Prince George of Cambridge

Yesterday while I was blogging about Alan Partridge, it was announced that the new Royal Baby was to be called George Alexander Louis. They are all lovely names but I have to say that I shall always associate the name George with the rather dopey hippo from the children's series 'Rainbow'. The programme had as its main characters three strange puppets, 'George, Zippy and Bungle'. George was the most likeable of the three; as I recall a pale pink, mild mannered hippo. I have no idea what creature Zippy was meant to be, but he was loud mouthed and opinionated, and Bungle, a huge bear would definitely have had his name on some teddy blacklist believe me.
So, what other famous Georges does the new little prince share his name with? Well, there is George Osborne the chancellor, an arrogant, privileged man who has zero idea how much misery he is inflicting on most of the country; or if he does realise, he doesn't care. The only time he has shown any emotion was when he shed a tear at Thatcher's funeral, but that was probably only because he was thinking about the astronomical bill.
Then there is George Michael who can sing quite nicely but can't drive in a straight line and has a penchant for hanging around outside men's toilets.
Next we have George Best who was pretty good at football but unfortunately also rather good at drinking.
Finally, how proud would you be to share your name with that greatest of all men George W Bush? Not very? No, thought not. With parents so unimaginative that they gave you the same name as your father it's not a good start in life is it? Apparently George W doesn't drink but that hasn't stopped him saying and doing stupid things on a monumental, world-wide scale.
So, if you were the young prince looking for a role model which one would you go for? My money's on the hippo.

Advertising

Advertising is everywhere and with the growth of social media it is even more prevalent and targeted than ever before.
It was a few months ago that I realised how much adverts were affecting my young son. He came in as I was fighting to clean the bathroom taps and said "You need some Cillit Bang, Mummy". Later on he asked if I'd been miss-sold PPI. Both seem strange adverts to be putting on children's TV, but what do I know?
Well, one thing I do know is that I, for one, am not fooled by celebrities advertising products. Do they really expect us to believe that the millionairess, Davina McColl spends a Friday night with plastic gloves on, up to her elbows in mess using a DIY hair colouring kit? Hmmm, I think not.
I also know that I am thoroughly fed up with the adverts I get on my face book feed. Three recent ones included 'how to lose baby weight' , 'a dental treatment weekend in Budapest' and 'find singles aged 48-55 in your area'. They clearly have me down as a fat, middle-aged singleton with bad teeth, none of which are accurate.
One recommended site which did make me genuinely angry though, was for the EDL, a bunch of evil, fascist pigs whose ideology goes against all I hold dear. I know I occasionally shop in Waitrose but that was a bridge too far for me.

Blue Peter

I have recently been forced by my young son to watch the programme currently on CBBC where they are searching for a new Blue Peter presenter. They are now down to the final three, with the contestants having had to go through various tests such as showing viewers how to make a nuclear bunker out of a washing-up liquid bottle, a dead rat and a toothpaste tube. There has been sticky- backed plastic a-plenty and hearty cries of "Here's one we made earlier".
I was brought up on Blue Peter in the olden days when it took to the air on Mondays and Thursdays. It was pretty much the only programme I was allowed to watch with TV generally frowned upon and Grange Hill considered far too rough. No, Blue Peter was considered perfect viewing material. Nothing any ruder than an elephant crapping on the studio floor, nothing more risqué than following Tina's pregnancy (I'm still sure it was Percy Thrower's baby). If only we'd been aware of what was going on behind the scenes at Broadcasting House. It all began to fall apart with the arrival of Sarah. Even my innocent nine-year-old self could tell just by looking at her that she'd had more men than I'd had disgusting school dinners. Then, Janet got pregnant but they didn't mention that as she wasn't married. At some point one of them was replaced by a bloke called Michael. He excitedly told viewers how he'd appeared in an 80s music video. Unfortunately he omitted to inform us that he'd also appeared in a very different type of video altogether. He didn't get a big farewell programme, he just disappeared from our screens never to be heard of again poor man. Later on came the whole scandal about the naming of the Blue Peter cat and finally I'm sure one of them had to leave because of cocaine use.
Looking back, Dad, it would have been a lot safer to let us watch Grange Hill. At least that was acting and not real lives being screwed up before our very eyes. I just hope that the three Blue Peter presenter wannabes are given an on the spot drugs/pregnancy test at some point in the selection process or they could be in for very short careers.