Tea News Bits
Programming not to miss
Don't miss A Capitol Fourth on the evening of July 4th at 8:00 p.m., repeating at 9:30 p.m. Enjoy the symphony and fireworks at our nation's Capitol from the comfort of your home!
What a great time at the Antiques Roadshow
Host Mark Wahlberg
Photo credit: Anne Gummerson Chesapeake Home Magazine |
Saturday, June 16 was a long day for many of us but all will say they had a fantastic time while the Antiques Roadshow was in town! We don't have final numbers but it was anticipated that 5,000 to 6,000 people attended, bringing along 10,000 to 12,000 items for appraisal. A total of 20,000 people applied for tickets but only 3,400 people were selected via a lottery drawing and each received 2 tickets to the event.
There is so much energy surrounding this event. The cameras are rolling for those lucky enough to be invited to the "table" for the surprise they receive when they hear the appraised value of their item, the media comes and goes, and just being able to see all the vastly different items that are in tow is amazing.
Even though there are many, many people who have waited in line to finally get to the set, everyone is smiling and happy to be part of this event. Kudos to WGBH for their coordination of such a massive undertaking!
Antiques Roadshow will produce 3 one hour programs just from Baltimore. They new season for them begins in January so we will tell you when to tune in to watch your home town.
A special hello to the couple that said they enjoy the BritComs and read the Tea Times!
20,000 in attendance at Stonehenge for Summer Solstice
The June 20 Summer Solstice attracted 20,000 people to watch the sign rise on the longest day of the year.
The rocks are remnants of the last in a sequence of circular monuments built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. and align directly with the rising of the sun on the longest day of the year. Some experts believe the monument was built by members of a sun-worshipping culture. Others say it aligns with the sunrise because it forms part of a huge astronomical calendar.
Titanic model built on beer cans
Sinking ships and superglue have replaced beer and wine as the most popular topics of conversation in one Bushey off-license. Mark Diggins, assistant manager at The Local, in Harcourt Road, north-west London, has been gluing and cutting each of the 5,000 painstakingly small pieces of his scale model of the Titanic at the back of the shop.
And after completing the 5ft model of the ship on a stack of beer cans at the back of the shop, Mark is now going to display the finished model on top of a fridge for all his customers to see.
www.thisislocallondon.co.uk
Rabbit calls police to home
Police officers forced entry into a home in a bid to help a woman heard crying only to find it was her rabbit who had called for attention. Operators from a telephone monitoring service connected to the house told Bromley Police they could hear a woman crying and whimpering down the line in Shurlock Drive, Orpington. It was believed the resident was in need of immediate help.
Two officers could not find a way of getting into the flat and no neighbours or relatives could assist them. They demolished both the door and frame and a large part of the surrounding wall and hallway. Once inside, both officers were confronted by a large brown lop-eared Dutch rabbit hopping around the front room and whimpering. The rabbit, named Humphrey, had pulled the cord which telephones the monitoring service while his owner was out shopping at around 1pm on May 27.
www.thisislocallondon.co.uk
PBS and BBC British Comedies
I had the privilege recently to spend some time, on-air, at one of our nation's leading PBS stations doing what I love, talking about British comedies. It has been a while since I have been "in-studio" during those all-important pledge drives that make Britcoms possible on PBS.
For me, it was an important reminder of how important support of our local PBS stations really is in bringing us the comedies we all love. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have been guilty of rolling my eyes when I tuned in to watch my favorite comedy, only to find a program director pitching for dollars.
But it is so much more. This is a dedicated group of people, who work in the non-profit sector, with limited budgets - all so that we can receive quality programming like BBC's British comedy line-up. For every 1,000 sets of rolling eyes, there is one volunteer who trudged to the station to answer phones, eat donated food and stay until the wee hours to ensure funding is available for quality programming on PBS stations across the country.
I had a special night in that I got to talk to this station's viewers about The Insider, co-host the pledge breaks during airing of the final two episodes of The Vicar of Dibley and take questions from those who called in to pledge their support. Lofty? Glamorous? Not even. Moving. Moving to watch a dedicated band of volunteers working hard to preserve what we treasure - the frequent airing of British comedies on America's PBS airwaves.
To all who volunteer their time, and pledge their monetary support for PBS, we salute you.
N. Scott Jones, Editor, The Insider, May 2007
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