Claptrap the movie (revisited)

Last September, to mark the 25th anniversary of the televising of Claptrap, I began a series of posts on how the film came to be made. The first of these featured some embedded clips of the YouTube version of the film.

However, YouTube rules meant that it had to be posted in four separate episodes and, at the time, I only had access to a rather poor quality version of the movie. Since then, I've unearthed a rather better quality video, and you can now watch the uninterrupted 27 minutes here:

LINKS TO OTHER POSTS IN THE CLAPTRAP SAGA:

Part 1: Claptrap - The Movie

Part 2: Eureka!
Part 3: News leaks out of the lecture theatre
Part 4: How to get a book published

Part 5: In the right places at the right times

Part 6: An offer I couldn't refuse

Part 7: On location

Part 8: Sparks in the background

Part 9: Broadcasters' bile and SDP sulks

Part 10: Academic acclaim?

Rare video clip of a politician giving 5 straight answers to 5 consecutive questions

In a recent post about a politician actually answering a TV interviewer's question (Mandelson gives two straight answers to two of Paxman's Questions), I mentioned a classic interview in which Nigel Lawson seemed to take Brian Walden by surprise by giving straight answers to five questions in a row.

The year was 1989, when Lawson's dissatisfaction with Mrs Thatcher's apparent preference for the advice of the economist, Sir Alan Walters, had led the then Chancellor of the Exchequer to resign.

I've just been sorting through some old video tapes, and unearthed the original sequence - which raises the question: has any other politician ever given a straight answer to more than five consecutive questions?

RELATED POSTS:

• Two more straight answers from Mandelson - about failed coups and the PM's rages

· A Tory leader's three evasive answers to the same question

• Gordon Brown's interview technique: the tip of a tedious iceberg

• A prime minister who openly refused to answer an interviewer’s questions

• Why it's so easy for politicians not to answer interviewers' questions - and what should be done about it

• Why has Gordon Brown become a regular on the Today programme?

• Interview techniques, politicians and how we judge them

The best awards ceremony acceptance speech?

I'm grateful to Danny Finkelstein's latest post on Comment Central (see blogroll) for drawing my attention to what he refers to as 'possibly the best acceptance speech in history' (below).

Not sure about that, because it has to compete with Alfred Hitchcock's speech accepting the Irving G. Thalberg Award (given to 'a creative producer who has been responsible for a consistently high quality of motion picture production') at the Oscar awards in 1967 - the full text of which was:

"Thank you."

I'm also a big fan of Paul Hogan's widely ignored tips for award winners' speeches at the 1986 Oscars, which can be seen HERE.

But here's what Wes Anderson had to say on winning the Special Filmmaking Achievement award from the National Board of Review for his film Fantastic Mr Fox:

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