Sinking of the Titanic- now in real-time

 

The sinking of RMS Titanic occurred on the night of 14 April through to the morning of 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean, four days into the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.

The largest passenger liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 23:40 (ship’s time)[a] on Sunday, 14 April 1912.

Her sinking two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 (05:18 GMT) on 15 April resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people, which made it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

Titanic received six warnings of sea ice on 14 April but was travelling near her maximum speed when her lookouts sighted the iceberg. Unable to turn quickly enough, the ship suffered a glancing blow that buckled her starboard (right) side and opened five of her sixteen compartments to the sea. Titanic had been designed to stay afloat with four of her forward compartments flooded but not more, and the crew soon realised that the ship would sink.

A video of the historic RMS Titanic sinking has been made to shed light on the horrific events that unfolded on that fateful day.

 

 

 

Krishnan Guru-Murthy sticks the sword in

Sir Craig Oliver was the Communications Director for former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who has recently written a book about their failed attempt to win the referendum.  Channel four news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy compared his knighthood to those that have gone before, including Sir Winston Churchill, Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh and ask how his Knighthood compared to his – a reward for failure?  It’s nice to see someone squirm!!

 

Bank of England New £5

TheBank of England has cooked them in ovens, drowned them in red wine, stuck them in the microwave and run them through a 90C washing machine cycle with Persil washing power. It reckons the new £5 plastic notes – which go into circulation on 13 September – will be warmly welcomed by the British public. Jason chats to about the new £5 which is due to be released later in summer. Jason speaks to Jonathan Calloway from the International Bank Note Society.

 

Channel 4 Announces First Dates Spin-Off

First Dates on Channel 4 has commissioned a spin off series

Channel 4 has commissioned a spin off to their First Dates serious called   ‘First Dates Hotel’.  The spin off will see Maître D’ Fred Siriex and his team welcome a whole host of hopeful singletons from all over the UK. First Dates Hotel will follow blind dates with a difference in a romantically charged boutique hotel in the French countryside.

This new series will include a brand new format where if the answer is ‘Yes’ their stay will be extended in romantic hotel and French countryside. And for some who don’t meet with success on their first date, they will be re-matched for a second chance at finding love.

Series Editor, Adam Chapman said: “Having worked across multiple series of first dates we’re really excited to develop the format and take into a new space. The hotel, whilst retaining all of the charm of the restaurant series will give the viewer the chance to see first dates develop into second dates answering that eternal question ‘what happens next’. Maitre-D Fred will be on hand as always to deliver a bespoke first date like no other. The First Dates Hotel will be the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern life; an oasis of romance where daters can concentrate on one thing and one thing only – finding love.”

For the past three years, First Dates have brought to us a contemporary but romantic alternative to the frustrations of modern dating. Now, for daters looking to take the next big step, First Dates is opening a hotel for a variety of people from all different backgrounds and ages.

 

The Good Web Guide Awards

” The hunt for stunning sites has begun “, The Good Web Guide Awards attracts entries from both grass roots startups and established players.

Last year entries were received from the likes of Foxtons, Belstaff, Black Tomato, Wicked Uncle and Posh Totty, with The GWG Website of the Year going to TrustedHousesitters, the world’s largest house/pet sitting network.

This year’s programme has several new categories for entrants, including Sports, for individual sports/clubs, sporting news and blogs and Corporate, for sites promoting organisations/businesses’ services or products.

2015 Website of the Year Winner: TrustedHousesitters.com connecting home & pet owners who need trustworthy people to housesit

The winning site will win a number of prizes worth over £7,000 to help perfect their online presence. The distinguished panel of judges includes serial entrepreneur and internet investor, William Reeve, whose past successes include Lovefilm and Forrester Research, Stefano Maruzzi, Vice President EMEA of GoDaddy, the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, Kitty Parry, founder and CEO of the Social Media Compliance, Aneeqa Khan, founder of eporta, one of the largest interiors inventories globally and others.

Orlando: Another Mass Shooting – LGBT targeted

In the early hours of June 12, 2016, a gunman, who I’m not interesting in naming, walked into the gay night club called Pulse in Orlando, Florida and started shooting at a group of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered people – who were doing nothing but being who they were and enjoying themselves.

This was a direct attack on gay people, freedom, humans, love and a different way of life.  As a gay man in love with another man you are always aware that there are people who would hurt, damage or kill people like me – just because of who they love.  Attitudes to gay people have fundamentally changed in the UK since I was born in the late 1970s.  Hostility was very present in the 80s when gay bars started to spring up in cities, albeit usually in discrete and concealed places – until the 90s and 2000s when the gay movement stopped hiding and people like me felt comfortable being open about our sexuality at work and so rather than being some distant object of derision – we become up close and personal with our straight colleagues – who realised – we were just like them.

But we are still not in a world, or country where being gay is still acceptable across the board.  When a bakery can refuse service to customers who wanted a gay themed cake because it is ‘against their belief’ – backed up by Christian groups and media elements.  It demonstrates to gay people that although we have journeyed far – the route back to the dark ages of the 1950s when we were illegal, arrested and in-prisoned – isn’t as far away as we might like to believe.

On my Monday Matters radio show I spoke to gay radio presenter DJ Justice, who presents his show in Orlando and often visited  Pulse and lost people that he knew in the atrocity.

 

 

Goat or Crick?

Is it a goat or political journalist Michael Crick?

Highways England release video of bridge demolition

Highways England has released footage of the demolition of a bridge over the A38 near Plymouth.

The demolition of the old Merafield Bridge at Plympton took place overnight on Saturday, signalling the final phase of the £6.3M maintenance project on the A38.

The bridge was in need of replacing due to suffering from alkali silica reaction, commonly known in the construction industry as ‘concrete cancer’.

Around 50kg of explosives were used along 278 drilled locations centred on the supporting piers and the abutments at each end of the structure.

As some segments of the old bridge were not fully broken up during the demolition work continued into Sunday to break up and remove the remaining parts.

Highways England South West Regional Director, Andrew Page-Dove commented: “This was a big project that needed extensive planning to ensure traffic around Plymouth was kept flowing smoothly and the vital A38 transport link between Devon, Plymouth and South East Cornwall was maintained.

“We worked very closely with Plymouth City Council, the Plymouth and Devon Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to ensure we got the traffic management right and we are very grateful for all the support we’ve received.”

Two weeks ago, a new bridge that was built alongside the old one was opened.

The new structure is 80m long, 11m wide and consists of 2,503 tonnes of concrete and 401 tonnes of steel.

Transport Minister Andrew Jones said: “It’s vital that we replace out-of-date infrastructure so we can keep traffic moving and I am pleased Highways England has delivered this new bridge over the A38 on time and on budget.

“As well as tackling congestion, our investment in England’s motorways and major A-roads is about keeping communities connected through projects like this.”

The scheme is due to be fully complete by July meaning that the region shouldn’t be affected during the busy holiday season.

Ghostbusters – The Crazy Dance

I was out with 106.9 SFM in the streets of Sittingbourne on Saturday.  We were broadcasting live from the town centre as part of the fantastic sci-fi weekend that they were having.  Whilst filming on periscope a little man honed into view and started dancing along to Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters song that was playing out.

 

Airbus A321 flying into Gatwick

I recently spent a week in Spain and on the way back used my ipad to record the view from the wing as we made our approach and landing.