Author Topic: Jim Bowen on the QE2  (Read 2206 times)

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Online Rob Lightbody

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Jim Bowen on the QE2
« on: Mar 14, 2018, 09:58 PM »
Today, British tv legend Jim Bowen passed away.

He was a regular on QE2 and very popular with passengers and crew.

Do you have QE2 stories of Jim on board QE2?
« Last Edit: Mar 14, 2018, 10:52 PM by Rob Lightbody »
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Online Peter Mugridge

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Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #1 on: Mar 14, 2018, 10:01 PM »
Yes, I do - and I'll be scanning in a photo or two before the week is out...
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Online Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #2 on: Mar 15, 2018, 07:47 AM »
Today, British tv legend Jim Bowen passed away

What was he famous for?

Online Peter Mugridge

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Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #3 on: Mar 15, 2018, 08:22 AM »
He presented, amongst other things, a popular game show called "Bullseye" which was basically darts but not in the way of a normal darts match.  Difficult to explain, really...  you'd have top have seen it...

Other things he did were radio presentation and stand-up comedy.
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Offline Louis De Sousa

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Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #4 on: Mar 15, 2018, 08:54 AM »
Served him a few times

Offline Bruce Nicholls

Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #5 on: Mar 15, 2018, 02:05 PM »
He also I believe had a phobia about flying so a ship was his only way round the world. Handy if you can get paid to travel as well!

Online Peter Mugridge

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Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #6 on: Mar 18, 2018, 10:48 PM »
Sorry for the delay; I have found that the honeymoon albums are slightly bigger than my scanner - so these aren't properly centered, but here they are.  This is Monday 2nd September 2002, crossing the Bay of Biscay.

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Online Rob Lightbody

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Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #7 on: Mar 18, 2018, 10:58 PM »
Sorry for the delay; I have found that the honeymoon albums are slightly bigger than my scanner - so these aren't properly centered, but here they are.  This is Monday 2nd September 2002, crossing the Bay of Biscay.

Hi Peter, great photos, what a memory to have!!  I don't know if your scanner is the same as mine, but mine lets me do a preview, and then I can drag a box around the image I want, which lets it adjust its exposure etc just for the photo being scanned?  It should get some more quality out of the original images.  Just trying to help!

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Online Peter Mugridge

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Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #8 on: Mar 18, 2018, 11:05 PM »
It's an A4 flatbed ( Samsung CLX-4190 ) but the problem is the album pages are physically larger than A4... and while I could extract each individual photo, it would be a very time-consuming and fiddly job because they are albums of the plastic overlay type... so for now I have done this quickly while the topic is still, well, topical and when I get time I will scan the whole lot in properly.

That might be some months down the line, though...

Ideally what I'll do is find somewhere with an A3 scanner and scan each album page in full.  I think I know somewhere local that can do that, but it'll have to wait for better weather and for when I have time to be there while it's done - I am not letting these albums out of my sight; they have more than just the photos in - all the tickets, menus, invoices, receipts, daily newsletters, luggage tags, boarding ID passes... the whole lot... for the entire honeymoon...
"It is a capital mistake to allow any mechanical object to realise that you are in a hurry!"

Offline Pete Hamill

Re: Jim Bowen on the QE2
« Reply #9 on: Mar 19, 2018, 10:15 AM »
My wife and I sailed 2 or 3 times when he was on board.
He featured with the Hot Rhythm Orchestra where he compared and played a really mean trumpet.
He also did the odd Bulls Eye show which was hilarious - especially since there were passengers taking part that had no idea what was going on!

He was a genuinely nice guy, always said hello and took the time to talk to you if he met you anywhere - including exchanging pleasantries across a road in Geiranger!

I remember heading back to the ship on a tender at Dun Laoghaire around 1997 where the weather turned somewhat rough. Jim was looking decidedly green but still managed to put a brave face on it.
After that, the daily program started to include little comments such as Hot Rhythm Orchestra with Jim Bowen (Weather permitting).

Great memories.