That's Actually Very Interesting...

Heroes of home engineering Although we here at TAVI towers have the utmost respect for any man who spends a Sunday afternoon out in the shed tinkering with some old clock parts while listening to the The Pools, there’s a special place in our heart for anyone who takes it upon themselves to modify their own car. With a jet engine. In the picture above, you can see TAVI’s own Ben Machell testing out his trusty Nissan Sunny down at Donington Park race track, which he privately hired for the occasion. Indeed, the trial went so well that he’s decided to keep this new modifaction in tact for domestic usage, and he informs me that it really takes a lot of stress out of the school run.

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Bootsy’s Basic Funk Formula: FYI



DLT: Serial shagger Named ‘Piper of the Year’ by Nicotine Quarterly every year from 1980 to 89 (until, that is, Canadian snooker doyen Cliff Thorburn deprived him of equaling the record ten consecutive titles, still held to this day by James Robertson Justice (1946-56)), Dave Lee Travis was the bearded face of hand-rubbed shag for an entire decade.
 
But, as he explains in his bawdy autobiography, ‘Born on Air’, the chance to become the spokesman for Dr. Plumb almost didn’t come to pass. He takes up the story…

“I was doing a voice over for a Smarties ad when the news came in that Omar Sharif had just landed in Heathrow. I knew that the Dr. [Plumb] had been after him for years, and now here he was, rolling into town just as the new campaign was finally being settled. I rushed into the recording studio’s control booth to call my agent, but as I stood there dialing, a news report came on the radio announcing that Sharif had been involved in a multi-car pile up on the M40. You can imagine my relief! Omar was hospitalized for eight weeks and I went on to become the face of Dr. Plumb in both the UK and Ireland. I see Omar at the odd charity event and we both get a big kick out of the story, I can tell you. Great days.”
 
Dr. Plumb (a subsidiary of WorldCorp) went out of business in the late ’80s after a string of high-profile court cases, while “The Hairy Bumflake” (as he was famously dubbed by Noel Edmonds) immersed himself in primal scream therapy in his tumbledown Wiltshire retreat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp5u3s-BZg4

You Sunk Mon Battleship! The next time someone goes “Hey, remember that time during WWII when the Royal Navy attacked the French fleet, killing 1,297 sailors?”, rather than just going “Whaaaaaaa?”, you can say “Sure do dad!” with pride. And all thanks to one of TAVI’s personal favourite Wikipedia articles.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir

You Sunk Mon Battleship!

The next time someone goes “Hey, remember that time during WWII when the Royal Navy attacked the French fleet, killing 1,297 sailors?”, rather than just going “Whaaaaaaa?”, you can say “Sure do dad!” with pride. And all thanks to one of TAVI’s personal favourite Wikipedia articles. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir

Ian Anderson When he wasn’t having to think about where to stash all the bin liners full of grubby fivers that he was making as flute-wielding lynchpin for folk-tinged prog titans, Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson was raking in the lucre as one of the western world’s foremost fish barons, with salmon hacheries in the Isle of Skye and New England. And if that wasn’t interesting enough, Anderson has also kindly written this in depth guide to Indian food for his excellent band website, www.J-tull.com.

“One of the truest statements ever made is, ‘All the World Loves a Strongman’,” begins the preface to this very interesting book about how to trick people into thinking you got muscles. The author, Ottley R. Coulter (who was acknowledged as bodybuilding’s first historian) continues: “Every man, woman and child admires strength, and there is not a man who does not crave it. To be stronger than your friends is to be looked upon as a natural leader, and an invincible defender. Strength is the biggest hallmark of manhood. It demonstrates true he-man masculinity. Because this is true, it rouses a great desire in every manly heart to be able to do the great feats of strength which hold people breathless when demonstrated to them.” What follows is a “How To” of phony muscle-man stunts, including how to tear a telephone book in half, how to lift a man over your head with one arm and how to drive a nail into a sheet of metal with your fist. Diagrams are provided. http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Coulter/Stunts/stunts-intro-1.htm

“One of the truest statements ever made is, ‘All the World Loves a Strongman’,” begins the preface to this very interesting book about how to trick people into thinking you got muscles. The author, Ottley R. Coulter (who was acknowledged as bodybuilding’s first historian) continues:

“Every man, woman and child admires strength, and there is not a man who does not crave it. To be stronger than your friends is to be looked upon as a natural leader, and an invincible defender. Strength is the biggest hallmark of manhood. It demonstrates true he-man masculinity. Because this is true, it rouses a great desire in every manly heart to be able to do the great feats of strength which hold people breathless when demonstrated to them.”

What follows is a “How To” of phony muscle-man stunts, including how to tear a telephone book in half, how to lift a man over your head with one arm and how to drive a nail into a sheet of metal with your fist. Diagrams are provided.

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Coulter/Stunts/stunts-intro-1.htm

Band Names We’ve all dreamed of starting our own band, getting a few friends together in your nan’s fallout shelter to bash out some dancehall-tinged Steeleye Span covers. Still, even if you possess the sage-like fretboard dexterity of Martin Carthy, if the name of your band is unmemorable, it’s the scrap heap for you, make no mistake. So, the good folks at TAVI have come up with 106 band names for general usage… Don’s PontoonJanitor MentalityTop WhackSpiro Agnew GrafittiIn Contact With GhanaLA LightsReliable GlassblowerChob TollerationSnooker Terminology Das Telephone The Clipboard Dollies Schoolboy Vision Michael J Parkinson The Mink Skittles Camp Rainbow Gold Lager Expo Ketchum, Idaho Mazel tov! The Bin Men Python Template Sacred Pinecone Dartmoor Junket The Ken Burns Effect Miasma The Clam Chowders Junior Poontang Clipped Biscuit The Corset Kidz Dreams of… Uncle Francis’s Commercial Meltdown Count Bisley and his Big-Top Commandos Konfuzion! Iron-On Dreams Jam in a Can Jimmy Riddle The South Mimms Gentleman Swing Band Lovely Gob Byzantine Romance Directory Rum Baba Epistemology For Kids The Limits of Tabletennis Rave Parade Musical Chairs Fibreglass, Silicon, Metal, Acrylic, Love The Tex Mex Hex Pall Mall Flannagan’s Electric Armchair Orgone Beat Stig Bjornebye’s Eight Gallon Blues Band Symptom Sandwiches The Bismarcks The Tottenham Whalers Deluxe Whistle Splosh Deep Heat Vogue Pedestal Mild Tsunami The Chelsea Smiles Rudder Grand Rapids Squared Sauna Accident Cormorant Bitches Sister The Excelsiorites Earl Happley’s Major Solution Company Quiver and the Bows Mystic Liver Bungled Lethal Injection Pedro Plains Winger & Ziskey Lancashire Combination Cask Strength Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Pure. Tory. Heartland. Get Knotted Thrips, Mites and Mealybugs Tipsy Niggler & the Kircaldy Horns The Welcome Homes The Ha’penny Buttermilks Frood() Clem Brown’s Treehouse Odyssey Saddle Pineapple Deflation The Crimson Jihad Flick Painting Alexei Sayle’s Tangled Colon The Juiceboxers Scotch Tape Mom, Where’s My Glider? The Top Trump Cheaters Wretched Excess The Coal Scuttles The Messy Owens Quipster Homage Feinnes & Ghandi The Peanut Whittlers’ Collective Ensemble Flippp Cronkite’s Will The Alfalfa Sprouts Remember That Picture With The Dogs Playing Cards Band Marathon Kebab Frank Absolom and the Gaudy Bear Group Winner’s Dinners Epitaph McCloud’s Fine, Fine Gentlemen Cement Oboe Gimme 13!

Band Names We’ve all dreamed of starting our own band, getting a few friends together in your nan’s fallout shelter to bash out some dancehall-tinged Steeleye Span covers. Still, even if you possess the sage-like fretboard dexterity of Martin Carthy, if the name of your band is unmemorable, it’s the scrap heap for you, make no mistake. So, the good folks at TAVI have come up with 106 band names for general usage…

Don’s Pontoon

Janitor Mentality

Top Whack

Spiro Agnew Grafitti

In Contact With Ghana

LA Lights

Reliable Glassblower

Chob Tolleration

Snooker Terminology

Das Telephone

The Clipboard Dollies

Schoolboy Vision

Michael J Parkinson

The Mink Skittles

Camp Rainbow Gold

Lager Expo

Ketchum, Idaho

Mazel tov!

The Bin Men

Python Template

Sacred Pinecone

Dartmoor Junket

The Ken Burns Effect

Miasma

The Clam Chowders

Junior Poontang

Clipped Biscuit

The Corset Kidz

Dreams of…

Uncle Francis’s Commercial Meltdown

Count Bisley and his Big-Top Commandos

Konfuzion!

Iron-On Dreams

Jam in a Can

Jimmy Riddle

The South Mimms Gentleman Swing Band

Lovely Gob

Byzantine Romance Directory

Rum Baba

Epistemology For Kids

The Limits of Tabletennis

Rave Parade

Musical Chairs

Fibreglass, Silicon, Metal, Acrylic, Love

The Tex Mex Hex

Pall Mall

Flannagan’s Electric Armchair

Orgone Beat

Stig Bjornebye’s Eight Gallon Blues Band

Symptom Sandwiches

The Bismarcks

The Tottenham Whalers

Deluxe Whistle

Splosh

Deep Heat

Vogue Pedestal

Mild Tsunami

The Chelsea Smiles

Rudder

Grand Rapids Squared

Sauna Accident

Cormorant

Bitches Sister

The Excelsiorites

Earl Happley’s Major Solution Company

Quiver and the Bows

Mystic Liver

Bungled Lethal Injection

Pedro Plains

Winger & Ziskey

Lancashire Combination

Cask Strength

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Pure. Tory. Heartland.

Get Knotted

Thrips, Mites and Mealybugs

Tipsy Niggler & the Kircaldy Horns

The Welcome Homes

The Ha’penny Buttermilks

Frood()

Clem Brown’s Treehouse Odyssey

Saddle

Pineapple Deflation

The Crimson Jihad

Flick Painting

Alexei Sayle’s Tangled Colon

The Juiceboxers

Scotch Tape

Mom, Where’s My Glider?

The Top Trump Cheaters

Wretched Excess

The Coal Scuttles

The Messy Owens

Quipster Homage

Feinnes & Ghandi

The Peanut Whittlers’ Collective Ensemble

Flippp

Cronkite’s Will

The Alfalfa Sprouts

Remember That Picture With The Dogs Playing Cards Band

Marathon Kebab

Frank Absolom and the Gaudy Bear Group

Winner’s Dinners

Epitaph McCloud’s Fine, Fine Gentlemen

Cement Oboe

Gimme 13!

Werewolf Trials of The Renaissance: Spend any amount of time looking at the internet and it’s usually a matter of minutes before you’re elbow-deep in witch trial trivia. Altogether more elusive, however, is information and/or terrifying German woodcuts relating to 15th, 16th and even 17th century lycanthropy accusations… until now! From “Hans the Werewolf” of Estonia to the Valais Trials of the 1430s (execution count: 200+), re-live the glamour and tragedy of the Renaissance Euro shapeshifting scene in a few easy clicks…  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_witch_trials

Werewolf Trials of The Renaissance: Spend any amount of time looking at the internet and it’s usually a matter of minutes before you’re elbow-deep in witch trial trivia. Altogether more elusive, however, is information and/or terrifying German woodcuts relating to 15th, 16th and even 17th century lycanthropy accusations… until now! From “Hans the Werewolf” of Estonia to the Valais Trials of the 1430s (execution count: 200+), re-live the glamour and tragedy of the Renaissance Euro shapeshifting scene in a few easy clicks… 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf_witch_trials

How to skank: If you’re planning to head to the discotheque this weekend, you’d do well to take in this essential video guide to the four basic forms of ska dancing.

The Wild Geese:  While the so-called “Academy” hurled plaudits at the combat-trauma machismo of 1978’s ‘The Deer Hunter’, London-born directorial journeyman Andrew V MClaglen (see also the astounding and necessary war sequel, ‘Return from the River Kwai’ (1989) and the ribald oil platform caper, ‘North Sea Hijack’ (1979)) came up with a bolder, darker, more politically outraged picture during the same year. That film was, of course, ‘The Wild Geese’.

The man’s man casting masterstroke of teaming Richard Burton with Richard Harris was only trumped by having Roger Moore play against type, here as a gin-swilling, happy-go-lucky misogynist. The trailer above gives a taster of the joy and heartbreak of life as a mercenary in post-colonial Africa, feelings bolstered no-end by Joan Armatrading’s wonderful theme song. 1988’s sequel saw the Geese accepting the formidable challenge of springing Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison.

http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/4808/The_Wild_Geese-30_Years_On.html