Peter Rhodes on a prince's boat, an investigative Beeb and the days when fishing was easy
How long does an advertising jingle stick in your mind? Shopping for a carpet shampoo in a hardware shop, I instantly opted for the one that cleans a big, big carpet for less than half a crown (Your grandparents may be able to help with this one).
I assumed that HMS Bronington, the old wooden-hulled minesweeper in which the then Prince Charles served during his spell in the Royal Navy, had gone to the breaker’s yard years ago. Not so. The old tub is in a sorry state but may be restored thanks to a new appeal for funds.
I have an interest in Bronington. One grey day 46 years ago, there were just two vessels mucking about on Loch Long, off the Clyde.
One was HMS Bronington, skippered by Charles, and the other was an 8ft dinghy rowed by me. He was practising three-point turns. I was fishing.
Those were the days, of blessed memory, when you could go fishing off almost any coast in the UK and be reasonably sure of getting a cod, a pollock or a brace of mackerel for lunch.
Then the factory-fishing industry arrived, hoovering up fish to be turned into fishmeal and fed to chickens. I believe they called it progress.
Through gritted teeth I have just renewed my TV licence, bunging £159 to the BBC which these days seems more like a branch of the CID.
Over recent days the BBC has investigated the following: the sinking of a refugee ship in the Med, work practices at McDonald’s, the sale of dangerous muscle-building drugs and allegations that paedophiles are using AI to produce sex-abuse images.
How eager they are to spend our money investigating things that suit them, but how reluctant to dip a toe in the Huw Edwards affair.
The receipt arrives from the BBC with these words, telling me why I pay for a licence: “You’re helping the BBC to keep creating the shows and services you love.” No, I’m just trying to stay out of jail.
After last week’s gripping item on the Bristol dialect which ads an L to some words ending in vowels (Ford Fiestal etc) A Bristolian makes contact to remind us that Nigerial is a malarial areal.
