- Wednesday 30th May
In some bizarre scheduling decision, the BBC decided that
This Is Your Life should be 25 minutes long and that the lottery show
would be peculiarly tucked in at 8.25pm (obviously the following show,
Animal Hospital, can't lose 5 minutes !). However, TIYL unsurprisingly
stubbornly stuck to its normal length and the TV show started over 3 minutes
late (which isn't good for a programme that lasts 4 minutes !).
The confusing scheduling didn't stop the usual regulars turning up to the
lottery chat room and the live TV show commentary and draw went ahead OK.
Camelot took a ridiculous amount of time (a full hour !) to release the
full results, but I still beat both ITV and BBC teletext to them. Also found
out about the new Millionaire £1m scratchcard from Camelot too.
- Saturday 26th May
At least the TV show was on time tonight, although deciding to perform the
main and Extra draws almost 10 minutes from the end of the show was plainly
stupid by the BBC (because people switch over after the draw has taken place).
No problems with the live TV show commentary and draw - at least we were
back to normal levels of users for tonight's events. Got the full results
about an hour after the draw and, despite that agonising wait, I still
comfortably beat both BBC and ITV teletext to them.
- Wednesday 23rd May
I suspect that the BBC were playing silly "schedule wars" with ITV because
the latter had the European Champions League Final soccer game on live.
For some bizarre reason, the lottery show was pushed forward 30 minutes
(to very unusually allow Crimewatch UK - an often violent reconstruction
of crimes - to be shown before the 9.00pm watershed) and its 8.00pm start
time meant that the first visitor only turned up in the chat room just after
the first ball was drawn !
Some late stragglers turned up about 30 minutes after the draw as you might
expect and, even more strangely, Camelot actually had the full results when
I phoned them for the first time, so I got them up about 50 minutes after the
draw and before ITV and BBC teletext had them.
- Saturday 19th May
It was pretty quiet in the chat room tonight (as usual,
more people in the room after the show had finished than
during it !) as the live TV show commentary and draw
went fine. I got the full results about an hour after
the draw, which conveniently meant I beat both ITV and
BBC teletext to the full results.
- Thursday 17th May
Contacted Camelot to get the ticket sales (I'd exactly
guessed the main lottery sales !).
- Wednesday 16th May
There were quite a lot of people in the chat room this
evening (the usual "let's turn up after the draw" folks
actually ended up being early because of the UEFA Cup Final
delaying the draw by 30 minutes). No problems with the
live TV show commentary and draw, but the full results
were "problematic" to say the least !
Basically, Camelot hadn't foreseen extra time in
the UEFA Cup Final - which Liverpool won 5-4 - and
hence didn't think that if the draw was delayed,
they'd only have 30 minutes for anyone to phone them
up before their phone lines closed at 11.00pm.
I phoned them up with a few minutes to go before their
lines closed and, predictably, there were no full
results available. I checked BBC teletext after that
and they eventually put them up, allowing me to update
the pages (except for the ticket sales, which will have
to wait until tomorrow).
- Saturday 12th May
There were a reasonable number of visitors to the
chat room as we had our first big Super Draw for the
Extra lottery (which was won and anonymously claimed).
No problems with the live TV show commentary and draw,
but Camelot took about 75 minutes to release the
full results, which allowed BBC teletext to sneak
in just ahead of me (though I beat ITV teletext to
the full results).
- Wednesday 9th May
A fair number of people came into the chat room at the
last minute to watch the draw, which went smoothly.
Camelot took about an hour to release the full results,
so I wasn't sure if I beat BBC teletext or not (but I
definitely beat ITV teletext to them).
- Saturday 5th May
There were a reasonable number of people in the chat
room for the draws tonight, even if they did only
turn up half-way through the show :-) No problems doing
the live commentary and draw (though it was disappointing
to note that they didn't celebrate either the 50th Extra
draw or the 100th Thunderball draw, both of which took
place tonight.
Despite the results taking an excrutiating 75 minutes to
come through, I still beat ITV and BBC teletext to them.
- Wednesday 2nd May
The Leeds United match live on ITV (lottery show
conflicted a bit with the end of the first half)
didn't stop several people coming into the chat
room to watch the draw live.
I skipped off at half time to watch Leeds, but
when I came back 45 minutes later, I was surprised
that when I got the full results from Camelot,
I beat both ITV and BBC teletext to putting up
the full results (even though they went on the
site just over an hour after the draw).
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