h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice pictures! Thanks .

Glad you like them Johnny Ball was hard to track down, which is why Zoe is on there as well
Thank you for the article. I really enjoyed it!
shazzPRME

*Slaps Coely on the fin*

Yeah, well done that fish!

Sounds good. I've yet to get another view of the event from another friend, but I'm sure it'll be good.

Johnny Ball, what a man, much more talented than his daughter. I recon watching Think of a Number and similar shows helped me get ahead in the number crunching game

I must say that I refuse to watch Tomorrow's World. I used to watch it every week in the good-old days when it was presented by Howard (I've forgotten the names). Then what happened? Snowy turned up, and immediately the show went down hill. The opening tune changhed from a nice theme to one sounding like we're hurtling towards the future at a rapid pace without any control over what we're doing. The Tomorrow's World set became a meaningless display of balls.
But it's Snowy himself that's the worst. It's the way he interviews people, and asks them the most stupid possible questions that really annoys me, and then tells the audience what is common knowledge in a patronising "you don't know this" way. Just because he has an IQ of 4 it doesn't mean that his audience have. Those who watch Tomorrow's World are those who are likely to know a bit about science, so you don't have to explain it to them. Yet he does.

I refuse to watch it now - I will only watch TV that expects the audience to have a brain cell.

***I refuse to watch it now - I will only watch TV that expects the audience to have a brain cell.***

Is there any such program then Bluebottle ?

TM.

I don't know - I haven't watched much TV in 2 years... I only H2G2 now.

It was Howard Stableford (or was it Stapleford?)

Yes, it was something like that.
I always thought it was much better when he was the presenter.

Howard Stableford. Others? Judith Hann, Anna Ford, Andrew Neil, John Diamond, Carol Vorderman and Maggie Philbin.
Phil, I told Mr Ball much the same. I loved the way he made things look simple. Now my most sucessful course is the one on inferential satistics.
I do have to say that the programme as it is today is substantially 'dumbed down' from the Raymond Baxter/James Burke format. However, I know 2 young people who watch and enjoy it, when they hardly watch anything else at all. They have Phillipa as a role model too.

That is probably as good a reason as any for the programme to continue then!
James Burke... ah the memories that name evokes! Am I correct in thinking that he died quite young?
shazzPRME

Judith Hann and Maggie Philbin, now those were the days

Good article, Coely
It is true, that I have hardly seen TW in the last few years, due to various RL commitments, but occassionaly I catch it and PS is mad!
Phillipa, aaahhh! But, The old presenters were much better.
Johnny Ball is still so cool, after all these years, and I used to love the programs James Burke did about science. He made it seem so logical and easy to understand. One of the Imortals, course he's dead now!

Shazz, B-17. I think you are thinking of a different James Burke! Or a different presenter altogether?
James Burke - bald bloke, glasses, born 1936, wrote one of the best books in the universe - Connections - and also the book I am holding in my hand right now (Chances 1991).
Still drawing breath as far as I am aware.

At least in Feb 99, although it is in SAGA mag for those of us who are a little more advanced in years!
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Yes... thats the one!
He had a cute dimple also, and was just brilliant at explaining all things scientific without *dumbing down* at all!
If he is still around that is great... I must go and look him up!
shazzPRME

Indeed, that's the very man! Thank goodness he's still alive!
He truly is one of the Imortals, so is Carl Sagan, of course, he's dead now!

Ah yes! The great Carl! He started quite a cult around my friends... we would all delight in saying *uni...verse* just how he did, and count how many times he said it in each programme! Sadly missed... maybe someone should write an obit for him over at JtG's page!
shazzPRME

Just curious as to who you thought was the young, late lamented TW presenter.