Podcasts about catterick

It is the lot of the infantry to hold ground and get shot at. This is the mundane history of the infantry, not the story you hear during training at Catterick or Brecon. But our social media feeds show us the reality. Soldiers in Ukraine are repeatedly filmed sitting in trenches waiting to be mortared, attacked by artillery or chased by a suicide FPV drone. Encounters involving small infantry units engaging each other are rare; instead, remote firepower remains the dominant killer on the 21st century battlefield. Despite this, however, we are once again considering changes to small arms and small arms ammunition. This is being driven by discussions of lethal effect against body armour at over 600 metres. In this short commentary piece, I want to put the selection of a new rifle and ammunition into its wider societal, historical and organisational context. In the process I hope to persuade readers that the Army should not put new ammunition at the top of its priority list. Although relative to the specific environment and type of conflict, comparatively speaking, the infantry is the least lethal branch of the armed forces.1 Paradoxically, however, the infantry sits at the heart of the army's identity and purpose. As representatives of the polity, infantry soldiers embody the social contract between the citizen and the nation. As I argue in Weapon of Choice this contract is underwritten by the engineer and the rifles they create.2 Framed this way, the rifle is more than a weapon. It becomes the tangible symbol of the bond between the state and its soldiers. If the state cannot provide a reliable and effective rifle, then it has failed at upholding its side of this foundational bargain. Getting small arms acquisition wrong not only jeopardises military effectiveness but it also risks the legitimacy of the sovereign state. The stakes are therefore far greater than the practicalities of small arms calibre or the frailties of weapon design. They touch on the very principles of governance and trust between the nation and its defenders. If the state cannot provide a reliable and effective rifle, then it has failed at upholding its side of this foundational bargain. Unfortunately, since at least the middle of the 19th century, the introduction of every new service rifle with the British Army has been associated with controversy of some sort. The Martini Henry failed in the Sudan in 1884. The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield heralded arguments about the utility of the cavalry. The introduction of Fabrique Nationale's Self-Loading Rifle occurred only because the Americans rejected an intermediate calibre in the 1950s. And of course, the SA80 failed in the desert during the First Gulf War and was subsequently suspended - at the request of the UK's NATO delegate on small arms - from the Alliance's Nominated Weapon List.3 Rifle failure Given the symbolism and significance of the rifle and the long history of failure associated with its introduction into the Army, buying a new design of small arms and ammunition needs to be done with considerable care. In part this is because the UK no longer has the industrial capacity to produce a large fleet of weapons and will need to recalibrate existing ammunition production for a new calibre. Buying small batches of bespoke ammunition and specialist weapons does not necessarily create problems. However, buying a new fleet of rifles to fill the requirements of an entire Army brings with it unique practical challenges associated with introducing a new system, a new ammunition and the development of a new production line. Take, for example, the Enfield Weapon System (EWS). The EWS was the pre-cursor to the SA80. Initially designed for a 4.85mm round, the weapon was specifically intended to allow the infantry to fight from an armoured fighting vehicle and be used in close quarters. The small calibre was selected primarily because 7.62mm ammunition was completely inappropriate for use in Northern Ireland wher...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Jessica Gale (@Jess.Gale.Art) Jessica Gale is a British landscape artist born in 1967 in Catterick, Yorkshire. She began painting in 2010 during a period living in Amsterdam, inspired by the subdued beauty of a Dutch winter and influenced by Rembrandt's moody palette . Her work encompasses both representational and abstract landscapes. She investigates the interplay of shapes, light, and negative space, manipulating these elements through form and colour to convey the energy of her subjects. Gale trained at The Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea, London, and currently resides and works in London and Dorset. Her diverse media include oil, acrylic, charcoal, pastels, and printmaking. She has exhibited widely, including at Harvey and Woodd in Edinburgh and the Otter Gallery in Dorset, and participated in the 2024 season of Sky's Landscape Artist of the Year. For more information on the work of Jessica Gale go tohttps://jessicagalefineart.com To Support this podcast from as little as £3 per month: www.patreon/ministryofarts For full line up of confirmed artists go to https://www.ministryofarts.orgEmail: ministryofartsorg@gmail.comSocial Media: @ministryofartsorg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Racing in Ireland on Saturday is in the Curragh (24th May 2025). Cross-channel, there are meetings in Haydock, Goodwood, Beverly, Catterick, Cartmel, Salisbury and Windsor. With his 'Saturday Six,' here's Galway Bay FM's George McDonagh.

As has been widely reported on, immunisation rates, including for flu and RSV, have been falling – at a troubling rate – and diseases like whooping cough and measles have seen a worrying resurgence due to anti-vaxxers. And not just in the US. In a new pharmaphorum podcast, Rebecca Catterick, General Manager for Vaccines, UK & Ireland, at Sanofi, discusses this decline in vaccination rates, as well as what can be done to turn the situation around. Catterick explores the role of the UK Labour Government's Child Health Action Plan, aligning as it does with NHS vaccination strategy priorities, and also the criticality of preventative measures, including primary and secondary prevention and its role in the 10-year health plan. You can listen to episode 180a of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series - in iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Podbean, and pretty much wherever you get your other podcasts!

Charlotte Greenway who's in for Nick today is joined by RTV's Jane Mangan and there's plenty of Cheltenham Festival chat coming your way. First up we hear from Dan Skelton on his Cheltenham team that includes Langer Dan, Protektorat & The New Lion, before Nick catches up with Derek O'Connor on his Festival rides as well as the favourite in today's Nick Luck Daily Podcast Pointing Pointers Hunter Chase at Catterick. We also hear from Terence O'Brien on Jane's fancy in the new novice's handicap chase on the Thursday. Jane shares some insight she's picked up along the road during Cheltenham Festival preview season and discusses the potential significance of Coolmore's Walk In The Park winner in France yesterday. Finally, we have news from Bahrain and Hong Kong with Ed Veale and JA McGrath.

Charlotte Greenway who's in for Nick today is joined by RTV's Jane Mangan and there's plenty of Cheltenham Festival chat coming your way. First up we hear from Dan Skelton on his Cheltenham team that includes Langer Dan, Protektorat & The New Lion, before Nick catches up with Derek O'Connor on his Festival rides as well as the favourite in today's Nick Luck Daily Podcast Pointing Pointers Hunter Chase at Catterick. We also hear from Terence O'Brien on Jane's fancy in the new novice's handicap chase on the Thursday. Jane shares some insight she's picked up along the road during Cheltenham Festival preview season and discusses the potential significance of Coolmore's Walk In The Park winner in France yesterday. Finally, we have news from Bahrain and Hong Kong with Ed Veale and JA McGrath.

Racing in Ireland on Saturday (28th December 2024) is in Leopardstown and Limerick. Cross-channel, there are meetings in Newbury, Leicester, Catterick, Newcastle and Southwell. With his 'Saturday Six,', here's Galway Bay FM's George McDonagh.

Charlotte Greenway in for Nick and joined by Lee Mottershead of the Racing Post. They looked ahead to the racing this weekend and over the Christmas period in the company of Emmet Mullins, who predicts Corbetts Cross will be slicker in the King George than we've seen so far and AJ O'Neill who nominates the likely Grade 1 targets for some of their most exciting novice hurdlers. Lee picks out the key points from the Levy's annual review and discusses the dramatic opener at Catterick yesterday. Then Thady Gosden comments of some of their recent first time out two year old winners that may even have Classic aspirations before finally we head to JA McGrath for our Hong Kong bulletin.

Charlotte Greenway in for Nick and joined by Lee Mottershead of the Racing Post. They looked ahead to the racing this weekend and over the Christmas period in the company of Emmet Mullins, who predicts Corbetts Cross will be slicker in the King George than we've seen so far and AJ O'Neill who nominates the likely Grade 1 targets for some of their most exciting novice hurdlers. Lee picks out the key points from the Levy's annual review and discusses the dramatic opener at Catterick yesterday. Then Thady Gosden comments of some of their recent first time out two year old winners that may even have Classic aspirations before finally we head to JA McGrath for our Hong Kong bulletin.

This is a story of stigma, uncomfortable truths and allegations of an attempted cover up at Britain's biggest army base.As the UK army rapidly modernises its approach towards mental health, an old cultural problem persists at Catterick Garrison where a series of repeated, systemic errors have been uncovered.Reporters: Claudia Williams and Angela WalkerTo find out more about Tortoise:Download the Tortoise app – for a listening experience curated by our journalistsSubscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free contentBecome a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Racing in Ireland on Saturday (8th June 2024) is in Punchestown and Navan. Cross-channel, there are meetings in Beverly, Bangor-on-Dee, Haydock, Catterick, Chepstow and Lingfield. With his 'Saturday Six,' here's Galway Bay FM's George McDonagh.

Sometimes it's just a pleasure to sit back and listen.  This is one of those moments - for me, certainly, but hopefully for you too.  I had the pleasure of sitting and chatting with two icons of the industry - Sean Conboy and the inimatable nonagenarian, Stuart Clark who is not only still shooting at the age of 97 but is a considerable racontour (you can hear me and Sean laughing in the background throughout!) Stuart started his career in 1941, so his stories are not only entertaining but are fascinating as they cover every photography development from glass plate through to the state of the art digital wizardry we're facing today. This interview is worth listening to every one of its 90 or so minutes! Enjoy!   Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript [00:00:00] Paul: So there are so, so many things I love about being in this industry, the things we get to do, and in particular, this podcast, and one of the many things is having these moments that you're about to hear, where I get to sit and chat with someone I've known for a very long time, Sean Conboy, fantastic photographer, and just a wonderful human being. [00:00:20] And someone he introduced me to, a guy called Stuart Clark.  [00:00:23] Now Stuart is 98 years old in July this year. Self proclaimed as one of the oldest working photographers in the country, and I'm not sure that anyone's going to argue with that. He started training as a photographer in 1940. That makes this, he's been working as a photographer for 84 years. [00:00:46] And the whole of this interview is taking place in what was, his photography studio in a little town just outside Leeds. It's his front living room, but it's huge. It's got a high ceiling and you can imagine how the lighting would have been hot, continuous lights and families just having the best time with someone who I learned very quickly, is a storyteller and a raconteur, uh, just a wonderful, a wonderful human being. There are lots of things to listen out for in the following interview, and let me draw your attention to just a few. Uh, listen out for the flash powder story. It's very funny. Uh, the story of, uh, People retouching, lots of retouching stories from the 1940s and billiard ball complexions. [00:01:31] . Doing multiple jobs in a day. He used to do three or four jobs in a day, and have the timing so accurate that could include photographing a wedding. He learned his craft. He's great. [00:01:42] He's spent time creating images for press, looking for alternative, alternative images and looking for PR images that no matter how much a sub editor crops them, the brand or at least the story is still very much intact. He talks about the utter love of the job and appreciating what a privileged position photographers like ourselves are in every day of the week. [00:02:07] He talks a little about the role of agencies and how they now manage messages from companies in a way that probably they never did. He talks about relationships and he talks about being positive and persistence. He also talks about the role of the Institute. [00:02:24] Finally, he talks a little bit about photographers always being the fag end of everything, but in the end, what he talks about really, It's the love of his job and the love of his clients.  [00:02:35] Why am I telling you all of this upfront? Well, this is a long interview, but the sound of Stuart's voice and the history that it represents, as well as the fact that he's more current than an awful lot of photographers who I know right now who are much younger, uh, but just, there's something in his, his entire manner that is captivating and enthralling, informative and useful. And so, although it's a long interview, I thought I'd just explain a little bit about why I found it so appealing and why I've left the edit almost entirely intact. I've removed a few lumps and bumps where we all managed to hit a microphone as we're gesticulating. [00:03:16] So picture the scene, there's myself, Sean and Stuart sitting, in armchairs and on couches. [00:03:27] And if you're wondering why it took me quite so long, this interview is actually, it goes back to February of this year, and why it took me quite so long to get it out, it was partly because there was a lot of of lumps to remove and partly because it was this trip, this interview, this podcast that I was returning home from when the Land Rover blew up. [00:03:46] And frankly, I think there's a little bit of trauma there with a six and a half thousand pound bill to re, to replace and repair piston number two. I think my heart just, I needed a minute just to not recall it every single time I try to edit this particular podcast down. It's a wonderful interview. Please enjoy. [00:04:06] I know it's quite long, um, but what an absolute legend. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.  [00:04:32] So, firstly, Stuart, thank you for welcoming us into your home. We've driven quite a long way, uh, to come and see you. Sean, uh, recommended we speak to you, because the number of stories you have make even his collection of stories look Insignificant. [00:04:48] And as we all know, Sean, The Footnote Conboy has more stories than any man I've ever met up until probably this, this moment in time. So to kick the conversation off, how did you become a photographer? [00:05:05] Stuart: It was an unfortunate or fortunate chain of events because, um, I was at the Leeds College of Art in 1940, 41, and I had the desire and intention of being a commercial artist, which is now referred as graphic designer and at that time, being wartime, there was little advertising being done, and so, uh, perhaps I was not sufficiently talented, but I finished up working for a firm who were essentially photoengravers, but they had a commercial photography studio as well, and they were short of somebody to join them, and I went in there and became virtually an apprentice photographer. This was very interesting because at that time, again, there was very little commercial photography advertising being done, and so all our efforts, or most of our efforts, were centred on war work, which involved going round the factories and, uh, Photographing for record purposes, the input of the particular company. And in those days, I can tell you that that was not a very comfortable proposition because we were on total blackout, and therefore, all the fumes in the factory, whatever they were, had very little chance of escaping, so you've got the fumes and the heat, and then of course we were only Illuminating scenes with flash powder, which was an added hazard, and, and so Photography outside in the factories was not very pleasant, but inside the factory, or in the studio, we were also doing war work, and that was to photograph silhouettes, scale models of all aircraft of both the enemy and, uh, and, uh, Home, uh, Aircraft for identification purposes, so that the air gunners were not shooting our own planes down in action. And another very interesting thing which I have always remembered was that the four, or the eight cannons In the Spitfire, that was four in each wing, were harmonized to converge at a point away from the Spitfire so that the Fire, the maximum fire point was when those two lots of cannons converged. [00:08:34] The only reference that the pilots had was a silhouette which we had photographed, so that he could visualize that silhouette in the, aiming sight of his  [00:08:50] guns.  [00:08:51] Paul: a very early heads up display.  [00:08:53] Stuart: Indeed.  [00:08:54] Paul: Yeah. [00:08:55] Stuart: And, so, that was quite an important element, I think, of our war work for the Air Ministry. [00:09:03] The main factory was engraving the, conical, rangefinder cones for 25 pound howitzers. [00:09:14] Paul: Right. [00:09:15] Stuart: And at the time of leaving school, everybody had to be doing war work.  [00:09:21] And so I went to the company on the pretext of doing war work of that nature, rather than going round snapping. [00:09:31] Paul: Right. [00:09:32] Sean: Stuart, could you also, um, I mean you've told me many great tales about your time actually in the, uh, armed services film unit, i think that might be quite interesting,  [00:09:42] Stuart: Well, I was called up and because of my interest in mechanical things and gadgetry and so forth, I finished up in the Royal Army Service Corps. But a friend of my mother's husband suggested that I applied for a trade test in photography. And one day I was called up to the orderly room and they said, We've got the movement order here for you. Um, to go to Pinewood Studios, of all places. I don't know what this is about, but anyway, here's your movement order. So, I went down to Pinewood, and we had a trade test, and I think I finished up, uh, top of the, the, uh, examination. But then I was returned to unit at Catterick, and I was up there for another few months, and then I was posted. And eventually, after about six weeks of the posting, I got another movement order to go back to Pinewood Studios, where I started my course in cinephotography, [00:11:06] and still photography. Now, this was the last course. before Pinewood closed down and the unit closed down. I'm talking about Pinewood closing down, Pinewood was the headquarters of the Army Film and Photographic Unit from when it was formed in October 41. [00:11:35] The course included preparation for action photography, essentially. when the course started, the war was still on in Central Europe. but before the course finished, it, uh, the war finished. [00:11:58] And The Japanese War was still going on until September of the same year, which was 45. But we were still being trained, and when the course finished, we had very little to do but just wait to see what happened. And so from September to, um, December of that year, we were just hanging about in the studios. [00:12:30] We were then posted to the Far East, in fact to Malaya, where the No. 9 unit was formed. Having been moved by Batten's headquarters, Mountbatten's headquarters, from Ceylon to Singapore, thought that it would be probably much more congenial there than in Ceylon, India. [00:12:57] So number nine was there and it's interesting to note that right at this moment an exhibition is being produced for the photographer's gallery on Bert Hardy's life and Bert Hardy at the time that I there was, in fact, the stills captain in charge of all the still photography in Malay Command. Or the, not Malay Command, the Far East Command, because we had outstations in Java and Hong Kong, and even, uh, one guy, uh, was in, um, in Hiroshima. So that was the formation of the, the, uh, Far East, Southeast Asia Command photographic, uh, outfit. until it closed down, uh, in September, August September of 46, and we are then dispersed Some went to the Imperial War Museum, the Imperial, uh, war, graves Commission, et cetera, and six of us went back to Vienna, where we joined number 9, Public Relations, because unit had been disbanded completely. So, there in, uh, in Austria, we were doing what they call Local Boy Stories, and we made a couple of films on the Irish regiments and also the East Yorkshire, not the East Yorkshire, the Yorkshire regiments who were guarding and on guard duties at the palace, Shurnbran Palace, which everybody has heard of, and um, and so that carried on until, uh, the Until I was demobbed in 1947, December. came home and went back to the company I originally started with because they were compelled to take people for 12 months. And at the end of that time, I decided to leave I had a bit of a a difference of opinion with the studio manager, who was RAF, and I was Army, and I was a sergeant as well, and I don't think he was quite that when he was in the RAF photographic section, but there was a resentment anyway. [00:16:02] of my presence.  [00:16:03] So, I went to the firm called C. R. H. Pickards, who were one of the finest industrial, uh, and leading industrial photographic units, companies, in the north of England. [00:16:24] It was there, then, that I began to learn industrial photography. And we photographed all sorts of various things, from factory engineering, factories, products and so forth, lathes, milling machines, railway engines, all manner of things. And that's where I cut my teeth on industrial photography. [00:16:56] Sean: And, and Stuart, what sort of, um, equipment would you be using in those days? not  [00:17:01] Stuart: so ha!  [00:17:02] Sean: but how  [00:17:03] would you be lighting these spaces in those days  [00:17:05] Stuart: um The equipment that we were using was always, almost always, whole plate, six a half, eight by, eight and a half, six a half, uh, folding field cameras. when I started, we [00:17:29] were on glass plates. But then the advent of film came in. And this was obviously much lighter stuff to carry around. And every, exposure had to count. Now in today's terms, where you press the button and pick the best out of however many, all we used to do was a duplicate at the most. So we used to There was a variation in the exposure or the aperture setting, and that was the only difference the two exposures. [00:18:19] So what we used to do was develop one side of the, uh, the double dark slides, see what they were like, if they wanted a little bit more or a bit less development, that was applied to second side. And, don't know whether you've ever heard of the expression of, um, developing by, uh, vision. But we used to have a very dim green light, and the sensitive film. [00:18:59] was not, uh, sensitive to the green light.  [00:19:03] Paul: All right.  [00:19:04] Stuart: But you had to be in the darkroom for ten minutes for your eyes to become adjusted, and you could then see absolutely every detail of the, the development process. And when the highlights started to you, to, To show a dark mark through the back of the antihalation backing, then the development was just about right, if but if you wanted a little bit more contrast, then you just pushed it on. If it had been a dull day, a dull, miserable day, then you pushed the development on a little bit further. [00:19:49] Sean: And  [00:19:49] Stuart: you've asked  [00:19:50] Sean: be, how would you be lighting some of these scenes? I'm very intrigued at that  [00:19:53] Stuart: I  [00:19:53] Sean: that  [00:19:53] Stuart: about to say that. [00:19:54] Um, for big areas, we used to use flash powder. And a little bit of flash powder goes a long way, believe me. But it was pretty dangerous stuff. And um, I remember we photographed a wedding on one occasion at the Majestic Hotel Harrogate. And there were 450 people. at the reception and they wanted a photograph to show as many of the people as possible. So we put the whole plate camera on a table stood up there with tray into which I poured flash powder. [00:20:38] Now then, this was actuated. with a percussion cap, like we used to have in little [00:20:46] hand pistols for toys. and when you pulled the release catch, that ignited the cap, [00:20:56] that ignited the flash powder. [00:21:00] So, the exposure was only going to be once. One exposure. [00:21:07] And so, the photographer I was with, he said, right everybody. Look this way, and I want to be making sure that everybody keeps still. [00:21:21] I'm going to count five for you, but don't move until I've finished counting. [00:21:29] So the idea was to take the sheath out of the slide. With having put a cap over the lens, shutter, just an open lens with a cap or a lid on the front. [00:21:46] And the technique was to take the cap off hold it in front of the lens, so that that allowed the vibration or any vibration in the camera to settle down and then take the exposure. the idea was count 1, 2, 3, 4, then take the cup off. And on four I ignited the flash gun and then the cup went on and the guy that I was worth put the sheath back and said, right, let's get out of here quick. The reason for that was that you got the brightness, got the, the buildup of the available lights. then it's just topped off, illuminated with the flash, not a very big one, I hasten to add. But the significance of flash powder was that there was a flame which simply went upwards.  [00:23:00] And that was it, that was all there was to be seen. But, it produced smoke, which used to go into, onto the ceiling, and it would roll across the ceiling, carrying with it the grains of the flash powder, which had obviously changed colour from [00:23:24] silver [00:23:25] To yellow, that was okay. But when the waiters came to move the, uh, soup plates, what they found was a white circle on a yellow  [00:23:47] cloth. [00:23:51] And you can also visualize the fact that a lot of people had a lot of. Little flash powder grains in their hair  [00:24:01] as well. well. By the time that [00:24:04] By the time that this happened, we were halfway back to Leeds.  [00:24:08] Sean: Very good.  [00:24:09] Stuart: But this this was the scourge of flash powder because you could only take one shot. Because the place used to, the whole of the place, the factory, if you using a large amount of powder, made a lot of smoke, and it just collected on the ceiling and it obscured it, the vision. So, we used to use photo floods, these were overrun pearl lamps, we used to have six on a button. And if the subject was still, we could go around on a long lead and paint scene with light. And that was, and that became established, So flash balder started to go, [00:25:08] Paul: Right. [00:25:10] Stuart: but you see, at this time, flash bulbs hadn't really got going. [00:25:17] The GEC flash bulbs, which were foil filled, were about the only thing that was available. Um, in this, in this country. And they were sympathetic. [00:25:31] And the GEC Warehouse in Leeds on one occasion, uh, a consignment of, um, bulbs came, [00:25:43] Uh, [00:25:44] in a, in a case, and, uh, one of the attendants decided that he would test them to see whether they were all alright. [00:25:54] So [00:25:54] he fired one. [00:25:57] and 50 flashbulbs, because [00:26:01] they had to be in contact with each other. If they were separate, it didn't work, but when you put them side by side, they were sympathetic. [00:26:11] Paul: What [00:26:11] happens?  [00:26:13] Stuart: Well, the whole lot  [00:26:14] went  [00:26:14] off. A whole box full of, um, flashbulbs, and they weren't cheap at that time.  [00:26:22] So  [00:26:23] really,  [00:26:23] that was, that was the basic equipment which we used to [00:26:29] use. [00:26:31] And [00:26:32] it was all, [00:26:33] it [00:26:34] was all, uh, 8x6. [00:26:37] Sometimes it was 10x8. [00:26:41] The, uh, the railway engines, which we used to photograph for the Hunsley's Engine Company [00:26:47] and hudderswell Clark's in Leeds, we always used to use 10x8 for those. Now it was interesting there because we used to have a particular date for going to photograph them. And [00:27:04] they were all finished up in black, white and grey paint. Because that served the cost of retouching the finished print. [00:27:15] There was very little photography done at that time. Apart from views and so forth. But anything that meant a machine, a lathe the, or whatever, it always had to go to the process retoucher who airbrushed the reflections or put one or two, put a shadow in or whatever it is. It was a highly skilled, uh, process. Uh, process, retoucher with white lines and so forth. But the interesting thing about these two railway engine companies was. that they only painted them on one side, the side that was being photographed. [00:27:59] Paul: And [00:28:01] Stuart: we used to go back to the studio, develop them straight away, yes, the negatives are alright, as soon as that happened, then they would strip all the black, white, and grey paint off and finish up in the customer's required, required colours. [00:28:23] Paul: Wow. [00:28:25] So, so the bit that strikes me is retouching has been part of this art  [00:28:30] Sean: a long time. Well,  [00:28:33] Paul: I mean, think about [00:28:33] it, right? Because we, there's a lot of debate about retouching and post production. That rages. Even now, but when you think about a manufacturer only painting one side of a train, they're painting it colours that repro well, and then it's being handed on to a retoucher, retouching's been going on for a very long time.  [00:28:51] Stuart: Well of course, everything at that time was, was, um, retouched, and most portraits finish up with complexions like billiard balls. There were no shadows, etc.  [00:29:03] Paul: haha, It's like nothing's changed!  [00:29:07] Stuart: Indeed. Indeed, and, and when people speak now in condemnation of, oh well you can see the retouching and so forth, well the only thing that you have to do now is to make sure that it doesn't show. But, it was, really when Photoshop and the like came in on the scene, this was manna from heaven. [00:29:32] Paul: Yeah. [00:29:33] Stuart: Because it cut out the need to do the work on the actual print. To retouch transparencies was a rather different process altogether. [00:29:48] And it was  [00:29:49] Sean: difficult process to be [00:29:50] Stuart: Oh yes, and very highly skilled. And the firm that I worked for, Giltrous Brothers, who were the photo engravers, they used to retouch twenty, twenty [00:30:02] four, twenty glass plates. Whereby, when you talk about printing today, and I think the, uh, top of the range, uh, Epson, Uh, printer works in, uh, we're printing 11 colors, but the, limited edition photolitho, uh, illustrations were, uh, certainly on, on 13 colors [00:30:36] And from 13 separate plates. All of which were retouched. [00:30:42] Paul: So [00:30:42] the plates were retouched separately?  [00:30:45] Stuart: correct?  [00:30:45] Oh yes.  [00:30:46] Paul: Wow. [00:30:48] Stuart: So [00:30:48] Paul: each of these plates is a black and [00:30:49] white plate that's going to take one color ink? [00:30:52] Sean: Correct. I understood the [00:30:52] Paul: the process right? [00:30:53] Sean: Yeah.  [00:30:54] Stuart: process, right? Retouches were earning more than photographers at any time.  [00:31:01] Sean: It's most interesting to hear this, Stuart, because you come into my era when I was learning photography and the discipline of the transparency, the 4x5 and 8 inch transparency, and of course there, retouching was an anathema because if we retouched the transparency, we started to lose some quality. [00:31:17] Stuart: Yes. we to, it was a period of photography, I think, more than ever, when we had to get everything right in the camera because the client demanded the transparency. Whereas the processes you were using enabled this retouching method, which is very, very interesting. [00:31:29] There are certain elements, as you well know, with your, even with your skills, whereby there are elements which cannot be lit out or exposed out or  [00:31:43] whatever. And there has to be some artwork, or whatever you call it, retouching done. And at the end of the day, most of the photography which, which I was taking and involved with, was going to be reproduced. And so if it was retouched at source, before it got to the retouchers on the reproduction, uh, side. [00:32:11] of the plate making, then that was, it was as we wanted it rather than what they thought it should be.  [00:32:20] Paul: As ever photographers being control freaks.  [00:32:24] Stuart: Well, after something like two to three years at Picards, by which time I got a fair amount of idea of what's going on.  [00:32:37] Um, I decided that, um, I ought to seek pastures new and became a staff photographer for the 600 Group Of Companies just on the west side of Leeds. And there I photographed secondhand machinery, which they used to recondition and I photographed the, lathes and milling machines, drilling machines and that sort of thing, and they were then printed on and they, all these were taken on the half plate camera, which is half the size of a whole plate camera, obviously, um, and, um. they were made on 6x4 glossy prints, and these were distributed by the appropriate department to potential buyers. And I was there for three and a half years. But I'd got to the stage where I'd photographed everything that didn't move, and I was becoming rather dissatisfied with life. So I  [00:33:49] Paul: Do you mind if I ask how old are you at this point? [00:33:53] Stuart: this point? Well, let me see, I would be about, twenty, twenty four, twenty, what, twenty five. Right. Twenty five, six.  [00:34:03] Paul: Right. [00:34:04] Stuart: I was dissatisfied because I didn't think I was getting anywhere. [00:34:09] Sean: So you were, you were ambitious, really, to take your photography on to another level and, and have more control, would you say, over what you were doing [00:34:16] Stuart: you could say that, yes. just say to work for yourself, Stuart?  [00:34:20] Sean: The Thing is that the, the company that I worked for. was part of the A. H. Leach corporate, uh, company at Brighouse, which was, uh, a very big organization with studios in Cambridge, Manchester, Glasgow. Um, and the prospects of moving to any one of those places was stalemate because they were well staffed was no flexibility for moving, and so I thought, well the only way to see whether I am a capable photographer was to make it on my own, see if I could make it on my own. And in fact started the business in some premises now occupied by the local library. down at the bottom end of the village. [00:35:19] Stuart: But this was going on for some time, two or three years, and then the question of getting married. [00:35:27] came into the reckoning, and this house in which we're sitting now became available, and very suitable because the front room lounge in which we now sit became my portrait studio. [00:35:46] And across the top of the window, which is facing opposite you, was a bank of Kodak, um, lighting with five, four 500 watt lamps in each for general illumination. [00:36:04] And So then I had a spotlight which is, was behind you for lighting the hair and then a fill in light on this side. And by this time, we'd moved on to two and a quarter square, real film cameras, 12 on 120. [00:36:22] I hadn't really at that stage got into, back into the industrial scene because I was doing social photography, weddings and portraits, to build up a reserve of capital to move on to buying more advanced equipment. [00:36:44] And the changes at that time were considerable. 5x4 were on the, on the fringe. At the time that I'm speaking of, German 9x12 plate cameras were still being used for press photography. And there they were, on the touchline at Heddingley, these, the local press photographers, with box of 9x12 single shot plates freezing to death, and um, and that's it, one off shots. [00:37:26] But I missed the point earlier on, I think, of saying that uh, every shot had to count. And, over the years, that has influenced me considerably, because I've always made sure that everything was right before I took the exposure. [00:37:48] And whatever the, whatever the occasion was, whether it was an industrial scene or a social scene, you look at the subject before you, to begin with, and then start looking round and see what's happening in the background. Because, if you do that, it saves retouching, and that's an absolute classical instance of today, where people, when Photoshop came, what about so and so? [00:38:22] Oh, don't bother about that, I'll take it out. I can take it out in Photoshop, and I've heard speakers come to the Institute and talk about, Oh, I do this and do that, and I've said, well, how long does it take you to do that? Oh, well, a couple of hours or so, like that. It could have all been addressed in the taking, and that would have been eliminated. [00:38:51] And when you talk about 2 or 3 hours retouching, well how much do you charge for, oh well I'll throw it all in. [00:39:00] And the number of people who I've heard say that, oh well I'll just include it. I think they've got a bit wise to it now because Uh, any extramural activities are chargeable by the hour, and, uh, and it's certainly in need of that, but what I would say to any in, up and coming photographer, they need to sure of what it is that they're taking to avoid having to retouch it afterwards, albeit that in today's terms, [00:39:40] With the relaxation of dress and disciplines and so forth, Um, I don't think it quite matters. And so, I think as far as today is concerned, I would find it difficult to go back to being a photographer in today's terms. Because, I can sit in a restaurant or in a room, somebody's room or whatever, and I'm looking at the, the vertical lines of the structure to, to see whether that line lines up with that, and it's surprising how often I can see lines that are out, even buildings. [00:40:27] I could see buildings that, that were not, um, vertical. completely vertical and line up with the I sit there looking at the streets and doors and windows and it's very, it's very difficult to get out of that discipline into the much more free and relaxed attitude towards photography today. [00:40:56] I don't know whether I, whether you would agree with that or not. [00:41:00] Sean: Stuart, I would agree with what you're saying and it's like the photographer's eye, your whole life has been trained by your eye viewing scenes and viewing situations and it's quite impossible to turn that off really. [00:41:10] That's part of you and how you see things, so no, I couldn't agree with you more. So Stuart, tell me, you obviously, the room we're in now was your studio, and you're in here, you're now married, you're doing more social photography, as you said, and obviously starting to make money. Where did the business go from there? [00:41:29] What was your sort of next stage really? Because I believe you had another studio then in the village, is that correct?  [00:41:35] Stuart: The children grew up and we were running out of room space, [00:41:40] So an opportunity came in the main street down the road to take over a building, um, which I was able to use the ground floor and turn it into a studio, a reception studio and darkroom. And, uh, during that time, I was doing, um, mainly social photography, but also, I had got associated with the local newspaper which circulated in this area, and I virtually, without being on the strength, I virtually became the staff photographer for the whole of the circulation area. [00:42:32] So on a Saturday in the summer, it was not unknown for me to do perhaps 11 cover 11 eventualities such as garden parties, a flower show, etc. and also fit in a complete wedding. So, [00:43:00] Paul: So,  [00:43:00] Stuart: so [00:43:01] my time, my, my mind used to work like a, like [00:43:07] a clock, uh, a precision clock, because it was, it was timed to the nth degree. Um, what time is the, uh, what time is the wedding? How long will the service be? Where's the reception? And I had a mental, uh, mental, uh, memo of the distance from here to there, and the length of time it takes to get from, from there to there. [00:43:36] And, as far as the, as the newspaper is concerned, I tried to take a different picture. at each occasion, so that we don't want the same picture of women serving tea, uh, for the WI, the church of this and that and the other. Um, I tried to make a different picture. So that training and experience fitted me in good stead for when the industrial scene tailed off. [00:44:15] Sean: I've just, uh, I've just, um, picked a photograph up here. [00:44:18] Stuart's got quite a number of his photographs in the room with us here. It's a very nice PR, press type shot here of Harry Ramsden's Fish and Chips shop, and it's got a very 1980s mobile phone and the world famous in this part of the world, Nora Batty which some of you may know from a famous last of the summer wine tv show and i think this is to do with the flotation of Harry Ramsden because it became quite a successful company didn't it so talk a little bit about this photograph Stuart it's very captivating and i think very very well executed [00:44:50] Stuart: Well, the story as you've already identified, I'm surprised that you have, because that was when they went public. And, uh, the, story was the Harry Ramsden fish restaurant, which, it was the center of all activities, just on the outskirts of Leeds, and they, as you said, they got Nora Batty there, who was a very leading personality at the time, and, of course, telephones, you can see the size of that, that mobile telephone, which is about the size of a half of a brick. Um, this was the, um, the story. And the essential thing was to locate the seed of the picture with the name of the, the company. across the top of the, the print or the format. [00:45:46] Sean: And if I could just butt in there Stuart just to say sorry to do this but I think it's important to get this across that I've just picked this image up and the story has come straight across to me. We've got the mobile phone. You've got the Financial Times, which is holding the fish and chips. You've got the sort of banker type chap behind her. [00:46:02] It just shows the skill that's gone into that picture, that an image is telling that story to me all these years later. Because I presume this photograph is 30 or 40 years old, Stuart. Am I correct there?  [00:46:12] Stuart: It's quite a long time. And the essential thing about that picture, uh, Sean, is that however much a sub editor chops it down. There was always be something of the story there, because the nearest or the furthest down that they could chop it would be across the top of the bloke's head, but it would still say Harry on the left hand side. [00:46:42] And, and, that was the, the art of, at that time, of getting the story across for public relations. Include the company's name or the brand in the background somewhere so that it had to be seen and it couldn't be taken out.  [00:47:03] Paul: I ask you a question? Have you always loved being a [00:47:06] Stuart: being a photographer? Oh, absolutely.  [00:47:09] I wouldn't do anything else. Um, had a very enjoyable life in every aspect of it. And I'll tell you one thing about it, and Sean will agree with me on this. Photography, photographers are in a very privileged position, and they don't realize how much so. Because so often, they are in, at the ground floor of activity. A conference, a confidential conference projecting the aims of the company. [00:47:46] I was in a company when I was in the conference actually, when the whole of the regional bank managers were in a conference at Harrogate, and they were told then, that we were going to dispose of the buildings, our assets, and I photographed several banks which were up for sale and they were simply being sold off. The managers didn't know. What's the photograph for? Oh, it's just for the estate. I knew what they were, why they were selling it. It was going on the market. [00:48:25] You know all these little convenience grocery shops and so on, on filling stations, I was in the conference there for all the ESSO managers in the region, when the the project was put to them that we're going to put these little kiosks, or whatever it is, and, and, and there I was. Um, and we were privy to information that was light years ahead of the actual official announcement. [00:48:59] Paul: Yeah. [00:48:59] Stuart: Metahall, for instance, um, I was in the conference when they were talking about what their footprint was needed to be to make that viable. And there are several instances such as that. And you do get it to a more personal level, where we've got, uh, injuries, personal injuries to photograph. [00:49:26] Oh well, what about Snow? [00:49:29] Well, [00:49:29] And you just can't get involved with passing that or repeating that information. [00:49:35] Paul: Yeah. [00:49:36] Stuart: It's confidential. And as I said, photographers are so often right in the heart of things. And I'm sure, Sean, that in today's terms, you'll be more exposed to it than I was with them. [00:49:51] Sean: Well, very much so Stuart. [00:49:52] Very much so. Yeah. I mean, it's, I can't tell you how many NDAs I've signed in my career, so, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.  [00:50:00] So Stuart, so you've now got the studio, the, the biggest studio now on in the, in the, in the village here. And you're obviously doing your social, your weddings, you're obviously doing a lot of PR. [00:50:11] Did you start to do, did the industrial photography come back a little bit more as well? [00:50:15] Stuart: Yes But I was, I was extremely fortunate and the odd thing about it was that the connection came through the, uh, the work of the local paper because three miles from here was the control room for the Central Electricity Generating Board and they were having an open night and the local paper was invited to to cover the, the event. So I went along and took a few photographs of whatever was going on and had a bit of a look around the place and subsequently then I was approached by their, their public relations department for the northeast region. Would I take a photograph of something else?  [00:51:13] From that stemmed the work, which really became the mainstay of my activities with the Central Electricity Generating Board. [00:51:26] Again, I wasn't on the staff, but I was vir, virtually became the staff photographer for the Northeast Region. And the amazing thing is that here I was, photographing power stations, the grand openings of power stations, starting with Thorpe Marsh, which was the, down in Doncaster, which had two 400 megawatt sets, which were the f The Forerunner, they Thorpe Marsh was really the testbed for the, um, the 400 megawatt stations which followed. [00:52:13] And there again, this was being in on the ground floor whenever there was a fault down there or whatever. or a problem, um, I was called in to, to, to take the photographs.  [00:52:27] Sean: So [00:52:28] Stuart, would you say that, um, he's very interesting listening to this about how your business built. Would you say that networking was a great part of building your business? [00:52:37] Stuart: Networking, well they call it networking now, and it's, it's contacts really. And I think, I'm sure that you'll agree that being in the right place at the right time, and that really applies to anything, the theatrical world, et cetera, and, not necessarily knowing the people, the right people, but getting on with them, and being able to mix with people, and behave in a way that people expect you to. So  [00:53:10] Sean: Would you have any sort of advice or tips for a young photographer or somebodnew breaking into photography and how to. build a business? Have you anything to add there at all?  [00:53:22] Stuart: I think that in today's terms, it is extremely difficult for photographers. And I'll tell you why, because I think that the opportunities which I just mentioned are remote, probably remote in the extreme. Social photography is something else, and the, the website, and all the various media opportunities, with which I am unfamiliar and have no knowledge of because I've not had the need to do it. But I am aware because I look at what people are doing. And that's another instance of success. Of keeping an eye on what other people are doing. If you admire anybody's particular work, then that sets the example and the criteria to work to. But as far as going back to contact is concerned, I have the distinct impression now that not only photography, but everything now stems from public Relations and I don't know whether you've noticed it or not, but if there's, if there are any problems, on the one hand, of people's behavior or their activities, or whatever it may be, adversely or favorably, and the promotion of brands and industries and business, it all seems to stem now very much from the agencies.  [00:55:12] If you read question of the so and so company are going to introduce this product or [00:55:22] service or whatever it is, or they've taken over a business. the [00:55:27] statements attributed to the managing director or chief executive or accountant or whatever it is, right across the board, a great many of the people that are being quoted, I would suggest, are not capable of speaking and thinking the way that the statement appears in print. And it raises sometimes, a lot of suspicion as to just what is behind this thing. This business with the post office. It's full of it. And so the point that I'm making is that advertising agencies, that's another one, the advertising agencies are in direct contact with the, um, with the brand or the company. [00:56:24] And so the opportunities of the photographers, in my judgment, are minimized because of the hold. that the advertising agencies have on the job.  [00:56:43] And  [00:56:43] they,  [00:56:45] they will say who they want and who should be employed. They may think them best or otherwise. And it also then comes down to, rights, and I bet you are right in the thick of this, that, uh, you are the, the favorite bloke on the, on the block, and whilst ever that person is engaged in that company, your situation is secure. But suddenly, if he goes to pastures new, and they've already got their established photographers, as far as you're concerned, you've lost that company. [00:57:28] Sean: Very  [00:57:28] Stuart: company.  [00:57:29] Sean: very true. Yeah, yeah.  [00:57:30] Stuart: Is it true? [00:57:31] Paul: But there's always opportunities with these things, I mean, in the end, there are more photographs being created today than ever historically, I think you're right about the structures of advertising agencies, though this isn't my world, when someone moves on, there's an opportunity, and there's always the opportunity to stay as well, there is risk, of course there's risk, but equally, you could be the guy he takes with you. [00:57:54] So how do you make that happen? [00:57:56] Sean: Well, I think it's very apt because I've had two or three key clients in my career that have moved numerous times, you know, seriously big companies and they've taken me with them, yeah. And not only that, in some cases, they've taken me to their new company. And it's gone well. They've then moved on to another company and taken me with them, but the company they've left still retains me. [00:58:19] So there's a benefit that way. But I think it's really, I greatly believe in the, in the networking, keeping in touch with people, making an effort at all times. And I think, I know we've got today's digital world and there's lots of advantages to that, but also personal contact I think is still really, really important. [00:58:38] Relationships and personal contact. [00:58:40] Stuart: What you are saying is, is correct. And I remember an uncle of mine who was a milkman and, had a, a big dairy, and he once said to my mum, oh, well, it's so and so, he's come again, a rep has come. It's been three times, so really it deserves an order. [00:59:03] There's a  [00:59:04] lot  [00:59:05] Paul: in [00:59:05] Stuart: a lot in [00:59:06] truth in that, backs and it backs up what you were just saying, of keeping in contact, and, of course as far as advertising is concerned, or mail shots. the first one they take no notice of and throw away. The second one, oh well, there's another one from this so and so. The third one, it is usually reckoned that the person will be activated by that And so, as you said, keeping in contact is very important. [00:59:42] But I'm bound to say that breaking in a lot of it is by accident, but certainly the persistence of contact is very important. [00:59:56] And when you consider, you see, over the years we have thought of Only the Institute, or I have, and I've done, I've put a lot of time and work into it, as other people have, without which we might have been a lot more better off or a lot wealthier than we in fact are. [01:00:20] Sean: Stuart, did, did, when we say the institute, it's the British Institute Professional Photography we're talking about here. And I, I'm a member too, and that's how I met Stuart through the institute. Through your long career as a photographer, how important did you find the, The Institute and the ability to mix and talk and, and, and work, you know, get information from other photographers, I suppose. [01:00:41] How important did you find that  [01:00:44] Stuart: Photographers, um, are, as you know, very, very much individualists. they work a lot on their own, and when you consider that there are probably 7 or 10, 000 practicing photographers in this country, and so few of them belong to anything.  [01:01:10] It makes you wonder how all those people survive. but, it really comes back to, to, uh, what we were saying earlier, of contact, those people must be in contact with other people. [01:01:29] Their reputation goes before them, obviously, and when you consider the situation with the Royals, for instance, who, from time to time, have official photographs taken, um, by names that I've never heard of, where you would perhaps expect that they are members of the, this organization, the Royal Photographic Society, as a case in point. Um, these people are not members of them and so how they I'm not talking about the Litchfields, I'm talking about the other people who officially, officially photograph, uh, in recent times, the, um, William and Kate's family, the, their birthday or whatever anniversary it was. So, those people, um, are plowing their own furrow. [01:02:33] But going back to the the meaning of the institute, whereby people are individual, the opportunity over the past years was for all these individuals to rub shoulders with each other and the networking that went on then. For instance, you go to a meeting and you're chatting away, and a couple of blokes have a common, common interest, uh, uh, or they're equal practitioners, but suddenly, one of them comes up with a problem that he can't answer, and so he's able to phone this guy in Nottingham, or wherever, because he is not in competition down the street. He can't ask the guy down the street how to tackle the question, but the man in Nottingham will willingly bare his soul for you, and keeping in contact with, um, with other people to solve problems where they have them is incredibly useful, in my judgment.    NOTE: to see the rest of the transcript, head over to https://masteringportraitphotography.com (it exceed the normal limit for podcast texts!)

Trainer Shark Hanlon joins Emmet Kennedy to discuss his stable star Hewick's prospects in the King George VI Chase at Kempton and explains why he's so bullish about a big run. Plus, he reveals horses to watch out for over Christmas, including strong chances of a double at Catterick today. Venatour Racing Social: If your planning a racing trip to Europe or further afield, check out Venatour Racing Social for a large range of bespoke racing holidays at Venatour.co.uk Form Tools: Proform is the essential tool for punters looking to make money from betting on Horse Racing. Our form book covers Jumps and Flat racing in the UK and Ireland. https://www.proformracing.com/ Twitter: @FinalFurlongPod Email: radioemmet@gmail.com In association with Adelicious Podcast Network. Hosted on Megaphone.  Follow us for free on Spotify Podcasts https://open.spotify.com/show/3e6NnBkr7MBstVx5U7lpld Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brigadier Chris Murray enlisted as a Trooper in the Royal Tank Regiment at Catterick in 1974 before completing a Potential Officers' Course and subsequent selection for Sandhurst.  He was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Transport in 1975 and served all over the world.He deployed on Gulf War 1 on Operation GRANBY with HQ 1st Armoured Division with particular responsibility for artillery ammunition logistics.  On promotion to Colonel in November 1998 he was appointed as Commander Royal Logistic Corps Territorial Army at Grantham. He was awarded the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2002 for being a thoroughly nice bloke. He left the Army in 2010 completing a 15 year virtually unbroken period in senior command, 36 years of great fun service with soldiers and an exhausted liver.We only feature the latest 200 episodes of the podcast on public platforms so to access our podcast LIBRARY with every episode ever made & also get access to every Debrief & Subject Matter expert document shard with us then join our PATREON crew and support the future of the podcast by clicking HERE A big thanks to our partners for supporting this episode.GORE-TEX Professional ClothingHAIX FootwearGRENADERIP INTOLyfe Linez -  Get Functional Hydration FUEL for FIREFIGHTERS, Clean no sugar  for daily hydration. 80% of people live dehydrated and  for firefighters this cost lives, worsens our long term health and reduces cognitive ability.Support the ongoing work of the podcast by clicking HEREPlease subscribe to the podcast on YoutubeEnter our monthly giveaways on the following platformsFacebookInstagramPlease support the podcast and its future by clicking HERE and joining our Patreon Crew

SPOILER ALERT FOR CATTERICK Episode 12 This week on Small Screen 00s Barnes and AMJ continue their epic task to rate every 00s TV show out of 2000.Bear with us it's not as shit as it sounds.This week's TV show is Catterick Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

National Statistician, Sir Ian Diamond, joins Miles in a slightly festive episode of Statistically Speaking, to look back on some of the highlights and challenges for the ONS in 2022 while gazing positively, but objectively, towards 2023.    TRANSCRIPT    MILES FLETCHER  Hello, and as another statistical year draws to an end you join us for a slightly festive episode of Statistically Speaking.   I'm Miles Fletcher and with me this time is the national statistician himself, Sir Ian Diamond. We're going to pick out some of the key stats from another momentous year. Talk about some of its highlights and the challenges faced by the Office for National Statistics. We'll gaze positively, but objectively, into 2023 and Sir Ian will be answering some of the questions that you our listeners wanted us to ask.   Ian, welcome once again to statistically speaking.    IAN DIAMOND  First, thanks very much for that introduction. And can I offer festive greetings to all of your listeners?    MILES  Yes, it's come around again quickly, hasn't it? So much to talk about from the past year, but let's kick off with a very big number in every sense, and that's 59,597,542    IAN  ...is the population of England and Wales according to the census, and one, which I have to say is one of the greatest censuses that has ever been undertaken. And it's just an absolute thrill to commend my colleagues who have worked so hard to deliver it but also to every citizen of England and Wales who filled in those forms in 2021, and of course, those in Northern Ireland as well.    MILES  Now, you had to press the button, both on the decision to have that field operation go out in March 2021, against the backdrop of the pandemic, and then of course, to sign off on the results. How difficult were those decisions?    IAN  Well, I'm not going to say it was difficult Miles, I mean, it was a difficult decision, but if you surround yourself with all the information, so before we took the decision to go with a 2021 census, we looked at all the upsides, all the downsides. We measured the risks. We looked at the cost of delaying and we looked at the chance that we would get a decent count, and whether people were looking like they were now prepared to fill in forms, which have a whole set of risks. Was there an algorithm that told us what to do? I'm afraid there isn't an algorithm at the end of the day, I had to make a decision. I made that decision in collaboration with my colleagues. It was a decision we took together, and I think in every way it was the right decision. And it was a real privilege for me to work with the team in March and April, as we looked at the numbers, and for the first time, and I think it's a really important milestone, that for the very first time we shared our results with the local authorities. I have always believed that you need to involve the people on the ground to sense check the numbers and so for the first time ever, we invited local authorities to be part of the quality assurance process. So we contacted them under a nondisclosure agreement. You have access to the numbers, let's have a conversation and then we can co-create the numbers so that we all feel comfortable and local authorities to their great credit, really embraced this opportunity to co-create what was a great piece of work. We believe that helped, that the numbers that we were able to produce, we felt we had much more traction. And so it really was a national effort to produce those numbers. And I'm very proud of them.    MILES  In hindsight, and of course, it's easy to look at things in hindsight, but did you think it helped that essentially there was a captive audience?     IAN  Not at all. I completely disagree. I think the reason for the high numbers wasn't a captive audience. Let's remember that a very high proportion of the population were not able to lock down, they had to go out to work. The reason I think that we got high numbers was because of three reasons. Number one, engagement. A massive programme of engagement with different communities, which really, really, really meant that people in different communities of our country understood why we were asking, what the reasons were, in a way that perhaps hadn't happened before, and critically to say to people, if you give us your data we're not going away. We'll be back. And there's now a programme of going back and sharing those data for particular communities with them. So that's the first reason. The second reason was, I've always said that censuses are nine tenths logistics and 1/10 statistics and I felt that the logistics here were absolutely right. And moving to an online first model was incredibly important, it made it very easy for people to respond. You could respond on your way to work on your mobile phone. That's an awful lot easier than having someone knock on your door with a big form. And so I think that worked. And then a final piece was after the day having really good management information, which really enabled us to understand where our coverage was higher and lower, and then to target our field workers in a way that we've never been able to before. Historically when I did censuses, for example the 1981 census, every enumerate had a small area, they walked around, they found people within that area. But we were able to say right, we need more people in a particular area, less people in another area, so we were moving them around, maximising the resources and maximising the count.    MILES  Okay, so what do you think are the biggest takeaways on the data we've released so far?    IAN  I think some of the work around the ageing of our country is really important, but not just the ageing of our country because let's be honest, ageing is associated with demand for services. And what we show very clearly is a changing geography of ageing. Now, that's an ongoing situation. So if you look at the proportion of over 65s, it's a very different proportion of over 85s and so there is clearly a new internal migration which gives in some areas, for example, mid Wales and Cambridgeshire, a new demographic to think about for services over time. So here's a really interesting point about the geography of ageing, while noting that some of it is pretty traditional, the south coast of England remains a place with high levels of older people. Seaton in Devon, with the highest proportion of people over 90 in the country is an area which already knows that it has a high demand for services. Other places will be coming along, and I think that's the first thing to say. The second thing I would note Miles is the changing demographic of where people were born. And certainly we are able to reflect some of that in the work but also again to look at the geography of where different people are living. And that's important. And also, for the first time ever, we have asked questions on veterans, and I think that was a really, really interesting piece of information. I must admit that the age distribution initially looks a little surprising, because for men, almost everybody is a veteran over the age of 80 because of national service, and that goes down, but we now have the ability to identify both the geography and the age distribution of veterans and it was noticeable that the highest proportions of veterans tended to be in places with military bases, Richmond Shire, in Yorkshire, which is near to Catterick or Portsmouth near the Navy areas. That says to us that they are obviously, and I'm not saying it's surprising, but people who have been in the military tend to end up staying around the areas where perhaps they have been based, but actually being able to do that and then following that up with a survey, a survey of veterans to understand their circumstances and the services they need, and also their families, I think is really super important that I have to say that that survey which went out after the results of the census were published, and we were able to launch them on the same day with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs Johnny Mercer has been an incredibly successful survey. Great response. And we're just in the process now of analysing those data. And that's something to look out for in the new year.    MILES  And plenty more census data still to come. Of course,    IAN  Well, yes. And of course, the data will be available now for an analysis by anyone. And that's really exciting,    MILES  Well worth pointing out as well. Okay, here's another big number for you. 11.1%     IAN  Is inflation.     MILES  That was the figure in October, it's recently dropped down to 10.7.    IAN  You don't really understand inflation until you actually get down to what's driving it and what the components are. And so, we spend an enormous amount of time looking at the components to understand them. So this drop to temporary 7% In the most recent data is driven by a reduction in fuel costs, with fuel prices going down, I mean it's still too expensive don't get me wrong but they're going down a bit, and at the same time that has been offset by increases in alcohol prices at hotels, restaurants, and pubs. And so all put together, yes it's a drop, but not an enormous drop, and still a significant rise compared with the same month last year.    MILES  Now there's been a fascinating and very public debate over the cost of living of course, and particularly over the relevance and validity of headline inflation measures, CPI or CPIH. A preferred measure on the one hand, and on the other hand, the actual experience of people seeing the cost of their weekly shopping shooting up much faster than the official rate, which is just an average of course, would suggest.    IAN  I think it's an important point. I had a very good conversation with a number of influencers in this area. And I think it is important to recognise that what one is asked to do, and we are statutorily responsible for producing an inflation statistic that is an average at the end of the day, and it's based on a basket of goods, and that basket gets changed every year to reflect buying patterns. So with a pandemic, we were more relaxed Miles and you would be sitting opposite me just wearing a jumper instead of a three-piece suit, it means that we took men's suits out of the basket this year, but that's an average. The point that people have asked is does that average reflect what's going up for all groups of society? What about those people who are at the poorer end of society and whose budget only allows them to buy the least priced goods and that's why we put together a least price index and one that's based on what might be called the value goods that Supermarkets sell. And if we look at those we found that the average price there was not unlike the overall inflation, but again, an enormous amount of heterogeneity on the various prices. The highest increase in the most recent products was for vegetable oil, of course, driven by the issues associated with Russia and Ukraine and the difficulties of the Ukrainian farms which drive so much of that area. On the other hand, beef mince and orange juice went down relatively. So there was heterogeneity, inflation was high, but let me be very clear, not unlike the overall inflation in the country as a whole on the average.    MILES  The important point here being that everyone's rate of inflation, of course is slightly different and we have a means now of allowing people to find out exactly what their personal rate is don't we.    IAN  For those people who want to have a really close look at their budget, the personal inflation calculator which people can use and that personal inflation calculator has been massively used. We had a very good partnership with the media - BBC, The Guardian - for it to be widely available. And indeed, in the first 24 hours or so of it being available on the BBC website, over a million people used it - over a million people accessing ONS data.    MILES  And you can find that out of course by visiting ons.gov.uk and calculate your own personal rate of inflation there.    Of course, when we think about money, we inevitably think about work and that brings us on to the figures around the labour market. And one rather sombre area of the Labour Force Survey that's been the focus of again, a lot of attention this year, is the increasing number of people deemed to be economically inactive, perhaps very often because of long term sickness. Now, what do you make of that?    IAN  Economically inactive is not just people who are on sick, I mean there has been a steady move initially from those over age 50 to inactivity, and that means that they are reporting that they are not in work, nor are they looking for work. We've called it a bit of a flourish, that flight from the labour force of the over 50s is a real trend and a real worry for the economy, given the skills that those people hold, and we've done two surveys of the over 50s to understand why they have left the labour force and what might tempt them back in. 500,000 over 50s leaving the labour force, though it's only a very rough indicator, if you don't replace them somehow, and with every 100,000 people being around 0.1 of GDP full time equivalents, and that's 0.5 on the GDP. It's as simple as that. The other point I would make that I think is important is another real concern for the labour force. Just in the last few weeks we have started to see just a hint of an increase in inactivity amongst the 16 to 24s. That is important because if it were to continue it is normally an indicator of challenges in the labour force and when 16 to 24s are saying I don't have a job and I'm looking for one it tends to be because there isn't one around. And so I do think that there is an issue again for us to keep a laser focus on these numbers as we go into 2023.    MILES  Okay, so we've mentioned GDP and of course, there's been a lot of focus again on the level of GDP and whether the economy is in so called recession or expanding or whatever. Let's not get into that in any great detail now, but it's worth pointing out that alongside GDP, the ONS has been trying for some time now to broaden its focus on what matters in terms of wellbeing, both socially and economically. And to produce a more comprehensive picture of what's going on, aside from that very raw, basic GDP estimate. Can you tell us a little bit about what's developed on that front this year?    IAN  I think that's a really interesting point. We, as other parts of the world's national statistical institutes have been saying, well, actually, there is much more to our gross domestic product than just what comes strictly from the economy. And so we have been working on the environment and natural capital and building that into our overall estimates. And we're now also working on some things that I have been thinking about for a long time and I'm very excited that we are going to be able to work on that. And that is to look at in many ways at the human capital that we have, and how that is being effectively used. If you are spending six hours a day, shall we say, caring for your elderly parent and perhaps your grandchildren, then are you being productive or not? And of course, the answer is you're being incredibly productive. Or if you are, as a neighbour of mine is, working a couple of evenings or a couple of afternoons a week at a homeless shelter in Somerset, then are you being productive in that volunteering? 100% yes. And so I think it is important that we build these extra pieces in now. Is this point about human capital, is this new? Well, the great, famous Nobel Prize winner Richard Stone wrote in his Nobel lecture about this, I made some suggestions, but at that time I would submit that it was actually quite hard to build the models in the way that one would want to. One could do the algebra, but it would kind of drop out after a while. Whereas now with numerical estimation, we can really move forward in an effective way and I'm looking forward to 2023 being a year when we really push forward with those models, and really build the human capital. And most importantly, alongside that, the wellbeing. Wellbeing is a much more complex indicator, and we have a consultation out at the moment which I see coming into fruition in 2023 around the measurement of our wellbeing. We talk about the increasing proportion of elderly and I think it is also important to think about that in the context of how are people ageing. Now, let me just give you a statistic, Miles. If I looked in 1951 at the age at which 1% of men had a probability of dying, that'd be about 50. If I looked at it now, it's 65. So 65 is the new 50. And you can look at things in all kinds of ways like that, but that original idea is that of the great demographer James Vaupel. And this 65 is the new 50 is absolutely brilliant, but, and this is the nub of this, it needs to be healthy ageing. It comes back to that point about inactivity, what are we doing to enable people to feel that they can age healthily and therefore be productive whether that is through traditional paid employment or through other issues such as volunteering, that's something we will be spending a lot of time over the next little while estimating.    MILES  You mentioned ageing and on the topic of health in 2022, the introduction of what some may view as the GDP of health and that is the Health Index for England. Another important piece of work that's been going on here.    IAN  What the Health Index allows us to do is to get down to the local levels and we've got a pilot with colleagues in Northumberland, Director of Public Health up there to go down to sub local areas. And I think the important thing to recognise is the geographical difference here in levels of health. It's interesting to look at the national level, we need to look at the geography, expectations of life at birth for men in Glasgow City are 14 or 15 is less than expectations of life for men in places like Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, you know, that's a real issue. When I worked in Scotland, the Director of Public Health for Grampian region put out some statistics which showed within Aberdeen the difference between the two wards, probably seven or eight miles apart was 16, a full 16 years. Those are the kinds of differentials that I think we need to understand more, we would all agree it is a priority to reduce those inequalities in health. And it seems to me there is a challenge for us to understand that and to reduce those inequalities.    MILES  Okay, so we've talked about health, personal wellbeing, economic wellbeing as well. Now there's an additional element of attention for the ONS now, and that's been the environment and particularly monitoring progress towards net zero emissions by 2050 and to help with that ONS has contributed to the official climate change portal, which you can view at climate-change.data.gov.uk. Here's a statistic from that, in 2021 84% of our energy still came from non-renewable sources.    IAN  And that's what we need to continue to measure. And clearly the focus on energy and energy supply has increased this year as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. And we over the next while need to make sure that we have very accurate data on sources of energy. And our job is to monitor that in an effective and efficient way. And we will do that.    MILES  Now, we mentioned to some of our podcast listeners, we'd be speaking to you today and asked them to come up with their own questions on topics they'd like to put to you.   So let's kick off with this one from Professor Athina Vlachantoni, from the University of Southampton no less, who asks: What's the most intriguing number or statistic you've come across during your time as national statistician?    IAN  One of the most interesting I would have to say, was the very first number that we got from the COVID infection survey, because we had to look at it very, very, very carefully, to make sure going back to an individual level, to look at the amount of virus in each positive case, so that we were sure that we did not have a high number of false positives. And what that showed, and when we linked it in with our questions about symptoms, was the number of asymptomatic cases. And I found that really, really interesting. On a lighter note, the data that we get from credit card and debit card sales. On July 21, I think it was in 2021, “Freedom Day” as it was called, when people were able to go to the pub we saw a spike in sales in pubs but we were also able to identify whether those sales were in person or online. We've been monitoring online sales during the pandemic very carefully. And I was really surprised to see a spike in sales in pubs with the person not present. I was wondering whether there were people down the street, you know, with very long straws. Of course, what I hadn't realised is that in some pubs now, you can get an app for your beer and it arrives as if by magic at your table. And so it was a learning experience for me that it was possible for large numbers of people to enjoy a drink, while apparently not being at the pub.    MILES  Well, that's a lovely example of fast digital data contributing towards incredible insight, which the ONS is now able to access. But actually it leads nicely on to our next question which comes from Sam Smith, from Cambridge, who asks: Hhat are the longer-term opportunities and threats to the public from the use of safe settings and the Integrated Data Service? Now that's a question that's essentially about security and the ethical use of data for the public good.    IAN  Sam, that's a really super question and something that we're absolutely passionate about. Firstly, using data positively on the lives of our fellow citizens is what we're here for, and therefore we recognise at all times that we use data with the implicit permission of the public. So the first answer I would say to Sam is that we are absolutely committed to public engagement, transparency to make sure people know what we're doing, how we're doing it. And we don't just talk about data, but what are we going to use it for, and how is it going to be used and can you find out how it has been used. These are really, really important questions and public engagement and involving the public in our decision making is important. Secondly, when we build something like the Integrated Data Service, we are very, very careful about the security and we work very closely with the top security people across government to make sure that we have the highest levels of security so that all the data doesn't need to be in one place. We are able to bring the data we need from different places so that we're not, if you like, moving large amounts of data around and forming data lakes, that is not what we do. Thirdly, we are very, very careful about how people can use the data and how they can access the results. So we work very carefully to make sure that those results have no way for people to impact on the privacy and our data can only be used by approved people and the projects on which they work on have to go through an ethical committee and have to go through a research approvals panel. We call this process “the 5 safes” and we believe that that does enable us to be able to look any member of the public in the eye and say that we are taking every precaution with your data, but at the same time, the proof of the pudding has to be in the eating and the public have to be able to see, I would argue, how those data have been used and how there are real concrete examples of how the lives of them or their fellow citizens have been improved by the use of linked administrative data.    MILES  Final question. This comes from Jennifer Boag from Scotland - clue there - and she asks: Do you have confidence that the work being done to retrieve Scotland's census will give us reliable UK wide statistics, so that Scotland's data will be comparable with the rest of the UK?      IAN  Well, thanks, Jennifer, for that. A census is a process and we are seeing that our colleagues in Scotland working on the Census have now got the ability to use the data they collected as well as the coverage survey, and now the administrative data, to be able to bring those three sources together into a reliable estimate of the population. I would just like to thank Professor James Brown and the international steering group for the very hard work that they've been putting in providing very strong steers on what should we do. And my position at the moment is that we can expect, if everything goes well, to see some reliable Scottish data during 2023. And we at the ONS are working extremely hard to make sure that we can roll forward our data in a way that means that we will have the 22 best estimates for the whole of the UK which we can put our hand on heart and say that we trust. We're not there yet. I believe we can get there. And I will do everything in my power to ensure that we do.    MILES  Data from Scotland on the way then, and more data from England and Wales still to come, but also in 2023 a decision on whether the UK Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland perhaps will have censuses in future?    IAN  Well not a decision on all four because undertaking a census isn't independent that Scotland and Northern Ireland will take their own view, as will Wales. Currently we do the census for Wales with our colleagues in Wales, but at the end of the day it is a Welsh Government decision for that to happen. We in the ONS will be making a recommendation to our board and through them a recommendation to Parliament as to whether we believe that we can produce regular population estimates and the multivariate data that comes with them in a way that means that we will not have need to have another census in 2031. I mean, I would say that we're able to do this and there's an enormous amount of work going on. And that's a real major breakthrough because while I'm passionate about censuses and a census is an incredibly beautiful and wonderful thing, I would have to say that it is out of date as soon as you've done it, and therefore being able to have regular estimates would be a breakthrough rather than simply rolling forward and we can't hide from the fact that as you roll forward and you get further rolling forward, it becomes much more difficult at the local area level to make those estimates. And so I am really excited about that decision and will be consulting during 2023 on where we have got to, which of course also brought about a statutory responsibility to see whether we can make local estimates of average income, and we will continue to look at that as well. So I think it's an exciting 2023 with regard to the future of the census.   Miles, it's been a real pleasure. Thank you very much, and I look forward to another opportunity to join this podcast in the future. Thank you.    MILES   Well, that's it for another episode of Statistically Speaking and if you're one of the people who collectively browsed the ONS website 21,809 times on Christmas Day last year, rest assured that this year you'll be able to access every single one of our podcasts from 2022 directly from the homepage now on the ONS website.   And as always, you can subscribe to future episodes on Spotify, Apple podcasts and all the other major podcast platforms. Do also please follow us on the @ONSfocus Twitter feed.   I'm Miles Fletcher and from myself, our producer Steve Milne, and the whole of the Office for National Statistics, have a very Merry Christmas.    ENDS 

Alan Hodges was a Royal Tank Regiment Chieftain tank commander and troop SGT in West Germany. Mick Hadfield was his 17-year-old gunner. The affection between the two is still apparent even today and Mick still calls Al his army Dad.Mick met Al in 1987 straight out of his armoured corp gunnery training at Catterick.  They served for 3 years together in 1st Royal Tank Regiment in Hildesheim from August 87 to December 90. They share detailed insights into the operations of the Chieftain, the training, the camaraderie of a crew as well as important details like how you go the loo in a tank..As part of 1st Royal Tank Regiment they were at the time (the most forward-facing Tank unit in BAOR  and given a 2-hour life expectancy. They were told that if the Soviet 3rd Shock army crossed the border, each Chieftain would have to knock out a minimum of 10 Soviet tanks before they got overrun.Cold War history is disappearing; however, a simple monthly donation will keep this podcast on the air. You'll become part of our community and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, We also welcome one-off donations via the same link.Extra videos and photos  here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode265/Buy a gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/Support the showSupport the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter here https://twitter.com/ColdWarPodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations

Jordan Mulligan from the Mulligan Brothers podcast, sits down and talks to Jay Morton, an Ex Special Forces soldier, author, and instructor as he discusses his inspiring 14-year service in the military and what exactly it has taught him. Jay Morton was born in 1984 and raised in Lancashire. As a child he was always an adventurous child, finding joy in exploring, and fascinated with the outdoors. Although this curiosity benefited him, it meant he was constantly distracted thus, he finished school with poor grades. However, it was always Jay's mission to join the military, he played rugby at school and studied sports at college, but this was never enough for him. He needed something more. Something that was going to challenge him and fulfil his ambitious mind. It was in 2004 when Morton left Lancashire and joined PARAs (The Parachute Regiment) in Catterick. This was where his military career unfolded. Jay committed himself, serving 3 PARAs for four years, deploying twice in Afghanistan and once to Iraq. In 2008 Jay needed more he knew he had more in him. To reach his full potential he made the hard decision to go through the gruelling process of the special forces' selection. He passed the first time progressing towards his 10-year career within the UK special forces granting him with a range of specialised skill sets. Beyond his incredible 14-year service Morton has written a book, led multiple expeditions up some of the highest mountains in the world including two summits of Everest, and appeared as one of the directing staff on Channel 4's SAS: Who Dares Wins. His amazing action-filled life made for an inspiring conversation on his gripping life story and the lessons he's gained along the way based on motivation, strategy, mindset, and his sources of inspiration. 

Stop two on our tour as part of the Rugby League World Cup Cultural Festival, we were live in front of an audience at Catterick Library to talk all the current RL news in the first half, as well as quizzing our guests, and the World Cup in the second.   Joining us on the panel: Former Leeds Rhinos captain Stevie Ward England & York City Knights back Tamzin Renouf Professor Tony Collins Author of "Underdogs" and much more Tony Hannan   Next week: Doncaster and Newcastle!

Welcome to this episode of the Esk podcasts featuring Gavin Buckland. Not only is Gavin Everton's offcial statistician, author and regular podcaster with the Liverpool Echo, but he and I share something in common.Sit back and please listen as Gavin and I explore the patterns that run through Everton's history, particularly the Moores' and Catterick years and their relevance to today. A few laughs and anecdotes thrown in too. We left enough on the cutting room floor to do it again. Hope you enjoy it and look forward to your feedback once more.Thanks Gavin! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's episode is with Yvonne Macdonald, one of the coordinators running Richmondshire's  branch of Home Start. This is a charitable organisation supporting families with young children and their aim is for every parent to have the support they need to give their children the best possible start in life. Home Start is a global organisation and started in the Uk in 1973. It grew in strength and now there are approximately 200 branches throughout the UK. It is also a worldwide organisation operating in 22 countries. The local Richmondshire branch was set up in 2009, has Baroness Brenda Hale as a patron, and in 2020 was awarded the prestigious Queen's award for Voluntary Services. This award was in recognition for all the sterling work that has been carried out by the staff and volunteers. Due to Covid restrictions in 2020, an invitation to attend the Buckingham Palace Garden Party was delayed until this year, and has just recently been attended by a longstanding local volunteer.  Listen in to hear about the work carried out by the volunteers as well as the challenges faced by the coordinators to raise funds to keep the branch going. A five year Lottery grant got them off to a good start in 2009 and since then, due to their location, and the close relationship they have with the army in Catterick, they have received funding from the Armed Forces Covenant, and Army Central funds, to allow them to continue supporting families on the Garrison. Valuable Resources: Website: https://www.homestartrichmondshire.org.uk Email: info@homestartrichmondshire.org.uk Telephone: 01748-850079 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homestartrichmondshire Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/home_startrichmondshire/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichmondshireHS About the Host: Susan is actively involved in promoting Yorkshire businesses with audio production and  on social media, as well as sharing her love of the area where she lives. She moved to the dales over 30 years ago and is passionate about the county she has adopted as her home. Never ceasing to be amazed at the wealth of talent ‘Inside Yorkshire' Susan shares news and views, interviewing some of the inspirational people who reside there. Contact Method for Inside Yorkshire  Susan Baty-Symes www.insideyorkshire.co.uk susan@insideyorkshire.co.uk   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick is joined by RTE and Racing TV broadcaster Jane Mangan to discuss the news and events from around the racing world today. With the publication of the Grand National handicap weights due today at 3pm, Nick and Jane consider which horses might pose the official handicapper the most issues and suggest likely Aintree heroes for this year. Other topics covered include the KHRC hearing on the Kentucky Derby, which took place covertly on Monday, the announcement of an appeal date for Robbie Dunne, the retirement of Snow Lantern, and the continuing fallout from the Sir Mark Todd affair, from which David Redvers, this week's Weatherbys Bloodstock Guest, offers an alternative perspective. Later in this edition, Nick talks to trainer Hughie Morrison, who saddled his 1000th winner on Monday at Catterick.

Nick is joined by RTE and Racing TV broadcaster Jane Mangan to discuss the news and events from around the racing world today. With the publication of the Grand National handicap weights due today at 3pm, Nick and Jane consider which horses might pose the official handicapper the most issues and suggest likely Aintree heroes for this year. Other topics covered include the KHRC hearing on the Kentucky Derby, which took place covertly on Monday, the announcement of an appeal date for Robbie Dunne, the retirement of Snow Lantern, and the continuing fallout from the Sir Mark Todd affair, from which David Redvers, this week's Weatherbys Bloodstock Guest, offers an alternative perspective. Later in this edition, Nick talks to trainer Hughie Morrison, who saddled his 1000th winner on Monday at Catterick.

Dunkirk VeteranThe remarkable 101-year-old John Hamilton discusses his extraordinarily varied military career with Major General Andrew Cumming. Over the course of 25 years, he was evacuated from Dunkirk, worked as an instructor at the Recce Corps Training Centre in Catterick, took the German surrender in Norway, commanded the A Squadron of the King's Dragoon Guards in Libya and served with the Arab Legion in Jordan as a major. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A radiophonic exploration of The Gododdin, a lament for the fallen, bringing to life one of the oldest, yet enduringly relevant, treasures of European literature The Gododdin occupies a unique place in the literature of the United Kingdom. The oldest Welsh poem - a battle elegy from around 600AD - it was passed down orally, possibly in the form of song, for hundreds of years. Written down by two scribes in the 13th century in a form of proto-Welsh - Brythonic - then spoken from Scotland down through Cumbria to present day Wales, it's as strange yet accessible to Welsh-speakers today as Chaucer is to English-speakers. The events commemorated are real, but took place before Wales and England even existed, and long before there was such a thing as the English language. The Gododdin were a tribe based south of present day Edinburgh, who, as Britannia was reshaping itself in the post-Roman era, were fighting off incursions of Anglo-Saxons from the east. The poem describes a real battle. The time is the 7th century; the site of the battle near Catterick; the context, a warring world of rival tribes and chieftains. We can identify the lord, Mynyddog Mwynfawr, who gathers the Celtic warriors together from his own tribe, calling for help from Gwynedd in present-day Wales. And we know that the poem was composed by Aneirin, who must have been present at the battle. Aneirin recorded what he witnessed in a series of 100 elegies for the fallen. What we hear is an evocation of the men who went into battle, hopelessly outnumbered, and were cut down. Their names in themselves are a form of poetry, the naming a sacred act of commemoration. The characters of the fallen are here preserved like bog-men of fifteen hundred years ago. 'Madog cut down men like rushes, but was shy before a girl'; 'At court the quiet one, Erthgi made armies groan'. The Gododdin, largely forgotten, re-emerged in the early twentieth century. Its tale of the pity of individual lives ended in battle, often young lives, carries clear relevance today. The Gododdin also deals in what we would now call collateral damage: the bereaved and the bereft. The epigraph to David Jones's First World War masterpiece In Parenthesis is taken from The Gododdin, and it collapses the distance between the 20th century and the 6th century: 'Sennyessit e gledyf ym mhenn mameu' - 'His sword sounded in the heads of mothers'. Today, the Gododdin's ancient tale of warriors, far from home, serving a nobleman and paying with their lives, seems both timeless and timely. Between the Ears: Rhythms of Remembering enters into the world of The Gododdin, weaving extracts of Gillian Clarke's new English translation of the poem with an immersive soundscape and music. Her translation of Aneirin's words - the first complete one by a poet - read by Lisa Jen Brown, provide the backbone of the programme, and the poem's history and resonance today is explored through interviews with Gillian, theatre director Mike Pearson, and Ieuan Jenkins, who recalls his experience of serving as a young soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan. With music specially composed for the programme by Georgia Ruth. Produced for BBC Wales by Megan Jones

The NRL has restructured its medical department, resulting in the NRL expanding the role and expertise that is available to the sport through its medical advisory panel.  The former Penrith Panthers rehabilitation coordinator Craig Catterick has been appointed the new medical operations manager and will liaise between the clubs and the medical advisory panel. The panel will provide additional expertise across the game including in the area of concussion, a major concern for the league. Craig joins The Continuous Call Team to share the challenges the role will bring. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Bets For Today daily podcast brings you the best sporting tips and angles available for Tuesday 16th February 2021. We round-up yesterday's action and have free racing tips from Catterick. There is a free football, double and treble involving Dutch and Serbian football. We also look ahead to the two Champions League matches taking place this evening.

This episode of Psych Up! explores how to move forwards after the big dance - in this case, the NRL Grand Final. The Penrith Panthers made the Grand Final in 2020, a season of upsets and turmoil. After working towards a goal for so long, how can you work to move forward once the major event has passed? Our clinician Kate interviews Penrith Panthers trainer Craig Catterick on planning, mindset, preseason and moving forward from a Grand Final experience.

Danny served as s Section Commander in The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, where he served in Northen Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan. We go into how his combat experience was and also how it was not being able to deploy with his Company, due to him being an instructor at Catterick. Kiwi then went on to work in the CP circuit overseas for several years and now does amazing work in the UK working with children in the care system. Charities mentioned Defence Medical Welfare Service https://dmws.org.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/DefenceMedicalWelfareService/ As always, follow me https://www.instagram.com/thereorgpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/thereorgpodcast/ thereorgpodcast@gmail.com

Episode 017 is with Cpl Craig Laughland and Cpl Henry Hanlin from 3 Scots, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, British Army. Craig has been an Instructor at the Infantry Training Centre, Catterick and Henry are a Regimental Signals Detachment Commander within the Battalion. They have set up Hills and Minds, a hillwalking group aimed to bridge the gap between military and civilian life. Check out the group by searching 'Hills and Minds' on Facebook and giving them a follow. Check the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/227803178262539/?ref=share Follow @leadwasps on Insta If you or anyone you know would like to be considered to appear on an episode email leadwaspspodcast@gmail.com

In this episode, I speak with Penny Catterick, a Transgender Woman who transitioned at the age of 60. She shares an inside of view of what it is like to be transgender. She speaks openly about her authentic journey and the cost to becoming who she has always meant to be. She shares the mental health challenges to hiding secrets as well as sharing stories of supernatural experiences related to her authentic journey and how her faith is still present in her life. With a warm, positive outlook on life, Penny she continues to navigate this journey with love and courage. -- We talk about: ✔️ gender dysphoria and when she became conscious of the disconnect she felt. ✔️ how shame and fear create mental and physical health challenges ✔️ how she continued in her marriage for many decades. ✔️ how women should show up in the workplace. ✔️ supernatural experience that has kept her connected to the church. ✔️ repairing the relationships with people in her past including a relationship with her mother. ✔️ what is next for her including transgender advocacy. -- CONNECT with Penny Catterick: -- ▪️You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvWPjE27oH18CEetwSfW9VQ/videos  This channel is to help the transgender community. -- ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ EPISODE GUIDE ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ 1:31 What is gender dysphoria and does what it mean to Penny Catterick. She knew she was transgender when he was 5. 6:04 Shame, fear, anxiety begins to set in when what you see in the mirror does not reflect how you feel internally. 8:11 Penny explains what shame and fear did to her, ie, medical manifestations. 11:37 What did Penny do to hide her authentic self? And she describes the point where she felt her facade was crumbling. She tells a beautiful story of Buddha and the golden. 15:45 Penny explains how his wife found out about him. 17:03 As a devout Roman Catholic, he went through a 9 month intensive treatment to “treat” him to help his marriage. 19:33 Penny explains how his marriage was held together through the years. 21:22 Did he ever imagine that she could live as a woman in her lifetime? 22:56 Penny has attempted suicide a few times. 23:40 What was it like to walk into the world as a transgender woman for the first time? 29:00 Penny explains the death of his former self, Ian. 30:54 What is her relationship with her former self? 33:51 When did her authentic voice get really loud? 37:54 Penny uses her experience from the C-Suite to give about women in the workplace. 39:20 Penny provides leadership advice from her experience in a male dominated workplace. 40:47 Penny shares an idea from Brene Brown’s “Braving the Wilderness” from that spoke to her about stepping into your authentic. self. 42:49 Advice for people who are transitioning or thinking about it. 47:37 The reason she found the courage to transition came from Catholic mass. She shares how she feels she gets visitations from Mary. It was not a conscious choice, it was spiritual choice that got him through. 49:58 Penny looks at her life through a spiritual lens. 53:40 She shares a recent experience where he had a supernatural intervention that saved his life. 58:32 What role does faith in Penny’s life now? 1:02:14  She describes his strained and now wonderful relationship with her mother and she describes the compassion he now feels for her. 1:09:00 Penny shares how she is mending past relationships. 1:10:10  Penny talks about what’s next for her including what she wants to do for the transgender community.

Ben Barrett is joined by Craig Forsyth on the latest edition of the William Hill Daily Racing Podcast. We chat about the racing from Catterick and Lingfield on Tuesday, preview a couple of races on Wednesday from Mussleburgh and then, we bring you a new feature recorded on Monday as part of the Racing Radio program. Will Smith and Darren Owen were tasked with picking out five performances from the past week for their addition to the William Hill Notebook.

Paddy Aspell joins Ben Barrett for the latest edition of the Daily Racing Podcast.  They go through the Monday Jury from the Racing Post as well as look ahead to a couple of races at Lingfield on Tuesday. Join Gareth Topham, Andy Gibson and Craig Forsyth on William Hill Racing Radio on Tuesday with racing from Catterick and Lingfield on the cards.

Gareth Topham and Alex Dunn look ahead to Wednesday's action on the latest William Hill Racing Podcast, and it's the Catterick card that has studied this time around. He puts forward a couple of fancies, and you can hear how they run on Racing Radio on Wednesday afternoon - Gordon Brown, Chris Pimlott and Andrew Mount will be your studio team.

It's North Yorkshire Grand National day at Catterick and Luke Elder joins Mark Walton to look ahead to the action. Luke offers his thoughts in that race and the 3.45 on their card and the pair also take an early glance ahead to the Lanzarote Hurdle, the Leamington Novices' Hurdle and the Classic Chase. Join John Gibby, Chris Pimlott and Craig Forsyth on Racing Radio from 12.05pm for all of the action and you can watch Newcastle live and free on Betting TV. Enjoy.

Ben Barrett and Andrew Mount have a recap of a busy couple of days in horse racing as well as looking ahead to another top quality Saturday of action. Andrew previews a couple of big races at Newbury and we also hear from Sir AP McCoy on two Grade 1 races over at Leopardstown. Join William Hill Racing Radio from 11:45am on Saturday with racing from Lingfield, Newbury, Catterick, Limerick, Leopardstown and Leicester.

John Gibby is joined by Andy Holding and they tackle the big questions from the Racing Post's Monday Jury as well as take a look at the racing on Tuesday. Join Gordon Brown, Andy Gibson and that man Andy Holding on William Hill Racing Radio on Tuesday for racing from Catterick and Fakenham, they'll go live on air at 12:15pm

John Budden joins Sam Norris on Tuesday's edition, with tips from Catterick and a look through the Racing Post's Monday jury. Join Ross Brierley, Leonna Mayor and Andy Gibson on Racing Radio from 12.20pm on Tuesday. Enjoy.

Ollie Pimlott is in the podcast hotseat on this edition and he joins Sam Norris to offer up his selections at Lingfield and Catterick to start the week. Join Sean Quinn, Sam Turner and Craig Forsyth on Racing Radio from 1.50pm on Monday. Enjoy.

Ollie Pimlott joins John Gibby on this edition of the Monday Racing Podcast. Having looked back at the best of Saturday's action, Ollie offers two selections for Monday's racing, and they both run at Catterick in the afternoon.  Join John, Jon Babb and John O'Connell on Racing Radio from 2:05pm on Racing Radio. Enjoy.

Andy Overman, Stephen Brown & Luke St Clair bring you the latest episode and is the fabulous Kelly and Laura from Love Property. Kelly & Laura from Love Property based in Catterick, the garrison town in North Yorkshire, where they are the only agent. Opened in 2009. Opened a second office in 2017, Richmond (2 miles away) competing with 8 other agents. You can reach the presenters: Stephen Brown - SJB Consultancy (www.sjbconsultancy.co.uk/) Facebook - www.facebook.com/sjbconsultancy/ Twitter - twitter.com/stephenbrown54 Luke St Clair - Knightsbridge Estate Agents Facebook - www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=8…799267&ref=br_rs Twitter - twitter.com/Lstclair55 Andrew Overman Twitter: twitter.com/AndyOvermanEA Insta: instagram.com/andyovermanea LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewoverman/

With the Cheltenham Festival now just a week away, Andy Holding joins Alex Dunn to reveal which runners he's most looking forward to seeing at Prestbury Park. Andy also offers fancies at both Catterick and Dundalk on Wednesday - make sure you tune in to Racing Radio from 2pm for all of the action with Mark Walton, Chris Pimlott and Craig Forsyth.

Maddy Playle, Nick Watts, Robbie Wilders and Paddy Power's Paul Binfield review the weekend action from Doncaster, Newbury and Kelso, preview this weekend's Imperial Cup at Sandown and offer their tips from midweek racing. On the show: - With just over a week until Cheltenham, this weekend's racing offered few clues to the Festival but there is still plenty to talk about, including Paul Nicholls' continued hot streak with San Benedetto winning the Greatwood Gold Cup. - We react to news that JP McManus has pulled several horses from the Cheltenham Festival - is he right to be annoyed at the English handicapper, or are the Irish horses' marks correct? - This Saturday sees racing at Sandown and a promising renewal of the Imperial Cup where Call Me Lord, Speredek and Dream Du Grand Val are eye-catching early entries. We look at the best betting angles for the race. - Finally, the team offer their best bets from midweek racing, which includes the return of Tim Vaughan's Debece at Catterick on Wednesday. #ThisWillNotBeBeaten - Midweek Naps Nick Watts: Debece in the 2.50 at Catterick on Wednesday / Winston C in the 2.25 at Sandown on Saturday Robbie Wilders: Moyhenna in the 2.00 at Thurles on Thursday Paul Binfield: Jahbath in the 7.00 at Kempton on Wednesday All prices can be found at Paddy Power: https://bit.ly/2RQ6Nv0 --- Producer: @AnyOldAdam --- Subscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2l9x35T Website: http://www.racingpost.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/RacingPost & http://twitter.com/RacingPostTV Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/racingpost Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2vq457o SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/racingpost

Craig Forsyth joins Alex Dunn on Friday's edition of the Daily Racing Podcast.  The pair discuss Laurina's performance in Ireland before looking ahead to the best of Catterick and Exeter on Friday. Craig also gives two selections.  Join Chris Pimlott, Ross Brierley and Kevin O'Malley on Racing Radio from 1:00pm for live coverage of the day's racing action. Enjoy.

Today's guest is legendary TV producer Lisa Clark. Lisa has worked on some of the best comedy and entertainment shows of the last 25 years including The Big Breakfast, TFI Friday, Spaced, Shooting Stars, Catterick, House of Fools, Big Night Out, Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing. As well as working prolifically with Vic & Bob on their various programmes, she also set up and ran production company Pett Productions with the pair between 2001 - 2015. We talk about her early career as an onscreen journalist, slagging off orange revels with Vic & Bob and Celebrity Boxing... I also play a track at the end of the podcast by the brilliant band AULD - here's a link to buy tickets to their album launch on 20th Feb 2019: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/455547 ••••• LISA CLARK ON TWITTER — https://twitter.com/petttv ••••• AULD ON FACEBOOK — www.facebook.com/auldmusic/ ••••• AULD on YOUTUBE — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9iXFMo5nITnEZ2t5MSsQeA ••••• AULD on TWITTER — /twitter.com/Auldmusic ••••• AULD on INSTAGRAM — www.instagram.com/auldmusic/ ••••• MATT SKILLINGTON on TWITTER — twitter.com/mattskillington 
••••• MATT SKILLINGTON on INSTAGRAM — instagram.com/mattskillz87 ••••• SELDOM DIFFER on FACEBOOK - www.facebook.com/seldomdiffercomedy/ ••••• SELDOM DIFFER on TWITTER – twitter.com/SeldomDiffer 
••••• SELDOM DIFFER INSTAGRAM – instagram.com/seldom_differ 
••••• SELDOM DIFFER ONLINE — www.seldomdiffer.co.uk •••••••••• FOLLOW AND ENJOY!!!

Kevin O'Malley joins John Gibby on this edition of the Friday Racing Podcast. After a look at the solely all-weather action scheduled for Friday after the abandonment of Chepstow and Catterick, conversation turns to this weekend's Dublin Racing Festival.  Kevin has picks for some of the key races at Leopardstown, as well as two selections on Friday. Join John, Gareth Topham and Ross Brierley on Racing Radio on Friday from 12:50pm. Enjoy.

The 1960s was the decade in which the role of the football manager changed dramatically. With more autonomy from directors, the giants of English management grew quickly, becoming icons still celebrated to this day. Potts, Nicholson, Ramsey, Catterick, Shankly, Busby, Mercer, Revie and Greenwood all battled it out for the honours, in what was the most competitive decade of them all.

Adam talks with British comedian Bob Mortimer.Hi. Adam Buxton here with some notes about Bob and this episode.For nearly 30 years Bob and his comedy partner Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) have stuck doggedly to what makes them laugh whether mainstream audiences get it or not, with shows like ‘The Smell Of Reeves & Mortimer', ‘Bang Bang It's Reeves & Mortimer', ‘Catterick', and ‘House Of Fools' as well as the occasional reboots of the massively popular panel show ‘Shooting Stars' and the show that introduced them to the world in 1990, ‘Big Night Out'. Consistently and inexhaustibly joyful, energetic and absurd, their parade of characters, silly voices, home made props and a sensibility that is often close to avant garde performance art, has made them two of the best loved and most influential comedians the UK has ever produced. When not working with Jim, Bob enjoys watching football. He's an avid supporter of Middlesbrough FC and is currently the co host along with comedy writer Andy Dawson of the vaguely football themed podcast, ‘Athletico Mince'. It's up with the funniest stuff Bob's ever done.My conversation with Bob, took place in the London office of his agent and for a while we had to battle with some quite loud talkers in the corridor outside doing agent business (I was too weedy to ask them to be quiet), but that calmed down after a little while and we rambled about getting older, the TV shows that Bob enjoys, his new fishing show with old friend and fellow comedian Paul Whitehouse, music, petty crime and now and then we looked back over a few Vic & Bob moments from the last 30 years. It was a fun conversation that often revealed a softer and more gentle side to Bob than people might expect. It's a good bet that he would feel quite deeply nauseated by that last sentence and perhaps a few before too.Thanks to Séamus Murphy-Mitchell for production support and Matt Lamont for additional editing. Music & jingles by Adam BuxtonRELATED LINKSTHE SMELL OF REEVES & MORTIMER (1995) ‘MASTERCHEF'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os82UYqssScSHOOTING STARS (2002) GEORGE DAWES (MATT LUCAS) ‘PEANUTS'https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=59&v=lMPJZ4YZnqICATTERICK (2004) EPISODE 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVrcNXm0z3YSHOOTING STARS (2010) ‘COLDLAND' (ICELAND ADVERT SPOOF)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2FJITNSlCQVIC & BOB'S BIG NIGHT OUT (2017) ‘FIRST DATES'https://youtu.be/fjGXqeD6W_w?list=PLdqTDdzCk1-bQaH66D9L4n2lYZpp2MSwe&t=438ATHLETICO MINCE (2018) ‘THE FUN BUS'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puBNysxaHXITHE WEEKENDERS (1992)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAR06SEQf8 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We visit Blyth, Catterick, Leeds, Mansfield and Spalding. We also learn about mining, running a restaurant and positivity stones.

Veteran broadcaster John Keith on interviewing the great Harry Catterick, his love of Bellefield and covering the Blues throughout the glorious 1980s.