1972: ITV begins an experimental trial of tampon ads. Certain people are not best pleased.

An early eighties appearance from "leading scene characteriser" John Sparkes. I wonder what became of Dolores.

This list of overused words from 1974 is bizarrely strict in places, but a fair few are just as irritating, and even more prevalent, today.

Apparently "wrongdoing" has just overtaken both "iconic" and "revellers" to become the most popular word used by journalists and nobody else.

A passionate defence of ITV's early broadcasts of Sesame Street, from the producer of The Beast Must Die.

Every so often I think there are no more full-on archive TV Proustian rushes to be had. Then something like this comes along. The theme tune and title sequence in particular are well Combray. www.youtube.com/watch?v=42Xk...

Oh Guardian, Never Change Dept.: I can just picture Lytton Strachey popping into Manze's for a cheeky "two and one" with liquor after a hard morning reading General Gordon to filth.

Albion Market - Granada's short-lived attempt to expand its soap empire. On the plus side, it featured the most diverse cast of any soap this far. On the minus side, it was a bit dull, neither as amusing as Corrie or as dramatic as Brookside. open.substack.com/pub/historyo...

Is there any truth in the bold assertion of the final sentence here? If not, what was the first?

Dead Head - Howard Brenton's dense and wildly conspiratorial film noir pastiche, shot in as stylish a manner as a BBC2 videotaped production of the period could be, deserved better than to be chiefly remembered for a "kinky" S&M scene featuring Denis Lawson's arse. open.substack.com/pub/historyo...

The Price Is Right - an attempt to import a US game show wholesale to the UK, with barely anything changed in terms of style, manner and format. Always too fundamentally American to really fit in over here, it lasted just four years before quietly naffing off. open.substack.com/pub/historyo...

Hoping everyone has a safe and happy Barbara Dickson Weekend.

February 1986: a time of un-British game shows, un-American sitcoms, underwhelming children's puzzle programmes and underpowered Salford soap operas. Thank heavens, then, for Denis Lawson's bare arse. open.substack.com/pub/historyo...

God, I love the programme descriptions for Mike Yarwood in Persons. So perfectly of their time and on the nose.

"My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed." - Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Fond memories of the right honourable member for Oldham West's guest spot on SNL.

Current earworm: "Does anybody know how long till World War Three? I need to know, I've got to book me holi-dee, But I love her, I'm hoping that I'll never recover..."

Separated at birth: La Serenissima by Rondo Veneziano and Diamonds & Pearls by Prince.

Is Dee Hepburn's character in Gregory's Girl a manic Dixie Dean girl?

Separated at birth: the "iconic" drum fill from In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins, and the bit in the theme tune from Never the Twain just as the camera pans over from the bust of Donald Sinden to the Windsor Davies Toby jug.

Who's this iconoclastic, edgy comedian?

Current earworm: the two bars of Listen to the Mockingbird, one played on woodwind, the second by a full orchestra, that accompany this scene from Tex Avery's King Size Canary.

A rather worryingly comprehensive roundup of what today's kids are pleased to call the "lore" of Channel Four's Teletext cartoon The Adventures.of 4-T. More than you'll ever need to know about Vince the Valve.

Subeditor is hoisted aloft by colleagues and ceremonially borne across the road to El Vino's.

England's dramatic 3-2 loss to West Germany in the quarter final of the 1970 World Cup is commonly blamed on the enforced absence of senior keeper Gordon Banks, due to a stomach ache. The cause of this stomach ache remains unknown.

Walk into any second hand record shop in Britain in the mid to late eighties, and you'd be guaranteed to find at least one copy of these LPs.

Next Friday marks the 50th anniversary of Station to Station which is dead exciting and all that, but slightly gutted to learn I missed yesterday's 50th anniversary of Frampton Comes Alive!

I've always thought it a shame Alan Price never teamed up with the lead singer of Marillion.

"Hey! Remember this? Atlantic City! I choked on a shrimp!"

Slightly disappointed to see TDK pedling this sort of quackery.

Drink responsibly.

LOOK AT THAAAT! Week 58 brings a host of fiftieth anniversaries: a major TV play, a failed post-Python pilot, a pivotal newsroom incident and one of the most unnecessarily great title sequences of all time. open.substack.com/pub/historyo...

Thoughts and prayers with Artificial H Intelligence, who must be getting a lot of undeserved hassle this week.

Up until the early nineties it was the orthodoxy that if a pop act had been making records for more than a decade (give or take a few years), they were old and decrepit and should knock it on the head.

Things From Dreams I Wish I Had the Time and Energy to Make #3552: The Briers Tapestry.

I'll never be able to afford a Fabergé egg, but I do have a Wackyergé vol-au-vent and a Thumbsaloftergé sausage roll.

I refuse to recognise Storm Goretti until it's officially introduced by Paul Daniels.

I always confuse dramas based on the works of Harlan Coben with dramas based on the works of Harlan H Coben.

This reminds me that late '70s TV was full of people reading scripts in front of old timey microphones. The Last Goon Show of course, but also endless nostalgic tributes to Bandwagon, Much Binding in the Marsh, The Spam Fritter Man etc. You got to admire everyone's silent page turning technique.

The only thing I know about Emmerdale is that when it was called Emmerdale Farm the theme went "Emmerdale Farm/Let's all go to Emmerdale Farm" and was in 3/4 time, then when they dropped the "Farm" bit the theme completely collapsed into some unquantifiable jazz time signature.

I see Rob Brydon's hosting another sure fire hit of a game show.

Old Dirty Bastard tracks being used to advertise pet insurance. Ferdinand de Saussure runs into the room shouting "No! No! That's too much!"

I haven't seen that Bowie doc (and judging by the reactions probably won't) but I'm intrigued by the story of Bowie weeping over a Melody Maker drubbing of Tin Machine. Because it sounds... well, bollocks.