Bunker on the A34?
Alec Muffett
Here's one for the conspiracy theorists, or the just curious:
If you drive north up the A34 from Newbury towards Didcot, at one
point, just as you go over the crest of a hill, you go under a low
bridge which appears to be an access road for a bunker on the RHS of
the road, across the other carriageway.
The bunker is set into a large, grass-covered mound, with white doors,
and seems otherwise to be in a nicely isolated part of the countryside.
I've not noticed any signs as I drive past, although I suspect that
it's something to do with either Rutherford Labs, or Harwell, both of
which are not far away - a few miles, perhaps.
Does anyone know what this is?
- alec
ps: serious suggestions preferred - I've already considered most of
the "Weekend home for the Wombles"-type theories. 8-)
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Ian G Batten
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In article <EC8CA...@cee.hw.ac.uk>, Rod Begbie <R.A.B...@hw.ac.uk> wrote:
> I caught the Teletubbies for the first time this morning (exams are over!
> no more until next May) and cannot see what all the fuss is about.
It's pretty top that the opening and closing credits are by Toyah
Wilcox, after Danielle Dax (ex of The Lemon Kittens) won the Amateur
Decorator of the Year thingie on Home Front. What next: Hazy Fantazy do
the Six O'Clock News? ``William Hague is Big Leggy''? It's a real
post-plastic-punk revival...
> Then the "educational" bit, where we learnt that if you start with four
> Teletubbies, then one runs away, you are left with three TTs, etc.
The one with three ships sailing around that's been shown a few times is
(a) rather beautiful and (b) quite a good piece of computer animation.
And the parade of animals last week was well done as well. There's some
real care going into it.
ian
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Nigel 'Peter Pan' Beedham
On Mon, 23 Jun 1997, Rod Begbie wrote:
> I caught the Teletubbies for the first time this morning (exams are over!
> no more until next May) and cannot see what all the fuss is about.
. . . middle bit . . .
> I wish it had been on when I was a toddler. Much better than Play School
> (No Fred Harris for one thing).
Hands oft Play School . . .
For it's time it was great - far better than all these cartoons which kids
have to watch nowadays.
On the other hand the BBC kids program 'Fully Booked' is pretty good - but
then I could be biased as it is presented by the lovely Sarah Vandenburgh!
Take a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/fb/sarah.htm
ciao
Nigel Beedham E-Mail n.be...@unl.ac.uk
HomePage URL http://www.unl.ac.uk/~nigel
University of North London - Great Britain
> "If you don't know where you're going, <
> any road will take you there." Lewis Carroll <
Alec Muffett
Ant...@dircon.co.uk-antispam (Anthony) writes:
>> If you drive north up the A34 from Newbury towards Didcot, at one
>> point, just as you go over the crest of a hill, you go under a low
>> bridge which appears to be an access road for a bunker on the RHS of
>> the road, across the other carriageway.
>>
>> The bunker is set into a large, grass-covered mound, with white doors,
>> and seems otherwise to be in a nicely isolated part of the countryside.
...
>> Does anyone know what this is?
>
> How big is it and can you give an 8 digit grid reference please
Alas I don't have O/S maps of the area, but I measured it as precisely
9.2mi north along the A34 as measured from the junction with the M4,
and 6.6mi south as measured from the junction with the A415.
...and on second look, it is *BIG* - bigger than I thought I
remembered. About the size of a small warehouse, perhaps. Sort of
tihng you might expect to find on an industrial estate.
It's slightly hidden by trees, which makes it hard to see when
travelling southbound.
- alec
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Rod Begbie
In article <Pine.PMDF.3.95.97062...@tara.unl.ac.uk> Nigel 'Peter Pan' Beedham <hxazb...@tara.unl.ac.uk> writes:
>On Mon, 23 Jun 1997, Rod Begbie wrote:
>> I wish it had been on when I was a toddler. Much better than Play School
>> (No Fred Harris for one thing).
>
>Hands oft Play School . . .
Sorry, I'm not really against Play School. Just Fred Harris. I hated
him, because every time a TV show did something vaguely to do with
computers, he'd pop up with his BBC sodding Micro. "Right, we're going to
do a piece on computers this week. Shall we show the latest hot game
releases on the Spectrum and C64. Nah, bollocks to that. Let's get Fred
Harris on talking about word processing on a BBC Micro."
Rod.
--
Rod Begbie @ http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~ceerab/index.shtml |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Dentocram: n. The foolish attempt to achieve a year's worth of
| brushing & flossing and hour before your dental appointment
K. Quinn
Nigel 'Peter Pan' Beedham <hxazb...@tara.unl.ac.uk> wrote:
>Hands oft Play School . . .
>
>For it's time it was great - far better than all these cartoons which kids
>have to watch nowadays.
Except for the very scary 'Hanbel', an uglier doll I have never seen. She
did bear an uncanny resemblance to princess Margaret.
>On the other hand the BBC kids program 'Fully Booked' is pretty good - but
>then I could be biased as it is presented by the lovely Sarah Vandenburgh!
Bizarre - I can't stand this programme because of a) the crap Scottish cow,
and b) the unprofessional, fumbling, annoying female presenter who played
the tart who caught chlamydia in 'neighbours'. Still, at least they haven't
got Otis the aardvark as well.
--
*********************************
"So here we are on the day of the Grand national, and
we're talking to Bob Cancer..errr..Champion.."
-Des Lynam, 1995
ph...@leeds.ac.uk
Steve Brewster
K. Quinn (PH...@gazuntai.leeds.ac.uk) wrote:
: Nigel 'Peter Pan' Beedham <hxazb...@tara.unl.ac.uk> wrote:
:
: >Hands oft Play School . . .
: >
: >For it's time it was great - far better than all these cartoons which kids
: >have to watch nowadays.
:
: Except for the very scary 'Hanbel', an uglier doll I have never seen. She
: did bear an uncanny resemblance to princess Margaret.
Hamble, I think. Yes, a right miserable cow.
The arched window was my favourite one.
--
It's either real or it's a dream; there's nothing that is inbetween.
http://zeus.bris.ac.uk/~masjb
Rod Begbie
In article <5oo8bh$8b0...@leeds.ac.uk> PH...@gazuntai.leeds.ac.uk (K. Quinn) writes:
>Nigel 'Peter Pan' Beedham <hxazb...@tara.unl.ac.uk> wrote:
>>then I could be biased as it is presented by the lovely Sarah Vandenburgh!
>
>Bizarre - I can't stand this programme because of a) the crap Scottish cow,
>and b) the unprofessional, fumbling, annoying female presenter who played
>the tart who caught chlamydia in 'neighbours'.
You missed out:
c) The unfunny "comedian" bloke with his hilarious characters "Les Vegas"
and the European VJ (a piss-take of MTV circa 1990). He's only there to
make Trev & Simon look funny.
d) The fact that it's entirely pre-recorded, yet still under-rehearsed.
e) That the "celebrity guests" are so obscure that they have to show clips
from last years series to say "hey look! we used to get famous people on
too"
IMO, of course.
>Still, at least they haven't
>got Otis the aardvark as well.
Bring back Edd the Duck!
Rod.
--
Rod Begbie @ http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~ceerab/index.shtml |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Dietribe: n. All the 'daily specials' you allow a waiter to reel off
| even though you know what you want
Iain L M Hotchkies
Steve Brewster typed:
> Steve 'MODE 6 , VDU 19,0,4,0,0,0' B.
Hey, that still works on my machine.
Gives me a nice chunky screen mode with
white text on a stripey blue background.
K3wl.
Dom
R.A.B...@hw.ac.uk (Rod Begbie) goes into detail about how and
why a particular TV programme is so bad...
If it's so bad, what are you doing spending so much time becoming
familiar with its deficiencies?
--
Dom. +++ Usenet: a foul and pestilent congregation of posters. +++
Paul Squires
On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Nigel Beedham wrote:
> > always ended with a story about the king who couldn't count. Good old
> > Central, they made some truly bizarre schools programmes!
>
> Wasn't the maths programme hosted by that guy Johnnie Ball?
No, that was Johnny Ball Reveals All and its siblings, which was on
Childrens ITV. I'm referring to a progamme that was shown on, as it was
then called, Independent Television For Schools And Colleges - with that
horrible bright blue countdown timer and digital-style font.
> Just to set the record straight - the BBC micro was years ahead of it's
> time - so there!
What time was that, then? ;)
Paul
"An asthma sufferer, like a nestegg Guevara"
--
Paul Squires http://www.unl.ac.uk/sofia/paul/
University of North London * SOFIA - Film Studies on the Web!
http://www.unl.ac.uk/sofia/
Paul Squires
On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Rod Begbie wrote:
> Sorry, I'm not really against Play School. Just Fred Harris. I hated
> him, because every time a TV show did something vaguely to do with
> computers, he'd pop up with his BBC sodding Micro.
Presumably because the BBC wanted to push their sponsored product. Micro
Live, wasn't it, with Lesley Judd?
> "Right, we're going to do a piece on computers this week. Shall we
> show the latest hot game releases on the Spectrum and C64. Nah,
> bollocks to that. Let's get Fred Harris on talking about word
> processing on a BBC Micro."
... But he also voiced an odd Central TV primary maths programme, which
always ended with a story about the king who couldn't count. Good old
Central, they made some truly bizarre schools programmes!
Paul
Paul Squires
On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Rod Begbie wrote:
> >Bizarre - I can't stand this programme because of a) the crap Scottish cow,
I don't recall Lynne Faulds Wood presenting it.
> >and b) the unprofessional, fumbling, annoying female presenter who played
> >the tart who caught chlamydia in 'neighbours'.
Mmm. Didn't she play Melissa?
> c) The unfunny "comedian" bloke with his hilarious characters "Les Vegas"
> and the European VJ (a piss-take of MTV circa 1990). He's only there to
> make Trev & Simon look funny.
I think that's actually quite funny. The Little Les sketches and sound
effect buttons, as well as the whole concept, is wasted on children
(rather like Hooch).
> IMO, of course.
Naturellement.
> Bring back Edd the Duck!
On a plate.
Paul
Nigel Beedham
Previously I wrote:
>
> >On the other hand the BBC kids program 'Fully Booked' is pretty good - but
> >then I could be biased as it is presented by the lovely Sarah Vandenburgh!
On 24 Jun 1997, K. Quinn wrote:
>
> Bizarre - I can't stand this programme because of a) the crap Scottish cow,
> and b) the unprofessional, fumbling, annoying female presenter who played
> the tart who caught chlamydia in 'neighbours'. Still, at least they haven't
> got Otis the aardvark as well.
OK I will say this once and once only !!!
Hands off Sarah she is lovely.
Jason Riddell
> Alas I don't have O/S maps of the area, but I measured it as precisely
> 9.2mi north along the A34 as measured from the junction with the M4,
> and 6.6mi south as measured from the junction with the A415.
>
> ...and on second look, it is *BIG* - bigger than I thought I
> remembered. About the size of a small warehouse, perhaps. Sort of
> tihng you might expect to find on an industrial estate.
>
> It's slightly hidden by trees, which makes it hard to see when
> travelling southbound.
>
> - alec
Might be the power station mentioned in a previous article.
Jason.
Alec Muffett
Jason Riddell <kry...@dircon.co.uk> writes:
> Might be the power station mentioned in a previous article.
Note for the unitiated: although the poster was making a joke, for
clarification, the bunker referred to is not Didcot power station.
It's quite easy to tell the difference:
Didcot power station is a large collection of buildings at the bottom
of the hill which steam a lot and which look the epitome of
"functional over aesthetic design".
The bunker is a large building in a truncated-pyramid shape (Aliens in
Oxfordshire? Pyramids of the ancients?), at the top of the hill
overlooking Didcot power station, covered almost entirely in turf.
K. Quinn
d...@i-cubed.co.uk-no-spam (Dom) wrote:
>R.A.B...@hw.ac.uk (Rod Begbie) goes into detail about how and
>why a particular TV programme is so bad...
>
>If it's so bad, what are you doing spending so much time becoming
>familiar with its deficiencies?
It's probably accidental, or maybe some kind of fatal attraction. I think
Sunday morning viewing is somewhat limited, so it's either morning worship,
see hear (Which is usually very good, incidently), or fully booked.
Perhaps it's because you only have to watch the programme once or twice to
become very familiar with the annoying presenters and lack of
professionalism. Now that Jodi woman, who the beeb lost to channel 5, she
was very good in the same slot.
Dave Budd
Alec Muffett wrote:
>
> The bunker is a large building in a truncated-pyramid shape (Aliens in
> Oxfordshire? Pyramids of the ancients?), at the top of the hill
> overlooking Didcot power station, covered almost entirely in turf.
Well when I were a lad there were loads of buildings around like that,
only not so big, and iirc they were mostly military and rumoured to be
arms caches. But there are lots of things you might want to put in a
bunker nowadays.
--
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Rod Begbie
In article <dom.2305...@i-cubed.co.uk-no-spam>, d...@i-cubed.co.uk-no-spam (Dom) said:
>R.A.B...@hw.ac.uk (Rod Begbie) goes into detail about how and
>why a particular TV programme is so bad...
>
>If it's so bad, what are you doing spending so much time becoming
>familiar with its deficiencies?
Huh? I said I liked it.
Rod.
--
Rod Begbie @ http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~ceerab/index.shtml |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Firssue: n. The lead tissue. The one that gets all the other going
Rod Begbie
In article <Pine.PMDF.3.95.97062...@tara.unl.ac.uk>, Nigel Beedham <hxazb...@tara.unl.ac.uk> said:
>
>Rod Begbie wrote:
>> > "Right, we're going to do a piece on computers this week. Shall we
>> > show the latest hot game releases on the Spectrum and C64. Nah,
>> > bollocks to that. Let's get Fred Harris on talking about word
>> > processing on a BBC Micro."
>
>> ... But he (Fred Harris) also voiced an odd Central TV primary maths
>> programme, which
>> always ended with a story about the king who couldn't count. Good old
>> Central, they made some truly bizarre schools programmes!
>
Fred Harris definitely did the show that Paul's talking about - there was
also a cartoon featuring a wizard. The software that schools could get
was pretty smart too.
>Just to set the record straight - the BBC micro was years ahead of it's
>time - so there!
Yeah, they were pretty good. (Especially the rude version of Frak!) It's
just that I was into rubber keys at the time.
Rod. (who's just off to try and get the BBC B ROM images so he can get the
Beeb emulator up and running)
--
Rod Begbie @ http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~ceerab/index.shtml |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Halaska: n. The boxed area on a US map where the 49th and 50th states
| are located
Paul Squires
On Wed, 25 Jun 1997, Dom wrote:
> I'm sorry, my Usenet identity got abducted by aliens and taken
> to a large bunker just off the A34. But it's been returned to
> me intact. Everything's okay now. The only annoying thing is,
> they told me how to mailbomb Erosnet off the face of the planet
> and I've forgotten.
No, no. You've got it completely wrong. Erosnet were just tying
mannequins to balloons... ;)
Matthew Bassett
In article <m3205ri...@crypto.dircon.co.uk> Alec Muffett <al...@crypto.dircon.co.uk%antispam> writes:
> Jason Riddell <kry...@dircon.co.uk> writes:
>
> > Might be the power station mentioned in a previous article.
>
> Note for the unitiated: although the poster was making a joke, for
> clarification, the bunker referred to is not Didcot power station.
> It's quite easy to tell the difference:
>
> Didcot power station is a large collection of buildings at the bottom
> of the hill which steam a lot and which look the epitome of
> "functional over aesthetic design".
>
> The bunker is a large building in a truncated-pyramid shape (Aliens in
> Oxfordshire? Pyramids of the ancients?), at the top of the hill
> overlooking Didcot power station, covered almost entirely in turf.
You are not perchance thinking of a bunker to the left of the A34 as
you travel northwards past the Chilton/Harwel exit of the A34? One
just in front of what appear to be two giant dustbins (two
obscolete(sp?) Magnox reactors called something like Bluto and Pluto
in case they need to be told apart in an emergency if I remember
correctly)? If this is the case then you are refering to the Isis
facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory: currently the worlds
largest neutron source, unless I am very much mistaken.
Although all this talk of hills has me a little confused. There are
no hills to speak of in Oxfordshir. There's a couple of pimples (The
Wootenham Clumps or something), and a few rumples in the table cloth
(the Ridgeway), but nothing that could be dignified with the title
hill.
Sorry... perhaps I should have paid a little attention to some
earlier posts.
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Matthew Bassett email: fe...@te.rl.ac.uk
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK.
Paul Squires
On Wed, 25 Jun 1997, K. Quinn wrote:
> It's probably accidental, or maybe some kind of fatal attraction. I think
> Sunday morning viewing is somewhat limited, so it's either morning worship,
> see hear (Which is usually very good, incidently), or fully booked.
> Perhaps it's because you only have to watch the programme once or twice to
> become very familiar with the annoying presenters and lack of
> professionalism. Now that Jodi woman, who the beeb lost to channel 5, she
> was very good in the same slot.
That's also a top programme - I think you're referring to 'The Mag' with
Josie D'arby (IIRC). There's some top quality make-up tips (always handy
when you're running out of No.7 mascara), a teenage band doing Oasis
covers, and a quite excellent spot called 'Eco Warriors' with some
camoflaged-up tart telling kids to stop using aerosols, etc. No, I
actually like it. It's about 3 hrs long too, as is the following
programme, the Family Affairs Omnibus which is dead cool for some
post-club tea-and-sarnie action.
David Roberts
Rod Begbie wrote:
> Rod. (who's just off to try and get the BBC B ROM images so he can get the
> Beeb emulator up and running)
If anyone's interested, I have a digital camera designed to
plug into a BBC micro - cutting edge or what?
David
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***************================****************
Right that's enough junk mail.
If you really want to e-mail me,
remove the y from my address
Mike Warren.
ma...@dino.te.rl.ac.uk (Matthew Bassett) wrote:
>
>Although all this talk of hills has me a little confused. There are
>no hills to speak of in Oxfordshir. There's a couple of pimples (The
>Wootenham Clumps or something), and a few rumples in the table cloth
>(the Ridgeway), but nothing that could be dignified with the title
>hill.
>
>Sorry... perhaps I should have paid a little attention to some
>earlier posts.
>
>--
>_______________________________________________________________________
>
>Matthew Bassett email: fe...@te.rl.ac.uk
>Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK.
>
Ever been to Chipping Norton Matthew?;).
(I suppose it depends on what you call a hill.)
Mike W.
Steve Brewster
Richard Turner (f...@foo.com) wrote:
: Paul Squires wrote ...
: > No, that was Johnny Ball Reveals All and its siblings, which was on
: > Childrens ITV. I'm referring to a progamme that was shown on, as it was
: > then called, Independent Television For Schools And Colleges - with that
: > horrible bright blue countdown timer and digital-style font.
: There was a Johnny Ball maths programme shown in the after school slot on
: the BBC in the days of my youth which was excellent and it's title
: resembled "Think of a Number".
:
: There was a second series (but wasn't the title similar but different?).
"Think Again" (and I think there was another one called "Think
Backwards"). Top-class stuff.
Simon Gray
In article <Pine.GSO.3.93.970625122434.16891A-100000@jamshyd>
p...@soc.unl.ac.uk "Paul Squires" writes:
~ covers, and a quite excellent spot called 'Eco Warriors' with some
Is this some semiotician's conspiracy to r00l the w0rld, then ?
--
I thought I was building a castle, when really I was digging a pit...
http://www.mahayana.demon.co.uk/ <*>
Simon Gray
In article <01bc8195$f0316350$0ca3ca0a@cookies>
f...@foo.com "Richard Turner" writes:
~ There was a Johnny Ball maths programme shown in the after school slot on
~ the BBC in the days of my youth which was excellent and it's title
~ resembled "Think of a Number".
It was information gleaned from that programme (the equation for determining
the circumference of a circle, if you're interested) which got me promoted
from the divvy maths set in which I was placed by default when I changed
primary schools to the top maths set.
Johnny Ball is obviously responsible for my entire career development
since. Perhaps I should consider sueing him...
lou_lou_...@hotmail.com
I realise your query regarding the mystery bunker near Didcot on the a34 was posted back in 1997, but I wonder if you ever found out what it was? My partner and I often travel that way and have often wondered what it is. Having searched on google today we discovered your thread.
I would love to hear your findings!
Louise
themu...@gmail.com
Did anyone ever find out what it is?
FYI it's coords are 51.581387, -1.287342
Fevric J. Glandules
> I was also wondering about this place. And now they are in the middle of building a second one.
>
> Did anyone ever find out what it is?
Water storage?
</>
THE COLONEL
news:a7f9c085-2fc2-4aea...@googlegroups.com...
THE COLONEL
wrath of the Nazi war machine.
geoffd...@gmail.com
> http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/ccm/support/Main.jsp?MODULE=ApplicationDetails&REF=P13/S0153/FUL
>
Selah
Thats the one, you da man !!!.