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Still a fascist regime? Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen reissued to mark platinum jubilee

Once-banned punk rock anthem finally has a chance to reach No 1 after it missed out in 1977 during the Queen’s silver jubilee

Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen, arguably the most iconic single in punk rock history, is to be reissued to mark Elizabeth II’s upcoming platinum jubilee.

The band’s second single after Anarchy in the UK, it was released in 1977 alongside the Queen’s silver jubilee with a decidedly anti-royalist bent, comparing the monarchy to a “fascist regime … She ain’t no human being / and there’s no future / and England’s dreaming”.

Despite being banned from BBC radio and television, the song reached No 2 – held off the top by Rod Stewart – though rumours have persisted ever since that the charts were manipulated to keep the song away from the No 1 spot. In its listing on the charts, it was blanked out so as not to offend the Queen
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  • 3 weeks later...

An exhibition has opened celebrating the artist William Heath Robinson, whose work became so well-known his surname earned a dictionary entry.

Heath Robinson, born in Finsbury Park in north London on 31 May 1872, became renowned for his detailed drawings and satirical take on life.

His sketches of bizarre mechanical gadgets led to his name becoming synonymous with the absurdly ingenious.
 

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Loved his work, an eccentric genius. When I was younger and we used to “Bodge and Make Do” sort of thing to make something work it was always referred to a a bit of a “Heath Robinson” 

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Likewise, everything I ever constructed from the bits and bobs, of my fathers work space under the house was labeled "Heath Robinson".

One example, at 10, I made, a right angle cannon, built from a section of copper pipe, that had come from a plumbing re-construction, held down by bent over 4 " nails, to the end of a railway sleeper, to prevent recoil.

The fuse end was a "Thunder Cracker" inserted in the pipe, with a series of diminishing sized washers over the fuse, held in place by a series of nails into the sleeper, in a corral or cage shape, allowing for less dissipation of the exhaust gases from the explosion.

The tricky bit was getting marbles that would flow freely around the right angle bend. Because of the relatively wide gaps between the marbles and the pipe, they would only fire about 12 feet.

My dad quietly disassembled this, when he saw it.

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I would hazard a guess that the majority of under 50 would stare quizzically if one was to mention “Heath Robinson”

I find this rather ironic since many of this age group are involved in IT, the epitome of finding complex solutions to simple solve a simple task and adding Bolt’Ons (not fake boobies) to already complex systems to tweak them slightly to adapt to change rather than start from scratch.

Anyone who has seen “Under the Hood” of even a basic IT system will recognise add on modules for this that and the other. I should know because I am a bugger for such with databases.

 

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