Margaret Calvert & her colleague Jock Kinneir, designed many of the road signs used throughout Great Britain, as well as the Rail Alphabet typeface used on the British railway system and an early version of the signs used in airports. In the above video, James May annoys her.

Jeff Beck reckons legendary music producer George Martin would have made a decent James Bond. The man certainly had the looks and seems to know his way ‘round a cocktail shaker.

Love this version of Mississippi John Hurt’s Spike Driver’s Blues. It was recorded on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest, a show dedicated to traditional American music that aired from 1965 - 1966. In fact I think I may even prefer it to the version found on Hurt’s 1966 album, Mississippi John Hurt Today! By the way, the vinyl reissue of that album from Pure Pleasure Records - outstanding.

Aside from Hurt’s playing and gentle singing one of things I love about him is his story. He recorded a few songs in New York City in 1928  for Okeh Records then effectively disappeared. It would be a further thirty- odd years before he was ‘rediscovered’ by Tom Hoskins, a folk musicologist who tracked Hurt down in Avalon Mississippi by listening to the lyrics of "Avalon Blues". Hoskins convinced Hurt (now aged 70) to make his way back up north and begin performing again which he did extensively until his death three years later. In that very short time he recorded three albums, appeared on the Tonight Show (would love to have a clip of that) and generally became a bit of a legend in the folk music scene.

As you can hear for yourself in the clip above his was a gentle style and he infused his music with real charm, soul and humour. In the clip below (again from Rainbow Quest), Hurt describes how he first learned to play.

Side Note: John’s granddaughter Mary Hurt-Wright looks after The Mississippi John Hurt Blues Foundation and its goals of preserving his legacy and introducing disadvantaged children to a musical style they might otherwise never know is a noble one so hop over and donate if you can.

Currently reading Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour so had to find the above clip of the brothers Smothers on the Jack Benny Program.

In honor of what would have been Winnie’s 136th Birthday.

"...It is fine to know how to sit up and watch it being carved."