10 years ago today.

[23 Daves]

Dear God, ten years of mentally blocking out 'Bingo' by Catch comes to an end. If only someone could have died every time it came on the radio.

It's irrelevant to this thread, I realise, but I have to say I had completely forgotten about both that band and that song, and my memory is normally superb for guff like this.  It makes Kate Nash seem positively profound, doesn't it?

On the subject of Diana, I would have been housesitting for a friend and looking after the fish in his tank at the time (I was "between houses" and he'd very conveniently timed a holiday).  I got up late, turned on his television in the lounge, and thought for some bizarre reason that everyone was talking about Diana Dors for the first few minutes, then realised she was dead already and probably wouldn't have warranted the same frenzy of attention.  It was interesting the way everyone referred to her by her first name only post-Royal Family, though, and also the fact that I kept thinking "Diana who?  Tell me for fuck's sake, it could be any number of Dianas".

I went outside to buy some milk from the corner store a few moments later, and was promptly greeted with the sight not only of dazed and upset looking members of the public, but also a homeless person crying about her.  I went home and didn't go out for the rest of the day after that.  

She was the mainstream Richey Manic, really. Backed a lot of political causes, was considerably messed up in the head, and also quite damn photogenic if that was the sort of thing you liked.  Couldn't have written lyrics like "4st 7lb" if you'd held her at gunpoint, but she might have managed "Small Black Flowers in the Sky" at a push.  What he was to literate rock kids and indie fans, she was to illiterate middle aged divorcees, washed up men and totally imperfect, selfish people who suspected that the whole damn world had let them down and never appreciated their kindness and uniqueness.  Most folk, then.

[non capisco]

It's irrelevant to this thread, I realise, but I have to say I had completely forgotten about both that band and that song, and my memory is normally superb for guff like this.  It makes Kate Nash seem positively profound, doesn't it?

I remember it all too well now, though I recalled the singer's fey shout of "Bingo!" in the chorus to sound much more like Frank Spencer than it actually does.

I was completely befuddled by the hysterical reaction to Diana's death at the time and remain so. A uni mate of mine told me his mum actually rung him crying in the early hours like it was a family member who's carked it. It really did feel like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers the day afterwards, people walking about looking glazed and in shock. I remember putting on the radio that morning and hearing mordant, funeral music broadcast on every station and nearly panicking about what the fuck what was going on.

Heh heh. I knew there'd be a post about inflatable ETs!

[Beagle 2]

She was the mainstream Richey Manic, really. Backed a lot of political causes, was considerably messed up in the head, and also quite damn photogenic if that was the sort of thing you liked.  Couldn't have written lyrics like "4st 7lb" if you'd held her at gunpoint, but she might have managed "Small Black Flowers in the Sky" at a push.  What he was to literate rock kids and indie fans, she was to illiterate middle aged divorcees, washed up men and totally imperfect, selfish people who suspected that the whole damn world had let them down and never appreciated their kindness and uniqueness.  Most folk, then.

That's brilliant Daves!

Yep, shall certainly be stealing that observation and passing it off as my own... ;-)

[Bingo Fury]

http://www.bugimus.com/views/essays/gfx/teresa_diana.jpg

Before and after the Master's laser screwdriver attack.

"Dobby", my arse.

[Famous Mortimer]

[youtube=425,350]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qePrqKtnKNU[/youtube]

Fuckin' 'ell, "Bingo" by Catch! Them were the days.

I was coming home from the pub when our mate who'd run ahead to use the loo ran back up the street and said "Princess Di's died!" So we all went in, watched the telly for a few minutes, shrugged, turned it off and put some music on and drank some more. I didn't give a fuck about her then and I don't now.

EDIT: it seems more people are annoyed about remembering this song than I realised.

[weirdbeard]

I mean, by his grey face Owen clearly knows early on in that clip doesn't he? I've heard that too many times for it to be false by the way about the PA embargo breakage Techtip, it all seems rather strange anyone would be confident of press falling in line for such a piece of juice, especially in this age of instant reportage. Interesting how the ITN royal correspondent attempts to immediately criticise press intrusion into the life of a royal, News an Ten must have been full of that shit the week leading up to it.

ITV must have caught up terribly late on then, I was watching on BBC ages before that, and I certainly never saw any footage of car wreckage being lifted or anything, just that one long shot of the tunnel. Like Techy said, it got boring after a bit.

Think it was Robin Cook who first told the British press (in the Philippines, in the morning) that she had died, unwittingly breaking the embargo that was set in.  Once he'd opened his mouth, the press found no reason to stick to the embargo.

Think that ITN footage has been edited somewhat, below is some of the BBC's rolling news coverage (from BBC World - this is what must have persuaded the BBC to launch a dedicated 24-news service for the UK), and there's far more guff spoken.

[youtube=425,350]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMZ6ob-DCA[/youtube]

Why do I absolutely love watching old news flashes, the more terrible the news the better? It just fascinates me, and if I ever see one in the flesh I get a tingle like nothing else. Blood lust I suppose. Actually, since I saw the September the 11th one live that's not been as strong, I didn't actually want the news to be THAT bad....

Yeah, I love old newsflashes as well.  I also watched shitloads ofthe 9/11 rolling news coverage from the American networks as well.  I like the mixture of panic and urgency you get from them, some of the correspondents are clearly bluffing just to try and fill air time.

[Jemble Fred]

My dog was on its last legs at the time. I woke up to hear my Mum crying her eyes out. My god, the relief when I found out it was just that Sloane Ranger bint.

[falafel]

The response from a 13-year-old me when my dad woke me up with the news:

Come off it. We'll never get rid of her that easily.

I do remember the little pang of guilt upon seeing the news. That's a worryingly cynical thing for a 13-year-old to say. My assumption that her death would finally get her out of the papers was completely wrong too; the news coverage, even then, just served to really piss me off, striking me as astonishingly hypocritical. How is it that a normal teenager could spot that but 99% of the population couldn't? I found myself wondering: could it really be true that I was more intelligent and worldly wise, at thirteen years of age, than most of the people in the country? The ones who were supposed to be better than me, and who were earning all the money, while I had to ask my parents permission to buy a new T-shirt? It gave me an unfortunate ego-boost and ingrained in me a severe distaste for the general public, which I'm yet to get over.

Wow, looks like Diana did have a huge impact on my life after all. I love you, Di. Even though you're dead dead dead.

[Uncle TechTip]

Thanks weirdbeard for the 2nd clip, that's very revealing. It seems clear that during the first part they all knew the truth, and Stephen Jessel was diligently putting all the pieces together in his living room. In fact the journos at base were compiling all the solemn stuff and debating whether to switch to a flag at half-mast. Lacerations to the thigh indeed. Robin Cook kind of intimated it in that clip, I wonder did he go further and confirm it to foreign journalists? It was only down to him because he was in a country where it was afternoon and he was up and about.

[Blue Jam]

Anyone see the repeats of The IT Crowd, and in particular the one where everyone thought Jen had died? In it there's one woman at the memorial service crying her eyes out, before she gets asked "Who's died?" and replies "I don't know". Good to show it around this time as it reminded me of the whole outpouring of grief over Diana. It was funny to see people who would have complained about her spending their taxes on Versace dresses suddenly acting like they'd always loved her and would miss her. I still agree that a large part of it was down to guilt but sadly it didn't have an impact on the sales of tabloids. Now the gossip magazines just seem more popular than ever, while becoming ever more intrusive and more critical of the celebrities they feature.

I read John Lydon's Rotten: No Irish No Blacks No Dogs a couple of years ago and the parts about Lydon being beaten up by football hooligans shouting "We love our Queen!"  just go to show nothing's changed. When the Queen Mother pegged it I heard one of my neighbours talking and sounding worried about having to shell out for a taxi so her disabled mother could "go and pay her last respects." This family lived in a Tower Hamlets tower block, caring for an elderly relative and probably on benefits so they could do so, they couldn't even afford a car, could barely afford a taxi, and yet they still wanted to grieve for someone who'd been spending their tax money on gin, Faberge eggs and putting bets on horses and who'd famously racked up a multi-million pound debt (which she never had to pay off) in doing so. It's depressing to think that the Royal Family are still so well-loved that we'll probably never get rid of them, no matter how badly they behave.

[weirdbeard]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980901/ai_n14165277

Diana: the story of the story
Independent, The (London),  Sep 1, 1998  by Gabriel Thompson

12.30-1.10am: `Have you heard the news?'

It had been a good night out and, after a little too much wine, I decided that a cup of coffee before bed was a good idea. Waiting for the kettle to boil I turned on the television as the first reports of the crash were coming in. From my time working on the Independent on Sunday I knew that its news operation closed at 12.30. It was going to miss the story completely. I panicked, and reached for the telephone.

Elsewhere in London, Richard Sambrook was being teased about the fact that he always carried a pager. Sambrook, the BBC's head of newsgathering, pointed out: "I need it in case the Queen Mother dies, or something." A few minutes later, the pager went off.

At The Sunday Times, the night editor Ian Coxon was drinking coffee as an uneventful day drew to a close. A colleague rushed into the room with news of the crash. Coxon didn't get to finish his coffee.

After 15 minutes of fuming at colleagues' answering machines and swearing at endless ringing tones, I got through to Colin Hughes, then deputy editor of The Independent, who was at home in bed. As I told him what had happened, Hughes said immediately: "She's dead."

Another journalist caught the late-night news and rushed off to his office. He completely forgot to tell his wife what he was doing.

1.10-2.30am `Stop the presses'

Hughes made up his mind. There was no one at the Independent on Sunday, but he was a reporter and I was a sub. We could be at the office in 30 minutes, and get a front page out to the printers by 2.30am - our last chance of the night. He rang the printers and told them to stop the presses. He ran for his car, and I jumped into a cab.

At The Sunday Times, Coxon was blessing his luck. Not only did he have enough staff but, by coincidence, the paper's royal correspondent was doing a stint on the night news desk.

Nik Gowing, one of BBC World Television's most experienced new presenters, had been asleep for just 40 minutes when the telephone rang. By 1.30am he was in a cab heading for the office. By 2.30am he was broadcasting live - and would continue to do so until 7.30am.

At one radio station, a beleaguered reporter was so afraid to leave his desk that he resorted to relieving himself into a Coke bottle.

2.30-3.30am `Does anyone KNOW anything?'

After the first rush to get the news out, everyone began the hunt for hard facts.

At the Independent on Sunday we had been given a reprieve by the printers, and a deadline - 3.30am. Most other papers had also managed to get a story about the crash out to their printers, and were preparing the next edition.

At the BBC, they had decided to broadcast their 24-hour World channel on both BBC1 and BBC2 throughout the night.

Everyone was wondering what had happened to Diana. Buckingham Palace had delayed making a statement; there was no real information coming from the Government; the French authorities were being obtuse.

I was talking to a French radio station, trading "live interview with British journalist" for any news they had. They knew no more than we did. Gowing was growing more and more suspicious as he tried to separate fact from speculation. Coxon feared that the very paucity of information indicated that there was grim news to come.

We knew Dodi was dead. But Diana? She was concussed, she had a broken arm, she was severely injured - which story to believe?

In the midst of all this, Gowing's desktop printer broke down. Looking for some technical support, he spotted a chap with a beard and wearing jeans, wandering through the newsroom. Gowing demanded his aid in fixing the printer. The bearded man looked surprised but did oblige. And that is how Gowing first met Richard Ayre, deputy chief executive of BBC News.

3.30-4.30am `The Manila connection'

Our luck changed. Because the crash was in France, it was a matter for the Foreign Office. Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, was in Manila. The time difference meant that Cook and his staff were already out of bed and therefore fair game for the British reporters who had accompanied them on the trip.

The official version is that Diana's death was confirmed just before 5am London time. The truth is that, long before then, the reporters with Cook had rung in with unofficial confirmation of the death. All night we had survived on official statements and guesswork. Finally, we had hard news about Diana.

For the Independent on Sunday, Steve Crawshaw rang from Manila. Hughes, who likes to behave in a calm and collected manner in such situations, shouted "Yes, yes, yes!" We finally had some news from someone we knew and could trust.

Sadly, the news was that Diana was dead.

4.30-5.30am `Diana killed in crash'

Hard news was finally arriving. We learnt that there would be an announcement simultaneously in Paris and Manila, shortly before 5am. At the Independent on Sunday we had already acted on Crawshaw's information and remade the front page with the story of Diana's death. The page was sent to the print sites with strict instructions that they were not to start printing without our say-so.

The confirmation came just before 5am. We were printing it three minutes later.

At the BBC, Gowing read the confirmation - a "snap" from the Press Association - twice on air. Twenty minutes later, Buckingham Palace issued its own confirmation. Gowing had his first and only attack of nerves, and calmly announced the news. No one knows for sure how many people around the world saw that broadcast, but the best estimate is 500 million.

5.30-7.30am `Time to go home'

The end of the story had been told. No newspaper could keep printing any longer. Television and radio had reported the news and were now looking for more angles, and more opinions, to flesh out the coverage.

At The Sunday Times, Coxon was already thinking about how the paper would deal with the story in the following week's edition.

At the Independent on Sunday, Hughes was calling in staff from the daily Independent to prepare the next day's paper.

Gowing handed over to another presenter and slipped quietly away. Sambrook was organising the movement of reports, cameramen, engineers and equipment to Paris.

I couldn't get a taxi home - they were all booked to rush journalists to their newsrooms around London.

It was a new day. Sambrook was delighted to discover that a royal correspondent had cut short her holiday in Devon and was on her way to London. By taxi.

A freelance cameraman was sent to Buckingham Palace. He found plenty of people - almost all clubbers who had been dancing the night away as the news broke.

As for the journalist who rushed off to his office without telling his wife what he was doing - she caught him coming home at 7.30am, and still thinks he's having an affair.

[Saucer51]

I remember my mother rushing up the stairs on Sunday morning calling that "Di" was dead.
Our dear neighbour was called Di and I sat up wading through a hangover believing it was a death of someone I knew and would therefore be appropriately sad about.
Who could have been prepared for the national hysteria that bordered on a rite-of-passage theme park ride? All for a lady who no doubt meant the world to family and close friends but to the rest of us was a mere magazine cover.
I recall a pug-nosed moron from my workplace travelling 80 miles up to London after work, queuing all night long to sign the condolence book, getting back to our town just in time for work again. No time for a sleep or a wash but Hey! She can tell her grandchildren years later that she did the whole Diana Grief Trip. Except that it wasn't grief.  People who have lost loved ones don't relay the experience to colleagues whilst grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
Peasants on news clips spoke of being "grateful" to Diana (surely it should have been for her drunken speeding driver?) for enabling them to shed their English reserve and presumably giving them a free pass at bawling like toddlers over a stranger.
Even more low-brow people wandered around Trafalgar Square clawing at their own faces whilst wailing the Complete Stranger's name.
Sickest of all were accusations of a conspiracy to imprison the bereaved young princes in a Highlands retreat with their family rather than do the right thing of wheeling them out into the public. Soon there was a u-turn, as misguided and premature as it was. The children were flown into the epicentre of Ghoul Central and suddenly the charabancs were booked up across the country again. Sour-faced witches, the kind who burst footballs that land in their gardens, had no such disdain for royal children. These mawkish cretins not only invaded the personal space of grieving boys, they slobbered all over them whilst taking a few snaps for posterity.
Statistically, at least a dozen of these shitbags had strokes or coronaries on the coach back to their respective provincial burrows. Wouldn't it have been poetic if the local press had staked out the ICU's for a few candid shots?

Saucer "not really that vociferous at all" 51

[surreal]

I heard Mike Dicken announce her death on Talk Radio, I switched the TV on and found he'd beaten the BBC and SkyNews by at least 15 minutes...

[FanOfKylie]

I heard Mike Dicken announce her death on Talk Radio, I switched the TV on and found he'd beaten the BBC and SkyNews by at least 15 minutes...

On the Talk Radio theme does anybody-else remember a presenter called Peter Deeley really slagging off Princess Diana a few nights before she died and then having to make a grovelling apology to listeners. He was really slagging her off as a massive publicity seeking pain-in-the-arse who was always playing the media as it was the week that she said she would reveal some massive secret of epic proportions.

My other memory was that they suspended any discussion or canvassing for the Scottish Elections in the week after Diana's death. My Dad was listening to and Radio 5 they were discussing whether the Scots were right not to cancel their football match in the light of Diana's death (her being a massive footie fan and Tartan Army follower in particular) and John Inverdale said something along the lines that this just proved what a selfish nation the Scots were and he hoped they voted for complete Independence. Even 10 years later my Dad still hates Inverdale with a vengence.

[FanOfKylie]

She was the mainstream Richey Manic, really. Backed a lot of political causes, was considerably messed up in the head, and also quite damn photogenic if that was the sort of thing you liked.  Couldn't have written lyrics like "4st 7lb" if you'd held her at gunpoint, but she might have managed "Small Black Flowers in the Sky" at a push.  What he was to literate rock kids and indie fans, she was to illiterate middle aged divorcees, washed up men and totally imperfect, selfish people who suspected that the whole damn world had let them down and never appreciated their kindness and uniqueness.  Most folk, then.

That really is a top observation 23 Daves. Do you write for a living ?

[buttgammon]

I remember waking up the following morning, turning the TV on to Channel Four (or maybe Five) and finding that it was showing a really dull documentary about Diana which spoke about her in the past tense. My mum and I were puzzled and I think one of us said something on the lines of "Anyone would think she was dead by the way they're talking about her." I didn't find out later until I heard a news bulletin on the radio.

[Blue Jam]

On the Talk Radio theme does anybody-else remember a presenter called Peter Deeley really slagging off Princess Diana a few nights before she died and then having to make a grovelling apology to listeners. He was really slagging her off as a massive publicity seeking pain-in-the-arse who was always playing the media as it was the week that she said she would reveal some massive secret of epic proportions.

I read Piers Morgan's The Insider last year (yeah yeah, I know he's a cunt) and one story was about her people putting out a rumour that she'd be around on her yacht or on the beach, all so the paparazzi could come and photograph her looking great in a leopard-print swimsuit, having had the stylists on the yacht beforehand. Charles and Camilla were in the news that week too and she wanted to beat them to the newspaper front pages, while looking really good and making Charles a bit resentful and Camilla jealous. Morgan gushed about it like it was an ingenious stunt and good on her and all that, but I thought it seemed like a sad and pathetic bit of attention-seeking. Of course there was also meant to be some news about her and Dodi- possibly their engagement- but we'll never know, and I doubt anyone here cares.

Back to the reminiscing: I was asleep when Diana died, and found out when my mum shouted up the stairs "Diana's died, she was in a car crash" and we came down to watch the news. I didn't feel sad, I just remember feeling it was very weird and being aware that it was a massive story, her being the most famous woman in the world. Then when it had sunk in the coverage started to do all our heads in and there was no escaping it as there was literally nothing else on. I remember being pissed off as the V Festival (I think) coverage on ITV had been cancelled and there was no decent music on Radio 1. My mum was very concerned at the prospect of some football matches being cancelled, but a few days later she became like all the rest and started saying "you know, I always liked Diana" when before she'd complained that the Royals were getting far too much money and were a waste of public money. We moved house on the day of the funeral and were just glad that we didn't have to move it back a day, but the removal men still made sure they got the job finished so they could clock off in time to get home and watch it. The first thing my mum unpacked was the telly.

On the day of the Queen Mother's funeral I decided to go shopping, figuring that even London's streets would be empty, and depressingly they were. Got a nice deal on a watch though- managed to haggle down the price as the shop hadn't had a single customer all day and were desperate to make at least one sale. Then I had a nice, uncrowded Tube journey home and got back in time to miss the whole damn thing.

^{"Tag limit per topic exceeded?" I really wanted to post "Peanut-Toothed Old Nazi"- anyone remember that one?}

[Blue Jam]

Couldn't have written lyrics like "4st 7lb" if you'd held her at gunpoint

Catatonia's "Bulimic Beats" should have been a piece of piss for her though.

^{Bloody hell, I'd forgotten Catch. Do you mean the same band who did "Boy Wonder" and had an incredibly irritating singer called Toby? Wish I could block them out completely, they were worse than Menswear.}

[SOTS]

Catatonia's "Bulimic Beats" should have been a piece of piss for her though.

^{Bloody hell, I'd forgotten Catch. Do you mean the same band who did "Boy Wonder" and had an incredibly irritating singer called Toby? Wish I could block them out completely, they were worse than Menswear.}

Watch the clip somewhere in the thread that got everyone mentioning Catch again. May jog some memories if you can stand it.

[boxofslice]

Unfortunately for Catch the rot had really started to set in the whole britpop movement, so as Diana died that night so did their chances of stardom. Not sure if someone has been reading this forum but the trivia section makes interesting reading.

Catch

[Analrapist]

Perhaps the buzz about Catch in this thread will spur them in to the reunion tour we've all been waiting for?

I can't recall hearing Bingo before, but fucking hell. It's like Blur by Blur never 'appened!

[boxofslice]

Hey kids, want to listen to the pop sensation that is Bingo by Catch go here:

Catch-Bingo

[Analrapist]

They should have used it as the music on the opening titles of Paul O'Grady's sitcom Eyes Down.

[23 Daves]

That really is a top observation 23 Daves. Do you write for a living ?

No, unfortunately!  But thank you. 

On the subject of Diana, one thing I'm wondering is whether anyone remembers some of the professors and social commentators they interviewed on her death.  I seem to remember that they got some History professor on a news programme, and one of the interviewers asked him: "What contribution do you think Diana has made to history?" and he replied "Well, she was a superstar!  She was like Marilyn Monroe!  She was a slice of Hollywood Glamour!"  The newsreader looked perturbed and said "Surely she was more than that?" and he continued "Not really, no..." at which point the discussion was terminated.

I wish I could find a clip of that somewhere now.  I was really angry at the time that the whole interview was cut short by this disgruntled anchorman who clearly didn't want to hear the one thing nobody else was prepared to say.  They went to the effort of getting a respected professor in on the programme to get his honest, considered opinion, and then when it was the one they didn't want to hear, cut it entirely short.  It was one of the most pathetic pieces of news broadcasting I've ever seen.  It made me realise how seriously easily censorship of opinions could occur unquestioned.

On the flip side of the coin, I do know a lot of news journalists who claim that had it not been for Diana's campaign about the landmines, nothing would have been done about them.  Martin Bell, for instance, says in his biography that he had absolutely nothing but admiration for the woman, and regarded her as "special".  He comes across throughout the rest of the book as being quite no-nonsense and your typical pragmatic, ex-sergeant type, so it's really surprising when you read that bit.  Of course, other journalists I've actually met have called her a manipulative, attention-seeking hag.  When I went to Journalism College, one of them happily told that to a whole lecture room, to a combined response of delight and complete disgust.  And he quit tabloid journalism after becoming a Born Again Christian, and still had nothing good to say about her!

[Still Not George]

Me and a friend once nearly got thrown out of a pub for telling people we thought Diana was an attention-seeking slag. Nearly. Turned out that although the (inevitably blonde) barmaid was thoroughly upset with us, pretty much everyone else agreed with us, including the bar manager.

Moral of the story? Mass hysteria only works because the sane allow the crazed to rule for fear of standing out.

[23 Daves]

That's the thing - I'm going through a list of people in my head who I know were genuinely distressed by Diana's death, and almost all of them were "troubled" generally anyway.  I don't mean that as an insult necessarily, although I do think it's odd.  If I were the kind of person whose mindset was such that I had to keep on reading self-help books to try and pull myself through, I wouldn't relate to a Royal (or ex-Royal) who could afford all the support they needed, and probably had the best psychiatrist in the world on their case. 

That's the most scary and upsetting thing about her death from my point of view, though - it really showed you how unhappy a large percentage of the population were, which I'm aware has been said before many, many times.

[Saucer51]

Talking of Monroe comparisons, just after the POW's death, I recall a slovenly female writer who kept tearfully mixing up Diana's name with that of Marilyn Monroe and in the end had clearly fused the two women together in her own bush-haired skull, presumably because her brain couldn't comprehend that fate could throw up not one but two 36 year old blondes dying before their time. Another tragedy but this was quite funny.

[chand]

On the subject of Diana, one thing I'm wondering is whether anyone remembers some of the professors and social commentators they interviewed on her death.  I seem to remember that they got some History professor on a news programme, and one of the interviewers asked him: "What contribution do you think Diana has made to history?" and he replied "Well, she was a superstar!  She was like Marilyn Monroe!  She was a slice of Hollywood Glamour!"  The newsreader looked perturbed and said "Surely she was more than that?" and he continued "Not really, no..." at which point the discussion was terminated.

He was proved correct that she was a poor man's Monroe too, as evidenced by the fact that Elton John couldn't even be arsed to write her a new song and just used an old one about Marilyn Monroe with some new words.

[Blue Jam]

Just watched The Catch video and news report- is there a job title more embarrassing that "Royal Correspondent"?

23 Daves, you do make some very good points don't you? That thing about how easy censorship can be is something worryingly few people understand. I once had a flatmate who swore blind that the BBC was 100% unbiased because "Auntie" is a public service broadcaster with our best interests at heart, committed to bringing us The Truth. She was a big fan of Tony Blair (I found out some time after I moved in) and refused to believe Greg Dyke was influencing them at all.

The thing about a large percentage of the population being unhappy's an interesting one- of course that doesn't just happen with people like Diana, though they just illustrate the phenomenon on a large scale. Some people have such empty, boring, lonely lives that they almost thrive on the events in other people's lives. Back to the whole Goodbye Fuckhead/friendship thing, a friend of mine found a good mate of hers stopped talking to her for two years, completely blanking her all the time, until my friend got pregnant and out of the blue she sent a nauseating "Congratulations! When's the baby due?" email. This woman was possibly quite lonely, having driven a good friend away, but now desperately needed a bit of news and something to celebrate, even if it was from a despised ex-friend.

An acquaintance of mine whom I never actually liked or considered a friend started being extra-nice to me when my mum died, telling everyone "be good to her, give her some space" etc, just so she could look caring in front of everyone and gain a few brownie points. As soon as no-one could overhear she became a complete bitch again. I suppose people sticking up for Diana against those beastly Royals were like that too, while in private they'd sniggered at photos of her cellulite and been disgusted at her dating a dirty foreigner.

Maybe that's why celebrity magazines are so popular- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, etc may have no talent but they have glamourous lives to aspire to, and get up to things and have lives to follow, like they're all characters in a living soap. I imagine a lot of the people who enjoy reading about them also enjoy watching soaps and following the lives of fictional characters. I'm not saying it's a bad thing necessarily- I think most of us enjoy fictional writing, sitcoms and the odd bit of crap telly, but I think people can get unhealthily obsessed and forget how to detach fantasy and reality. Examples would be obsessive fans stalking bands, women taking out loans for deliberately oversized breast implants and telling their surgeons they "just like the plastic look" so many celebrities go for, men expecting real sex to be like porn, and people grieving for celebrities they never met or even cared about while they were alive. All examples of people trying to make real life live up to fantasy. Being a fan of a band, caring about your appearance, watching porn and taking an interest in entertainment news are all fine as long as you know where to draw the line.

^{Does any of this make sense? Is it at all relevant?}

[SOTS]

Hey kids, want to listen to the pop sensation that is Bingo by Catch go here:

Catch-Bingo

The entire video is on YouTube as well, for all those folks that felt hurt everytime it cuts to the ITN news report on that clip.