Sidepodcast

In a bizarre mix of A Question of Sport and Mastermind, the BBC are running a series of sport-themed Mastermind shows, where the participants are quizzed on their favourite teams and players. The latest show involves student Ben Croucher tackling the subject of Formula 1 from 2000 to 2007. If you are in the UK and can access the BBC iPlayer, it can be viewed here until the 31st July.

But don’t go there yet!

As a bit of Friday night fun, I have transcribed the questions for your viewing pleasure, and thought we could host ourselves our very own pub quiz. Except, this isn’t a pub, there’s no prizes, and I have stolen the questions.

But hush. It’s just a bit of fun. If you Google the answers, you’re only cheating yourselves, etc, etc. Let us know how you get on in the comments. The answers are hidden in grey at the end of each question. Enjoy.

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• Length: 4:24 
• Size: 4.1 MB 
• File: people10.mp3 
• Transcript: people10.pdf 
• Torrent: people10.torrent 

Welcome to F1 People, a mini series of short shows chronicling the lives of important people in the world of Formula 1. Today we’re going to look at Murray Walker, not a traditional F1 People subject, but an important one nonetheless.

Graeme Murray Walker was born on the 10th October 1923 in Birmingham, England. His father raced motorcycles professionally before the war, and was pretty good at it. Murray’s father also became a commentator for the BBC, working with them for 31 years. Walker decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, trying out the motorcycling route but realising he was never going to be as good as he wanted to be. At a particular race in 1949, his father was preparing to do the commentary, but had to step down at the last minute. Walker stepped in, and was overheard by a BBC producer in the crowd. He was invited for a commentating audition ahead of a Goodwood meeting, and got the job instantly.

Walker also took over his father’s role as motorcycle commentating when he died in 1962.
Whilst commentating on the race weekends here and there, Walker made ends meet by starting a career in marketing. His creative flair saw him promoted through an advertising agency, and this double life suited him. He worked on occasional F1 commentaries until the late 1970s, and in 1978 he was given the job full time.

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We’ve fallen slightly behind over the last couple of days, and we’re in catch-up mode at the moment, but I just wanted to put this picture up as I think it perfectly encapsulates our entire weekend.

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Okay, it was pretty much a given from the moment the BBC announced they’d acquired the rights to broadcast F1 in the UK, that HD was factored into the deal somewhere. But it’s nice to get some form of vague confirmation from the beeb anyhow.

Yesterday, the corporation’s head of HDTV Seetha Kumar posted a blog entry responding to consumer feedback regarding the channel’s recently launched Freesat service. One of the first questions answered was related to F1 and of this Seetha said:

Regarding F1, we hope that this will be available in HD as soon as possible within our new contract, but this depends on demand from other international broadcasters as well as from us.

So by the sounds of it, the BBC at least have the technology side of things ready and following the launch of Freesat, potentially everyone in the UK now has access to a subscription-free HD channel.

Take Your Brain to Another Dimension

On this subject Dominic Wells of The Times recently noted that in addition to any planned HD transmissions, the BBC are also investigating the possibility of showing F1 races in 3D.

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I’ve had quite a bad day over here at Sidepodcast Towers, and in order to release some of the tension, I’m gonna pick on a couple of news stories that have wound me up today.

More Stories From Nothing

As ever, Autosport has managed to extract as much as possible out of a single situation to make as many stories as possible. In this case, Hamilton’s reaction to questions about whether he’s expecting a bad reception in Spain.

Hamilton: “No.”

Autosport: “That’s all we needed to know.”

Wonders Will Never Cease

Danica Patrick won a race last weekend, which is brilliant for her, for motorsport, for womankind, etc, etc. But apparently, the BBC think she may not be worthy of a namecheck.

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It’s about time Formula 1 had a dose of reality, or rather a dose of reality television.

You see it everywhere these days, in the UK it seems there’s always some C-list celebrity doing something daft to get themselves TV exposure. Eating bugs, prancing on ice or whatever. Even IndyCar got the jump on F1 when Helio Castroneves recently won a television dance competition.

It’s not just the stars that get a go either, after all Simon Cowell became a household name spotting the planet’s untapped talent and putting them on our screens. A never ending stream of fresh-faced hopefuls paraded in front of a society that appears to have an insatiable appetite for more of the same.

Formula One should take note, a reality show could expose the sport to a much wider audience, specifically targeting armchair viewers which, let’s be honest are the ones FOM are really interested in. So, if F1 could benefit from such a program, what would it be about?

Right now I’m led to believe there’s a program on British TV that has something to do with choosing a singer to appear in a West End musical. Seems like a perfectly reasonable idea, the musical gets promotion, the audience gets to pick the star, the television company make money from phone-in voting.

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Formula 1 fans in the UK received a second helping of good news this month when it was announced today that F1 television coverage is returning to it’s natural home, the BBC. Last week Formula One Management finally caved in to pressure and allowed races to be broadcast online, and next year they will also be shown uninterrupted and commercial free.

This is excellent news for any Formula 1 fans living in the UK, and as pointed out by Lou in a comment earlier:

We are gonna get to watch the WHOLE race!

For many years ITV has been the subject of criticism from fans for it’s poor coverage and incessant advertisement breaks, ruining the flow of the action during what are often the most important points of the race.

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