Final Goodbye

Yesterday the immediate family and a couple of friends attended the burial of my cousin George's ashes.

There were a vicar and prayers and consecrated ground for a man who believed in none of it, but his widow rightly thought that the setting, in an old church cemetery, bizarrely far from the nearest church, and in a very countrified area, would appeal to him. It also gives his children a place to go and "talk" to him. It is beautiful.

We all thought that the verger would put the box containing the ashes into the hole - it was certainly big enough - but he emptied them in. Some very wispy, smoky-looking bits wafted out in the very light breeze, and I couldn't help thinking, "Hey, George, you didn't smoke when you were alive, but you are now you're dead!"

I've been lashed!

The Insider was on late last night, and I watched it tonight. Towards the end I noticed how long Bobby's dark lashes looked against the light of the window. Of course, I had to capture them straight away.

Then I saw VDO_Luver's comments about eyelashes, so this is for you, girl!

Captain Pugwash

Some time ago, a children's cartoon programme attracted controversy about which I was unaware at the time, and it was only today that I discovered that the story was false. But it's too good to pass up.

Captain Pugwash, as you can see, was a pirate, and the common currency is that his crew was made up of Master Bates, Seaman Staines and Roger the Cabin Boy (to roger in UK English is for a man to have sex with).

Sadly this appears to have been a fiction attached to a harmless show, and apparently it had to be publicly denied when the writer of the show threatened to sue. What a shame!

The Third Horseman

Just did a quick capping session of this episode (which was on last night) but on the wrong computer, so I can't get it on to Photobucket. Here's a selection of Bobby being absolutely gorgeous (nothing new there then).

Kenny Everett

In the mid-1960s, before the BBC realised that pop music was here to stay, we had to make do with pirate radio broadcast from ships in the North Sea. I was a great fan of Radio London, and the Kenny and Cash Show, with Kenny Everett and Dave Cash was real fun. So when I saw that Kenny and Cash were going to do a live show at Greenwich Town Hall, I just had to go along. I was only 12, so going alone was not a possibility. A neighbour's daughter who was a few years older agreed to take me.

In the event, only Kenny was there. He was as crazy and funny as everyone expected. I had long brown hair in those days, and when he did a "Sandie Shaw" miming competition, he slid across the stage and asked various girls - one of them me! - to get up on stage and mime to one of her records. I don't know what the winner got, but the rest of us got tickets to see The Yardbirds at a nearby swimming baths!!!

When pirate radio was outlawed in 1967, Kenny worked for the BBC. He was later given his own TV show, which he repeatedly said was "all in the best possible taste". Nothing could be further from the truth!

There was the carpenter showing DIY who was constantly cutting bits off himself very dramatically, reappearing in ever larger blood-soaked bandages.

This was Cupid Stunt - how did he get away with that obviously spoonerised name?!

Believe it or not, this is Kenny being pretty much himself.

He may have enjoyed being the Queen, but he was very fond of Queen, whose success he was instrumental in promoting.

Memorably, he impersonated all three BeeGees in one go. He sang all three parts, and being very musical he was in tune and quite impressive.

His punk character was called Sid Snot and was extremely vulgar.

Kenny really looks like his friend and lover Freddie Mercury here. He was sucked into the flamboyant Queen frontman's dissolute lifestyle, and in 1995, like Freddie, he died of AIDS. He was just 51.

Kenny was a comic genius. How he got away with what he did is a mystery. But those who remember him are the richer for having experienced his wackiness and creativeness

D.A.W.

I've been neglecting Season 3, so here's a taster of an extremely yucky episode with that slimey, murdering doctor.

Bush in Albania

Imagine - George Dubya is a hero in Albania and has had a hero's welcome!


Here's another hero of the Albanian people - comedian Norman Wisdom. This knockabout comic, now in his 80s, has been a favourite in Albania for decades. For US readers who know nothing about him, think Lee Evans a hundred times more slapstick and more pathetic (in the "Ah, poor Norman" sense).

When he received his knighthood a few years ago, Sir Norman did his hallmark comic trip up the dais, setting off gasps then laughs (including from the Queen) as people first feared for his safety, then realised they'd been got by the aged professional.

I think the Albanian people should be made to choose between their two heroes - I bet they'd choose the man who means to be an idiot over the one who is an idiot without even trying.

But then they did have a King Zog...

Bobby plays with Henry Talbott

I wish he'd play with me...

Have you ever wondered why...

...flies (and other insects) manage to fly into the house so easily, even through a tiny opening, but can never find their way out again, even if you leave every door and window wide open? (Indeed, if you do that, all their little friends join them, and they won't leave either).

But Not Forgotten

And not gone either (thank goodness) so here's a selection from an episode I've just discovered I only partially capped. Alas, no pictures of Bobby comforting Madonna-face by stroking her hand.

Lest we forget...

...how tasty he was in Season 1, here's a selection from one of last night's Hallmark offering, The Extra Man.

"Hey, look, I found one of Val's new contact lenses!"