On Avengers and Conquerors.

Lately I’ve taken to watching re-runs of the classic 60s TV series The Avengers. It’s very silly, utterly implausible and endlessly engaging. Tonight’s episode was all about some ne’er-do-wells murdering poor George the Computer (a wooden box about three feet long with some lights attached and said to be the most powerful computer in the world) who was about to reveal a dastardly plot against the Establishment.

What most caught my attention was the establishing (no relation) shot at the beginning of the programme. It showed some gates and a group of buildings, and on the gates was a sign which read Cybernetics and Computor Department.

The spelling errer isn’t mine.

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And then I watched yet another historical documentary on the Normans. I don’t know why I do it. We English peasants still hate the Normans nine hundred and fifty years on, and still view the Battle of Hastings with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. And since my surname at birth was Godwin, I have a personal reason to hate William (the bastard!)

It was also one of the things that set me against my stepfather who sided with the Normans (and whose name wasn’t Godwin…) He said it was a southern thing. He came from London, you see, and tried to instil in me from the age of six onwards the notion that the southern English are a class above us northerners. (It took a long time to get him out of my system.)

I turned the programme off just before the Norman armada was about to cross the Channel. Couldn’t face it.

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And a final note: There’s an enduring question around The Avengers regarding which of the Avengers girls was the best. In my opinion, there's no contest. Emma Peel had all the class, charm, beauty, elegance and emotional range. She has to take the top step. On the other hand, Tara King defined sexy. I gather Patrick McNee said pretty much the same thing.