Friday, May 26, 2006

The Best Thing I Heard Yesterday

I was sitting on the train on the way home from work when a song of old filled the carriages. I couldn't believe my ears....it was the best ringtone I've ever heard....then I realised what it was. It was the theme tune to the 80s sitcom Terry and June. If you haven't heard it you can hear it here - it's quintessentially British in every way and the kind of tune that would fill my heart with joy if I was abroad and feeling homesick. I exchanged glances with the man opposite as he was trying desperately to conceal a smile. I then began to think about other classic British TV theme tunes which would make great ringtones: The Good Life, Call my Bluff, Dad's Army, Man About The House...

18 comments:

Wrinkled Weasel said...

oh dear ACT. getting wistful about ringtones? This is urban brainwashing and a candidate for the "pants of destiny" award if ever there was one. Even if I liked the tune, my absolutely British response would be to pretend I had not heard it, rather in the same way that I would if someone had farted.

* (asterisk) said...

Ringtones are evil.

Travel Italy said...

The keys that trigger memories are truly intriqueing and, for me, fascinating. Even this post brought to the front memories of the time I spent on my grandfather's farm when I was a child.

* (asterisk) said...

I don't remember the theme tune of T&J, and I'm not sure I want to, so I'm not gonna click that link...!

martinobhoy said...

Probably revealing my intellectual level here but it would be classic 70s and 80s children's programmes for me - Dangermouse, Hong Kong Phooey, Top Cat, Scooby Doo and my favourite (which I confess I once had as a ringtone) The Banana Splits.

a.c.t. said...

WW and Asterisk, I was only asuming it was a ringtone - I didn't even see the phone. For all I knew it could have been someone playing 'The Greatest Ever 1980s British sitcom classic theme tunes EVER' on their ghetto blaster. I don't know. As a great homosexual comedien once said "Infamy Infamy, they've all got it in for me."

Travel, it is amazing how the littlest thing can trigger memories -even the slightest smell or taste.
Martinobhoy, I still love Scooby Doo now - not the new ones as they're crap, but the originals. The revealing of the criminal at the end always amuses me.

The scene: Taking off the ghost's mask to reveal the criminal

"oh my God it's...........................................................................the Caretaker - every time!

martinobhoy said...

Whoever came up with the idea of Scrappy Doo should be shot.

a.c.t. said...

He's evil - he'd be very effective in a horror film.

me said...

act, not to bust your bubble, but to back you up. i found this site quite a while ago, (and did a post) but couldn't drag myself away for days. ended up having to drag myself to bed, or else i would have sat there all day getting misty eyed and nostalgic!

a.c.t. said...

Cheers Fatfiz. Whereabouts is your post so I can have a look. I've just listened to Bagpus,that brought back some memories.

me said...

it was 12th march, and the post was "here love, listen to this, and this, and this..."
just re-read it, and all it is, is me urging people to look at it!
pretty crap really.

Wuching said...

DR WHO!!!

Anonymous said...

I can not get that Terry and June song out of my head now. I keep singing it as i'am sat here.
I have been thinking of a few and i'am trying to remember the tune to
Last on the summer wine.

a.c.t. said...

Wuchung, spoilt for choice with three versions!

Simon, you're not missing much honestly.

aidanrad said...

I used to have Glory Glory Hallelujah, then the Muppet Show theme as ringtones, a long long time ago... but keep my phone self-consciously on silent most of the time, so no longer bother...
As for possible TV themes - Steptoe and Son, Rising Damp or Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads are the ones that do it for me.
I also like the trivia question about possibly the most famous British TV show to have no theme tune at all at the start of each programme...

a.c.t. said...

Tell me, tell me I'm racking my brains...

aidanrad said...

Well, I suppose you could say this was the opening theme, no tune though...

"Norman Stanley Fletcher, you have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court, and it is now my duty to pass sentence. You are an habitual criminal, who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard, and presumably accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner. We therefore feel constrained to commit you to the maximum term allowed for these offences — you will go to prison for five years."

No good as a ringtone, really...

a.c.t. said...

No, but it makes a smashing breakfast..