The Color of Money

I thought I recognised the name and face of Paul Newman, the man leading our group tour of the new MediaCity complex in Salford Quays today. No not that one. I found out afterwards he had been a TV news reporter, as well as a previous Director of Communications of the English Football Association, where he handled ex manager's Sven Goran Eriksson's 'affairs'. He now holds the same position for Peel Holdings, the developer and owner of MediaCity, which now rents it's facilities out to BBC, ITV and media independents.

The tour took us into the BBC Sport studios of Match of the Day. What a thrill for me, but also a disappointment without most of the set and all the CGI graphics (oh and the pundits of course). I asked Mr Newman if I could take any photos of the studio and he said yes, but not if it was being used on social media. Whilst I wouldn't class Blip as this like Facebook, I also didn't want to go against his wishes. This instead, is a close-up of the adjacent radio studios, with it's designated 'dead area', a reverberation-free-zone.

Media may be the name, but money is the game here. That thought reminded me of the other Paul Newman's Best Actor Oscar as 'Fast Eddie' in the Scorsese film The Color of Money.

Our tour was a precursor to a big waterways meeting up on the 7th floor starting at mid morning. The venue for that was a conference suite situated just off the private bar area. Given the number of champagne bottles seen behind that bar as I passed, I half expected to see the BBC Breakfast presenters already half drunk and celebrating today's 30th birthday of their programme's first-ever airing in 1983. Sad to say I was bitterly disappointed, and not a tipsy lovie in sight.

Postscript: Given the Newman link and the notion of media anniversaries, it seemed apt to mention his sidekick Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival about to kick off, and celebrating its own 35th year. The British film being premiered this year is The MooMan, a documentary bio-pic that tells the story of Sussex organic dairy farmer Steve Huck's raw milk production. What can I say, udder than it makes a change from the cream of Hollywood A-Listers milking it.