Tag Archives: 1999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX7_C-CLRC8 ; Test 3 ; nth I jot Or

Posted on by Muggs

April 11, 2012:

@ChieftanMews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX7_C-CLRC8 ; Test 3 ; nth I jot Or

New Tweet tonight from Chieftan Mews containing a Youtube Video link to Flying Over San Jose (BBC2 1975-1976).

Uploaded in 2008 Youtube gives the following description of the file:

This tape was introduced in May 1975 as a new tape and was later twinned with Cheers! to form its later replacement, Five Spanish Dances, which was launched in December 1976. This tape was composed by the Simon Gale Orchestra and included some of the tracks later to be used on Summer Sunny Holiday and Melancholic Rock, and was the first tape to be launched on BBC2 after the decision was made to reduce trade on the channel in favour of a lunchtime closedown in order to save the BBC money and power from January 1975.

According to comments on Youtube Chieftan Mews had previously linked to this video in a Direct Message to a fan six months ago.

Test 3 comes from this being the third TestCard video Mew’s has tweeted over the past two years, the previous ones where on May 15th 2011 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncmg3bxtTB0 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SmOBxP9-g ; Test 2 ).

nth I jot Or is a tricky one that appears to have a maths feel.

Nth is a term used for the largest number in a series of ordered numbers.

I is 1 in Roman numerals or may simply be i as an unknown interger.

The Phrase Finder has the following history for the world jot:

A jot is the name of the least letter of an alphabet or the smallest part of a piece of writing. It is the Anglicized version of the Greek iota – the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, which corresponds to the Roman ‘i’. This, in turn, was derived from the Hebrew word jod, or yodr, which is the the smallest letter of the square Hebrew alphabet. Apart from its specialist typographical meaning, we still use the word jot more generally to mean ‘a tiny amount’. Hence, when we have a brief note to make, we ‘jot it down’.

( Source: www.phrases.org.uk )

Or is often used in maths to determine a Boolean operation where one can either be true or false.

It could also be a reference to Or Records a London based independent record label founded in 1998 who specialized in Electronic and Experimental Computer Music including a two edition of their own computer music audio magazine in 1999 featuring Aphex Twin and others. You can still order it from Touchshop for £6.00 plus postage.


( Source: Touchshop.org )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SmOBxP9-g ; Test 2

Posted on by Muggs

May 15, 2011:

@ChieftanMews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6SmOBxP9-g ; Test 2

Test 2 takes you to a Youtube Video of BBC Testcard F featuring the instrumental piece ‘Voy, Voy, Voy’ from BBC2 cia 1971-1972. The video is 10 minutes long and contains a number of pieces of music and features Carole Hersee and Bubbles the Clown who together have been shown on television for about 70,000 hours (That’s 8 years!). Test Card F traditionally appeared during dead air on BBC1 and BBC2.


Creepy enough for you? (Source: Wikipedia )

Wiki gives the following history of Test Card F:

Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades. Like other test cards, it was usually shown while no programmes were being broadcast, but was the first to be transmitted in colour in the UK and the first to feature a person,[1] and has become an iconic British image regularly subject to parody.

The central image on the card shows eight-year-old Carole Hersee, playing noughts and crosses with a clown doll, Bubbles the Clown, surrounded by various greyscales and colour test signals needed to ensure a correct picture. It was first broadcast on 2 July 1967 (the day after the first colour pictures appeared to the public on television) on BBC2.

The card was developed by a BBC engineer, George Hersee, father of the girl in the central image. It was frequently broadcast during downtime on BBC1 until that channel went fully 24 hours in November 1997, and on BBC Two until its downtime was replaced entirely by Pages from Ceefax in 1998, after which it was only seen during engineering work, and was last seen in this role in 1999.

Posts in the comments on Youtube state that the harmonica track is titled ‘Johanna’ and performed by the Guy Luypaerts Orchestra.

Interestingly enough ‘Testcard Girl’ was portrayed in a rather Chieftan Mews-ish role as a character in the original BBC series of Life on Mars broadcast in 2006-2007 where she appears first inside the television and then in visions providing the main character with comments relating to his life and things that where going to happen.
She also repeatedly taunts him and occasionally scares him out of his wits with quotes such as “You don’t like me and my clown, I can see I make you frown. When on earth will all this end? I’m you’re friend, you’re only friend.”

You can read more about Test Card F on Wiki here including links to download your own copy of Test Card F if you feel so inclined. While it’s tempting link to Testcard Girl’s role in Life on Mars I’d suggest hunting up the entire series instead to avoid spoilers. It’s well worth the effort.