Stu just introduced me to Zippy of Rainbow (1972) & I just need to know if rationing in Britain extended to children’s television
David Matthewman
@djm4.bsky.social
Sheffield,-UK-based liberal leftie geek, into SFF generally and Dr Who specifically. Likes cycling and birdwatching, but very much playing both on easy mode. LOFC fan in exile. Pronouns he/him/himself Also on Mastodon as @djm4@mastodon.me.uk
Oh no, don't diss Zippy! The Canadian-born puppeteer, Ronny Le Drew, was the loveliest of men! He later worked on Labyrinth, muppet movies and other classics; and worked with Howard at The Little Angel Theatre and The Curious School of Puppetry. We loved Ronny and were gutted when he died this year.
OTD 1985: #DoctorWho The Myth Makers by Donald Cotton One of the funniest Target Books —until the bloody climax, where light comedy of manners suddenly reverts to brutal slaughter (I’d say ‘spoilers’, but the tale of Troy is quite well-known) Though also distinctly problematic. And yet…
We’re delighted to announce we’ve created the Blackshorts from P.G. Wodehouse’s humorous short story “Please, Dear Chap, Don’t Create The Blackshorts”
TensegrityFan🐝🍯@tensegrityfan.bsky.social · 4d agoIt’s Danny Tommo’s Blackshorts!!
Just learned that Category Is Books, a lovely queer bookshop in Glasgow, has been targeted by transphobic violence, & is fundraising to cover the costs of a smashed window & roller shutters. I hate that they have to do this & would love to see them meet their goal.
Donate to Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!, organized by Category Is Books
For the past eight years, Category Is Books has been able to comfortably oper… Category Is Books needs your support for Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!
gofundme.com
The window of my local queer bookshop was smashed last week. They're fundraising to install shutters so they can keep themselves and their community safe. Support this one-of-a-kind place, its one-of-a-kind proprietors, and the whole Glasgow queer & trans community: www.gofundme.com/f/categoryis...
Donate to Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!, organized by Category Is Books
For the past eight years, Category Is Books has been able to comfortably oper… Category Is Books needs your support for Help Category Is Books Get Shutters!
gofundme.com
Got my fingernails prepped for the Club Triumph Ten Countries Run. My sister is a proud 2500 TC Triumph car owner, and I'm coming along for the ride and as a co-driver. (We started on Sunday - I'm just catching up with posts.)
So it turns out the song was lying. Not everyone is Scotland's Story, and not everyone is worth the same.
Andrew Hickey@andrewhickey.500songs.com · 4d agoFuxake (as no alt text, a TL:DR -- both the Proclaimers are transphobes who think Graham Linehan and JK Rowling are hard done by and use all the "adult human female" type catchphrases)
I am the very model of a modern day typographer A font take on the tune “Modern Major General” by Gilbert & Sullivan #typography #fonts #graphicdesign
This morning at 7:30am, a group of men dressed in black and their faces covered, gathered in Dover. The men, members of the anti-migrant vigilante group Patriot Platform, proceeded to block the port of Dover and several roads nearby. Our briefing: hopenothate.org.uk/2026/09/05/p...
Patriot Platform’s masked members march on Dover – HOPE not hate
At approximately 7:30 this morning, hundreds of black-clad members of Patriot Platform, a far-right vigilante unit, blockaded roads in Dover. They marched north east off...
hopenothate.org.uk
In what feels like something between an unremarkable change that's been coming for a while, and a major milestone in my life journey, I have started attending my local Quaker meeting.
There’s a species of shark called the ninja lanternshark. It glows in the dark, like all lantern sharks. It’s called ninja because the scientist who discovered it was explaining her discovery to family at Thanksgiving and then her young cousin shouted “ninjas are cool, call it the ninja shark!”
Katelyn Burns@katelynburns.com · last wk.Tell me a fun fact.
It's good that this self-evidently bent, rotten crook is being exposed and they're quickly crumbling, but this isn't a 'getting Capone on tax fraud' situation. We aren't going to proceduralism our way out of ascendant fascism. At some point politicians will need to confront and fight the ideology.
I’m vaguely astonished that it’s taken this long to do a detective series based on the Golden Age Detection Club. Miles Jupp as G.K. Chesterton is ‘Patrick Stewart as Professor X’ level of casting.
Miles Jupp, Bryony Hannah and Cara Theobold lead cast for new detective drama The Detection Club
The drama follows the mysterious society formed by three of Britain's most celebrated crime writers - Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and G.K. Chesterton
bbc.co.uk
The brain teaser: here are three people and two apples, share them equally with one stroke of the knife Me; double checking it's a maths problem: ah; so the solution I have in mind is probably not the right one (Mine didn't involve cutting any apples 🤭)
So Emma Woodhouse is a pretty girl who is pretty smart, pretty rich, and pretty much has no problems whatsoever. We’re off to a roaring start.
This is an excellent read on the gap between the first and second plane.
Garrett M. Graff@vermontgmg.bsky.social · 2w agoHistory says the 9/11 attacks began at 8:46 a.m.—but that's not how most, from NYC officeworkers to the President, experienced it. Instead, the "attack" begins at 9:03, when we saw the second plane strike. I wrote abt the fascinating 17 minutes in between: www.nationalgeographic.com/history/grap...
I think the Shoe Event Horizon theory of cultural collapse already laughs at them. It’s enshittification / late stage capitalism. And BINGO! I get to press the button again!
I don’t believe in Great Man of History, but secretly in my heart I think that if Douglas Adams was alive now all those awful tech bros wouldn’t be as awful because of how he would have laughed at them. A girl can dream.
My daughter is in the UK. She was in Brighton when she saw this bird hovering in one spot like a glitch in the matrix. I think it’s a kestrel hunting, but too far to tell. Super cool though!
Visit the @montrealworldcon27.bsky.social, @brisbane28.org, @dublin2029.bsky.social, and @edmontonin2030.bsky.social tables in the vendor room to find out more about the locations and details of future, and potential future, Worldcons!
Huge congratulations to @amalelmohtar.com for this one, Novella was a really strong field this year.
Los Angeles Worldcon@laworldcon.bsky.social · 2w agoThe 2026 Hugo Award for Best Novella goes to The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia UK).
Celebrating delivery of book with a pint, a castle and some dirty rascals.
Villains for a new Conservative decade: Greedy ‘investors’ making a killing And hate-filled cosplay fascist wannabes idolising The War from before they were born. …More topical with every passing year. First, an inspired opening 5 minutes show us our own typical holidays then holidays far beyond…
OTD 1980 #DoctorWho The Leisure Hive Deadly holidays Terrific score Shocking cliffhangers Exploding into the ’80s with a WHOOOM! Launching one of the greatest, most thematically unified Seasons Fabulous David Fisher’s final script is witty, stylish, with a dash of sex, but also pointedly political…
For reasons passing understanding, "POTUS should not have the authority to alter official government data sources on a whim by EO" is entirely absent from the conversation It's small potatoes comparatively but I do not think Trump should get to just, rename stuff for no reason
The police visited the church today to talk about antisocial behaviour in the area, and one of our volunteers followed us around the graveyard while we talked, and afterwards he said he was sorry for following, but in Iran if you go out to an isolated area with the police, you don't always come back
Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!!!
Locus Magazine@locusmag.bsky.social · 2w agoCongratulations to all of the Hugo Award winners and finalists!!