How do ya like it?

I think this city gent likes it

Hotter than Cairo?!! That's mad...

As happens every time there's a heatwave in the UK, however, my thoughts drift away to that idyllic long, hot summer of '76...

The heatwave hadn't even started yet in May 1976 - we had another month to go before the UK began to bake. The fashions, as I recall, veered towards gypsy skirts and maxi-dresses for women, corduroys and high-buttoned flared denims for men [before all that was cast off for the rest of the summer in favour of swimming costumes, of course], and everyone had centre-partings and flicks!

In the headlines at the time were "Gentleman" Jim Callaghan, our new Prime Minister, already facing falling Labour Party ratings; his predecessor Harold Wilson's controversial Resignation Honours list ("the Lavender List") was published, with a number of dodgy businessmen given peerages; we were celebrating the inaugural flight of Concorde to New York; former "millionaire's playground" the Lebanon was in flames in a bloody civil war; all eyes were on British tennis champion Sue Barker for Wimbledon; and "Elsie Tanner" (Pat Phoenix) returned to Coronation Street after three years.

And in our charts this week (gulp) half a century ago? Abba's Fernando was at #1, and JJ Barrie, The Wurzels, Andrea True Connection, Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, Wings, Rolling Stones, Bellamy Brothers and Miss Ross were all present and correct...

...but still hovering around in the Top Ten was this all-time classic Disco number [and it's not even Friday!] - probably the very first [only?] time an actual porn star became an international hit-maker!

Andrea True Connection - More, More, More

It's still a fab song, even 50 years later!

I'm not looking forward to the office today, in this heat - "air-con, what air-con?!"

But when the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzling hot

Our Rosa "Veilchenblau" loves it!

The weather here in London is breaking all the records! Being in the city, rather than near the sea, and with nary a breeze, it's a bit uncomfortable to sit in for long - although we always welcome the sunshine; it's far better than our usual Bank Holiday drizzle...

On this scorching Tacky Music Bank Holiday Monday, there is only one number that will suffice:

Ann Miller - Too Darn Hot [Kiss Me, Kate]

Have a good week, dear reader.

"It's a number written for me by Jo-Hann Strauss"

Alongside a raft of "names" including HM The Queen Victoria, Patti LaBelle, Jim Broadbent, Lilli Palmer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Gene Anthony Ray, Bob Dylan, Alfred Molina, Jean-Paul Marat, Prince Buster, Priscilla Presley, Eric Cantona, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Mai Zetterling, Jan Smuts, Rosanne Cash, Steven Norris and - opportunely, given the heatwave in London - Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, inventor of the Fahrenheit scale...

...today marks the centenary of the birth of the fantabulosa Stanley Baxter [who only died last year]!

By way of a respite from the (officially-designated) heatwave [even I - "part-man, part-lizard", who loves basking in the sun - needed to get out of it mid-afternoon], here's another couple of classic sketches from the great man himself:

Stanley Baxter - Miss Chop Suey

Stanley Baxter - Liberace

He was great, and is greatly missed!

Stanley Livingstone Baxter (24th May 1926 – 11th December 2025)

Convoluted connections #496 in a series - it must be the heat!

A view up my (very hot) back passage... [click to embiggen]

Phew! What a scorcher!

Yes indeed - exactly as the Met Office forecast - the thermometer in our extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers hit (at least) 32C/89.6F this afternoon. And to think, last week we had the heating on in the evenings... Britain, Britain, Britain.

To celebrate the arrival of summer, this:

Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City

Pretty little things, weren't they? {{cough}}

Of that song, however, it is this version I remember most fondly:

Tik and Tok - Summer In The City

Unfortunately I can't find an actual video of Tik and Tok performing that song, but here they are in their glory, doing what they did best!

Tik and Tok - Science laboratory mime [Three of a Kind, BBC 1983]

And finally, the band from whence Tik and Tok emerged - who I saw live way back in the early 1980s:

Shock - Angel Face

Ah, memories...

I can feel something inside me say

Oh, thank gawd for that - it's almost over bar the screaming!

Yet again, my first week back after a fortnight away has been torturous. Hey ho, just a few hours to go - and we have a sunny Bank Holiday weekend to look forward to [for a change].

Time indeed for a(nother) party - and, since it was Mama Cher's (gulp) 80th birthday this week, who better to kick off proceedings, as only she knows how?

Thank Disco - and Cher - It's Friday!

Cher - Believe

Enjoy the long weekend, dear reader, whatever you get up to!

What can I do to be glamorous?

Pay heed to the "Nanny Stern" of the fashion world!

1940s Fashion - a Vintage Guide to Glamour

There are loads more such gems over at Glamourdaze...

"Personally I think anyone from Salford’s a twat"

Manchester [read more about this image] [click to embiggen]

Drink pints and eat chips: Manchesterism in practice, explained by a Mancunian

Andy Burnham is all about Manchesterism. And, what with living in Ardwick, so am I. Let me tell you how it works here on the ground:

Chips for tea
If Manchester stands for anything, it’s chips for tea. Not every night, unless you’ve the misfortune of being vegan. Every Friday, usually Mondays, Wednesdays occasionally, Sundays if you’ve not been able to shift your hangover. Also we have chips for dinner. What you’d call lunch.

Pints
You can get cocktails and the like up here but you can’t really go wrong with a pint, can you? And another pint after that. Followed by whatever you like but chances are it’ll be another pint once you’re two down. If anything else seems like the thing you’re not fitting in.

Rain
Not sure how Andy’s planning to shroud the whole country in the beautiful rain we get 24-7 and 365 up here, but he’ll need to if we’re going to get everyone in anoraks. You can’t beat a good downpour. Makes the cobbles glisten.

Gays
We’re very big on our gays up here, but they’re proper gays. Not these online queers you get down south. To claim an alternative sexuality down Canal Street you’re still required to pass the physical examination. Also, you have to eat at McTucky’s and survive.

Curry
It’s not all chips, as I detailed above. There’s also the Curry Mile, a phantasmagoria of spices and neon signs that serves everything the Indian subcontinent has to offer. Your arse’ll be smoking like there’s a flare up it.

Very specific musical nostalgia
All the best bands come from Manchester if you insist on an arbitrary cut-off point of roughly 1996. Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, the Roses and the Mondays, Oasis, music ends after that. There’s the lad who does the rapping I suppose but he’s not on Factory.

Hatred for your immediate neighbours
You’re no real Manc if you don’t despise Liverpool, loathe Leeds, look down on Birmingham and consider London beneath contempt. Personally I think anyone from Salford’s a twat. Should fit right in with Britain’s post-Brexit foreign policy.

Bees on shit
They only used to be on the bins, but this last 15 years we’ve adopted the bee as the symbol of our fair city and plastered them on everything. They represent Manchester because they work together for the good of all, they’re natty little bastards and if you mess with them, they’ll fuck you up. Alright?

The Daily Mash

Of course

[The "real" story]