Great British Railway Journeys - Michael Portillo's television series

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Not sure Bignosemac would be at home in the sartorial jackets...

[JayMac]

I quite like the pastel coloured jackets.

[bobm]

I quite like the pastel coloured jackets.

I'm not averse to them - just can't see me wearing one personally.

[TaplowGreen]

I quite like the pastel coloured jackets.

I'm not averse to them - just can't see me wearing one personally.

How about a nice "GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) green" number? (......fitted the next time you go in for maintenance?) 

[bobm]

To rework a Tony Hancock joke (and just to beat Chris from Nailsea saying it first) the size jacket I'd need would solve the unemployment problem in the tailoring industry.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I understand that, in tailoring terms, 'bobm' means 'blazer on bloke massive'. 

[TonyK]

I quite like the pastel coloured jackets.

But what is the gin ration?

[bobm]

Week three of the current series starting on 18th January 2016 takes him from Birmingham to Dartmoor (I think - info taken from the Radio Times but Digiguide has them a week later)

On the way he passes through Kidderminster, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, Bath, Bristol, Nailsea and the Somerset Levels.

[bobm]

..and week 4 (25th to 29th Jan) Ashford (Kent) to Henley on Thames via Sevenoaks, East Grinstead, Guildford, Woking, Wisley, Brooklands, Walton on Thames, Hampton Court, Teddington and Egham

[grahame]

..and week 4 (25th to 29th Jan) Ashford (Kent) to Henley on Thames via Sevenoaks, East Grinstead, Guildford, Woking, Wisley, Brooklands, Walton on Thames, Hampton Court, Teddington and Egham

So that's an "any permitted" ticket?   

[bobm]

No but is all Network area so you could get a discount with a Network Rail card if travelling after 10 am on a weekday!   

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

I believe he will also shown visiting the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor at Weston Zoyland and St. Marys Church in Bridgwater (unless this item has been edited out since recording last summer).

[JayMac]

I believe he will also shown visiting the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor at Weston Zoyland and St. Marys Church in Bridgwater (unless this item has been edited out since recording last summer).

But for one of the Duke of Monmouth's men having an itchy trigger finger the lineage of the monarchy may have been very different. The rebels darn near crept up on the king's troops in the dead of night. Then, as the rebels aporoached Bussex Rhine, one of them let off his musket losing the element of surprise. The rebels were routed in the subsequent battle.

Mr Portillo should have visited the Tudor Tavern in Taunton. Here the Duke of Monmouth held his Privy Council and he was declared the rightful heir before the ill fated battle. Then MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) should have visited Taunton Castle. Many of the captured rebels were tried here by Judge Jefferies in what became known as the Bloody Assizes. The lucky ones were transported. Those not so lucky were burned, beheaded; or hanged, drawn and quartered.

Because of the rebellion, and the fact so many of the rebels came from Somerset, no subsequent reigning monarch visited Taunton until QE2 in the early 1980s. Queen Victoria is said to have drawn the blinds whenever she passed through Bridgwater and Taunton by train. Long memories those nobs.

[TaplowGreen]

I believe he will also shown visiting the site of the Battle of Sedgemoor at Weston Zoyland and St. Marys Church in Bridgwater (unless this item has been edited out since recording last summer).

But for one of the Duke of Monmouth's men having an itchy trigger finger the lineage of the monarchy may have been very different. The rebels darn near crept up on the king's troops in the dead of night. Then, as the rebels aporoached Bussex Rhine, one of them let off his musket losing the element of surprise. The rebels were routed in the subsequent battle.

Mr Portillo should have visited the Tudor Tavern in Taunton. Here the Duke of Monmouth held his Privy Council and he was declared the rightful heir before the ill fated battle. Then MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) should have visited Taunton Castle. Many of the captured rebels were tried here by Judge Jefferies in what became known as the Bloody Assizes. The lucky ones were transported. Those not so lucky were burned, beheaded; or hanged, drawn and quartered.

Because of the rebellion, and the fact so many of the rebels came from Somerset, no subsequent reigning monarch visited Taunton until QE2 in the early 1980s. Queen Victoria is said to have drawn the blinds whenever she passed through Bridgwater and Taunton by train. Long memories those nobs.

Rather surprising that the Royal Family have been so hostile to the inhabitants of Somerset in the past, given that both have such a long & proud history of inbreeding in common! 

[chuffed]

 Alas,I fear that even the Blessed Saint Michael of Peccadillo may have had trouble getting through the Paddington gateline with an F4 restriction !