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The Bold and the Beautiful: A History |
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#1 |
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The Bold and the Beautiful: A History
for anybody curious about joining our mission to get this show back on UK screens, read up on its fascinating history!
CREATING THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Following the success of The Young and the Restless, CBS executives initially approached Bill and his wife, Lee, to create another soap opera. He declined, saying he wanted to focus his attention on Y&R. At that time the Bell family was based in Chicago. Bill worked out of their home and Lee hosted a very successful TV talk show in Chicago. While running Y&R by telephone from his home in Chicago, Bill and Lee decided to introduce their children to the business of soap operas; and Bill would take the children with him on trips to LA during their school vacations, when he had to be present for story conferences and production meetings. The first trip for the Bell boys occurred when they were ten or eleven years old. They sat in meetings, in the control room, in the studio and had tiny parts in The Young and the Restless. However, they much preferred a day at Disneyland to one at their dad’s workplace! Lauralee, however, dreamed of being an actress after her first visit. She started on Y&R in small parts (a hospital candy striper) and was given the short-term role of Cricket in 1984. Cricket became a regular character, still played by Lauralee, in 1985. In his late teens Brad became fascinated with his father’s business and spent more and more time visiting the Y&R set with his father while he was attending UCLA. He wrote his first script and eventually became a member of the writing team for Y&R. At this time older brother Bill, Jr. had a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade but he, too, became interested in the family business and thought he could contribute to the business end of the family’s budding television enterprise. Now that the whole family was involved, Bill and Lee began to look seriously at creating a second soap opera. As Bradley said, "What my dad had in mind was using the new series as a learning tool. . .so that we could understand what it took to put a show on the air." Work began on what was to become The Bold and the Beautiful over the Christmas holidays of 1985, when Bill and Lee sequestered themselves in a hotel room to brainstorm ideas for the new show. They decided to give the new show a separate identity and personality--not make it a spinoff of The Young and the Restless. They started by creating the characters of a middle-aged married couple whose relationship was seriously foundering. Next, they created this couple’s children, which would allow them the opportunity to tell "younger" stories as well. They had decided that this family would be a rich and powerful one, which meant that they also wanted a family of much less economic advantage as a counterpoint. Thus was created the Logan family to provide a balance to the rich and powerful Forresters. At the end of their 10-day sequestration in the hotel room, the Bells wrote a draft containing descriptions of the Forresters and Logans, as well as descriptions of characters connected to them. They sent the draft to CBS, which snapped up the new series. Thus was born The Bold and the Beautiful, although it didn’t as yet have a name. CBS was anxious to have this serial ready in a year’s time. This show, however, would not be jointly produced by the Bells and Columbia Television. Rather, the Bells would create a new production company. Thus, the new production would be formed by Bill, Jr., who left his seat at the Chicago Board of Trade, to make the move to LA. All of their children were now located there, and so Bill and Lee decided to make the move as well. They purchased a three-acre estate in Beverly Hills formerly owned by Howard Hughes. The grounds also included two guest houses. Lauralee, still a teenager, moved into the main house, and Bill, Jr. and Bradley each moved into one of the guest houses. While en route, Bill, Jr. suggested to his father that the new series have the fashion industry as a backdrop. Bill filed it away in his mind. After the move, Bill got to work on the characters and story lines for the show. He realized using the fashion industry would be a very interesting idea to work with. The working title of the show became Rags. Next came the task of accumulating the crew for the show. They hired staff from The Guiding Light, The Young and the Restless, Capitol, One Life to Live, Ryan’s Hope, and Dark Shadows. Once the crew was assembled, it was decided the working title, Rags, was too irreverent. Bill came up with The Bold and the Beautiful. In Bill’s words, the responses were not "just favorable" but were "very positive". Bill’s only reservation was that it sounded very much like The Young and the Restless. The new serial had a story line, characters, and a crew. All that was left was a cast and a first script. The characters were being named. Ridge is the name of a real friend of Bradley’s. By December 1986, the buzz about this new serial was circulating. Susan Flannery, who had played Laura Horton on another serial written by Bill Bell, Days of Our Lives, was the first actor cast. Having worked with John McCook on The Young and the Restless, he knew he wanted him for the part of Eric. John McCook wasn’t ready to be on another serial, having done episodic television and theater. Was he ready to turn down a part created for him by Bill Bell? Well, yes he did, at first. He finally agreed to meet with him. Bill had thought that John would look older. John reminded him it’s only been seven years. As Bill excitedly told him about the part, John realized that at age 43, he would be playing the part of a father to several grown children. Both Bill and John realized this, but Bill also told him about a soap he had written in New York where a mother and daughter were actually only four years apart. Bill told John that after three or four episodes, no one was going to care. Bill proceeded to tell John about the character. He told him that Susan Flannery was going to play the part of Stephanie. John considered that a big plus. He thought it over for awhile and then agreed to play the part. Aside from these two daytime veterans, the remainder of the cast was largely made up of unknowns. It was how they wanted it. Bradley called it risky but rewarding. Ronn Moss was the next one cast. Next came the task of casting Brooke and Caroline. Katherine Kelly Lang was the quintessential California-girl type – perfect for the part of Brooke. Rather than have her test with Ronn Moss, they had her test with John McCook reading Ridge’s lines. They wanted her to test with a soap veteran, and John helped to put her at ease. Since Caroline was hard to cast, they cast two people with whom they’d worked before: Lauren Koslow and Jim Storm in the roles of Margo Lynley, Eric’s personal assistant, and Bill Spencer, Caroline’s father. Brooke’s brother and sister were to be played by Ethan Wayne (the Duke’s youngest son) as Storm and Carrie Mitchum (Robert Mitchum’s granddaughter) as Donna. Bryan Genessee, a Canadian, was cast as Rocco, but originally read for the part of Storm. Nancy Sloan, a theater major at Kansas State University, was auditioned as Katie, Brooke’s youngest sister. Having never acted before, she was called back 11 times to audition. Told to cry at the last audition, she was convinced she couldn’t. So sad she was at this thought that she did exactly that – cry. She got the part. Judith Baldwin was hired to play Beth Logan (Brooke’s mom) and was replaced after a few weeks by Nancy Burnett. Teri Ann Linn was cast as Kristen, another Forrester child, Clayton Norcross as Thorne, and Stephen Shortridge as Dave, a cop boyfriend for Brooke. Joanna Johnson really wanted an audition for the new soap, but her agent didn’t want her to do soaps. Joanna persisted, saying she knew they were casting unknowns. Her agent told her she couldn’t get her an audition, so she switched agents! Her new agent immediately got her an audition. While she thought she was terrible, the crew felt differently, and she was cast. With everyone set, the first script was written. The Bold and the Beautiful was about to begin! And that’s exactly what happened on March 23, 1987. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 606
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THE 1980s
The Forrester family of Los Angeles was the dynasty behind fashion industry titan "Forrester Creations." The Forresters were comprised of patriarch Eric Forrester, his wife Stephanie, and their children Ridge, Thorne, Kristen and Felicia. In their personal lives, as well as in business, they were a family used to getting whatever they wanted. Ridge Forrester, the eldest son, was a Casanova who was most used to getting what he wanted, and what he wanted was Caroline Spencer. As Caroline was about to marry Ridge, she learned that he had slept with another woman after their engagement. A broken-hearted Caroline called off the wedding. Ridge’s younger brother, Thorne, who had had a crush on Caroline, comforted her and they grew close. Meanwhile, Brooke Logan had set her sights on Ridge and pursued him, much to the displeasure of Stephanie, who didn’t like the girl. After Caroline dealt with the trauma of being raped, she married Thorne, despite her continued feelings for Ridge. Brooke was a member of the lower-class Logan family, headed up by kind-hearted Beth Logan. Years earlier, her husband Stephen had left her alone to raise their children Storm, Brooke, Donna and Katie. When Eric Forrester spotted Beth in his house catering a party, he recognized her as the girl he had romanced when they were in college. Eric, whose marriage had become stagnant and filled with malaise, pursued Beth. The couple dated for a while, but they eventually went their separate ways when Beth’s husband returned and Eric decided to stay with Stephanie. Although still legally married, Eric and Stephanie’s relationship was irrevocably damaged. Eric learned that Stephanie kept their micro cephalic and comatose daughter, Angela, whom Eric thought had died at birth, alive in a home in Santa Monica. Eric and Stephanie united when it was revealed that their real daughter had died and that "Angela" was a blackmailing fraud called Deveney Dickson. Beth’s youngest daughters, Donna and Katie, became entangled with Rocco Carner. Donna encouraged Rocco to pursue Katie, but Rocco had feelings for Donna. Rocco agreed to date Katie, secretly thrilled that he could be closer to Donna. Katie came to realize that Rocco wasn’t for her as she saw Rocco continuously help Donna through a series of boyfriends. Unfortunately for him, Rocco wasn’t able to win Donna’s love. Margo Lynley was a designer at "Forrester Creations" who was deeply in love with Eric and had had an affair with Ridge. Margo soon had other suitors, including Caroline’s father, publishing magnate Bill Spencer. Unfortunately for Bill, Margo was involved with slick playboy designer Clarke Garrison, who was romancing Kristen Forrester in order to get a job at "Forrester." Margo became pregnant with Clarke’s baby, but Clarke, who had eloped with Kristen, managed to keep the pregnancy a secret. One night, an inebriated Caroline slept with Ridge, thinking he was Thorne. When Thorne learned of the betrayal, he became despondent and started drinking. A mixture of pills and alcohol caused him to shoot his brother, to the horror of their mother, Stephanie, who witnessed the incident. Neither Ridge nor Thorne remembered the shooting, and Stephanie covered it up, going so far as to take the blame herself. After the truth was finally revealed, Caroline divorced Thorne. Meanwhile, Ridge asked Brooke to marry him. Then, she became pregnant. Unfortunately, Brooke miscarried the baby. Ridge decided to end the engagement and remain single. Shortly thereafter, Ridge asked Caroline to marry him and she accepted. Clarke invited trouble when he approached his former boss, Sally Spectra, for financial help. Sally headed up "Spectra Fashions," a company that sold discount knockoff "Forrester Creations" designs. Sally blackmailed Clarke into stealing "Forrester" originals for her, but when she realized his talents as a designer, she hired him under an assumed name -- Beau Rivage -- so he could continue working for both companies. Margo, meanwhile, gave birth to a baby boy she named Mark and she became determined to win Clarke back. Surprisingly, after planning to break up Clarke’s marriage, Margo wound up accepting Bill Spencer’s proposal and married him. Last edited by LoveUSsoaps : 05-12-2004 at 14:04. |
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#3 |
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Banned User
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 606
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THE 1990s
Eric, who had befriended Brooke after her breakup with Ridge, found himself falling in love with her. He and Brooke became involved and after learning that Brooke was carrying his child, Eric divorced Stephanie and married Brooke. They had a son together, Eric Jr. (nicknamed Rick), which added fuel to Stephanie's already fierce hatred of Brooke. Unfortunately, Ridge and Caroline's happiness was short-lived. Soon after their wedding, Caroline found out she was dying. With Ridge's declaration of endless love, Caroline died in her husband's arms. After Caroline's tragic death, Ridge became involved with one of her doctors, psychiatrist Taylor Hayes. Brooke was married to Eric, but she still wanted Ridge. Ridge married Taylor, in part because he loved her, but also to try to maintain his father's happiness. However, prior to marrying Taylor, Ridge slept with Brooke and she became pregnant. She named her little girl Bridget. Stephanie hadn't given up the hope of getting Eric back. After a stroke, she suffered through a brief memory loss, which drew Eric back into her life. By the time she recovered, Eric and Brooke's marriage was falling apart. Their amicable separation gave Taylor cause to worry. Clarke Garrison was down in the dumps after Kristen ended their marriage and left town. Sally Spectra wanted Clarke and made him an offer he couldn't resist: marriage and his own design label. Meanwhile, Sally's daughter, Macy Alexander, had begun dating Thorne Forrester. After numerous obstacles and family objections, Macy and Thorne got married. Unfortunately, their wedded bliss didn't last long and numerous arguments over their warring families led the couple to separate. Macy began an affair with Margo's younger brother, Jake Maclaine, who had successfully battled a past of sexual abuse and was coming off a broken relationship with Felicia Forrester. Clarke also dabbled in infidelity, and after Sally give birth to his son, Clarke Jr., he made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the boy. Sally had him thrown out. Taylor's ex-husband, Blake Hayes, tried to win her back, but when his schemes failed, he left town and went to Texas where he made a startling discovery. Caroline's identical twin, Karen, who had been kidnapped as an infant, was living there and going by the name of Faith. Blake brought her back to Los Angeles, hoping she would break up Ridge and Taylor's marriage. Once again, his scheme failed and he left town, leaving Karen to find her place amongst her new friends and relatives. Thorne wound up falling for Karen, and while his marriage to Macy was in shatters, he took up with Caroline's twin. Brooke invented a formula for wrinkle-free fabric that Eric named BeLieF. When a copy of the formula turned up at "Spectra Fashions," Macy was accused of theft. To protect her, Jake confessed to the crime, but after Margo pleaded with Eric, the charges were dropped. Margo, whose marriage to Bill was over, left town with her brother. After her failed relationship with Jake, Felicia took up with Taylor's younger brother, Zach, who was involved with shady characters because of his father's gambling problem. Stephanie didn't approve of the relationship and tried to get Zach out of her daughter's life, but she failed and Felicia and Zach wound up leaving town together. Stephanie, who had had a relationship with Zach's father, Jack, broke things off with him. Jack took up with Sally, whose marriage to Clarke was over, but after Jack renewed his relationship with Stephanie, Sally was once again left out in the cold. Stephanie's romance with Jack didn't last and she was soon pursuing Eric once more. Sheila Carter was a psychotic woman whom the residents of Genoa City (setting of The Young and the Restless) thought had perished in a fire. On the lam, Sheila wound up in Los Angeles and began taking care of Eric and Brooke's son, Eric Jr. Sheila soon set her sights on Eric. After Eric and Brooke divorced, he romanced Sheila and married her, much to his family's chagrin. Stephanie, constantly at war with any of Eric's paramours, took an instant dislike to Sheila. Sheila was more concerned about Brooke when there was a question over Bridget's paternity. Brooke, who originally assumed Ridge to be the father, thought the baby might be Eric's. Sheila set up to alter the blood tests, but the samples became so mixed up that even Sheila didn't know whose blood was being tested. Ridge was proven to be Bridget's father, but nobody knew that Sheila had gotten her hands on the samples. As a result of contractual misunderstandings, Brooke parlayed her creation of BeLieF into a high-level position at "Forrester Creations," which included majority stock in the company. Of course, this kept her in constant association with Ridge, whom she still cared for. Ridge and Taylor were happy after their marriage, and were trying to conceive a child together. Then, Taylor's former mentor, Dr. James Warwick, came to town, became her patient and found himself attracted to her. Although she didn't share his feelings, compassion got the better of her when the two were trapped together in the Forrester cabin in Big Bear during an earthquake. James didn't want to die a virgin, so Taylor made love with him. They kept their affair a secret and went their separate ways. After the incident, Taylor left Los Angeles to go to the Middle East for a convention. Tragically, the plane went down and Ridge was a widower yet again. He found comfort in the arms of Brooke, who, although now engaged to James, had never stopped loving Ridge. Brooke ended her relationship with James, and she and Ridge wed. Ironically, the couple honeymooned in Morocco, where a very-much-alive Taylor was living in the palace of Prince Omar. When Taylor saw the couple's happiness, she decided to remain hidden, but her father's heart attack brought her back to Los Angeles. Eventually, her identity was revealed and Ridge was forced to choose between his two wives. The Forrester family increased when Eric's niece, Jessica, came to live with them. She found herself falling for Dylan Shaw, an intern working at "Forrester Creations." Dylan and Jessica fell in love and had intimate relations. When Eric found out that his 17-year-old niece had sex with the older Dylan, he had Dylan arrested for statutory rape. Dylan was found not guilty, but his relationship with Jessica was put on hold. When Jessica's mother, Maggie, arrived in town, she started dating Dylan, unaware of the link to her daughter. Dylan and Maggie developed feelings for each other, but when they found out their connection, they made the difficult decision to break things off. Jessica took up with Sly Donovan, a rat who worked at the Bikini Bar. He schemed to get her pregnant so that he would be set financially. Jessica was able to turn the tables on Sly and gave him a piece of his own medicine. Jessica took up with Dylan again, who now was trying to make his way into a prestigious design school. To pay for the tuition, Dylan took up stripping, but kept his new vocation a secret from the Forresters. When the truth came out, Jessica forgave Dylan and the two celebrated their happiness. That happiness was shattered when Jessica was raped one night after an elegant dinner with Dylan. She was devastated and refused to tell Dylan or anyone else but her mother what had happened. Sly was revealed to be Jessica's rapist and he died in a fire that was set by his own hands. Eventually, Jessica left town to continue her education in London. Thorne and Macy's relationship was having its own ups and downs, as well. A series of breakups and reconciliations led to their eventual divorce. Thorne's relationship with Karen had ended and she went back to Texas, following her own failed relationship with Connor Davis. Macy became involved with a scoundrel named Anthony Armando and she developed a severe drinking problem. Anthony was arrested for murdering "Forrester" model Ivana and shooting Sally. Once Macy overcame her demons, things began looking up. Her music career took off and when she was paired with Thorne as a singing partner, their relationship bloomed again. Unfortunately, throat cancer got in the way of her career, but it only strengthened her bond with Thorne. Thorne and Macy became husband and wife for the second time. Sheila's identity was almost found out when visitors from Genoa City, Scott Grainger and Lauren Fenmore, ran into Sheila and Eric. They remained quiet, however, and Sheila was able to continue her conniving ways. When Sheila thought James, her therapist, might be a threat, she locked him up in her basement, but he fooled her into thinking he was in love with her. The two made love before Sheila realized James was just playing a part. James managed to escape, but so did Sheila, who wound up holding the Forrester family hostage. Sheila attempted suicide, but recovered and was sent to a hospital for the criminally insane. Ever the survivor, though, Sheila was let out under the supervision of James. Ridge chose Brooke over Taylor and went ahead with plans to marry Brooke legally. All was going well when a mysterious letter that questioned Bridget's paternity turned up and prompted the Forresters to have the tests redone. It turned out that Eric was Bridget's biological father, not Ridge. Ridge postponed their wedding as he tried to deal with his devastation. Eric, too, was furious and Brooke was so upset by what happened that she went off to Barbados and had a brief breakdown. Stephanie urged Eric to sue for custody of the two children. When a newly recovered Brooke returned to Los Angeles with Ridge by her side, she was upset to find her children unavailable to her. Stephanie enjoyed tormenting Brooke, which generally went with her personality. This time, though, mercury poisoning, courtesy of Sheila was causing her behavior. Ironically, it was pleading from rivals Brooke and Sally that gave Stephanie the will she needed to live. Continuing their parents' tradition, Eric Jr. (now going by Rick) and Clarke Jr. (C.J.) began fighting with each other. Their family situations, particularly paternity issues, caused friction between the kids. Sally, egged on by an attack on C.J. by Rick, arranged to have some designs stolen from "Forrester Creations." Eric found out what was going on and set out to teach Sally a lesson. He began flirting with her and then dated her, causing Sally to fall in love with him. Eric even went so far as to propose marriage, hoping to keep Sally from displaying stolen "Forrester" designs. His plan worked. However, Sally was devastated to learn from Stephanie that Eric's feelings for her were all a ruse. In time, Eric and Sally were able to forge a grudging friendship from their experience together. Rick and C.J., too, put their animosity behind them and became friends. With Sally prepared to finally succumb to financial ruin, Clarke Garrison returned to "Spectra Fashions" as a designer to help invigorate the company. He was determined to develop a relationship with C.J., and be a friend to Sally, but his true nature came through when he was revealed to be taking bribes from a rival company to sabotage "Spectra." Clarke developed genuine feelings for C.J. and Sally, though, and suffered misgivings about what he was doing. He even proved himself worthy by standing by Sally when her best friend and right-hand man, Saul Feinberg, died. Clarke's secrets caught up with him when he refused to continue undermining Sally. In the end, Clarke wound up risking his own life to save his son. Brooke was able to get her children back, but her relationship with Ridge kept taking wrong turns. She developed a close friendship with "Forrester" designer Grant Chambers, which led Ridge to think they were having an affair. Ridge proposed to Taylor and Brooke proposed to Grant in attempts to make each other jealous. Brooke wound up going through with her marriage to Grant, but Taylor wised up and left Ridge. She took up with Thorne, whose marriage was once again in shambles. When Ridge was accused of shooting Grant, Taylor finally realized that Ridge was the man she wanted. She supported him when he went to jail for the shooting (he was protecting Rick, who'd actually done the crime) and rejoiced when he was let out on parole. But misunderstandings continued to undermine the relationships between Ridge, Taylor, Thorne and Brooke. When Taylor became pregnant with Ridge's child, she led people to believe Thorne was the father while Ridge took up with Brooke again. Thorne and Brooke conspired to keep Ridge and Taylor apart, and on her way to stop Ridge's wedding to Brooke, Taylor went into labor and delivered a son, Thomas. In time, Taylor realized that Ridge had to know the truth and she told him that Thomas was their child. Ridge and Taylor were reunited and Thorne, realizing he'd never have Taylor, pursued Macy, who had fallen in love with Grant. Stephanie and Eric had finally found their way back to the alter but a tryst with Lauren Fenmore came back to haunt Eric when Stephanie found out about it on their wedding day. The marriage was called off and Eric wound up in an airplane crash with Lauren. They were rescued, and Lauren continued her pursuit of Eric, but it wasn't to be. James Warwick had begun dating Maggie, and the two fell in love. Unfortunately for them, Sheila decided she wanted James for herself. When she took advantage of a drunk James, she became pregnant. When the baby girl, Mary, was born, Sheila reluctantly agreed to let Maggie and James raise the child. Of course, she had no intention of keeping her promise to stay out of their lives. After a number of machinations, Sheila was awarded custody of the baby. James decided that he needed to prove that Sheila was an unfit mother, so he wormed his way back into her life and ultimately fell for her. Sheila's true colors were revealed when she threatened Stephanie and Thomas. James was awarded full custody of Mary and Sheila was sent to jail. Unfortunately, Sheila escaped, kidnapped Mary, shot Stephanie and ran out of town. Amber Moore took a job babysitting for Brooke and soon found herself entangled in an affair with the younger Rick Forrester. Their involvement led to Rick's unfortunate car crash, in which Amber donated a kidney to save his life. When Amber became pregnant, she and Rick married, despite his family's objections. The child died shortly after birth, but Amber kept the devastating news to herself and passed off her cousin Becky's baby as hers and Rick's son. They named him Eric Forrester III. As so often happens, the truth came out when the pressure got to be too much for Amber to continue her lies. Rick was distraught over the news and he filed for divorce from Amber. Ridge and Taylor faced more trying times when a colleague of Taylor's caused Ridge to become jealous of his wife. Their bond was strengthened, though, when Taylor became pregnant with twins. Despite a difficult pregnancy and a near-fatal delivery, the happy couple welcomed twin girls Stephanie and Phoebe to their family. Macy and Grant had a brief marriage that ended tragically when he died of cancer. Thorne helped Macy through her grief and the two became close again. But once again, Thorne couldn't resist the pull of one of Ridge's exes. This time, it was Brooke that Thorne fell in love with. They became engaged, but Ridge and Eric were determined that the couple would not marry. Stephanie, who always despised Brooke, went mad when she found out about Thorne and Brooke's relationship. After an attempt to stab Brooke, Stephanie suffered through another stroke. While in the hospital, she and Eric were remarried, but her condition remained delicate. Meanwhile, Ridge and Eric's machinations caused Thorne to reconsider his relationship with Brooke and, on the rebound, he married Macy in Amsterdam. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,039
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Why are you copying and pasting? Just give a link..
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Manchester
Posts: 7,708
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I've not read it all yet but it does make for an interesting read!
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