Talk:Joey Deacon

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Contents 1 Karma... 2 Name Frequency 3 Notability 4 What's with the animated GIF? 5 Is this really true?

[edit] Karma...

..is a powerful motivator. Like most of my generation, I too mocked my peers and pretty much anyone else with taunts of 'Joey'. Recently I figured the least I could do to redress this karmic imbalance was read Joey's book 'Tongue Tied', and managed to track down one of the only remaining copies in the Norfolk library system. I must confess, I'm glad I did - in the face of constant adversity and the deaths of nearly all of his immediate family throughout his lifetime, the stoicism Joey Deacon displays is truly remarkable. It saddens me now that for many, the memory of Joey Deacon is simplified to a spot on Blue Peter and a gurning expression. If you dig beneath the surface you'll find that the man was really quite intelligent, cared deeply about his friends and family, and helped bring the handicapped out of state institutions and into our social conscience.

Joey did NOT lose his shoe in the Thames with Simon Groom. He was merely reminiscing about an incident that occurred during his childhood - a kind of 'dramatic reconstruction' if you will.

[edit] Name Frequency

I don't know this for sure, but following Joey's Blue Peter appearance I feel that incidences of people naming their children Joey would have declined - possibly only to recover after Friends made its debut. Does anyone know where I can get this information (NameVoyager is wonderful but it's for American name usage). DavidFarmbrough 08:13, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Notability

Joey is notable because of his book, tv appearances, and cultural impact, but I have a suspicion that his account of the treatment of physically handicapped people in mental institutions in the early part of the last century may be very rare. Are there any comparative examples? DavidFarmbrough 09:55, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] What's with the animated GIF?

That endlessly looping GIF looks rather bizarre. Is there a point to it being animated instead of a simple screenshot? --Last Malthusian 15:27, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

I added that gif from a limited choice. I had about two other options, one of which was his head cut out from the background at an odd angle, and another which was a bad photo'. The moving gif illustrates the visible effects of his cerebral palsy and the reason for some of the mockery. I was also impressed with its economy, especially in these days of www graphic bloat (It's a 38K file).DavidFarmbrough 09:17, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

The animation is too short to illustrate how he actually moves - looped, it looks like he's on a bed zooming round and round in circles in front of endless ranks of grey-suited men, while shaking his head. Couldn't a single frame of that GIF be used? --Last Malthusian 10:28, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

I have done this, but it doesn't seem quite right - it just makes him look like Davros. If you compare the two, I still think the animated one is better. Perhaps someone can scan in a decent picture.

DavidFarmbrough 12:10, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

These two images look the same to me. Either is better than the animated one, IMHO. Whilst it's entertianing, it dosn't really add much to the article. Naturenet | Talk 12:39, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is this really true?

"His mother had a fall during pregnancy, which caused Joey's cerebral palsy." Falling over causes cerebral palsy?

It doesn't always happen, but it appears to have been the case here. DavidFarmbrough 06:58, 5 May 2006 (UTC)