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Olympic Torch Flame -

 
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Helen May



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 19373
Location: Cheshire

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 10:07 am    Post subject: Olympic Torch Flame - Reply with quote

- has gone out! Very Happy

Does that mean the games can be cancelled??

One can dream can't one.............................

H
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ruddlescat



Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 18010
Location: Near Chester

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unfortunately Helen it seems they have relit it

I always thought the whole point of this silly exercise was that the flame was never allowed to go out from its origins in Greece right to the eventual destination

Even for people who like the Olympics which certainly doesn't include me this whole thing has become a huge PR exercise instead of the original traditional idea going back a very long time

I'm all in favour of encouraging business and tourism but personally I couldn't be bothered walking down to the end of my road to see such an event - though I know many will disagree Smile
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Ian Robinson
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Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 3608
Location: Chorley, Lancashire

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 11:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ruddlescat wrote:
I always thought the whole point of this silly exercise was that the flame was never allowed to go out from its origins in Greece right to the eventual destination

It hasn't. There's a main flame in the van which never goes out, and all the others that people carry along the road is lit from this.
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What about on the flight from Athens to the UK?
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I must say that despite the fact that I don't bother following sport on TV at all, I will be on tenterhooks when my second cousin Tom Daley is diving and hoping for gold.

At the age of 18 (yesterday) he has put in such an extraordinary amount of painstaking work over the years to achieve the success he's already had. His whole family (who aren't rich by any measure) has pooled all their resources to support him and make sure that he can train at the best facilities with the best coaches, physios, etc., his father was with him all the way - even when he was in pain with the cancer that originally took his life - and Tom is basically a credit not just to his family but also to the nation.

I know we all have a choice and a right to exercise that choice of whether or not to support the Olympics and its televising to a worldwide audience over what is only two weeks after all, but I just think it's a bit sad to read some of the above comments in the light of what young people like Tom have gone through to achieve sporting success.

I won't be watching all of the olympics on TV but sure as hell I'll be interested to see a selection of people performing at their absolute limit during their chosen event. And I'll certainly be on the edge of my seat when Tom is competing........ as will all of his family down in Plymouth.

It's two weeks every four years, for heaven's sake!
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John W



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Warwickshire, UK

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ha ha, outrage in the papers about torch-bearers selling torches on ebay for £100,000, clearly some hoaxes going on there.

Just checked ebay and there's some that have only reached bids of about £1000, like this one,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/London-2012-Olympic-Torch-Photo-/330736101504?pt=UK_Sports_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item4d01686880

then you realise they are only selling a photo......

Laughing
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You have to wonder who creates these "stories" which are then picked up by the press!
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nod



Joined: 24 Dec 2006
Posts: 3558

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

John W wrote:
Ha ha, outrage in the papers about torch-bearers selling torches on ebay for £100,000, clearly some hoaxes going on there.

Just checked ebay and there's some that have only reached bids of about £1000, like this one,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/London-2012-Olympic-Torch-Photo-/330736101504?pt=UK_Sports_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item4d01686880

then you realise they are only selling a photo......

Laughing


One of the photos was upto to £10,000 yesterday !!
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nod



Joined: 24 Dec 2006
Posts: 3558

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

and torches are going for £12,000 and £20,000 today
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ruddlescat



Joined: 16 Sep 2010
Posts: 18010
Location: Near Chester

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ian Robinson wrote:
ruddlescat wrote:
I always thought the whole point of this silly exercise was that the flame was never allowed to go out from its origins in Greece right to the eventual destination

It hasn't. There's a main flame in the van which never goes out, and all the others that people carry along the road is lit from this.


Ah thanks for explaining that Ian but I simply don't understand why people should need to carry all these small torches if they are lit from the main flame

Why not simply put the main torch on the back of a truck and have it drive around Britain - a bit like an Olympic version of Santa's Sleigh

Why do all these self indulgent people feel that they have some divine right to participate in such an event - what next - thousands of people on Horseguards Parade on the Queen's Official Birthday all armed with replica
'Colours' Rolling Eyes
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2012 4:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ruddlescat wrote:
Why do all these self indulgent people feel that they have some divine right to participate in such an event...


Do they?
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littlepieces



Joined: 10 Jan 2010
Posts: 1098
Location: Lowestoft

PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Right i have to admit that having been bored silly of the olympics I am now looking forward to them and am also excited about the torch coming to Lowestoft this thur 05/07.The only celebrities that come from here are the Darkness but don't know if it's their thing
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The show rolls into my neck of the woods on the 9th. Can't wait!!! Smile
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FleetingEileenM



Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 5784
Location: Hampshire

PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It comes nearest to me on the 11th but I am planning to see it go through Ealing on the 24th as I used to live and work there.
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Schizoidman



Joined: 20 Sep 2010
Posts: 1140
Location: Rural West Sussex

PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, I shall definitely see it in West Sussex on July 16.
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preraphaeliteangel



Joined: 16 Nov 2010
Posts: 249
Location: Yorkshire

PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I caught a glimpse of the flame as it came through Harrogate a couple of weeks ago - I hadn't taken any interest but happened to be in town when it arrived so joined in the crowd and now feel pleased to have seen it.
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nod



Joined: 24 Dec 2006
Posts: 3558

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw the flame go passed the hotel I was in in Sydney in 2000, is it still the same one ? Rolling Eyes
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essexlady



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 348
Location: Essex

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I intendi to go to see the flame tomorrow in Chelmsford. Unfortunately it will be there at 7a.m. so I may not make it!
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FleetingEileenM



Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 5784
Location: Hampshire

PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went to Basingstoke today and saw it. There was a great atmosphere and crowds lining the streets in hot sunshine. You'd have thought it was summer Smile. My photo shows the torch, the carrier's legs and a child's Union Jack in the bit between Smile . I hope to do better in Ealing in a couple of weeks.
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a meeting at Bletchley Park on Monday - and missed the torch which was there acouple of hours before me! Central Milton Keynes was packed on Monday morning. I couldn't be bothered, personally!
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Schizoidman



Joined: 20 Sep 2010
Posts: 1140
Location: Rural West Sussex

PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw the relay and torch today in Arundel. A great experience. I was astonished by the huge crowds, there must have been several thousand people in the town centre, vindicating my decision to go by train.

And this was despite the pouring rain.
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FleetingEileenM



Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 5784
Location: Hampshire

PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My younger son and I went to Ealing (where I used to live) for the torch relay. It was the hottest day of the year so far and we took picnic chairs, parked at a station about 30 minutes walk away and settled ourselves in the shade of a tree in front of Ealing Studios where I had spent my happiest working years Smile. There were crowds watching and a great atmosphere.

Afterwards we went into Walpole Park and watched the big screen showing the lit cauldron and a terrific exciting montage of past Olympic moments accompanied by Queen recordings including of course “We Are the Champions”. (Freddie Mercury was an art student at Ealing Tech just down the road from there).

All in all a great way to celebrate my birthday in the rightly named "Queen of the Suburbs"!
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

FleetingEileenM wrote:
...and settled ourselves in the shade of a tree in front of Ealing Studios where I had spent my happiest working years Smile.


Did you really? I haven't been there for years (last time sometime in the early/mid 80s), but it's a lovely old place. Did you work there when the BBC had it?
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FleetingEileenM



Joined: 30 Mar 2010
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Location: Hampshire

PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Colin, I worked in BBC Film Dept from 1964 till 1968 or 1969 when my department had to move to bigger premises in Brentford - a sad day.
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A friend of mine who is now a video cameraman used to shoot 16mm for BBC Film Dept as a freelance. I used to go out with him as a camera assistant or grip (I had an ACTT card until the late 80s) and often went to Ealing to pick up film and 1/4" audio stock. I remember reading about the planned closure of the department; it was a big shame but a sign of the times. The same feeling exists for TVC now. I think it's a decision taken by complete idiots ; the White City output has always seemed soul-less by comparison, and I can see the same thing happening with Salford too.
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FleetingEileenM



Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 5784
Location: Hampshire

PostPosted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Colin, I was in the Film Library. If you went in through the main entrance of the studios and turned right at Film Despatch you looked along a broad path to a white building with its name "West Lodge" on the front. That is where I worked. Sadly it was demolished when the BBC sold the studios. I may be wrong but I think it had been used as scriptwriting offices during the great days of Ealing Films.

We had to re-locate to bigger premises in order to house all the BBC-shot film under one roof. The Library had started from small beginnings at Lime Grove where some of the older film cans were still stored and the newer ones were shared between Ealing and Windmill Road, Brentford.

I remember being on "Late Duty" one evening and having to supply some urgent film needed at Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally to some but known as AP to us) where TV News was still located. I had to get a taxi to Lime Grove, be escorted by a commissionaire through the maze of corridors to the Film Stores, find the film, send it to AP by taxi and get another taxi back to Ealing.

So it made sense to re-locate but it was a wrench for some of us including me.
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ColinB
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fascinating stuff, Eileen. The BBC's film and video archive is now split between west London and also the BFI's National Film & TV Archive at Berkamsted (although a lot of the more precious material is housed in a cavernous former nuclear bunker under a field in Warwickshire).

I was at Berkhamsted recently (I'm advising a county archive on the digitising and indexing of video archive sources) and was staggered at just how many film cans and 2" videotapes with BBC labels on them were there! Temperature is maintained at -4c at 35 relative humidity.

A warehouse-sized store contains floor to ceiling racking with not an inch of space (hence the Warwickshire expansion facility). I walked past a whole line of master tapes marked "Dad's Army" - they radiated wonderful feeling!

Ironically, film will last many more decades yet as long as they're kept in the right conditions, but many of the tens of thousands of videotapes will never get transferred to a digital medium because the replacement parts for the 2" Quad videotape machines required to transfer them are dwindling to the point of extinction. Very sad really.....

A few weeks ago I managed the digitising of some very rare film dating from the early 1950s on the first Paralympic Games to take place - at Stoke Mandeville, Bucks. It had been previously "lost" and was found behind a filing cabinet. It was carefully scanned by a specialist facility and I have arranged for digital versions to be supplied to BBC Sport who are putting together a documentary on the Paralympics.

Anyway, I digress! (At least I brought it back to the subject of the Olympics!) Smile

I'm in north-west Norfolk at the moment and the sun is shining. Very nice!
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