THE BBC 4 channel had a surprising TV hit on its hands last year when it put a camera on the footplate of a train travelling down the East Coast Main Line.
I think I’ve come up with a sequel.
I’m going to get a drone to fly over the champagne bar at York Racecourse about an hour after racing has finished at Ladies Day at the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival.
All human life appears to be there, and a few other species too.
If you could get David Attenborough to do the commentary then I’m sure it would be a box office smash.
Some people go to the Ebor Festival to see some of the greatest race horses in the world.
I go to observe the people.
And I’m never disappointed.
Of course my two trips to York this week were purely for research purposes.
On Wednesday I was a guest of Richard Larking of Progeny Corporate Law in Leeds.
Ever since I gatecrashed the firm’s Christmas party last year and danced on a table wearing a sombrero, Richard has somehow felt duty bound to invite me to all their other social events.
And I’ve felt duty bound to accept.
Among our number was David Knaggs, the former boss of law firm Irwin Mitchell who is better known as Lord Knaggs and now enjoying a life of leisure.
Both Richard and I complimented David on his suit, a mid-blue pinstriped number made by Leeds tailor extraordinaire James Michelsberg.
I was also jealous of David’s flowing hairstyle which tumbled over his collar in a manner which reminded me of Glenn Hoddle circa 1983.
As always at York, I hoped to get some good tips and thought a decent bet would be Moviesta, co-owned by football manager Harry Redknapp and Yorkshire entrepreneur Ritchie Fiddes.
What I didn’t realise was that Ritchie’s former colleague in Yorkshire tech business Backup Technology, Simon Chappell, co-owned a horse called Thesme in the first race on Wednesday, which Frankie Dettori steered into third place.
I consoled myself with some more people watching in the champagne bar where some of the striking outfits which caught my eye were worn by men, not women.
One chap sported a zoot suit in a checker-board print topped off with lime green glasses and a bowler hat.
Another wore a loud floral jacket reminiscent of Max Miller in his heyday.
Clearly I’m one of the few who can recall the one-time music hall comedian given everyone who I mentioned him to thought I was talking about either Max Bygraves, Mick Miller or Windy Miller.
Philistines.
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I WAS back at York yesterday in my ambassadorial role with Welcome to Yorkshire.
I like the title Y30 Ambassador but hope it’s not just been given to me because they need someone to serve the Ferrero Rocher at social events.
Y30 is the group of businesses and other organisations who support Welcome to Yorkshire and members enjoy benefits for their staff, invitations to events that the tourism organisation is involved with such as the Ebor Festival, Chelsea Flower Show, Great Yorkshire Show and the Tour de Yorkshire.
I’m enjoying promoting Y30 to other businesses.
The fact that the representatives of the firms that are Y30 members are all good people and the Welcome to Yorkshire team are all an energetic and fun bunch means that Y30 feels less like a corporate group and more like a club you want to be a member of.
In the Welcome to Yorkshire box at York Races yesterday I enjoyed the company of Caroline Pullich and Karen Swainston of Barclays, Tim Wheldon of law firm Addleshaw Goddard, Nicholas Oughtread of Aunt Bessie’s food business, as well as Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, Kirsten England, his counterpart at Bradford and Joanne Roney, who is the chief executive of Manchester City Council.
Throw in Sir Gary Verity and his colleague Peter Dodd and that’s some Northern Powerhouse.
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THE world said goodbye to two legends in the last few days.
The passing of Sir Bruce Forsyth at 89 meant the departure of a show business stalwart.
Many of the newspapers and commentators described him as ‘Mr Saturday Night’ and the coverage of his death highlighted how much impact the entertainer had on not just one generation, but several.
I doubt we’ll ever see another with his longevity in the often fickle world of TV entertainment.
I grew up watching him present The Generation Game and 40-odd years later today’s youngsters know him from Strictly Come Dancing.
He could sing, dance, tell jokes, perform comedy and host television shows like no other.
If Britain had an equivalent to Sammy Davies Jnr then it was Brucie.
And we all thought we could do a decent impression of him too.
“All right my love? Higher, lower, good game, good game,” we said with pursed lips and chin jutting out.
Well I did.
The other legend who passed on garnered less publicity than Sir Bruce, but made a big impact on me.
Bobbie Caplin OBE died this week shortly after his 85th birthday.
Bobbie was a clothing manufacturer by trade, his Firstneat business in Leeds producing everything from hunting clothes to workwear.
But he was better known as a leading light in the Variety Club of Great Britain, now known simply as Variety.
A natty dresser, always impeccably turned out in a dark suit or blazer and with his white hair perfectly combed and a year-round tan, I first met Bobbie when I arrived as business editor of the Yorkshire Post and was thrust onto the committee for the Yorkshire Business Awards, organised by the Variety Club.
Committee meetings were a joy as I revelled in the stories that Bobbie and his colleagues would tell about meeting luminaries from the world of show business, royalty and politics who used to grace Variety Club events in Yorkshire.
Bobbie was the best name dropper I ever met.
He was a childhood friend of Barbara Taylor-Bradford and once appeared in a documentary about Morecambe & Wise – he’d been with them the night Eric Morecambe had a heart attack after appearing at Batley Variety Club.
Whilst his trade was garment manufacturer, I decided quite early on that he was more likely to be a playboy, given the stories he would tell of jaunts around the world, including powerboat racing and rubbing shoulders with the glitterati of New York, Monte Carlo and Hollywood.
I bet Bobbie would have had a few stories about Sir Bruce Forsyth given that Brucie used to film Play Your Cards Right at the Yorkshire TV studios in Leeds.
In fact Bruce used to get his suits from Leeds menswear shop Brills.
Ian Brill, an old friend of Bobbie and fellow Variety Club member, once told me Bruce Forsyth had the perfect proportions to fit an off-the-peg top of the range Italian suit.
They don’t make them like Bruce Forsyth anymore. Or Bobbie Caplin.
Remembering both takes me back to an age of show business glamour when the stars twinkled that bit brighter and the world seemed simpler – but a lot more sophisticated.
Have a great weekend.