A Gaming Tribute To Jim Bowen

Hey y'all! I'm currently working on a script for a "Thoughts of a Thirty-Something Gamer" episode which sadly takes quite a bit of time and research to produce, but will be by the end of all my hard work a readable script here on Blogger and a fully edited video on my YouTube channel. But in the meantime I wanted to write a little tribute for the passing of a man who managed to encapsulate the feeling of togetherness as a family back in my early years. The following few paragraphs are from the beginning of my latest Padge Plays! Retro Edition video introduction to the game Bullseye on the Commodore 64 with a eulogy to the presenter of the TV game show who recently died.

You can see the full video by clicking anywhere on this sentence... any part at all!

"On the 14th of March 2018 the world lost a significant figure in the world of science, Stephen Hawking, who successfully battled a debilitating disease which left one of the most celebrated minds in theoretical physics and cosmology a prisoner in his own body for over 50 years, way beyond the life expectancy any doctor predicted he would have back in 1963 and who became a pop-culture phenomenon in his own right due to his down to earth sense of humour and modesty of his own intellectual prowess.

His death is a great loss. But it overshadowed another man's demise on the same day who was less well known but for me personally is someone I have fond memories of whilst growing up in the late 80's and early 90's: Jim Bowen.

Jim Bowen was primarily known as the host of the game show Bullseye which aired between 1981 to 1995 and combined the sport of darts with a general knowledge quiz show. With it's working class appeal as anyone could pick up a set of darts and play, along with the warmth and down to earth humour of Jim himself, this lead to the quiz show amassing a weekly viewership of over 12 million viewers, my family included. Together with Tony Green, the official score keeper who was himself a professional darts referee and commentator in his own right, Jim would set 3 teams of 2, (one a darts player and one to answer the questions) against each other to see who could amass the most points in order to have a chance at Bully's Prize Board, renowned for it's mixture of rubbish prizes and quality swag before deciding on whether to risk it all on Bully's Star Prize by throwing 101 in 6 darts.

I have very fond memories of being a child at 6 or 7 years old going to my grandparents every Sunday and meeting up with the entire family for Sunday lunch, usually after going to watch my Uncle play football for the local pub team with my Grandad and Great Uncle and then the whole clan sitting down at 5pm to watch Bullseye together before everyone would go their separate ways to prepare for the week ahead. For me, especially as I get older, these were cherished times and now with streaming sites such as Netflix and on demand entertainment from the likes of Youtube it seems
the sanctity of sitting with your family at the same time every week to enjoy a TV program together, any program, is becoming more obscure with every passing year. This in itself is a tragedy in my eyes, but a minor negative in the grand scheme of things taking in to consideration the amount of choice and variety you have at your fingertips in these modern times.

Jim Bowen's passing is a closing of a chapter to my life which I assumed was closed long ago through the natural progression of a child becoming a teenager and wanting, NEEDING the independence from the family unit but with getting older and being able to look back at those times I can now see that this was truly a treasured time of life for me.

So I have chosen to celebrate the life of Jim and honour his passing the only way I know how, and that is to play the Commodore 64 version of his highly popular and widely regarded game show... and probably badly.

And remember, you can’t beat a bit of Bully!"


Thanks once again for taking the time to read this and hopefully I'll see you next time!

Scott.


Check Out My Youtube Channel: www.YouTube.com/PalicoPadge