0bvious things you’ve only just realised (2019 edition)

[hamfist]

Fucking hell. I just read that Helium was first discovered in the Sun, and not on earth. And then it only just dawned on me that it's named after Helios.

[Paul Calf]

Is it also Simon Jones from Hitchhiker's Guide then, because he (especially now old) looks the same

Nooooo! The voice of The Guide can't look like he's about to call you a flaming great galah.

You've gone too far this time.

[Cerys]

That's Peter Jones, you twit.  Simon was Arthur.

[Replies From View]

Fucking hell. I just read that Helium was first discovered in the Sun, and not on earth. And then it only just dawned on me that it's named after Helios.

Yeah they have loads of balloons in the sun gift shop; it's awesome.

[buttgammon]

Not quite so mindblowing but I've just discovered that the Mr Show sketch where David Cross is led in trouble by a red balloon is based on a French children's film from the 1950s.

[Ambient Sheep]

Haven't seen the sketch but thank you for the happy memory of the film; the BBC used to show it regularly, especially around Christmas.

Or not.  According to BBC Genome:

Sun 29/10/1961 16:40 BBC TV
Tue 26/12/1961 11:22 BBC TV
The 18/12/1962 17:05 BBC TV
Fri 26/12/1969 12:50 BBC2
Wed 27/08/1975 18:20 BBC1
Thu 02/01/1992 12:00 BBC2

I was born in 1964 and left home in 1990.  I would have sworn I'd seen this film more than twice as a child... it seemed as much a fixture of the Christmas TV schedules as Disney Time.  But there you go.  Memory, eh?

Also, obvious thing I only just realised: it was made in colour (we didn't get a colour set until 1979).

[Danger Man]

I think ITV might have used a shorter version on Picture Box which might explain why you think you saw it many times.

[Ambient Sheep]

Interesting and thank you.  I don't remember seeing it on that but it's a distinct possibility.

According to Genome there was also an edition of BBC children's programme Merry-Go-Round that featured a "Making of" about it, that was shown a few times in the 70s, but I have no memory of that either.

I did also wonder if perhaps it had switched to Channel 4 after 1982, but I was 17 by then and I specifically remember this as a real childhood thing, under 11, along with crumpets and open fireplaces etc.

But just twice, once aged 5, and once aged 10 in the middle of summer.

Cuh, nostalgia.


P.S. I'm now three years older than my Dad was when I saw it for the first time.  Not sure that's relevant to anything, just wanted to say it.

[Replies From View]

The director of the new Cats film is not Tobe Hooper.

[NoSleep]

Tobe Hooper retired from filmmaking after he died.

[Replies From View]

Tobe Hooper retired from filmmaking after he died.

I didn't know he had died, see.

[Danger Man]

Interesting and thank you.  I don't remember seeing it on that but it's a distinct possibility.

https://www.tvcream.co.uk/telly/tv-a-z/n-z/p-is-for/picture-box/

ON ITV
(Granada)
FROM 1966
TO 1990

In 1969, the friendly-but-dull ALAN ROTHWELL (catchphrase: "Hello!") took over, kicking off with hardy perennial THE RED BALLOON, and remained in the driving seat for the duration.

[Ambient Sheep]

Thanks. :-)

I wasn't arguing that it hadn't happened (I 100% believed you the first time round), I was just saying that "*I* don't *remember* seeing it on that but it's a distinct possibility [that I did so]".

Although you have to bear in mind that ITV was largely frowned on in our house...

[Danger Man]

Although you have to bear in mind that ITV was largely frowned on in our house...

I guessed that. Though you were probably allowed to watch Survival. And World at War.

[Cerys]

Are you sure you didn't see that film ninety-nine times, Sheepy?

[studpuppet]

My German partner's aunts AND uncles all had Maria as their second name as they were good Catholics. It's just struck me that Spanish men called Jose-Maria are literally 'Joseph-Mary'.

Happy Christmas.

[olliebean]

The song "Jingle Bells" is not about Santa's sleigh. In fact it's not even really a Christmas song.

[touchingcloth]

Being held back a grade until you're an old man isn't a thing.

[Bennett Brauer]

My German partner's aunts AND uncles all had Maria as their second name as they were good Catholics. It's just struck me that Spanish men called Jose-Maria are literally 'Joseph-Mary'.

There are plenty of Catholic males in Ireland and the UK with Mary as a middle name. (Gay Byrne was one.) I imagine you'd be praying to get into a Catholic secondary school.

[Icehaven]

The song "Jingle Bells" is not about Santa's sleigh. In fact it's not even really a Christmas song.

See also "Let It Snow", "Frosty The Snowman", "Walking In A Winter Wonderland" and probably several other snow related songs which pointedly don't mention any particular festival or holiday.

[Replies From View]

Yeah but surely as a kid during 'Jingle Bells' you're picturing Santa on his sleigh hurtling around delivering presents because you're all gee-d up in anticipation of Christmas Eve.  Your brain skips words like "horse" and "ordinary wintery scene like on a bland Christmas card" because you're carried away by adrenaline and the unrelenting beat and your ten-year-old peers deafening you.  And Mrs Selman standing at the side, staring at you to make sure you never stop singing, ever.

Nobody born in the 20th Century can have been towed around in a one-horse open sleigh with jingle bells on it, so it's far away from being a natural association to that song.


The song 'Jingle Bell Rock' brings it all a bit closer to home by announcing "cock along, Jingle Horse, don't be a cunt" and then making more explicit references to Christmas throughout.

[NoSleep]

Your brain skips words like:

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side
The horse was lean and lank
Misfortune seemed his lot
We got into a drifted bank
And then we got upsot

because you're too young to understand.

[Cerys]

The Christmas carol Silent Night is essentially the sea shanty Blow the Man Down.

[Johnboy]

Stewart Copeland is a massive bellend

I always used to give him the benefit of the doubt cos he was the underdog, but oh my, what a twat

no wonder Sting broke up the Police

[Replies From View]

The Christmas carol Silent Night is essentially the sea shanty Blow the Man Down.

I can't get the 'balls hang low' lyrics to fit Silent Night at all.  What am I doing wrong?

[touchingcloth]

That the thing you see on telly where a woman gives birth and then the baby is taken away and installed in a room of babies can't be a real thing.

[bgmnts]

See also "Let It Snow", "Frosty The Snowman", "Walking In A Winter Wonderland" and probably several other snow related songs which pointedly don't mention any particular festival or holiday.

Sleigh bells ring.

[Cerys]

Sleigh bells aren't necessarily just a Christmas thing.

[Dex Sawash]

It's 'slay Bell's ring' and Bell loves it the dirty old bollocks

[Replies From View]

That the thing you see on telly where a woman gives birth and then the baby is taken away and installed in a room of babies can't be a real thing.

You're mixing up babies and baubles?