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In response to Jonnie

Eddie Mair | 08:38 UK time, Saturday, 8 September 2007

in a comment on the last posting - I'm afraid the en route snaps being downloaded on the train were impossible.

The cab that came to take me to the station "yes I know this area really well" started heading BACK to my house ten minutes after we left. There then followed a tortuous route through parts of London I'd never seen before as he frantically tried to avoid a traffic jam, the details of which he'd mis-heard on the radio travel news. Westbound was screwed, but our route east, was in fact fine.

I arrived at the station exactly one minute after my train left.

So I caught the next one - different company, no wifi, and spent most of the hour or so to Peterborough on the phone to the production team. The travel co-ordination that goes into making an Any Questions is MUCH more complex than any other part of the programme! If one bit goes awry the knock-on effect can be severe.

Anyhoo, towards the end of the journey I did snap these, in a bit of a hurry on the mobile. It was, as you can see, a beautiful night.

traina.jpg
trainb.jpg

Comments

  1. At 10:12 AM on 08 Sep 2007, wrote:

    So did you tip the taxi driver then, Eddie?

    Good show though. Especially the noises off. Really added to that atmosphere of reality & sponteneity. That must be even more important now we know that Alan Yentob doesn't even conduct his own interviews for "Imagine", just does the reaction shots. Whatever next? You chairing AQ down the phone while on the train? (Oops, sorry - that nearly happened, didn't it?)


  2. At 10:55 AM on 08 Sep 2007, wrote:

    We did wonder, Eddie. Oh, and did YOU put your feet up on the seat (shoes off, of course)?

    Enjoyed the programme very much, as ever, and the pics are fun.

  3. At 11:48 AM on 08 Sep 2007, Chris Ghoti wrote:

    Those of us who live outside London make a small note that the reason you had trouble with your travel was not anything outside London; it was the combination of a London cabbie and his trying to be clever. I'm putting that in before anyone says things about 'that'll teach you all to have programmes based outside London then won't it' -- don't blame the poor old Provinces, it wasn't *their* fault!

    Good programme, by the way. :-)

  4. At 12:00 PM on 08 Sep 2007, Chris Ghoti wrote:

    (Things playing up today. It claims to have stalled, so this will probably appear twice. Sorry.)

    Those of us who live outside London make a small note that the reason you had trouble with your travel was not anything outside London; it was the combination of a London cabbie and his trying to be clever. I'm putting that in before anyone says things about 'that'll teach you all to have programmes based outside London then won't it' -- don't blame the poor old Provinces, it wasn't *their* fault!

    Good programme, by the way. :-)

  5. At 01:23 PM on 08 Sep 2007, wrote:

    Oh no - It's that strange man again - with his laptop. and mobile phone, forever taking pictures. I do hope he's not staying here until Whitby!

  6. At 01:26 PM on 08 Sep 2007, man with beard wrote:

    I'm sure he's taking photo's with that phone - under the guise of texting.

  7. At 05:33 PM on 08 Sep 2007, wrote:

    Eddie.....good AQ, loved the spontaneous sound effects....good broadcasting...very atmospheric!

    DIY


    PS.... excuse the shorts....Gillian made them..

  8. At 11:59 PM on 08 Sep 2007, wrote:

    As posted by Fifi on the beach..........

    ------------------------------------

    Let's start with some unanswered Any Questions questions from last night...

    Attire: grey suit, pink shirt, no tie, jacket removed between practice-question and start of broadcast.

    Appearance: perfectly proportioned, nicely tanned, struggling to keep face straight at times.

    Tariq Ali: looked at the start as if he'd rather be anywhere else than Stamford School for Boys Hall. But after 2 questions he was engaged and spoke very penetratingly (I thought).

    Kelvin Mackenzie: great value as a panellist, witty, a lovely turn of phrase, and some extremely offensive opinions especially about Scottish persons.

    Rachel Johnson: (or 'who??' as SO and I both remarked, reading her biog beforehand) well-educated airhead, magnificent diction, looked terrified before the broadcast and rather overawed throughout it.

    Greg Dyke: took a while to get into his stride but made some intelligent points and in the end was my all-round favourite of the panel.

    What have I missed?
    Fifi

    ---------------------------------

    Thanks Fifi --

    Nice little roundup

  9. At 12:02 AM on 09 Sep 2007, wrote:

    "Imagine",
    .... excuse the shorts....
    I'm sure he's taking photo's with that phone - under the guise of texting.
    (Things playing up today. It claims to have stalled, so this will probably appear twice. Sorry.)
    Oh what a relief - at least today Eric has resisted posting umpteen inane pictures in an attempt to push me off his blog!

    I'm putting that in before anyone says things about 'that'll teach you all to have programmes based outside London then won't it' -- don't blame the poor old Provinces, it wasn't *their* fault!

    Good programme, by the way. :-)


    : ) UNITE!


    In an effort to curb malicious comment posting by abusive users, I've enabled a feature that requires a weblog commenter to wait a short amount of time before being able to post again. Please try to post your comment again in a short while. Thanks for your patience.

  10. At 12:09 AM on 09 Sep 2007, wrote:

    "Imagine",
    .... excuse the shorts....
    I'm sure he's taking photo's with that phone - under the guise of texting.
    (Things playing up today. It claims to have stalled, so this will probably appear twice. Sorry.)
    Oh what a relief - at least today Eric has resisted posting umpteen inane pictures in an attempt to push me off his blog!

    I'm putting that in before anyone says things about 'that'll teach you all to have programmes based outside London then won't it' -- don't blame the poor old Provinces, it wasn't *their* fault!

    Good programme, by the way. :-)


    : ) UNITE!

    In an effort to curb malicious comment posting by abusive users, I've enabled a feature that requires a weblog commenter to wait a short amount of time before being able to post again. Please try to post your comment again in a short while. Thanks for your patience.

  11. At 12:14 AM on 09 Sep 2007, wrote:

    well just hear it all .. Greg is himself, and I dare say still greatly missed. Great man - agree with everything he said.

    Kelvin, - fun and great value, on AQ -- I won't say more, moderation would not permit.

    Eddie - I'm curious?

    Did you write the intro - or was it researchers, Editors etc..

    It was excellent - unusually so - for AQ ..

    I'd guess it was written and subsequently edited with some EM editing? -- just curious - however I've found the whole programme really fun and have had a big smile over my face for the past 45 mins - but look at the time - and after a BBQ .

    Thanks team and the Stamford Rotary club. -- and Ann Peacock.

  12. At 12:25 AM on 09 Sep 2007, wrote:

    OH NO

    I just clicked on DI Wymans link! - by chance!

    - - - - - - - - - -

    No comment!

  13. At 01:34 AM on 09 Sep 2007, wrote:

    Eddie... I was being really considerate by not saying hello after AQs ... was I wrong?

    I DO have the balls to have approached you ... but only if I'd thought you weren't dashing for a much deserved train south ... but I figured you had enough on your plate!

    Fifi ;o)

  14. At 07:50 AM on 09 Sep 2007, eddie mair wrote:

    Well those kind comments are just lovely are they not? Fifi - the entire audience was beautiful. Not a single ungorgeous person there. How often does that happen?

    I noticed that no-one approached the panel after the programme. I think it's to do with the staging. As you know Fifi we were on a stage, raised a few feet above the audience, and I think that put people off at the end. At other AQs where we've just been on the floor, as it were, we must seem more approachable, because that's what people do!

    Thanks Jonnie. The intro is always written by the presenter, based on mini-biogs and about a hundred pages of newspaper cuttings and things. I like to delve into those on a Friday to find offbeat nuggets - such as Kelvin's Scottish jokes and Rachel's blog!

    At the reception after the programme a member of the audience offered some useful constructive criticism - that I should repeat the question once it's been asked. Sometimes it's hard to make out what's been asked, it seems. I might well try that. Tony Benn likes the AQ host to repeat the question.

    Anyway - thank you for going to the trouble of listening. It was great fun for me.

  15. At 09:24 PM on 09 Sep 2007, wrote:

    In a moment of bad judgement - I posted a comment under the name of 'Sequin' on this thread.

    It was not malicious - however I have been 'rightly' criticised, and have duly requested the post to be removed.

    It's also a timely reminder to others (including myself) that if we do this - even for fun- it not only confuses other froggers, but can cause upset to the genuine user of the name.

    Please accept my apologies. (esp Sequin)

  16. At 12:15 PM on 10 Sep 2007, Belinda wrote:

    eddie (14):

    I thought it was a great episode of AQ and I really enjoyed it. I did think that Kelvin was playing for the audience rather than trying to offer a constructive contribution but overall it was a very good panel, with an even better presenter.


    c

  17. At 03:00 PM on 10 Sep 2007, Chris Ghoti wrote:

    jonnie @ 15, sorry: I think that may have been me whingeing. The post didn't sound quite like Our Sequin, and for some reason my fuse was particularly short at that precise moment. Perhaps it came too soon after paul had been unhappy about his name being taken in vain, or something. :-(

    It does seem to me that calling ourselves, oh I dunno, 'Fishface' or something that no-one else uses, is one thing, but risking being mistaken for someone else who actually does post is likely to cause trouble in the long run. Something along those lines, anyhow. But *you* knew that anyway...

    Let me get you a drink at Nick's?

  18. At 05:31 PM on 10 Sep 2007, only a lurker wrote:

    I'm always glad that anyone has replaced Jonathon Dimbleby for the evening because, so often, he turns the programme into the dimbleby interview programme. I usually avoid the programme if he's presenting.

    Eddie presenting is a treat - he lets the panel answer the questions. Listeners can work out for themselves if questions are being avoided, after all.

    I enjoyed the handling of AQ too - again, Eddie doesn't impose his own agenda on the responses of those who answer

  19. At 09:43 PM on 10 Sep 2007, Aperitif wrote:

    Enjoyed AQ, although I didn't hear all of it.. What I did hear confirmed my views that:
    a) Kelvin Mackenzie is a nasty piece of work. A nasty one.
    b) Eddie Mair is a brilliant Chair.
    c) AQ audiences don't frighten me quite so much as TV Question Time audiences do.

    I must say that Greg Dyke was OK. He said some sensible things. I have really disliked him and his continous self-obsessed bleating ever since he resigned as ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ DG (including during his appearance on Desert Island Discs) but he redeemed himself somewhat by managing to talk about issues other than himself on Friday night. Hurrah. Reminds me that I used to quite like him before the whole Hutton hully-balloo.

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