Vale Wendy Richards

We learned this morning of the death of Wendy Richards who finally succumbed to breast cancer after a long struggle, she was 65.

Wendy was a favourite on the small screen for in Britain for many, many years both as a ‘blonde bombshell’  Miss Brahms in the classic series “Are You Being Served”, and as the [...]

Vale Tony Hart

Sad news that Tony Hart, a gentleman and an inspiration, has died aged 83. He’d retired a few years ago after suffering a couple of strokes, and the loss of his ability to draw accurately hit him very hard. He is probably best known for his TV show HartBeat and of course that little plasticine [...]

Shouldn’t humour be funny?

For the past few days I, along with vast numbers of people in the English speaking world have been utterly bemused, mesmerised perhaps, by the recent ‘goings on’ at the BBC involving the much loved 78 year old veteran Actor, Andrew Sachs… perhaps more popularly known and loved as the inept, bumbling waiter in the [...]

Hello… Ian?

Yes it’s that time again when an ancient pagan sacrificial ritual is again resurrected, morphed into a quasi-Christian ‘festival’… only to be morphed once more by children into an excuse to get free goodies!!
Indeed… Halloween is once more upon us.
As a ‘festival’ it means little in the UK outside the religious significance, as far as [...]

Vale Paul Newman

Sad to hear of the death of Paul Newman who succumbed to cancer last night. Paul was 83 and apart from his roles as an actor was a recognised humanitarian and all round good guy. At last known figures, his foundation had given away $220 million – mostly earned in profits from sales of his [...]

One in four.

In a few weeks time it’s likely that the Indonesians found guilty of the 2002 bombing at Paddy’s Bar in Kuta, Bali will be executed.
The ‘favoured’ method of execution in Indonesia is shooting. The condemned is taken at midnight to a deserted location where he (or she) is tied to a stake and blindfolded. The [...]

They *cannot* be serious?

Seems the UK media have been whooping it up because their athletes have won more medals at the Olympics than the Australians. The Sun (see the link) have a headline reading “Brittania Rules the Games”!
Basically a country with a population of 62 million is crowing because they are beating one with a population one third [...]

Potter Potted!

For reasons which seem to have more to do with greed than customer satisfaction Warner Brothers have determined it’s in their best interests to postpone the release of “Half Blood Prince”, the highly anticipated film of the sixth book in the Harry Potter series!
Anyone who would like the film released on its original date might [...]

So… the Beijing Olympics?

As you will be aware my new ISP did *not* connect me to the net overnight as was promised and in fact kept me waiting almost 8 days before they let me loose on the world. During this time I had a choice of getting on with the housework… or watching the TV. And what [...]

A world gone mad.

Reports claim that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been paid $15,000,000 by Hello magazine to allow them ‘exclusive rights’ to the first pictures of their new babies. Really?
I have pictures of my kids here I could sell Hello for a damn sight less than that. Tell yas what… if someone from Hello would contact [...]

Smiley Miley

It’s possible some of you might never have heard of singer Billy Ray Cyrus, but I’ll bet there are a lot fewer of you who’ve never heard of his daughter Miley who has been making a name of her own with her alter ego as “Hannah Montana” especially if you have kids around you!
Over the [...]

Go Christina!!

Our best wishes are sent for a speedy recovery to Christina Applegate, recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
My memories of her are mostly from her role as the ditzy kid ‘Kelly Bundy’ from Married with Children and this is perhaps her best known role, at least for most males around the globe.
Kelly was the archetypal airhead [...]

Fat enough for you?

Hot on the heels of my last post complaining about what a backwater the UK has become, is news of a Disco that has taken on board Homer Simpsons edict of “No Fat Chicks” and run with it barring them from entry to the club!
The manager of the club who it seems is no lightweight [...]

Angela vs Wendy

You want a discussion about diaphragms… or Brazilian waxing… or big cars… or plastic surgery…  or… ?? Well now’s your chance.
For those of you have listened to me ramble on incessantly about Angela Catterns (and occasionally Wendy Harmer) now is your chance to listen to those honeyed tones and find out why her voice is [...]

Bought an iPhone – seen better?

So let’s see. Who got sucked into the hype and like a million others went out and bought an iPhone? Oops… you did?
Well, if you *did* rush out and buy one I doubt you’ll be too happy reading the rest of this article.
To be honest I was considering rushing out with the rest of the [...]

Angela’s Army

Had a nice email from Angela Catterns the other day in response to a ‘welcome back’ message I sent via her website. Today is her final day sitting in for Richard Feidler in his ‘Conversation Hour’ on ABC Local Radio 702 and I was prepared to say ‘bye’ for now. I’d even dug out this [...]

Faces of Australia: Bizarre records

There are all sorts of people doing all sorts of odd things in order to set world records, but I have to admit this guy from Queensland, Australia, is one of the strangest I’ve come across!
Back in 1998, Les Stewart completed 16 years hard work. As ‘therapy’ after sickness meant he had to give [...]

Vale Cyd Charisse

Always seeming to be the bearer of bad news, we are sad to report the death of of another one of Hollywood’s greats, Tula Ellice Finklea, far better known as Cyd Charisse (87).
Ok perhaps Cyd Charisse wasn’t quite as ‘great’ as some, but she certainly had her moments. One of those ‘moments’, in my mind [...]

The Tumbling Tosca

I’m no great lover of opera though I can happily listen to some of the great arias when removed from their pretentious surroundings. This morning on Australian Classic FM, they were playing the final scene of Puccini’s ‘Tosca’. Unfortunately this scene contains nothing I can claim to like listening to either.
However they did relate the [...]

Pink Floyd, “The Wall” revisited.

Revisiting and listening to a lot of the Floyd tracks over the past few weeks reminded me the film of “The Wall” existed so I sat around for a while at the computer yesterday watching it. Whilst nominally a Pink Floyd production, other than some credit for musical collaboration, it is totally credited to Roger [...]

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