It is the irony of the modern era that Malcolm McLuhan’s thesis – “the medium is the message” – waned during his life and waxes as his collateral thesis “the global village” unfolds around us. These ideas gained traction with the 1962 publication of McLuhan’s “The Gutenberg galaxy : the making of typographic man”.
The ongoing anarchy of the message was emphasised on 5 October 1969 when BBC1 premiered “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”.
The ongoing sobriety of the message was recalled a year later when the Public Broadcasting Service began operations in North America.
But a medium or a message is for those who live twice. On 5 October 1962, a few months after publication of McLuhan’s work, James Bond first showed Dr No that no meant no and undelivered SPECTRE of its sceptre. Oddly enough, SPECTRE survived and CEO Ernst Stavro Blofeld emerged in “You Only Live Twice” five years later. Blofeld was played by Donald Pleasance, born 5 October 1919.
Bond: Well, if I’m gonna be forced to watch television, may I smoke?