Sad news last night about Jeremy Beadle dying. Despite being blasted and humiliated by journalists throughout his later career, he was a man who raised millions for charity and provided entertainment for millions more at home.
Here’s one of the best clips from Beadle’s About - the legendary white van man prank.
Being big design heads and of course massive music snobs, this fell right into our aether.
Logos aren’t exactly the first thing you think about when putting together a band, but like any other commercial brand you need an identity, and a simple image can provide a thousand words.
It is fair to say that if you asked someone to sketch Oasis’ or even say Scissor Sisters’ logo, they could probably give it as good a stab as any corporate brand like Pepsi or PayPal. The concept is an interesting one, as illustrated (no pun intended) here with some of the most memorable rock band logos.
PANORAMA - BBC1, 20:30
So after Kate Moss allegedly turned down the role, Blur’s Alex James turned investigative reporter to present a Panorama special from Colombia to highlight the effect European cocaine consumption has had on the country.
Although I’m sure the Beeb would’ve preferred the supermodel, Alex James is no stranger to bad publicity himself from the drug, having recently claimed to have spent a million pounds on champagne and cocaine during his rock star days.
Being a farmer these days, James sympathised with his counterparts in Colombia for producing the base plant of the drug, as it is claimed to earn them over three times the revenue of normal crops. He showed enough interest too - or perhaps great persuasion from the BBC - to visit a landmined illegal plantation hidden in the rainforest, and even take a drive with a hitman, who we later learned was killed a few weeks later.
What Panorama lacks in shock tactics and general political opinion these days, it seems to have made up for with entertainment. Maybe the indie soundtrack and relaxed way the drug was show being taken wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste, but as James put it at the start of the programme, it was a long way from a cheeky line at a dinner party in Notting Hill.
