Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock
Lime Street station hosts one of the more unusual street sculptures in the UK on the station concourse. It commemorates two local heroes; Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock.
Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock
I have never seen Ken Dodd perform, although if I’d gone to university a year earlier, I would have seen his legendary performance at the Students Union in Panto Week, where he told jokes for several hours. Panto Week was a uniquely Liverpool University name for their Rag Week. It was so named because the students used to block book the last night of the pantomine in the Liverpool Empire. That tradition had died out before I went to the University, but it was still part of University life and raised money for charity. There is an account of Panto Week in 1936 here.
Not Just an Obituary in The Times, but a Leader Too!
I wonder what a young Norman Wisdom would have said, if that many years later, when he died, he would not only have an obituary in The Times, but a leader inside the cover, praising his life and work. But then he was one of those small, tough men, who often come out on top despite what the world throws at them!
There have been so many memories on the TV and radio in the last day or so, about one of Britain’s most-loved comedians. I particularly liked the stories of such as Chris Hollins, who is far too young to have seen the films or the classic TV sketches of the 1950s and 1960s, but remembers him from the match when England played in Albania.
I think we always forget what a good actor he was. He won a Bafta for a start! But I do wonder what would have happened if the film he had written about Benny Lynch in the 1950s had ever been made. As someone who could box, Wisdom saw himself playing the great Scottish boxer, but then the film industry in those days of the 1950s, saw him as a comic and not a serious actor. Some years ago, I read about this part of his life in the sports pages of The Daily Telegraph. It was one of his regrets in life, that the film was never made. Perhaps it should be!
The Gilded Balloon
The Gilded Balloon is one of the main venues of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The GIlded Balloon, Edinburgh
I’m not sure, but I think it used to be the Student’s Union at Edinburgh University. It certainly has that feel and is a friendly place. I bought a coffee in the bar and the waitress offered to take it upstairs for me, as the stairs weren’t that easy. Only a small thing, but things like this can make your day when you have problems. I should say that since my return from the North, my arm is a lot better!
I saw two other shows at the Gilded Balloon in addition to Jarlath Regan; Stripped and Lockerbie:Unfinished Business.
As I have said in other posts Jarlath was funny and it cheered me to see someone, who I’d last seen at nine, perform.
Stripped was very much worth seeing and was a one-woman show describing the life of a stripper. It was sad, funny and touching!
Lockerbie was one of the most moving shows I’ve ever seen and it was about Dr. Jim Swire’s search for the truth about the death of his daughter in the Lockerbie Air Disaster. My heart goes out to people like Jim who’ve lost children to violence. I know that I’ve lost my wife and son to cancer, but in some way it’s not so bad for me, as both of them died bravely with the highest personal dignity.
I have always believed that the Pan Am Bombing was revenge for the shooting down by the USS Vincennes of the Iranian Airbus. But that is not to absolve Libya for any of the acts that they committed like the shooting of Yvonne Fletcher. In that case, we should never have lifted the siege on the embassy, without a full investigation into who fired the shot. It could also be argued that because we let diplomats and other foreign nationals act outside of the law, that others follow suit.
Whatever we do with rogue states like Iran and North Korea, we must never go outside of the law and behave such as to give them justification for what they did.
If you do get a chance go to see Lockerbie:Unfinished Business.
Jarlath Regan
He was definitely worth seeing and his act delved into areas that I’d not heard before. The two ladies, both widowed like me, enjoyed the show too!
He also dealt with a nine year old,who probably was too young for the show very well.
He even worked his parents, Tadey and Moira into the routine. I shall go and see him again, preferably in Dublin.
Two Shows Yesterday
I did two shows yesterday and also met Jarlath Regan outside the Gilded Balloon.
Jarlath Regan outside The Gilded Balloon
It was good to meet him after all those years since his father helped saddle Vague Shot in 1990. He’s grown a lot and I’ve got a lot more decrepit. But as his father, Tadey, always says, “The Struggle continues”
I shall be going to see Jarlath’s show tonight with three other widows.
Yesterday, I really enjoyed Paul Sinha, who calls himself the only gay Bengali GP turned stand-up comdian. If I had more time, I’d like to catch his full show, as I only saw him in a preview show at the Pleasance. But I’ll be watching out for him.
I also saw Stripped, which was a one-woman play about a girl who turned to stripping to pay the rent. It lived up to its good reviews.
The Anonymous Widower 