EMAIL NOW WORKS felixjasper97@'btinternet.com

Hi all, if you want to email me about anything on this blog please use felixjasper97@btinternet.com  BT has at last got it working. 
Thanks
J

Sammy's Lost Stripe

This is a VERY SPECIAL LITTLE BOOK that has touched my heart so much that I just had to promote it on all my blogs. Please read the following that will explain the story surrounding this wonderful little book, and of course, please buy one that would just be pawsummmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Cat owners, Paul Sullivan and Yuriko Mitsuoki worked together to create this story of Sammy and Flickie to raise money for Keighley Cat Care, an independent charity that works to rescue, foster and re-home cats in the Keighley area of England. Yuriko's is well known on Twitter for her amazing characterful avatars of tweeting cats and her beautiful colourful images add a delightful and charming edge to this sweet story. Paul Sullivan has been parent to many ex-feral and rescued cats and his story is based on two of those, who have now passed away. KCC is a charity run by a small group of volunteers and relies entirely on donations from the public and fund raising - they have no external funding. Everyone who worked on 'Sammy's Lost Stripe' gave their time for free and all royalties from the sale of this book go directly to KCC so they can continue their good work. To find out more about Keighley Cat Care please go to Keighley Cat Care or follow them on Twitter @KeighleyCatCare  

Go to Amazon.co.uk and type in Sammy's Lost Stripe and the book will appear.

A Difficult But Important Article

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTACTED ME WITH REGARD TO THE POST BELOW. AM SO PLEASED AND GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE POSITIVE COMMENTS ON THIS, WHICH IS JUST THE OUTLINE, THE MAIN ARTICLE WILL BE ADDED VERY SOON. 

AGAIN, MANY THANKS TO THOSE WHO CONTACTED ME ON HERE, BY EMAIL, TWITTER OR FB. AM SO TOUCHED BY YOUR KINDNESS.  I WILL DO MY BEST TO PRODUCE SOMETHING, WHICH I HOPE, WILL BE OF HELP TO MANY OF YOU.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It has been a long time coming but I feel I am now ready to write rather an emotional and personal article. It will not be easy, but I'm determined to tackle this somewhat delicate and sensitive subject. Talking candidly about depression, anxiety and bullying takes a massive amount of courage and strength of mind. Recently many well known names have chosen to speak out on this broad and deep subject of mental health which has made it a little easier for the rest of us to do the same. My experiences over the past few years has revealed to me such diverse attitudes in people, from the cold and contemptible to the warm and compassionate. What finally provoked me into making this decision was one particular incident, amid many others. I had brought up the subject of bullying to somebody who may well be related to me. My memories of being bullied, whether at school or at work is something I have NEVER spoken about to anyone. Why on earth I decided to speak about it at this particular time, I will never know. The reaction I received to my admission shocked me and left me totally appalled and hurt. I wll explain a little more later, all I can say here and now, is that it was trivialised. The inference was, as it happened so long ago it had no bearing on any current situation. This played on my mind for months and months, along with other comments of a similar nature. I really needed to deal with this. Writing all of it down, could that be the answer? I ended up with copious notes on many different incidents both past and present. The whole thing needed rationalising and compiling into some logical format.  

This is not intended to be a chronological list of depressive and bullying experiences. On the other hand, I can speak from my viewpoint having endured some pretty rough times, especially in recent years.

I promise to complete the article as soon as I can. In the meantime, there is just one last thing I want to mention, or really I should say four things, my fab four that have kept me going through all of this.

• my two beautiful cats
• my sense of humour
• some wonderful friends, who are undoubtedly my real family, some are old friends I have known for years, some are new, some are even on social media whom I have never met, you all know who you are and how special you have become. You don't have to have a DNA link to care and be there for someone.
• my work and work colleagues who have unwittingly helped me by being there and being such kind and considerate people. Thank you Arran and the team, both present and past, certainly some of the nicest people I have ever worked with.

With the work environment in mind, I really want my colleagues to gain something from this too. My employer certainly has embraced the concept of mindfulness by recently holding a week of workshops, lectures etc examining different areas of this social practice. Yes, I did gain quite a bit from this, parts of which I can certainly draw upon. But, from another standpoint, there doesn't have to be a massive infrastructure put in place to facilitate people and their well-being. Aspects of this can be a lot simpler. Awareness, understanding and compassion for a start. How do you go about applying these? Well, I will attempt to explain this, certainly from my perspective anyway. People need to learn how to listen, how to observe, how to be more sensitive to others and their situations. As a teacher, I endeavored to practice these qualities and I'm pretty confident I was reasonably successful. There comes a point when you have to stand up and and say "enough, I will not let anyone manipulate, control or put me down again," how you get to that point is one of the hardest things you will ever have to do. Initially, I was writing this article for myself, but I now sincerely hope that others, who maybe in a similar situation will also benefit from this. That would be a fantastic outcome. I look forward to any responses. Now the task begins....

Read Other Articles 
Why The Chiltern 100s and 1000s?
Saints, Priests and Annie Oakley
That Political Stuff



All comments are welcome. If abusive or threatening language is used it will be removed and reported.

That Political Stuff

Please note  All views on here are my own and are in no way connected to my employer.

Well folks seeing as I work for the top political monitoring company in the UK I had better venture into the area of debate, hullabaloo and oops cocked up expenses form again!

What is happening these days on the political front, the whole thing just seems to be turning into one big soap opera. Just why did Theresa May invite Joe Pasquale attired in a dress to have a chat at No 10?  Is panto season coming early? Apart from being a parcel delivery service, who are the DUP? Or maybe it is DUPE, mmm, not sure about that one. Just what was going through Theresa May's mind at that signing?...... 

"Oh bugger! All bloody Junckers fault. When they said Jean-Claude wanted to speak to me on the phone I thought they meant Van Damme, the line was so bad when he said "bring it forward" I thought he was referring to my kick boxing lesson. A disaster! I could have been power walking the HS2 route!"

Now from an insider at No 10.......   
Larry the No 10 cat was observed practicing high kicks in the No 10 garden. When asked about his strange behavour he said, "oh man, its all cat nip and warm prosecco in there, sheeeeeeh! Michael Gove is even drinking it from his new green welly boots! All on expenses of course. He is going on about practicing chucking cowpats. Or at least I think that is what he said."

Oh dear, Michael Gove, the more and more I see him he just seems to be morphing into Elmer Fudd. Hope to god nobody sticks a gun in his hand and he emulate his lookalikey, stomps around fields shooting rabbits (or should I say wabbits!), foxes and any other poor unsuspecting creature that crosses his path in the name of countryside pursuits. One could say he has found his niche in life, tippy toe through the cowpats, through the cowpats he will tippy toe.

What is happening with the Lb Dems?  With Tim Farron becoming Cliff Richard's understudy we now have another leadership election. During the last couple of years UK political parties have undergone so many leadership changes it has been impossible to keep up with just who is running which party. Although the one time significant UKIP party certainly corners the market with the game "Who's Our Leader Today Folks?" Nobody seems to have raised themselves above the parapet for the Lib Dems, apart from Vince Cable, at 74 the oldest Lib Dem MP. Who else is there to be honest, he would be a safe pair of hands but not a long term fix. What about Ed Davey or Norman Lamb? Both had positions in the coalition. Ed Davey might be considered too "posh" as he lives in Surbiton, smacks a bit of The Good Life, memories of Margo and Gerry, happy days, but maybe a tad Toryish!. Norman Lamb and Tom Brake are both in their 50s, possibly the right age for a new leader? The only possible female candidate was, Jo Swinson, who has since ruled herself out. Once the Lib Dems have got themselves sorted could a Tory leadership battle be next on the horizon?  Hold on to your Prosecco and Pringles, the saga is not over yet.

The emphasis on Vince Cable's age has been the butt of many a joke recently. Infact, the same Vince Cable joke was used on both the Graham Norton Show and Mock The Week within a couple days of each other proving that the BBC are even saving money on script writers. With Blue Peter on the skids and EastEnders ratings plummeting could there be more axes falling at the BBC?  I did watch an episode of Blue Peter some time ago and it was awful.  Oh for the days of John, Val, Peter, Petra, Jason, Shep and Patch, sticky back plastic, squeezy bottles and elephant poo on the studio floor.  To hell with BBC 3 internet CBB whatever stuff, the magic has gone, the Blue Peter flag should be taken down in respect of our past heroes.time capsule

Back to politics now and the SNP have found a "get out of jail card" re LOSING A BUCKET FULL OF SEATS AT THE ELECTION. That card says BREXIT!!  Yes folks, the SNP have decided to concentrate on Brexit and put the second indy vote on hold thereby distracting everyone from their disastrous showing at the election. I think it may well be a while before INDY VOTE 2 will be brought back onto the agenda. The sensible heads within the SNP must certainly realise that the majority of lost seats were down to the dislike of the ordered second indy vote. The Tories are now the main opposition in Scotland which at least doesn't make it feel quite such a one party state.  It is certainly on the cards that Ruth Davidson will be a strong candidate for Tory leader in the future. One feels it won't be too long before she is sitting in the Commons. Despite your political leanings in Scotland, it is undoubtedly an amazing fact that all main political parties are lead by women. Glass ceiling smashed one thinks, well almost.


 All comments are welcome. If abusive or threatening language is used it will be removed and reported.

Saints, Priests and Annie Oakley

It has been a sad time recently with many famous and well loved characters passing away. Several of them played a massive part in our childhoods both on TV and the big screen. One in particular was Sir Roger Moore. His portrayal of 007 has no doubt become one of the top favourites among many Bond fans. He had previously made his name playing Simon Templar in the TV series The Saint. It was based on the novels by Leslie Charteris. Incidentally, the stick man logo of The Saint was designed by Leslie Charteris, something I never realised until recently. Not quite sure why he made it. dare I say, such a camp looking figure.

Many actors had previously and since played Simon Templar including Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy and Val Kilmer, but Sir Roger's portrayal of the gentleman thief has been the most distinctly charismatic and memorable. Every character he ever played always had that extra something. The raising of the eyebrow, the twinkle in the eye, the clear soft voice, the gentle charm, he had the lot. I've found an episode of The Saint from the late 1960s featuring Sir Roger along with the lovely Angela Douglas. Unfortunately the quality is not that brilliant and the soundtrack does simulate the revenge of the chipmunks, worth a watch though. I do have a reason for including this particular episode featuring Angela, it involves a little connection, I will reveal all shortly.   As the sound was so poor on The Saint video I've included a trailer of Carry On Cowboy featuring Angela minus the chipmunk tones! The clip includes a little fight scene with Angela getting stuck in with Joan Sims, hair and nails abound, a real classic! Dear Joan, another one of my top favourites, sadly no longer with us. Such a talented lady.

Angela appeared in several of the Carry On films during the late 1960s. She has had many TV and film roles in both comedy and drama. She is now a successful author and married to Bill Bryden top theatre producer, director and playwright. Angela has a book coming out shortly, I will pop some info on here as soon as it is published. 

But where is this connection I hear you say? Well, be patient. Originally I had noticed only one connection, but have since discovered another one, this time loosely related to myself. 

As some of you only slightly mature readers of this article may well remember, Angela was married to film and stage actor Kenneth More who passed away in 1982. Kenneth appeared in many superb films, one of which was Reach For The Sky, a biopic of Douglas Bader a WWII RAF flying ace. Why his story was so unique is that Bader had lost both his legs in a flying accident in 1931 but still went on to become one of the RAF heroes of WWII. Kenneth appeared in so many excellent movies it is difficult to know which ones to mention. Apart from Reach For The Sky there was Battle of Britain, Genevieve, The Admirable Crichton to name but a few. One of his co stars in Genevieve was Dinah Sheridan whom my mum and I met at a charity event in Kent some years ago. A very nice and friendly lady, sadly she passed away in 2012. But, it is not Kenneth's excellent film roles that plays the vital part in my connection, it is the fact he played a certain priest during the mid 1970s in a series based on the books by G. K Chesterton, that priest was of course Father Brown. When I originally started writing this piece it was going to be centred around a certain continuity cock up within one of the episodes in the new version of Father Brown, with the title role brilliantly played by Mark Williams. Then I heard of Sir Roger's death and I wanted to write something about that, found the episode featuring Angela and realised the link. Now, before I enlighten you all on the little BBC blooper I will explain my other link. Well, if you have read my first post on this blog regarding the Chiltern 100s you will know that I was born in Chesham, Bucks. I now realise that both Angela and Kenneth were also born in Bucks.10 miles south of Chesham at Gerrards Cross. So I suppose you could say that is a little bit of a link. 

FATHER BROWN GIVING ME THE PIP
Now, back to Father Brown and the little problem of a continuity cock up perpetrated by the BBC. Oh yes, naughty Aunty. Under the circumstances they should have known better. The episode in question was Theatre Of The Invisible in which a radio production team arrive in Kembleford to record an episode of a popular quiz programme. They are also looking for local people to become contestants and of course Father Brown and his duteous parish secretary Mrs McCarthy (magnificently played by Sorcha Cusack) put themselves forward. Naturally of course, it is not long before murder is soon afoot! As the end of this episode approaches, in a scene at the local police station the Inspector and Sergeant are seen walking through into the front office where a radio can be heard announcing the start of the said quiz programme. The "pips" are heard signaling the hour. But, hang on, replay that bit again, yes, I thought my ears were not deceiving me, the "pips" are most definitely wrong! I heard five short pips and one slightly longer one. No doubt many of you are thinking, so, what is the problem, that is correct.  It is, in this present day, Father Brown is set in the early 1950s, a time when the pips were slightly different...........

The "pips" first came into being back in 1924 when it was suggested by a leading horologist at the time, Frank Hope-Jones, that the BBC should broadcast a much more accurate time signal to be heard every hour, on the hour. The signal would be generated at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and then sent down a GPO line to the BBC. (For the slightly younger reader GPO was the General Post Office, the old equivalent of BT, well, sort of.) This signal would comprise of six short pips, commencing at five seconds to the hour and ending on the hour. Now I would have to delve deeply into the complexities of oscillators, chronometers etc etc to explain just how the pips were created. But to be honest, in this instance, I don't think that is really necessary and it would send everyone to sleep much more quickly than a mug of Ovaltine. Notwithstanding the fact, I don't really understand meself! So hearing the dear old 6 pips resonating from your radio every hour continued up until 1971 when an international agreement decided that all broadcast time signals should be synchronized with International Atomic Time which is continuously accurate. This caused quite a problem across the globe. UK GMT time was based on "natural" time which depends on the rotation of the earth and in turn is subject to some variations because of the fact the earth "wobbles" on its axis. Given all the mathematical calculations, allowing for earth and its "wobbles" and how slow or fast it was rotating, experts decided that the hourly pips should rise form 6 to 7 as and when required. Again this caused a problem, as how would you know if you had just listened to 6 or 7 pips. 

Finally, on 31st December 1971 at midnight the new GMT pips signal was heard, five one second pips then the sixth had been extended from 1/10th of a second to 1/2 of a second. A compromise had been realised. So you see, there is no way 5 pips and a long last pip would have been heard in the early 1950s. Bit ironic, the BBC getting their own pips timing wrong. For any of you who may be interested in learning a little more about Frank Hope-Jones and his work with time pieces and indeed his brother Robert the inventor of the theatre organ, go to this excellent website The "Other" Hope-Jones I bet there are many people have never heard Hope-Jones brothers and their significant achievements. 




All comments are welcome. If abusive or threatening language is used it will be removed and reported.

Why the Chiltern 100s and 1000s?

I'm sure you are wondering why I have called this blog "The Chiltern 100s and 1000s", indeed, some of you may well be familiar with the first part of the title, especially my political colleagues. Well, it is a slight play on words, The Chiltern 100s is a real term, the 1000s is just my little add on. For those of you who have done a little bit of baking,100s and 1000s refer to those tiny multi coloured sugar sprinkles which are used to decorate cakes. In a way this blog will be somewhat multi coloured as I will touch upon many a diverse subject, from politics to entertainment, sport to social conscience, weird to the just plain bonkers, all composed with my own candid and sometimes humorous take on the issue. There will also be one or two more serious subjects that will evoke a lot of thought and debate. Anyway, to get back to The Chiltern 100s. The term actually has two definitions which in turn are connected to me.

1. The Chiltern 100s geographically - areas of Buckinghamshire.A "hundred" or 100 refers to an administrative division of a shire going back to approximately the 10th or 11th century. The hundred refers to a 100 hides within the division. A hide, which was possibly an Anglo Saxon term, referred to a piece of land approximately 100 to 120 acres in size suitable for a family to live and farm. Although more recently it is thought hides may well refer to the dwellings within a hundred. Whichever term is correct each hundred consisted of homesteads with families who worked the land and paid taxes to the crown. Each hundred was supervised by an elder chosen from the existing occupants. From around the 16th century this changed to a much more disciplined and organised administration.

The Chiltern Hundreds consist of three areas, Desborough, Stoke and Burnham and it was within the Burnham hundred, where I was born, in the town of Chesham. The history of my very first house and any other relevant and interesting facts relating to the area will appear very soon in my History Blog.

 Map showing the three Chiltern 100s, Desborough, Burnham and Stoke

2.  The Chiltern 100s more political - In the early days of the hundreds, it was found that many of them were becoming exceptionally unruly and a haven for criminal activity, so it was decided that a steward and bailiff would be appointed directly by the crown to bring about law and order. This role was later superseded by Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace and a Lord Lieutenant of the county. The role of the steward and bailiff then became redundant but the title was still kept as a crown office. The office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds has long been purely a nominal one. The passing of the Place Act 1742 made it possible to use this appointment for Parliamentary purposes as a pretext for enabling members of the House of Commons to resign their seats. So "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to the legal procedure for an MP to resign from the House of Commons. Other titles have been used in the past to effect this process but now only the Chiltern Hundreds office and the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead are used. If you would like to read more on this subject then there is an excellent factsheet available from parliament which explains everything in a little more detail, it is quite short unlike most government documents. THE CHILTERN HUNDREDS

As for my link to this use of the Chiltern Hundreds, well, I am not an MP that has resigned their seat, but I am connected to politics as I work for one of the top political monitoring companies in the UK and have done so for a number of years. I don't think I have ever worked with such a kind, friendly and supportive bunch of people. Celebrated my eighth year with them couple of months back. Cheers guys, here's to a few more years !

A birthday vid sent to me couple of weeks back from the A Team in London office. Such a kind thought. This is a still from the vid, will try and get it running on here..

All comments are welcome. If abusive or threatening language is used it will be removed and reported.