Somewhere around the end of October I had a phone call from my brother (Darren Kenny), he had been invited to take part in a Gold Medal Who Wants to be a Millionaire? special and wondered if I could be a Phone a Friend. To take part he needed to provide five friends and with the money going to the Piam Brown Child Cancer Ward at Southampton Hospital how could I refuse.

The show was filmed on a weekday afternoon and as the day came nearer I was scheduled to run a training course, a quick discussion with the customer and they understood that I might need to nip out for a few minutes towards the end of the day. After lunch on the day of filming Darren set a quick text to say they had finished rehearsals and they would start filming soon. Everyone in the classroom was on tender hooks in the afternoon and as the session closed my mobile phone went off. Rushing into a side room to answer, it was from a researcher just checking that I was still available if needed and to go through the rules:

The Rules

1. Make sure I kept the line free for the next 2 hours
   
2. I was to let the phone ring for 5 rings
3. Chris would introduce himself
4. I would then have 30 seconds with Darren where he will ask me the question
5. I was not allowed to confer with anyone during that time
6. I was not allowed to consult reference material
7. I was not allowed to look up the answer on the internet

If they thought that broke rules 4-6 then Darren and his partner would forfeit everything and their designated charities would get nothing.

After agreeing all I could was wait, after 3 hours Darren texted me to say he had finished recording and that they used another friend as it was a Geography question.

The episode was shown on the 29th December on ITV1, Darren and Liz Jonson (Paralympic Swimmer) raised £10,000 for their charities.

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For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon

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With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

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Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

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They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

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They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

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They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

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But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

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As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

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"I am going to catch up on four years of sleep" that was the plan revealed this morning by Darren on BBC breakfast. It has been a hectic few weeks, not only for Darren but for all of the ParalympicsGB athletes in Beijing.

They arrived back yesterday in a Gold nosed British Airways plane to cheering crowds at Heathrow's Terminal 5. The athletes were 'released' in small groups to allow time for photographs and Darren barely had time to snatch a hug and kiss from the family before being whisked off to a photo op. Family then went to the first class lounge to wait. After a while they were back for another round of hugs and kisses before off for a press conference. Press conference over and almost 2 hours after the plane had landed the athletes finally belonged to their families again and it was time to prepare for the journey home. For some it was on to another plane, for others there was long drive ahead, the lucky ones were already close to home.

From a family point of view a big thank you to the British Airways staff for all their help and hospitality during the waiting times.

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Well, not me but the British Paralympic Cycling Team. Over 4 days of racing in the Laoshan Velodrome ParalympicsGB were contesting 13 medals across the classes they finished with 12 Golds and 1 Silver. Friday is the start of the Road events, looking for Gold in the shadow of the great wall

My brother is a member of the cycling team and I run his website Darren Kenny, Paralympic Cyclist. I dropped him off at the airport to meet up with some of the cycling team on their way out to Beijing, took my camera with me and managed to take a few photos of the team as they waited to set off.

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This morning went to see The Dark Knight, it has only just come out in the UK. I went to the Vue Cinema in Reading and I am going to have a quick rant first of all.

Our seats for the first showing were covered in Popcorn, we think it was the student with the piercings and alternative lifestyle hair dye that had made a mess and not cleaned up. What surprised my wife and I was that Perl & Dean, the icon of British Cinema advertising, included 4 adverts for alcohol (2 beers, 1 vodka, 1 whisky) for a 10:30AM showing on a 12A rated film (anyone under 12 must be accompanied). What happened to responsible advertising? These should only be shown on films rated 18.

Rant over and on with the film.

The film continues the theme of started in Batman Begins or Batman finding his feet and his place in the city. With Wayne manor still being rebuilt there is a Penthouse mansion that Bruce can pretend to stay at. The new Bat Cave, down by the docks with entry through a fake shipping container.

Rachel is going out with the new DA, Harvey Dent and making the Mob nervous. In their time of need the Mob turn to someone that they do not truely understand, the Joker. Take 1 part Ceasar Romero (60's Joker), 1 part Sid Vicious and 2 parts Beattlejuice and there you have it, the finest cinematic Joker. To be honest I never really like Nicholson's  portryal I never felt there was any real menace.No laughter gas, shock buzzers or acid squirting flowers, it is knives, gasoline and bazzoka's for this 'clowned prince of crime'.

Old faces fall thick and fast as the irresitable force meets an imovable object, created out of the aftermath is Two Face the indecisive villan that needs to flip a coin before he does anything.

The tradgies on film are mirrored in real life, the death of Heath Ledger, someone I would happilly admit that I did not rate until this performance, and the death of Conway Wickliffe, a special effects technician that died during filming. This film is dedicated to their memory.

The film is a real tour de force, Nolan has brought the franchise back from the dead with this darker toned vision. Though I do think back to the first two Burton Batman movies and how quickly they went south once he moved on, hopefuly Nolan will staff on for a third installment, along with the rest of the regulars? The question is, with Nolan's stance on more 'believable' villans who is coming up next?

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As threaten, here are some pictures from our Term Building day. Once again big thanks to Simone, who organised it all, Duck Trail's and a bevy of Citroen 2CV's.

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Why can't people just be polite and not start unbuckling their belts and turning on their cellphones half a second after the plane as landed. Stop pretending you are important.

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To break up our Company meeting we had a team building event. In a veil of secrecy we boarded the bus and after 45 minutes arrived in Wormer, North Holland at Duck Trail, Citroen 2CV Rally Tours and spent the rest of the day 'racing' around with 3 colleagues in a purple Citroen 2CV on a treasure hunt.

We each took turns driving, as a youngster I had a mini, not a 2cv. Rather than a normal gear stick it has a push me, pull me arrangement that I just could not get used to, that and it was on the wrong side for me - I kept reaching down to my left to change gear. Sun was probably in my eyes too, so if you were the car stuck behind a purple 2CV that was trying to find 1st gear at a T junction somewhere in the north of Holland I am sorry.

Pictures to follow at the weekend.

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Travelled to Amsterdam today for a week of 'Death by PowerPoint' and other extreme office sports.

Did not get much sleep as I kept waking up thinking I had overslept, which seems to be the norm for me with early starts. Flight went from being on time to leaving over 90 minutes late far too quickly, still travelling at the weekend means that you are never late for the meeting.

Schiphol was busy, got through passport control quickly but there was a long wait before the luggage arrived - at least my bag was first. Picked up a Strippenkaart from AKO, train ticket from the machine and down to the train where my luck had turned and the train was there. Decided to be healthy and walk from Centraal Station to Waterlooplien rather than take the Metro.

Checked in then off into town with my camera to take a few pics that I'll upload later in the week

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The first time I tried to add a flickr widget to this page I had a few problems, so I wrote this on how to add a Flickr badge to Vox.

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