London Calling
"Where are you calling from?" asked Mrs Z.
"I'm standing on the Star Terrace at Television Centre," I told her, "and I'm looking straight across at that bit of the building you always see on the telly."
"Oh. What's that like?"
"To be honest, " I said, "The building reminds me of my old comprehensive school. It has that sixties look about it. Tiled exterior wall. Windows wedged open by books. Flaking paintwork. Seen better days really."
"You've just been spoiled by Pacific Quay," said Mrs Z. She's probably right. What am I saying? She's always right.
Along the road at White City and the Media Centre, things are very much in the 21st Century. Even the tea-bar feels like something out of a science fiction movie, with TV pictures being screened onto a huge split globe in which you can sit and have creative meetings.
I was actually between two such meetings so I took the opportunity to pop up to the offices of Ariel - the BBC staff newspaper - and introduce myself to reporter Laura Scarrot. She recognised me immediately, she said, because she reads this blog.
"You're just back from France aren't you?" said Laura.
"Er...no, you must have been reading someone else's blog."
"Oh. Maybe I was."
So fickle, these Beeb people.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~35~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Why is 'Ariel' the title of the BBC staff newspaper?
Complain about this comment
Probably something to do with being whiter than white.
Complain about this comment
Almost Jim. It is because there is a statue of Ariel and I think Prospero outside Broadcasting House.
Complain about this comment
#3
Norrie,
In my reference books the only 'Ariels' I can find are the nice Jewish girl about whom Dean Friedman wrote a song, the 'Little Mermaid' of the animated movie, Arik Sharon, (who is still in a coma), and the third largest of the five satellites of Uranus. Which, come to think of it, must also mean it is the third smallest of the five satellites of Uranus.
In Hebrew the name means 'Lion of God'.
Who do these statues represent?
Complain about this comment
I will ask the folk at Ariel to explain.
Complain about this comment
I am pretty sure I am right about this (I looked up some info on it all when JZ talked about his Sopranos thing in Ariel) so anyway its all to do with Characters in The Tempest
At the front of the building are statues of Prospero and Ariel by Eric Gill the typographer and sculptor. Prospero was a magician, and Ariel, a spirit of the air, in which radio waves travel.
Complain about this comment
As an aside there is a brilliant web site on the history of the building and if I can locate it again I will post it .................................................................................................................................here.
Complain about this comment
I learned to ride on an Ariel.... an 'Arrow 250cc' >8-O
Complain about this comment
Norrie/everybody...
BBC info on the buildings and their history is located here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/collections/index.shtml
Complain about this comment
Thanks for that pointer JFE - I'll see if I can find that other site as well.
Complain about this comment
Allegedly there's wan going up ootside PQ to Persil.
Complain about this comment
What can we do to deter(gent) them?
Complain about this comment
#9
Jim,
Thank you! Remember, if Bryan ever gives a 'Shakespeare' theme the green light, you can request 'Ariel' by Dean Friedman!
Complain about this comment
Jeff, Scotch
This link is really interesting...
http://www.roger.beckwith.btinternet.co.uk/bh/bh32/bh32_i.htm
Some great photos and info on the construction.
Complain about this comment
Thanks Norrie
so Shakespeare's Ariel...the invisible spirit of the air.
Complain about this comment
#14
The things you learn here! Thanks, Norrie.
Complain about this comment
The official explnation courtesy of Ariel reporter Laura Scarrot and her colleague Tony Matthews in BBC Marketing, Communications & Audiences:
"Yes, it comes from the statues at Broadcasting House. When it was built in the 30s, the sculptor Eric Gill was commissioned to produce a statue for the entrance of the characters Ariel (selected as an apt personification of broadcasting as it was "the invisible spirit of the air") and Prospero from The Tempest.
Ariel takes it's name from that (and has a sister magazine for BBC pensioners called Prospero). It was first published in 1936 as a quarterly BBC Club newsletter and gradually turned into the staff newspaper. It has been weekly since the 70s, I think."
Complain about this comment
Jeff, Laura, Tony,
Thank you!
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS