Last Updated: Thursday, 13th July, 2000

Therefore, when you access these pages, you need only look at the main page to see if there have been any changes. If there have, a trip to this page will let you know what and where.

Last Updated: Thursday, 13th July, 2000

Blimey guv'nor - has it really been half a year since my last update! Shocking. I'd better do a bit better in future.

Anyway, more pages as PHP3 format (just in time for everyone to start upgrading to PHP4 - damn!). This is all heading for a monstrously serious update in a few months time. You'll see what I mean.

I also added Otway's latest CD to the discography, and corrected a few errors there. While I was at it, I added some more links - essentially between different recordings of the same song. The update later in the year should have a major impact on the discography if I can just work out how to get the web server to talk to the database, rather than kill it :(

Otherwise, just a general tidy up. I moved the Theremin and RAH links from the top of the Otway page down into the body of it, towards the bottom. They seem like old news now, so it was appropriate. Later updates will see some more rearrangement there to rationalise the number of links a little.

Thursday, 9th December, 1999

A long overdue update on account of the fact that my poor laptop had to be returned to the manufacturer after it began to fall apart at the seams (well, at the hinges).

Several more pages in the Otway section have been turned into PHP3 format. There's still a long way to go with this, but once all the pages have been converted, I've got some interesting ideas for the site. Other than that, the main update has been to the Otway-Theremin page, which now also has a link to a page of photos from the Coventry gig at which the Theremin was presented. Each of those photos links to a larger version, and one which can be found here, gives you the opportunity to put some names to faces. I need some help the other way round here, though, as there are a few faces without names, so if you know any of those reprobates, please mail me.

Thursday, 26th August, 1999

Mostly minor changes this time, as more and more pages are converted to php3 format (see below for details if you don't know what this means).

There's also been the addition of another page to Otway Online. It's all about an attempt to buy John a Theremin for his birthday. If you don't know what a Theremin is, read this page. If you do, and you want to see Otway playing one, read this page. If you want to donate some money to the appeal, then definitely read this page. If you want to read this page, then follow this link.

Thursday, 22nd July, 1999

Right, sit down, take a deep breath and concentrate: there's a lot to take in. There have been some major behind-the-scenes changes to these pages, in that I am converting them all to PHP3 format. This should have relatively little effect on them from your point of view (apart from some new addresses), but will make it far eaiser for me to maintain the site. All the hard work of parsing the PHP3 code and generating valid HTML is performed by the server, so you still won't need the latest whizz-bang browser to access the pages.

The main effect of the update is that eventually the URLs of all the pages will change. For the time being, only the "top level" addresses have altered - the main Otway page, the main Lovesticks page, the main fiction page, and so on. And the main main page, of course. In all cases the URLs are the same as the old ones, but with .php3 in place of .html - for example:-

The main page changes from www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~xav/index.html to http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~xav/index.php3

The main Otway page changes from www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~xav/otway_home.html to http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~xav/otway_home.php3

If you use simply www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~xav to access the main page, I'm afraid you'll have to use the full address above. Similarly the oft quoted, but incorrect address of www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~xav/xav.html will need to change to http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~xav/index.php3

The old pages will remain for the time being, but they will become increasingly useless, as their links will no longer be updated. Once all the site has changed to PHP3 format, the old pages will be replaced with redirections messages. Please, therefore, update your links as soon as possible.

As if that wasn't enough, there are also some brand new pages! These are only linked to from the new format pages, so there's an added incentive to stop using the old ones. Firstly there's a page about (and an interview with a portion of) the Aylesbury Youth Orchestra. Secondly, there's a review of the Birthday Boy CD that Otway has recorded with them. Naturally, the newly PHP3'd version of Otway's Discography has been updated to include this.

Thursday, 3 June, 1999

I've now added the virtually all of the photos from the New York gig - there are a few that were omitted on account of not being very good, and there's the possibility that one or two more might make their way in after suitably humourous editing. Although all the thumbnails are on a single page, they have been split into three sections: one for miscellaneous, and one each for the two New York gigs. For those of you who have never visited New York, there's even a small panoramic animation of the view from the Brooklyn Bridge, just to get you in the mood. Follow the link on the New York page to find them.

Whilst blitzing the New York stuff, I also decided to add the long awaited answers to the Otway Interview - although unfortunately these are just answers based on notes I made at the time, rather than a transcript of the actual interfiew. I shall be emailing the Live TV director again in the near future in an attempt to obtain a copy of the full interview.

Now that I've also finally got around to joining the official Otway mailing list, I've added an appropriate link to the other Otway sites page.

Tuesday, 11 May, 1999

The official Rolf Harris website has now got its own domain name (www.rolfharris.com), so I've updated the link on my own Rolf Harris page. As mentioned in the last update (below) you can now buy copies of "Bohemian Rhapsody" directly from there.

I've also added the first of the photos from the New York gig. Follow the link on the New York page to find them.

Thursday, 1 April, 1999

Well it's taken me far longer than I anticipated, but I've finally finished my account of the 1999 trip to New York. I've also scanned a few photos in, which will go online in the near future (they still need a little editing and cropping).

On the "Other Otway Sites" page there's been a new addition - a permanent site about the Haddington Festival, and with a dedicated Otway page. Attila's new pages are also now up and running, so all links have been changed to point to the new site.

Finally I've updated the Rolf Harris page - although it's only to point out that you can buy copies of "Bohemian Rhapsody" directly from the official Rolf pages.

Friday, 5 March, 1999

Shortly before the last update, Otway sent me some photos taken at the RAH gig for inclusion on these pages. These were delayed slightly by the fact that I went to New York to see Otway play last week (more information on that in the coming weeks - including plenty of photos and the long awaited Otway interview!), but at last they are online.

To take account of the fact that not everyone has a fast internet connection, there are two pages of images available: the first just includes large versions of each of the 13 images, all on the one page, for people with fast connections, or who want to see them all in their full glory; the second has a series of thumbnail images - clicking on any of these will bring up the larger version of that image. All images are in JPEG format, with the thumbnails weighing in at around 5Kb per image, and the large versions at a whopping 45Kb each.

Thursday, 18 February, 1999

Well, it's been a while since the last update, but I haven't forgotten you all. This time round I've spent a bit of time weeding out some (but by no means all) of the dead links on the various pages. Over the coming months I hope to finish this job - for the time being.

For those of you following my series of articles in Atari Computing, there's a section with some stripboard diagrams to coincide with the construction details for the Team Tap clone in issue 13. I hope to get some code examples onto this page before issue 14 hits the streets, too.

Finally, for the Otway fans amongst you, there's very little new (apart from a link fix). I am, however, currently undergoing delicate negotiations to get an interview with some members of Aylesbury Youth Orchestra. In addition, tomorrow afternoon I'm flying off to New York with a host of other Otway fans in order to see him in concert. You can expect a full report and a selection of photos in a few weeks time. I've also asked John if he can spare some time for the long awaited Otway Online interview whilst we're there. Oh, and John's kindly sent me some images of the RAH gig which will go online with the next update, so check back in a fortnight or so.

1998

There was a huge amount of work done on these pages throughout 1998. At the start of the year every single page was updated to ensure a consistent look and feel. The site map was added, for those of you with frames-capable browsers. The Royal Albert Hall pages came, grew, and went - but they did directly result in about 5% of the ticket sales for the gig (where's my commission?). Finally a retrospective look at the RAH gig was posted, with pictures and reviews in case you missed it, or simply want to relive the glory.

1997

1997 saw lots of behind the scenes improvements to the html code, some new sections, and my appointment as host of the official John Otway Royal Albert Hall Gig web site!

1996

There were quite a few updates to this pages during 1996, including new (and ongoing) sections in the Otway pages, some more Atari stuff and the addition of the best invisible human submission to date.

1995

These pages were first posted on Thursday, 9th November, 1995. Since then they have undergone a large number of revisions. They were given their current look and feel in early 1996, when they also moved to their current home.