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Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland. This is Let Me Bore You To Sleep. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes.
I'm here with little Vinnie stroking his neck. He likes that. Don't you Vinnie? His neck and his chest.
He likes having his under his chin stroked sometimes but not for long. But I suppose I mean it's technically you'd think well he can't get to under his chin but he does rub it against the ground so I guess he can but his neck I suppose he can rub that against the ground as well and his chest but he likes having his chest rubbed. Don't you Vin Vin?
Yes you do.
He was a really good boy today. Honestly I was very very proud of my little boy. So it's Thursday the 11th of December 2025.
Let me just plug this computer in just so it doesn't go off. So I need it on because I'm using chat GPT to give me the information I need for Oh today's episode of Thursday's Throwbacks which is UK TV shows 1986. 1986.
So we've done 1980. One two three four five. This is the seventh one.
I know we had one week where we missed but I still carried on with the next week. So yeah we've done seven of these. Like 80.
One two three four five. Okay done six. This is the seventh.
I'm literally counting on my fingers. I know. Hey well.
So geography wasn't always my best subject. So we was in the park. He was having his second W.A.L.K. L.K. and he there's a couple of dogs that he normally barks at.
So I'm coming out of one part of the park. I see these two dogs running around because they're off the leads. They're sheep dogs.
Lovely dogs but he barks at sheep dogs. The weird thing about it is they're the only two he barks at now because he's really good friends with one and he's good friends with another one that he used to bark at. It's kind of weird really.
If you think about it like he Chloe he used to bark at her and now he gets excited to see her and oh what's his name oh not ping pong zing zong wing wong giant um I forgot his name. His name's gone out of my head but that that dog initially started barking at Vinnie because it's a rescue and again it's kind of like it's kind of like a sheep dog and Vinnie took offense to that.
This is probably about seven eight months ago so every time Vinnie saw that dog he barked at it and they barked at each other and then that dog calmed down.
Lovely dog but Vinnie continued to bark and I stopped and I talked to the lady trying to reassure that Vinnie wasn't being vicious and eventually he stopped barking at him because they were near each other and now he gets excited.
I mean they walked together to start with and they were fine for a few weeks and then Vinnie actually gets excited when he sees him and then there's another couple of dogs these two dogs now where he's gone he's gone from barking and I think what happened but the reason for it is that one of his friends called Minnie was with his dad and he loves his dad because his dad gives him treats gives Vinnie treats and he loves Minnie and Minnie gets excited to see me as well although this
on this occasion she was chasing a ball so she didn't even see me and I was trying to pull Vinnie away because even though I saw that Minnie was there as well I thought Vinnie's pulling towards dad he's just gonna get up and start barking so what's the point so I'm pulling him and he's pulling against me the whole time and they start to walk towards us so I'm thinking all right let's just test it Vinnie did not bark once he was excited to see Minnie he was excited to see
Minnie's dad I think he was focused more on the chance of getting a treat he said hello to the lady the owner of the other two dogs did not care about the dogs at all wasn't bothered by them one bit they were even like just walking around each other nothing and I'm just like what's going on I was I felt so so pleased with him because that's one of the things that I've had issues with with him and there's a few dogs he barks at they're not all sheep dogs but
they do seem to be the ones that he has a thing about well now there's one left and I'm hoping because I get on really well with a bloke that owns this other dog but Vinnie barks every time he sees that dog so maybe this could be the break because that dog is literally identical to three of the other dogs that he knows that he's been okay with now so it's not really I know that to him they probably don't look identical and they all have got their own smell and
stuff like that but I mean surely he's got a misidentified dogs like I see people and think there's someone else doesn't he ever see a dog and think it's a different dog and then it's too late to bark I don't know I was very pleased with him really was it was I actually felt a degree of happiness towards him because going out for walks isn't always very pleasant for the simple fact he's got a bunch of dogs that he barks at and he just screams at them so loud and it
seemed aggressive and he's the size of a cat you know he's I don't know if it is aggression or it's just he might be scared I don't know and he's um defending me it's protecting me I doubt that but it was just yeah it felt nice felt really nice the same as it did when he started being friendly with the other dog so maybe maybe he's just he's got through that phase perhaps he's now moving into more mature phase because he's it'll be four in February I've now had him for
three years can you believe it three years I can't even remember what what date was it because I'm did a podcast where I introduced him saying Vinnie keeps Vinnie sleeping on my on my lap that was June this year yeah it's not going to be I probably wouldn't have it on this podcast no welcome to Vinnie if I can find it amongst all the podcasts nope I know I know how I can do it if I search through the element okay if I search through one of the hard drives where
I keep all the record well some of the recordings not it doesn't hold all of them um Vinnie so I'll just put in Vinnie sleeping Vinnie special Q&A Friday 2019 August the 9th 2024 no that wouldn't be it because my my new setup with Vinnie nope Vinnie keeps eating my underpants yeah that's not far it's not long after I got him so that was 22nd of January 2023 so that was number Let Me Bore You To Sleep number 959 959 right it gives me more of an idea so 959 Let
Me Bore You To Sleep 959 900 900 um so we're probably looking at 901 so let's have a look at here see if I've got it if I put in Vinnie Vinnie nope nothing oh I think I might have spelt Vinnie with a y back then yeah meet Vinnie um I decided his name was IE not Y 933 wow it's earlier than I thought I was thinking it was like a weekend or you know 10 days but it's actually the 4th of December 2022 let me have a look if that
was a Saturday because that's when I got him on a Saturday so it might actually be bearing in mind oh okay let's have a look December 2022 oh no down down down down down down down down so this was the 4th so no it's the 3rd of December 2022 so it's actually so it's uh three years and one week 3rd of December I got him it's a Saturday afternoon I was supposed to meet my dad for Christmas lunch or something or to meet him before Christmas and I cancelled or was
supposed to go down there something like that because I didn't feel very well I had a bit of cough and I didn't want to take it down there I don't think he believed me but the weird thing about it is if I hadn't gone there I probably wouldn't have Vinnie but saying that I think Luke would have just taken him anyway and then when I got home brought him up and said here you are so yeah I might have still had him anyway um it's no way of knowing is that
it's we can't it's guessing the past if it had been different yeah you know it's just it's not possible let's have a look I just want to have a look see if I've got any messages to read out tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt I did do today I did a new recording which was stress is just a feeling it's 23 minutes and 41 seconds long I was playing around with the knob with the knobs so playing around with my knob and I thought I'd got it sounding really good but in fact what I've done
is turned the volume down really really low on the recording so even when I mean it's almost invisible when I uploaded it so I had to increase it on the audio software and I realized that it's still going to be very low volume so I've not made it into a heart I've not added anything to it I've just released the one recorded on its own stress is a feeling very low volume in brackets and that's it so I'm not going to do various versions of it because it'd be too much
work to do that because if the volume is so low it's really I'm trying to get the recording so there's no no bet it's not about not having background sound like right now I've got Vinnie in my peripheral trying to get my attention by standing standing on the the armrest this side of the sofa and he keeps putting his foot down and he's putting the other foot down what do you want Vinnie look just because you look super cute and you was a good boy today doesn't mean you can get
any you know get on my lap because he he wants to get on my lap but at the same time he doesn't if you want to get on my lap get on my lap you're not a cat you're not a pussycat what what is it you want Vin he wants something but you don't know what it is he's just looking around oh I've got a story for you I absolutely had a tantrum yesterday I'm not I'm not proud of myself I'm not pleased that it happened I can't I can't even
I don't know where to start right so let me go back on this I got a couple of messages here somewhere I'm sure there was a couple of messages where they gone Facebook I think something's going wrong with Facebook's it's just not doesn't seem to be working the way it used to might just be me I'm trying to find my messages and now it's hiding the messages I don't know I don't want that page to come up so basically I've got a couple of messages but I didn't look yet because
I was in the middle of doing something else one's from Cara and I don't know who the other one was from I can't remember I just had a glimpse didn't look at the message and then carried on because I was in the middle of something but now it the messages seem to have disappeared messenger oh I've got him back now so Boston chickie sent me a I don't know what that is I don't know what it is I'm not sure if I want to click on that I don't know if
it's time for your favorite Midwest game of rum you'll be scared to click on that Boston let me know if it's safe because it looks like it might be a spam or something I get stuff like that occasionally where I just like I don't know if it's been sent or no I can just reading this okay I won't read it out Cara but I'll respond to it later thank you I I I I I I I so stuff like this on there and most people are narcissists count the squares what's
counting the squares got to do with anything being stupid Facebook is turning into just apart from my my my recordings Facebook I don't know was it ever did it used to be good I think it used to be quite good I remember it being I think used to be about the people used to be about the the people on there and they'd be I seem to get the only things I'd really seem to get is just non-stop ads AI stuff pretend stuff so yeah I get very little in as far
as posts by friends on there so I had to take a quick break from this here conversation because Vinnie would not stop hassling me and I knew what he wanted he wanted a treat he's got these chicken treats that he loves they were not on a stick but he hasn't touched his dinner today so what I said to him is if you eat your dinner you can have a treat and he ate his dinner and I got him a treat I dropped the drop bits of the dinner on the floor
for him and he ate it and if you didn't go to eat it I'd look like I was gonna grab it and he'd take it so it's a little game but I think he enjoys playing that game when he's hungry he doesn't care he just eats he seems to get hungry at night doesn't seem to be interested in food during the day but at night you know he'll eat like a whole whole tin of food but did I say tin tub it's kind of a tin yeah so oh oh dear
oh dear what was I moaning about I am potentially expecting another interruption because I've got somebody my neighbor downstairs is collecting my prescription for me I don't know if they're doing it today or tomorrow so basically I give them ten pounds to collect my prescription every month I also I don't just assume they're gonna do it I ask first and then I put that or as that reminds me I need to send money to somebody I'm glad you reminded me okay no that's not what it's okay I know what it
is and I just got a knock at the door from my prescription deliverer well my neighbor so yeah that was quite cool on it I and I gave him some I had some stuff in the fridge that I'm just not gonna use because unfortunately I bought too much stuff you know I mean which is annoying oh this is annoying see the problem is I put some money into someone that's a friend that's in prison okay I just put in 20 pound a month something like that yeah 20 pound a month
I'm not saying oh you know I'm just saying that's what I do and there's someone that I'm friends with who's like a neighbor and all that stuff but another neighbor came up and asked me to help we're saying I had problems putting money in because her husband was in prison and I said I can help we did it on this computer so now whenever I go in it brings up both details not the names but both dates of birth to choose from and I don't know what the one I'm sending
to is date of birth is so I'm gonna have to try and find that email it's ridiculous or that text message and I don't even know because I've got his mum's telephone number I mean you could argue why am I doing it now message okay okay right I got it it's just a little bit annoying you know I mean a little bit annoying I knew what year it was it's okay if I don't do it I forget so it's done I have to do as soon as I remember I've been
trying it basically it's a certain time in a month that I do it and I realize I don't need to do it right now do I why didn't I just do it okay let's go back really I tell you it's weird is it's not doing it's causing problem why are you doing this it's because I'm not giving it my full attention that's why that's why I don't know why why why why why why I know what it is I remember do-do-do that's it done just try to remember what the number
is on the back it's done done did it done done done done make sure it's me yes it's me thank you all these little security measures it's doing I just hope it's not someone the other side of the world taking that money for themselves probably not okay continue done so I yesterday because I get most of my deliveries but delivered well it's a weird sentence most of my deliveries delivered yeah and I needed something yeah I was I need a couple of bits that I needed but at the same time
or I didn't have enough to order a lot of stuff so I kind of kept it to a minimum and I made the order to get delivered I did it on Uber Eats app it came through about an hour later the bloke was I don't know I can't understand the bloke seemed not very happy but you know and a new thing is they're now stapling the bags closed and I think the reason for that I've kind of figured out the reason for that now I don't think they want people opening
the bags before the driver leaves because if it's a wrong order the driver will not take it back they don't have to take it back and I would thought would have thought that they would have to take it back but they will refuse and I know that some customers would get agitated by that I mean I had a similar issue didn't I with Uncle Sausage's getting some drinks and stuff delivered to his ward and the driver blatantly would not deliver it and he dropped he put all the stuff on the
pavement just you know in the driveway where the hospital is that where the cars drive up where the taxis are he just dropped them on the pavement and drove off and he told me he was going to do that and I was I just couldn't I've not lived in that world before you know that that is alien to me it's alien that concept of I don't know they're like not taking one shred of responsibility not one one bit not to be able to not care that much bearing in mind I
try to explain to him it was being delivered to somebody you know in medically in the situation that Uncle Sausage's was in I couldn't get there because I had COVID at the time this was the last week of his time and the last week in hospital and then he went to a care home or whatever for three days or two days and I tried to say to him look can you please deliver it and he said too much stuff I said we'll deliver some of it no I said I'll pay
you extra I'll give you a tip a big tip on top just just keep keep keep you what you want and just take something to him and just the bloke refused blatantly refused and I don't remember his name he's probably delivered here since there might have been him last night I mean you know he's what it is but I find that weird the idea that a delivery person would just put something put it on a pavement and just drive off at least keep it give it to your family all but
that's stealing well there's no worse than what they've already done give it to the reception maybe the reception because it was in between the hotel reception like as you walk in the entrance and the accident emergency entrance and it's surrounded by like taxi drivers come in and people drop people off there it's a big car park but that's just like the drop-off area so I'm pretty sure people would either take it and take it home or the security guards would take it and share it amongst themselves and this might be
happening all day every day it might be like a really good job to have because you get free stuff for all day I mean maybe maybe that's the situation I don't know so anyway yesterday I get my delivery I'm feeling quite good because I was waiting to eat what I wanted to eat but then as he's because I'm in a hurry and Vinnie wants to it's not hassling me to go out and it's getting late so this is kind of pretty half past three quarter to four so I need to
take Vinnie out before it gets dark so I'm waiting with him Vinnie's on his lead and I go outside and the front door and I say thanks and I put the stuff in the hallway and take Vinnie out for a quick walk and then or just said that word he appears he's staring at me again no go away sorry mate you wiggle your tail all you like you've had all you're having done done done done done done sorry mate and he's distracting me today he really is I can't remember what
I was saying now oh yeah I took him out we got back he's excited because he can smell stuff in the bag and I'm thinking he can smell his treats because I got him I'm saying all the wrong words here aren't I but it's the special ones that he likes so I got them ordered them last night or yesterday afternoon open it I take the bag into the kitchen stick it on the freezer open up first of all looking for his things to give him and I feel like I'd entered
a like a different dimension because none of the stuff was what I ordered the first thing that popped out was a pizza now I'd remember ordering a pizza I didn't order a pizza but there was a pizza there I don't know if it's a Goodfellas or something it's not frozen it was well it wasn't frozen when it got here and there was some other bits and bobs and a drink and I thought and it had my name on the bag it was only one brown bag and it was stapled closed
so there's no way of a looking inside it first normally they're just stuck closed but you quite often they're kind of hanging open before they get there so maybe that's the main reason they're stapling them but I didn't know what to do and I had a bit of a meltdown I'll be honest I just it came in such a shock and I was hungry and it's like I went on to the app and I said what is the problem I said well which which ones haven't been delivered and I've got
go through every single thing and I sent a message I said nothing it's the wrong order there's no numbers well I found numbers online but it didn't work to actually speak to anyone I was trying to call up the supermarket and say you know to get I tried to call up the driver but it was too late I mean as soon as they leave they turn they turn that off I think after you can talk to the driver like up to the point where they drop off and then you then
they're gone that's it and I was like oh I was getting nowhere nowhere so add a little little punch on the punch bag and trying to calm myself down because it was so frustrating and I felt I didn't just feel for me I felt for the other person because somebody else possibly in my area very likely in my area but between here and the supermarket anyway has got my stuff that they didn't order and there was a sandwich in this order which perhaps they were waiting for and they were hungry
and I didn't know what the process was I know uber eats pretty good you know if you get it wrong if you get something that's not delivered they will refund you but that's no good if you need it you know I mean if I order let's say because I don't want to go out so if I order now some stuff and they deliver everything but the milk it means I can't have any breakfast in the morning although I can because I've got milk in the fridge but you know and in
some scenarios it's a strange one but yeah anyway so I eventually sent a message to them and I can't remember how I got around it just saying wrong delivery wrong delivery and they've got a message coming back it says we will be in contact with you in the next two days and I replied saying how's two days going to be useful you sent me the wrong delivery what about the other person how am I supposed to contact them to get them this delivery and then I got a message about 15
20 minutes later saying we have refunded you the money for your delivery and you're welcome to order again reorder in the meantime I'd phoned my neighbor downstairs because she's young she's like 21 or something and she's much more she's much more in tune with these apps you know like Uber Eats Just Eat the online stuff of today I'm okay with websites and that but when it comes to using a mobile phone I'm not I'm no expert on it because I've not grown up with it she and her generation people were
in their early 20s or they they've known nothing but smartphones pretty much well maybe not smart but that you know for a long time it's been yeah probably smartphones as soon as I got old enough there's been smartphones for me I don't use the phone that often because with my eyesight I can't really see a lot of what's on there so I don't really bother you know I mean in it but using the the apps has really been useful because when I moved here there was no apps to get stuff
delivered 10 years ago and I could get deliveries from a couple of supermarkets Sainsbury's would deliver I could order on online to get deliveries to Sainsbury's from Sainsbury's rather I could get deliveries from I think Asda as well online Iceland wouldn't deliver if I did it online but I could get a delivery from Iceland but I had to go all the way into town and order the stuff like you know buy it in the actual shop the store and they put it into crates and then they deliver it I mean
literally I have to say when do you want it we what is two o'clock okay and obviously no because I won't be home by two o'clock because it's like sometimes takes an hour and a half to get home depending on the traffic and that because if you know it's like or waiting for buses and stuff so that seems a bit weird they will deliver it but you have to go into the supermarket to to get it to purchase it sort of defeats the whole idea of home shopping I would suggest
maybe and then you had the pizza Domino's pizza the app didn't work here so not the app but the like online couldn't order a pizza to get delivered here still can't I can I can phone them up but I can't order it and if you order it online you get a discount but I have to phone up and where I lived in town and I know you could say okay it was 10 years ago but I can fair enough but 10 years ago I used to get a large pizza for
10 pound on a Saturday night now it's like 20 20 odd quid but why would it go up that much in 10 years especially as it's like sweet corn pineapple is it's not even an expensive like ingredients so they said well if you order online then because it'll be cheaper I can't order it online so yeah plus places like a lot of the places wouldn't deliver here because we were blacklisted there was even a time when taxi firms wouldn't come and pick up from this building or deliver to this building
because it was dodgy so what some people used to do they'd get a taxi from town stop outside and say wait a sec I'm just gonna get some money and they'll run through the building because there's an exit out the back as well and just run just leave and go and go somewhere else and just go home or whatever and leave the taxi driver there scratching his head do people ever actually scratch their head when they're confused I don't know I'm not sure if I've ever scratched my head in confusion
but you see it don't you in the movies oh scratching their head I don't know what's going on here did Sherlock Holmes ever scratch his head ah but was Sherlock Holmes ever confused that's the question isn't it when I start telling this story about Uber Eats I didn't think I'd be mentioning Sherlock Holmes or head scratching it's weird the way it goes isn't it so then I started thinking oh yes so we were blacklisted blacklisted I couldn't believe it I remember there was this one time I needed to go to
the hospital for myself and I called yeah I need to go to hospital I knew that we were blacklisted the the building what I didn't know is they had my number so I'd booked taxis for people and they'd gone into town from this building and done a runner so when I called them I went to the petrol station no this is what I did no forget the telephone number I might have made that bit up I called them from this building they wouldn't come here so I said okay and I
walked to the petrol station and they said they wouldn't they oh yeah I got cash I got quite cash out to pay for me to get to the hospital this was like 2 in the morning something like that and I phoned up the taxi and I said can I get a taxi from the petrol station to the hospital and she said yeah that's gonna be I don't know 16 pound 14 pound whatever 50 20 pound I said yeah it's fine she said you'd have to pay before I says fine I've
got cash he said no no you have to pay before they come out you have to pay on the phone I said I can't pay on the phone because I've just drawn the money out of the bank and that's all my money gone it was the last I probably drew at 10 pound and maybe I had like five pound in change in my pocket something like that and they said no I said I've literally got the money I'm trying to get to the hospital I don't want to call an ambulance
and I said no they refused refused to come out I said I've got the money it's like literally gonna be giving you the money when you get here and that was all to do with this area and it's not like that anymore and they know me really well now after the summer because I spent hundreds and hundreds of pounds with them during June and July going back and forward to the hospital it's cost to me 40 pound a day so I did the first I think I think I did at
least two weeks non-stop every day and then I started having like a day off here and there so yeah I did at least 400 pound in basically 400 pounds not that much is it 714 times by 40 that's more than 400 isn't it 414 416 560 pound blimey yeah and then I had to start getting the bus because I just ran out but now and I've actually seen people in the past I've stopped they've got out the taxi said and I told them where they live and they gave the address
of my friend downstairs they used to live down there so then I'd be knocking on his door he didn't know anything about it and they'd be there demanding money or this person owes us 15 pound or whatever it was you know so so what are you telling me they said they lived at your address so yeah it was it's just a bunch of dodgy's doing stuff like that but that's stopped hasn't happened for a long time as far as I know it's this building doesn't seem to be blacklisted anymore and
we can get deliveries when there's a time we couldn't get deliveries hardly but now with the apps and McDonald's didn't used to live deliver here and then they did and then they stopped so I feel the problem with McDonald's is even though they're not that far away in a car it's McDonald's food does not keep its heat for the journey so it's never going to be warm might be like tacitly warm by the time it arrives here and I think they might have had a few complaints or maybe McDonald's just
did not pay enough money to the drivers and they because drivers can refuse to take to orders you know they have to accept the delivery so no one can tell them what to do because they're self-employed and I saw a documentary not documentary I saw a YouTube channel of someone and and he was just riding around during the night in London doing uber and delivering and literally every few seconds a thing would come up on his handlebars because on a moped or motorbike saying you know offering him a new delivery
to take and what the price was so he would click to accept it or just ignored it and if it was near him he'd accept it if it was the other side of London he'd ignore it or decline I'm not sure maybe decline it but I've seen it on Uber Eats app where it's given a person with the registration number that are going to deliver and then it changes again and clearly decided not to take it and I do wonder with the Uber Eats how many of the Uber Eats are
also being taxi drivers as well uber taxis because you know they might be on the way to collect a delivery to deliver it to where I am in the middle of nowhere for like £4, £3, £4 but they might get an opportunity to drive someone to London for £200 they're gonna take that aren't they so they're gonna ignore it like yeah I mean probably just have the stuff eat the food on the way I don't know anyway I didn't know what to do so what I thought is well if they've
refunded the money to me the I might as well just reorder what I ordered originally and it got to me within an hour but I didn't know what to do with the stuff that was wrongly delivered what do I do with that stuff it's not my food it's not my stuff and I was concerned for the other person and then my neighbor came in my neighbor before my delivery came the second time my neighbor phoned me up and said I've got a missed call and I explained the situation she said
don't worry about it just if it happens again tell them that you've had a wrong order they'll refund you and you can just reorder it happens a lot I said really said yeah and I said what about the stuff the other person's order that I've got in my kitchen right now and she said just eat it it's yours now you've got a free shopping I couldn't really grasp my head around this whole thing it was like it did not make sense to me didn't make sense and then it dawned on
me I don't know maybe last night or this morning takes a while to process the amount of money they're saving from having a customer service from having people human beings in an office in a call center which would have to be huge wouldn't it to manage such a massive operation they're saving money by just letting stuff go by just losing those two bits of shopping the money from that they're still saving money for what it would cost to have a customer service and some kind of big you know the employment
laws and you know renting the millions and millions of pounds to rent buildings around the country around the world I know a lot of that can go to AI now but still it still costs money to run even if it's AI still be expensive so I guess it just works out cheaper which is why at the hospital when that bloke just dropped the stuff on the floor and left it there he's probably that's probably his instructions to do that just leave it there and it gets written off by uber they
write it off as that's one of them things it's just a mistake and they've got money coming in all the time they because I don't know how successful uber is but I know it's big it's it's a huge company so I suppose they probably that's just wastage I wonder how much wastage they have because if that'd be stuff that I don't know eat or some of it was and I did give it to my neighbor downstairs but if luckily this is bad luckily some of it was chocolate so I kind
of I thought okay fair enough I love that and there was a pizza so I'm gonna eat that as well but there wasn't a lot of stuff there really and a sandwich but I just like I felt bad but then after my friends my neighbor downstairs said no don't feel bad it's okay it's part of the wastage it's the uber eats generation it's part of the universe of uber and I thought okay all right I just didn't I didn't know how it worked now I do cool so right back to
the recording I just thought I mean I don't normally have anything to talk about so I thought I would tell you so Thursday UK okay so UK television 1986 we still only had four TV channels it says here that 86 was a year of big changes two of the UK's longest-running shows ended children's TV exploded with brand new classics ITV had some of its strongest dramas ever US imports were dominating more of the even schedules schedules schedules okay BBC was entering a new era of comedy and soap writing so ears
we go ears we go major UK debits in 1986 so this is BBC one yes Prime Minister so it used to be yes minister and then he became Prime Minister and they changed it that was BBC two again I never used to watch it I've seen it since and it's very clever but it's and it's yeah I think it's yeah I just it's just not something I really watch too often and casualty so I would have been 15 slash 16 in 1986 I left school at the beginning of 86 or
about March time started working the chip shop full-time see yeah in fact I probably worked started working the chip part-time until April and then that worked full-time once I left school casualty first aired 6th of September 1986 and became one of the longest running dramas in the world is it still running casualty the way casualty because in the old days A&E or if you might call it the ER room or you might have a different name for it in your country basically accident emergency or in England at least it used
to be called casualty and that's what this drama soap opera was about it's just about the casualty department I think it was in London I might be wrong and it just had the you know the nurses the doctors and you know all the drama between them and at the beginning of every episode and it used to be on I'm sure it used to be on on a Sunday night maybe a Saturday night and it start in a really normal situation but you knew it'd be like a couple driving a car
or somebody driving a forklift or another person do it be just regular people doing regular things or like a family hiking up a hill but you knew after seeing it a few times you realized that there's an accident that's about to happen always every single time and I didn't really like that because I feel attached to the people in the first few seconds I like the family I don't want them to be hurt no I just I don't know wasn't really into casualty wasn't I watched it but I watched anything
that was on back then brass I prototype elements unofficial precursor show okay I don't remember that in sickness and in health BBC one it was a follow-up to from to to death do us part which was it was based around a racist misogynist horrible old man called Alf Garnett and he was just vicious bitter horrible just but scared at the same time you could see was scared and he just yeah he's horrible and he'd have all these rants in to death to us part he was married and that show is
in I think it was in black and white to start with and in that show his wife would put him like put him in his place his daughter and his daughter's husband would also put him in his place because he'd be saying all this horrible stuff so that it basically mock him in the second show which was the same characters but his wife had passed away in sickness and in health he ends up living downstairs and the upstairs of the building of the house there was a lady that lived who
and he'd have a care worker come in and his daughter was still in it I think he's I don't know if he's his daughter's husband was still in at this point I can't remember but an interesting little bit of interesting bits about this so he's his daughter's boyfriend or husband in the show was the father the actual real-life father of Tony Blair's wife sure it's Sheree Blair how about that for a bit of trivia and the bloke that so Sheree Blair's dad as well as being in to death to his
part and probably in sickness and his health he was also in the confession movies and I'm sure other movies as well with Robin Asquith who played Sid I think he said confessions of a window cleaner confessions of a taxi driver confessions of a plumber I think there was a few and there were kind of saucy comedies Brass okay bread it's really weird because I think about bread there's a TV show called from Carla Lane BBC one it debuted 1986 but I kind of remember watching it in the family home but
that all kind of came to an end in about May 1986 the family home so it's I don't know but I used to watch I used to like that bread gotta have some bread do do do do do do bread yeah Carla Lane it had Joey and Lilo Ling Lilo Lil and Billy Billy because they're all from Liverpool there's a big Liverpool family and I don't know why but the two main cat well two of the main characters they changed they changed the people the actors and it kind of ruined
it for me because they had I think it was Joey it was the he was kind of the boss of the family I mean the mother was the boss but he was the the boss out of all the kids and all grown-up kids and he changed his his actor and then what was her name the only female the only daughter and Laurel Lauren Lauren I don't know oh no not Lauren anyways she had a name and she was so good and then it changed and there's nothing wrong with the next
actress but it was a different person and I don't know quite what happened I'm sure there's a reason but it was really successful it was like a top top successful TV show comedy really really big and yeah I loved it I've seen it since and you know during daytime TV sometimes I don't it's weird I can't really see what I liked about it as much as I used to laugh and I don't know it's just it's it's not quite hitting me the way it used to but this is fine let
me just maybe having it on every week and watching the thing unfold would be more useful than watching a standoff a standalone episode every second counts BBC one Paul Daniels game show launched 1986 now those that don't know who Paul Daniels is and he was he's no longer with us but he was the most famous magician in this country I know we've got dynamo now and but this is before dynamo was really famous this was like the 70s and the 80s and the 90s he was hugely famous Paul Daniels and
I think if you in the kind of the early 80s if you'd have gone through children's Christmas stockings or their Christmas bags or under the Christmas tree I reckon at least one in five Christmas trees would have one of Paul Daniels's magic games like it was a magic a magical kit to teach you how to do different magic tricks I had at least one and loads of people had them it was they were big I mean Paul Daniels made millions from them he must have done plus he was on TV
for years doing magic shows so he was yeah it was the most famous I would also say I don't think I know of any other magicians at that time that were even on telly kind of in the same way that Paul McKenna was the only hypnotist on telly but in the 90s when he did his show there was no other hypnosis on TV that I remember yeah I still remember it's weird Wow I remember at least two of the tricks one was this thing where I just flipped it like a
little paddle and I flipped it and it changed the numbers on the paddle if you do it quick enough and another one I had this wand but you could make it basically if you push it down but it had like a like an elastic you push it down and then it just automatically go up again so if I support that trick but yeah Wow I forgot about that one if I can remember any other the truth oh there was a trick with a coin so do you know those cigarette cutters
you know people I see them in a movie and they cut the end of the cigarette and also cigar sorry not cigarette cigar and it had all like I don't know someone that you put a coin in and push you know it was that kind of thing and it turned the coin into something else or I think the coin disappeared something like that and I haven't thought about this for a long time Wowzers well we well well well there was a rope trip trip a rope trick as well I can't
remember what the rope trick was I think it was moving the rope between from one part of someone's hand to the other like over there through their wrist so it looks like it's gone through their wrist but it perhaps it hasn't really if it's a trick that is no I think that's it I can't remember any other tricks in that kit I mean I did actually get into magic in early 90s I started going to the magic shop in near Leicester Square it's like the famous magic shop and I'd go
in and I'd buy tricks and I had quite a few books like a tendency to do just go a bit overboard and I don't know I think I just lost interest in it brushstrokes I used to love brushstrokes it was about a painter and he was like a Jack the Lad painter starring Carl Hellman and he was popular with the ladies and he was just I don't really even know what it was about it was almost not really about much but it was fun yeah I liked it I suppose it
was kind of a love story I think he might have been in love with his boss's daughter something like that but it was good I used to watch it he said I like that I'm sure was on during the week though then you got the really wild show I remember the title but don't remember the program it's about wildlife yeah the whistle test ends this year so I never watched it so it didn't bother me that was a music thing I think there was open air on BBC one a feedback
chat show nope no idea so you got the roof these are ITV now the roof Rendall mysteries debited 86 I wouldn't have watched those on purpose but I might have seen them if they were on or the Equalizer kind of weird because it's ITV imported hit show from America but it starred an English actor I used to love it I used to love the Equalizer I watched it I watched it till it finished I watched it I don't know when if it went on to the 90s I think I'm sure
it did Edward Woodward I think it was who starred in that and I also loved the Denzel Washington equalizes as well I watched every one of those but I haven't watched equalizer with the lady is that a TV show was in movies I don't know I'm not seeing the one with her I just I don't know I just it just seemed it seemed weird not to have Denzel in them because he was so good it was Denzel wasn't it well I like to call him Denny Denden Dens Boone so the
full series of 1986 pilot was 82 why did they wait four years to bring out the full series see that was another show that was almost I'm not gonna say it's about nothing but it was kind of it's like a he was a courier service but private detective agency kind of at the same time it was yeah I liked it it was just really good it was very different very different from anything else and brush with fame ITV light entertainment I don't know sorry I don't remember that one prospects channel
for ITV co-funded working-class comedy drama no I don't remember that aliens in the family ITV children's series well I never watched that the chart show music box 1986 channel 4 nationally 1989 but it's UK TV presence begins 1986 the chart show okay well I would have watched it because any chart show I would have watched whether it's whatever channel it was on because I like chart shows they used to be I remember in 1986 ah no probably not that one but it used to be a late-night one with Casey Kasem
it's Casey Kasem isn't it he did a the charts it was an American charts and it was maybe 87 yeah 87 and it used to be on quite late at night possibly early hours or maybe 11 12 o'clock and I used to watch that and it was good because I like to keep updated on what's happening and get an idea of what trends are coming to the UK music wise at the time I was interested in that hot metal satire of tabloid journalism debits 1986 I don't remember that I remember
the name I just don't remember the show hmm it's a channel for the late show precursors so the late show is that the one in Ireland because they used to show that I know in the UK I used to watch it sometimes because I had the same bloke forever on there and yeah I used to watch that Saturday Live began 85 and exploded in popularity in 1986 it's a Saturday Live hosted did you do by Ben Elton I do believe why am I thinking no no yeah Ben Elton so Ben
Elton he was it had a lot of comedians that were not new but were really big and so it had things like Hayden Pace the management because I played Dorman and you had Joe Brand on there I'm gonna think about Joe Brand she is one of the most famed really like one of the first successful stand-up comedians from I mean the alternative circuit wherever she's one of the first you think she was on TV in 1985 86 doing stand-up not doing sketches not doing you know it's just doing pure stand-up
and absolute star I remember seeing and not even I mean at the time I guess not realizing what stand-up comedy was I did I knew someone making jokes at a microphone but I didn't really understand the concept of alternative comedy because I'd grown up with well anything goes really in the 70s and the 80s but even though she was alternative she she was just funny and very dry and I actually got to meet her when I very first started doing comedy in London in probably January 1991 and I swear I
saw her and I was so excited to meet her above anyone else because she was the only one that I'd seen before I mean if I'd seen Lenny Henry at the comedy club I'd have been excited to see him or just try to any of the people at Hale and Pace or the people had seen on TV Jasper Carrot Phil Cool those people Billy Connolly but I'm sitting I'm standing at the bar and she's sitting down this is when they had a sofa in front of the fire and she's just
hanging around with the rest of the comics and it was a Wednesday night so she's not on any airs and graces and there was a comics room upstairs that she could have been in I don't know if she was there because she wanted to try out some material or I don't know and all I do know is I upset her I said something that upset her and she didn't talk to me again and I don't know what it was and I think she literally got up and left not the first
time I met her but like within that period of time and because she used to speak to me hello Jason because I was always around I was like a was it like a bad stain or something and but then I said something upset her and I don't know what it was I probably did at the time and I probably didn't care which I'm not pleased about but the weird thing about it is her boyfriend at a time Jim McCarver I got really well with and he was a headlining act stand-up
comedian really good and he wrote I think sometimes wrote for I don't know but I think he wrote for what's her name who I was just talking about and Joe Brand I think he wrote for other comedians and he still was a comedy writer as well as a comedy performer and I think he must have been one of these people that had a really good memory because he always remembered me remembered my name and I didn't see him regularly and he was really had a really good act he's like really
funny but whenever I did see him he it wasn't like he just he wasn't doing the standard high high and then moving on he actually literally stopped and talked to me which meant something because apart from the fact that I looked up to him because of how skillful he was and how talented but also because he was a nice bloke and he didn't just see me as being annoying and the fact that I annoyed his girlfriend I don't know if they were they probably weren't still together at this point but
because she was with him when it happened and he forgave me and it's really weird because the last time I ever spoke to him would be the late 90s maybe early 2000s because I was still visiting maybe early 2000s and I think there was like a gathering a party or something and we get chatting and he's saying I'm quitting comedy so I'm thinking he's joking so what do you mean you're quitting comedy he said no I'm not doing it anymore I'm bringing it and coming to an end I said why
because I knew that he had a writing career so he's probably making a lot more money from the writing than from the the stand-up because I guess there's more money in in writing and he said to me something I can't believe it even today he said the reason I'm quitting is because I'm never going to be the best now this is a sentence I just never forget because I mean what is the best how do you even judge what the best is if you're in the UK you've got you could
say the best is Michael McIntyre or you could say the best is Peter Kay or you can say but you can say there's no one better than Peter Kay at his best there's no one better than Michael McIntyre there's no one better than Lee Evans there's no one better than Kevin Bridges there's no one better than Rangan Roman Makan can't say his name or there's no one better than Lee Mac or there's no one better than Jimmy Carr you know there's a certain level where you just don't get better it's
it's just a personal preference when you get to be a brilliant at something you're brilliant I don't personally I don't think there's like the best that can't be the best you know I know in hindsight a lot of comedians will say Richard Pryor was the greatest comedian ever lived and Elvis Presley was the greatest you know the king of rock and roll he still is and the Beatles were the best band that ever were and Whitney Houston was the greatest singer and Prince was the most creative songwriter and you know
and a lot of that is based on I mean you know reality from what they produced and what they actually created but a lot of it's just opinion but Whitney Houston wasn't the greatest singer she wasn't the best singer in the world there might not have been anyone better than her but she wasn't the best there was plenty she was at a level where it's hard to improve upon I would include Celine Dion in that I would include probably so thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people people that
were never going to know about that only ever sing when they're in the bathroom that can reach the high notes and out sing if they were given the opportunity or they even wanted the opportunity they could out sing anybody in the history of music potentially or equal I've always thought that even when I was young it's always someone better out there it's always someone that can that doesn't even know that they have that talent to do something it could be anything there might be someone this I like I don't I
like the idea that everybody is a genius at something for me the idea of being a genius isn't someone that's I know it all they're the ones that think that they're geniuses if someone's calls themselves a genius then I wouldn't take much notice of them because that's for something for someone else to talk to say about you isn't it so I always like I'm super handsome I am yeah of course I'm I'm a very pretty pretty young man but it's not really for me to go around flaunting is it yes
it's for other people to say but I just love that idea of everybody's got genius in them it's just finding the thing that we're a genius about or that we could be a genius about there might be a subject that once you start to study it or once you become interested in it it grabs you it it's it's all absorbing and you become the world expert on that subject no one else may know about it no one else may have know that you're the world expert and you may not even
know that you're the world expert but you studied and you've read everything and that might be your genius or playing a sport or knitting drawing writing anything and even writing a book I don't think genius you could be a genius at writing doesn't mean anyone's gonna want to read the books because it might be too far ahead of its time I mean some authors some painters musicians no one bought a single piece of their work during their lifetime I haven't got any examples because I'm hoping it's true but I haven't
got any examples but pretty sure it's true and now their pieces of art or their music or whatever or the the piano they played on that they created some piece of music or the music itself on some paper is worth millions but at the time perhaps no one knew about them I don't know if I'm just a bit is that too optimistic I like it I like the idea of it I don't know if it is too optimistic though can you be too optimistic I think it's amazing just the idea
that everybody's got genius in them I want to say that I don't mean I'm a genius and would you like some genius in you I don't mean like that like you are we've all got it maybe but I'm not really focusing on myself with this one I do believe at the very least we're all good at something and maybe maybe one of the problems is we don't all get to find out what it is that we're good at or that we could be good at or maybe sometimes the thing that
we're good at is not the thing that we enjoy doing so it makes sense not to do the good thing thing you're good at if you don't enjoy it why do it you know I mean I was really good at sales but I didn't enjoy it I say really good but in the in the circumstances well especially when I worked in Churchill I was one of the top people but it wasn't for me and I would have got better if I hadn't got ill hmm I don't know I was just
thinking about that I don't know why Oh treasure hunt continued its prime run yeah it's mentioned treasure hunt every time because of oh what was her name I think I do quite good with names even though I think about all the different names there are Oh Selena no Elena Selena squats squatty not squatty and basically if I don't want to be rude but treasure hunt okay it involved a lady Eureka forget a name anyway a very beautiful lady traveling around in a helicopter looking for treasure being guided by I think
a member of the public it's like a game thing and basically she got dropped off and she would run around and the camera man or woman would follow her and the camera would be focused focused on her buttocks I'm not even making it up that was what the show was and and she became very famous and her buttocks were the most famous buttocks on UK television at the time and yeah it's true it's not even made up it's true Brookside at its most controversial era in 1986 major storylines yeah and
87 as well though so I used to love Brookside it was proper gritty oh man the tube was still on air to 1987 so I didn't really watch the tube key continuing UK series in 1986 Only Fools and Horses a Christmas special a raw flush aired December 86 I need to watch all of the Christmas specials from Only Fools and Horses before Christmas a low a low ongoing huge popularity the Christmas specials pretty much for any TV show was big but Only Fools and Horses I think it was like the
top show of Christmas whenever it was on it was the biggest audience and it'd be like 20 million plus people watching I'm making up the figures but it was huge it was a big big amount it was the amount of people that you wouldn't get now just wouldn't get that many people watching one TV show on one channel unless it was like maybe a royal wedding or something like that maybe a low a low ongoing huge popularity yeah it really wasn't my thing spitting image the peak satire years I like
spitting image they used to be on a Sunday night ever-decreasing circles so this is just continuations of last week really and the last year to Ronnie's the final full series aired in 86 and Heidi hi final Susan runs okay so it runs in finishes in 88 so Terry and June still active I love Terry and June do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do I'm pretty sure Game for Laugh was not mentioned until now and that was a very popular TV show on Saturday nights.
So you've got BBC drama and soap BBC One, EastEnders, Coronation Street Emmerdale Farm, Brookside Howard's Way, Casualty Burgerack, The Bill Dempsey and Make Peace, Robin of Sherwood Inspector Morse, Play for Today and just see if it's missed anything out Children's TV, The Really Wild Show Blue Peter, Grange Hill, Continued, Postman Pat Henry's Cat, Bob's Program Pobbs Program, sorry, Podger and Badger, Play School Playbus Super Grand, Danger Mouse, Thomas Tank Engine and Friends, The City Show now did I mention last week the Wide Awake Club it was on during,
on a Saturday morning and it was on I think every day of the week during the holidays we're wide awake, it's good to know you're ready and we're wide awake, let's it go it's Saturday, what are you gonna do wide awake had Timmy Mallet, Eureka Johnson not Eureka Johnson, I forget her name now but it was really good I know it wasn't really aimed at me but it was funny and Timmy Mallet used to like do Mallet's Mallet and he'd get the kids to face each other and he's like look at me go blah blah blah and then just hit them on the head that is entertainment he was the star really,
he became a star after that and he had a pink pink and dark bikini, mankini thing and his song went to number one, super grand Danger Mouse Thomas Tank Engine, City Show Fraggle Rock, loved Fraggle Rock, Grain Chill it's all the same stuff as last week really, or last time sports just the same old stuff, major broadcasts so we still had the A Team, Knight Rider, Magnum MacGyver, Miami Vice Cheers, Fame, I wanna live forever Cagney and Lacey Dynasty, Falcon Crest The Cosby Show, Golden Girls Hill Street Blues Children's X Imports, Transformers He-Man, She-Ra, that was part of He-Man wasn't it?
wasn't that his girlfriend?
The Smurfs, Inspector Gadget and Voltron so I don't know when Wide Awake Club started maybe it was 85 so maybe I've already mentioned it Comedy 85 I'm just gonna go back, Danger Mouse BBC One, Fraggle Rock maybe it started in 84 the Wide Awake Club Channel 4, ITV, UK 85, let's go for 84, talking 84, Children's just shows you it's not completely, the Wide Awake Club was really good I said it was every morning on a Saturday I used to watch it with my little brother and it was just a really nice way to wake up I remember I used to when I was sleeping on the floor,
well like a camper bed thing in my step mum's mother's flat in the living room I used to get my little brother to wake me up so I could watch the Wide Awake Club with him and we used to pull the duvet onto the settee and just like watch the Wide Awake Club together and then I'd get ready and go to work so it was a nice start to the day I used to love the Wide Awake Club technically it wasn't really aimed at me but I still liked it I'd still watch it now probably, well it's sad isn't it so I do believe, did I tell you that I did a recording earlier?
I probably did hmm, hmm hmm, do you ever see someone, I don't know who that is I've just seen a picture of someone came up and I don't know who it is but she looks very familiar, familiar I don't know why, I've got no idea why oh well do, do, do, do, do, do, do so that I do believe is the end of this here recording don't know how long I've talked for another two hour recording I can't believe it I'm doing Q&A Friday tomorrow so there's still time to ask
me a question if you just go to Jason Newland's Boring Group on Facebook and you can ask me a question and I will answer it tomorrow so thank you for listening remember to be kind to yourself because you do deserve to be happy and be gentle with yourself you deserve to feel safe lots of love bye
Paragraph spacing and recurring name or title errors have been tidied. Because this began as a voice transcription, an occasional word or piece of punctuation may still be incorrect.