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Private Notes
This 2 hour television programme set out to solve some of the great UFO mysteries, perhaps even provide a catch-all explanation for the whole field of Ufology. 'UFOs: The Secret Evidence' was written and presented by journalist Nick Cook, who has been an aviation editor and aerospace consultant for the world-renowned trade publication "Jane's Defence Weekly". His impeccable credentials might suggest a rather stuffy approach to the subject, but Nick Cook actually brings with him a down-to-earth, common sense approach which is refreshing. His stance on UFOs seems open-minded and objective. He also manages to gain interviews with some very intriguing individuals from the aerospace and intelligence fields.
The programme started by asserting that UFO reports began during the Second World War. This is an incorrect assertion, unfortunately, ignoring a wealth of historical evidence dating back centuries. Still, it's probably fair to say that the first official military reports on the subject were generated in the 1940s, and that is the focus of Nick's investigation. He tackled the phenomenon of the 'Foo Fighters' reported by airmen during WWII and, with John Dering (a senior scientist at SARA), considered the possibility that the Nazis were sending up prototype Unmanned Aerial Vehicles which were "reusable"!
A bizarre technological artefact known as 'the Fly Trap' was visited, and the theory that it was a test-rig for Nazi flying saucers was discussed. This was in the context of a secret Nazi underground base where derro-like scientists played with glowing bell-shaped devices which seemed to defy gravity. This was research which led to the death of several scientists, allegedly.
Brigadier General Roger Ramey and Colonel Thomas J. BuBose with the Roswell 'wreakage'Then we moved onto the Roswell incident, via the infamous U.S. defence programme to incorporate Nazi scientists into sensitive research areas (like White Sands Missile Range), known as Operation
In a mad, mad world, where a sense of belonging and conformity is king, rates of anorexia, schizophrenia, exam-stress and depression are on the rise, illustrating the importance of acknowledging and addressing the issues of the mentally ill.
This compelling documentary, A-Z of Your Head, focuses on young people and the mental health disorders that blight their lives and gives a voice to those who are left to deal with their own madness every day.
These are the stories that never get told, yet are utterly gripping, and lay bare what it feels like to be labelled 'mad'.
Produced by Lambent Productions for Channel 4. Produced and Directed by Lisa Fairbank.
We imagine many things when we think of this word. However, we do not think about Islamic Architecture, which influenced the art of Europe so profoundly. This documentary tours through the Muslim world, in search of that "atmosphere of Paradise," hidden away in mosques and palaces. In this film renowned art commentator Waldemar Januszczak makes an epic journey of discovery across the Muslim world, revealing awe-inspiring architecture and art objects that evoke the history of Islam. Along the way he meets local historians and experts - as well as an array of weavers, calligraphers, potters, and jewelers - who contribute their knowledge of this fascinating art-historical field. Much of the discoveries includes objects and buildings that have previously received little if any attention on film, like the 10th century Egyptian jug carved out of a single piece of rock crystal – one of only three known in the entire world ; the stunning architecture of the Uzbekistan's Samarquand ; the incredible and surreal mud mosques of West African Mali ; the inspired urban planning of the ancient city of Isfahan in Iran and the world's first great and possibly greatest mosque in the Syrian capital Damascus. The result is a stimulating introduction to a set of globally significant aesthetic traditions.
Documentary charting the most controversial TV moments of the last 40 years. Introduced by Tim Roth.
Documentary looking at controversial or banned pieces of advertising, which were explicit, controversial or shocking in some way. Advertising executives, producers and censors discuss some of them. Also looks at some of the embarrassing adverts that western celebrities have done in Japan, and and the increase in "viral campaigning" on the web and e-mail systems.
The box contains a small private collection of the British radio DJ John Peel who died in 2004 at the age of 65. Peel's main archive contained more than 100,000 vinyl records and CDs. This smaller collection is 143 singles, some of them doublettes, stored in a wooden box representing some of his favourites. According to the documentary, there are no singles by Peel's favourite group, The Fall, because he kept them in a separate box.
The film features interviews with John's wife Sheila Ravenscroft, radio DJs and artists including Mary Anne Hobbs, Sir Elton John, Ronnie Wood, Roger Daltrey, Feargal Sharkey, Jack White, Michael Palin and Miki Berenyi.
A looked at the genetic makeup of English people who considered themselves to be ethnically English and found that while all had an ethnic makeup similar to people of European descent, a minority discovered genetic markers from North Africa and the Middle East from several generations before they were born. The presenter was Andrew Graham-Dixon. The test results were interpreted by DNAPrint Genomics, based in Sarasota, Florida
An affectionate and frank insight into the life of troubled genius Spike Milligan, arguably the most influential British comic of the last 50 years
Serial killer Ed Gein shocked the US to its core in the mid 1950s as the dismembered corpses of 15 women were found in his isolated Wisconsin farmhouse. Worse still, he'd made trinkets and trophies out of the dead women's bodies. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Silence of the Lambs and, of course Ed Gein, which follows on Channel 4, were inspired by Gein's ghoulish crimes. The Real Silence of the Lambs asks what could have driven a mild-mannered farm boy to such levels of depravity?
Documentary examining the alleged jinx said to have plagued the filming of The Omen, including eyewitness accounts of bizarre accidents, injuries and deaths during the production. From mid-air terror as consecutive flights carrying members of the production encounter disaster to crazed dog attacks, bizarre car crashes and hotel bombings, plus a host of tragic accidents that defy coincidence.
The answer to the growing demand to carry more air passengers in ever more crowded airspace, the Airbus A380 is a bold and challenging project. Dwarfing its predecessors, the plane will carry nearly 600 people, and overshadow all its rivals. Recording the craft being built and interviewing the movers and shakers involved, the programme tracks the tense 20 months when the huge plane moves from dream to reality. From the astounding injections of investment cash needed to take it from the drawing board to the runway, to the technical headaches of lifting the heavy wings off the ground, and transporting the huge components to the assembly factory in France, it was never an easy ride.
The A380 is only possible because of advances in material and construction techniques, allowing its trans-European team to rival the famous Boeing 747 Jumbo that has dominated the aviation industry for more than 30 years. It also offers comparison with a similarly ambitious scheme which ended in economic failure, and considers what the future holds for a truly heroic project in a world of cut-throat business rivalry and environmental anxieties.
Tracing the history and influence of Iranian cinema and its filmmakers.
This film looks at ‘giantessphilia’, described as one of the world’s most bizarre syndromes. It that draws on some of men and women’s deepest desires to conquer and be conquered. While most admit that tall women represent power and strength, some men have taken this desire and created a sub-culture of Amazonian women who perform ‘services’ that go way beyond the average man’s comprehension. This film examines what is it about the image of the 50ft woman that draws men in and plays on their deepest psychological needs, and what the women who perform these services get from doing so.
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are commonly regarded as the greatest comic double act that Britain has ever produced. However, it is less commonly known that in 1971, at the height of their careers, they spent eleven months in Australia touring their latest stage show, Behind the Fridge and writing and starring in two TV specials which have never been seen in Britain...
This revealing film uses newly discovered letters written by Prince Eddy himself to explore whether his early death saved Britain from a monster, or cheated the nation of a good king.
For the first time, Eddy's own words serve in his defence in a fresh investigation of the remarkable kind Britain never had.
Tony Robinson accompanies James Cameron, the Oscar-winning writer, director and producer of the blockbuster film Titanic, on a poignant farewell to the most spectacular shipwreck in history. Nearly 10 years after Cameron's first visit to the wreck, this is his last.
A look at the events surrounding American folklore's strangest murder mystery - investigating what really happened on the night Ronald DeFeo apparently gunned down his entire family, and examining the alleged haunting of the Amityville house for years afterwards.
Featuring exclusive interviews with George Lutz and many of the original participants in this story.
A look at the funniest moments from UK TV quiz shows.
Tony Robinson examines the claims made in Dan Brown's best-selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code."
Documentary about the life of comedian Eric Morecambe, particularly his private family life. Family members and friends and colleagues talk about their memories of him.
Keith Allen spends some time getting to know Mohammed Al Fayed.
A look at the search for the fabled Northwest passage, the legendary path through the ice across the Canadian Arctic, and the attempts made by wealthy British explorer Sir John Franklin and penniless Norwegian Roald Amundsen.
Guantanamo Guidebook films seven British volunteers - three Muslims and four white Britons - locked up in a makeshift detention center at a warehouse in east London as they are subjected for over a period of 48 hours to a range of torture techniques known to be used at the Guantanamo Bay by US interrogation experts, Reuters said.
The show, produced by the Production company Twenty, is seeking answers on whether the torture methods applied by US investigators at the US navy base in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan can be justified in efforts to combat terrorism.
We want the viewers to watch techniques that we know are used at Guantanamo and really to raise questions about whether torture is justified and if it works and what does it say about our values as a western society, a spokesman for the British station told Agence France Presse (AFP) Tuesday, on condition of anonymity.
As part of the Channel 4's Hidden Civilization season exploring Islam's rich and significant contribution to western art and culture, historian Bettany Hughes traces the story of the mysterious and misunderstood Moors, the Islamic society that ruled in Spain for 700 years, but whose legacy was virtually erased from Western history.
In 711 AD, a tribe of newly converted Muslims from North Africa crossed the straits of Gibraltar and invaded Spain. Known as The Moors, they went on to build a rich and powerful society. Its capital, Cordoba, was the largest and most civilized city in Europe, with hospitals, libraries and a public infrastructure light years ahead of anything in England at the time. Amongst the many things that were introduced to Europe by Muslims at this time were: a huge body of classical Greek texts that had been lost to the rest of Europe for centuries; mathematics and the numbers we use today; advanced astronomy and medical practices; fine dining; the concept of romantic love; paper; deodorant; and even erection creams. This wasn't the rigid, fundamentalist Islam of some people's imaginations, but a progressive, sensuous and intellectually curious culture. But when the society collapsed, Spain was fanatically re-Christianised; almost every trace of seven centuries of Islamic rule was ruthlessly removed. It is only now, six centuries later, that The Moors' influences on European life and culture are finally beginning to be fully understood.
Daniel Johnston entered the wider public consciousness when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain appeared at the 1992 MTV awards wearing a Daniel Johnston T-shirt featuring a line drawing of a frog-like creature with eyeballs on stalks and the slogan "Hi, how are you?". It was the artwork from a demo tape Johnston had made in his bedroom as a teenager in the early 1980s.
The son of respectable, middle-class Christian parents from Texas, the precocious Daniel gets heavily into music, comic books, home movies and a girl called Laurie. These might seem like the staples of any American adolescence, but as he shoots to fame via MTV and the fledgling grunge scene, he begins to lose his grip on reality and finds himself heading for manic depression, drug use, violence, religious fanaticism and a life spent in and out of mental institutions.
This film looks at ‘giantessphilia’, described as one of the world’s most bizarre syndromes. It that draws on some of men and women’s deepest desires to conquer and be conquered. While most admit that tall women represent power and strength, some men have taken this desire and created a sub-culture of Amazonian women who perform ‘services’ that go way beyond the average man’s comprehension. This film examines what is it about the image of the 50ft woman that draws men in and plays on their deepest psychological needs, and what the women who perform these services get from doing so.
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are commonly regarded as the greatest comic double act that Britain has ever produced. However, it is less commonly known that in 1971, at the height of their careers, they spent eleven months in Australia touring their latest stage show, Behind the Fridge and writing and starring in two TV specials which have never been seen in Britain...
This revealing film uses newly discovered letters written by Prince Eddy himself to explore whether his early death saved Britain from a monster, or cheated the nation of a good king.
For the first time, Eddy's own words serve in his defence in a fresh investigation of the remarkable kind Britain never had.
Tony Robinson accompanies James Cameron, the Oscar-winning writer, director and producer of the blockbuster film Titanic, on a poignant farewell to the most spectacular shipwreck in history. Nearly 10 years after Cameron's first visit to the wreck, this is his last.
A look at the events surrounding American folklore's strangest murder mystery - investigating what really happened on the night Ronald DeFeo apparently gunned down his entire family, and examining the alleged haunting of the Amityville house for years afterwards.
Featuring exclusive interviews with George Lutz and many of the original participants in this story.
A look at the funniest moments from UK TV quiz shows.
Tony Robinson examines the claims made in Dan Brown's best-selling novel, "The Da Vinci Code."
Documentary about the life of comedian Eric Morecambe, particularly his private family life. Family members and friends and colleagues talk about their memories of him.
Keith Allen spends some time getting to know Mohammed Al Fayed.
A look at the search for the fabled Northwest passage, the legendary path through the ice across the Canadian Arctic, and the attempts made by wealthy British explorer Sir John Franklin and penniless Norwegian Roald Amundsen.
On the fateful day in August 60 years ago, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, only three photographs were taken by residents of the city. As a result there is only a fragmentary record of what it is like to experience the onslaught of a nuclear explosion. But now an intriguing and unique Japanese history project has persuaded survivors - many of whom have never spoken about their experience before - to draw the scenes they remember from that day.
Guantanamo Guidebook films seven British volunteers - three Muslims and four white Britons - locked up in a makeshift detention center at a warehouse in east London as they are subjected for over a period of 48 hours to a range of torture techniques known to be used at the Guantanamo Bay by US interrogation experts, Reuters said.
The show, produced by the Production company Twenty, is seeking answers on whether the torture methods applied by US investigators at the US navy base in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan can be justified in efforts to combat terrorism.
We want the viewers to watch techniques that we know are used at Guantanamo and really to raise questions about whether torture is justified and if it works and what does it say about our values as a western society, a spokesman for the British station told Agence France Presse (AFP) Tuesday, on condition of anonymity.
As part of the Channel 4's Hidden Civilization season exploring Islam's rich and significant contribution to western art and culture, historian Bettany Hughes traces the story of the mysterious and misunderstood Moors, the Islamic society that ruled in Spain for 700 years, but whose legacy was virtually erased from Western history.
In 711 AD, a tribe of newly converted Muslims from North Africa crossed the straits of Gibraltar and invaded Spain. Known as The Moors, they went on to build a rich and powerful society. Its capital, Cordoba, was the largest and most civilized city in Europe, with hospitals, libraries and a public infrastructure light years ahead of anything in England at the time. Amongst the many things that were introduced to Europe by Muslims at this time were: a huge body of classical Greek texts that had been lost to the rest of Europe for centuries; mathematics and the numbers we use today; advanced astronomy and medical practices; fine dining; the concept of romantic love; paper; deodorant; and even erection creams. This wasn't the rigid, fundamentalist Islam of some people's imaginations, but a progressive, sensuous and intellectually curious culture. But when the society collapsed, Spain was fanatically re-Christianised; almost every trace of seven centuries of Islamic rule was ruthlessly removed. It is only now, six centuries later, that The Moors' influences on European life and culture are finally beginning to be fully understood.
Daniel Johnston entered the wider public consciousness when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain appeared at the 1992 MTV awards wearing a Daniel Johnston T-shirt featuring a line drawing of a frog-like creature with eyeballs on stalks and the slogan "Hi, how are you?". It was the artwork from a demo tape Johnston had made in his bedroom as a teenager in the early 1980s.
The son of respectable, middle-class Christian parents from Texas, the precocious Daniel gets heavily into music, comic books, home movies and a girl called Laurie. These might seem like the staples of any American adolescence, but as he shoots to fame via MTV and the fledgling grunge scene, he begins to lose his grip on reality and finds himself heading for manic depression, drug use, violence, religious fanaticism and a life spent in and out of mental institutions.
