Ian Jones

An article in The Times foolishly suggesting Strictly Come Dancing is "doomed" because its presenters are leaving.

An article in The Guardian foolishly suggesting Strictly Come Dancing is doomed because its presenters are leaving.

No. And no.

...George Melly
Janet Suzman
David Essex
David Wilkie (if unavailable, another David, so the host keeps having to qualify which David is being talked about)
Denise Coffey
James Burke
Mary Hopkin (if unavailable, Dana)

Host: Cliff Michelmore

Potential line-up for a mid-1970s Celebrity Traitors.
10 men & nine women, as per this year:

John Le Mesurier
Joyce Grenfell
Terry Wogan
Gabrielle Drake
Kenneth Williams (if unavailable, Larry Grayson)
Yootha Joyce
Roy Castle
Diana Dors
Jonathan Miller
Linda Thorson
John Conteh
Ann Haydon-Jones...

"Pull out chairs and easy on the swears." Advice I think we can all live by, Will. #totp

Good to see the celebrities maintaining the round table traditions of spelling each other's names wrong and addressing each other as "yourself". #CelebrityTraitors

"Rawdog"? You're not 17 years old, Robert.

YouTube video by BlondieVEVO Blondie - Rapture (Official Music Video)

Will this do? www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCd...

Imagine if ITV had chosen to mark its 70th anniversary by giving over half an hour of this evening's schedule to a new performance of those exact same scenes from The Importance of Being Earnest, Baker’s Dozen and Private Lives.

No, I can't either.

Look what the cat dragged in!

I'm glad you're carrying on - I was worried today's would be the last one.

I think Mayo did the Radio 1 premiere, though I might be mistaken. I doubt Ball/Greening would have wanted it for the breakfast show.

Following the example of his predecessor in the mid-morning slot, who did the same with the Pet Shop Boys' version of Go West.

I remember Simon Mayo being so smitten with Vindaloo that he played it on air twice in a row.

John Cleese moaning (again) in an undignified way about the BBC reminds me of the way Terry Wogan moaned (again and again) in an undignified way about the BBC for about 15 years.

With Wogan it was worse, however, as he moaned about the BBC while at the same time taking money for working at the BBC.

Selina Scott was surely heading for relegation within a matter of months. Likewise Ben Curiosity.

The suggestion of parity between Bruno Brookes, Adam Faith and Nick Kamen is quite something.

The A-listers of autumn 1987. Selina Scott is clinging on but is surely soon for relegation.

The B-listers. This is as good as it'll get for Ben Curiosity.

The C-listers. Nino Firetto and Gaz Top nibble canapes with Adam Faith and a Bay City Roller.

The D-listers. Wincey deserves better company than this.

It's October 1987 and Q magazine has categorised helpfully the celebrities du jour.

There's good news for Ben Curiosity, Bill Wyman and Lindas Davidson and Lusardi; less good news for Chris Quentin, Belouis Some and "sundry" Curiosities.

First reserves include Nino Firetto and Gary Glitter.

The Howards' Way typeface for series five. Block capitals were so last year.

The sixth and final series, minus poor Maurice, but good news for Dulcie.

And it continued with series five, ditching block capitals for mixed-case, before an enforced rejigging in the sixth and final series that at least meant Dulcie returned to the top tier.

The typeface used for the first series of Howards' Way: from the drawer marked "municipal/functional".

The series two typeface: a bit snazzy but a no-nonsense blue.

The series three typeface: we've discovered block capitals and drop-shadows.

By series four the typeface, like Jack and Avril's boatyard, has been dragged into the 1980s.

While we're celebrating 40 years of Howards' Way, let's also commemorate the faltering evolution of the typeface used during the opening titles, which progressed series by series from slap-this-on-anything to bespoke-ritzy.

40 years ago today, #HOWARDSWAY was first broadcast. This drama of ambition, love and shoulder pads was often dubbed 'Dallas-on-Sea' for its glamorous portrayal of the wealthy yachting and business elite in the fictional coastal town of Tarrant.

🧵...

It's a legacy of when the county was more industrialised and factories would shut down for two weeks at the start of July to give workers a chance to go on holiday when prices were cheaper. Schools did likewise. We always had our family summer holiday in the first week of July.

The county prided itself on being different from the rest of the UK! We broke up at the end of June and went back in late August, sometimes *before* the bank holiday.

The first two entries in my first daily diary, for August 30 and August 31 1985. I have kept a diary ever since.

40 years ago today, I began keeping a daily diary. The first entries are rather prosaic, but a) I was only nine and b) at the time I didn't know I'd carry on. But I did - and I never stopped. (The names of the days are in Cornish; they were printed in a different language each week. Very recherché).

Because it's the best one.

They better release a 40th anniversary edition of the soundtrack this year. It's what Jimmy Greaves would have wanted.

Saw the first few minutes of At Bertram's Hotel on BBC4 - one of the most visually exciting openings of any of the BBC adaptations - and was struck by how pristine the remastered print looked. Then I checked and saw no Blu-rays are available in the UK *purses lips like Joan Hickson*.

The Firm raid the BBC costume and props department for an extravaganza of a performance of Arthur Daley E's Alright on Top of the Pops.

Has it ever been definitely established who The Firm are depicting in their big budget #totp performance of Arthur Daley E's Alright? At times it seems they're meant to be Arthur and Terry - but then why is "Terry" is dressed like a city gent and "Arthur" like Jay Gatsby?

I was heartened to hear it drifting across my neighbourhood just last weekend! There was a birthday party going on in someone's garden and I think the cake was taking too long to arrive.

I went to see Short Cuts at the cinema in 1993 and I'm pretty sure it was the first time in my life I'd seen that particular piece of female anatomy.

I still have a soft spot for A View to a Kill, not just because it was the first 007 film I saw. It's also the last time we see Bond as an establishment gentleman who can move effortlessly between high society and low pantomime while having fun: a portrayal that's hugely enjoyable and which I miss.

Paris! Jimmy was in raptures about it. I thought it looked ace when I saw it on TV-am on our tiny black-and-white (!) family television set and even more ace in the cinema. A car gets its top sliced off and then its back sliced off but IT KEEPS ON GOING!!