Welcome to umra! (FAQ v.0.5)
Gordon Woods
**********************
* Welcome to umra! *
**********************
This informal FAQ relates to the usenet newsgroup uk.media.radio.archers
which in turn relates to the long running BBC radio serial "The Archers".
It is co-maintained by:
Eugenia Low (eugen...@st-johns.ox.ac.uk)
Paul Martin (paul....@nuffield.ox.ac.uk)
Gordon Woods (gordon...@st-johns.ox.ac.uk).
All contributions for future versions are very welcome and will be
acknowledged.
It will shortly be available in html form at
http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh0050/umra.html
http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh0054/umra.html
http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~jo95017/umra.html
| Compilers' notes
|
| This is not intended to be a definitive version, but is rather offered
| as an initial framework for discussion.
|
| We believe that it is better to point at other web resources rather
| than to produce an overlong document, so detailed life-histories of
| the main characters has not been included.
|
| EL, PM, GW Jan 1996, Oxford.
Contents:
1. Frequently Asked Questions
2. Who's Who on umra
3. Further resources
1. Frequently Asked Questions
------------------------------
1.1. What is "The Archers"?
"The Archers" is a fly-on-the-wall documentary ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H the
world's longest running radio serial, having been broadcast continuously
since 1951. Initially proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture, as a means
of educating urban Britons about country life, it has now taken on a near
religious significance for its listeners.
1.2. When is it broadcast?
7.05-7.20pm on any weekday, repeated the following weekday at
1.40-1.55pm. There is a slightly edited omnibus of the previous week's
evening broadcasts, at 10.15-11.15am (nearly) every Sunday.
1.3. Is it broadcast on the World Service?
No, much to the chagrin of its devoted followers, especially those
overseas. The reasons given by the BBC for the decision not to broadcast
it on the World Service range amongst: a) it would take up too much
air-time; b) it would not be worth the expense; and c) most of the
'natives' would not understand, let alone appreciate, it given i) they
don't speak much English, and ii) they have not experienced, and are not
ever likely to experience, the British life portrayed in the serial. Much
internet cabling has been worn by requests to the BBC to put The Archers
on the World Service, but to no avail. The address to write to is:
worldservi...@bbc.org.uk
1.4. What is the signature tune called?
"Barwick Green" - it comes from a suite by Sir Arthur Wood called "My
Native Heath", where all the movements are named after places in
Yorkshire. Yes, it was re-recorded when Radio 4 FM began to be broadcast
in stereo, and yes, Billy Connolly did suggest that it would make a
better National Anthem for the UK.
1.5. What was the `Doom Music'?
The "Doom Music" is a later portion of "Barwick Green" that used
to be used as the closing signature tune. Unfortunately, the Vanessa
Whitburns of this world feel that it is too melodramatic for such a
serious portrayal of English country life, and we are unlikely to hear it
again.
1.6. What is UMRA?
uk.media.radio.archers, or umra to our friends, is a newsgroup
loosely devoted to discussion of The Archers. However, like any good
conversation, it veers off-topic occasionally - something that is frowned
upon in most newsgroups, but only in extremis on umra. This is because
umra is not like other newsgroups - we like to think that we're one of the
friendliest in the country, where flaming is frowned on, and tolerance is
valued above most other virtues. We have yet to discover a relationship
developing out of umra, but we live in hope.
1.7. Who are the Archers Addicts?
The Archers Addicts are an official fan-club run by members of the
Archers cast. One would-be Addict has described it as a "money-making
ploy", but it seems to provide a lot of services to its members. See 3.2.1
for the address, or the BBC Web Page (3.1.1).
1.8. Who are the Archers Anarchists?
The Archers Anarchists claims to defend the "real listeners" to
The Archers, and campaigns for painful deaths for the sickliest
characters. It might be seen as an antidote to the Archers Addicts. See
3.1.3. and 3.2.2. for more details.
1.9. What is THE BOOK?
THE BOOK is "The Book of The Archers"; see section 3.3. It is
currently the most authoritative reference work.
1.10. Why is the BBC archers web page out of date?
Hmm.
1.11. Why are UMRA people paranoid about black satin sheets?
Many Archers plots appear to be adumbrated on umra. For example,
Nelson Gabriel's black satin sheets (as discovered by Mrs. Perkins and
Piggy) were mentioned on umra shortly before they reappeared on the
programme. Conspiracy theorists believe that BBC cuts have forced Radio
4 to cut down on researchers ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H scriptwriters so that they
are forced to glean ideas from umra. Sceptics claim that these are mere
coincidences. Huh. They'll learn the error of their ways.
1.12. What's the "rule of seven"?
Most episodes feature just seven characters, although occasionally
there are eight or even more. One side-effect of knowing this is that
storylines are spoilt: the mathematically adept listener *knows* that, if
David, Pat, Phil, Shula, Nigel, Kate and Usha have already appeared in an
episode, all of their partners will be unable to make it to any dinner
parties before the end of the episode. The reason for the Rule appears to
be that we listeners, poor stupid fools that we are, can only cope with
distinguishing between about seven different voices. (It is unlikely to be
for reasons of thrift since Archers episodes are recorded en bloc).
1.13. What was Mark Hebden doing when he died?
Mark Hebden, solicitor and goody-two-shoes, was driving home from
his office when he saw Caroline Bone lying in the middle of the road,
after being thrown from her horse while out riding with Debbie Aldridge.
Angelic to the end, he chose to avoid hitting Caroline and drove into a
tree... crash, tinkle, tinkle, theme tune. He died instantly. There is,
however, a controversy attached to this most tragic of events, and a
controversy which has filled much of the umra bandwidth since it began. It
seems that Mark was speaking on his mobile phone when he took up amateur
tree surgery... but to whom? Large sections of umra believed it was Shula
Hebden, with whom Mark had had an argument that morning. Others held that
he had finished speaking to Shula when the accident happened. No relief
from the incessant argument was in sight when, just before Christmas 1995,
Gordon Woods heard the whole thing replayed on Radio 4's middlebrow news
programme, PM (as part of an article about life after the Archers...
shurely no such thing exists?). Gordon has solemnly sworn that Mark had
finished talking to Shula, and was talking to someone else, when the
accident happened. So poor Shula, who is not an Archers listener, never
got to hear the tinkle tinkle clank that enriched the lives of so many of
us.
1.14. Isn't Norman Painting (Phil) an honorary fellow of an Oxbridge
College?
Yes, Norman Painting has been an honorary fellow of Christ Church,
Oxford for many years. He dines regularly at high table.
2. Who's Who on umra
---------------------
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of regular
contributors - additions very welcome.
Graham Allsop: Spends his Christmases in a remote cottage in Shropshire, I
think.
Tim Bentinck: Tim is better known to most Archers listeners as David
Archer. Currently the only Archer to post to umra, he has already
reassured us that Jack May is not indisposed, and that although
environmentally minded he is not a member of the Green Party.
tben...@cix.compulink.co.uk
David Boothroyd: Well-known to readers of politics newsgroups, David
finds little use for his encyclopaedic knowledge of election results on
umra.
da...@election.demon.co.uk, http://nyx10.cs.du.edu:8001/~dboothro/home.html
Jean Bradford: A member of the monstrous regiment of librarians that
make up a large proportion of umra, Jean was the first to mention the
Archers Anarchists on the group.
j.i.br...@bristol.ac.uk
John Clegg: John claims to be a "permanently not-quite-40" and manages a
GP practice in Bristol. More respectably, he has listened to The Archers
for as long as he can remember.
john....@ukonline.co.uk
Chris Cook says she lives in Nottingham, works as a computer consultant
("after too long spent as a programmer, though my first career was
bookselling" - is this Roger Travers-Macy, we ask ourselves?)and is the
mother of a teenage daughter. She has been an Archers listeners about 25
years, but as early as the 1960s heard The Archers on Forces broadcasting
as a child in Berlin - "but my mum told me it was a stupid programme".
Her hopes for 1996: "World Peace and that a Grundy scheme finally works".
cfr...@innotts.co.uk
Owen Dunn: Having recently delurked, Owen claims he is an undergraduate
arabist at Cambridge University. Isn't that what Guy Burgess was, too?
Oh, and he's admitted to playing Shipping Forecast karaoke - looking the
forecast up on the Met Office site (http://www.meto.govt.uk/)
and reading it along with the radio...
osd...@cam.ac.uk, http://myrddin.chu.cam.ac.uk/users/osd1000/
Robin Fairbairns: Robin is a research associate in the computing
laboratory at Cambridge University, and is a champion of "real" Radio 3
(as opposed to keg Radio 3, presumably). Despite once having being
compared to Dave Lee Travis on umra, and having produced a point-by-point
rebuttal, he remains one of the most regular contributors.
r...@cl.cam.ac.uk, http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rf/robin.html
Alison Galloway: Alison is one of the few umra contributors from North of
the border. She is a lecturer in consumer studies, and wonders why no-one
in Ambridge listens to The Archers.
a.gal...@news.qmced.ac.uk
http://www.qmced.ac.uk/ac/staff/acgall/acgall.html
JP Gilliver: JP (John) is a regular poster to umra from his Essex bunker.
He is an electronics engineer, originally from the frozen North, who also
seems to have something to do with packet radio. What that is, we leave up
to your imagination...
john.g...@gecm.com (work) or G6...@soft255.demon.co.uk
Frank and Barbara Haslam: The Archers appears to be a contentious
subject in the Haslam household - Barbara has written a short ditty to be
sung to the tune of The Archers:
I don't like The Archers much,
It's a load of rubbish.
Why can't someone take it off -
Oh, if only they would!
Dan and Doris and Mark and Polly
Were wise to go while they could.
I don't like The Archers much
'Cause it's no bloody good!!!
Frank, however, keeps the faith, and even refused to go down to meals on
their honeymoon until The Archers was over.
bar...@ourhome.demon.co.uk
Eugenia Low: Eugenia is a refugee from Singapore, doing a doctorate on
the history of 20th-Century Anglo-American political thought, and helping
to keep Morrells' (the Oxford brewery) in business. She and Paul Martin
are an "item"; she is not, however, a "poor little mite".
eugen...@st-johns.ox.ac.uk, http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh0054
Paul Martin: Paul may once have been called the "Cleverest Boy In
Britain" by someone who knows him well enough to know better, but he
remains easily confused by similar names (notoriously the United Reformed
Church in England and Wales, and the Unification Church, or Moonies).
This may be due to the large volumes of Morrells' Graduate he has
consumed over the recent years. He claims to be studying for an M.Phil
in politics at Nuffield College, Oxford.
paul....@nuffield.ox.ac.uk, http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~jo95017
Tim Reid: A WWW administrator at Downing College, Cambridge, Tim
provides the weekly plot summaries (see 3.1.2.).
tm...@thor.cam.ac.uk, http://www-jcr.dow.cam.ac.uk/~tmr13/
Brenda Selwyn: Describing herself as coming from (or being?) the part of
Bath the tourists don't see, Brenda is a recent convert to the cult,
having begun listening when she had her first child just over a year ago.
bre...@matson.demon.co.uk
David Shepherd: David was once rejected as a Lay Reader in the Church of
England. This is one of the biggest compliments the CofE can pay anyone. He
also tries to confuse us with his .signature quote.
d...@bristol.st.com
Gordon Woods: Gordon, a 4th year chemist at St. John's College, Oxford,
often claims that his life is enlivened only by liberal Morrells'
Graduate, liberal politics and liberal theology. If you believe that
you'll believe anything. Oh, and he is generally blamed for introducing
Paul Martin and Eugenia Low.
gordon...@st-johns.ox.ac.uk, http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh0050
3. Further resources
---------------------
3.1. Web pages
3.1.1. The official BBC Archers web site may be found at:
3.1.2. Tim Reid's weekly plot summaries may be found at:
http://www-jcr.dow.cam.ac.uk/~tmr13/archers.html
3.1.3. An Archers shrine (which gives details of the Archers Anarchists)
may be found at:
http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh0050/archers.html
3.2. Useful addresses
3.2.1. Archers Addicts
Archers Addicts
PO Box 1951
Moseley
Birmingham
B13 9DD
3.2.2. Archers Anarchists
Archers Anarchists
25 Albany Road
Old Windsor
Berks SL4 2QD
3.3. Bibliography
[shamelessly pinched from the BBC archers page]
3.3.1. Currently available
The Book of the Archers by Patricia Greene, Charles Collingwood and
Hedli Niklaus
(Michael Joseph, 1994)
Jennifer Aldridge's Archers Cookbook by Angela Piper
(David and Charles, 1994)
The Archers Addicts Official Map of Aldridge
(Old House Books, Sutton Mead, Moretonhamstead, Devon, TQ13 8PW, 1994)
Who's Who In Ambridge
(Send GBP 1.95 incl. post and packaging payable to 'BBC' to: Who's Who
in Ambridge, PO Box 534, Erdington, Birmingham)
Audio Cassettes from the BBC Radio Collection:
Vintage Archers; Vintage Archers 2; The Archers - The Wedding.
(BBC Enterprises, Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane, London, W12 0TT)
3.3.2. Out of print
The Archers Omnibus by Jock Gallacher (BBC Books, 1990)
The Archers Book of Farming and The Countryside by Anthony Parkin (BBC
Books, 1989)
The Archers Official Companion by William Smethurst (Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1987)
The Archers, The First Thirty Years by William Smethurst (Eyre
Methuen, 1980)
The Archers Quiz Book by Liz Rigby (BBC Books, 1988)
Forever Ambridge by Norman Painting (Michael Joseph, 1975)
The Ambridge Book of Country Cooking by William Smethurst (Eyre
Methuen)
The Archers Country Cookbook by Mollie Harris (Hutchison, 1977)
The Archers - A Slice of My Life by Godfrey Baseley (Sidgwick and
Jackson, 1971)
3.4. Contributors:
John Clegg, Chris Cook, Owen Dunn, JP Gilliver, Morrells' brewery.
Gordon Woods........................................sjoh0050@sable.ox.ac.uk
http://sable.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh0050 wo...@xserver.sjc.ox.ac.uk
St. John's College, Oxford, OX1 3JP. Tel. (01865) (2)77300 (Lodge)
Dyson Perrins Laboratory, Oxford, OX1 3QY. (01865) (2)75689 (Lab)
Michael Hopkins
: Sometime in the early 80's, in gaps between games of hide-the-sausage,
: Jennifer Aldridge and John Tregorran researched and published a book
: about the Ambridge landscape. This book, I believe, was actually
: published, though I've never seen a copy. If it exists I'd dearly love
: to get hold of one. Does anybody have any further information?
I believe it was called: "Ambridge: An English Village through the ages"
by Jeniffer Archer and John Tregorran.
I do believe that it was published but I too have never seen a copy but
would like one.
Vince
> Sometime in the early 80's, in gaps between games of hide-the-sausage,
> Jennifer Aldridge and John Tregorran researched and published a book
> about the Ambridge landscape. This book, I believe, was actually
> published, though I've never seen a copy. If it exists I'd dearly love
> to get hold of one. Does anybody have any further information?
>
>
>
>
>
" Ambridge - An English Village Through The Ages"
by Jennifer Aldridge and John Tregorran.
Published by Methuen in 1981 - ISBN 0 413 50170 1
Methuen, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Mine was three pounds - 50 pence in 1982 !
Review :-
Ten years ago, John Tregorran, a former university
lecturer, began to write the history of the people of Ambridge
- one of Borsetshire's most typical villages. Then in 1978,
farmer's wife Jennifer Aldridge and her friends decided to trace
the history of their parish through the landscape, by studying
the fields, hedgerows and wildlife if the area.
The result of both surveys are here combined, making
a lively, humorous and lovingly researched account of an English
village - a village of the Shires - through old documents and
photographs as well as twelve sketches of Ambridge today by
local artist Caroline Bone.
In this book the people of Ambridge write about their
village, the people who lived on and farmed the land before
them, and the changes that have befallen the landscape though
the centuries. It is the story of one small - but treasured - corner
of England.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caroline's sketches include The Bull, Brookfield, Grange Farm,
Entrance to Brookfield, Glebe Cottage, Landscape of the Am,
St. Stephens, Five-Acre Field (Brookfield), Leader's Wood,
Home Farm, and one somewhat curiously called " The Gospel
Oak in Winter"
Can these be Caroline's pre-nuptual bonking sites ?
Vince
--
Life is one long process of getting tired - Samuel Butler, 1902
Eugenia Low
David Spry <ds...@aida.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <Pine.OSF.3.91.96020...@sable.ox.ac.uk>
> sjoh...@sable.ox.ac.uk "Gordon Woods" writes:
>
>> 3.3.2. Out of print
>>
>> The Archers Omnibus by Jock Gallacher (BBC Books, 1990)
>>
>
>
>Sometime in the early 80's, in gaps between games of hide-the-sausage,
>Jennifer Aldridge and John Tregorran researched and published a book
>about the Ambridge landscape. This book, I believe, was actually
>published, though I've never seen a copy. If it exists I'd dearly love
>to get hold of one. Does anybody have any further information?
Perhaps secondhand bookshops might be the place to look.
Brenda Selwyn
>However, it may well be classed as
>a 'part of Bath the tourists don't see', so ...
I'm beginning to wish I'd never started this.
Brenda
And BTW, I promise to shut up about vicars now. I've had all my
questions answered anyway.
-
***************************************************************
Brenda Selwyn
East Twerton
Bath
England
bre...@matson.demon.co.uk
***************************************************************
Jim Leeder
Like the FAQ - a few comments which you may wish totally ignore<g>
Didn't notice a mention that The Archers is on Radio 4.
The BBC home page can be accessed directly by adding
http://..../radio/radio4/archers/index.html
The Archers can be heard on BBC Forces network in Cyprus - I
was rescued from an Archer-less holiday there a few years
ago by hearing familiar voices while scanning the radio waves.
Why do many Archers fans wake up an hour early on a Sunday in November?
- because on Rememberance Sunday the Omnibus is broadcast
early to allow the two-minute silence and service to be broadcast.
Why is one of the characters referred to as Joan/Julia in umra?
- Because it was revealed by her sister that Julia Pargeter's real
name was Joan.
Jim
--
Jim Leeder, London, UK
e-mail 10004...@compuserve.com
Alison Galloway
Ambridge" by Keith Mills published in 1975. In it, Doris and Dan
are about to celebrate their Golden Wedding, Polly and Sid are in
"Village Stores" and the relationship between Lilian and Ralph
Bellamy is heating up.
I would gladly give this book away (plus all my worldly wealth) to
anyone who can get the IT department at work to get me my internet
access back. I had to go out and buy a modem (old one wouldn't
work with Windows 95) just to access umra again - but you only get
the odd thread in Compuserve. Any doctors out there who can cure
my withdrawal symptoms? Or is this a touch of the Grundys' Cold
Turkey?
Alison Galloway
Not-Queen-Margaret-College-Edinburgh
Andy Seagroatt
>
What about The Archers of Ambridge by Brian Hayles. There were 2
in the series: Spring at Brookfield and Ambridge Summer both
published by Tandem Publishing Ltd. I have a copy of Spring at
Brookfield published in 1975 and it's a fictional account of the
earlier lives of some of the characters who, I guess, were in the
series at that time.
Pretty awful really but do they deserve a mention?
--
Andy Seagroatt, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
Glyn Pollington
>In article <Pine.OSF.3.91.96020...@sable.ox.ac.uk>
> sjoh...@sable.ox.ac.uk "Gordon Woods" writes:
>> since 1951. Initially proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture, as a means
>> of educating urban Britons about country life, it has now taken on a near
>> religious significance for its listeners.
>Hmmm, I always understood that it was proposed by the Min of Ag as a
>means of painlessly disseminating agricultural information and advice to
>a notoriously conservative farming community.
same here.....
--
Glyn Pollington gly...@tcp.co.uk
http://www.tcp.co.uk/~glypol
Glyn Pollington
>(I didn't know that; but BC is wiser than at first appears!) I think the
>re-recording was more recent than stereo; it might have been about the
>time when R4 switched to lazily leaving the stereo indicator on all the
>time, rather than only switching it on when the prog. was _actually_ in
>stereo, as they originally did (much more sensible IMO). I think the re-
>recording was in the 1990s, or at worst 1980s, whereas they've had
>stereo since at least the 70s on 4.
I think it had less to do with laziness or any other rubbish that Mr
Dunkley was fed at the time and more to do with the introduction of
RDS. Radio Data System data is carried on a sub-harmonic (or
something) of the stereo beacon, and is what allows us company car
drivers to stay in tune when driving all over the country.
Curious aside: Why is it traffic information only comes on at the most
inoportune moments?
Trevor Learoyd
>If anyone actually reads this can you let me know. Since we were tranfered
>to our "bigger, better" newsreader I have the horrible impression that all
>my postings are going into some big black electronic newshole.
Made it here OK
--
Trevor Learoyd
Red Shift, Bradford
Steve Riddle
>3.3.2. Out of print
>
>
> Jackson, 1971)
>
I've just found a copy of this one in a second hand bookshop - looks
interesting. It was a choice between this one and the
Aldridge/Treggoran thing; I decided on closer inspection that
'crashingly dull (P.Martin)' was a fair summary of the latter so
Baseley it was. Once I've read it (I actually went into the shop for a
valentine's day present but I'm not sure this will be appreciated as
one) I might get round to summarising for the faq, if anyone's
interested.
Steve
Brenda Selwyn
>1.5. What was the `Doom Music'?
> The "Doom Music" is a later portion of "Barwick Green" that used
>to be used as the closing signature tune. Unfortunately, the Vanessa
>Whitburns of this world feel that it is too melodramatic for such a
>serious portrayal of English country life, and we are unlikely to hear it
>again.
After this, surely the next question should be"Who is Vanessa
Whitburn"? Perhaps Anthony Parkin and the recently-identified-on-umra
adviser on church matters should also get a mention.
Brenda