On the show this week, Koop Kooper finds out about an Australia legend of the entertainment business who traveled to America to become a success there. Koop also look into the passing of of a sixties fashion legend plus news about a a cool new blog and a film to check out.

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The Swank Traveler

It was Saint Augustine who said that “The World is a Book and those who don’t travel read only a page”.

Before I got into radio I travelled on the Professional Tennis circuit and I would say that I consider myself a well seasoned traveller. People have often asked me what makes a great traveller. Well it’s a pretty simple equation really, firstly you need to be extremely patient, and prepared for anything When I first started travelling I was given some advice by a seasoned professional who said “When preparing to Travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money”. It was a joke but pretty close to the truth.

The last thing you want to do is be lugging a suitcase, a carry on bag and a suit bag. Not only is it bad for your back but it also looks really uncool. My suggestion is to travel with one reasonably sized hard suitcase and one carry on bag. Now I can hear the cries of horror echoing down the travelator from my swank friends who are insisting on carrying a suit bag. Well forget it, they are completely useless unless you are going for an overnight trip. They end up getting squashed and the suits turn out just as bad as if you crunched them into your carry on luggage. They just aren’t worth it.

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Ultra Swank – Your one stop blog for retro living, style and design

Ultra Swank takes you back in time into the kitsch, chic and swank living of the 50s, 60s and the 70s. We mainly focus on the design, architecture and the lifestyle of the happy-go-lucky and space-age-living mentality of that era – but also on the music and movies that takes you back to happier times. Ultra Swank is run by Chris, a Swede born in the wrong decade that currently resides in Barcelona. Read more

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On the show this week, Koop Kooper talk to David Pierce, the author of a book all about one of his favourite tv-shows, Bewitched. There are also news on a couple of departures from the world and as usual the best exotica and lounge music on the planet.

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Seven-oh-seven – The Jet Age Begins

Flying, as we know it, began with the Boeing 707. This was the airplane that leaped us into the ‘Jet-Age‘. Today’s millions of air-travelers can hardly imagine what a jump in performance, comfort and safety the 707 provided.

At twice the speed of previous propeller driven airliners, the 707 also flew at almost twice the height. Far above the annoyances and hazards of the ‘weather‘ below. With much fewer moving parts it’s jet engines were much quieter for the passengers and free of the constant buzzing vibration of propellers and pistons.

Airline transportation did not start to become a big business until the middle 1930′s with the introduction of the Douglas Commercial ‘DC-3‘. Trains were the standard of transportation across the world and air travel was expensive and adventurous. Beginning service in 1936, the DC-3 was a two engine propeller driven airplane that could, on a good day, move about 30 passengers at 200 mph for 1,000 miles. Unlike previous airplanes used for passenger service the DC-3 was reliable and safe.

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Nostalgic postcards of American Roadside Attractions – Part 2

Nostalgic, classic, vintage and timeless yet again. So vivid, futuristic and warm but also gloomy and grey at the same time. Postwar suburban America was certainly a time of change – a time when the automobile was the spotlight of modern living. You could go anywhere in your Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Chevrolet or Cadillac.

How about a trip to S.S. Kresge to pick up new sofa? Or what about that long overdue family road trip vacation to Disneyland with a handful of stopovers at roadside motels and diners along the way? It was certainly a time of innocence and white picket fence living. Which are your fondest memories of this era? (Via)

Where did our sense of dressing well go?

At some point in history our standard of dress has deteriorated to the point of no return. I blame this partly on the youth of the seventies and the baby boomers who seemed to think that they needed to rebel against everything and anything their parents stood for. Reading the paper today I was struck by the amazing comparison of British PM David Cameron next to his wife Samantha Cameron (see below).

Mr Cameron looks like a well dressed banker and his wife looks like she is about to go shopping with her girlfriends after she drops the kids off at school and daycare. It seems to me that many men and women have completely given up on wearing nice clothes and actually knowing when to dress up and when to dress down. They just don’t have any sense of awareness. The men these days are just as bad, so much so that when you do see a man dressed up it is quite an event.

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On the show this week, Koop Kooper share a few albums he picked up at a record fair in Sydney so stand by for some great finds from the record bins. Did you know that Errol Flynn never won an Oscar? We will meet the man who has written about this and find out what he is planning to do to right this wrong.

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