20:05 – Intro music.
20:08 – Magic – S01E05 – Dangerous Magic – part of a 2004 BBC documentary series about magic. First broadcast on Sat 13th Nov 2004, 21:25 on BBC2.
21:04 – James Burke – Connections – S01E06 – “Wheel of Fortune” – Sixth episode of the legendary series exploring the history of technology in a non-conventional way. From the Radio Times listing: “What’s the connection between skating on the Thames and making love in private, or between the invention of soda-water and the scent-spray – and how does that connection lead to package tours to Majorca?’” First broadcast Tue 21st November 1978, 7.20pm, BBC1.
21:53 – Double Indemnity (1944) – The classic film noir. I saw this on late-night TV in my late-teens / early-20s, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Wikipedia says: “a 1944 American crime film noir directed by Billy Wilder, co-written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. The screenplay was based on James M. Cain’s 1943 novel of the same title, which appeared as an eight-part serial for the Liberty magazine in February 1936.
“The film stars Fred MacMurray as an insurance salesman, Barbara Stanwyck as a provocative housewife who is accused of killing her husband, and Edward G. Robinson as a claims adjuster whose job is to find phony claims. The term ‘double indemnity’ refers to a clause in certain life insurance policies that doubles the payout in cases when the death is accidental.
“Praised by many critics when first released, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards but did not win any. Widely regarded as a classic, it often is cited as having set the standard for film noir. Deemed ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’ by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1992, Double Indemnity was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.”
23:41 – Measured for Transport (1962) – a 12-minute British Transport Film about moving a transformer by rail. Once shown by Flouncer, I believe.
23:53 – The Phoenix Tower – the story of the Crystal Palace Television Tower.
00:32 – Vision On – Weight – an episode of the classic 1970s show for deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
00:55 – Closedown music.
01:00 – Closedown.