Archers thread #166: Choppy waters in Ambridge! Look out for the red flags and discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd love to be married to Harrison, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Another thread started in great haste, mid-packing! Over to you.

I think if I were Boris, these threads would have simply stopped getting started a long time ago.

All this education and yet here we are on a thread discussing TA.

I know! Where did it all go wrong?

It's a bit sad. There are many areas of study that are made more difficult by not having sufficient languages in school, let alone Latin. I use Latin for my research on a regular basis, and am really glad I had the opportunity to take it in school. Doubtless the same people that would say that it's elitist to study Latin would also say that those subjects where Latin is really useful or even essential are pointless subjects. The elitism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I have Latin A-level. There were just two of us doing it in my year, one in the year below, but they still let the class run. I am in my 50s, though. Friend's daughter now in her 20s did Latin at her state school, then Classics at Oxford.

Jim would be proud of us.

Thank you Bore, for the Victoria Wood clip.

So back to the Archers ...

Is Harrison back to normal now?

I wonder if Fallon is going to do a lovely birthday surprise reminding him of how they met (dinner in a prison cell?) and he’s going to say he just can’t get over the baby thing and if she doesn’t want a baby they will have to split

@Godesstobe That’s really interesting. I remember SMP maths from that sort of age but I don’t know how I encountered it. At the time, Venn diagrams were something you didn’t meet till uni, so maybe one effect of SMP is that they seem to be crawling over primary school maths.

SMP was I think an attempt to introduce mathematical concepts at an earlier age and get away from the idea that maths = sums. It clearly failed for you. Whereas the maths v sums approach fails those with dyslexia/dyscalcula. I have a dyslexic son who struggles with 5+7 but can understand the use of matrices to rotate, flip, or change the size of objects, and friend who completely struggled with school maths, then joined the army, met trigonometry, and took to it like a duck to water.

That’s why it’s so annoying that Brad’s supposed brilliance at maths is being “demonstrated” by his being able to add up in his head.

And I have to share John Venn’s blue plaque in Hull

We had “IQ lessons”. They probably worked. 7 out of 21 passed the 11plus against a quota for “county” children of 10%. The 11plus IQ test was flawed and prior knowledge to “decode” the questions put you at an advantage.

He seems to be...well normal for Harrison.
But I don't think him and Fallon have addressed things between them properly yet.

Personally, I quite liked yesterday's episode...we need a bit of slow pace sometimes, Sunday afternoon village life.

Romance brewing for Ben and Chelsea. I did think a while back there could be a Freddie and Chelsea love story eventually but I guess there is still plenty of years for things to pan out 🤷‍♀️

Ben/freddie/chelsea love triangle?

how old are Ben and Freddie? She’s about to turn 20

It would be interesting if was a hint of jealousy from Freddie when Ben and Chelsea get together. B and C must be around the same age but I think Freddie is a few years older?

Freddie (12/12/99) is 24. Ben (15/3/02) is 22, so 2 years 4 months between them. There's a tendency to think Freddie is older because his twin sounds like a world-weary 40 year old divorcee. No idea about Chelsea.

I was guessing he was late twenties based on Lily!!!

I think Ben and Chelsea would be better couple

ben was very young to be having Jill push his relationship with Beth as the worlds truest love. Because of that whole debacle I’d assumed he was older

I love the blue plaque!
My mother says they were told SMP maths was introduced to bring maths in the West up to the standard in the USSR after Russia seemed to be winning the space race with the launch of Sputnik.
I don't know if the approach just wasn't right for me or if I was just badly taught but I found it very frustrating at the time. I remember maths lessons as mind-numbingly boring.
When my children started secondary school I actually became quite emotional looking at their maths books and realising what a lot I had never been taught.
On the other hand tesselation skills can be handy when laying tiles.

I like this jealousy idea.
Has Freddie ever had a girlfriend?

Freddie?

I recall he struggled to make an impression on the young ladies at sixth form college (in contrast to Johnny IIRC). Then reportedly lost his virginity when he and Johnny went to a festival on the Isle of … I forget which. Since then the SWs seem to have given up trying, with the result that I can only conclude he will eventually declare himself asexual. (And not interested in progeny.) Heralding defenestration of all the LL trustees, breaking of the Pargetter male line of succession, and ascendance of Lily’s as yet unthought of child to the throne.

Aha, it was the Isle of Wight festival!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/hxLVSmqLyDlnctdr0DF7vJ/freddie-pargetter

He does not look like Freddie!!!

I had to do accounts for lawyers in the 70s. It kind of lost me in the first lesson when they told us we had to put credits in the DR column, and it wasn't helped by the fact that I was training with a particularly stingy firm that wouldn't let me have time off. When I got to the exam I decided I had no chance and should just treat it as a practice session but, to my amazement, I passed. I suspect I benefited from being so relaxed about it. I kept well away from accounts for ever after.

Not even close! Oh dear.

If you google Toby Laurence actor there are several photos of him looking younger and thinner - all feyness and pout - where he’s exactly as I imagine Freddie.

And he’d definitely be in a tweed jacket and t shirt. But clean shaven. With big sad eyes …

I agree. Freddie is very slim with blonde floppy hair.