-------CHEERS, PART 3 OF 3

 'All notches of nul points': I'm not sure exactly
 what this is a reference to, but Vikram says it
 might have something to do with the Eurovision
 song contest. (Songs that get booed even on
 Eurovision - ooh, horrendous thought ).

 'and all who have a problem Houston': Astronaut
 Jack Swigert, command module pilot of the
 unsuccessful Apollo 13 mission, reported the
 first signs of trouble with this marvellous piece
 of understatement: "Houston, we've had a problem
 here". A vivid account of the subsequent rescue
 can bo found here:  [15]
 http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html

 'they should have been at Euston': Euston station,
 point of departure for trains from London to Manchester.

 [Random Ramblings]

 The subtitle, 'for missed appointment, BBC North,
 Manchester, reminds me of a Muir and Norden classic
 [1] - the time Frank and Denis were going to a BBC
 audition and got hopelessely lost:
 "Muir in Surrey, Den in Ongar".

 Frank Muir and Denis Norden used to run this
 BBC radio show called 'My Word', in which they
 would each improvise outrageous stories
 culminating in a punchline which was always an
 atrocious pun. Sidesplittingly funny.

 === 1998 The Washington Post
 By Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writer
 Tuesday, October 6, 1998; Page D02

 Listen to This:  What's the smartest and funniest
 show on radio?  It might just be "My Word!"
 Sundays at noon on WETA. The half-hour BBC word
 game is ostensibly a quiz show. Mainly, though,
 it is an excuse for four Brit wits to flex their
 formidable language skills. No longer in
 production, the show was last taped in 1995 (and
 its star, Frank Muir, died this year).
 Thankfully, though, both live on in syndication;
 WETA has more than 400 "My Word!" episodes. Each
 concludes with a made-up story, the punch line of
 which is a famous saying twisted ingeniously into
 a wonderfully painful pun. Music arcanists should
 stay tuned for the similar "My Music," also
 featuring Muir, which follows at 12:30.
 _____________________________________________________

 From: "Axbey, Stephen"

 All Brits would indeed recognise "nul points" as
 a reference to the Eurovision Song Contest.

 Each year about 25 nations enter this contest
 which is shown live on all the countries
 simultaneuosly. It started - oooh must be 30
 years ago - and at first was compulsive viewing
 and taken very seriously. Families used to gather
 and score the songs and argue about the result.
 Famous contentants include Cliff Richard, Sandy
 Shaw, Brotherhood of Man, Nena and of course,
 most famously, Abba who won the contest and shot
 to fame with "Waterloo"

 Nowadays the competition is taken less seriously
 and (in the UK at least) is presented with a kind
 of post-modern ironic, self deprecating commentary.
 But despite that, it's still prime time viewing.

 Voting is done sequentially with each country
 phoning in their choice of first, second, third
 etc. The scores they award are given aloud, and
 then repeated by the presenter in English and
 French to give a pleasing rythm

 "France Three points"
 "France three points (la france trois points)"

 "United Kingdom five points"
 "United Kingdom five points (le royaume unis cinq points)"

 Each country votes for a top eight (I think). So
 if, as a contestant, a country does not finish in
 anybody else's top eight, then it's possible to
 get a grand total of zero points. For many, many
 years this never happened.  Finally in
 1980something a truly appaling punk entry from
 Norway achieved nul-points. This was a major
 television event in the UK: as country after
 country awarded their scores, we waited with
 bated breath hoping not to hear Norway's name.
 (Norway have subsequently repeated this feat in
 later years)

 To this day, following any sort of inept
 performance, a spectator might cut the performer
 down to size by muttering "Norway, nul points"

 [Like many famous quotations "Norwege: nul point
 (Norway: No points)" is notable because no-one
 ever actually said it. The announcers announce
 the points that are awarded - not the zeros]

 ---[END]


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