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Hi - Welcome to Peacockshock. My house on the internet. I'm Ian Peacock |
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I live in Hertford - a quaint but cool town just north of London England. I'm a media person. I run a consultancy, present radio programmes, do a bit of television and write too. I'm mad about animals and live with my eccentric but fabulous cat Bollinger. I go to the gym, swim a lot, and listen to music non-stop. My family mostly live up north, but also in Denmark and the USA. And I've lived in Newcastle, Durham, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Cambridge, Oxford and London. So...don't dither on the doorstep. Come in and have a wander round. You can either just scroll down this page and see what takes your fancy. Or you can mouse around the house and click on the different rooms and areas. And keep coming back for new stuff. Enjoy your stay. Ian
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Coping With The NewsI can't bring myself to watch the news today. It was so utterly horrific and depressing yesterday. If, like me, you're finding the news a bit hard to take, here's a quotation that might help - When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' Fred Rogers Peculiar Picture
Headphones. Cat. It could be me. Monday Moggy
Rappers Changing Names - Wrong
Snoop Dogg Yo. Wha's goin' down? Am I alone in feeling discombobulated by Snoop Dogg’s recent change of name to Snoop Lion? It’s simply wrong. Snoop Dogg has provenance and intertextuality (as Julia Kristeva might say) with Snoopy the Dog. ‘Snoop’ and ‘Lion’ just seem so random. And if it was Dogg, why isn’t it Lionn? Pray tell us Mr Lion, or may I call you Snoop? Puff Daddy also upset me greatly when he decided, arrogantly in my opinion, to rename himself P Diddy. Now he’s dropped the P. And Puff is a mere ‘Diddy’. Ken Dodd must be spinning in his grave. Or is he still alive? Is he still called Ken Dodd I wonder? Or K Diddy? Or Puff Doddy? It seems they're all at it in the hood. The rapper Common Sense is now Common. MC Hammer is plain old Hammer nowadays. And Gucci Mane has relaunched himself as Guwop. Sounds like an Indonesian tofu dish. I also can’t pretend to know what possessed the lovely Killer Mike to change his name to Mike Bigga and then back to to Killer Mike. I also have issues with Peedi Crakk reinventing himself as Peedi Peedi. And, heretical as it sounds, I preferred the name 'Biggie Smalls' to 'The Notorious B.I.G.' The Notorious’s real name was, of course, Christopher Latore Wallace. Until further notice, my phat homies, as I believe you call yourselves, I shall continue to be known in rap circles as MC Peacs, assisted by DJ Boll. Da bomb. No diggity. Peculiar Picture
Thank you to Tony Barton for alerting me to this extremely peculiar picture, from Awkward Family Photos Want To Be On Radio And TV?
click image to enlarge flyer Whether you've got some experience or none at all, my Developing Your Media Presence course on 4 July is for you. I'll give you loads of tips, then you'll be professionally recorded and filmed, with playback and constructive feedback. It's in central London, near the BBC, at 76 Portland Place. You can book online, with earlybird discounts, or just ask me for more info - ian@ianpeacock.com And it's a Last Word Group course, so it will be fabulous. Every Day Is The Best Day In The YearWrite it on your heart Finish every day and be done with it. This new day is too dear, Ralph Waldo Emerson Peculiar Picture
Monday Moggy
Today's moggy is Sam The Worried Cat.
Summerhouse On The River Near Hertford
During the summer (ie. last weekend) I took a stroll down the river onto the mini-peninsula where it curves round towards Ware. This was the view. It must be idyllic to live in the house with the lawn sloping down to the river and the little blue summerhouse. They used to have chickens in the garden. Not sure where they've gone. Houseboat Husky
Cute Coot Casts Beady Red Eye Over Onlookers
The Hertford Basin coot has returned to its usual nesting location, teetering on the brink of the weir. If you're not sure how to tell a coot from a moorhen, it's quite easy. Coots are larger, with white beaks. Moorhens have red/orange beaks. Moor hen - more colour. Hertford Swan Update - A Cygnet Called Bieber
The Hertford cygnet's doing fine, but he sadly hasn't been joined by any siblings, despite the original count of nine eggs. The swans have now abandoned their nest which is still full of eggs, topped by a pink toddler's hat (a pink hat, not the hat of a pink toddler) which must have fallen off the bridge. The cygnet was swimming round with mum and dad within 24 hours of hatching, and I last saw them hanging out outside The Old Barge on Folly Island. I originally called it Josh, but I've renamed it 'Bieber', as it's been in the public eye since birth. No doubt it'll go off the rails at 18, get a pet monkey and start turning up two hours late for appointments. Swan FAQ Facts Mute (white) swans are owned by the Queen. It's a criminal offence to harm them or interfere with their nests in any way. Swans normally mate for life, but both males and females can bring cygnets up as single parents. Male swans are called 'cobs'; females are 'pens'. Baby swans are definitely called 'cygnets' and not 'ducklings' or 'ugly ducklings' which someone was arguing on the bridge the other day. Cygnets stay with their parents till they're six months old, when the parents may chase them aggressively to force them to be independent. They then join a flock - a sort of cygnet gang - till they're four years old, when they start dating. A swan needs a 30 metre runway in order to take off from dry land. Mute swans are so called because they don't say much. But they were once thought to sing when they foresaw their death - the origin of the term 'swan song'. The patron saint of swans is St Hugh of Lincoln.
St Hugh of Lincoln, um, swanning around - why is the swan wearing a scarf? |
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