Thanks to the generosity of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who co-hosted the Commonwealth e-Accessibility Summit with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, I was able to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games. The photos below seek to capture some of the amazing and inspirational atmosphere of the ceremony.
Month: August 2012
Save the Hobbit – that is, the pub in Southampton
I have often driven past the Hobbit pub in Portiswood, on the edge of Southampton
, and although I have never been inside I have always thought that it was a great name for a pub – and it has been there for some 20 years. So, I was more than a little concerned to read a recent BBC report that mentioned that the pub has been threatened with legal action by the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) back in March 2012. SZC owns the worldwide rights to various brands association with the author JRR Tolkien (acquired in 1976), including the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and appears to be flexing its muscles to ensure that these rights are not infringed. However, taking it out on an English pub seems to be going a bit too far.
It is good to see that others have come to the rescue of the Hobbit – that is, the pub! Some 59,830 people have indicated that they like the Facebook page Save the Hobbit, Southampton, and actors Stephen Fry and Sir Ian McKellen have apparently offered to pay for the copyright licence fee so that the pub can carry on trading under its present name.
Tonight, there is a party at the pub to raise money to pay for legal fees to ensure that this dispute is resolved sensibly. So, if you are anywhere near Southampton do get on down to the Hobbit and party for a cause.
Could this be a reason not to watch the Hobbit (in all its money making parts) when the film comes out?!
Olympics hockey 2012 – night and day
We were among the thousands who did not get any tickets in the first round of applications for the 2012 Olympics, but were fortunate enough to get tickets for several of the hockey matches at the Riverbank Stadium – enabling us to see the Olympic Park both during the night (7th August – seeing GB (1) draw with Spain (1) and New Zealand (5) draw with Germany (5)) and also during the scorching hot day (9th August – watching New Zealand (3) beat Argentina (1) and Pakistan (3) beat South Korea (2)).
The pictures below seek to catch something of the diversity and beauty of the London Olympics.