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Old 27th Sep 2007, 8:08 pm   #81
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

A few people (especially Steve P) have expresed an interest in putting a collection of LLJ articles together. How shall we start this off? What format shall we go for, ie on this or another suitable site or putting it onto a disc. We also need volunteers who have a collection of Television mags, for example I have a large collection of mags from the mid 1970's to the 1980's which I can scan, hopefully others will have copies from the 1950s and 1960s.
A question to the moderators do we continue on this thread or would you like us to start a new thread?.
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Old 27th Sep 2007, 11:06 pm   #82
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

I've scanned 7 years worth and passed them onto Paul Stenning for inclusion on his website. Only 7 more years to go.

While I've been scanning them I re-discovered many interesting and amusing articles from the likes of Chas Miller and latterly Donald Bullock and many articles on vintage radio and TV. Also many articles written by members of this forum.

It is ultimately my intention to create an index for all the Television magazines I have, from 1969 to the last issue in Jan 2007. Once it's completed I'll post it on the forum......don't hold your breath though it could be a bigger job than I originally anticipated.

Suggestions on the format of the index would be welcome. Probably best to start a new thread.

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Old 28th Sep 2007, 7:44 am   #83
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Keith
I'm speaking as a database designer in my day job:
The index format is a little way down the road yet, but we will need to search on quite a lot of different criteria; humorous articles such as LLJ and Donald's as opposed to technical ones by LLJ and others.
Month, page number, title, author and snippets of text would be common ones.

The first thing is to look at all the requirements.
It needs to be in a recognised database format as well, with the actual scanned text in a recognised graphic format (which it probably is).

A decision on whether to issue it on a CD or the internet is probably an early decision to make - the latter needs more work unless it is going to be quite restrictive.
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Old 28th Sep 2007, 9:15 am   #84
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Mike

Agreed. Whatever format the index is in it needs to be easy to use and to search for apecific articles. I am no expert on databases although I went on a short course at a previous employer but never got to use the knowledge. My initial thoughts were to be able to locate the specific magazine from the article title, author, type of article (i.e. specific service data, general servicing, constructional etc.

To avoid going off topic I'll start another thread soon.

Keith
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Old 28th Sep 2007, 9:31 am   #85
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Another L.L.J. fan here, i would love to see a book of his articles.
Beardy and non Beardy.......just brilliant
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Old 28th Sep 2007, 4:53 pm   #86
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Once Keith has scanned and sent them all to me (another couple of weeks I would guess) I will put them on a webpage with the title and date.

I don't know what other information we would want but I could certainly add "Sets mentioned" or any other info people think would be useful, if someone is prepared to go through them all and list it. Though I think these are more for entertainment value than technical information, so that's probably not necessary.

I am also hoping to combine them all into a single PDF file so people can download and print the whole lot in one go. Individual PDFs will be there too, and possibly yearly combined PDFs. Otherwise it would be 150+ separate files to download.

This is of course just the monthly diary type columns in Television. I believe he did some technical servicing articles about specific receivers too (I remember having a photocopy of his Thorn 1500 one many years ago), which would be a separate project if someone has access to the magazines and the time to scan them all....
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Old 28th Sep 2007, 7:58 pm   #87
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Paul

I would hope to finish the scanning within 2 weeks.

With regard to the index project I think the most useful articles are those dealing with servicing issues as these often give information on common faults not found in the normal service sheets. I would hope that whatever format it ultimately ends up as it would be easy to search for articles on specific TVs & chassis. This would probably be the most useful information for the forum.

Many of the pages were devoted to reports from service engineers and must have included several thousand references to TVs, VCRs etc. One such series was the Service Bureau which readers faults were diagnosed. This service was eventually closed down. Although including these could be useful I think initially I would stick to the main servicing articles. Other articles could be included as time permits

As you say LLJ did have a long running series an servicing specific chassis. I always found these useful when fixing neighbours and friends TVs. His follow up series under the pseudonym of S.Simon ran for several years in parallel with his diary. I don't have all the articles as I only started reading Television (or Practical television as it was then) in 1969. As you said if someone has the time to scan them........

Keith
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Old 30th Sep 2007, 5:36 pm   #88
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Keith was feeling enthusiastic this afternoon, and has finished scanning the articles (158 of them, plus his obituary). I will get them on the website in the next few days.

Can anyone write a couple of paragraphs about him that I can put on the webpage please?
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Old 30th Sep 2007, 8:35 pm   #89
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

I'm sure I could have scanned them in a little quicker but as I was scanning them I was also re-reading many of them and making mental notes for future reference. It's amazing how much there is in the magazines in terms of servicing information and articles on TV related topics.

Keith
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Old 30th Sep 2007, 8:48 pm   #90
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

I'm so pleased about the possibility of reading the collected works of LL-J, and would like to thank all who are devoting time and expertise to the project. FWIW, I'd pay for a copy!

I read Television for some years during the late 70s-mid 80s and always turned to Les's page first. My memory fails to recall many stories, but I do remember chuckling at the episode involving several visits to the Dynatron having a constantly-increasing number of screws holding the back on!

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Old 30th Sep 2007, 10:03 pm   #91
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

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Originally Posted by Richard_Newman View Post
The last story I can find in TV mag is April 1991. There is a definate change in his mood and style with the later offerings and they lack the sparkle of his heyday.
The articles Keith has sent me go up to October 1990. Keith, can you check into 1991 please?
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Old 30th Sep 2007, 11:09 pm   #92
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Paul

I've checked all the 1991, and 1992, issues but there are no more LLJ articles. Is it possible that Richard is thinking of Donald Bullocks column "What A Life" which is written in a similar vein to Les Lawry-Johns. I think this started around the time LLJ stopped writing his column.

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Old 1st Oct 2007, 10:06 pm   #93
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

They are now available here http://www.vintage-radio.info/llj/

You can download the lot in one big PDF file, grouped PDF files for each year or individual PDF files for each story (all 158 of them). If you are on ADSL the one big file would probably be the best bet. Cookies must be enabled for the download system to work.

Enjoy!
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Old 1st Oct 2007, 10:39 pm   #94
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Thanks for doing this Paul and Keith - much appreciated
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Old 1st Oct 2007, 11:33 pm   #95
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

I always knew my collection of magazines would be useful one day.

I've just checked the 1977 copies and found 3 earlier LLJ articles. It would appear that the last "Servicing Television Receivers" articles, written by Les since the 1950s were in the January to April issues covering the Philips 320 chassis then two articles on "Problems with Portables". The April article was still under the Servicing Television Receivers title but was entitled "Have You Noticed" and started in the style of the later articles before describing that months crop of TV faults. The May to July issues had dropped the Servicing Television Receivers title with Les beginningto write more about his customers. However the August issue had LLJ writing about the Waltham 125 chassis. September had the now familiar format.

I'll get these last 3 scanned and passed to Paul as a bonus for all the many LLJ fans out there.

As Paul said ... Enjoy. There'll never be another like him. Long may he remain in our memory.

Keith
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Old 2nd Oct 2007, 7:36 am   #96
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

What a fantastic job, Paul and Keith! I cannot believe how soon this has been achieved - good job I kept well out of it.

Oh well, that's next years' reading sorted out. LLJ, you will never be forgotten.
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Old 2nd Oct 2007, 9:13 am   #97
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

Steve_P has notified me of one file that is missing (one of the individual stories). If anyone finds any more problems let me know and I'll fix them ASAP.
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Old 2nd Oct 2007, 9:14 am   #98
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

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Oh well, that's next years' reading sorted out.
Yes, I plan to print it all for reading. About 290 pages...
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Old 2nd Oct 2007, 12:23 pm   #99
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

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Steve_P has notified me of one file that is missing (one of the individual stories). If anyone finds any more problems let me know and I'll fix them ASAP.
If this is from the 1981 files. There were only 10 articles. Either he was very busy or his health problems were starting. The lack of his article one month was commented on in the editorial page.

In 1990 there were only the six articles.

Keith
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Old 2nd Oct 2007, 1:23 pm   #100
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Default Re: Whats your favourite LES L JOHNS story

I did only include the ones we have as I went through them all to get the titles. It's more likely to be a typo in one of the links.
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