I’ve Found A Nice Cure For Adverts
I’ve got the ITV pictures on my television, but I’ve got the sound off and I’m listening to the commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live.
It doesn’t improve the football, but it does improve the broadcasting experience.
A lot of the adverts I’ve just watched now look totally ridiculous.
There’s one for Official Player Escorts, that could be insinuating things, we’d rather not know.
Silly Pill Packaging
These bisoprolol fumarate pills have the most infuriating packaging in that some of the bubbles don’t have a pill in them.
Silly Pill Packaging
But from the other side you wouldn’t know, which bubbles have pills in them.
My First Time on Stage
Surprisingly, a few weeks from my 65th birthday, I went on a theatrical stage for the first time last night.
On Stage at the Hackney Empire
It was a fundraising event for the Hackney Empire. The picture doesn’t really do justice to the interior of the theatre.
Will Harvey Smith Salute the Torch into York Racecourse?
It may seem a controversial choice, but Harvey Smith is carrying the torch on the final leg into York racecourse tonight.
So will he give the torch one of his special signature salutes?
Let’s hope he keeps both hands on the reins!
I once saw him give an equestrian demonstration with anecdotes of his life. If ever there was a larger-thsan-life Yorkshireman it’s Harvey.
Are You Watching Cyril?
Vague Shot is a horse I own and he goes by the nickname of Cyril. He is known for winning the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot in 1987 under top weight in heavy going. He did have the advantage of carrying the best jockey, who ever rode for C or myself, Steve Cauthen. Sadly, we didn’t own the horse at that time and only acquired him later in the year.
A few years later he ran in the first race at Royal Ascot, the Queen Anne Stakes. He wasn’t expected to do well, but we did have a good day out.
I do remember that day, that he was saddled by Julie, Sir Henry Cecil‘s first wife. C commented her on her amazing jacket and Julie said that she’d got it for a few pounds in an Oxfam shop. C approved, especially as it was so good.
Incidentally, Vague Shot is now 29 and happily turned out in a field at the stud I still own and am trying to sell.
This year’s race incidentally was a procession, won by the best horse in the world, Frankel, who is trained by Sir Henry Cecil.
I used to think that Brigadier Gerard was the best horse, I’ve seen either in real life or on television. He now must be rated the best horse, I’ve only seen in black and white. I can still hear Peter O’Sullevan calling out “Here comes the Brigadier!” on the television commentary. Some years ago, I had the pleasure of talking to Joe Mercer, who rode Brigadier Gerard in his races, at a time when I think Xaar was being touted as the greatest. Joe still thought in his heart then that Brigadier was the best. If he still favours the Brigadier, it will be because of this incident.
The Sunday prior to the Brigadier’s third race of the season (at Royal Ascot) Mercer flew to France in a small plane with three others. Soon after take-off the plane crashed and luckily Mercer was thrown clear. He rushed back to the plane and pulled out the trainer Bill Marshall. He could not get the pilot out of the wreckage and gave up trying just before the plane went exploded. Unsurprisingly Mercer was shaken up and there was talk that he would not take the ride on the Brigadier on the first day of Royal Ascot. After taking a day off Mercer declared himself fit to ride on the Tuesday of Royal Ascot and he lined up on Brigadier Gerard for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. As it was the Brigadier gave one of his most stunning displays beating a field which included the future Irish Derby winner, Steel Pulse, effortlessly. Unlike other runs Mercer reported that the horse did not pull as much as usual. However Mercer felt unwell after the race and did not ride again at the meeting or for the next week.
Joe Mercer was reported at the time to have said something like, the horse did it all himself. There’s a video of it here on YouTube.
A Note For Those On The Other side of the World
The BBC is streaming their coverage of Royal Ascot on the web.
It’s a long way for all those pixels to go.
In Search of Small Waists
The BBC’s web site today is verging into dangerous territory this morning, with a serious article called the re-re-re-rise of the corset. The article is in their magazine, so comments are not allowed, so we will not see the opinions of both fetishists and feminists.
The article does say that sales are on the rise.
But sales figures suggest ordinary people are turning to one of the greatest symbols of the Victorian era. Corsets are making a comeback.
Rigby & Peller, the Queen’s brassiere-maker, says sales of traditional corsets in May were 45% up on 2011.
Ebay has reported a 185% rise in the number of corsets being sold over the last three months, with 1,900 listed over the period. It says most corsets are bought in the UK (40%), the US (34%) and Australia (8.6%).
Many women aspire to Marilyn Monroe’s hourglass figureMarks & Spencer says it sells one item from its new corset-inspired Waist Sculpt lingerie line every three minutes.
The article then goes on to discuss why, which includes a comment by Liberty Sweet of the Folly Mixtures.
On a personal level, I always believed that C’s small waist was one of her physical characteristics, that attracted me to her. I could have probably made my hands touch round her waist, when we got married in 1968.
She never actually wore a corset, but she did wear a basque at times, especially after she had her brush with breast cancer, as she felt a proper fitting basque, gave her more support after the operation. In one instance, having a basque in her holiday suitcase, actually saved the day at a New Year’s Eve ball in Venice.
The Anonymous Widower 