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As the decades pile up in our wake we notice that each 10-year span has its own defining characteristic. Mention the 1960s, for example, and people of a certain age blabber on about free-love and flower power. The 1970s brings forth images of flared trousers and punk rock, while the 1980s is forever associated with Thatcherism and red braces. But what of the 1990s? We reckon it will be remembered for the rise of the New Lad.
New Lads are everywhere at the moment. You’re bound to have seen them -- they’re the ones drinking beer in industrial quantities, reading magazines with names like Loaded or Bloke (a particularly laddish word, this, and one that crops up frequently as you will see), and making fnaar-fnaar jokes about underpants. Doubtless any self-respecting Lad is already a fully paid-up member of The Pants Appreciation Society. This aims "to promote the awareness of pants, improve the quality of pants and ultimately the quality of life of the wearer". Apparently the society was conceived in 1995 during the Reading Music Festival, though it had to wait until 1997 before being launched on an unsuspecting planet. It has it’s own newsletter, and promises to go international this year with a presence at the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands. (We’re sure the pun is intentional!).
Laddishness has also permeated television. First there was Men Behaving Badly. This was followed by a succession of celebrity quiz shows, most of which seemed to feature the estimable comedian Alan Davies at some stage or other. Recently seen in the BBC’s Jonathan Creek, Davies has now been given the ultimate on-line accolade in the form of his own tribute site -- The Original and Funkiest Alan Davies Web Page. From this we learn that he’ll shortly surface on TV again in the new sitcom entitled A Bloke For All Seasons. Although we’d probably be forced to categorise him as Lad-lite since he went to university.
The recently redesigned Bravo TV web site is as perfect an example of the Lad phenomenon as any sociology student could wish for. Features include The Basement which is apparently "where it’s at for blokes". There is also the Bravo GirlCam. In their words: "It has been called an open-ended real-life-as-art project, but we prefer to think of it as a chance to see a girl in her bra." Purely in the interests of research we checked out the latter and whaddaya know ... they’re right!
In the future, social historians will seek to trace the origins of this cultural sub-group. And we’re willing to bet that more than one thesis will cite the archetypal 1970s cop show The Sweeney as a key influence. Currently being repeated on Channel 5, the programme is lucky enough to have a truly excellent accompanying web site. Best of all (in our book) is the shockwave version of the ancient Pong video game in which Regan and Carter swat a villain’s head back and forth . More difficult than it sounds, and utterly addictive. Also check out the style guide and download one of the .wav files in the section devoted to insults. More than one of us at Picks Central now has Regan shouting "SHUT IT!" when they close down their computer.
Oh no! It’s weak link time: Regan was played by John Thaw who went on to star as the eponymous Inspector Morse. Among the first ships to use the Morse code warning of SOS was the RMS Titanic, which was much in the news last week. More than enough has already been written about the film (good though it undoubtedly is), but our eye was caught by Weird & Useless Facts About the Titanic, a collection of myths and legends surrounding the sinking of the great liner. Among the wealth of curious information found here is the fact that the fourth funnel was actually a fake. Another nugget from the site details that 14 years before the fateful voyage, a book was published telling of a ship called Titan. In the story the liner -- the biggest in the world, and packed with glitterati -- sinks in the North Atlantic on it's maiden voyage after being hit by an iceberg!
It also reveals the strange case of stewardess Violet Jessup. Prior to serving on Titanic she worked on it’s sister ship The Olympic. She was aboard when it was crippled in a naval collision. Violet was lucky enough to survive Titanic’s sinking, and went on to serve as a nurse aboard another White Star Liner, The Brittanic. While she was aboard it stuck a mine and sank. She then took a berth on a new-fangled airship called The Hindenburg ... Actually we made that last bit up, but it somehow seemed so right ...