Very emotional (and a little bit hoarse) coming from the Titanic Launch 100-year celebrations.  The people of Belfast did the old girl proud – a fantastic crowd out on the sun-drenched slipways, hollering and cheering for all they were worth as boats in the Lough sounded their horns for 62 seconds at exactly 12:13pm.

What a great, great day for Dock-world.  It felt like we were part of a movement – a city rediscovering its hope, its pride and its entrepreneurial spirit as we joined together to mark the launching of a Wonder of the World.  Of course the spectre of Titanic’s fate always looms large – and I hope we were respectful to it in our prayers and moments of quiet – but there was such a sense of joy that we could share this rich, wonderful, sad, world-shaking story – and that Belfast gets to be at the very heart of the tale.

We also got to slip in a mention (never pass up an opportunity, eh!) that the different locations of today’s events across the slipways and on several boats out on the Lough all featured the same prayer, led at the same time, by an Anglican, a Methodist, A Presbyterian and a Catholic.  Shared Medley in action!

And then came the media stampede!  I’ve now been interviewed by BBC1, Downtown, Cool FM, BBC Newsline, TV3, Sky, UTV, some French TV channel… in the end I lost count!  So I’m giving up on trying to track down all my TV appearances out there on the airwaves today – safe to say I’m probably terrorising a TV set near you even as you read this!

I’ll hopefully be able to upload some better-quality versions of at least some of this footage over the next while – but in the meantime, for any of you who missed out, here is a very rough recording of the BBC newsline article (which is the same as the BBC Breakfast presentation but with an added interview between me and Mark Simpson:  click this link here.

(More to add later – I’m off now to be interviewed for Radio 4.  Y’know, as you do…)

…the Beeb are making a well-deserved big fuss about the Titanic’s launch anniversary tomorrow – you can follow their coverage by:

– checking out Mark Simpson’s online article here

– tuning into to BBC Breakfast on BBC1 tomorrow morning at (provisionally) 6:20, 7:20 and 8:20, when the plan is to go live to Belfast to see Mark introduce the footage filmed out on the slipways over the weekend

– or keeping an eye on the BBC from 12 noon onwards – there’s the possibility that the ’62-second cheer’ (which will mark the exact anniversary of Titanic’s minute-long slide down the slipways into the sea) will go out live on TV.

So exciting!

Such a weekend! I’ve got a zillion things to tell you about, but before I collapse in a heap I just thought I’d show you these pictures of me being interviewed by Mark Simpson (off of the telly) out on the slipways – does international stardom beckon at last…?!

(er-probably not)

The people you can see in the background are one of the tour groups who braved the howling weather this weekend to see Titanic’s birthplace  (and quite right too!)- this particular group were rewarded by the arrival of a BBC news crew to film the story of the Titanic’s Launch Day in preparation for the anniversary on Tuesday.

All being well, the footage should be broadcast during the BBC1 breakfast show on Tuesday morning (unless more dramatic world events shunt it from the schedules) – stay tuned!

Just a little reminder about the Angus Buchan event at the Odyssey tonight (Friday) and tomorrow – doors open at 6, event at 7, music, praise, story, testimony, and – of course – a cosy wee prayer room in the middle of it all, manned by The Dock, with the customary steady supply of coffee, a fantastic view over the TQ and a chance to pause, be quiet and pray for all that’s happening next door.

Here is your luxury high-tech GPS-enabled map to the venue:

Would love to see you there!

Chris

It’s Titanorak-heaven at the moment in the TQ!  I’m having the time of my life…

Next Tuesday is a big big day in Titanic history – the 100-year anniversary of the day Titanic was launched as an empty metal shell from the slipways behind the drawing office.  Imagine the sight – 800-plus-feet, thousands of tons, of riveted metal sliding down the angled slipway under the massive Arrol gantries, picking up speed as she slid into the waiting waters of Belfast Lough.  Sixty-two seconds from start to finish.

Preparations are well underway to mark the occasion with music, prayer, readings and a 62-second cheer at precisely 13 minutes past 12 – the exact anniversary.  The Dock team are right in the middle of it all – so you’ll get all the updates right here over the next few days!

As part of the anniversary celebrations, the SS Nomadic (the Titanic’s tender, built right here in Belfast alongside Titanic itself) has been opened up for hard-hat tours for just a couple of days.  You might remember that back in Feb 2010 I was pretty much the last person on board Nomadic before it was closed for refitting (watch the movie here).  So imagine my geeky joy at being back on board 15 months later, standing on the incredibly evocative decks where some of Titanic’s most famous passengers once stood, watching the beautiful old girl being nursed (well, drilled, riveted and welded) back to health.

I just can’t express how shiver-down-the-spiney it is to stand on board.  At various points in history, that same metal has been under the feet of the Titanic’s first-class passengers (like the unsinkable Molly Brown), first-world-war troops, movie stars like Douglas Fairbanks, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, groovy French gourmets dining out in style on the River Seine… and the colony of rats who commandeered the ship when it was rusting slowly into extinction, unloved and forgotten.   Yet beyond that century of use and misuse, the craftsmanship of the Belfast builders still shines through, original and strong.  The metal panels (the same kind of metal as Titanic) and the clusters of rivets (the same kind of rivets as Titanic) have stood the test of time and wear – these were well-built ships.  History to be proud of.

Chris