Ever feel like you're born in the wrong era?

I've been thinking this over a lot recently since Saturday night's "Take Me Out".



Viewers of the show will remember this chap (and the strange woman he ended up going with)

Immediately after this show was broadcast my facebook was flooded with friends telling me how this chap will either be me in 25 years, or how I am him now.

It got me thinking - I really do believe I was born in the wrong era. I buy 78rpm records rather than downloading songs via iTunes, I own a pocketwatch, and my room is full of vintage posters.

I do my hair in a sharp side part with plenty of pomade and I feel more comfortable in a suit than I do in a hoodie and jeans which would be normal atire for most students.

Yet - most people my age seem to treat me as a bit of an oddball. I'm that strange kid stuck in the past and I apparently have the mental age of a 70 year old man (as I'm always told that)

Is it now no longer acceptable to try to be a gentleman wherever possible, or am I doomed to a life of eccentricity with people who share similar tastes? I seriously hope it isn't the latter, because I can remember what things people said about SU President Daniel Hutchinson...

My brush with Japanese state television

WOW. That's all I really can say about today. I'm tired and drained but my god did I have the best day of my life so far.

It's still not sunk in that I'm going to feature in a programme broadcast to a country with a population of 120,000,000 people.

This morning I was tired and grouchy. I was also incredibly nervous - it's not every day something like this happens. So the crew arrived, with a mass of equipment. HD cameras, light panels, highly sensitive microphones and the like. As a journalism student I was a bit awed by the value of items now in my house.

Eventually they set up and began filming various shots of my gramophone, the record itself - and an interview with me. I don't think I was quite prepared for some of the questions they asked me!


After that, I went into uni then they came to film me around the university, and me at work - complete with Jonathan Creswell and Charlotte Reid as my friends walking around and laughing about various things.

Seeing the pros at work was a great thing - they were incredibly detailed and got some really amazing shots out of an otherwise boring gramophone and myself. I even got an origami handkerchief as a thank you - I just can't wait for the tape of the documentary in May!

PS - Given the amount of media appearances I've had lately, I think I could get used to it. It's damn good fun being in front of the camera!

The cogs of the PR machine are turning...

Photo: Jon Culver

This week has seen a few bizarre changes in my life to say the least. As most of you will know, I got a call recently asking me to go on Japanese national TV.

"Great!" I though. I went to university the next day and casually mentioned it to my friends and Gary, my radio tutor. Aside from his first response (which was that they were making a documentary on a crazy eccentric like myself), he seemed quite interested. "I'll do an email to Debbie to let her know the good news".

Since then, things have snowballed somewhat. The return replies from Debbie were very enthusiastic - "let's get him to write some paragraphs that can be used for publicity, and get LSJ TV to cover it". So fair enough, I drafted some paragraphs about what had transpired.

The next email came from Barnie, one of the senior TV lecturers. I had asked him what sort of idea he had for LSJ TV. The return reply was very...interesting. Barnie went on at length how this would not only benefit me, but the university as a whole. He had forwarded on the email to Thirzah in the press office who is now drafting a press release for the local (and possibly national media). I even got an email from the Vice Chancellor congratulating me on my achievement.


A gramophone similar to mine. Photo: Lokarta

Of course, any publicity is good publicity and it all helps for my CV (not many people can say their hobby has got them on Japanese TV) but this comes with a small feeling of unease. It's pretty evident that my tutors looked at my story and rubbed their hands with glee. Why? Because it's a huge PR coup for the university.

Think about it. I can practically see the headline in Thursday's Echo - "Lincolnshire student achieves international fame for hobby". As journalism students we are always taught to be wary of PR people, but it appears I have unwittingly become a cog in the huge PR machine