The CavBlog

NEW BLOG

2009-01-02T16:54:00.001Z

My blog has a new home - head over to www.cavblog.co.uk

See you there!

New Countryfile Magazine Podcast up

2008-10-02T09:01:00.003+01:00

The BBC Countryfile podcast is back! In its new monthly format, available on the 1st of the month, we focus on one event every month. This month we're celebrating the humble apple, and Apple Day in particular. Find out some crazy apple-tastic facts and listen to my chat with queen of the apple, Sue Clifford. You can download the podcast here or subscribe via itunes by clicking here.

Introducing Connie Elizabeth Scott

2008-08-28T23:01:00.002+01:00

Introducing the arrival of Connie Elizabeth Scott born this morning at 10.15, weighing 6 pounds 15.5 ounces.

Mum and daughter doing beautifully and big sister very excited!!

I'm on the radio tomorrow...

2008-08-16T21:49:00.002+01:00

Oh, by the way, I'll be banging on about food on Radio Gloucestershire tomorrow morning at 11am in my usual slot on the panel of Vernon Harwood's country matters show. We're talking, among other things, about the effect that the credit crunch is having on local and organic food. If you click here you can listen live or listen again...

Food glorious food

2008-08-16T21:33:00.003+01:00

I'm amazed how much my attitude to food has changed in the last five years. Now, anyone who knows me knows I've always loved my grub and will happily eat anything (except for whole tinned tomatoes. Horrible things. Yuk) But my desire to experiment and try new things was restricted to restaurants and eating out. I'd have a go in the kitchen but I must admit I found cooking a bit stressful and scary so stuck with what I knew and, when I was living on my own, a good (well, perhaps not so good) supply of ready meals.

The Cav of then would have freaked out royally if he, as I did today, defrosted a frozen rabbit bought at the farm shop last week to find the kidneys and liver still attached. Now, the more experienced cooks among you may well scoff that I would find this something worthy of blogging, after all a quick nick with the knife they are free, but there's no way I would have been so calm about it back then. I doubt I would have even tried a rabbit stock-pot either, let alone adapt the recipe from Marco Pierre White's recent Great British Feast series. So, I am, and I think quite rightly, proud of myself.

And the stock-pot was, in a word, lush too (and the liver was delicious pan fried!)

The other thing that's changed I guess that eating at home was something I did in a bit of a hurry and always sitting in front of the telly (hey, I was a guy living on his own in a flat. At least I wasn't sitting in my boxers. Well, not all the time anyway.) Food was nothing more than fuel. OK, it was fuel I enjoyed but something I wolfed down. These days its not mere fuel in my eyes, but something to be savoured, enjoyed and shared. Sure, we still eat in front of the box every now and then, but that's a real rarity. I love the fact that we sit down at the table. Meals have become an event, and as our little brood is about to grow from three to four (baby number two is expected in a couple of weeks) I hope that family time around the dinner table is something we'll enjoy for years to come.

Yum!

2008-08-13T22:33:00.003+01:00

The fruits of my trip to the farmers' market have been enjoyed. Pan-fried pigeon breasts with fresh peas, beetroot, boiled wilja potatoes and a sweet red wine gravy. For desert, cheddar strawberries, black currants and raspberries with ice-cream.

It was so good, I just had to share...

Farmer's Market of the Month

2008-08-13T13:54:00.001+01:00

The Countryside Magazine team have decided that they love Wednesdays. Outdoor Editor Jo thinks its because the joy of a new weekend is on the horizon and she’s just about recovered from the last one. I was born on a Wednesday but am not, as the popular nursery rhyme suggests, full of woe. Adam Stone, staff-writer, says its because he’s a fan of any day with a silent D, but as he’s leaving the magazine on Friday to head off for pastures new we’re humouring him.

No, there’s a reason I’m not full of woe on a Wednesday. It’s Bristol Farm Market day. Every week I head out to stretch my legs and aim only to buy a cup of soup from the soup man and every week I come back groaning with produce.
Today’s goodies include soft fruits (strawberries, blackberries and raspberries), peas-in-the-pod and corn-on-the-cobs, forest mushrooms and a pack of pigeon breast. Oh, and a cup of soup – pea and mint today, yum!.

The only downer was that my favourite stall – Day’s Cottage apple juice and cider – weren’t there as they’re on well-earned hols. (You can read more about them as they’re one of our Local Food Heroes 2008, crowned in the next issue of Countryfile Magazine on sale next Tuesday.)

I can’t help it. Perhaps it’s an addiction, but I can’t walk through the place without getting sucked into the stalls. I suppose there are worse things to be addicted to.

What about you? Are you a farmers’ market addict? If so, why not nominate your favourite market for our Farmers’ Market of the Month. Every issue, we feature a reader’s recommendation for a market along with a photo of themselves by their favourite stall or the going-ons at the market. It’s a great way to give your local producers some welcome publicity.

Why not send in your own nomination, along with a photo to editor@bbccountryfile.com or post it to: Farmers’ Market of the Month, Countryfile Magazine, 9th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol, BS1 3BN.

Food vs. environment

2008-08-12T10:34:00.000+01:00

"‘At the moment we are in a position where we can devote our countryside to the environment and import our food but you can’t have it both ways," says Agricultural analyst Mark Hill in last nights Our Food Our Future on Radio 4. "You can’t have cheap food and a nice environment at home if global food production is in short supply. You will, one day, have to make a choice as to what is important to you.”

I listened with interest. Since the abolition of set-aside and the rising price of crops is it any wonder that farmers have decided to plough up the grasses of set-aside to plant profitable produce? Sure there may be lapwing’s nesting there, but should their habitat take preference over our food? These are tough questions to answer.

Of course, as you expect, conservation groups are quick to point out that commercial farming can be wildlife friendly. In a recent issue of Countryfile Magazine when discussing the finalists of the Nature of Farming Awards, Dr Darren Moorcraft wrote, “These aren’t nature reserves, they are commercial farms that are producing food. If the UK is going to be sustainable then these farms show the sort of management that we should be aspiring to.”

So, is the future conflict in our fields not going to be fuel vs. food as many have thought but environment vs. food? Did our reliance on cheap food mean that we had the luxury of habitat protection?

Me on Countryfile

2008-07-27T20:31:00.002+01:00

Well , that's it, after a year of editing Countryfile Magazine I finally made it onto the show. Well, almost. I'm seen lurking in the background of our 20th Anniversary shoot and then sharing a drink with the presenters in Adam Henson's farmhouse.

Well, everyone has to start somewhere...

So it is war between us...

2008-07-13T19:56:00.003+01:00

I have just purchased these little blighters to deal with the evil slugs. This is what the website said: "Each packet of Nemaslug powder contains millions of microscopic Nematodes that you simply water into your garden. Within three days your slugs will have stopped feeding and started to die. Works against all slug species and is completely safe for children and wildlife."

So biological warfare it is!!!

I hate slugs!

2008-07-13T13:53:00.004+01:00

Now here's the thing. For my daughter's first Christmas I wrote her a story about and charming little fellow called Cyril the Christmas Slug. But since then, I'm not so charitable about the dratted gastropods.

Why?

Because this is the year I've decided to grow my own fruit and veg and after a couple of days away doing Countryfiley things I've returned to find my lettuce, strawberries and broccoli laid waste by them.

The red mist fell and I remembered what the Deputy Editor of Gardeners' World told me when I revealed that I had been humanly gathering the slimy critters up to deposit away from the garden. 'If you've taken the trouble to pick them up,' she said matter-of-factly, 'then you might as well slice them in two with scissors. So I did. It felt better.

My new mantra is, the only good slug is a dead slug.

Does that make me evil? Will I be charged of war crimes in my garden?

All I know, when I just tucked into the rubarb crumble my wife made from the stuff I pulled up this morning, all I could think of was - ha, you didn't get these ones you little... well, you get my drift.

Woe betide the next slug I find in my raised bed. This time it's personal.

Why me?

2008-06-03T08:30:00.002+01:00

Today's commute into work on the bus saw me sitting next to a old gent who repeatedly took his teeth out, inspected them and then popped them back in with a satisfying klakk. Marvelous.

Village shuns supermarket to grow their own

2008-04-16T21:39:00.000+01:00

Ah, The Good Life. You've got to love it. Titter at Barbara and Tom's attempts to life a sustainable life and scoff at Margo as she despairs at what is becoming of her suburban life.

But was the 70s sit-com ahead of its time?

The villagers of Martin in Hants definitely think so. After posting my blog yesterday about the amount of doom and gloom we hear about the future of our villages, it was great to read a real feel-good story in The Telegraph. The village of Martin is trying to break its dependence on supermarkets by growing its own meat and vegetables. They work on a rota rearing their own chickens, lambs and pigs plus producing garlic, onions, chillis and veg to sell at the village market every Saturday. Of the 164 families who live in the village, 101 have signed up for Future Farms, although anyone can buy the village’s produce.

Think it’s a flash in the pan and will never last? Well, so far the co-operative, which is VAT-registered and launched in 2003, had a turnover of £27,000 in 2007.

Nick Snelgar, the originator of the idea, says:

“The nearest supermarket is six miles away. Of course people still have to go there for things like loo roll and deodorant and fruit you can't grow in Britain. So we aren't boycotting supermarkets entirely but we are gradually weaning people off them and as a result are reducing our carbon footprint by not using carrier bags and packaging."

Sounds idyllic and is a good example of a village trying to take its fate in its own hands, much like Totnes, the UK’s first transition town which we feature in our next issue. Of course, I hear the cynics cry, it’s ok for small villages with a handful of people support themselves, but how could cities the size of Bristol or Manchester do such a thing? I guess that’s the point. Have our urban cities become so bloated and sprawling that they could never embrace a sustainable life? Perhaps, villages and small towns are the future after all…

Is rural britain rotting away?

2008-04-15T21:36:00.000+01:00

According to a report from Oxford University our towns and villages are losing what have always been considered basic services at “their fastest rate ever.” Researchers found that 45 per cent of English neighbourhoods – 14,493 out of 32,439 – have become what it calls “geographically deprived” since the last study in 2004. Cutting through the jargon, this means the distance people must travel to use such amenities as doctor’s surgeries, shops, schools and post offices has increased dramatically.

You have to wonder how much more gloom and doom the countryside can take. When reading about these particular findings I immediately thought of the news report in issue six of Countryfile magazine in which we found that 2,489 schools in the UK may face closure as they cannot fill their desks or the news from the British Beer and Pub Association last week that pubs are closing at the rate of 27 per week nationally – that’s nearly four every single day. Add to this the recent claim from Stuart Burgess, the government’s rural advocate that one million people – equivalent to a city the size of Birmingham - are living in poverty in rural areas and surely we’ll be running out of nails to slam into the countryside coffin.

Of course, the opposition has been quick to jump on these figures to claim that Labour is effectively leaving the countryside to fester. Shadow communities secretary Eric Pickles has been particular quick to point the finger; "Under Labour, local neighbourhoods and villages are losing access to essential local services, as shops, pubs and schools close at probably their fastest rate ever. We are witnessing the slow death of community life.”

But is this more than just a political situation? Have we culturally lost sight of our rural roots? After all, we’re currently coming to the end of a Year of Food and Farming which aimed to put right the problem that many of our children didn’t even know what a carrot looked like. Could anyone imagine that situation 50 years ago? And is it too little, too late? The majority of our population has shifted from rural to urban communities and the countryside is seen by many as now just being a playground for those desperate to get a bit of greenspace at the weekend. Our food is free of mud and dirt and packaged in clean and tidy plastic, with the organic movement dismissed by many as being trendy, middle-class types. The rural infrastructure seems to be entropically crumbling and there seems to be very few silver lining to the gathering stormclouds. Depressed much, anyone?

So,is rural Britain rotting away forever and can anything really be done?

The 'new' trike

2008-04-14T10:23:00.000+01:00

I'm back in the office for a rest. The last weekend saw my daughter celebrating her second birthday and our home is beginning to return to normal after an invasion of grandparents, uncles, aunties and other toddlers. It's far to say that I am cream-crackered.

A highlight for me, amidst the jelly, pinapple-and-cheese on sticks and birthday cake, was nipping down to the park so Chloe could try out her new trike.

I must admit the trike had been a bit of a quandary for me. We bought it from a friend and for a while I struggled with the idea of giving Chloe a second-hand toy as her main present. OK, there wasn't anything wrong with it and after a wee bit of scrubbing it came us as good as new but I felt a little guilty. Surely as a loving father I should be providing my little one with shiny, brand new gifts.

Of course, I shouldn't have worried. Chloe didn't care that another little bottom had sat in the trike's seat before. All she cared about was bombing around the park hitting as many muddle puddles as she could. So we had made her day while also being a little more environmentally friendly but reusing something someone else had finished with. Plus, there wasn't any packaging to get rid of! Result!

The entire thing made me rethink my own outlook to consumerism once again. As I admitted on our latest podcast my eco-sin is being a bit of a shopperholic at times, but once again the sound of Chloe whooping as I pushed her across the grass reminded me that we don't always have to buy new to feel good.

On being trapped in a revolving door with a monumental grannie

2008-03-26T08:22:00.006Z

It's been a while since I posted anything here as I've been a tad on the busy side, but I feel I have to share this experience. It's traumatised me for a week now and I feel getting down on paper, or even on a blog, will be a soothing process.

Picture the scene. There I am walking into work, minding my own business. I may even have been whistling a jaunty tune, who knows, but all was well with the world.

I arrive at our offices to find a rather large older lady trying to push the revolving doors the wrong way. I could have nipped in the side door but I thought I'd be a good samaritan and so said, 'You're pushing it the wrong way, my love.' She waddled back, slightly red in the face from her exertion and replied, 'You go first, dear, you'll know what you're doing.' So I step into the little compartment and start pushing. With no warning the woman shoots into the same segment of the revolving door with me. It's a bit of a squeeze but I think, don't worry, it'll be over soon. For some reason she stops walking and so the entire contraption comes to a shuddering halt. There we are trapped in the door and before I know she panics and tries to push the other way again. So there I am trying to shove us out of this claustrophobic situation with the full weight of an stocky grannie holding us back and little room to even breathe - a feat made even more difficult by the fact that she seemed to have applied her sickly lavender perfume with a fireman's hose that morning. At first I'm polite but after 20 seconds of wrestling with the doors I lose my rag and snap at her to let me do it.

After what seems like a century or two she gives in and I manage to push the door around until I can pop out, a frazzled, sweaty shadow of the cheerful chappy I'd been just ten minutes earlier. To add insult to injury my guilt gland kicked in and I found myself apologising for snapping. Thankfully she wobbled off to talk to wake up the security guard who sleeps behind our front desk and I could jump into the lift. Thankfully the doors shut before she could attack me in there too.

Unfortunately, the work colleagues who witnessed my trial by revolving door are still chuckling about it to this day, but for me its the stuff of nightmares. I haven't used the revolving door since.

There, that feels better. Thank you for listening.

10 things you might not know about white stags

2008-02-11T21:45:00.000Z

The recently released footage of a White Stag spotted in Scotland is causing a bit of a stir.

White stags always cause emotions to run high, probably because they are linked to us through centuries of legend and myth, so here are some handy white deer factoids while you watch and gape...

1. White deer are not albino. Their colouring is caused by leucism, a rare genetic condition that reduces the pigment of an animal’s hair and skin. Unlike albinos with their distinctive pink eyes, white deer’s eyes are coloured normally.

2. In Christianity, the white stag often symbolizes Christ, appearing with the sun between its horns.

3. The last recorded wild white stag in Britain was found decapitated in October on the border between Devon and Cornwell. It is believed it was killed as a trophy.

4. King Richard II used the white hart as his heraldic symbol.

5. November 3 is the feast day of Saint Hubert of Liège. Legend has it that Hubert was accosted by a white stag with a crucifix fixed between its antlers. The stag warned Hubert that he was heading straight to hell and so, to avoid his fate, Hubert became a Monk and eventually, the Bishop of Liège.

6. There are 546 pubs in the UK called the White Hart.

7. A German curse states that if a hunter kills a white deer, a member of their family will die within a year. Many who still subscribe to the superstition believe that the Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo as he had shot a white stag less than a year before in the Autumn of 1913. Europe was soon plunged into the First World War.

8. In Celtic mythology the White Stag appears when one is about to overstep the line, such as when Pwyll trespasses into Arawn’s hunting grounds.

9. If a white stag appears near Brodick Castle in Scotland, it is said that one of the Hamilton clan chiefs will soon shuffle off this mortal coil.

10. In the tales of King Arthur an appearance of a white stag is an omen that adventure is around the corner. Indeed after Arthur dreams of a white hart, he meets Merlin who predicts his death at Mordred’s hands. So, I wonder if Fran Lockhart, who discovered the white stag is off on a quest soon!

So Long Stinky

2008-02-05T21:55:00.001Z

Sometimes things backfire. Sometimes you haven’t thought things through. Sometimes you wish you could go back to bed and start the day again. I wonder if that’s what’s going through the minds of the folks at the WWF who thought up the Stinky Fish campaign. Stinky was a puppet that harangued fish-eating members of the public in a number of viral video campaigns that were supposed to alert people of the dangers of eating unsustainable fish. One video even concluded with the puppet informing viewers to look for the Marine Stewardship Council label when buying fish as “everything else is stinky.”

When the campaign was launched on Thursday 17 January, Giles Bartlett, Fisheries Policy Officer at WWF-UK said: "Overfishing is the single biggest threat to our oceans. It is vital that consumers have much better information to help them choose which fish to buy. WWF's new 'Stinky Fish' website will provide exactly that.”

Unfortunately for the WWF and MSC Stinky did not go down well. Seafish, the UK’s statutory body attacked the campaign for using “misleading, inaccurate and out of date information while the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) immediately slammed the WWF for "confusing, rather than educating" consumers. Not even a week after the campaigns launched MSC removed itself from the controversy and disassociated itself from Stinky. Then on Saturday the puppet found himself tossed back to the sea. WWF removed the videos from the Stinky site where the little blue fellow now admits, “There's been quite a bit of fuss over me recently. In fact, I seem to have stirred up quite a stink!” Surely part of the problem had to be the name. Stinky Fish? As in smelly, not very appetising fish? The number one rule in marketing; Don’t remind people of your products’ worst aspect.

So bye bye Stinky. Your heart was in the right place, but that’s probably not enough to get you off the hook just yet. Don’t worry though, if you’re still interested in finding out what fish are ok to eat and which you should avoid then you can search the MSC’s sustainable fish lists here.

Do we care about imported food in our restaurants?

2008-02-05T21:51:00.001Z

My bus journeys into work have been brightened since I discovered The Archers podcast (Get ready for the ructions when Brian reveals what happening to Adam and Debbies’s inheritance) and best of all, the Farming Today podcast means that you don’t have to get up at stupid-o-clock anymore to keep up to date with the latest rural news. This morning I caught up on Saturday’s show which was about the tricky subject of imported beef.

A quarter of the beef we eat is imported. Half of that number comes from Ireland but we also import from places like Botswana, Namibia and the United States. The EU has just slapped a temporary ban on Brazilian beef. Due to the way herds are farmed in Brazil, its impossible to trace individual cuts of beef back to a specific farm unlike European cows which are ear-tagged from birth. The worry is that Brazil has a massive Foot and Mouth problem although some say that the ban has more to do with the European beef industry protecting their markets.

Most members of the public interviewed on the programme said that they wanted to know where their beef came from, but the show revealed that the majority of this imported meat doesn’t end up in our supermarket-bought slabs of topside. Instead its journey leads it to our restaurants and fast food establishments. It makes sense really, as imported meat is generally cheaper than our home cuts. There was even a suggestion that when some restaurants claim their meat is locally sourced, they actually mean it comes from a local wholesaler. However, the meat itself may still hail from Africa or the Americas. Hardly local produce then.

This got me thinking; food miles and animal welfare seem to be high on everyone’s list of priorities at the moment, but do these principles end as soon as you walk through the door of a restaurant? Have you ever asked where the produce served up in your local eatery comes from? Do you think that restaurateurs will soon come under pressure to reveal the provenance of their grub?

One of our chocolate bunnies is missing...

2008-01-22T11:23:00.001Z

Countryfile magazine is about to organise a man-hunt – or should that be bunny hunt. It’s a sad day here in the office as I’m about to reveal.

My tale of woe began with a happy event. It’s always exciting opening the post here on Countryfile as you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get. Will it be a new pair of Alpaca woollen socks, a packet of self-cooking Chicken Tikka Masala (for when you desperately need a ruby while camping) or a book on how to become a gurning champion? My first ever freebie in the post when I started work on the magazine was a she-wee which was a strange omen of things to come, but still, it’s always nice to get a parcel.

It was exceptionally nice to get one particular parcel last week. It was yet another bleak, grey day with rain lashing against the windows when the box arrived on my desk. With a growing feeling of excitement I ripped it open and, I’m not ashamed to admit it, squealed like a two year old girl. Inside, safe in bubble-wrap, was a seven-inch milk chocolate bunny sent in by Betty's to promote their new range of seasonal novelties.

The little fellow soon attracted a lot of attention from colleagues who decided, while licking their lips, that I was suddenly their best friend to members of neighbouring magazine teams who grumbled that they never received chocolates in the post.

I fell in love with my new chocolatey chum. Ignoring the advice of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in his recent Chicken Run series I even named the critter I was intending to eat. And there Snuggles sat, waiting for his fate.

Imagine my horror when I came in this morning, after a lovely day yesterday up in the Countryfile TV offices up in Birmingham, to find that Snuggles had vanished. No-one knows what happened to him but there were a few stray crumbs of chocolate in his place. I’m fearing the worst but still live in hope that Snuggles is out there somewhere. I’ll let you know how the case of the missing bunny progresses but in the meantime I’m going to continue glaring suspiciously at the Gardens Illustrated team…

Prince Philip

2007-11-26T22:35:00.000Z

Ah, you've got to love him... but I wish he was always dubbed by Hugh Dennis...

Appalled

2007-11-22T10:43:00.000Z

You know I can live with email spam. I just chuck it in the spam folder on my email client. No skin off my nose.
I can cope with those mails offering me the chance to extend my manhood. The viagra ads don't offend me.
But today I had a spam email from a company suggesting that I might like to buy a Micheal Ball live in concert DVD.

HOW VERY DARE THEY!

Of Craven and festive Time Lords

2007-11-21T21:35:00.000Z

OK, so I've been the worst blogger in the world and I apologise, but unfortunately I've been a bit busy.

Here's some of what I've been up to...

First up is Countryfile magazine, which is taking newsagents by storm. The second issue is out now complete with my own experiences of dog-sled racing in Scotland. Find out more over at our website

Second up there's the book I've been editing with my good friend and partner Mark Wright. Doctor Who - Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas is out soon and features a festive collection of yuletide tales of time and space. You can pre-order the book here and even download an excerpt by Mark and myself by clicking here!

There's more news on the horizon, so watch this space...

We’re all doomed? Nah, I don’t think so

2007-10-16T22:03:00.000+01:00

I’ve received a couple of letters here in the BBC Countryfile office from readers complaining that the magazine ‘preaches’ about the environment. An interesting point and I suppose, depending on your viewpoint, I suppose any advice on making a different to the way we live our lives in relation to what’s happening to our planet may seem like preaching. However, I think the environmental content of the magazine is not the stuff of fire and brimstone, but of hope.

Last night I had the pleasure, along with my team-mate Adam Stones, to attend a talk by John Simpson, the BBC World Affairs Editor. It was a fascinating evening and what struck me was the optimism of a man who has seen the results of the darker side of humanity but still believed that, ultimately, we would survive to face the future. Simpson talked about how he joined the BBC in 1966 under the cloud of nuclear war. At that time everyone believed that the world would end with a very big bang and the resulting mushroom cloud. He never even dreamed that in his 60s he would be standing in a lecture theatre talking to a group of people in 2007. In his time he has reported from 30-plus war zones, sheltered from bullets in a gutter in Tiananmen Square and has spent the last few years mainly in Iraq chronicling the events, and aftermath, of the invasion in 2003.

This is a man who, as he says in his new book Not Quite World’s End regularly sees human brains spilled on the pavements of Baghdad after bombing attempts. Yet, he remains steadfastly sure that the human race will survive. “If peace can be found in Ireland where hatred is never forgotten,” he said, “then it will be found in the middle east and if it can be found there, there will be no stopping us.”

Simpson is not sure what future world Rafe, his 18 month year son will live in, but after seeing what he thinks is real progress in the world in the 40 years he’s worked in the BBC, he believes that we can even ‘dig ourselves out of the hole’ that we so carefully worked ourselves into, when it comes to our natural environment – surely this age’s equivalent of the threat of nuclear destruction.

It was so encouraging to hear positivism about our future when it seems we continually open the paper to read, as Frazer from Dad’s Army would say, “We’re doomed!” But we do have a positive future if we do something about it. The environment is changing and the world is heating up. That’s the result of the last half-century of emissions and the way we’ve treated our natural resources. We can’t do anything about that- we’ve made our bed and now we must lie in it. Yet, that’s not the end of the story. If we make changes now, we could see a difference in 30 or 40 years time, and a positive difference at that.

Like John Simpson, I have a young child, and I often wonder what kind of environment she’ll live in. But, like John I’m also confident that we’ll find a way to survive and live through the clouds of environmental change that seem to loom on the horizon. What I have to do now is take a few steps to changing that future, in my own small way in my own small life.

Does that sound like preaching? Maybe, but I think its something worth getting on my soapbox about.

BBC Countryfile Magazine podcast

2007-08-30T21:23:00.001+01:00

Hurrah! You lucky people can download the first BBC Countryfile magazine podcast. Here are the links to hear it yourself...

Click here to subscribe via itunes

Click here to listen to it as a MP3

See BBC Countryfile magazine online now!

2007-08-23T13:45:00.000+01:00

You can now check out a special digital preview of BBC Countryfile magazine that you can see online right now!

You can use your mouse to turn the pages and click anywhere to zoom in for a closer look. You'll also able to watch an exclusive message from John Craven, flick through an example of issue one's content or listen to me as I reveal the exciting plans for the magazine. Click here to see it!

Enjoy!

Frankly, it wasn't Roger Moore

2007-08-05T21:50:00.000+01:00

Hello, I used to be a blogger, but then real life got in the way...

However, after a short break I am back with an amazing fact of the day...

The late Mike Reid, who played Frank Butcher in Eastenders was Roger Moore's stunt double in The Saint.

Who would have known?

NEW SHORT STORY! Benny and Louise

2007-06-11T08:26:00.000+01:00

Mark Wright and myself have a new short story in the upcoming anthology from Big Finish Bernice Summerfield - Missing Adventures. The story - Benny and Louise - starring a younger version of everyone's favourite space archeologist also features the return of a monster from another Big Finish line.

Click on the link above to preorder today!

Cav & Mark take over The Tomorrow People

2007-05-03T19:10:00.000+01:00

Well, the secrets out. Mark Wright and myself are taking over as Producers of Big Finish's The Tomorrow People line of audios. We've known for a while and we're very excited. Our first audio as Producers will hit the shelves spring 2008.

In the meantime, the next TP audio Rachel by Nigel Fairs is out soon and is absolutely stonking so pre-order it today!

NEW PLAY - The Tomorrow People - War of the Slarvians

2007-04-18T10:31:00.000+01:00

Mark Wright and I have worked together on another audio play, our first since 'Doctor Who - Project: Lazarus' in 2003. War of the Slarvians is the third play in Big Finish's sixth Tomorrow People series. It's released this October.

It features the giant space snails we created together and who first slimed onto the scene in Mark's The Slarvian Menace.

There's not much info I can offer at the moment, but as the teaser blurb says "A Slarvian spaceship crashlands on Earth; the Slarvians are at war and they're begging for help."

All I can say is that this won't be the only appearance of the Slarvian's this year!

This is me... apparently... Bwa ha ha haaaaa

2007-04-17T19:34:00.001+01:00

You Are 54% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side.
Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

Thoughts on the gym

2007-04-03T13:22:00.000+01:00

While killing myself on the cross-trainer today I considered what my gym does to encourage its members. First is the fact that you can hire out DVDs for free if you keep coming back. Brilliant, although it has worried me that I joined for the chance of seeing The Whole Nine Yards than worrying about my abs.

Then there's the dance music pumped around the gym. This, is suppose is to provide an up-tempo beat to train along to. I guess that training to Morrissey wouldn't be so inspiring. However, I suspect that the music has more to do with the fact that in the part of the gym mainly used by men, they show the video to the song on large screens. Today, every video featured slim, young girls in various states of not wearing many clothes at all gyrating to their song. 'Perhaps this has more to do with it. Gym member,' these young sirens are saying, 'if you push that treadmill up to 13 and work a little harder you will be fit enough to come and talk to girls like me.'
Trouble is, after an hour in the gym I'm a wreck and even if I wanted to meet those who The Field magazine would call fine young fillies (and if my wife's reading this I'm not so please don't break my legs when I get home with a spatula), I'm a wheezing, puffing cripple and therefore slightly more alluring than a three-thousand-year mummified cadaver.

I suppose the last encouragement is that the people who staff the gym all look like their in the peak of condition and no-doubt are. One of the guys I have been told can crack a walnut using his bicep although I have no idea how you do such a thing. I think I would have trouble squashing a grape. You are greeting by an exceptionally friendly but somehow intimidating row of shiny teeth and well-defined chests on reception. I guess this should have me leaping up the stairs to the changing room thinking 'that could be me', but instead it makes me suck my gut in a little more and secretly wonder if my torture on the leg-press is actually working.

Therefore I think that all gyms should have at least one receptionist that looks like Johnny Vegas. If you were greeting by Johnny holding a pint in one hand and a kebab in the other you would immediately feel better about yourself and, in an improved state of mind, work harder on the equipment.

I cannot believe no-one's worked this out before...

BBC Countryfile magazine

2007-03-23T14:48:00.000Z

Today we've announced the identity of the top secret project I've been working on.

In October BBC Magazines will be launching BBC Countryfile magazine, based on the BBC One programme of the same name, with yours truly as Editor.

The Media Guardian did a great story on us here

It will be a practical, people-centric lifestyle mag covering all aspects of country life and green, sustainable living and I am very, very excited.

More news to come...

Help Jacob's Quest for Knowledge

2007-03-22T08:41:00.000Z

My mate Dave's little boy Jacob is asking people to pop by his blog and tell him about where they live. So if you're reading this from a far-off land such as America, Romania or Skegness then pop over and leave a comment.

I'm editing a Chrimbo Doctor Who short story collection! Fa la la la la!

2007-03-22T08:32:00.000Z

A wee bit of news. December 2007 will see the publication of the short-story collection 'Doctor Who - Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas' edited by me, Cavan Scott and my good friend and writing partner, Mark Wright. The hardback anthology will be published by here

More information as it comes.

Selling everything he owns...

2007-03-20T20:20:00.000Z

Via that fantastic podcast HomeTown Tales I have heard about a chap from Pittsburg who is trying to sell everything he owns on ebay. It's not some buddist thing, he just wants to raise the readies to go driving all over the United States.

You can check out his blog here.

The entire kit and kaboodle is currently going for $6,000 A bargain considering all the gear that's available.

Although has anyone asked why he owns a Mannequin Head?

10 PLACES TO VISIT THIS WEEKEND WITH DODGY NAMES BEGINNING WITH 'B'!

2007-03-02T14:54:00.000Z

The British Countryside is full of quaint and charming place-names. Some however seem only to have been named to give schoolboys something to snigger at...

1. Badgers Mount - Kent
2. Bell End near Lickey End - Worcestershire
3. Boggy Bottom - Hertfordshire
4. Booby Dingle - Herefordshire
5. Bottom Burn - Fife
6. Breasty Haw - Lake District
7. Brown Willy - Cornwall
8. Bummers Hill - East Hertfordshire
9. Butt Hatch - Essex
10. Butty Moss - Cheshire

I think you can get creams for some of those!

This was taken from THE WEEKLY COWPAT a new email newsletter offering a sideways look at the British Countryside. You can subscribe to it yourself by going to www.thecowpat.co.uk if you so desire...

How not to act by Nicholas Cage

2007-03-02T09:12:00.000Z

Why did you do it Nicholas Cage? Why did you get involved in the Whicker Man remake?

Why? Why? WHY?

Did you lose the ability to act as soon as the cameras began rolling? If these clips are anything to go by that's the only logical conclusion.

You have to watch these! I never thought I'd see Nicholas Cage in a bear suit slugging a woman, but now I have. Remember these were supposed to be scary, not funny!

Step away from the bike!!!

Green Hypocrites?

2007-03-01T11:16:00.001Z

I can't help agreeing with Mark Lynas in this article in The Guardian. If journalists and right-wing activists continue on this hypocrasy witch-hunt on high-profile figures willing to take an environmental stand then no-one will put their head over the parapet and make a stand.

Yes, we have to make a change. Yes, the more we do the better. But sometime activists have to be aware that campaigning has to be balanced with realism.

It's a fine day says Rolf Harris

2007-02-21T11:40:00.000Z

Bag Pipes. Didgeridoos. Rolf Harris.

Three things you would not expect to hear on a dance track.

Until Now.

'Fine Day' will cheer you up whatever your mood and you can listening to it at my MySpace page.

While you're there you can always add yourself as one of my friends. Will you be my friend? Will you?

Changing Times

2007-02-19T15:08:00.001Z

A lifetime ago when working on T3 Magazine I wrote that one of my ambitions in life was to steal some of Britney Spear's hair and clone an entire army of Britney's all wearing the red rubber costume from the 'Whoops I did it again' video. They would then wait on me hand and foot.

Now, I have the chance. All I need to do is buy some of her recently shaved locks and double-check my collection of rubbish sci-fi films to work out how to grow her in a test-tube.

However, I now find that the thought of being surrounded by 1000 Britneys is quite distressing and I'd much rather clone, say, Emma Thompson.

Is this a sign that I'm getting older?

The Joy of Roasts

2007-02-19T14:12:00.000Z

On another blog I was visiting someone said a post about a roast sunday dinner was a lame topic about a post.

I can think of much worse topics.

There's just something very comforting about a sunday lunch. Something that reminds you of the past. Something that gives you a wistful thrill for a time that probably never existed and reminds you, for just an hour, that things haven't changed that much. OK, the climate is shifting. OK, the world doesn't seem so safe. But whatever happens you will always have roasties, yorkshire puddings and horseradish source.

It's time for family and friends to sit down and enjoy time together. To laugh, joke and pass the mint sauce. For once, you can forget about sitting in front of the telly with a tray on your lap and enjoy eating in other people's country. To remember the time that Grandma let off when she was tucking into the stuffing or dad was caught feeding his parsnips to the dog. It's a cosy room when the rain lashes down, the smoky, oaky smell of an old pub. It's home.

It's the one meal where you're allowed to view the world, your past, present and future with rose-tinted-glasses.

It's nostalgia on a plate.

But what is your favourite roast dinner? Is it lamb? Beef? Chicken? Take part in our poll and let us know what you'd rather have alongside your spuds and carrots...

I Hates Macs says the Guardian's Charlie Brooker

2007-02-05T11:55:00.001Z

And so in today's Guardian, Charlie Brooker has a go at Macs in his 'I Hate Macs' opinion piece.

His anger has been peaked by the Mitchell and Webb ads where he points out that Webb's Mac persona might be a bit on the smug side.

Well, Mac users can be smug obviously as our machines are safe, easy to use and just plain lovely. Obviously Mr Brooker would see my comments here as a justification of his point but I couldn't care less.

And the reason I dismiss your views Mr Brooker? Because you dare have a pop at my beloved Mac? Nope! Because you call Mac users mediocre idiots? 'Fraid not!

You see, Charlie-boy, I would have cared a lot more about your argument if you hadn't included this sentance...

"When I sit down to use a Mac, the first thing I think is, "I hate Macs", and then I think, "Why has this rubbish aspirational ornament only got one mouse button?"

Journalism at its best. Mr Brooker was obviously so wound up when he wrote this little piece that he failed to perform a one-minute research session in which he found out that the Mighty Mouse can indeed click both ways. He claims that the Mac ads slag off PC users with a series of sweeping generalisations. Shame he didn't think to get his facts right before he did the exact same thing about Mac users. Charlie obviously hates Macs, the trouble is, he hate Macs from about five years ago it seems...

We've adopted Jim Branning

2007-01-09T13:04:00.000Z

You can adopt anything now. Monkeys, Dolphins, even Nuns. I have therefore chosen to adopt a soap character. The Cavblog is proud to have adopted Jim Branning.

We're proud that our support of Jim will help conservation work of genuinely humorous characters in Albert Square, a rare breed indeed.

And to welcome Jim, lets just have a little watch of my favourite moment from TV so far this year.

New Years Resolutions

2007-01-02T09:07:00.000Z

OK, then. It's that first day at school feeling. I've got my brand new diary on my desk with a nice blank page and I'm desperately trying to work out what I had to do today, what I did before the Christmas break and what this work thing is anyway.

So far I haven't done very well.

Better work out some new years resolutions then that I can break in record time.

1. I will not spend any money on Ebay in the month of January.
I do not need that luminous Frankenstein back-scratcher in its original packaging. Its not essential and will only end up being too big for my letter box and then I'll have to brave Kingswood on a Saturday morning to pick it up from a particularly grotty post office depot. I hate going to Kingswood on a Saturday morning as its one of the most depressing places on the planet. It's a grimy, cheap and nasty place that brings out the snob in me, and I'm someone who usually really likes cheap and nasty places. Most days I would rather beat myself around the head with a pillowcase full of rusty shrapnel than venture into Kingswood.

2. I will not moan about going into Kingswood.
I’m sure it’s a very nice place full of lovely people.

3. While I’m at home relaxing with my family I will not check my emails roughly 7.9 times every second.
If someone has sent me something of vital importance at 9.15 in the evening it can probably wait. In fact if someone has sent me something of vital importance I will be too busy dealing with the fact that hell has frozen over and air-traffic control is having serious problems with the sheer amount of flying pigs.

4. I shall try and not eat anything from KFC for the first six months of the year.
I know I will break this one but I have to try don’t I. It’s just the guilty pleasure of biting into the slimy, rubbery flesh of a genetically mutated chicken is so good because you know its so, so bad. Plus, I like the little wet-wipes you get after you’ve finished gorging yourself with too much fried food.

5. I will stop force feeding my wife Doctor Who trivia.
She doesn’t need to know and she doesn’t deserve it. All the poor women did was marry me. She didn’t realise that would mean that she would be informed that the person who played the third Monoid from the left once appeared in an episode of Juliet Bravo.

Happy Christmas

2006-12-24T21:15:00.000Z

A Chrimbo knees up - NOT!

2006-12-22T13:45:00.000Z

As a jokey Chrimbo present I bought Clare the Chas n Dave Christmas album to kick off the festive weekend.

There isn't a single knees up on it. No sitting around the Joanna hammering away, just Chas n Dave singing carols very slowly with extreme reverence backed by a Salvation Army band.

It wouldn't go down well in the Queen Vic I can tell you.

I feel cheated guv'nor. I was robbed!

A good week!

2006-12-21T16:30:00.000Z

This has been a great week. A new audio play commission plus a short story contract. Fa la la la la!

Poor old Joseph

2006-12-19T22:31:00.000Z

On the bus this morning, desperately trying to avoid getting a bit frustrated with the 30 stone woman who was sitting beside me and trying to squash me into a space on the seat that an ant would find a bit of the snug side I spotted a poster for a big screen adaptation of the Nativity Story. I didn’t know the film was coming out, hadn’t seen any trailers, official soundtrack CDs or action figures although I have read the book and presume I know how it ends.

It amazed me that, if the poster could be trusted, I didn’t know anyone in the film at all. Where was the big star that would have people running to the box-office (as opposed to the big star that had the Magi running to Bethlehem)? It seemed a missed opportunity. This is, I am reliably informed, the Greatest Story Ever Told and you would think that Hollywood’s greatest and good would be queuing up for the chance to get in on the act.

So, to keep my mind from giving in to the temptation of seeing how many times I would have to hit the portly lady on the head with a rolled up copy of the Metro before her bonce sunk into her blubbery neck I proceeded to create a fantasy cast list for my own blockbuster Nativity epic.

For Joseph I immediately went for Alan Rickman. Rickman has a rather marvellous face that gravity seems to have pounced upon in a particularly spiteful moment and dragged down to the lower reaches of the earth. With this in mind he would be immensely qualified in playing a man who’s just discovered that his teenage virgin bride has a bun in the oven and claims, beyond belief, that the father is God almighty meaning that it would be incredibly difficult to go round and duff up the bounder. It’s not like giving Todd Baker a dry slap round the back of the youth club because he’s been seen messing around with your girl, Beverly Beckett. No, running into a jealous fury is considerably more difficult when the Unmoved Mover is the object of your bile.

Poor old Joe didn’t even get to name the kid. I’m sure he’d rather have used the name Jeremy or Tarquin and yet an Angel picked Jesus’ moniker. Hardly seems fair does it?

No-wonder Joseph looks so depressed on Eastern Orthodox iconography. He’s always sitting there in the corner of the Icon as everyone coos and ga-gas around the baby Jesus, head in his hand obviously sulking his little carpenter heart out. All he wanted was a teenage bride and a quite life and he got a stable, some shepherds who no-doubt smelt of sheep dung and a lifetime of being played by snotty seven year olds with tea-towels wrapped around their heads. If I were him I’d have a cob on too.
In fact, I started to feel so sorry for Joseph (as expertly played by Alan Rickman) that I forget a) about being sandwiched between a grimy bus wall and Hanham’s very own Jabba the Huttette and b) the rest of my fantasy cast. I had vaguely considered Keira Knightly as the virgin Mary but came to the conclusion that she is now so skinny she would be mistaken for one of the shepherd’s crooked staffs which would just be embarrassing.

So, here I raise a glass (or at least a cup of stewed BBC Magazine tea) to Joseph, the grumpiest man in the nativity. Bad luck old chap. At least you knew that while your young wife would spend eternity appearing to 14-year old peasant girls near the Pyrenees or making statues cry in stuffy chapels you could, I am sure, construct a mean set of shelves, which is more than I can to be honest.

Express Delivery

2006-12-13T12:36:00.000Z

So, today the newspapers can report on the sad and frankly terrifying story that we have a serial killer preying on prostitutes. The Daily Express, the self proclaimed greatest newspaper on the planet, has therefore chosen to give this a cover story. However being the Express it feels the need to split the cover in two so it can give equal billing to yet another story about Diana's death which happened 10 years ago.

I would suggest that the editor of the Express has forgotten what real news is and needs to question why the Express feels the need to bang on about Diana's death every day on its cover.

Why this is as important as a series of terrible murders in today's Britain I will never know.

Sir Terry thinks I'm a eejit...

2006-12-05T17:57:00.000Z

This morning I was called an eejit by Sir Terry Wogan live on Radio 2. I am very, very proud...

Listen to it here

Marley was plush to begin with...

2006-12-02T23:00:00.000Z

Give your loved ones nightmare this festive season with their very own Jacob Marley cuddly toy!

Yo Ho Ho!

Ho Ho Ho

2006-11-07T10:40:00.000Z

Torchwood: Cyberwoman

2006-11-06T10:00:00.000Z

OK, some fanboy questions about last night's Torchwood episode, Cyberwoman.

Since when have the Cybermen given their victims metal bras and high heels?

And why can Jack survive a bullet to his head but his split lip won't heal?

A Halloween MP3: Reverend Murknight's Ghastly Ghosts

2006-10-28T22:36:00.000+01:00

A halloween treat for you. In a tribute to the classic halloween LPs of the past, prepare to the sinister Reverend Murknight as brings you creepy stories over a crackling fire. Turn the lights down, fire up the mp3 from the link below and prepare to have your heart chilled.

Reverend Murknight is played by Mark Bruzee and the show was written and produced by yours truly.

This episode: The suicidal bride, the corpse in the mill pond and the phantom eviction.

You can now subscribe via iTunes

subscribe via iTunes |mp3 | rss

That's Weird - Episode Four

2006-10-22T00:02:00.000+01:00

After an eternity, episode four of That's Weird is finally here - our halloween special, featuring Halloween superstitions, urban myths and ghosts who love biscuits. Plus, I'm joined by my co-host, Nick Peers. Fantastic! Obviously it's all largely nonsense but is the ideal way to waste half an hour.

Don't forget to email us with any weird and wonderful stories or hauntings for future shows!

subscribe via iTunes | mp3 | rss

Blair rocks out

2006-10-19T10:41:00.000+01:00

The Bumps

2006-10-19T10:08:00.000+01:00

Wikipedia is useless. We've just been wondering where the ritual of giving someone The Bumps on their birthday come from from. Like any thorough journalist I went immediately to Wikipedia and it told me diddly-squat.

But where did this strange custom come from. Is it a form of torture that has become a children's game? I don't know. The internet has failed me.

I asked BBC History but they're not taking my request seriously.

Can anyone out there help?

Creepy Pumpkin

2006-10-15T22:31:00.000+01:00

Awww doesn't think Halloween fella look cute.

There I was admiring the craftsmanship and then I starting scrolling down to watch with increasing disbelief a chronicle of how 'Pepper' rotted away over the space of year to turn into this...

Apparently he feels like styrofoam.

Am I the only one who finds this entire story a little, well, creepy...

BBC MindGames Podcast launches today!

2006-10-11T21:19:00.000+01:00

The BBC MindGames Magazine podcast launches today starring me! It's a pubquiz based on our latest issue, that sets you 20 questions about everything from horror films to the Land of the Rising Sun. There's also a competition to win Su Doku gadgets.

You can download it direct from here or use enter the following url into you podcast reader of choice - www.bbcmindgames.com/podcast/podcast_gi.xml.

Make me happy and have a listen!

Timm's Dracula

2006-10-10T22:29:00.000+01:00

Wow! This is the co-creator and Producer of Batman: The Animated Series, Bruce Timm's fantastic vision of the Christopher Lee. Now, an animated Hammer series. That would be fantastic. Check out more here

Crisis solved

2006-10-10T19:46:00.000+01:00

The problem has past and Steve bought biscuits. Thanks for everyone's help!

Now, this is a fascinating use of a blog, eh?

Help feed us biscuits

2006-10-10T14:51:00.000+01:00

We're having a biscuit crisis in work. Go here to vote whether my art editor Steve should refill the biscuits. You'll have to regisiter first to vote but you would have my undying thanks!

ITV Frankenstein

2006-09-29T21:55:00.000+01:00

So ITV are remaking Frankenstein.

Please, please, please don't let them cast Ross Kemp!!!

Whoops!

2006-09-29T21:45:00.000+01:00

Now, if you're going to get rumbled you might as well get rumbled in style. Apparently this is a real photo taken in the states...

Charity Workers

2006-09-29T21:29:00.000+01:00

I'm being stalked by a charity hawker.

There's one particular long haired, rubbish-goateed, gold-toothed, ironic-eyebrowed pratoid who seems to have some kind of gizmo that seeks me out every, single bloomin' lunchtime.

No matter which part of town I wander and no matter how alert I am, he’s there, standing in my path brandishing his clipboard proudly and starting a conversation before I’ve been forced to stop.

It’s getting a little creepy now.

Perhaps he thinks I’m a challenge. I mean it’s not that I won’t give to charity - I do regularly, but privately and in my own time - but I’d rather staple my own tongue to my foot before giving him my direct debit details. And yet, every day he tries, for whatever charity is paying him to send honest people on guilt trips.

Yesterday, for example he stopped me to talk about disabled children. Before I’d clocked what charity he was hawking I put up a polite but firm hand and stated that I wasn’t interested.
“Not interested,” he boomed after me, “Not interested in poor, suffering, disabled children.”

And thus I was branded as someone slightly lower down the scale of decency than say, Satan.

Perhaps someone can start a charity to get charity vendors off the street? Can I ask you for a donation?

Ah the joy of YouTube

2006-09-28T14:04:00.000+01:00

Genius - Beer Can Cannon

2006-09-18T11:58:00.000+01:00

Admire the beauty. Isn't YouTube a wonderful thing...

Pink Vader

2006-09-17T20:21:00.000+01:00

Darth's gone over to the camp side...

The Mozart Effect

2006-09-17T17:54:00.000+01:00

To promote the new issue of BBC MindGames (out now puzzle fans!)I've been the darling of the local radio scene talking about The Mozart Effect, the theory that listening to Amadeus can increase your intellegence. In the last 24 hours I've chatted live on BBC Radio Solent, Kent and Leeds.

Check out the interview on Radio Leeds here!

Paperback Reader

2006-09-16T23:15:00.000+01:00

Got some recent comic reviews over at Paperback Reader if you fancy a look...

Claws issue one and two, Wormwood Gentlemen Corpse 2, Transformers Evolutions Hearts of Steel 3 and Justice League of America 1

Spider-Friends, go for it!!

2006-08-19T22:29:00.000+01:00

My favourite cartoon when I was a kid? Had to be Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. Somewhere in my parent's loft there must be my collection of C60 tapes containing the soundtracks of the toon recorded off the telly. For this reason I loved Marvel's latest Spider-Family one-shot featuring a new story featuring Spidey and his chums Iceman and Firestar. Granted the issue also features issue two of the SpiderMan 2099 (why bother reprinting something that a) was rubbish in the first place and b) finishes with a cliff hanger? There must have been other stand-alone stories that could have filled this space) and a reprint of Spider-Man fighting a Man-Bat wannabe) but the Amazing Friends story makes it well worth the cover price. All at once I was transported back to late afternoon TV, simple adventures and corny villains. Magical.

Now if only they'd do a new version of the show like the one imagined in this fan art..

I'm also reminded of my other Spider-Man memory when I was younger. A copy of Spider-Man with Spidey holding the unconcious form of Wasp in his hand against a storm. I bought it on holiday in Cornwall and must have read and re-read it time and time again that week. I can't remember if it was any good, or what the story was about but I remember loving that comic... I wonder if I can find it online...

EDITED: 30th AUGUST

For that little bit of nostalga...

Press Release

2006-08-19T16:49:00.000+01:00

I'm famous! Just two things - Why did they have to use an awful photo like that and when did I edit a mag called Internet Business? Ah well, who needs correct facts...

The Mummy

2006-08-19T15:48:00.000+01:00

Out of all the classic cinematic monsters, the mummy is one that is largely forgotten or, at least, ignored by modern horror. Granted in the ‘90s we had the fireworks of Stephen Sommers’ CGI-fest re-imagining of Imhotep, but while vamps, werewolves and Frankenstein’s spawn pop up time and time again, the Mummy remained festering in its sarcophagus.

Perhaps the Egyptian ghoul has simply been taken over by modern-day zombies - surely its closest unliving relative - but the Mummy seems to be perceived as a charming, but largely anachronistic, terror of yesteryear. However, when you look back at 1932's The Mummy you see a landmark film you realise how much horror has to thank this Boris Karloff's classic portrayal of the man out of time.

The Mummy obviously has echoes of Dracula but is in many ways a far superior film. While it contains little actual shocks the overriding sense of creeping horror is outstanding, helped by Karl Freund’s understated direction. While Karloff only appears in full bandage makeup at the start of the film, Freund’s restraint shines through the fact that he doesn’t linger over still-impressive Jack Pierce makeup. Instead, a withered hand, strands of rotten fabric and the viewer’s imagination provide the horror. Later when the Mummy has regained some humanity, Karloff too keeps things close, hardly moving or adding any inflection into his lisping voice, yet invoking more menace than Bela Lugosi ever managed in Dracula. This is never more apparent than when we are treated to extreme close ups of Ardath Bey’s desecrated face as he stares down his opponents. Haunting and powerful even though Karloff hardly twitches a solitary facial muscle.

While The Mummy lacks much of the spectacle of later Mummy movies, and those who just want to see a grunting, bandage –clad zombie smashing through period sets will be sadly disappointed, the daddy of all Mummys betrays sophistication and subtly rarely found in horror movies.

What would the Hoff do

2006-08-09T19:52:00.000+01:00

He's the Pipex-powered king of the internet and his power knows no end...

Check out these quotes from Fulham full-back Moritz Volz:

"The Hoff is a big inspiration - in times of trouble I often ask myself 'how would the Hoff deal with this situation...?"

That's it - I can make a fortune through this. WWTHD - What would the Hoff do? bracelets, t-shirts, novely pens... the possibilities are endless.

Fast... Ship?

2006-08-05T12:59:00.000+01:00

Did you know Christopher Walken was second choice for Han Solo? True story...

Here in this clip from Saturday Night Life Kevin Spacey gives us an idea of what the screen test might have been like...

This is the BBC...

2006-08-05T12:44:00.000+01:00

It's been a great week this week.

After 11 years at Future Publishing I've moved over to BBC Magazine where I've taken up editorship of BBC MindGames, a new breed of puzzle mag. BBC MindGames is not just any old puzzle magazine, it's jam-packed with new and traditional puzzles, clues, brainteasers, challenges and much more on every page. Plus there's features of how the mind works, tie-ins to BBC programmes and much more.

Working for the Beeb has long been an ambition of mine and so I'm made up about this. I must admit I can't remember the last time I had so much fun at work.

Not having to work such long hours at work should also mean I can get back on track with a number of my online projects including the That's Weird podcast.

So all is good. Watch Bristol City lose to Scunthorpe this afternoon to muck up my mood!

Ghost star

2006-07-26T21:40:00.000+01:00

Forget Derek Acorah, the real star of Most Haunted is Richard Felix, the ghost-fearing, ghost-hunting doctor. The proof, well check out the great merchandise available at his site... Now, who wants a range of Cavblog products like that?

Doctor in Distress

2006-07-21T13:37:00.000+01:00

Ah the 80s. A time when the success of Band Aid had made charity singles a part of everyday life. Remember Ferry Aid? And of course Band Aid 2...

Oh, yes and this abomination - Doctor in Distress, released when Doctor Who was put on hiatus for 18 months. Did they really think this would make BBC execs change their mind?

Dr. Who goes groovy

2006-07-08T10:43:00.000+01:00

And so the Daleks return to TV tonight as the second series of Doctor Who comes to an end. In celebration I've dug out Eric Winstone's wonderfully rubbish version of the Dr. Who theme.

I had this on a LP when I was a kid, bizarrely partnered by the Rupert The Bear theme, Pink Panther and an odd PlaySchool / Magic Roundabout MegaMix. In the late 70s / early 80s I must have worn out the grooves on this record and let the weird, strangulated chords of Mr Winstone's arrangement transport me to weird and wonderful planets.

OK, so it's a bit on the crappy side but as a bit of groovy nostalgia, it can't be beat.

So sit back, imagine the crackle of the vinyl and enjoy!

The Doctor's new girl

2006-07-05T09:07:00.000+01:00

OK, I'm back after a long time away with a nerd alert.

So, Doctor Who has a new companion. The rather lovely Freema Agyeman will appear from season 3. The papers, such as the Mail, are of course loving the news that she's the Doctor's first black companion. Great journalism Mr Mail Hack. Have you forgotten Mickey Smith, the black companion from, er, 2006. How soon we forget.

She won't be in the Christmas special though, although RTD has promised a 'surprise'. So what do we think? Sarah Jane Smith again? Or perhaps its time to wheel out the Brigadier? Or will it be someone completely new?

Isn't it fantastic being an excited kid again?

PS. I'm backing the Daleks in the Dalek/Cybermen war...

Something Wicked #1

2006-05-24T20:37:00.000+01:00

A quick plug for a fantastic new horror comic. Granted Something Wicked does feature a story by yours truly* but it also includes some fantastically twisted tales from the best in the British small press. For just £3.50 you'll get 56 pages of werewolves, spooky seances and vicious voodoo. Fans of groovy age horror comics will love it...

* What's that? You want to know more about my story? Oh ok, "Step Right Up" a creepy carnival strip with a barrel load of freaks with art from thephenomenall Duncan Nimmo. Just have a good look at how great Duncan's stuff is in this sneak peak below... You gotta love the man who won't die. I laughed when I wrote it, but laughed more when I saw Duncan's art.

Go on, treat yourself buy it here!

X-Men The Last Stand

2006-05-14T21:22:00.000+01:00

I was worried that X-Men The Last Stand would be a steaming pile of mutie's kidneys but I'm pleased to say that I loved every minute of it. Other than Sin City this truely is the best realisation of superhero action on the big screen. The scene when Juggernaut* and Wolverine slug it out in Jean Grey's house is stunning in the way that they smash through walls in the exact way you'd expect to see them in the pages of a comic.

I do think it might be a film for the fans in some ways however. There are some lovely moments straight from classic X-Men and stuff we've been waiting for since the first movie. It was very telling that of the people I went with, Mark (someone who really knows the X-Men) like me thought it was phenomenal whereas Rich (who isn't an X-Men fan really) thought it looked good but was a so-so film. It could be that's how the the general audience will see it - good action but a bit average - whereas fans will get much more out of it because they have more invested in the characters. Even though, be prepared for a few shocks...

One thing I did learn though from watching the film though... Patrick Stewart looks seriously weird when digitally altered to appear 20 years younger. In fact he looks like the kind of man Liza Minelli would marry.

* Should Vinnie Jones have been cast as the Juggernaut? Probably not but he does cause a few laughs. Some of them were even intentional...

Bet your cares away....

2006-05-10T21:02:00.000+01:00

Yes, we’re writing a Fraggle Rock movie and trying to pull it together.”

These words have made me very, very, very excited. I loved Fraggle Rock as a kid and the fact that there's a movie on the way is enough to keep me working in the kid's entertainment issue until it comes out. I want to do the Disney's Big Time cover with the Fraggles on it.

And apparently they're working on 'something different' for Labyrinth. Not a movie then. It has to be a game then. "Where's the baby Sarah?"

Tomb of Dracula

2006-05-09T20:32:00.000+01:00

Here's a coincidence. There I was reading the latest SFX and noticed that my good friend Nick Setchfield is reading his way throught the Essential Tomb of Dracula at exactly the same time as I am. We're both currently working our respective ways through the second volume of this classic Marvel collection.

It really is a remarkable series that any Dracula fan shouldn't miss. First up, the groovy seventies vibe screams Hammer and in some ways I wish that Christopher Lee had been given the scripts afforded to Marvel's Lord of the Damned.
Stand out for me is the facts that;

a) This is a series where the main character is a blood-thirsty murdering son-of-a-doo-dah who is happiest when he's slaughtering. There are a group of heroes out to stop his evil ways but most of the time you find yourself on Drac's side, willing him to win out in the end. This isn't because the good guys are bland and boring - anything but - but because the dark lord is so well written. Yes, he's melodramatic and obviously self-absorbed but has a real sense of class. Could Marvel have pulled off a 70 issue Doctor Doom series. Nah, not like this. (NB. Prepare yourself for some clever dick to point out that they did in the early eighties and you've not heard about it Cav.)
Granted there are moments when we see that there is a smidgen of humanity beneath that vampiric veneer but thankfully Drac remains evil to the core - noble and intelligent yes, but still as deadly as old fang-features should be.

b) It's not afraid to take risks. Characters are set up, well-rounded only to be killed off suddenly and surprisingly. Even the lead character for that matter. OK, you do have a sneaking suspicion that Drac might be resurrected the next issue but the unpredictable nature of the main cast keeps the interest. When a goodie turns bad in say Spider-Man you expect it to be a stunt and they'll be back on the side of right when the hypes over. Not so in Tomb.

c) It's just plain fun. There's no angst or attempts to be clever. Tomb of Dracula is just good escapist fun, undemanding armchair horror from a time before chills just equalled buckets of gore.

Bond is back again...

2006-05-07T12:57:00.000+01:00

So there I am scoffing that Star Wars fans will have to rebuy the DVDs again as Lucas is releasing the original movies without the changes and then I find this. Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

I have re-bought the majority of the Bond films three times over. I can't do it again. Clare will send me to live in the shed if I do. And surely I don't need another copy of Thunderbore or Die Another Franchise?

Do I? Do I?

Well perhaps I'll just get Live and Let Die...

Anthony Head is Dracula

2006-05-01T14:28:00.000+01:00

Had a weird but good dream last night. I was directing the first Hammer Horror film in decades, starring Anthony Head as Dracula. To be honest, the film was that good it would probably get an oscar.
However back in reality, how good would Mr Head would be as old Draccy-boy? This probably came from his superb performance as the evilest of evil headmasters, Mr Hector Finch, in Saturday's Doctor Who. He positively oozed maleficence. And so I start my campaign now - HEAD FOR DRACULA! Let's get T-Shirts printed, banners on walls... Let's live the dream.

But if Head was Dracula, who would play Van Helsing? Any casting suggestions?

Top 5 werewolves...

2006-04-24T23:01:00.000+01:00

Still amazed at how good the werewolf was in Doctor Who on Saturday here is the official Cavblog top five movie werewolves...

5. The Curse of the Werewolf
"He fought the hideous curse of his evil birth, but his ravished victims were proof that the cravings of his beast-blood demanded he kill... Kill... KILL." It was a toss up between this chap, the original Wolf-man, the Werewolf of London or Paul Naschy but Ollie Reeds wolf wins out in the man-with-fur-glued-to-his-face variety. Wonderfully iconic if from a slightly boring film. Hammer should have done another wolf film to get it right.

4. The Wolf-Man, Van Helsing
Is it heresy to admit to liking this movie? OK it has it's flaws but it's fun, hokum all the way through. And the wolf-man is a huge, lolloping hunk of silver fur. I'd rather face Lon Chaney Jr's fuzzy-faced wolf than this beast in a dark wood any day.

3. Dog Soldiers
Saying that, there's something about a man in a wolf-suit, isn't there. Granted they're better when they're running about in the shadows and you don't see much of them, but which monster isn't...

2. Underworld
Another film that I'm not sure if you're supposed to like (personally I love it) but fantastic wolves none-the-less, especially as they're another case of a great man-in-a-suit-monster (with a little bit of CGI here or there to help out). And werewolves that can run across walls and ceilings? Pant-wettingly scary..

1. American Werewolf in London
Obviously this bad-boy has to be on the list and it has to be at number one. Has a transformation ever looked more painful? And of course, ignoring the wolf, there's that scene in the shower. If you squint and use your imagination...

So there you go wolf-pickers, there are my top five. Do you agree or do you think I'm talking a load of Loup-Garoux poop. Let me know.

PS. On the subject of werewolves don't forget you can still join the SAVE THE WEREWOLF cause!

Doctor Who: New Earth / Tooth and Claw

2006-04-24T12:09:00.000+01:00

The events of the last couple of weeks have meant that I haven't commented on the other event of the last couple of weeks, the return of Doctor Who. So what did we think of the first two episodes here in the Scott household. Well, Chloe cried through the first quarter of an hour of New Earth so I think that's her critique covered. Personally I didn't mind New Earth - I thought it was a little lightweight for a season opener but it was silly and camp and therefore utterly Doctor Who. But, one week on and we have Tooth and Claw.
Take Doctor Who, add a healthy dose of Hammer, a sprinkling of Kung Fu movies, some rather good Werewolf CGI and you have a fantastic episode. OK I'd rather it didn't have to do the Doctor Who thing and explain away the magic of the werewolf (sometimes it would be good if a supernatural monster stayed a supernatural monster rather than being an alien trapped on earth) but that is a little whinge.
People have also been moaning about the Doctor and Rose's 'giggling school-kids' persona, making them both smug and unappealling. I don't really care. They're having fun and besides they were like this in the last series (witness the high-fives and full-of-themselves carry-on when Mickey reaches the TARDIS in Boom Town). Plus RTD says it's all part of a master plan, so we'll have to wait and see.
Anyway, personally I'm more excited that next week (and excuse me for this) K9 IS BACK!!!!!! Woo-and indeed-hoo!

Welcoming Chloe May Scott

2006-04-19T12:42:00.000+01:00

I've been a bit distracted from the blog for a while and this is the reason...

Chloe May Scott was born on 11th April at 5.28. She's doing really well. Obviously I could resist giving her her own blog!

Blinged up in Bath

2006-03-20T21:45:00.000Z

Friday night saw the second part of Beast's stag do and to say he made an effort in his Mr. T outfit was an understatement as this photo shows. That's Ross as Kojak.

I'm not sure that my outfit really made me look like Magnum PI. More like Basil Fawlty on holiday!

It has to be says that my choices of mustaches didn't improve as the night went on!

That's Weird Episode Three

2006-03-20T21:37:00.000Z

Episode Three of that's weird is up now with exploding toilets, randy ghosts, chinese vampires and a special report on the British Big-Foot!

Don't forget to email us with any weird and wonderful stories or hauntings!

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When you wish upon a star

2006-03-16T21:36:00.000Z

I've not been around a lot and there's a reason. We've won the contract to publish Disney's Big Time and Disney girl and so my last few months have been taken up with putting the new look magazines together and embracing the Wonderful World of the Mouse...

It's been mad but the mags are going to look great!

More coming soon!

Glowing Graves

2006-02-26T20:18:00.000Z

A story on the HomeTown Tales forum reminded me of a little local legend I remember from my school days...

It's a story about a teenaged boy was messing around in the yard with his girlfriend in the Littlestoke Parish Church graveyard when they were swathed in an unearthly light. They turned to the source and saw that on a name on a nearby stone was glowing, burning out with a green light. It was his name, with his date of birth below and, worryingly, a date for his death - the 5th June, some six months in the future.

They ran but returning to the yard a few days later tracked down the stone. However, it wasn't his name on the stone but the name of the person buried beneath his feet.

He became terrified that he'd seen the date of his death and eventually suffered a nervous breakdown. After treatment failed the lad was admitted into an asylum, on none-other than the 5th June.

Obviously this is a local urban myth but one that still used to creep us out!

That's Weird Episode 2

2006-02-26T17:53:00.000Z

Episode Two of That's Weird is up now with discussion about how to survive night demons, Matilda, the world's oldest chicken and a cannibal's vegetarian alternative.

The cast also features music from Dave Keifer.

Don't forget to email us with any weird and wonderful stories or hauntings!

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That's Weird on iTunes

2006-02-16T19:13:00.000Z

The iTune lead to That's Weird is now up and running so get over there and get subscribing!

Plushy Plushy

2006-02-15T21:27:00.000Z

OK, I admit it - I own a tiny (and I do mean tiny) Mr Spock soft toy bought in the bargain bucket from the Star Trek Experience in Vegas so that should be remembered when I point out the following 'plushies' created for a John Barrowman fan.

Ladies and gentlemen I present the Doctor Who cuddly toys...

Personally I find these slightly disturbing - actually scratch that I find them utterly terrifying. Look at those soulless black eyes. Evil (Remember I am the man who had nightmares about wombles!

The word of culy plush figures is a scary one from the evil dead figures (with removable jaws), monty python, or, gulp, Ithaqua Monster.

But when, oh when is someone going to do a Dame Dot Cotton plushy?

"Ooh, I say!"

Podcast: That's Weird - Pilot Episode

2006-02-14T21:19:00.000Z

OH NO! Not only do I feel the need to wibble on in this and other blogs I've now decided to inflict my voice on people with one of these new-fangled podcasts!

The Pilot Episode of That's Weird is now available to listen via MP3 (I'm currently waiting for iTunes to complete the publishing milarky). What's it about? Oh the general nonsense you'd expect - shrunken heads, aliens in the attic and the odd ghost.

Hope you enjoy it. You never know I might get around to another episode soon (if Clare lets me ambandon her while I turn the study into a makeshift study once again!)

Click here to listen to the MP3

Run for the hills

2006-02-04T22:58:00.000Z

We are entering our darkest night. A new terror has risen from the shadows to slay us where we sleep. Dare you stare into the face of this horror?

For our childhoods have turned against us. My friends, it pains me to reveal such a betrayal but at last thise little blue pixies have revealed their true nature. We thought them happy, pipsqueek-voiced pixies when in fact they are nosfuratu.

No-one is safe. Plug any hole in your home, nail the cat-flap closed and tape up the letterbox. They are everywhere...

Any have Van Helsing's phone number?

Daleks il futuro fra un milione di anni!

2006-02-04T21:30:00.000Z

Watching and enjoying the new Doctor Who: The Beginning DVD box set and loving every minute (bet Clare's glad she's out tonight!)

Anyway, the only reason for mentioning it is an excuse for this fantastic Italian poster for the second Peter Cushing Dalek film. It has no bearing on the film (why is a woman in a spacesuit hanging onto the arm of an evil zombie Roboman? Did I blink and miss the space battle in the film?) but just oozes groovy cheesiness...

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