Who knew when I launched this blog that one of the most popular features would very quickly turn out to be wonky watercolour paintings of 1970's celebrities? Well, everyone probably because no matter how much we say its "sociological research into pre-Thatcherite Britain" and "valid social history", really we're just fascinated at the fact a magazine could look like that in this modern age of glossy, gift-bulging titles. Doesn't hurt some of the contents are (as they should be) baffling to a 2016 audience. But, as always, now ask the question: "Who the f**k ...in Look-In?"
Which celebrities are seen here in all their 70s pomp and glory?
Answers afer OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?
David Kid Jensen, Mike Reid, David Cassidy, Les Dawson as Superflop
Are we still doing the 1996 thing? Well, okay then. Looking back at Tuesday's TV quiz, there were a few folks surprised I'd missed out what was for them the biggest telly event of the year - no, not the episode of Seaquest DSV where Darwin said "knackers" - but Doctor Who which was back back BACK! For 85 minutes! (89 without PAL speedup) And then it was gone again! Which from a modern perspective, eleven years and four Doctors into a revival, was a blessing in disguise, no matter how good Paul McGann was in the role.
It had rated well enough to finish ninth in the week's TV with over 9 million viewers on a Bank Holiday Monday in May. Sadly in America, the story was always that it was crushed by its competition and only managed 5 and a half million. Enough to launch fifty Netflix series on now but in 1996, not great for national US television. So, what did it go up against? Well, that's for you to tell me in The Great Time Lord Rivalry Of 1996...
Here are six screengrabs from the actual episodes up against Doctor Who the night of May 14th 1996 (The John Larroquette Show, Wings, Moesha and CBS' Totally Animals amazingly did not make the list) but can you work out what the programmes are?
And as a bonus, here are four more programmes and episodes that aired that same week on the same channel as Who. (Fox.) Can you guess them all?
Answers after Jimi Hendrix picks up his puppy....
Home Improvement (Alarmed by Burglars), Roseanne (Heart & Soul), Ellen (The Tape), Frasier (The Focus Group), 3rd Rock from the Sun (Selfish Dick), NYPD Blue (Closing Time), The X Files (Talitha Cumi), The Simpsons (Homerpalooza), Beverly Hills 90210 (Ray of Hope), Married...with Children (The Joke's on Al)
Did you know that as well as being a world champion quizzist and powerful blog-wrangler, I also write and perform for various podcasts? One of which is "From The Sublime", an excellent review of recent pop-culture put together by journalist Iain Hepburn.
The latest episode is now available to download and is a special "1996" themed show with features on the likes of This Life, the much missed Neon magazine, Baddiel, Skinner and the brief spell of Euro 96 fever, pop and the promise of Babylon Zoo, WWF vs WWE vs NWO, celebrating Scottish fiction with the Children of Albion Rovers and there's myself talking about the time Bob Mortimer and Noel Gallagher went to Chris Evans house for Good Friday tea.
As a bit of cross promotional confrontation, here's a special 1996 movie quiz in which SIXTEEN of the year's biggest films have had their logos adapted to make a sentence....just. How much do you remember about the tinseltown tosspots of twenty years ago? Lets find out...
Answers after some fashionable heroin.
Independence Day, Twister, Mission: Impossible, The Rock, The First Wives Club, Romeo and Juliet, Ransom, The Cable Guy, Trainspotting, Striptease, Mars Attacks!, Eraser, The Birdcage, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Jerry Maguire, 101 Dalmatians
And so as the internet lights four candles for the passing of A Ronnie, we'd best have a nice gentle lunchtime quiz here at the blog. So we return to the heyday of the Rons, the imperial seventies and another run of four Look-In cover stars that could be anyone from Barbara Lott to Barbapapa, as I ask "Who the f**k ...in Look-In?"
And whilst you think on them, lets all listen to our new national anthem....
1. Ronnie Alvin Stardust, 2. Ronnie Cat Stevens, 3. Ronnie Sparks, 4. Ronnie Madness
Time for four more "famous" "faces" as featured on the front cover of the once-mighty Look-In magazine in the seventies and early eighties. On first peep, I declare the answers to be "Randy Grandad", Glynis Barber off Blakes 7, Tarbuck (Experiment Failed) and the stars of "The All New Already Vetoed Monkey Sex Pals Show". I could be wrong though...what do you reckon? Who the f**k is in Look-In?
Answers below.
1. Noddy Holder, 2. Kim Wilde, 3. Little Jimmy Osmond, 4. Greg Evigan (BJ and the Bear)
As you may have seen in various news stories around the web, today marks the tenth anniversary of the first tweet ever sent back when Ian Twitter first sent the message "I am leaving Twitter #blessed" on 21st March, 2006. No, really its true. Mostly.
But what if Twitter had been around much longer than that? And was already much in use in the worlds of fictional characters? That rather slight but intriguing premise is the crux for today's PRPQ lunchtime quiz. All you have to do is work out which characters from TV, film, literature and pop culture could've sent the following tweets...
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Answers can be found below...
1. Billy Bunter, 2. Officer Dibble (Boss Cat), 3. Ernie The Fastest Milkman In The West (Benny Hill), 4. Emu, 5. Zammo (Grange Hill), 6. Dr Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap), 7. Carwash (Willo The Wisp), 8. Luigi (Super Mario Bros), 9. Pacman, 10. ALF
More St Patrick's Day shillelagh-anigans with some more live clips, this time from 2015's "Salute To Irish Ireland", starting with one of the Irish musical big guns, The Irish Rover. Or at least the lyrics are. But as for the five artists and songs they're being performed in the style of, that's anybody's guess...
A regular appearance at our quiz nights is the singing superstar Steven Patrick Overcoat Morrissey who provides Smiths-esque medleys of various acts or styles. Being the most Irish man of all time (as evidenced by his 2004 hit "Irish Blood, English Bum") it was inevitable he would turn up to do a megamix of Irish hits both Eire and Northern based. See how many you can pick out.
Bizarrely that Morrissey round was featured on the front page of Audioboom once and got us a thousand plays in a day. Wonder how many of the buggers bought a book....
Final round for now (you can see the full quiz in said just mentioned book) and its time for a jolly sing-a-long with that other staple of pissed toothless arseholes sloshing Guinness around everywhere The Wild Rover. And he sure has roved - all over the world! So much so he's picked up five different languages for the choruses. Can you work out which?
That's all the dubious stereotyping for this Paddy's Day! Have a safe one! Don't drink too many lovely pints!
THE IRISH ROVER: 1. Zombie – The Cranberries, 2. Parklife – Blur, 3. Rockin' In the Free World – Neil Young, 4. I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys, 5. Come Together – The Beatles / MORRISSEY DOES IRELAND: Dirty Old Town (Various), Whiskey In The Jar (Various), Jailbreak (Thin Lizzy), My Perfect Cousin (Undertones), I Don't Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats), Orinoco Flow (Enya), Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead O'Connor), Screamager (Therapy?), Them Girls Them Girls (Zig and Zag), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), What Can I Do? (The Corrs), Lipstick (Jedward), My Lovely Horse (The Divine Comedy)/ THE WILD ROVER: 1. French, 2. German, 3. Dutch, 4. Russian, 5. Chinese
For those of a certain age, Look-In magazine was the go to place to learn about the latest trends in pop, film and television, specifically ITV programmes on the myriad of now-long dissolved telly regions. One of the key features that made it stand out from its pop mag brethren was its eschewing of photographs in favour of especially commissioned painted covers, invariably done by respected Italian film poster artist Arnaldo Putzu.
Sometimes this resulted in a wonderful, unique rendering of a current favourite, such as this wonderful "Monster" mash-up...
But sometimes under tight deadlines and less than reliable source material, it could go a bit wrong and you'd end up with something like...I do not know what this is...
And so, a regular feature here on the blog will be "Who The Fuck...in Look-In?" devoted to four not necessarily obvious cover stars of the past. Here's the first...
Answers below....
1. Bryan Ferry, 2. Gary Numan, 3. David Jason, 4. The Police
