Later today there’ll be a the first episode of a ten part programme on Radio 4 about the History of Office Life. Today’s episode will be about the beginnings of the modern office.
When they talked about it on the radio earlier it did sound as if today’s episode will be looking at quills and other stationery.
I’ll certainly record this episode to listen to it later.
History of Office Life Read More »
Now that Pencil Revolution mentioned my blog posts featuring pencils on telly I feel I should add some more. Speaking of the Pencil Revolution: I also noticed pencils on Revolution – and I was shocked how carelessly they use the pencils as well as other sparse resources …but then they also didn’t really honour their irreplaceable pencils in Stargate Universe.
You might have noticed that my “Seen in the wild” pencils often mention my favourite pencil, the Noris. This is just because this pencil isn’t that often on TV. If I’d focus on the Ticonderoga I’d have a lot of screenshots to show – a big proportion of Malcolm in the Middle and The Big Bang Theory episodes feature this nice pencil.
So, today the focus is on the Staedtler Noris.
Not yet posted on Bleistift and in chronological order:
1975: Fawlty Towers (British TV series)
In episode 1 they are mainly using Staedtler’s Tradition. In later episodes the Noris is more common. In the second screenshot you can see Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) sharpening his Noris with a knife.
1977: Der Alte (German TV series)
In episode 7 you can see Chief Inspector Köster using a pencil that looks like a Castell 9000, but today is Noris day, so I won’t show the Castell 9000.
1990: House of Cards (British TV series)
They also had some really nice pen trays in House of Cards.
2008: Commissario Montalbano (Italian TV series)
You can see the Noris being used in the Commissario Montalbano episodes Le Ali della Sfinge / The Wings of the Sphinx and La Pista di Sabbia / The Track of Sand in this blog post.
2008: Tatort (German TV series)
You can see the Noris being used in the Tatort episode Liebeswirren in this blog post about the Noris.
2009: Fangavaktin (Icelandic TV series)
You can see the Noris being used in the second episode of Fangavaktin (The Prison Shift) in this blog post.
2009: The Armstrong and Miller Show (British TV series)
You can see the Noris being used in the second season of The Armstrong and Miller Show in this blog post.
2010: Borgen (Danish TV series)
The Danish Prime Minister and his advisor on a trip to England. Each of them has a Staedtler Noris in front of them on the table.
2011: Outnumbered (British TV series)
There is a very small chance that this is a Fox Essentials copy, but I think it’s a Noris – The Fox Essentials has a white eraser.
2012: Episodes (British TV series)
Episodes – again.
2012: Quartet (British film)
I haven’t watched this film, but Sean was kind enough to tell me about it and to send me this screenshot.
2012: The Bletchley Circle (British TV series) (added after this blog post was first published)
Comrade John from the Pencil Revolution sent this screenshot from The Bletchley Circle, a murder mystery set in the famous [1]If you’re into Cryptography or Computer Science you will have heard about it. Bletchley Park in 1952. I’m not sure though they would have used a Noris in H there [2]OK, it doesn’t have to be H – the Malaysian Noris has shown that same colour doesn’t necessarily indicate the same pencil grade. – Staedtler took the Royal Sovereign Group over in the 1970s, so the code breakers would have been more likely to use Wolff’s Royal Sovereign.
2013: Bach: A Passionate Life (British TV documentary) (added after this blog post was first published)
I haven’t watched this documentary either, but Sean was kind enough to tell me about it and to send me this screenshot.
2013:
If you want to see a Noris being tortured you should head over to Bodyform‘s video (if you don’t want to see the horrible bit, skip a few seconds around 1:13). Rad and Hungry‘s boss Hen Chung posted this video on her Facebook page , which was then also shared on Bleistift’s Faceboook Page [3]The one I haven’t mentioned on this blog yet..
The screenshots in this blog post have been taken from different TV series and films, as stated above. I believe that the use of the screenshots shown in this blog post falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.
I’d like to thank Sean for the Quartet and the Bach: A Passionate Life screenshots.
I’d like to thank John for the The Bletchley Circle screenshot.
You can see more pencils in the wild by following this link.
References
| ↑1 | If you’re into Cryptography or Computer Science you will have heard about it. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | OK, it doesn’t have to be H – the Malaysian Noris has shown that same colour doesn’t necessarily indicate the same pencil grade. |
| ↑3 | The one I haven’t mentioned on this blog yet. |
The Noris, then and now Read More »
To celebrate the 200th blog post of Bleistift: a (small) giveaway.
If you can tell me the link [1]There might be links I’m not aware of. The winning link is the one I’m thinking of. between the two items in the photo you will receive a small prize.
Giveaway rules: The first correct answer wins. I’m happy to send the small prize to any country as Royal Mail is delivering to that country.
Another cause for celebration [2]Except the giveaway 8^) is the fact that today is Franconia Day (Tag der Franken). Franconia is home to the well-known stationery manufacturers Staedtler, Faber-Castell, Schwan-Stabilo, Eisen, Möbius & Ruppert, KUM and others.
Unfortunately, I forgot to post a “birds in our garden” photo last year.
Here’s one for this year [1]which is also this blog’s 200th post.
I’m currently unsure whether I should post another one …to make good for last year’s missing bird photo.
References
| ↑1 | which is also this blog’s 200th post |
|---|
Birds in our garden (3) Read More »
Earlier today I got an email from Dries who started his stationery blog ThePencilCaseBlog yesterday.
I’m looking forward to reading more on his blog. Since he’s from Belgium it would also be nice to find out more about stationery in Belgium (I saw a lot of exciting stationery when I was in Belgium, but I’ve only covered expensive pencil cases and notepads from Atoma and Carrefour so far).