Chris Grayling does it again - and is now gone

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Whilst Boris is hardly a safe pair of hands I suppose we should be grateful it was he visiting the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Atomic Energy Authority today.

Imagine if it had been Chris Grayling. The home counties would have been laid to waste this evening, and Raymond Briggs would have been sharpening his pencil.

[johnneyw]

Whilst Boris is hardly a safe pair of hands I suppose we should be grateful it was he visiting the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Atomic Energy Authority today.

Imagine if it had been Chris Grayling. The home counties would have been laid to waste this evening, and Raymond Briggs would have been sharpening his pencil.

Arf, I nearly spilt my glass of sweet sherry laughing at that one.

[Surrey 455]

Is he familiar with newfangled forms of transport such as trains that run from elecktrickery?

Another Catweazle fan!

It's been a long time since I last saw Catweazle on TV^▸ (Thames Valley, or TeleVision, depending on context). It will be repeated on Talking Pictures TV from Saturday 2nd November.

https://talkingpicturestv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/TPTV-Weekly-Highlights-28.10.19-1.pdf

Catweazle comes to Talking Pictures TV
Stars: Geoffrey Bayldon, Robin Davies, Gary Warren, Neil McCarthy,
Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, Moray Watson and Peter Butterworth
plus many guest actors including: Patricia Hayes, Hattie Jacques,
John Junkin, Peter Sallis and Paul Eddington. The series ran
from 1970-1971 and was divided between three directors:
Quentin Lawrence, David Reid and David Lane. It was created by
Richard Carpenter, a prolific writer both for ITV and the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page), who
contributed to The Adventures of Black Beauty and wrote Dick Turpin,
The Ghosts of Motley Hall and Robin of Sherwood, among others.
He won a Guild of Great Britain Award for Catweazle. Filled with
humour, warmth and charm, Catweazle captured the imagination of
children everywhere with Richard Carpenter’s story of a bumbling
magician and his pet toad, trapped nine hundred years ahead of their
own time. Geoffrey Bayldon gave an entrancing performance as
Catweazle the wizard, who mistakes all modern technology for powerful
magic, particularly “elec-trickery” (electricity) and the “telling bone”
(telephone). The series boasted a superb regular cast, plus guest
appearances by some of Britain’s finest actors of the period.
Airs: Sat 2nd Nov at 3:30pm & continues Saturdays & Sundays
at the same time

[johnneyw]

I never saw Catweazle but had heared of it. Perhaps I wasn't in it's target age group (I'd have been about 11 or 12 when it first came out.

[Bmblbzzz]

I've definitely never seen Catweazle but elecktrickery is a common enough pun.

[SandTEngineer]

I've definitely never seen Catweazle but elecktrickery is a common enough pun.

Yes, we used it all the time "in them olden S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) days"......elecktrickery that is.....

[TonyK]

Yes, we used it all the time "in them olden S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) days"......elecktrickery that is.....

I wonder who first coined it?

[SandTEngineer]

Yes, we used it all the time "in them olden S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) days"......elecktrickery that is.....

I wonder who first coined it?

Well, when I started in the S&T Gang way back in 1969, most of the gang were from Cheshire and they all used it....

Don't know whats this all got to do with Grayling but its certainly more interesting!

[infoman]

not forgetting that Bristolians live in an aerial and not an area,

and you go careful,mind.

[TonyK]

Well, when I started in the S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) Gang way back in 1969, most of the gang were from Cheshire and they all used it....

That nails that one, then. Catweazle first appeared on television (then known in Cheshire as "witchcraft") in 1970.

not forgetting that Bristolians live in an aerial and not an area,

I once asked our security guard to say "It would be a good idea if Eva, Ida, and Norma were to leave this area, and go to live in America. With Monica." He couldn't understand why he brought the house down.

[didcotdean]

Google Ngrams suggests the height of use of electrickery was in the 1940s, after appearing in the 1930s. Catweazle re-popularised it to some extent.

[chuffed]

My favourite 'areal' story about the Brizzle 'l' is the interviewer who asked a passer by to read the poster outside the 'Ippodrome. The poster read ...Eva Turner prima donna of the Carl Rosa Opera company will appear in Cavalliera Rusticana. It doesn't need too much imagination to work out what was actually said !

[Red Squirrel]

Ah yes, that old chestnut:

The Bristol City  UNDERLGROUND !!?.

I sense the need for some elucidation: In linguistic terms (let's not get sidetracked by the excellent products of Bristol Commercial Vehicles Ltd) the Bristol 'L' is a letter that is only ever attached to the end of a word; indeed among students of Bristolian it is sometimes referred to as the 'terminal L'. The skill in applying it lies in the native knowledge of those words which are in danger of letting dust in - for the terminal L's purpose is to exclude dust where it might otherwise penetrate and cause damage. There is never any potential for particulate ingress in the middle of a word, so UNDERLGROUND is just not possible.

Maybe it would help to consider this shibboleth: "Eva Turner, prima donna of the Carl Rosa Opera". To a native it is a simple manner to assign L's as required; I'm sure all Bristol folk would agree that "Evil Turner, primal donnal of the Carol Rosal operal" sounds much better. A foreigner, maybe someone from north of Olveston or east of Keynsham, would almost certainly reveal themselves by applying the L to 'Turner', creating a vile chimera along the lines of "Turnall" or, worse, "Turnerl". The apparent gender reassignment (from Carl to Carol) is actually nothing more than a misunderstanding - it is simply the logical consequence of actually pronouncing the letter R, rather than dropping it as RP^▸ (Revenue Protection, or Responsible Person, depending on context) speakers insist on doing.

[TonyK]

I am obliged to m'learned friend, once more.

[Bmblbzzz]

In phonetic terms, Bristol terminal L only follows schwa [at least I think it never follows proper, grown up vowels]. Therefore it is correct to say, as Prof. Squirrel has pointed out, that it's purpose is to keep the dust out.