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General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : British TV programme tonight

 

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Guthrum
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14 Nov 2016
05:15:39am
"Timeshift: Penny Blacks & Twopenny Blues - How Britain Got Stuck on Stamps". Andrew Martin charts the evolution of British postage stamps.

BBC4 9-10pm Monday 14 November.

Difficult to tell whether this will be an in-depth exploration of such an evolution, with fascinating new insights or material, or just a canter through the Gibbons stamp catalogue. We shall see.
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Strider
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14 Nov 2016
03:54:32pm
re: British TV programme tonight

You beat me to it, Ian. I've just spotted it in the Radio Times, and shall sit down with a scotch and see what they make of it. Hope you Americans, Canadians and Aussies - indeed all of you who belong to other nations, as WS Gilbert put it, can get it, perhaps via the BBC I-Player.

Starts in 7 mins!

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ernieinjax
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14 Nov 2016
04:28:33pm
re: British TV programme tonight

6 episodes of Timeshift available on BBC iplayer. Unfortunately, that aint one of them. Sad

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seanpashby
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14 Nov 2016
07:57:13pm
re: British TV programme tonight

Is this channel only available in the UK?

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Jlav

14 Nov 2016
08:48:55pm
re: British TV programme tonight

Go to https://www.filmon.com/tv/edge-sports then press UK Live TV then scroll down to BBC4 (or any other station)

Jacques (jlav)

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Strider
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15 Nov 2016
12:45:51pm
re: British TV programme tonight

Well, I was a bit disappointed. It was more about stamps than collecting, I thought. We saw lots of pictures of youngsters in the 1950s eagerly collecting, then we saw a present day stamp club full of old chaps like the club I go to, and they didn't comment on how it's got to be that way. What did the rest of you think?
It's on the BBC iplayer now under bbc4.

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copy55555
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15 Nov 2016
01:30:48pm
re: British TV programme tonight

"BBC iPlayer only works in the UK"



That's what I read here in sunny Arizona.

Tad

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BenFranklin1902
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Tom in Exton, PA

15 Nov 2016
01:54:09pm

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re: British TV programme tonight

"We saw lots of pictures of youngsters in the 1950s eagerly collecting, then we saw a present day stamp club full of old chaps like the club I go to, and they didn't comment on how it's got to be that way. "



Easy question! Those youngsters in the 1950s became those old chaps! Same people! Happy

It's the same thing in all the traditional hobbies. I hear it in my model car circles, model railroaders and coin collectors.

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Guthrum
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15 Nov 2016
02:35:30pm
re: British TV programme tonight

Presenter Andrew Martin must have been one of the last of his generation to collect stamps, as he said by way of introduction, as "something to do on a wet Sunday afternoon" (he is 54). His programme takes us briskly through a history of GB stamps, beginning with Hill, moving on to Gibbons, the strange collector Count von Ferrary, taking in some famous 19th century rarities, then on to the equally strange King George V. From there, we're into commemoratives and the British Empire Exhibition, and a hilarious film clip in which Barnett Freedman, designer of the 1935 Jubilee set, delivers some words to camera so awkwardly you wonder if he'd ever seen one before. Possibly not, I suppose.

Then it's a jump to post-war commemoratives and the point made that they commemorate some pretty unexciting events (very true), and we're on to Tony Benn and the Queen's head, then Machins. David Gentleman comments on stamp design, but the row following his Battle of Britain set is glossed over. After that (as noted above) it's more about collecting, from high-end investment stuff (David Feldman) to stamp clubs in primary schools.

I found the 'dramatised' reconstructions, with actors impersonating Victorians (side whiskers) a bit unnecessary (and confusing when you get to real film clips), but the idea of early stamp collectors congregating in the streets at night to swap stamps - to the annoyance of the constabulary - was amusing and new to me. Interviewed author Simon Garfield (read his The Error World for an interesting take on obsessive collecting) was as animated as the prose in his book suggests.

"Why is the Penny Black so beautiful?" asks Martin. "Because it's elegant," comes the reply. Later, "Why has the Machin lasted so long?" "Because it's timeless - it's a classic!" There's a circularity in these well-worn comments that never gets us very far!

Martin seeks a FDC of the recent Pink Floyd set, only to find no-one else at the Trafalgar Square PO is remotely interested. He glumly notes the rise of stampless post, but is heartened by the youngsters at the school stamp club, and "the mystique of the postage stamp" (illustrated by his nicely-cancelled Pink Floyd FDC plopping through his letterbox).

Better than nothing, I guess, though I'd have liked more on why GB stamps were so uninspiring for so long compared to those of other countries. As Strider says above, a bit disappointing.

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phook

15 Nov 2016
03:33:30pm
re: British TV programme tonight

I thought the most interesting bit was that Stanley Gibbons was married five times.

He must have spent more time making whoopee than collecting stamps.


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Ningpo
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20 Nov 2016
06:21:09pm
re: British TV programme tonight

Well I watched the rerun last night, having first read the comments here and elsewhere. I was anticipating a slightly derisory take on what many consider to be a quirky pastime. And so I didn't set my expectations that high.

There were, as mentioned, a couple of mistakes and irritations, but overall I enjoyed the programme very much. There was no obvious suggestion of philately being a hobby for geeks either.

I liked the definition of philately that the presenter slipped in: from the compound of philo 'loving' and ateleia - ' exemption from payment of a toll or tax'. Or as we now know it: 'a franking mark or postage stamp exempting the recipient from payment'.

I suppose there was more emphasis on certain aspects of the programmes content, at the cost of just cursory examination of others.

There was one part of the programme that left me feeling quite low however. When presenter Andrew Martin was standing outside Trafalgar Square Post Office, asking if anyone was there for the new Pink Floyd stamp issue, he got little response. There was only one Japanese lady waiting to buy the issue: she was a Pink Floyd fan and not a stamp collector.

This contrasts considerably with the era when I used that post office myself. If I remember correctly, there were four philatelic counters in an annexe with a steady stream of customers buying new and recent issues. The staff were helpful and even seemed interested. Oh well!

Were we to wind the clocks back about 30 years, there may have been a more receptive and bigger audience that could have justified a series of programmes dedicated to the hobby.

But all things considered, I think we should be grateful the hobby got such exposure at all. A one hour programme on the likes of BBC 4 should not be sniffed at, particularly when it was pretty well researched and presented.

The programme can apparently be downloaded from here: BBC 4 - Timeshift - "Penny Blacks & Twopenny Blues: How Britain Got Stuck on Stamps"


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Guthrum
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21 Nov 2016
07:03:48am
re: British TV programme tonight

Only one philatelic counter open at Trafalgar Square these days, Clive. A couple of years back I stood for half an hour behind a fellow who wanted this, and that, and then some more, and then changed his mind, had a sheet of the other, and so on. The counter saleslady gave no indication of being aware that a queue had formed behind this person. Poor service.

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Guthrum

14 Nov 2016
05:15:39am

"Timeshift: Penny Blacks & Twopenny Blues - How Britain Got Stuck on Stamps". Andrew Martin charts the evolution of British postage stamps.

BBC4 9-10pm Monday 14 November.

Difficult to tell whether this will be an in-depth exploration of such an evolution, with fascinating new insights or material, or just a canter through the Gibbons stamp catalogue. We shall see.

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Strider

14 Nov 2016
03:54:32pm

re: British TV programme tonight

You beat me to it, Ian. I've just spotted it in the Radio Times, and shall sit down with a scotch and see what they make of it. Hope you Americans, Canadians and Aussies - indeed all of you who belong to other nations, as WS Gilbert put it, can get it, perhaps via the BBC I-Player.

Starts in 7 mins!

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ernieinjax

14 Nov 2016
04:28:33pm

re: British TV programme tonight

6 episodes of Timeshift available on BBC iplayer. Unfortunately, that aint one of them. Sad

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seanpashby

14 Nov 2016
07:57:13pm

re: British TV programme tonight

Is this channel only available in the UK?

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Jlav

14 Nov 2016
08:48:55pm

re: British TV programme tonight

Go to https://www.filmon.com/tv/edge-sports then press UK Live TV then scroll down to BBC4 (or any other station)

Jacques (jlav)

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Strider

15 Nov 2016
12:45:51pm

re: British TV programme tonight

Well, I was a bit disappointed. It was more about stamps than collecting, I thought. We saw lots of pictures of youngsters in the 1950s eagerly collecting, then we saw a present day stamp club full of old chaps like the club I go to, and they didn't comment on how it's got to be that way. What did the rest of you think?
It's on the BBC iplayer now under bbc4.

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copy55555

15 Nov 2016
01:30:48pm

re: British TV programme tonight

"BBC iPlayer only works in the UK"



That's what I read here in sunny Arizona.

Tad

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
15 Nov 2016
01:54:09pm

Approvals

re: British TV programme tonight

"We saw lots of pictures of youngsters in the 1950s eagerly collecting, then we saw a present day stamp club full of old chaps like the club I go to, and they didn't comment on how it's got to be that way. "



Easy question! Those youngsters in the 1950s became those old chaps! Same people! Happy

It's the same thing in all the traditional hobbies. I hear it in my model car circles, model railroaders and coin collectors.

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
Guthrum

15 Nov 2016
02:35:30pm

re: British TV programme tonight

Presenter Andrew Martin must have been one of the last of his generation to collect stamps, as he said by way of introduction, as "something to do on a wet Sunday afternoon" (he is 54). His programme takes us briskly through a history of GB stamps, beginning with Hill, moving on to Gibbons, the strange collector Count von Ferrary, taking in some famous 19th century rarities, then on to the equally strange King George V. From there, we're into commemoratives and the British Empire Exhibition, and a hilarious film clip in which Barnett Freedman, designer of the 1935 Jubilee set, delivers some words to camera so awkwardly you wonder if he'd ever seen one before. Possibly not, I suppose.

Then it's a jump to post-war commemoratives and the point made that they commemorate some pretty unexciting events (very true), and we're on to Tony Benn and the Queen's head, then Machins. David Gentleman comments on stamp design, but the row following his Battle of Britain set is glossed over. After that (as noted above) it's more about collecting, from high-end investment stuff (David Feldman) to stamp clubs in primary schools.

I found the 'dramatised' reconstructions, with actors impersonating Victorians (side whiskers) a bit unnecessary (and confusing when you get to real film clips), but the idea of early stamp collectors congregating in the streets at night to swap stamps - to the annoyance of the constabulary - was amusing and new to me. Interviewed author Simon Garfield (read his The Error World for an interesting take on obsessive collecting) was as animated as the prose in his book suggests.

"Why is the Penny Black so beautiful?" asks Martin. "Because it's elegant," comes the reply. Later, "Why has the Machin lasted so long?" "Because it's timeless - it's a classic!" There's a circularity in these well-worn comments that never gets us very far!

Martin seeks a FDC of the recent Pink Floyd set, only to find no-one else at the Trafalgar Square PO is remotely interested. He glumly notes the rise of stampless post, but is heartened by the youngsters at the school stamp club, and "the mystique of the postage stamp" (illustrated by his nicely-cancelled Pink Floyd FDC plopping through his letterbox).

Better than nothing, I guess, though I'd have liked more on why GB stamps were so uninspiring for so long compared to those of other countries. As Strider says above, a bit disappointing.

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phook

15 Nov 2016
03:33:30pm

re: British TV programme tonight

I thought the most interesting bit was that Stanley Gibbons was married five times.

He must have spent more time making whoopee than collecting stamps.


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Ningpo

20 Nov 2016
06:21:09pm

re: British TV programme tonight

Well I watched the rerun last night, having first read the comments here and elsewhere. I was anticipating a slightly derisory take on what many consider to be a quirky pastime. And so I didn't set my expectations that high.

There were, as mentioned, a couple of mistakes and irritations, but overall I enjoyed the programme very much. There was no obvious suggestion of philately being a hobby for geeks either.

I liked the definition of philately that the presenter slipped in: from the compound of philo 'loving' and ateleia - ' exemption from payment of a toll or tax'. Or as we now know it: 'a franking mark or postage stamp exempting the recipient from payment'.

I suppose there was more emphasis on certain aspects of the programmes content, at the cost of just cursory examination of others.

There was one part of the programme that left me feeling quite low however. When presenter Andrew Martin was standing outside Trafalgar Square Post Office, asking if anyone was there for the new Pink Floyd stamp issue, he got little response. There was only one Japanese lady waiting to buy the issue: she was a Pink Floyd fan and not a stamp collector.

This contrasts considerably with the era when I used that post office myself. If I remember correctly, there were four philatelic counters in an annexe with a steady stream of customers buying new and recent issues. The staff were helpful and even seemed interested. Oh well!

Were we to wind the clocks back about 30 years, there may have been a more receptive and bigger audience that could have justified a series of programmes dedicated to the hobby.

But all things considered, I think we should be grateful the hobby got such exposure at all. A one hour programme on the likes of BBC 4 should not be sniffed at, particularly when it was pretty well researched and presented.

The programme can apparently be downloaded from here: BBC 4 - Timeshift - "Penny Blacks & Twopenny Blues: How Britain Got Stuck on Stamps"


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Guthrum

21 Nov 2016
07:03:48am

re: British TV programme tonight

Only one philatelic counter open at Trafalgar Square these days, Clive. A couple of years back I stood for half an hour behind a fellow who wanted this, and that, and then some more, and then changed his mind, had a sheet of the other, and so on. The counter saleslady gave no indication of being aware that a queue had formed behind this person. Poor service.

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