It’s a Rotten Job, But Someone Has To Do It
They’ve just had a lady called Ella Slack on the television. She is the official stand-in for the Queen at rehearsals, so that broadcasters can set up their cameras correctly. Apparently, she got the job because she was the right height and worked for BBC Outside Broadcasts at the time. There’s more here in the Telegraph.
However, she’s never met the Queen.
I wonder if Her Majesty was watching the broadcast!
Kimi Raikkonen’s Tribute to James Hunt
This weekend at Monaco, Kimi Raikkonen, wore a replica of James Hunt‘s helmet to qualify for the Grand Prix. The details are here. Here’s a couple of paragraphs.
The helmet was a perfect replica of that worn by the 1976 Formula One World Champion, in the same way that Kimi himself makes quite a good replica of James Hunt.
There are lots of reasons to admire James Hunt, ranging from his “sex: breakfast of champions” overall patch to his comment to Niki Lauda in 1978: “To hell with safety. All I want to do is race.”
I remember meeting someone, who’d been at a black tie do, which James Hunt had also attended. He didn’t do black tie, so turned up in jeans and bare feet.
I should say they don’t make them like Hunt anymore. But then they can’t as he was only thirteen days younger than me and you can’t turn the clock back.
What Is The Collective Noun for Dames?
The Royal Academy has recently had a party for the Queen to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, where they invited a large collection of Dames of the British Empire and other important women from the arts and the media. Here‘s Dame Joan Bakewell‘s account of the evening.
So what is the collective noun for dames?
For dames of a certain sort, it could be a pantomine, but that would have been unfair to those, who turned out in their finery for the Queen.
So perhaps it could be a finery or an elegance of dames?
Burke’s Peerage suggest dameage and then say it is ugly. Which it is!
You could mangle the lyrics from the song and make it a not-like-a of dames. Ugly again!
So I think I’ll go for an elegance of dames, in deference to the ladies, who went to the Royal Academy.
The Torch Relay Gets a Health Warning
Apparently, they’re fainting in Haverfordwest as they awat the torch and BBC Wales has issued a health warning, in that they’re telling everybody to bring suntan and a drink.
I would assume that some of the locals will be in traditional Welsh dress a short time later in Fishguard, as if the yeomanry and especially the ladies of the town hadn’t defended so stoutly against the French in 1797, the Olympics would now be taking place this year in Paris. The story is told in this article on the Battle of Fishguard. The part the ladies played is summarised in this paragraph.
The heroine of the hour was Jemima Nicholas, who, with her pitchfork, went out single-handedly into the fields around Fishguard and rounded up 12 French soldiers and ‘persuaded’ them to return with her to town where she locked them inside St. Mary’s Church.
It is thought the French troops may have mistaken local women like her, in their traditional tall black hats and red cloaks, for British Grenadiers when they stood on the cliffs above the British force lined up on Goodwick Sands at the surrender.
Certainly the Royal Oak pub has lived on the tale for more than two hundred years.Although today, the weather may be too hot for a black hat and a heavy red cloak.
My Husband Won’t Try Bondage
This believe it or not was the headline on the relationships problem page in The Times yesterday. The letter writer had been reading an erotic novel, which Suzi Godson, surmised was the best seller, Fifty Shades of Grey.
They didn’t give any address as to the letter writer, but perhaps, she’s married to Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, that very well-known writer of letters to the Telegraph.
Staffordshire’s Finest
Yesterday BBC Radio 5 Live had a big day out at Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium. Apparently, the warm up comedian was Heening Wehn, who describes himself as the German Comedy Ambassador to Great Britain. Then there was an edition of Fighting Talk.
One of the first questions was about who was Staffordshire’s finest sportsman.
The panel went on to choose the obvious, Stanley Matthews, the football legend.
But the greatest sportsman from the county only got a passing reference.
Sydney Barnes was an amazing cricketer, who many pundits reckon was the greatest bowler ever. This is John Arlott’s view of his bowling.
He bowled right arm fast-medium but also had what Arlott called “the accuracy, spin and resource of a slow bowler”. Barnes’ high delivery provided him with a lift off the pitch that forced even the best batsmen to play him at an awkward height. He was clever at concealing his pace and could produce deliveries that were both appreciably faster and slower than his usual fast-medium pace; and could bowl an effective yorker.
In other words, he could bowl just about anything. Even the Australian, Richie Benaud, included him in his greatest cricket team of all time.
Like Matthews he was still playing at an advanced age. I saw a documentary about Barnes in the 1960s and at the age of around 90, he was still working for the local council. He must have been a remarkable man.
The New Leicester Square Emerges
Leicester Square is an iconic place and I took some pictures as it completed its transformation on Thursday.
Note that two pictures, show the old Royal Dental Hospital, which is now a hotel and the sandwich bar, where my mother used to take me as a treat after a visit.
Beware the Leo Pig
Roy Hodgson is just seven days older than I am. So that makes us both Leo pigs. For more on this explosive mix of Chinese and European signs read this.
I know it’s all a load of old rubbish, but it seems to give them luck and end up in the right place at the right time.
We also all stick together. So here’s wishing you luck Roy. Not that Leo pigs need it.
They Say the Welsh Aren’t Mad
Read this from the BBC’s text commentary of the Olympic Torch Relay.
Next stop is Pontypridd and we have arrived – and start off with a torchbearer with an interesting tale. A man with a history of taking his clothes off while running, Courtney Maggs-Jones removed an item on each of 16 London bridges he ran across to raise money for local children to fund a new wheelchair. He appears to be fully-clothed today….so far at least as he sets off at a brisk pace.
I rest my case.
Another Dress for C!
Perhaps not in C’s later years, but this was very like a summer dress she wore, when the kids were young.
A Dress With Pockets
In the 1960’s and early 1970’s pushchairs were very simple, with no place to store anything, so any dress with pockets, was where she put small toys and tissues. We never used disposable nappies, except in an emergency, so it was generally only a short walk to Regent’s Park or round the corner to a friend’s garden, so there wasn’t much need for storage space.
In fact, a couple of years before she died, I remember going shopping with her and specifically looking for a summer dress with pockets, so she could leave her handbag in the hotel.
I think in some ways, I’m getting more like C, as I now have a summer coat with big pockets, that can carry all I need on my travels. It’ll even hold a long-life shopping bag in the inside pocket.
The Anonymous Widower 