Comparing Two Chariots of Fire
I finally got to see the film this lunchtime at Cineworld in West India Quay.
So how do the two interpretations of the same story compare?
Obviously, in the film there is more action and of course period scenes done with all the care of a master film-maker.
But the play is a very good interpretation in its own right, with a track running through the audience. The only other show, where I saw a similar device was Siegfried and Roy in las Vegas. But their track was for tigers not runners. I incidentally had seat J8 in the stalls, which was right by the action. there are also seats on the back of the stage and inside the track at the front of the stalls.
What surprised me was that the words were virtually identical between the film and the play, although the play had extra scenes inserted to compensate for the lack of filmed sequences.
I enjoyed both and would recommend seeing both in a short space of time, as I have done.
Man Hunt
I’ve been wanting to catch this episode of Dad’s Army for some years. I can only ever remember seeing it once with C and that would have probably been in the 1990s. I can also remember her roaring with laughter, when our intrepid heroes acquired a tracker dog, which suitably for them was an English Setter. Two of the English setters, we had are shown in this post, which makes the episode even funnier for me. Some dogs are comedians, but English setters are almost the most natural straight-men of the dog world.
I found this on a page of English setter trivia.
English Setters are excellent with children. They make very good family dogs. However, they make terrible watchdogs . They are almost excessively friendly and will wag their tails and try to make friends with anyone who comes to your house. They may sleep through someone trying to break in. This is not the dog to get if you are looking for protection.
It sums the breed up well. I always remember the time, we mated our dog, Charlotte. Her husband-to-be had a very grand pedigree, but the two of them had no idea, what they were supposed to be doing, bringing this statement from the Brummie lady, who owned the dog.
If it hadn’t been for humans, English setters, would have died out years ago.
They were playing the straight-dog again, which is exactly what the dog called, Bran, did in Dad’s Army tonight. You should be able to catch it on iPlayer for a few weeks.
Two Chariots of Fire
I’m off in a minute or so to see the new stage play of Chariots of Fire.
Then hopefully, it’ll be to the cinema to see the newly-re-released film.
What a way to tee-up the Olympics! Sadly alone!
I did run out of time as the play was longer than I thought. So it was either go hungry and rush half-way across London or come home and eat and see the film tomorrow or later in the week.
I chose the latter, especially as that allowed me to have a soaking in my dreadful bath.
I Tend To Live Life in the Wonderful World of my Head, Where Every Day the Sun Shines
The title of this post is from a leader in today’s copy of The Times and it was said by Eric Sykes, who died yesterday. His obituary was also felt by the paper to be worth two pages.
Has there ever been a comedian and scriptwriter, who succeeded so well, against all of the odds?
C and I once saw him in the theatre in the play, Run for your Wife, where he appeared in his eighties, despite being totally deaf and virtually blind. An absolute tour de farce!
Beware The Essex Girl
This story in the Daily Mail, shows that not all Essex Girls live up to their stereotype of being thick and have liking for Ford Capris, sex, fake tan, silicon breast implants, booze and white stilettos in no particular order.
Certainly, Georgina Blackwell doesn’t follow the stereotype. although, she is trained as a beautician.
I remember in the early days of BBC Breakfast television, they had a female legal expert, with long bleached blonde hair, a job at one of the job law firms, a penchant for very short skirts and an accent forged in Dagenham.
I think she was too much for Northern inferiorities, so she was quietly dropped.
Funny Program of the Night
Watching a program called Traffic Cops. The Police nicked this guy, who had eaten a crushed up dog biscuit thinking it was drugs, for which he’d been arrested. The officer said they were barking up the wrong tree.
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.
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.
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.
Pointless Celebrities
They have a program on BBC1 with this name at the moment.
It probably sums the program up too!
The Anonymous Widower 