low temperature on Friday evening (February 3rd 2012) because for it to snow you need clouds, and when clouds cross a cold enviroment they reflect the heat radiating from the ground thus raising the temperature and making snow less likely, not more likely and whilst there will be snow across a large part of the United Kingdom over the next forty eight hours or so to define the effect as chaos (considering that most of the snow will fall on Saturday night and Sunday morning) is a bit rich.

But this is not the first time the Express has attracted my meteorological ire.

This was published in November 2011 and winter didn't arrive until February 2012 (hardly weeks)

July 2010: The highest temperature recorded in the UK was 27°C (81°F)

And the reason for these well off the mark reports? The Daily Express uses information from a website called Exacta Weather who on December 18th 2011 confidently announced

 to which I replied

Guess who won and guess who has still not fulfilled their side of the bargain?

Yes, I'm a thespian, but no, I'm not a lovey

There is a common misconception that anyone involved in the theatre tends to speak with an exceptionally toffee nosed accent, airkisses at every chance and says that everyone is either a "lovey" or a "darling". Well, if that is the case, it was certainly not evident during the week long run of "Me and My Girl" hosted by Memorama (the community theatre group in Aberaeron) in which I played a footman and a police constable

What was evident was that the community of Aberaeron thoroughly enjoyed it and were joining in all the songs ("The Lambeth Walk", "Leaning on a Lampost") and even joined in during the overture (much to the annoyance of the pianist!) but all things come to an end and since I got a laptop that has been able to do several more things than I thought physically possible I created a credits sequence for the production (which was shown at the end of the performance during the walkdown)

Me and My Girl : Credits by MemoramaTheatre

I shall not be able to take an active part in the next production (which starts rehearsals next Tuesday) as I hope to involved in a much bigger project that I will blog about at a later date but have asked if I may create a credits sequence for that and the writer of the play that is being performed has agreed. So keep an eye on that Daily Motion channel as well as the website and the Facebook page and if you are ever in or around Aberaeron and fancy a evening's entertainment then you are more than welcome to drop in.

Sometimes there are just not enough days in a week

Here's a brief rundown of how I will be spending my first proper work fortnight of 2012:


Sunday, January 8th: Between 12.00pm and 4.00pm, rehearsing for our production of "Me and My Girl" at the Memorial Hall, Aberaeron
Monday, January 9th - Saturday, January 14th: Performing in "Me and My Girl" ay the Memorial Hall, Aberaeron
Tuesday, January 10th: Keeping a close eye on the New Hampshire Primary
Wednesday, January 11th: Trying to digest the implications of the New Hampshire Primary as well as the initial recommendations for the Welsh element of the reduced House of Commons (which will see Wales lose ten of it's current forty seats)
Wednesday, January 18th: Attend a meeting of Ceredigion Liberal Democrats to a) congratulate my friend the right honourable member for Cardigan, Rhydyfuwch ward on his recent engagement, b) discuss the possible implications for the Liberal Democrats of the proposed boundary changes (both on the Westminster and Assembly battleground) and c) formally apply to be considered as a candidate for the forthcoming local elections in Ceredigion


As I said "sometimes, there are just not enough days in the week!"

A summary of global visitors

Since I started this blog back in March, I have recieved vistors from a total of fourteen nations and as we enter the week before Christmas, it seems only reasonable to make note of those nations and wish them a Merry Christmas in their native languages. So in order of visits we have:

1. United Kingdom: The United Kingdom is made up of four parts, each of which have their own language, therefore to my English readers Merry Christmas, to my Scottish readers Nollaig chridheil huibh to my Welsh readers (including the councillor from Cardigan, Rhydyfuwch ward on Ceredigion and the honourable member for Wales South West in the National Assembly of Wales) Nadolig Llawen and to my readers from Northern Ireland Nollaig chridheil
2. United States: Despite having the same language as the United Kingdom (if not the same words where briefs = pants = trousers), this time of year can be a legal minefield and not wishing to create any legal problems myself may I wish those who wish to be wished a Merry Christmas and for everyone else Happy Holidays
3. Russian Federation: My knowledge of Russian is akin to my knowledge of the Russian film industry from 1920 - 1950 (nyet) so therefore I have had to resort to the internet (and therefore have no idea if this is accurate or not) but wish to reassure my Russian readers that no sleight at all is meant if this translation for Merry Christmas Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom is completely wrong
4. Australia: Like most countries of the Commonwealth, Australia speaks English with it's own little idiosyncratic idioms thrown in for good measure, therefore Have a Bonzer Christmas and throw another shrimp on the barbie for me (even though in all honesty I don't like them!)  
5. Canada: Canada (another member of the Commonwealth) speaks English so Merry Christmas but due to the large influx of population from France in the early 19th century also recognises the French language in an offical capacity (and as I have an interest in the works of Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas, it would be most unkind of me not to say Joyeux Noel)
6. Belgium: also has more than one offical language (in fact according to Wikipedia it has three, Dutch, French and German) but also has several unoffical languages including Flemish (spoken in the Flanders region) and Wallon (spoken in Wallonia) therefore as I have Dutch and German visitors to follow (and have already touched on French) it seems only fair to wish Zalig Kerstfeest to any residents of Flanders and Djoyeus Noyé to the Walloon nation.
7. New Zealand: also has two languages English Merry Christmas and the language of the native Maori people Meri Kirihimete
8. Ireland: Just the Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland also has two languages, the second of which is Gaelic (a relative of Scottish and Ulster Gaelic) and hoping that the internet is being kind to me, hope that despite the problems that Ireland is having at the problems, the residents will be able to enjoy a Nollaig chridheil
9. Hungary: From now on we enter the realm of languages I have no idea how to speak (let alone spell) so hoping that the internet is not playing tricks on me, may I wish the Hungarian people Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket
10. Portugal: the Portuguese people (also in similar economic turmoil to the Irish) Feliz Natal 
11. Germany: the German people Froehliche Weihnachten
12. Netherlands: the Dutch people Vrolijk Kerstfeest
13. France: the French nation (as I have alluded to before) Joyeux Noel
14. Israel: and finally for my newest nation to visit my blog and considering the history of Christmas perhaps the most suited (despite what people may say about the fact that Israel shouldn't exist and that it's really Palestine) may I wish you a Mo'adim Lesimkha and if you prefer a more old school greeting Freylekhe nitl

We know that the UK is used to disappointments

but not to see a lunar eclipse because of clouds is not just annoying, it's very frustrating as well. I have been interested in eclipses since the 1999 solar eclipse over the UK and in that time the UK has seen 3 solar eclipses and 15 lunar eclipses. To date, I have only seen one of each (and the next ones are not until 2014 and 2015 respectively!)

Have a dispute by all means, but strike???

Today is St. Andrew's Day, the day celebrating the life of the patron saint of Scotland, however that is not the big news event of the day today. Today's big news event is the potential 2,000,000 public sector workers going on strike over: a £2.8bn increase in contribution payments by 2014/2015; pegging the retirement age to the state pension age; switching the way pensions are uprated every year from the higher RPI rate of inflation to the lower CPI rate; and moving staff from final salary schemes to career average schemes. My response to this is "Er, excuse me, if you haven't noticed we need to REDUCE national spending!

My grandparents have been in receipt of the national state pension since 1993 and during that time, the indexation (how much the benefit increases by each year) has averaged out to 66% (meaning that for every pound they recieved in 1993, they now recieve £1.66), this is I am convinced, at least 80% less than someone in the public sector gets today (but sadly I cannot find any reports that show what the figure is in 1993, yet alone now) but have found a link from the BBC that compares public and private pensions therefore as a result I shall be voting NO in the Sky News HD tweet poll "Are the public sector right to strike?"

My Olympic Letter to our local newspaper

On 27 May 2012, the eyes of the world will be on Ceredigion for the first time since the laying of the stones at the National Library in Aberystwyth by Their Majesties a century ago, when the Olympic Flame passes through the county from Cardigan in the south, through Aberaeron, before spending the night in Aberystwyth and then leaving the county the following day.


During those 24 hours, Ceredigion will be mentioned on as many news channels around the world as you would care to mention. So let’s do the county proud! I have already suggested to Cllr Evans (Aberaeron) that she encourages her fellow councillors to put forward the suggestion that the main trunk road from Cardigan to Aberystwyth is renamed the “Ceredigion Olympic Highway” and have also signed up to be considered as a “Local Leader” via the London 2012 Olympic website.


But the Flame’s passage through the county will only be a success if everyone gets involved. So come on Ceredigion, let’s show the world what our county can do to put on a show.

A poem of remembrance (for Armistice Day)

Armistice Day

Your son and my son

Are walking free today

Because of all those other sons

Who gave their lives away.

Poppies in November

Scarlet petals fall,

Remember then remember

Their answer to the call.

Flanders fields are green now

And long forgotten wars,

Are buried deep and silent,

Beyond the reach of tears.

The senseless song of war now

Has faded with a sigh;

The blacksmith and the farm boy

Who didn’t want to die

But leaves fall in November

Upon a million graves,

And still above the cenotaph

The flag at half-mast waves

And for all the sons of England

At rest around the world

We stand two minutes silent

With down-cast flags unfurled

Oh long may we remember

In the peace we have today

Our sons, and loves, and brothers,

So long now passed away

And hold aloft the poppy

And give it to a child;

And tell him about Flanders,

Where the poppy’s growing wild.

This poem was written by my grandmother in 1981 and is still as relevant now as it is now 

peneisteddfod: Geography is the very reason why services at Brong...

Lisa Francis is a former member of the National Assembly of Wales (who represented the Mid and West Wales electoral region for the Conservatives) who has made a blog post on her site about the question marks hanging over Bronglais hospital in Aberystwyth. The hospital is the only major hospital in the whole of Mid Wales and therefore as a result it is an issue that affects me. If you are interested, then please read her entry at peneisteddfod: Geography is the very reason why services at Brong...

My Olympic Journey has a chance of becoming real

On May 19th 2012, the Olympic Flame will arrive at Land's End in Cornwall and start a 70 day journey around the United Kingdom before finishing at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, East London for the opening ceremony. Sometime ago it was announced that the flame would spend overnight in the town of Aberystwyth (not that far from where I live) on May 27th and so I instantly contacted the London 2012 Olympic Flame Relay Helpline to ask who to contact with regard to actually get the flame to pass through our village (as it is the only way of getting to Aberystwyth). After a little debate about which local authority to write to, I found out the address of the local community council here and asked them if they would investigate the virtues of making a formal bid to welcome the Flame. Well, I have no idea if they had or not but the offical map for the Flame has just been released and Llanon is on the offical route!!!


The flame will be passing right by my front door sometime on the evening of May 27th and if I am able to I shall try and be part of the offical welcoming committee for the Flame's visit. If you live in the UK and want to know if the Flame will be passing through your community then please visit the official Flame Relay Map

And here come the Belgians

Hot on the heels of the French yesterday, I now discover that I have had a reader from Belgium (home of waffles and thanks to the commentary skills of Stuart Hall a rather reckless Hercules from the days of Jeux Sans Frontieres) and yet just as with France I have Belgian connections. As well as reading the Asterix books as a child, another book series took my interest. It was a series of book about a journalist who managed to find himself at the front of breaking news stories (usually quite by accident) and who was accompanied whether he went by a small white dog. Any true Belgian will now be jumping up and down and saying "Mon dieu, Tintin!" and you would be quite right

But a more recent Belgian connection came in 2003 when in the first Eurovision Song Contest I voted in I voted for the Belgian entry Sanomi composed and performed by the Group Urban Trad

Well, knock me sideways with a bagette, I'm being followed by the French

According to the flag counter I have attached to this blog, today I got my first French folllower, so (and I hope they will excuse my French) "Merci, moniseur / madame, tu presente La Marseillaise"

I have to say that I am not suprised to get a French follower, seeing as I do have a lot of French connections (and thankfully not the UK version). For starters, there's that fact that I am a member of the North American Jules Verne Society celebrating the works of M. Verne who was resident in Amiens, then there is my connection to perhaps the most famous French brotherhood around (namely The Three Musketeers) thanks to Frank Morlock and perhaps the biggest clincher of them all, the fact that I have the majority of books about a certain French tribal village in the first century BC and their constant successful attempts to stop the Roman conquest of France lead by a certain fellow by the name of Asterix so perhaps I am more French than I realise?

Changing the clocks (for the last time)?

At 0100 GMT this evening, Britain will turn the clocks back to GMT (having spent the last seven months using in effect CET) a practice that has been happening for the best part of a century, but now people are asking "Is this really practical in the 21st century?" with the latest discussions being CET during the winter and EET (Eastern European Time) in the summer. As a self confessed Whovian (a person who likes Doctor Who) this is a question I think I have some authority in answering.


The United Kingdom is quite large covering ten degrees of latitude (50° North to 60° North) and seven degrees of longitude (1° East to 6° West) and as such has a wide range of sunset and sunrise times across the year. Say for example, you live in Glasgow in Scotland. On Midsummer's Day the sun rises at 0431 BST and sets at 2207 BST (giving you a total of 18 hours of daylight) however on Midwinter's Day sunrise is not until 0846 GMT and sunset at 1545 GMT (seven hours of daylight). Similarly at the bottom of the UK (St. Helier in Jersey) Midsummer starts at 0503 BST and ends at 2107 BST (16 hours) and Midwinter starts at 0801 and ends at 1613 (8 hours).


Now these durations are fixed, they will never increase or decrease, so the problem comes trying to find a way to make the daylight accessible and the current scheme is to add an hour to time in the summer. However, thinking about it I am not sure that's the right idea, so here is my suggestion. Add in the winter and take away in summer.


If we did that scheme then somewhere like Glasgow instead of seeing the sunrise at 0846 on Midwinter's Day could see the sun rise at 0746 and instead of seeing the sunrise on 0431 on Midsummer's Day would see it rise at 0531.


Here's a table of sunrise and sunset times (as calculated by Geoclock) which shows the times for GMT. To apply my idea simply deduct an hour to the Midwinter time and add an hour for the Midsummer time.

All times	Spring Equinox		Midsummer’s Day		Autumn Equinox		Midwinter’s Day
GMT	Sunrise	Sunset	Sunrise	Sunset	Sunrise	Sunset	Sunrise	Sunset
Glasgow	0516	1734	0331	2107	0601	1818	0846	1545
Belfast	0523	1740	0347	2104	0608	1824	0844	1600
Newcastle	0505	1723	0327	2049	0558	1807	0829	1540
Birmingham	0507	1723	0345	2034	0552	1808	0816	1556
Cardiff	0513	1728	0356	2034	0558	1813	0816	1606
Greenwich	0500	1715	0343	2021	0545	1808	0803	1553
St. Helier	0508	1723	0403	2007	0554	1808	0801	1613

If you are under the age of 57, you've never been asked

This evening the British House of Commons will vote on a motion that was submitted using the new e-petition system as a way of getting ordinary people's concerns to be debated in Parliament. This was this system that last week made the Government release the papers about the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. The motion under debate tonight is "Should there be a referendum on the United Kingdom's continuing membership of the European Union?"


The last referendum on the issue was held in 1975 following the election of the Labour government in the October 1974 general election and the question asked was "Do you think the UK should stay in the European Community (Common Market)?". On a turnout of 64.5%, the final result was YES 17,378,581 votes (67.2%) NO 8,470,073 (32.8%), however in 1975, if you were aged 21 or under you were not able to vote. As there has not been a referendum since then, if you are under the age of 57 today, you have never been asked your formal view on the European Union (approx 83% of the population) and I believe that the sole reason why there should be a referendum on the EU (as the vast majority of the population have never had a chance to vote on the issue) including myself.

Guess where you will find me at parties?

Well, for starters you would not find me in the kitchen, as I am more likely not to attend parties for the simple reason that I am not that kind of a person, but if I were, I would most likely want to be in charge of the "decks" as I believe they are called and "bang out" some tunes that might on the face of it sound like the ultimate turn off but thanks to the miracle of the remix have managed to not only become popular but even managed to break into the charts

Coolio : C U When U Get There (based on Canon by Pachebel)

Warren G featuring Sissel : Prince Igor (based on the aria by Borodin)

DJ Mozart: Symphonic Disco

And my own personal favourite, Pavane (by Faure) as demonstrated by the Notorious BIG



So the next time anyone tells you that classical music is boring, shove these on your shuffle list!

How to learn things without really trying

All across the land over the next week that well tried refrain of "Kids, time to go to school!" will ring out and be replied with "Ooh, Mum, do I have to?" as the summer holidays start to come to an end. However for me, I found that I had learned more during the summer holidays than I had whilst in school thanks to that wonderful invention, the television (or to be more specfic)

Yes, I know it may be a blast from the past, but it was amazing the things that I picked up (and not just from the standard schools programmes either). Allow me to present your typical school week (as seen on the BBC)

Long before Horrible Histories came on the scene when you wanted a historical tale told, you went right to the source so when the BBC's religion department wanted someone to tell Bible tales in a new way, along came Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and bob's your uncle, Assembly takes on a whole new meaning. Next usually came

Now you may be thinking "Sorry, you got taught politics at school" to which the answer is no, but we did get taught maths and this programme (about the local elections in Watford which I should point out is now a Lib Dem controlled council) was broadcast I was already aware of opinion polls and the like but never realised what the numbers actually meant. After maths came

XP (to give him his nickname) was an alien from a planet where although the residents were advanced compared to us) they were all nincompoops (demonstrated in this clip by XP trying to pull the ring on a bull to see where the milk came out of) but this allowed him to investigate science on earth thanks to his "Smart Specs" which served as an all round guide and alarm clock on occasions wishing him to "have a nice experiment"

Being educated in Ceredigion (as I was between 1989 and 1991) there were times when subjects crossed over and none more so in this example from the CNN Millennium series. During those years I lived in the village of Pontrhydygroes and spefically at the gardener's cottage that belonged to the mansion of the Hafod estate, an estate that Coleridge stayed at and (despite all the experts) I still believe that the river Alph in the poem "Xanadu" is the river Ystwyth that flows through the estate to this day

One of my personal favourite schools programme was Music Time (and not just because a relation appeared in their "Panjit and the Buffalo" production either) in fact I can still remember this song when it was first done in 1991 on the theme of "The Planets" in this case Uranus the Magician