Campaign to revive discontinued products

Website of the Day: Tuesday November 30th

>> Bring It Back
Thanks to Alan Simonds for this email:
"Have you ever gone to the shops or a supermarket to buy something you have bought in the past and found it’s been discontinued? Irritating isn’t it. I have set up a forum for people to campaign to bring products back. I’m sure there are many people out there who would like have the opportunity to start a campaign, or perhaps reminisce about a product that is no longer available."
The site is so new that at the time of writing there is only one post on the forum (from Alan himself) but I suspect we can change that! If there’s a product that you wish to see back on the shelves please feel free to visit the forums and post your suggestions and/or product memories.

Farewell to Fish

Website of the Day: Wednesday October 6th

>> BBC Weather: Tribute to Michael Fish (MBE)
All hail the great man of British Meteorology! Today is Michael Fish’s last day on our screens as a weatherman, following 32 years of loyal service to the BBC and over 40 years with the Met Office. This site pays tribute to the man who has become a TV institution, with entertaining anecdotes about the transition from magnetic weather symbols to computerised graphics, photos and videos chronicling his (ahem) eccentric fashion choices, plus a whole page devoted to the infamous storm of 1987.

Europe’s Worst Interiors of 1974

Website of the Day: Wednesday September 8th

>> Eurobad ‘ 74
Given that Website of the Day is primarily a radio feature, I normally steer clear of sites that are primarily visual, but this one demanded a wider audience. What we have here is an extraordinary collection of photos of 70’s home interiors which make Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen’s most excessive designs seem subtle and understated. There are shades of green on show that haven’t been seen since the first colour episodes of Dr Who, plus (inexplicably) a horse in a kitchen. It’s fair to say that 70’s design has not aged well!

Black cats, ladders, broken mirrors and lumps of coal

Website of the Day: Thursday September 2nd

>> Old Superstitions
This site bills itself as the largest list of superstitions on the web. Whether you slavishly avoid ladders and cracks in the pavement or you think all superstitions are a load of hokum, the site makes entertaining reading. Superstitions are categorised into good and bad luck and also into more specific groups like hair, weddings, new homes and babies. Thus we learn that hair must be never cut at the waning of the moon, which would prevent it growing luxuriantly, that inhaling a horses breath is a great cure for whooping cough and that an actress who smears lipstick on her teeth will soon win a new part.

In a similar vein, but UK based, and even more entertaining is I Used to Believe – A directory of stuff you thought was true before you were old enough to know better.

Beano, Viz, Misty and 2000AD

>> Website of the Day: Thursday August 12th

>> 2000AD and British Comics
Hot off the press from the BBC Cult stable, here’s a terrific new site designed to celebrate British comics and show that comics aren’t just for kids. There’s loads of great stuff here including full length Judge Dredd audio adventures, a new exclusive online comic set at the BBC called Work Experience, classic strips from 2000AD, The Beano and Viz, four video documentaries featuring contributions from top comics artists and writers, features on Girls comics from Bunty to Misty and an excellent Caped Crusader Or Vicious Villain Personality Quiz.

Pictures of Old Shops

Website of the Day: Wednesday August 11th

>> I Like Old Shops
I’m all for online shopping… For price, range of stock and convenience it’s hard to beat, BUT (and frankly this is a HUGE but) for personal service, faded fixtures and fittings, fabulous time-warp signage and a uniquely British retail experience, nothing compares to the dying breed of small independent local ironmongers, fishmongers, electrical shops and sweet shops. This site is a loving photographic shrine to these small local shops … May they live forever retaining their unique mid-20th Century charm!

Bekonscot: Virtual Village

Website of the Day: Monday August 9th

>> Bekonscot: Virtual Village
I have vague (but very happy) memories of visiting Bekonscot (in Beaconsfield, Bucks) when I was little – It’s the world oldest model village, created in 1929 and forever stuck in an idyllic 1930s timewarp with miniature farms, fields, castles, churches, beaches and village greens all linked by one of Britain’s largest model railways. While the real Bekonscot is celebrating its 75 anniversary you can use the site to Create your own Virtual Model Village, one thatched-roof cottage at a time. Therapeutic and strangely addictive!

Thunderbirds: The Movie

Website of the Day: Friday July 23rd

>> Thunderbirds official film site
It’s safe to assume that celluloid Thunderbirds will attract a keen audience of parents who grew up hoping to be pilot Thunderbird 2. What remains to be seen is whether the live action film will work for a generation weaned on Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and The Simpsons. But I’ll certainly spend a while this weekend exploring Tracey Island on the film’s official site which has full specifications for the entire International Rescue fleet, a bunch of 3D challenges, and all the trailers downloads and profiles you would expect.

Meanwhile for those who’d prefer to stick with the original marionette version there’s still a terrific range of features on the Classic Thunderbirds
site and on BBC Cult’s guide to the TV series.

>> Classic Thunderbirds | >> Thunderbirds on BBC Cult

“You’ll never guess what I saw in the town centre…”

Website of the Day: Wednesday July 14th

>> Big Whale on a Lorry
I’ve always enjoyed a site that tells a story, and this story concerns a man called Steve Deput and a 70 ft, 70 ton blue whale called Jonah. Now the blue whale is
a) the biggest animal ever seen on this planet
b) indigenous to the Pacific
and
c) rarely seen up close.
But Steve saw Jonah at very close quarters … on the back of a 100 ft lorry in the centre of Barnsley. For years he thought he imagined the whole thing, but the site explains how he pieced the story together and discovered evidence of other urban whale sightings throughout the UK from the late fifties to the early seventies! See also:
>> The Whale Tale on Radio 4’s Home Truths