Real history: The First of the Few on film

I don’t believe it’s widely known that the wartime [propaganda] film ‘The First Of The Few’ contained real action footage and shots of real RAF crew.

My uncle, Marcus Beatty, was among them and features with a speaking part near the beginning of the film, in a scene where his flight returns from a mission and discusses (possibly scripted – not sure) their kills.

By Matilda Battersby | Notebook | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 10:36 am

Real history: The Battle of Britain – view from a Luftwaffe air gunner

After attacking two Me 109’s without any visible damage, I dived down onto bombers, selecting one He 111 on a SE course. Adopted full beam, attacked slightly in front from 1000 feet with 2 second burst, and saw port engine stop and E/A drop out of formation. Followed this E/A down doing four more attacks with short bursts, all on the beam and saw second engine stop and port engine in flames. This E/A landed on the beach at West Wittering.

By Matilda Battersby | Notebook | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 9:32 am

Was a Mosquito trailed by a flying saucer?

Oliver Kamm took advantage of my absence to try to reclaim the series of Questions to Which the Answer is No, the idea for which I copied from him in the first place, with this classic from my own newspaper, The Independent: “Did Churchill and Eisenhower cover up UFO encounter?”
I had seen only the version [...]

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 12 August 2010 at 9:23 am

Capello’s new problem: How to fit Rooney into 4-2-3-1?

Should Rooney play on the wing? It worked for David Villa and Thomas Muller

By Glenn Moore | Sport | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 11:57 pm

Harold Wilson’s peace pipe hits South America

Harold Wilson’s skill in fostering the United Kingdom’s early involvement in the European Community as well as his initial attempts to mediate the Vietnam War would have made him a handy man to have around South America at the moment.
One lasting legacy Wilson left us is the immortal words, “a week is a long time [...]

By Tim Sturtridge | The Foreign Desk | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 11:13 pm

Pro-Ana Pretzels – What were the advertisers thinking?

I detest the term ‘Pro-ana’, but we all know what it means by now and once again it has caught my attention – this time in an advertisement for Pretzels of all things.
The story so far… the advert below was taken off the streets after offending the public enough to cause outrage and a torrent [...]

By Ilona Burton | Notebook | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 9:12 pm

Twitter: You build them up, and you knock them down

We’ve known about Twitter’s homebrewed URL shortener T.co for a while now. But with today’s leak of documents about the imminent release of their own retweet button, as reported by Mashable, it’s clear that the company which built itself on third-party development is now preparing to launch a series of in-house competitors. It’s fair to [...]

By Jack Riley | Notebook | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 6:06 pm

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mrs Brown”

We’ve got some serious catching up to do.
But first.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Mrs Brown, but the last rites are just prayers and a cracker. You’re thinking of the Make a Wish Foundation.”
From Eoin Butler via Larry Ryan.

By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 4:51 pm

Whitehaven’s photo finish

Whitehaven received much bad publicity at the time of the shootings on June 2 so to counter that, a competition has been held to photograph the true spirit of Whitehaven.
Brooks, a TV and electrical shop that sits opposite the taxi rank where Darren Rewcastle was shot, put up a 42in Panasonic TV as first prize [...]

By Alan Cleaver | Arts, Notebook | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 4:31 pm

Tony’s progress

Blair’s abuse of the prestige of his office to fill his pockets is not a sideshow to the tragedy of New Labour but the very heart of it

By C J Schuler | Arts, Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 11 August 2010 at 4:15 pm