The Laboratory

Very positive response to yesterday's Radio Times post, so here's a couple more things in the same vein. People liked the recursion photos, and one Mark Gatiss fan sent this Radio Times cover from 2017. They are copying their own ideas! There were some fond memories of this maths textbook from the 1990s And this is mathematician and comedian Matt Parker with his friends ina very confusing recursion picture But if youwere hoping for something more Christmasssy from today's Advent Calendar, may I recommend "the book of the classic film, which was originally a book anyway". Maybe they will make it into a film.

It's here! Embargoed until 9th December, the Christmas Radio Times is now on sale. Quick, fetch the Sharpie! There's our favourite Aardman characters, Gromit and Shaun. But look! Shaun has taken a bite out of the Radio Times. Gromit will not be happy. How on earth did that happen? Find out in the video clip here: And there is an Easter egg (most unsuitable for Christmas): Because they couldn't have the real back cover in the picture, there is an in-universe set of adverts! Also, notice the recursion on the front cover. Gromit is reading a magazine with a picture of himself reading the same magazine! This reminds me of a famous Ladybird book.

It's here! In all the shops in town you would see empty containers like this: But we have an in with our local newsagent, and they had only just arrived this morning! So the very first people in Old Woking to have in their hands ... So now Christmas is really here and we can start to plan our viewing with the Sharpie pen in hand. Adam is looking forward to the new version of The Famous Five, which could be this year's Worzel Gummidge or The Box Of Delights. What are you looking forward to in Christmas telly? Addendum: Don't forget to buy a really stylish faux-leather cover for your Christmas Radio Times. It's almost as good as the burgundy National Record of Achievement folders that teens were given in the 1990s to store their GCSE certificates in.

It's arrived! I was forbidden from buying it, until Sarah could collect one from our local newsagents, The Bon Bon of Woking. Mr & Mrs Bon had been saving it ready to hand over with the Saturday Guardian.      1. remove inserts      2. remove the wrap-around front cover      3. grab a Sharpie... The Saturday shop also revealed a super little tree decoration from Sainsburys, only £2. It's a coffee cup with a heart on the top and an actual cardboard sleeve! So because I seem to always be buying coffees for the amazing Music department (especially on Carol Service rehearsal day) I made a little drinks carrier out of card to present their presents! Also in Sainsburys: cursed snowflakes and I do NOT recommend this cheese, especially the cranberry and pepper biggest Christmas cash-in ever

You can tell that Christmas is getting close because the special double issue of the Radio Times has been published! Sarah's already gone through it with a Sharpie! Some advent calendar readers will be old enough to remember when you had to buy TWO TV guides if you wanted all the channels. We never got the TV Times, mainly because like the best families, you weren't really meant to watch ITV. Who needed Magpie when you had Blue Peter? And Tiswas was just silly. There's a great website with Radio Times covers of the past (going back to 1969).  https://ukchristmastv.weebly.com/christmas-radio-times-covers-from-1969.html Here's an EXCLUSIVE chart showing what was on the covers for the last 30 years: So Santa definitely wins! Finally here's a lovely one, from way back in 1930, designed by Claughton Pellew!

What are your best Christmas traditions? As regular readers will know, one of ours is the Christmas Radio Times: check you have the right ITV region remove the Radio Times Holidays section from the middle set to with the marker pens highlight stuff in the radio section that you will NEVER listen to Another is making sure the following films are on TV over Christmas Die Hard (of course) A Muppet Christmas Carol Scrooged Clueless (not seasonal but then again it's always sunny in California) any Hallmark Christmas movie about snowglobes or a character called Holly And of course, getting up the most garish decorations in the street. This year we have an eye-piercing blue neon wreath and window lights. But even that doesn't compare with the Loop Road extravaganza. Only snapped last night, here it is!

It's official! We've bought a brand new Sharpie and agreed our coding system (yes we have one). Now it's time to start marking up ...

This year the Calendar is all about anniversaries, so let us take you back to 1964. The amazing website Genome has been launched by the BBC to catalogue its archive, including old Radio Times. So 50 years ago here's what the Christmas Day schedule looked like ... Penguins! The Great War! Welsh Singing! Repeats! Disney Time! 9.15: THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR A German film based on a story by the Brothers Grimm  Commentary by Johnny Morris 9.50: WELCOME CHRISTMAS! Words and music for this Festive morn with IVOR EMMANUEL, JACQUELINE DELMAN, OWEN BRANNIGAN and CY GRANT  BBC Midland Light Orchestra Leader, JAMES HUTCHEON  Producer: Reg Perrin Produced By: Philip Lewis 10.30: The World of the Penguin Whether they breed on Antarctic ice or African sand, the penguin's true home is the sea. Master swimmers, they cannot fly, yet some travel miles inland. Sometimes comic, sometimes graceful, to millions they are the most fascinating birds in the world. Commentary writte...

Anniversary Flashback: 2009 This was the most popular picture in 2009: To download all the photos from 2009, click this link . And to bring you up to speed with 2013: Time to get out the highlighter pen!

Step 1: remove all advertising flyers Step 2: pull out the Holidays section in the middle Step 3: reach for highlighter pen ... (click on the pictures for MONSTER-sized versions!) That's my weekend taken care of then!

It's arrived at last! And it's bigger than ever! And on the cover AGAIN for another Christmas, it's ... Wallace and Gromit on the Radio Times! And there's so much to highlight with marker pen ... that's our weekend gone. One Christmas show we are looking forward to is the Miranda special. We're big fans of @mermhart  and because our friend Sarah requested it, here's a picture: This isn't some fan art, like we usually mock, but by Claire Murray , a really cool illustrator who does celebrities, maps, pirates, and Russian dolls:

It seems earlier than ever before - there are now 3 issues of RT in the shops, this week (Dr Who cover), next week (Nigella cover) and now the Christmas double issue! Hope you've got your highlighters ready. In fact we couldn't find one in Woking yesterday for love or money, so we'll have to postpone our viewing selection for a few days. Which TV show are you most looking forward to?