Sham Mountebank
@shammountebank.bsky.social
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Sub par since 1989
https://whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/
reposted by
Sham Mountebank
THE FAR SIDE DAILY
about 6 hours ago
“Dang, that gives me the creeps. … I wish she’d hurry up and scoop that guy out.”
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Sham Mountebank
Vinny Mainolfi | FREEZE-ZX | ZX Spectrum
4 months ago
FREEZE-ZX issue 02 Coming December 2025 Pre-order your copy TODAY from:
freeze64.com/freeze-zx-is...
#ZXSpectrum
#Speccy
#Z80
#Sinclair
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Sham Mountebank
Duncan Mackay
3 days ago
I’ve posted this before but the light was perfect today- a little Victorian cat paw in a brick at the front of the old Norfolk & Norwich Hospital. As this is on the front-facing corner of the main gates, the bricklayer quite clearly put it there on purpose, at a height where children would spot it.
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Sham Mountebank
Iain Mew
6 days ago
In 1986, Andrew Braybrook made one of the UK's most acclaimed arcade-style home computer games of the mid-'80s. And he made it working to a 37-hour-a-week schedule. New post on Uridium:
www.superchartisland.com/uridium
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Uridium – “Good zapping”
In 1988, Crash magazine interviewed Chris and Tim Stamper, previously of British home computer game titans Ultimate, and by then setting out as Rare. At one point, when talking about how busy they …
https://www.superchartisland.com/uridium
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A deeper dive into the world of Bookware. An article about some of the assorted UK book publishers who followed Mosaic into the software business.
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/12/peng...
#Commodore
#ZXSpectrum
#BBC
#MSX
#RetroGaming
#RetroComputing
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Penguin, Puffin, Collins, Heinemann, Hodder & Stoughton, Century, Arrow, Hutchinson, and Hill MacGibbon
https://whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/12/penguin-puffin-collins-heinemann-hodder.html
6 days ago
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Sham Mountebank
Tom Ewing
11 days ago
"YOU'VE PULLED OUT MORE THAN COD, FISHERMAN!" -
#Discourse2000
struggles to discuss the B-Movie inspired COLONY EARTH! - by Jim Watson, and the first ever writer/artist strip in
#2000AD
. Will a horde of angry Colony Earth stans come after me?
freakytrigger.co.uk/wedge/2025/1...
add a skeleton here at some point
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I love The Visible Man. The perfect way to give kids a PG rated page full of body horror. I've been looking forwards to reading this article and it doesn't disappoint.
add a skeleton here at some point
15 days ago
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Sham Mountebank
2000AD Randomizer
16 days ago
Dave Gibbons
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BBC Genome has flagged this entry for Monday 3rd December 1990 as containing "language that some may find offensive." Is the algorithm worried about the presence of Googie Withers?
16 days ago
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Tom Ewing
18 days ago
A new
#Discourse2000
post - DAN DARE is back, and he's here to tell
#2000AD
readers "we have Star Wars at home". Plus horror in space and the unspeakable menace of - THE SNAPPERS!
freakytrigger.co.uk/wedge/2025/1...
add a skeleton here at some point
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Pet Shop Boys fans. Your thoughts please on this Top of the Pops performance from 29/11/1190.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=EGp0...
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Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring on Top of the Pops 29/11/1990
YouTube video by PetShopBoys Parlophone
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EGp0WBl2rsk#
18 days ago
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Sham Mountebank
Iain Mew
20 days ago
A 1984 arcade game of a Jackie Chan movie kicked off the beat-'em-up genre. Then those who made it and its ports took what they learned to Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros., and a Windows rival that briefly had Microsoft worried. New post on Kung-Fu Master:
www.superchartisland.com/kung-fu-master
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Kung-Fu Master – “Martial arts experts and demons of every description”
In 1982, Takashi Nishiyama directed an arcade game called Moon Patrol, for Irem. It featured a moon buggy which moves constantly across a lunar landscape, where you have to jump over holes while sh…
https://www.superchartisland.com/kung-fu-master
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Sham Mountebank
Tom Ewing
20 days ago
#Discourse2000
is back! This intro post sets the scene for the 1978 posts with an overview of the different tribes of early
#2000AD
creators - the professionals, the rebels, the fans and the outsiders - and their visions of what the comic is
freakytrigger.co.uk/wedge/2025/1...
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Dance Our Way Out Of Our Constrictions: INTRO ’78
Previously on Discourse 2000: After successfully helping launch war comic Battle, editor Pat Mills had the opportunity to launch a new kind of boys’ comic at publishers IPC – Action, a title which tur...
https://freakytrigger.co.uk/wedge/2025/11/dance-our-way-out-of-our-constrictions-intro-78
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A blog update about Orpheus who released a game based on The Young Ones back in 1986.
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/11/orph...
#Commodore
#ZXSpectrum
#Amstrad
#MSX
#RetroGaming
#RetroComputing
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Orpheus
https://whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/11/orpheus.html
20 days ago
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Sham Mountebank
Iain Mew
27 days ago
Riding high after The Way of the Exploding Fist, Gregg Barnett and Greg Holland turned to pro wrestling. They made "the first truly 3 dimensional" combat game, complete with player wrestler Gorgeous Greg. The results were... mixed. New post on Rock'n Wrestle:
www.superchartisland.com/rockn-wrestle
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Rock’n Wrestle – “He knows all the moves”
The Way of the Exploding Fist was early enough and good enough to be ahead of the trend on martial arts and fighting games and to be a huge success. It was the UK’s best-selling game of 1985, and a…
https://www.superchartisland.com/rockn-wrestle
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ZX Spectrum software. A story in two acts.
27 days ago
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Reddit is making me feel impossibly ancient today.
29 days ago
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Sham Mountebank
2000AD Randomizer
29 days ago
Mick McMahon
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Sham Mountebank
🏳️🌈🎄Simon makes the yuletide LGBTQ+🎄🏳️🌈
about 1 month ago
I've had an idea... Someone told me that cos there are nearly 800 episodes of the Simpsons, it's possible to describe all other shows with a clip from a Simpsons episode. So with that in mind, I'm going to use a freezeframe/gif to describe every classic Dr Who serial 😁 1 season per day...
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Sham Mountebank
Mathew Kumar
about 1 month ago
Forget the news about that *other* mascot, not everyone played Nintendo growing up! Unlocked for all, I finally play Alex Kidd in Miracle World and compare it to my own childish assumptions:
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Alex Kidd In Miracle World (Sega, 1986) - exp.
Not everyone played Nintendo growing up.
https://expzine.com/2025/11/04/alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-sega-1986/
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Sham Mountebank
Iain Mew
about 1 month ago
In 1984/5, a spectacular Konami arcade game carved out genre norms for what we'd now call fighting games. Ocean had conversion rights, but were stretched enough that one version ended up subcontracted to a 14-year-old. It still became the UK's bestselling game of 1986. New post on Yie Ar Kung-Fu:
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Yie Ar Kung-Fu – “Hot fighting history”
Ocean’s contract with Konami to port their arcade games under the Imagine label had quickly worked well with Hyper Sports. Even if it did end up competing with Ocean’s own Daley Thompson’s Decathlo…
https://www.superchartisland.com/yie-ar-kung-fu
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Sham Mountebank
archivetvmusings
about 1 month ago
The Daily Mirror takes a wild stab at estimating of the cost of BBC programming for the 9th of November 1981.
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"We don't need the software profit," was how dk'tronics described their games to CRASH in 1985. A weirdly dismissive attitude considering some of their games were very good indeed.
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/11/dktr...
#C64
#Spectrum
#Amstrad
#RetroGaming
#RetroComputing
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dk'tronics
https://whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/11/dktronics.html
about 1 month ago
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Sham Mountebank
Mathew Kumar
about 1 month ago
Unlocked! I've genuinely written the most detailed article there is in English on Ubisoft's very first game, Zombi. The Guillemot family expanded from selling farming equipment to getting a teenager to rip off Dawn Of The Dead for them, and the rest is history:
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Zombi (Ubisoft, 1986) - exp.
Ubisoft's first game is far too interesting to be as forgotten as it is.
https://expzine.com/2025/10/30/zombi-ubisoft-1986/
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Sham Mountebank
The Onion
about 1 month ago
Studios Enter Bidding War Over Napkin Stephen King Wrote ‘Ghoul’ On
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Studios Enter Bidding War Over Napkin Stephen King Wrote ‘Ghoul’ On
LOS ANGELES—Anticipating the project could be the biggest horror hit of the decade, film studios were reportedly locked in a bidding war Friday over a napkin Stephen King had written the word “Ghoul” ...
https://theonion.com/studios-enter-bidding-war-over-napkin-stephen-king-wrote-ghoul-on/
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In the UK, the 1984 game Raid Over Moscow provoked a few protests and angry letters. In Finland, it stoked a diplomatic crisis. This is a fascinating Cold War story.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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Sham Mountebank
Paul Duncan / Writer / Editor / Films / Books / Comics
about 1 month ago
Aug 1967 / TV Radio Mirror / A great profile on Leonard Nimoy where he recounts meeting JFK in 1956 when he was a taxi driver—JFK encouaged Nimoy to pursue his dream to become an actor! Read the full interview here:
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Sham Mountebank
2000AD Randomizer
about 1 month ago
Massimo Belardinelli
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Sham Mountebank
Mathew Kumar
about 2 months ago
Unlocked! I dig into the history of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween for Atari 2600, actually play them (and take them seriously) and learn Charles "Evil Bong" Band's strange, important part in video game history:
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre / Halloween (Wizard Video, 1983) - exp.
Bafflingly, we have Charles Band to thank for these, and, inadvertently, a legendary kusoge.
https://expzine.com/2025/10/23/the-texas-chainsaw-massacre-halloween-wizard-video-1983/
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Sham Mountebank
Cinema Limbo
about 1 month ago
An All-New Cinema Limbo takes a journey into the future - a world of towns fuelled by pigpoo, bungee fights and an inadvertant Tommy reunion.
@shammountebank.bsky.social
joins me to discuss the thrilling adventure and tragic backstory of MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME!
www.podnose.com/cinema-limbo...
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126 - MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME — Podnose - An independent entertainment podcasting network
Jeremy is joined by perennial guest Chris Arnsby to discuss the 1985 sci-fi action sequel Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, directed by George Miller and George Ogilvie and starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turn...
https://www.podnose.com/cinema-limbo/126-mad-max-beyond-thunderdome
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Sham Mountebank
Stephen Collins
about 1 month ago
If you're a National Trust member, it's that time of year again: Midnight tonight is the deadline. It's a shame people have to keep doing this to keep a toehold on historical truth in this country, but here we are. Voting link:
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
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If you see this, quote with a robot that isn’t from “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Doctor Who,” or “Transformers".
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
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A second (still unsuccessful) go at finding the too damp to burn office of Tynesoft. New bits about spoilsport Jimmy Nail and notorious programmer Harry S. Price.
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/10/tyne...
#Tynesoft
#C64
#Spectrum
#Amstrad
#BBCMicro
#MSX
#Amiga
#Atari
#RetroGaming
#RetroComputing
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Tynesoft
https://whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/10/tynesoft.html
about 2 months ago
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Sham Mountebank
Mike Cormack
about 2 months ago
This is genius
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Sham Mountebank
Tim - Missing Episodes Podcast
about 2 months ago
It's Episode 17 of The Doctor Who Missing Episodes Podcast - THE HIGHLANDERS With the brilliant Gav Rymill and Rhys Williams. New info and our best to date! All shares much appreciated. Links below 👇
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Sham Mountebank
Nigel Auchterlounie
about 2 months ago
The Beano kids are investigating the haunted Pizza shop in this week's Beano. The Pizza shop on Hobbs lane. Because if there's one thing kids love it's references to Quatermass and the Pit.
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Sham Mountebank
Iain Mew
about 2 months ago
www.superchartisland.com/rambo-first-blood-part-ii
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I love the use of panels here. A single frame divided by a line. It turns one big picture into both a wide shot of Dredd and a close up of the button being pressed. There's a sense of time pausing before Dredd presses the button which gives the request denied line so much impact.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
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Sham Mountebank
Dan Whitehead
about 2 months ago
BBC Archive just uploaded The Lonely Shore (1962), a surreal 15-minute short that takes the form of a scientific report from an abandoned and desolate future Britain. Written by Jacquetta Hawkes, an actual archaeologist, and directed by Ken Russell, an actual madman.
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1962: An Expedition to Post-Apocalyptic Britain | Monitor: The Lonely Shore | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8yEIe69M4k
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First Star licensed Boulder Dash to at least five different UK companies for home computer versions. 1. C64, Statesoft 2. ZX Spectrum, Front Runner. 3. Amstrad (and Atari 8 bit), Mirrorsoft. 4. BBC Micro, Tynesoft 5. MSX, Orpheus
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
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Sham Mountebank
2000AD Randomizer
about 2 months ago
Mick McMahon
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A 1996 game called Harvester. It thought it had something important to say about violence in computer games. It didn't. It was painfully stupid.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
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I don't think it was Steven Moffat's place to resolve RTD's Time War story.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
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Sham Mountebank
Tim Dickinson
2 months ago
The Chairs of Doctor Who - new chair day! In fact, two from 'Dragonfire'. This first one is an ‘Etruscan’ chair, by Danny Lane, designed in 1984. Also, the elusive French wire chair, circa 1950. Post updated.
pinkforyouractualpterodactyl.com/2020/02/24/t...
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Sham Mountebank
filmisfabulous!
2 months ago
3 key members and trustees of the Film is Fabulous! team joined Tim of the 'Missing Episodes Podcast' Film collector John Franklin, De Montfort University’s Prof Justin Smith & Sue Malden, renowned former Head of Broadcast Archives at BBC YouTube Link
youtu.be/CK02j_Mi6iE?...
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Sham Mountebank
Iain Mew
2 months ago
Commando, directed by Capcom's Tokuro Fujiwara, was a big 1985 arcade hit. Elite Systems won the bidding for the home computer rights, staking their future on it succeeding there too. Now they just had to make those versions of the game by Christmas... New post:
www.superchartisland.com/commando
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Commando – “Now rush the 2nd area”
1985 was quite a year for Tokuro Fujiwara. He had earlier started his career at Konami, joining from Osaka Designers’ College to do visual design work, initially without realising it was a video ga…
https://www.superchartisland.com/commando
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Two different computer games both called Aliens: The Computer Game and both released by Electric Dreams. It was confusing.
whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/10/elec...
#RetroGaming
#RetroComputing
#Amstrad
#Commodore64
#ZXSpectrum
#Amiga
#AtariST
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Electric Dreams
https://whereweretheynow.blogspot.com/2025/10/electric-dreams.html
2 months ago
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I really like Castrovalva but I think the ending suffers because what's on screen does not sell the idea that space is folding in on itself. I've had a go at adding some visual distortion, hopefully, in line with what was technically possible in 1981.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Oq...
#DoctorWho
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"Fixing" Castrovalva
YouTube video by Agent Orange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Oqtnoye2o
2 months ago
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Sham Mountebank
filmisfabulous!
2 months ago
Terry Burnett’s Collection Film is Fabulous! are cataloguing the private collection of the late Terry Burnett, who was famous for returning two missing episodes of Doctor Who to the BBC in 2010, and later returned a missing episode of Hugh and I.
filmisfabulous.org.uk/terry-burnet...
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