A glorious summer of ‘fiestas’ awaits

Just one week ago, the streets of Central London bubbled with the sight of thousands of Spanish football fans celebrating on the streets. Fast forward seven days and Rafael Nadal has fuelled the festivities once more, emerging victorious after a titanic tussle with Roger Federer as the new Wimbledon Gentleman’s Champion. What better time has there been to be Spanish?

The atmosphere around the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club fizzed with anticipation early yesterday afternoon before the final began. Nadal had powered his way through subsequent rounds, dismissing opponents with a shrug of his shoulders and with the clout of Optimus Prime. Waiting in the final, however, was the imperious Roger Federer. The artist of the tennis court. Quite capable of winning a tennis match whilst washing his hair.

Nadal started auspiciously. Taking the few opportunities to arise he soon led Roger Federer by two clear sets. Then, in a potent cocktail of British weather, Swiss determination and excellent tennis, the nature of the match changed. Federer was able to take full advantage of the intermittent rain delays and clawed back two sets, both on tie-breaks.

The fifth and deciding set took the players almost two hours to complete. Federer giving hope to his supporters, that included Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani, that he might complete one of Wimbledon’s most memorable comebacks. In a set which could be portentous for the immediate future of men’s tennis, Nadal emerged victorious. The end finally coming at almost ten minutes past nine when Federer slapped a forehand into the net and Nadal crumpled on the ground in celebration.

The world’s press quickly adopted a uniform opinion as the players accepted their awards from the Duke of Kent. ‘The biggest match!’, claimed the Spanish newspaper Marca. Erstwhile champions John McEnroe and Boris Becker agreed, claiming that it was the ‘best match’ they have ever seen.

An exhausted Nadal told press: ‘It’s impossible to describe. I’m just very happy. It’s unbelievable for me to have the title here at Wimbledon. It’s a dream. Always as a kid I dreamed of playing here.’

Federer was magnanimous in defeat, perhaps buoyed slightly by the fact that he remains the world’s top seeded player. ‘It’s my hardest loss by far,’ he confessed. ‘I’m happy that we lived up to expectations, but right now it’s not much of a good feeling.’

Boris Becker, summing up with day’s action, was warm in his appreciation of both of the players. ‘We were watching two of the greatest players to have played this beautiful game of tennis… the rankings may still have Federer as number one but it’s only a matter of time before Nadal takes over.’

The scene is set perfectly for a scrap between these two young tennis players that may last for the next few years. It promises to be a gripping fight.

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Tags: BBC, Digital TV, Sky, Sport by Peter Moore
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Many viewers left ‘in the dark’

The many the ‘Digital Switchover’ is a puzzling concept, its significance diluted amongst a thousand Blairite sound-bites. And can you really blame people? ‘Education, Education, Education’; ‘Hearts and Minds’;’ Special Relationship’; ‘Prudence’ and now ‘Competence’ – is it at all surprising that people are failing to draw the meaning out of words anymore?

I say this, because a recent parliamentary report has claimed that ‘many viewers do not understand the implications of the digital switchover’, despite the efforts of a £200m campaign. The statistics are unequivocal. Of all of the television sets sold in the first half of 2007, over half of them were analogue. In total it is estimated that there are 26 million analogue televisions in existence that will need replacing.

Whitehaven became the first place to fall under the glimmer of digital television on 14 November last year. In that town, on the north western Cumbrian coast, it is now only possible to watch television on broadband, Freeview, Sky, satellite or cable. Like a pack of cards, the rest of Britain is poised to follow suit over the next four years. The problem is that many remain in blissful ignorance.

Once the analogue signal is switched off permanently, viewers will only be able to receive a digital signal unless they pay for expensive extra equipment. The upshot of this is – that people across the country need to begin to consider what digital service they would like to opt for in the future.

Sky and Freeview are the two most prominent options available. Sky with its array of programming and effortless programming quality and Freeview boasts a quick-fix connection to the digital signal and comes with a cart load of free-to-air channels. Other companies have joined the mix – and currently Virgin Media, BT, Tiscali and Setanta are amongst a cluster of companies offering attractive digital packages.

Meanwhile the report suggests that the government have to do more to make the population aware of the impending change. Specifically, it suggested that the digital tick that signified whether or not a product was suitable for the digital changeover remained a ‘mystery’ to many sales staff and customers.

Therefore it is clear that the facts surrounding the digital switchover will have to be better promoted – otherwise viewers quite simply could be caught in the fuzz and forced into a last minute upgrade.

Tags: Digital TV, Sky, Switchover, Virgin by Peter Moore
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Convincing and classy. The Spanish lead the way

After thirty three minutes of the European Championship final in Vienna, the Spanish midfielder Xabi cut an appealing ball through the German defence; Fernando Torres skipped in behind the retreating Phillipp Lahm and subtly nipped the ball delicately over the arms of the advancing German goalkeeper.

It was the decisive moment in a football match defined by the fluid passing of a Spanish team that was smouldering with talent. In contrast Germany were wretched. They huffed and puffed but failed to ignite the faintest of sparks. A bit like a toothless dog trying to chew on a bone.

Somehow Spain managed not to score again and the score remain 1-0. It hardly mattered. As the referee, Roberto Rosetti, signalled the end of the match with a sharp blow on his whistle after ninety three minutes, Plaza de Colón in Madrid burst into scenes excited celebration and King Juan Carlos shook his fist defiantly in the air.

It was Spain’s first major title for 44 years and the unfortunate fact that it was a Sunday night was not going to dampen hopes of an impending party. The situation was personified by the frantic banging of Spain’s most celebrated fan, Manolo el del Bombo, who appeared on television screens beating his ‘drum of Spain’ and wearing his familiar wide-brimmed Basque beret.

In a scene laced with irony, Trafalgar Square became the epicentre of the celebrations of the Spanish community in London. Obviously the authorities hadn’t been informed of the Spanish celebratory predisposition for jumping into fountains and within two hours of the victory, a spontaneous botellón was raging amongst the dancing, the singing and the occasional water fight.

For Spain and its citizens it was a glorious end to a tournament that was infused with excitement, drama and surprise. On a personal note, I’d like to nominate Marcos Senna as my player of the tournament – and I wonder that if it is possible for Spain to win something after 44 years, then England can galvanise themselves to do something productive after 42.

We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, it’s ‘A por ellos’ and ‘¡Viva España!’

To keep up to date with the latest football news check out the latest offers on digital television packages- which allow you to stay in touch with the news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can view Spain’s thrilling victory on penalties against the Italians by watching the embedded video. Congratulations once again!

Tags: Digital TV, Sky, Sport by Peter Moore
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Back in the good ol’ days

Clobbering the television with a fist and skirting about the living room with an aerial, attempting to plot its electromagnetic potential are vivid recollections that I have of my time as a student.

As best the picture displayed on our fifteen year old wooden box was a fuzzy blur, with weathermen and news announcers flickering in and out of focus; coloured with a similar green hue to the animated character Shrek. At worst the picture would disappear completely into a black and white snowstorm as my housemates and I growled angrily away on the sofa.

Fast forward a decade and I have no idea as to whether or not that television is still chugging away – although I am rather sceptical. What I do know, is that with the advent of high-definition or HD television, even tightly hinged students’ wallets s should be tempted to cast their television punching days to history.

Sky announced at the end of last week that they are planning to increase their HD content and cut subscription prices to their flagship service. It all sounds a little convoluted, so in layman’s terms it means that you can snatch a cheaper digital deal for unparalleled crystal clear broadcasting quality. Sweet.

‘There’s a lot of changes coming,’ Sky announced expectantly, stating their hope to launch ITVHD in the near future. The prices are dropping too – with a £10 per month HD subscription fee being banded about a number of websites with a certain amount of alacrity.

Currently amongst the clump of high-definition channels, you can find Sky Sports HD, Sky One HD, Sky Movies HD, BBC HD, Sky Arts HD and the History Channel HD. The picture quality on HD is as sharp as a tiger’s tooth and the array of vivid colours and clear definition of animate objects is four times better than you’ll receive from the standard television signal.

Sky have already forged a reputation as the leading provider of high definition television and a spokesman mused recently that a re-launch of the HD programming guide (EPG) was a subtle augury of what was to come. ‘The EPG re-launch is just the first phase of a really good push on HD.’

Tags: BBC, Digital TV, High Definition TV, Sky by Peter Moore
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England on the bounceback

Midway through yesterday afternoon, Kevin Pietersen hopped, skipped and jumped his way down the Trent Bridge wicket in celebration of his twelfth test match hundred. And as he whipped the navy blue helmet from his head and thrust a clenched fist into the air, I began to ponder upon just have evocative the British sporting summer can be.

For a magical three months, nestled between the frantic end of a football season and the expectant beginning of a new one, cricket and tennis rush into the fill the hole in the sporting timetable.
It became a national pastime for more than a decade speculating as to whether ‘this would be Tim Henman’s year at Wimbledon?’ The critics were optimistic, the newspapers wrote of Churchill and the ‘British spirit’ and the population camped out on ‘Henman Hill’ in a state of twittering excitement.

Unfortunately they all transpired to be a little deluded and it never quite happened for Tim. Following his retirement in August of last year, this will be the first Henman-free Wimbledon in quite some time – leaving him happily removed from the glare of the press and free to lament the rainstorm which proved a fatal interruption to his semi final with Goran Ivanišević in 2001.

Happily for all parties with a vested interest, Andy Murray promises to provide the nation with a little more stimulation this June when the tournament starts in just over a fortnight’s time.

Meanwhile, following their wonderful performance three summers’ ago against the Australians, the English cricket team still appear to be wedged in a lugubrious rebuilding period. Andrew Flintoff, who remains arguably England’s best player and tub-thumping all-rounder, has been perennially injured and just like Humpty Dumpty is taking a good deal of being put back together again.

Of the other members of the victorious Ashes team, many of them are performing in fits and starts. Marcus Trescothick has disappeared into the mist completely, the ‘King of Spain’, Ashley Giles retired with a bad hip and Simon Jones the dynamic reverse-swing specialist was last spotted trundling around the outfield of Worcester’s New Road pitch.

Thank the lord then for the presence of Kevin Pietersen, who has not tired of clubbing the opposition bowlers to all points of the outfield. As he rules the back pages of the newspapers today, his face contorted into a Gladiatorial-growl, we can be assured that the British sporting summer of 2008 has begun.

Tags: Sky, Sport by Peter Moore
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Director: Andrew Adamson Cast: Georgie Henley & Skandar Keynes

Here’s a task for you; locate any Brit you can around the age of twenty five and enquire as to whether they remember the BBC Chronicles of Narnia series that ran at the end of the 1980s. Eyes will brighten, grins will appear and on occasion you might just be able to spot a tear forming.

The reason for this of course is that this particular series was a milestone of our youth, a paragon of programming that has rarely been repeated. In my rather rose-tinted memory, the cast of characters was formidable: the foppish, wide-eyed Pevensie children, the benevolent faun Mr Tumnus and the alarming, cool as ice, White Witch.

These memories have flooded back to my mind sparked by the release of the forthcoming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It is the second time around for the fantasy franchise headed by the director Andrew Adamson who is doubtless trying to rekindle the successes of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings in the past few years.

Potentially it is another two hours’ worth of witty dialogue, unexpected victories and archetypal heroes and villains. The Chronicles of Narnia is set to become one of those wonderful cinematic feasts that leave you exiting the cinema wondering whereabouts you can purchase a wooden shield from.

Is it going to be better than the BBC series that is burned so deeply into my memory? Probably, because looking back in the cool rational air of 2008, you have to admit that the acting was a little wooden and the effects did leave a little to be desired. I never noticed it at the time though…

The first instalment in the Chronicles of Narnia franchise, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was released in 2005 and has been available for viewing on Sky Movies. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is released nationally today.

However for those of you who wish to reminisce about the good old days, you can watch the inset video.

Tags: Digital TV, Films, Programmes, Sky by Peter Moore
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Football, football, football…

It is about this time of year when football fans retreat from the terraces in mourning for the end of another season. Wives, girlfriends and sympathisers are at pains to point out that the European Championship are on the brink of starting, that in less than a month there will be chatter of pre-season and that in any case it is a good opportunity to talk about something else anyway.

So what is it that football fans actually do then, during this briefest of gaps in their annual calendar? Landscape the garden? Paint the bathroom? Visit the relatives in Yorkshire?

Not in the least. Unfortunately for their long suffering intimates, football fans much like leopards find it difficult to shrug off their spots. Filling the vacuum is that wonderful pastime of fans and commentators alike – speculation.

Ronaldinho to Manchester City? Barry to Liverpool? Pele returning for Preston? Chelsea to spend seventy million? Speculation like this whirs around offices, homes and public houses across the country, causing excitement, consternation and despair in equal measure.

An anxious Arsenal fan sitting opposite me is worrying himself with the latest developments, as the top European teams peck away at Wenger’s young squad with the appetite of a gluttonous vulture; meanwhile Manchester United supporters simmer with quiet anger about reports that Christiano Ronaldo is about to be carted off to Madrid – leading to their manager Alex Ferguson bringing up references to General Franco.

Inventive titles have been dreamt up by editors about the country: rumour mills, transfer talk, transfer sagas. And throughout May, June and July each of these will be whizzing in top gear.

End of the football season, yes. But there is no escape from the action.

To keep up to date with all of the latest digital sports coverage, then Sky Sports News is one of the flagship sporting news providers and is available on most digital networks.

Tags: Digital TV, Sky by Peter Moore
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Apparently most Americans don’t know that award winning actor Hugh Laurie, currently starring in a new series of House M.D., is English. His accent is so good that they instantly assume he has the right to bear arms and shoot trespassers like the rest of them. We in England however, tend to sit in front of our TVs, mouths half open, in a state of semi-crazed incredulity thinking “Bertie Wooster, its Bertie bloody Wooster!”

Not content with getting Hollywood to rewrite our history, or dragging us into foreign adventures that ensure we will never win the Eurovision Song contest again, they take one of our most beloved public school geeks, give him a stubble a spray tan and a new accent, and suddenly he’s attractive. Oh the absolute cheek of it! Unsurprisingly Hugh is sticking to his new American look, as evidenced by his recent appearance with Keanu Reeves in Street Kings, where he plays US cop Captain Biggs.

But we in the UK should feel cheated, because we all know that Hugh Laurie belongs in a blazer and tie, sat in front of a bowl of treacle, and saying “rather!” whilst getting smacked around the head by Rowan Atkinson. Really, it’s about time this country stood up for itself.

Hugh Laurie can be seen as Dr. Gregory House in the Fox series House M.D. and frequent repeats of Blackadder, A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster are aired on UKTV Gold and other digital comedy channels.

Tags: Digital TV, Programmes, Sky by John Hillman
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