Doctor Who -Spearhead From Space

I’ve recently watched Spearhead from Space, the exciting, classic Doctor Who episode which introduced Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor, Caroline John as the Doctor’s new assistant, Liz Shaw and Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. It starts withThe Doctor, having been forced to regenerate by the Time Lords (see The War Games), being exiled to Earth, collapsing and being taken to Ashbridge Cottage Hospital in Epping.

Meanwhile Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT (United Inteligence Taskforce) recruits Dr. Elizabeth “Liz” Shaw as his scientific advisor and asks her to investigate some unusual meteorites which have recently landed on Earth. Shaw, however, is sceptical of the Brigadier’s assertion of alien invasion. Meanwhile the Doctor asks to speak to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who of course does not recognise his new face after the regeneration and takes a lot of convincing

Then a local poacher discovers a mysterious glowing object at the meteorite impact site, which happens to belong to a non-physical alien intelligence known as the Nestene Conciousness who wants it back. The Nestene uses mind control and is able to animate anything made from Plastic and manages to gain control over the Boss of a Factory which manufactures plastic shop mannequins and hatches a dastardly plan to take over the world using plastic duplicates of key Government and Public figures, which are impervious to bullets and known as Autons, in place of the real people. Soon other Autons all over the world are activated and begin clobbering everyone. Eventually Dr Who and Liz uncover the Nestene’s villainous plot and accompany UNIT to the Toy Factory which manufactures the mannequins in order to try and prevent the Nestene taking over Earth with plastic duplicates.

Colin Burgess (AC/DC)


Four hours of AC/DC




UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ) Was founded 16 November 1945 .The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (French:Organisation des Nations unies pour l’éducation, la science et la culture is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedomproclaimed in the UN Charter. It is the heir of the League of Nations’ International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation.UNESCO has 195 member States (it recently added Palestine in November 2011) and nine Associate MembersMost of the field offices are “cluster” offices covering three or more countries; there are also national and regional offices.UNESCO pursue its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.

Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes; international science programmes; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the promotion ofcultural diversity; translations of world literature; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.UNESCO’s aim is “to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information”.

Other priorities of the organization include attaining quality Education For All and lifelong learning, addressing emerging social and ethical challenges, fostering cultural diversity, a culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication.The broad goals and concrete objectives of the international community — as set out in the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) — underpin all UNESCO’s strategies and activities.

Mani (Stone Roses & Primal Scream)

imageGary “Mani” Mounfield, bass player with seminal British Alternative Rock bands The Stone Roses and Primal Scream was Born November 16th 1962. Formed in Manchester in 1983 The Stone Roses were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement . The band’s most successful lineup consists of vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield, and drummer Alan “Reni” Wren. The band released their debut album,The Stone Roses, in 1989. The album was a breakthrough success for the band so the Stone Roses decided to capitalise on their success by signing to a major label, however their current record label Silvertone would not let them out of their contract,which led to an acrimonious and lengthy legal dispute. they eventually signed a deal with Geffen in 1991, and released their second album Second Coming in 1994. Sadly this wasn’t as successful and after several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, The group disbanded Reni going first, followed by Squire. In 2011  John Squire, Ian Brown, bassist Gary ‘Mani’  announce that they had reunited and would perform a reunion tour of the world in 2012, including three shows at Heaton Park which became the fastest selling rock concerts in UK history, after 150,000 tickets sold out just 14 minutes after going on sale. As a result A further date was added and the remaining 75,000 tickets sold out soon afterwards. The band, have also said that it was their intention was to ‘uplift’ the national mood in hard times and that today’s music was ‘boring’ and ‘corporate’. There are also persistent rumours that they are recording a third album, and a new film which is set during the Stone Roses 1990 Spike Island show.



As well as being a member of the Stone Roses Gary “Mani” Mounfield, ( Born November 16th 1962,) was also a member of Scottish alternative rock band Primal Scream. Who were originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Martin Duffy (keyboards), and Darrin Mooney (drums). Barrie Cadogan has toured and recorded with the band since 2006 as a replacement after the departure of guitarist Robert “Throb” Young. Primal Scream career not take off until Gillespie left his position as drummer of The Jesus and Mary Chain. The band were a key part of the mid-1980s indie pop scene, but eventually moved away from their more jangly sound, taking on more psychedelic and then garage rock influences, before incorporating a dance music element to their sound. Their 1991 album Screamadelica broke the band into the mainstream with songs like, “Loaded“, which became the band’s first major hit, reaching number 16 on the UK Singles Chartand “Come Together“, which reached number 19. They released two more singles, “Higher Than The Sun” and “Don’t Fight It, Feel It”, both of which were successful. The band began work on their fourth album “Give out but Dont Give up”.In March 1994, the first single from the new album, “Rocks”, was released & became the band’s highest charting single to date,Two more singles were released from the album, “Jailbird” and “(I’m Gonna) Cry Myself Blind”, both of which charted progressively lower.


ScreamadelicaAfter a short hiatus, the band returned with a new lineup. Gary “Mani” Mounfield, fresh from the well-publicised break-up of his previous band, The Stone Roses, was added as the band’s new bassist, and Paul Mulraney was added as their new drummer. The arrival of Mani revitalized the group, who were considering disbanding after the failure of Give Out but released a new album Vanishing Point which had a complex shoegazing dance/dub rhythm, harking back to the crossover success of Screamadelica, yet sounding significantly darker. Some songs on the album were inspired by cult 1971 film Vanishing Point; Gillespie said that they wanted to create an alternative soundtrack for the film.the band’s sixth album XTRMNTR had a harsher and angrier musical direction. Many of the songs they wrote had overtly political lyrics, Gillespie said the band wished to convey “what it’s like to be in Britain in this day and age The album featured mulitiple guest appearances, including the Chemical Brothers, New Order’s Bernard Sumner, and former My Bloody Valentine guitarist Kevin Shields, who had become a semi-permanent member.

The first single from XTRMNTR, was entitled “Swastika Eyes. their seventh album, Evil Heat, was released in 2002. On the album Kate Moss sang professionally for the first time with single “Some Velvet Morning” and The album also featured another guest appearance, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant. In 2003 the double CD album Dirty Hits was released containing the better known works and some previously unheard versions and remixes of those tunes.The next album Riot City Blues contained “euphoric rock ‘n’ roll songs” which was intended to capture the energy of Primal Scream’s live performances.The album’s first single, “Country Girl”, was released on 22 May 2006. The album, Riot City Blues, was released in June also released their first DVD, Riot City Blues Tour, which featured clips of the band’s performance in London, as well as all their music videos and an interview with Gillespie and Mani. Primal Scream spent most of 2011 touring in support of 20th Anniversary of Screamadelica, on 18 October Mani revealed he had left the band to follow his dream due to the reformation of his original band The Stone Roses. On 27 March 2012, it was confirmed that Primal Scream would support The Stone Roses at their Heaton Park concert in Manchester.Primal Scream remain commercially successful and continue to tour and record.