A history of Neil in 100 objects - Object 3 - Oxford English Dictionary

I am not quite sure when Dave and I decided that we might like to do a podcast, but I do remember when we spent an evening in November 2009 throwing ideas about. All sorts of formats for the podcast came up, from the Collings & Herring style 'turn the microphone on and see what happens', to something very structured with reoccurring features each episode.

I don't remember whose eyes were first drawn to the dictionary, but I do remember suggesting we could discuss the words on a random page, and then Dave suggested that we got a celebrity to choose that page. I thought it sounded a good idea but very unlikely, who would agree to open a page of a dictionary for 2 unknown people recording an unknown thing on the internet?

Well I was surprised, by Christmas Dave claimed to have one dictionary opener recorded and in the can, and 2 others lined up.

It turned out our first guest was Christoper Biggins, a great high profile guest, far more famous than I was expecting! Then Dave asked if I would like to meet the film critic Mark Kermode, and of course I did! I have been a big fan of his broadcasts since I first heard him back on the Mark Radcliffe show on Radio 1 many, many years ago.

Through this podcast I have also met comedians Jo Caulfield and Robin Ince, Speedway star Ivan Mauger and musician Rick Wakeman. This dictionary was centre stage in each of the meetings, and many of the people we meet are quite taken by handling a big dictionary, Rick Wakeman would hardly let go of it!

We (well Dave) entered the podcast for the Sony Radio Awards this year, and although we were not nominated we did get to go to the nomination ceremony and hang out with guys from the radio industry.

Since moving away from Exeter it has been more difficult to get together and record, but this has made us creative with recording locations and we have done podcasts from the British Library, the V&A, the steps of Westminster Abbey, as well as various pubs.

The podcast fills the gap in my life that used to be taken up with doing various bits of radio work (more about that another time) is now filled by podcasting, and it is much more rewarding. You have total editorial control and I really enjoy the editing process.

If you have not listened before then please do, I hope it makes you smile once or twice. You can find episodes on the Words Fail Me blog.

Things I have seen around Aylesbury (Part Three)

The children of Aylesbury get all the best toys. What a peace loving town.

A history of Neil in 100 objects - Object 2 - Bradford & Bingley Moneybox

I had ditched a job in a call centre that had been the worst job I have ever had, and moved back to a bookshop chain that I had previously spent many happier years with, when the chain was taken over by a small American charity, (I will not go into details here, that will no doubt be another object in the future) I was forced to look around for some other kind of work.

With my money handling, customer service experience I randomly decided that banking was a good secure job to get into. This was of course pre-Northern Rock, and the ensuing banking crisis.

After several interviews I was invited into Bradford & Bingley for an interview, and I suspect through personality rather than hard solid experience I got the job, and started within weeks.

I started working with an amazing team. Patient, knowledgeable, fun loving people who I enjoyed working with, and socializing with in the pub afterwards. We had our hard times, but generally these were good times when I met people that I am sure I will always be in contact with.

Then the banking crisis hit, Northern Rock went under, B&B were tipped as being next, we had scripts and memos to say how solid the bank was, we believed it, and passed this confidence on to our customers. It turned out to be a misplaced confidence.

The share price dropped fro £4 to 40p, the scrabble for saving became increasingly desperate, parts of the mortgage book were hastily sold to GE money. We all knew deep down that the company was doomed, but you know what? These days were still happy days. We worked late, we worried about our jobs, but we still found time for a few pints and a few laughs at the City Gate or the Fat Pig.

One Friday we went to work as Bradford & Bingley employees, the next Monday we came to work as Santander employees. The company had failed, the government had helped put a deal together, the Spanish bank was bailing us out.

A few people left in the next few months, but largely most of the people I worked with back then are still with the company. I have since moved region. There are still good days and bad days, we still have scripts and memos that we occasionally have to read with confidence to customers, but we still go to the pub and have a few pints and a few laughs.

This money box, although mostly empty these days, for me signifies my first days in banking, and although I joined just at the time that banking was about to change for ever, I don't regret having made that decision.

At least I don't work in a call centre...

British Grand Prix - Silverstone 2011

Well what a weekend last weekend was, a full 3 days at Silverstone to see the British Grand Prix! My first ever Grand Prix and we did it in style!

Decided that this was the year, partly because I live quite near the track (within 40 minutes drive) and it's likely I won't live so close in the future, and mostly because my Mum and Dad wanted to buy it for me for my birthday, and my Brother in law was itching to go (and did all the hard work organising!).

We arrived in plenty of time for the first practice session on Friday, and found a grandstand near farm curve to watch from, it was very exciting to see the first cars come out onto track, although they were not quite as loud as I had anticipated. The rain started to come and we moved location to somewhere with a roof, and then the noise hit us, we were sat just as the cars were accelerating onto the straight, I felt deaf in the left ear for at least a few minutes, and realised that plugging into my radio was useful not only to hear what was going on around the track, but also to block some of the noise!

We wandered around the track for a while looking around, and then settled on Woodcote for session 2, a location so good we watched qualifying there the next day as well. An advantage with a roving grandstand ticket such as we had is that you are not tied to a location over the Friday and Saturday, you can pretty much get into all the main grandstands (other than the Vodafone and Santander ones). On race day you need to stick to your seats, but we were lucky in that we had an excellent view there too, looking right down Hanger Straight in one direction and across to Club corner in the other.

We took packed lunch, as food was a bit pricey (as you would expect) but we found the cheapest coffee and still enjoyed some bacon rolls throughout the weekend.

as well as your own lunch I would say that an FM and a DAB radio are also essential, and making sure they are fully charged up. Don't rely on your smart phone to listen to commentary, not only is the track race commentary not online for legal reasons, but if you decide to listen to Crofty on Sports Extra you may find the 3G is not coping with the volume of people doing the same! Without this it is hard to follow what is going on in the sessions or race. You see a lot less at the track than if you were watching it on the BBC, but obviously being there is about the experience, but the radio helps you keep up, and you can always catch up with the race on the TV later!

Obviously some kind of waterproofing is essential as well, and it turns out a poncho, although looking silly, is the most effective way to stay dry (my waterproof coat left we with wet knees!).

Anyway, I will skip forward to the Sunday, we got settled in our seats very early, in time for the GP3 race, we were almost the first in our stand! The support races were sadly a bit dull and processional, but you could still feel the atmosphere building. We were attacked by a wave of tiny annoying flies at several points in the day, not a lot we could do about them but I was heartened to hear that Alonso had been attacked by them as well, not just our grandstand.

I was surprised by the huge support for Mclaren at Silverstone, I guessed they would be a very popular team, but I would say 4 out of 5 people were sporting Mclaren caps or clothing. We did try spotting caps for every team on the grid, and failed to see an HRT cap all weekend! (Virgin were also thin on the ground, and I was surprised to see quite so many Toro Rosso caps!)

After support races the Red Arrows did a display, and at that point the rain came (giving us a break from flies!) It only last 20 minutes of so, but was enough to wet the track, which in places remained wet until the race start.

Alonso then came out in a classic Ferrari, and did a few laps, getting very into it and sliding the car around Stowe corner. He then had to run for the flatbed that was carrying drivers around for the parade lap.

I won't say too much about the race itself, as you probably saw it on TV anyway, but we had a Lotus break down on the Hanger Straight near us, Schumacher gave us a little entertainment with a few overtakes into Stowe, and we had a fantastic view of the last corner battle between Hamilton and Massa!

Really great weekend and I can always say I have been to a Grand Prix, and I am sure I will do it again in the future, perhaps over to Spa for the next one?

A history of Neil in 100 objects - Object 1 - Williams F1 Diecast Model

Motor racing is about the only sport I have really got into, I can watch a small amount of football, or tennis, or athletics, but I soon get bored. However I can watch practice sessions of F1, large chunks of 24 hour races, or half a day of touring cars without any trouble at all.

This model of a Williams F1 FW28 was given to me by my friend Nick, and is a lovely scale model, he was given it from his work at the time (one of the sponsors of the team) and gave it to me saying I was a bigger fan of F1 than he was. A lovely gift which I am sure I will always keep on display.

Williams must be one of my favourite teams in F1, and this was cemented when last year we visited the Williams F1 base in Grove for a great day watching the GP on the big screen, looking around the amazing museum and meeting some of the Williams staff. I wrote my experiences of the day on a blog post at Sidepodcast.

Perhaps one day I will get into another sport, but I can't imagine anything beating the excitement I feel just before those red lights go out on a Sunday afternoon, and this Sunday I will experience that at Silverstone for the first time in real life... excited? Just a bit!!!

A history of Neil in 100 objects.

I had an idea that I would blog about my 10 favourite possessions, but as Ivonne said when I told her my idea "I'm surprised you have any". This is very true, I am not one for material things, I don't hoard books (although I do have a huge amount) preferring to borrow and just pass them on, I prefer shopping for food, spending money in the pub, or spending money on an experience (comedy, a day out in London or motorsport).

So an idea hit me today, For Christmas I got a lovely book of the History of the World in 100 objects, based on the Radio 4 series from the British Museum, one of my favourite places in the world (the V&A still have the edge for me), and then remembered the Collins and Herring series on 6 Music, the History of Collins and Herring in 100 objects (cut off around object 50 and unlikely to return), and thought this is a much better idea for a blog series.

So over the next few days (or weeks if I am slack) I will list the first 10 objects that make the history of me, a vain, vain exercise in blogging, but one that will be cathartic and fun.