Warren Brown on Wide Open Road ABC tv

[Ryan]

What about this page?

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/

here's the wide open road page:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad/

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Ryan

What about this page?

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/

here's the wide open road page:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad/

I tried accessing "catch up on iview" with another programme to test and it will not allow ABC programmes to be seen outside of the country due to cpyright reasons. but they are showing a dvd available on the programme website.

The video clips on the website are good, especially Bush Mechanics !

[Keith Webb]

I was rather intrigued by the timeline on the show's website... It looks like the Japanese were using Avro Lancasters to bomb Darwin. You learn something every day. Very crafty of them!

[Keith Webb]

...is the 1941 entry where it shows we built Winjeels way back then!

[Keith Webb]

First Ford ute????!!!



Think I'd better stop looking.

[Richard Farrant]

Keith,

It seems they did not have access to a very comprehensive photo library

[Jan Thompson]

Well done Warren. We are all waiting to hear about your next adventure.

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Ryan

What about this page?

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/

here's the wide open road page:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad/

Hi Ryan

Thanks that link actually does work here in the US and I just watch part of the first episode and it look very interesting. Wife was watching over my shoulder her comment have you bookmarked it.

Better than anything on right now on the US feeds. We've got satellite feed which means we get 200+ channels of which 190 seem to have more advertisement than program.

Now all I have to figure out is how to hitch the TV up to the computer.


Cheers and Thanks Phil

[Marc van Aalderen]

Hi Ryan,

That link also works here in the Netherlands. Thank you, enjoying the show now.

Cheers,

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Marc van Aalderen

Hi Ryan,

That link also works here in the Netherlands. Thank you, enjoying the show now.

Cheers,

Marc,

You will have to tell me the secret, because I am still getting the copyright statement

Even programmes the BBC have sold to ABC are blocked !

[Ryan]

Missed it on sunday but just caught it tonight on abc2.
Terrific show, the stories of the early car pioneers/explorers were very interesting. It was great to see Caldwell Vale mentioned. I've thought for many years now his 1913 tourer could have been a big success.
One criticism, it did seem a little Holden biased. But then again I am blue blooded.

[Howard]

Originally Posted by Ryan

...One criticism, it did seem a little Holden biased. But then again I am blue blooded.

I was waiting for someone else to make that observation. But I thought I might have been allowing my blue blood that flows in my oval arteries to blurr things...
I started to get on my high horse before I remembered that all of our media is Holden biased. I could pick that part of the show to pieces but I don't want to put a negative swing on to what was, on the whole, a good yarn.
I will however generalise and point out the way that the fact that the "Australian Car" (48/215) was designed in, and the prototypes built in the US was said without ever really being stated.
I am looking forward to the coming installments.

[Marc van Aalderen]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

Marc,

You will have to tell me the secret, because I am still getting the copyright statement

Even programmes the BBC have sold to ABC are blocked !

Ok Richard, but promiss me you will not be telling to everyone

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad/episodes/

And just click "play"...

It is really an interesting program. I watched it all in one view.

Cheers,

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Marc van Aalderen

Ok Richard, but promiss me you will not be telling to everyone

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad/episodes/

And just click "play"...

It is really an interesting program. I watched it all in one view.

Cheers,

Hi Marc,

Thank you and it now works for me, just watched first 10 mins so far, a great programme from what I have seen so far.

I know Warren and he travelled to Normandy with me in the QL in 2004, hence my interest.

regards, Richard

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Found this program equally annoying and interesting.
The Birtles story was terrific, should be part of Aussie legend, but I had never heard of him

The lazy repeat film use in diiferent historical periods, or just wrong footage.
The narrator's script was the worst part, the repeated use of "Revhead'', "Petrolhead" and even a "Knucklehead", (Thought that was Yank slang) all read in a very Occa accent, makes me think the primary market is not Australia.

I do hope some of the other greats like Phil Irving get a mention.

Enough interesting material to get me back next week, but there may be some cringing involved.

Warren Brown "Revhead and Author" appears to be heading of on another adventure...
Rich.

[warren brown]

Hi everyone, thanks for your interest! Actually, my input came about after the whole show had been finished. If you have a look, everyone else interviewed is beautifully backlit in marvellous surroundings - and I'm actually in a whopping close-up because I was interviewed on the producer's front veranda! What happened was, they had had serious problems with the first episode, finding people - other than curators or historians - who could talk about very early motoring in Australia, particularly about Frank Birtles and make him interesting and relevant to a contemporary audience. I've been writing his biography for Hachette Publishing over the past eight months and even though various people were throwing my name at them, they were reticent to make any contact. "He's that guy from Top Gear... etc etc". Eventually I received a phone call from the producer who was very apologetic for not having contacted me earlier, but would I be prepared to talk about Birtles? ...my name kept coming up from various museums and libraries they'd been to ... and so he came over with the finished episode on his laptop. Then when he saw the Bean 14 in the shed ready to go - he nearly had heart seizure! He was framing it up for camera angles and poring all over it... So one morning, I took the Bean over to North Head National Park and we filmed it and then conducted the interview at his house. The car hasa brand new SU on the engine which had recently been rebuilt by a racing engine-works - the brief was to increase horsepower somewhat, but not at the expense of reliability. On the day it kept fouling up at the plugs - it turned out they'd - wait for it - honed down the carby needle - fine when the thing was hot, but stop-start filming at dawn in winter wasn't a go. I had to pull the plugs out on the way to the producer's house and brush them clean them en route - hence my manky, black fingernails during the interview.
The episode I saw beforehand was virtually as it is now - I wasn't necessarily convinced of the recreations - Birtles was three-stone wringing wet and built like a jockey - and they had a front-row-forward for the Wallabies playing him - and there were photographic innacuracies I pointed out, Model A Fords in a Model T section, no pictures of Birtles Brush car etc, but there wasn't really anything they could do by then - it was all 'in the can' as they say. My section was pasted in. However, I think it's great - so many people where I work really enjoyed it , "never heard of Birtles...amazing".
Paul the producer is a terrific bloke who wants to tell a story - and I think he's told it very well. It's about getting the feel for it...and I think you'll like the other episodes...