What’s more he’s been encouraging his readers to contribute by sending in their own audio musings. Never being one to pass up an opportunity to wax lyrical on topics I don’t have any pertinent knowledge or understanding of, I’ve been happily sticking my two pennies worth into the mix for a while now. For example check out:

• Memorable TV Deaths
• Talking Movie Deaths
• Talking Turtles Cartoon
• Waterworld

I suppose I should put in a disclaimer that on the Turtles one I do actually give a rendition of the TMNT cartoon theme tune on the ukulele. A rendition that Lee has also seen fit to convert to a phone ringtone. Thanks for that Lee.

Anyhow, this weekend Lee will be tackling the rumors surrounding the possibility of a fifth Indiana Jones movie; namely asking what Lucas et al could do to redeem themselves and make, against the odds, a truly worthy fifth Indy movie.

It’s a topic close to many a heart. And Lee has asked his loyal subjects to spread the word to the masses that he want’s contributions. as the great man himself says:

Now I already have some ideas and seeing that George, Stephen and Harrison are frequent visitors here I thought you all might like to share your own thoughts in the off chance that they might pay attention to fans and not put universally stupid CGI gophers in the next film.

So please share your opinions and your ideas in the comments here or contact me if you don’t want anyone to know your super secret Indiana Jones plot ideas before the podcast. I also greedily accept your own recorded thoughts via emailed mp3 or wav files (contact me and I’ll send you the email to send them to).

Even if you don’t have any specific plot ideas why not throw out title ideas, if you manage to accurately predict the name of the next film years in advance just think what it will do to your love life! Studies have shown that accurately predicting the name of the next Indiana Jones or Star Wars film/show is what 78% of potential mates are most impressed by. That’s science people!

So get to it, I know I certainly will be.

In fact I’ve already recorded my own ukulele version of the Indiana Jones theme music. I just this minute played it to Kerry actually, and she was so overwhelmed by its brilliance that she had to leave the room in awed silence. You’ll have to listen to Lee’s podcast to hear it though.

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Sunday was the deadline for people confirming whether they were coming or not and, with the exception of a few stragglers, I’ve now heard from everyone that I was expecting to.

I’ve decided against chasing people up any further. The level of badgering I’ve already engaged in comes close to earning me a whole bunch of restraining orders. If you really want to come and are worrying you’ve missed the boat don’t worry however, you can still email me and we’ll see what we can do. i just can’t promise anything.

So here’s the lineup, and it’s a very exciting one. In no particular order:

• Dan Hughes (me!), from All That Comes With It
• Oli Walker, who came on the original Dales Walk
• Cathrine Sinclair, a friend of Oli’s
• Richard Cockill, fiance of Cathrine
• David Graham, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
• Craig Kelly, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
• James Muscroft (Mushy), who came on the original Dales Walk
• Rich Brook, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
• Clair, from Moon In The Gutter
• DadWhoWrites, from Dad Who Writes
• Jo, from Jo Beaufoix
• Nic, Jo’s friend
• Erin, from Fierce Beagle
• Noah, Erin’s husband
• Idaho Dad, from A Family Runs Through It
• Rajiv, Idaho Dad’s friend
• JJ Daddy-O, from JJ Daddy-O
• Archie Malcolm, my father-in-law
• Arjan, from Dutchnid
• Martin, from Xbox4NappyRash
• Josie, from Life in Biscuit
• David, Josie’s husband
• Rich Bassinder, a veteran of both the Dales Walk and the Cumbria Way
• Ian, from Single Parent Dad
• Emma, Ian’s sister
• Helen, a friend of my wife Kerry
• Tony, Helen’s husband
• Sherry, from ImPerceptibility
• Steve, Sherry’s husband
• Whit, from Honea Express
• Tricia, Whit’s wife
• NYC Watchdog, from A Pile of dog Bones
• Poppy, from Poppy Cedes
• Ed, from Zoe’s Dad
• Maura, Ed’s wife

And the part timers who’ll be hopefully joining us for just a day or two:

• Gary, from Jerry Chicken
• Gail, from Squared Off

That’s thirty seven walkers in total. thirty seven! Can you believe it! Thank you all so much for agreeing to come along. You’re doing a good thing here.

We’ve a mix of twenty four males and thirteen females with ages ranging from early twenties to late fifties. We’ve got people from England, Scotland, Ireland, America and Holland. We’ve got the personnel to start our own healthcare system: a paramedic, a doctor, and a couple of nurses; our own criminal justice system: a superior court judge, a case builder, and a couple of policemen; and an education system: a university professor and a teaching assistant. But that’s not all, we’ve also got writers, editors, stay-at-home parents, managers, bankers and unemployed bums. As my old cultural studies lecture might say: we have a true microcosm of modern society.

It’d be really good if Team Ocelot can try to get to know each other a little bit before we set off. It will reduce any social awkwardness when we all come together for the first time. Idaho Dad has very graciously agreed to be appointed a sort of net based social secretary and we’ve come up with a number of relatively painless ways of starting to break the ice. All the walkers will no doubt be hearing from him in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime though it’d be a good idea for everybody to add all the blogs listed above to their feedreader, blogroll, or bookmark folder. Even if you’re not going on the walk there isn’t one amongst them isn’t worth a read. And of course if you’re not already checking out the Hadrian’s Walk blog: http://hadrianswalk.org then I urge you to do so as I’m going to start posting organizational stuff on there rather than cross post it here.

And finally any of the bloggers coming on the walk should feel free to display the badge of honor below on their blogs in order to alert the world to their heroic status as a Hadrians Walker. If you need any help writing the html or hosting the image then email me and I’ll give you a hand.

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True, the trip was being organized as a meetup for the Midlands chapter of the British Mummy Blogger Network and I don’t really fit that geographical inclusion criteria. In fact the only way you could classify where I live as “The Midlands” is if you counted Scotland as being merely a Northerly district of England (which lets face it, is every Scot’s secret dream anyhow). But as SingleParentDad had recently announced he and I were in the midst of a “Bromance” I naturally felt he owed me something to make up for the humiliation. It’s not the concept of Bromance itself that upsets me you understand, it’s just the implication that I can’t do any better than him

And anyway, it’s not that hard to pass yourself off as a Midlander. You just slacken your jaw a bit and make your eyes go dead.

SingleParentDad very kindly invited us to come and stay at his house the evening before. I’d not been feeling too well the day before, so had a few reservations about the trip. But I’m really glad we decided risk my dodgy belly as a great time was had by all. Amy Evan, and Max (SingleParentDad’s son) hit it off straight away and lost no time in tearing around the house shrieking and giggling. There was bouncing on trampolines, games of hide and seek, and general gloriously rowdy behavior.

The adults gelled similarly well and the conversation flowed freely and effortlessly (which is unusual for me as I often take a little time to come round). All in all the evening was worth the trip in itself and has produced a real and valuable friendship, at least from Kerry and my perspective anyhow. SingleParentdad is probably composing a cruel and biting character assassination of us for his blog at this very moment.

As for Drayton Manor, I’ve never been to a theme park with the kids on a weekend before, and you can certainly tell the difference. On discussing the trip in the car on the way home we all had differing opinions about what the best part of the day had been, but we were all agreed that the queues had been the worst. Not that that’s Drayton Manor’s fault of course, but if you intend on going with preschool children then I’d advise going on a term time weekday when it’d be more quiet. It’s one thing queuing patiently for an exhilarating thrill ride like Shockwave or Stormforce10, but waiting for twenty minutes with a fractious two year old to get onto Harold’s Helicopter Tour can be a little disheartening.

But queuing aside Dayton Manor was a pretty good place to take a pre-schooler. Not only do you have the presence of Thomas the Tank Engine (which acts like catnip to a certain breed of little boys), but the rides for this age group are a cut above those that are found in other theme-parks I’ve visited.

The Troublesome Trucks Runaway Coaster was really very fun indeed and had a very generous hight restriction policy. I’m not sure if it was good enough to shell out £5 for a on-ride photo mind you, but seeing as though SingleParentMug was kind enough to email me a scan of his I didn’t have to.

What was also good was meeting up with other bloggers, particularly Jo Beaufoix who is coming on Hadrians Walk with us next year (as is SingleParentDad incidentally).

I also spent time chatting with Rosie Scribbles in the queue for a ride called the Maelstrom. I’m glad we chatted before we got on however as I wasn’t much in the mood for chatting after it finished, being too busy trying to rearrange my internal organs back to their original positions to strike up much of a conversation.

Also there was Tara and her family from Sticky Fingers who I talked to briefly but who we unfortunately got separated from quite regularly (probably due to the fact her son, Dan, may have been a little too sophisticated for the Thomas Land rides).

As with all good days, it was over all too quickly. It was a very happy and tired couple of kids that we bundled into the back of the car to go home. And to be fair it was a couple of happy and tired adults sitting in the front too.

Thanks go to Drayton Manor, who very kindly let us in for free; and to SingleParentDad who somehow blagged it for us. Maybe that Bromance isn’t such a bad thing after all.

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Oli was a founder member of the Dales Walk last year. He also helped plan the thing, raised a hell of a lot of money, and created the walk’s logos that you can still occasionally see littering the internet today.

Oli is also a confirmed member of Team Ocelot for next years Hadrian’s Walk, and let me tell you we’re extremely lucky to have a man of such enthusiasm and joviality along with us (plus his mum really knows how to shake a charity tin).

However there is one thing that worries me about Oli. Take a look at what he’s been doing over the past couple of months:

I’ve emailed him a couple of times to ask exactly why he’s built a medieval siege engine in his back garden, but have yet to receive any reply. My only conciliation is that he lives in Scotland, and is therefore too far away from my house for me to worry about big rocks being launched through my bathroom window whilst I’m on the bog.

I suppose the fact he lives in Scotland is an explanation in itself. An Englishman in a foreign land has to defend himself somehow I’m afraid, and if he can perhaps convert the machine to fire haggis and deep friend mars bars into a neighboring garden then maybe he can distract the marauding Scots long enough to make a speedy getaway.

Anyhow, whatever the reason for it’s creation, you have to admit that Oli’s trebuchet is a thing of beauty and I applaud his genius. I’m even tempted to build my own siege engine and challenge him to a life sized game of crossbows and catapults.

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That’s still three and a half hours of TV viewing, and so well above the recommended two hours suggested by the experts. But you can’t help wondering if those experts actually have kids of their own to try and deal with. Or if they do, are they some sort of freaky Stepford children who spend hours sitting nicely in the corner playing with tasteful wooden toys and being nothing but kind and courteous to their siblings.

No, three and a half hours feels about right to us. And it’s not as if they use all their allocated time anyhow. Amy in particular is generally choosing to spend her time skipping outside or making various cards for her friends rather than goggle at the box. Evan is more addicted, but he’s of an age where he’s just learning how to follow narrative so it’s all very new and exciting for him, plus he still finds the repetitive formula of shows such as Wonderpets and Little Einsteins is reassuring rather than boring.

While the implementation of the new rules has been a struggle at times, especially around 4pm when fatigue sets in on both sides, the new regime has been overwhelmingly positive.

Mainly, it must be said, because it’s forced me to be a better parent.

The internet is a wonderful thing, but I do have an unfortunate tendency to become over involved with it. Mailing emails, twittering on twitter, flicking through flickr, reading google reader, and blogging on… wordpress (damn, I knew I should have never left blogger) – it all saps time and attention. And if that is time and attention that you should be devoting to your kids then that can’t be a good thing.

You know how it is. You switch Playhouse Disney on to keep them quiet while you catch up on a few things on the net, and the next thing you know it’s an hour and a half later and your children have metamorphosed into slack jawed TV zombies.

And that just isn’t right. You shouldn’t sacrifice time with your family in order to mindlessly fritter away the hours looking at inconsequential banalities on the web. That’s what the internet connection at work is for.

I must point out that I’m not saying that I’ve been a neglectful parent, encouraging my children to atrophy in front of the television while I spent 14 hours a day glued to my computer keyboard. I’m a pretty active parent, and like to get out and about as often as I can. But things had been slipping, especially with the excitement of all this Hadrian’s Walk business occupying a large proportion of my consciousness (incidentally don’t forget you need to let me know if you’re coming or not by Sunday).

But as tempting as it is to repeatedly press refresh on my email to see if anything new has come in, the reality is that it’s going to make little difference if I read an email or a blog comment now or in seven or eight hours when the kids have gone to bed.

So by turning off the TV between 9am and 5:30pm I’m removing the temptation to avoid my children and escape into cyberspace. Obviously I can still steal five minutes here or there by getting out some toys, giving them a bag of grapes, or supergluing their feet to the hall floor. But those methods are temporary, they don’t allow me to get so absorbed that I loose my sense of time. I just do what needs to be done, and then get back to being Dad. Which is good, because although sometimes I forget it, being Dad is the thing I like doing best anyway.

This entire post has ultimately been a rather long winded way of introducing the fact that instead of sticking the TV on when Amy came home from school this evening we went all up into the back garden and I taught Amy how to use the camera on my phone. She took to it very well, I think she might have inherited her mother’s ability with the lens. Evan on the other hand appears to inherited both my taste for gurning at the camera and my attraction to chickens.

I am so proud.

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to this:

Ok, so they are taken from different angles, but you get the idea

However fortunes have not all run smooth on Old McHughes’ farm over the past couple of weeks.

On the plus side my vegetable crops are doing really well this year. My peas, potatoes, and pumpkins in particular are growing like the proverbial clappers, and we ate this years first home grown strawberries at the weekend too. Even the apple trees appear to have had a reprieve and are fruiting away happily.

My radishes haven’t done quite so well however as something appears to be eating them. I have a horrible suspicion that it’s something more unpleasant than slugs or snails too as I can see little teeth marks on them. I’m holding out hope that we have a colony of Fraggles nearby, but unfortunately I suspect it’s probably something a little more rodent shaped.

Which isn’t to say that slugs and snails haven’t been wreaking damage of their own. The leaves of my lettuce and pak-choi in particular are covered in gaping holes. I read somewhere recently that it’s wrong to say a garden has a surplus of slugs, it just has a deficit of ducks; but I think I’d probably be pushing my luck if I tried to persuade Kerry of this.

But the most distressing thing is that Rosa, my favorite chicken, started crowing last week, which was a bit of a shock as I’d been convinced it had been a female. I gave him a couple of days grace to see if his cock-a-doodle-doing would be a problem, but unfortunately it was just too loud and started far too early in the morning for me to be willing to ask my neighbor’s to put up with it. So this morning before the kids got up I “took him to live on another farm”.

I really didn’t want to do it though. I’d grown quite attached to the little bugger. Here’s a picture of him Kerry took when back he was an awkward and goofy adolescent.

Oh, and speaking of gawky gangly birds, congratulations to my sister Megan who got engaged yesterday. Rather you than me John, but at least you get to have a supercool-brother-in-law.

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If you’ve already responded to me via email then don’t feel the need to do it again in the comments unless you feel you want to.

I’ve had an incredible response to my appeal for people to come on the walk of Hadrian’s Wall next July. So far a whopping 49 people from all over the world have said they are interested in coming along. They range from as far away as Australia to as nearby as, err, my house I suppose. And that’s just people to join Team Ocelot; my brother is pretty sure that team bandicoot will contain around 25 members too.

That’s 74 people. Just think how much sponsorship that number of people will raise; not to mention the great social event it’ll be. As I’ve said before, this is going to be bloody great.

However, much as I welcome as many people as we can get to come along, it does throw up a few logistical problems. Initially when I conceived of the walk I envisaged around 25 people taking part in each team, and planned accordingly. It’s by no means impossible to cope with a larger number than this, but it’s going to require more planning.

Over the past couple of days I’ve been eyeing the growing number of names on my spreadsheet nervously and have rung around a few of the hostels that I envisaged staying in; amazingly some of them have been already booked up for the dates we want to use them (the swines!). Again this isn’t too much of a problem as I’ve got alternatives lined up. But I’m getting a little nervous about leaving it until August to book them in case someone sneaks in before me. And obviously I can’t book any places until I know exactly how many are going to be walking.

So what I’m proposing is this: I bring the deadline for confirming if you are coming or not forward a little bit. One week away to Sunday the 5th of July to be precise. I really hope this doesn’t cause any problems to you or affect your ability to commit. If there is a reason why you can’t let me know by this date then please let me know and I’m sure we can work something out. But as it is the stress of having a possible 49 people eager to do the walk and the potential that there will be no where for them to sleep and me having to somehow “drop” people from the team is bringing me close to nervous breakdown.

So what I need to know is:

• Are you coming?
• Are you bringing anyone else with you? And if so who and what is their email address?
• Will you be in a position to pay a deposit, possibly around £50, in the next couple of weeks? (if not don’t worry, we can probably sort something out)
• If you don’t want to come for the whole walk, do you want to come for a section of it (either for a single day at any point on the route, or spanning days 3 and 4 where the scenery is most dramatic and we camp at night would seem the most do-able)

Even if you’ve told me all that information before, tell me again just to make sure your name’s been counted. My email address is dghughes28@yaho.co.uk .

I can’t give exact details about how much it will cost without knowing final numbers, but I will endeavor to keep costs as low as possible. There is a possibility that some people might have to stay in B&B’s on occasion due to the capacity of the bunk barns which might bump the cost up slightly, but my aim would be to share this out so it doesn’t affect one person/couple drastically. There is also a possibility that we might have to hire a minibus for the sherpas due to the need to ferry people about to accommodation from the trail and also shift the camping gear. I’m guessing the total price of the walk will be between £100 and £150 each (including most breakfasts). Obviously if the final total comes to more than you’re comfortable with then I’d not have a problem with you backing out.

The sooner you can let me know the better. You don’t have to wait until the 5th of July, you can tell me now. But if you do say you are coming then you need to consider that a real commitment and only back out if you lose both your legs in an industrial accident (both legs that is, if you only lose one then I expect you to hop).

If you can’t come then don’t worry about it, I certainly don’t think any less of you. Just get ready with your credit card when sponsorship time comes around :)

If you need to remind yourself about any of the details then you can find most of them on the walk’s blog hadrianswalk.org, or you can email me with any specific inquiries

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Well now I can tell you, they are all made up by UK comedian Richard Herring.

When I went to bed last night the news had just broken that Michael Jackson had died. When I open my eyes this morning and did my customary post-wakening checks (Alive? Safe? Location? Bladder Status? New Email?) I happened to scroll through twitter and noticed that Mr Herring had pumped out a staggering number of tweets about the end of the King of Pop’s reign. Here’s a quick selection. If you are a big Jacko fan or have particularly tender sensibilities I advise you to look away now

• Herring1967: A candle in the wind. And one for a change who has been actually been on fire. And looked like he was made from wax.
• Herring1967: If Uri Geller was any kind of friend he would make him alive again.
• Herring1967: I wonder if when Gary Glitter dies that everyone will forget what he did and get cross if you make jokes.
• Herring1967: Being reminded that MJ was found not guilty. It’s nice that people still believe in the process of law.
• Herring1967: It’s the cherubs that I’m worried about.
• Herring1967: According to Sky, Die Hard fans are out on the streets. They should go back in and leave this to the MJ fans.
• Herring1967: Heaven is definitely better than earth – Uri Geller has confirmed. MJ definitely there also.
• Herring1967: MJ proved innocent under hypnosis by Uri Geller – who is definitely magic and knows about the afterlife.
• Herring1967: Is Jarvis Cocker going to the funeral?

What is more interesting however is the buckets of bile and vitriol that he obviously received from the twitterverse. Now I appreciate that many people may find such comments offensive, you may well be one of them, and that’s completely fine. The death of anyone is a tragedy for those around them. But there is a real danger that something akin to the ridiculous behavior that occurred surrounding the death of Princess Diana (Queen of our Hearts) might start developing here. That the twitter may cultivate a mass hysteria about the death of someone that before he died you wouldn’t have left your children with.

As the story broke the news media quoted twitter extensively, citing a mass outpouring of grief throughout the entire internet. The 24 hour news channels need to fill their space with something, And lets face it there’s only so much standing outside hospitals saying “We’re still not sure of the details yet. Back to you John” one station can show (about 23 hours of it if past experience is anything to go by). But by reporting on a supposed mass outpouring of grief this only fans the flames of the hysteria. People start to think that everyone else can see the emperors new clothes so they should be able to too.

Hopefully I’m wrong about this. Hopefully it’s a flash in the pan. Michael Jackson and Princess Diana (Queen of our Hearts) are completely different entities after all. Certainly you can’t see newspapers like the Express and Mail getting behind a mawkish eulogizing campaign behind the man they dubbed “Wacko Jacko”. Most likely things will move on within a couple of hours and by tomorrow morning we’ll be back to the normal drudge of news.

But in this internet age where the world is bound ever closer together we need to be wary that everyday events don’t get blown out of all proportion. That the death of an emotionally scarred stranger or the discovery that a middle aged Scottish woman can sing doesn’t take on more significance than it deserves. The popular consciousness has a way of running away with us if we let it, and while the death of Michael Jackson is undoubtedly sad we must remember that it’s not a personal loss.

Or that’s my take on it anyway.

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Other films in the talking animals genre feature cute animals like pigs (Babe) or parrots (Paulie), and of course Dalmatians (Full Metal Jacket). Chihuahuas however are not cute, they are pretty much repellant as is the vacuous celebrity culture that appears to have adopted them.

So, perhaps unfairly, this film had quite a bit of ground to make up with me even before it started.

So did it pluckily beat the odds and win over the sullen heart of this cold blooded cynic?

Well no, not really.

It was OK I suppose. The acting was reasonable and some of the characters were entertaining, if not a little by-the-numbers( I’m always a sucker for the gruff veteran with a heart of gold and took a particular shine to Delgado, an ex German Shepard police-dog voiced by Andy Garcia).

The plot is your basic fish out of water story, with spoiled Chihuahua Cloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) getting lost in Mexico and finding her way home whilst being pursued by an evil dog-fighter and his demonic doberman El Diablo (voiced by Admiral Adama from Battlestar Galactica interestingly enough). There are no surprises and no upsets in the story line, which to be honest is fine. Well worn plots are like well worn footpaths; they are worn because they are pleasant to follow. The thing I object to is the lack of humor in the piece.

On the odd occasion Kerry cracked a smile, but I was pretty stoney faced through the whole affair. The obligatory comedy duo was present (in the guise of a rat and an iguana voiced by Cheech Marin and Paul Rodriguez ), but were underused and ineffectual.

But my main issue with the film was that I just couldn’t get over my distaste for the core conceit of having a Chihuahua as the central character. So to be fair the film never really stood a chance with me. If you’re into yappy little dogs that look like rats but without the charm, then you never know, this film may hit all your buttons.

Scanning through other reviews on the internet I noticed that many people were critical of the movies stereotypical treatment of Mexico. This surprised me as I really didn’t pick up on that at all, in fact I thought the movie was relatively enlightened. A fair proportion of the dialogue was in Spanish, and the main human character’s prejudices against Mexicans were held up and challenged quite early on in the film. The mexican police in particular were treated as being competent and modern rather than unsophisticated idiots from a third world country as I’ve seen in other movies. Of course I’m no expert in these things, Mexican stereotyping is probably a lot more basic here in the UK than I imagine it is in the States. I find the further you get away from a country the more unsubtle and broad your archetypes surrounding that place become. Our racial stereotypes of the Scottish are a lot more intricate and refined than those we hold about Eskimos for example.

As always with movies I’ve seen on blu-ray, the picture quality was excellent. The only criticism I have is the length of time it takes to actually start playing, but that’s the same with all of the discs I’ve used and I imagine is something to do with the sheer amount of information that’s stored on it. I’m sure that will improve as time and the technology moves forward

You can buy the Beverly Hills Chihuahua Blu-ray for about £15 on amazon.co.uk. Amazon also do a pretty good range of Blu-ray players as well should you fancy one.

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The radio show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue is a much loved British institution. It’s now in it’s 51st season and has been going since 1972. It bills itself as an “antidote to panel games”, which as a definition is pretty redundant as the types of panel games against which it was railing back in the early seventies are long gone as a genre.

It’s probably best described by it’s other tagline: A game where panelists Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Willie Rushton and Barry Cryer are given silly things to do by chairman Humphrey Lyttelton. These names not mean much to the chronically foreign, but trust me when I say they are the cream of the UK’s comedy performers, of a certain generation anyhow. Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor are two of the founders of the magnificent goodies ad contemporaries of the Monty Python crew. Barry Cryer is an extremely prolific comedy writer who has written for George Burns, Richard Prior, David Frost, Bob Hope, and Morecambe and Wise. And Willie Rushdon who was one of the founder members of the satirical magazine Private Eye and a much loved roving wit.

Rushdon died in 1996. His seat on the show has been occupied by a rotating cast of british comedians who’s names again probably don’t mean much to an international crowd, but who represent some of the best comedy talent this country has to offer.

Over it’s 37 years of existence I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue (or ISIHAC for short) has developed a good number of in jokes and traditions that delight regular listeners, but never-the-less it remains accessible to the new listener. Here’s an episode from 2006 that I’ve taken my collection of recordings, my main reason for choosing it over any other is that it was recorded in the town in which I work.

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In 2008 the chairman Humphrey Lyttelton sadly died. He was 89, so he had a good innings, but never the less it was devastating news. Not only had the country lost a fantastic personality, but there was a risk that without Humph ISIHAC would pass away too.

However the show must go on and the BBC announced that ISIHAC would return with a rotating guest chairmen Stephen Fry, Jack Dee, and Rob Brydon. The first of the new series went out last week, and the second yesterday. And I’m not keen.

The problem is that the chairman’s scriptwriter, the admittedly comic genius Iain Pattinson, has just transposed Humph’s world weary and bemused character directly onto the new chairman (Stephen Fry in the episodes broadcast so far) rather than take into account the individuals own personality. It just doesn’t sit right for me. It’ll probably work well for Jack Dee, but Fry is more witty and erudite than grumpy.

Saying that, the second episode grated much less than the first, so maybe it’s just a matter of getting used to it. Change is never easy to deal with, and change after 37 years of consistency particularly so.

You can listen to the most recent episode of ISIHAC on BBC’s iPlayer under Radio 4 comedy if you live in the UK.

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