TudoRama

Send us Fan Mail This podcast is the start of a presentation to MBA students in which I introduce the idea of everyday creativity, and the importance of commitment to ideas through actions.  It also shows an example of a 'warm up' exercise for creative meetings. Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter!  Email...

Send us Fan Mail The Guardian Quick crossword 16,722 appeared on Saturday 9 December. It produced a furious response from thwarted puzzlers.  In this podcast, I start with a crossword clue of my own, which crossword addicts may able to solve immediately. Those who can’t will have a second chance at the end of the podcast, where its relevance will become obvious. Dodgy speed. Almost never spoken in...

Send us Fan Mail Punk chess like punk rock is a popularist movement of mostly chess amateurs defying tradition in the interest of self expression.  In the space of a few years Punk Chess has roared into life through social media, first with Twitter as the site was known then. Maybe the Punk Chess pioneers were acknowledging the punk bands of the 1979s who rejected the perceived excesses of mainstr...

Send us Fan Mail Nature notes. The armchair birdwatcher. I have accidentally become an avid birdwatcher. Accidentally because my watching is confined to a partial view of my garden while engaged in other assorted interests. Typically, my garden attracts a few visitors on their way to or from the food bank operated but neighbour Stan, who is far more dedicated to the welfare of the Woodford Woodpec...

Send us Fan Mail Henri Grob has acquired notoriety for inventing one of the most eccentric of chess openings. But his story is of interest outside footnotes in a chess book.  First, you should know that as a player, Henri was of strong master level. He became Swiss champion and competed  in the strongest tournaments in his era in the 1930s and forties. He was also an accomplished painter Zack, a c...

Send us Fan Mail Wit and Wisdom special to end November 2023 Tudortweet Dear Advertiser. Don’t know how much you are paying ‘X’ was known as Twitter, for the daily ads for investing in gold, but investing in ‘X’ in that way isn’t working. @Hepworthclare And - given the cost of living crisis- Santa is scaling back. The elves are demanding the minimum wage , Rudolf is claiming red nose discriminatio...

Send us Fan Mail Lost in translation. Pigs might float. An apology in The Morning Bulletin, an Australian newssheet, recently ran as follows. There was an error printed in a story titled “pigs float” which appeared in, The Morning Bulletin, on page 11 of yesterday’s paper. The  story said that more than 30,000 pigs were floating down the Dawson river. What Barrala piggery owner, Sid Everingham act...

Send us Fan Mail How to be kind to your washing machine. A morality tale Do you take your washing machine for granted? Pause for answer. If your answer is yes, this is a message which will save you a great deal of anguish being stored up for you … If your answer is no, why not send this public service announcement to someone you think would have answered ‘yes’ or ‘I don’t see the point of that que...

Send us Fan Mail Wit and Wisdom November 20-26 @Tudortweet On Nigel Farage’s appearance on IACGMOOH: I’d like to say I’ve stopped watching IACGMOOH because of the publicity it gives to Nigel Farage. I can’t, because I’ve never watched to programme, and I claim my long-term Wokeist award. @BladeoftheS HS2, a train that travels only 120 miles on Earth, was more expensive than the International Space...

Send us Fan Mail The heart of darkness. Voyage to the Urmston roundabout. Our journey is one  I tell of with a warning that it is not for the faint-hearted. Our courageous little chess team set out aware of the dangers we faced.  The omens were not good. Perhaps I was over influenced my bedside reading of Moby Dick, that masterpiece of a voyage of discovery. But this was reality. We were bound for...

Send us Fan Mail For new listeners, the wit and wisdom comes from the posts found on the website X sometimes still known by its earlier name Twitter. This episode has its usual mix of political, cultural, and well just amusing posts. @RishiSunak Nitrous Oxide, also called laughing gas, is now illegal. Earlier this year I promised to crack down on anti-social behaviour, to create a better future fo...

Send us Fan Mail 'How far can I improve my chess?' The question was answered recently by chess coach Jorge Murakami on the discussion site Quora. In essence, he argues that not everyone would be able to reach the ELO 2000 standard rating, He believes that those who achieve that level, (roughly at the top end of the ratings players in chess clubs around the world) would tend to be above a...

Send us Fan Mail Friday 16 November 2023 Politics in Britain this week moved closer to its favourite sport, commentating about the latest football story. The Prime Minister’s sacking of his Home Secretary Suella Braverman reminded me of what might happen after the sacking of a key player on the eve of an important football game. The timing of the real political sacking may have been calculated to...

Send us Fan Mail Suella Lagerman and Operation Raging Bull  Suella Lagerman popped into the war room to encourage her crack military officers in their efforts. General Dunking-Smith threw his commanding officer a smart salute and returned his attention to the large map of the battleground laid out over the trestle table which had been donated by Lord Witherspoon of Coney Hatch. Operation Raging Bu...

Send us Fan Mail @johnestephens Just when you thought you'd heard it all.... Boris Johnson asked scientists if you could kill Covid by blowing hairdryer up nose @Tudortweet If I’d been asked which politician came up with the question, I’d have said 100% Donald Trump! @PippaLeuven Trump: drink disinfectant. Johnson: blow hairdryer up nose. Honestly, even a 5 year-old would know better... Stay...

Send us Fan Mail How to Rescue a Hedgehog My hedgehog sensitivity has deepened since I had a series of evening visits from one during the summer. It made a purposeful trek across the garden always from the same direction, returning equally purposefully a few minutes later.  I learned how much love there is for hedgehogs, from an extended message on X formerly known as Twitter by @Hedgehog Cabin, a...

Send us Fan Mail An article captured my attention recently: ‘Rat race: rodents use imagination to navigate their environment’. The article in the Guardian, Friday third November, 2023, reported findings from a research study from the Howard Hughes medical Institute, Maryland, USA. The researchers claimed that the study is the first to show animals can flexibly activate the brain’s  representations...

Send us Fan Mail In a recent podcast I talked about Chess Tantrums. The subject cropped up again this week, with examples from my two favourite games, chess and tennis. I’m concentrating on the tennis  outbursts of Andy Murray and the chess rants of Magnus Carlsen ... Stay up-to-date with all of Tudor's podcasts, blogs and current affairs commentary by signing up to our newsletter!  Email eve...

Send us Fan Mail Wit and Wisdom October 24-31, 2023 @Kangeroos991 Well done Scotland. Protester holding a placard saying ‘Scotland hated Trump before it became fashionable’. @SayeedaWarsi To Hamas I say End the violence and Let them Go  To Israel I say End the Occupation and Let them Live  #CeasefireNow  @TonySpeight1 This lady is one of the few relatively recent appointments to the HoL. She deser...

Send us Fan Mail Defender or Enemy of Free Speech? Review of ‘Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover’ on PBS The PBS programme screened in the U.K. on 29 October 2023 revealed Elon Musk as both a defender and an enemy of free speech. Some of us Twitter users are in a state  of denial over the brutal cutting down of our favourite Social Media platform by its ruthless new owner Elon Musk. His act of Twitterci...

Send us Fan Mail Who are your friends, and should your boss know. I interrupt the planned agenda of the Didsbury Lit & Phil Society to gather views on a news item from ITV about disclosing workplace friends to their HR department. The meeting is reported unedited. Extraneous noises are due to late-arriving members and supplies of coffee. There was some confusion about the recording of the meet...

Send us Fan Mail The Great Fruit Fly battle. A New Weapon in the Fight. A public service broadcast on dealing with a fruit fly invasion. Views expressed are personal and should not be acted on as if backed by expert authority. After nearly three months of intensive battle, the invading army of fruit flies are being driven out of the stronghold established in my  kitchen area. It has been a savage...

Send us Fan Mail Wit and wisdom of the Website formerly known as Twitter.  October 20, 2023 An excessive number of tweets recently have been about the Israel/Gaza situation. I will deal with that topic elsewhere. Here are a few more humorous posts. Some are in longer ‘threads’ than usual:  @simonharris_mbd Let me be very clear regarding my baby formula fundraiser, as I keep seeing people moaning a...

Send us Fan Mail Chess Tantrums. The chess world has once again been gripped by a tale involving Magnus Carlsen and possible cheating by an opponent. Magnus is no longer chess world champion. This is because of an earlier incident in which Carlson publicly accused his young opponent of cheating. After the game, Magnus pulled out of the next world championships, and has remained somewhat in the wil...

Send us Fan Mail Artificial Intelligence and real creativity. How I discovered the potential of ChatAI I recently offered Morgan, a young member of my family, some advice in her career as a writer. It turned out I learned far more than I expected, as the following extracts from my LWD notes demonstrated, in the form of emails to Morgan and her writing Partner Rhys. Me Hope you have been getting my...