The question is, who’s she talking to?

YouTube - Chaplins Time Traveler

This has hit me twice on Google Reader this morning, shared from two different people quoting two different sources, both of which refer to the same video that’s embedded below.

Basically, on the extras disc on Charlie Chaplin’s 1928 film ‘The Circus‘, there’s some footage from the premiere which clearly* shows a person of some description yabbering away on their mobile phone.

Yes, that’s right, their mobile phone…. in 1928!

George Clarke, the chap who discovered this finding, is desperately searching for some kind of explanation because, at the moment, all he can surmise is that this woman** is a massive Chaplin fan from the future who fancied spending her holidays in 1928.

I’m certain there’s a reasonable explanation for this, besides the fact that you would hope that by the time time travel is possible, we’d have advanced mobile technology so far that holding it up to our ears would be a thing of the past?! No?

Take a look for yourself, the final bit where she turns at glances up while still talking is the thing that got me.

*about as clear as anything can be in old non-HD black & white
**is it a woman? George raises the issue of her apparent manliness and her overly large feet – perhaps in the future we’ll all be dressed in drag?

What do you think?!

My friend Will

This is William Rowe.

At the time of writing Will is somewhere near Kendal en route from John O’Groats all the way down to Lands End. If you’re not from the UK then you need to know that the route looks a little something like this –

According to Google Maps, this is just shy of 840miles. Say it with me: EIGHT HUNDRED AND FORTY MILES! Why is he doing this? For charity, of course (actually, knowing Will, he’s probably doing it for the sheer challenge of the thing too I’d imagine – he’s like that).

Believe it or not, it’s not his first time. Madness.

CLIC Sargent, the charity in question, supports and cares for young children with cancer. Will, along with around eight other equally mentally unbalanced cyclists, is hitting the road RIGHT NOW to help try and raise £20,000. You can read the full story (as well as keep up with their progress) on their dedicated Twycle website.

I’ve just sponsored them and you can too. If you’re not in the mood for giving, then perhaps you might want to follow their progress via the medium of Twitter – they are at the rather auspiciously named @twyclebritain.

Go on, go check them out and – if you want – why not sponsor them too?

Best of luck Will. To you and your fellow riders.

We’re cheering you on from afar! 🙂