Hello, and welcome to those who have joined up since our last newsletter.

In this issue

• BE Newsletter – change of format
• This week: Clash of the century; John Peel
• Virtual Snacks
• Bizarre Searches
• Joke and quotation

BE Newsletter – change of format

British Expat’s change of server finally took place last Wednesday, just as we would normally have been getting ready to send out the latest newsletter – so that was the reason (excuse?) for the newsletter not dropping into your inbox last week. Sorry about that!

However, we have been able to add a bit of extra functionality for you. You can now choose to receive the newsletter in either HTML or plain text format in future. Just click on the “To update your preferences” link at the bottom of the page, then tick the appropriate box. That means that those of you who prefer a little bit more colour in your inbox can have it, while those who are just after the raw content can get that too. (To start with, we’ve chosen to send in HTML format to everyone – but if that doesn’t suit you, just change your preference and you’ll get next week’s newsletter in plain text.)

This week

The changeover to new servers took up most of our week, predictably. Now that it’s happened we should be able to offer an improved service overall in the not too distant future, with more dynamic content on the pages. (For the non-technically minded of you out there, dynamic simply means that we can automatically update links, show the most recent postings on the fora, review and replace time-expired content more easily – stuff like that.)

Other news? Well, the “Clash of the Century” took place on Sunday (known more prosaically and realistically as Man Utd v Arsenal). Not a very edifying affair on or off the pitch, with a few cynical fouls, some questionable decisions by the referee and bitter complaints from the losing manager. Business as usual, then. Apparently Man U manager Sir Alex Ferguson had a cup of pea soup thrown at him in the tunnel to the dressing-rooms after the match, though the culprit hasn’t yet been identified. Frank Clark of the League Managers’ Association joked that Sir Alex would have seen it as a “storm in a soup-cup”. Witty, eh?

And sadly, John Peel died on Tuesday at the age of 65, while on a working holiday in Peru with his wife Sheila. John provided generations of radio listeners with hours of late-night musical joy, and gave several struggling new bands the breakthrough they might otherwise never have got. In a world of bland mass-production pop and playlist conformity, he’ll be sadly missed.

Virtual Snacks

Just a couple of suggestions if you have a little time to spare:

A bit of an anoraky one here: The Listener’s Guide, by Bob Ellis. OK, so it’s primarily about ham radio (and let’s face it, even these days there are expats around who need to listen to short-wave broadcasts because they can’t get broadband streamed audio). But it’s also a very funny read in places!
[Obsolete link removed]

And in spite of the trials and tribulations plaguing space exploration over the last few years, there’s still plenty to see and do on the NASA website:
NASA

Bizarre Searches

Some strange search terms which led people to visit British Expat recently:

• sexshop newsletter (4)
• hollywood hot & spicy actress;s (4)
• bizarre searches (I suppose it had to happen eventually!) (3)
• where is istanbul (C’mon, really…) (3)
• frozen people (3)
• freddie mercury magazines (3)
• anti loch ness monster (2)
• advertise here jesus (2)

Till next time…
Happy surfing!

Kay
Editor
British Expat Magazine

Quotation

“I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones.”

– John Peel, disc jockey (1939-2004)

Joke

What has Old Trafford at 4.45pm on a Saturday afternoon got in common with Wormwood Scrubs?

They are both full of Cockneys trying to get out.