Mr. Men The Complete Original T.V. Series 2

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This DVD features 15 original episodes of Mr. Men, narrated by Arthur Lowe and broadcast by the BBC as the first of two television series.

The stories feature the following Mr. Men characters, created by Roger Hargreaves. 

Mr. Strong, Mr. Daydream, Mr. Fussy, Mr. Worry, Mr. Uppity, Mr. Dizzy, Mr. Topsy Turvy, Mr. Muddle, Mr. Mean, Mr. Nosey, Mr. Chatterbox, Mr. Noisy, Mr. Impossible, Mr. Lazy and Mr. Grumpy.

The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track

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BBC TV series now on DVD at Delta. This 2 DVD documentary shows the inner workings of Britain’s transport systems.

Britain has the oldest and one of the busiest railways in the world, with journeys per year totalling 1.3bn and rising. Whether it’s delays, overcrowding or fare rises, we all love to complain about the trains; used to being the butt of complaints, the rail industry has always kept itself behind closed doors. Until now…

With unprecedented access to Network Rail, train companies including Virgin, East Coast, First Great Western and Northern, and the British Transport Police, this six-part observational documentary series goes behind the scenes of one of Britain’s biggest institutions. 

Filmed over a year and across the country, this candid series gets to know the track-workers, train guards and management who are battling to keep Britain moving - where anything from suicidal people or an unlucky pheasant, to faulty signalling, cable thieves and mother nature can all bring the railway to a grinding halt. These are the people on the frontline who have the unenviable task of managing a congested, complex and often outdated system.

Told with humour, warmth and honesty, The Railway: Keeping Britain On Track reveals what’s really going on when we’re left fuming on the platform.

Out Of Town - The Lost Episodes - Vol. 2 - Gean Tree Furniture

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OUT OF TOWN: THE LOST EPISODES will now be available to buy as single discs (previously only available as part of a 10 DVD box set)

Episode Five:

Gean tree furniture: Jack takes his cameras to study crab apple, blackthorn, wayfarer, sycamore and gean (black cherry) trees.

Southern Television Sea Angling Championships: Actor Michael Hordern joins Jack on a trip to Islay, in Scotland, for the final of the Southern Television Sea Angling Championships.

Episode Six:

Garden competition: Jack is on the road to view the entrants in a garden competition.

Dry fly fishing: Jack discusses animal husbandry before presenting a film on dry fly fishing on chalk and limestone rivers.

Episode Seven:

Model making: Jack takes a look at a collection of model horse-drawn vehicles.

Teaching fly fishing techniques: Jack makes a comparison between the techniques involved in fly fishing and golf.

Episode Eight:

The theft of the countryside: Jack reflects on changes in the countryside and walks the path of an old sheep track.

Fell ponies: Jack heads north to take a close look at fell ponies.

The Underground

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BBC TV series now on DVD at Delta. This 2 DVD documentary shows the inner workings of Britain’s transport systems.

The Underground goes behind the scenes of the world’s oldest, biggest and busiest underground train network, during the biggest overhaul in its history.

Made with unique access to London Underground, this series takes us to places we've always wanted to see - behind hoardings to reveal massive new engineering works, inside the command centre to find out what running the world’s most complex train set is really like, and into the hidden world of the Tube at night.

The series follows key members of the Tube’s 19,000 staff - from chief operating officer Howard Collins down to the litter pickers who walk miles of track every night collecting rubbish. Drivers, station staff and emergency response workers all reveal their unique perspective on us - the passengers. From tourists to suburban commuters to drunks getting the last train home, we capture the life of the Tube in all its guises.

And with ten billion pounds currently being spent on the biggest upgrade of any rail network ever, we show how the process of dragging a Victorian infrastructure kicking and screaming into the 21st century doesn't always run on rails.

Out Of Town - The Lost Episodes - Vol. 1 - Coarse Fishing

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OUT OF TOWN: THE LOST EPISODES will now be available to buy as single discs (previously only available as part of a 10 DVD box set)

Episode One:

Coarse fishing: It’s the last day of the coarse fishing season and Jack is on a mission to land a big roach.

Yerro’s operation: Jack hires a veterinary team to deal with his noisy mule, Yerro. After a tricky operation, expertly carried out by Salisbury vet Mr Burgess, Yerro is back on his feet and Jack is happy with his mule.

Episode Two:

A river for all seasons: It’s April 19th, when the cuckoo arrives in the south of England and Jack watches as grubs turn into flies. Meanwhile, salmon fisherman Tom Williams lands a beauty.

Bass fishing: A young starling visits Jack in the middle of the ocean when he goes on a bass fishing trip with the boys from Herne Bay.

Episode Three:

Pebbles: Jack reflects on the age of a worn pebble rock found at the top of Southampton Water.

Tidal mill: Jack goes inside Eling tidal mill, near Southampton, to see the miller in action and is then back in the studio to put together his grandfather’s 18th century gun.

Episode Four:

Chalk hills and chalk springs: Chalk water provides the perfect environment for one of Jack’s fishing trips.

Stagecoach: A cowboy comes to the New Forest and teams local pinto horses with an imported western stagecoach.

I Just Love Soul Music

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DISC ONE - 1. Night Train - James Brown  2. Twist And Shout - The Isley Brothers   3. Soul Twist - King Curtis   4. Stubborn Kind Of Fellow - Marvin Gaye   5. Try A Little Tenderness - Aretha Franklin  6. You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me - The Miracles  7. Fingertips - Stevie Wonder  8. Bring It On Home To Me - Sam Cooke  9. Money (That’s What I Want) - Barrett Strong  10. Baby, It’s You - The Shirelles  11. Something’s Got A Hold On Me - Etta James  12. Beechwood 4-5789 - The Marvelettes  13. If You Need Me - Wilson Pickett  14. I’m The One Who Loves You - The Impressions  15. Ain’t That Loving You - Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland  16. Soul Bossa Nova - Quincy Jones  17. The Town I Live In - McKinley Mitchell  18. You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You - Dinah Washington  19. Walk Right In - The Moments  20. Cuttin’ In - Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson  21. Smoky Places - The Corsairs  22. Annie Get Your Yo-Yo - Junior Parker  23. Funny - Maxine Brown  24. Jamie - Eddie Holland  25. Walk On The Wild Side (Part 1) - Jimmy Smith

DISC TWO - 1. Wherever I Lay My Hat - Marvin Gaye  2. Who’s Lovin’ You - The Miracles  3. Wonderful World – Sam Cooke  4. A Fool In Love – Ike And Tina Turner  5. You Better Move On - Arthur Alexander  6. Lover Please - Clyde McPhatter   7. Up On The Roof – The Drifters   8. Letter Full Of Tears - Gladys Knight And The Pips   9. Cry To Me - Solomon Burke   10. Soldier Boy – The Shirelles   11. Spanish Harlem - Ben E King  12. I’ve Got A Woman - Jimmy McGriff   13. Release Me - Esther Phillips   14. Snap Your Fingers - Joe Henderson   15. I Need Your Loving - Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford   16. You Beat Me To The Punch - Mary Wells   17. Any Day Now - Chuck Jackson   18. Duke Of Earl - Gene Chandler   19. Let Me In – The Sensations   20. Ya Ya - Lee Dorsey   21. Don’t Play That Song - Ben E. King   22. Gee Whiz - Carla Thomas   23. Playboy - The Marvelettes  24. I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself - Tommy Hunt  25. Green Onions - Booker T. & The M.G’s

DISC THREE -  1. Shop Around - The Miracles  2. Last Night – The Mar-Keys   3. You Don’t Miss Your Water - William Bell   4. Walking In The Footsteps Of A Fool – Ben E. King  5. I’m Blue - The Ikettes   6. See See Rider - LaVern Baker  7. I Found A Love - The Falcons  8. Twistin’ The Night Away - Sam Cooke   9. You’ll Lose A Good Thing - Barbara Lynn   10. Mashed Potato Time - Dee Dee Sharp   11. I Know (You Don’t Love Me No More) - Barbara George   12. Unchain My Heart - Ray Charles   13. Please Mr. Postman – The Marvelettes   14. Do You Love Me? – The Contours   15. Two Lovers - Mary Wells   16. Keep Your Hands Off My Baby - Little Eva  17. Some Other Guy - Richie Barrett   18. I’m The One - Jimmy McCracklin   19. Let Me Go The Right Way – The Supremes   20. Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker   21. Save Your Love For Me - Nancy Wilson   22. Don’t You Worry - Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford   23. Shout And Shimmy - James Brown   24. I’m Hanging Up My Heart For You - Solomon Burke   25. Make It Easy On Yourself - Jerry Butler

Doting Donkeys

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DELTA is proud to present this exclusive range of RSPCA-branded jigsaw puzzles, designed in the UK in association with the RSPCA, generating income for the charity with every puzzle sold.  With some 1500 employees, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is one of the UK’s largest charities and is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world. The RSPCA rescues, re-homes and rehabilitates hundreds of thousands of animals each year in England and Wales, while offering advice on caring for all animals and campaigning to change laws that will protect them.

Kitten Cuddles

pre-order from www.deltamusic.co.uk

DELTA is proud to present this exclusive range of RSPCA-branded jigsaw puzzles, designed in the UK in association with the RSPCA, generating income for the charity with every puzzle sold.  With some 1500 employees, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is one of the UK’s largest charities and is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world. The RSPCA rescues, re-homes and rehabilitates hundreds of thousands of animals each year in England and Wales, while offering advice on caring for all animals and campaigning to change laws that will protect them.

Dolly Parton: 'the undisputed queen of Glastonbury', review

Dolly Parton rose triumphantly to the occasion at Glastonbury 2014, says Neil McCormick 

If you are a Dolly Parton fan take a look at Dolly Song by Song on DVD from amazonuk

 

Well hello, Dolly, feminist icon of America

The Backwoods Barbie has endured decades of mockery but her talent and humour ensure she has the last laugh More enduring than Elvis, more accessible than Dylan and a better singer than both, Dolly Parton, who plays Glastonbury for the first time on Sunday, is one of the few pop stars in history who merits the overused word “icon”: she has become an object of veneration representing an unchanging set of beliefs. At a time of uncertainty, America is searching for a definition of itself: a tiny, irrepressible, 68-year-old country singer with famously fake breasts may just be the answer. 

Dolly is about the audacity of hope and the efficacy of cosmetic surgery, the self-made, impenetrably made-up woman, the authentic deep-dyed fake who looks like a plastic hooker but espouses a set of granite moral values: self-reliance, independence and homespun ambition. Her story has been absorbed into American mythology, a rags to rhinestones story that is pure cliché but also happens to be true: the girl with 11 siblings born in a two-room Tennessee shack without running water who now employs more than 3,000 people after selling more than 100 million records; the daughter of an illiterate farmer who grew up with one book in the house (the Bible), but whose Imagination Library now distributes 2.5 million books to children every year. Dolly embodies a set of very American paradoxes: the backwoods Barbie with a formidable business brain, the self-deprecating extrovert, the demure vamp who looks deliberately dim, and knows exactly how clever she is. “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes.

 I know I’m not dumb. And I’m not blonde.” Above all, the key to Dolly’s survival and success is a very particular brand of American feminism, subtly expressed but remarkable powerful. Country music is not, traditionally, much concerned with gender equality. It is more about standing by your man than standing up to him. An entire sub-section of male country music is devoted to blaming women for heartache (“Since you bought the waterbed, we’ve slowly drifted apart”), treating women as domestic servants and sex objects (“Get your biscuits in the oven, and your buns in the bed”) and claiming not to mind when your woman leaves you (“My wife ran off with my best friend, and I miss him”, “When the phone doesn’t ring, you’ll know it’s from me”, and so on). 

Male failure is a more consistent theme in country music than female success, which is why one should always listen to country music backwards: that way your wife don’t leave you, your dog don’t die, and you wind up sober. But alongside all the chauvinism and male self-pity, country music includes a subversive strain of feminist rebellion reflected in such titles as Did I Shave my Legs for This?, What Part of “No” Don’t You Understand? and The Pill by Loretta Lynn, which may be only song ever written in celebration of birth control. Dolly is a central pillar of this tradition, challenging country music sexism at every opportunity, with sung stories in which women decline to be pushed around by men. Nine to Five is an anthem of female equality (“Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen/ Pour myself a cup of ambition”) in direct defiance of male discrimination (“You’re just a step on the boss man’s ladder/ But you got dreams he’ll never take away”). 

In Just Because I’m a Woman, she sent up male double standards, mocking men who judge women for their past sexual experiences while bragging of their own. (“Now a man will take a good girl/ And he’ll ruin her reputation/ But when he wants to marry/ Well, that’s a different situation”). In Coat of Many Colours she sang of a girl bullied at school for wearing clothes made from patched rags. In Dagger Through the Heart, a woman’s emotions are “tossed around like a box of used crayons”. The Dolly look is itself a calculated deflation of sexism, a standing joke about male chauvinist expectations. 

She may look like a male fantasy of female sexual availability (frozen in about 1968), but her image is entirely owned and controlled by her. She flirts wildly, but remains faithful to the road-laying contractor she married in 1966. She is happy to appear on the cover of Playboy, but would never take her clothes off. No man can mock her body, because she has elevated self-mockery to an art form. She owns the joke: “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.” 

After 60 years on stage and more than 3,000 songs, Dolly is no longer simply a performer, but an idea: about overcoming poverty and discrimination through self-reliance and humour. Dollyisms have become a part of the language. Kenneth Clarke once accused Gordon Brown of indulging in Dolly Parton economics: “An unbelievable figure blown out of all proportion, with no visible means of support.” 

Country music is frequently dismissed as sentimental schmaltz (as much of it is), but at its best it is the authentic musical argot of American life. Much of Bill Clinton’s appeal lay in his ability to speak in fluent country music lyrics. So when Dolly takes the stage on Sunday, she will sing some old songs and tell some old jokes as if she had just thought of them, but she will also be reasserting a cultural statement that is much older, and quintessentially American: a rebuttal of time, a refusal to grow old. An indestructible part of the American dream, Dolly is the living embodiment of the possibilities of renewal and reinvention, a monument in word, song and silicone.