Tell the sun don't shine, stop Old Father Time, 'cause that's easier to do

Notorious for being the first actress to bare her boobs on American telly, the showgirl-turned-Playboy model-turned-actress Valerie Perrine, who has sadly departed for Fabulon, confounded all expectations when she was nominated for an Oscar in 1974 for her portrayal of the sassy wife in the biopic Lenny (Bruce).

In her estimable career, Miss Perrine worked with such greats as Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Mel Gibson, Alan Arkin and Rod Steiger.

Shame then, that the only film I (and many millions of others, no doubt) remember her being in is Can't Stop The Music with The Village People...

All together, now!

Can't Stop The Music trailer

RIP, Valerie Ritchie Perrine (3rd September 1943 - 23rd March 2026)

Send in the crowds...

Oh, no! After a blissful weekend celebrating the joys of Spring and pottering in the garden, it's time to put all thoughts of that aside and head back to the eternal tiresomeness of work. Dammit! We need something to cheer us up...

...and, since we missed celebrating the birthdays yesterday of these two theatrical legends, it would be curmudgeonly of me - on this Tacky Music Monday - not to dig out this [and I make no apologies for featuring it again, despite having done so on numerous occasions over the years...] - it's faboo, and I never tire of it!

Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd-Webber - Duelling Pianos [Hey, Mr Producer!, 1998]

Have a good week, dear reader.

Gardens, getaways and geeks

A second day in the garden in pleasant Spring weather? We're being spoiled...

Yes, we've been busy pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers - dividing up some overcrowded pots (and realising, as usual, we have small pots and huge pots, but never the right size pots), pruning-back the hardiest salvias and numerous other unruly bushes (I even made a start on some fuchsias - but that's a job and a half by itself), and loads more besides. Now I'm aching in places I didn't realise I had...

Time, methinks, to sit down, relax and dream of holidays, BOAC-style [not the skiing, obviously!], courtesy of the faboo Soft Tempo Lounge:

Soft Tempo Lounge - Getaway '68

Starting to feel better, already.

[Music: Jack Parnell and his Orchestra - Warm Breeze]

---

Meanwhile...

...that there Mr Device - our fave "Star Trek geek" - is having a birthday today! Time, methinks, to drag out the old traditional "face-swap" photo, in tribute:

Hope you're having an absolutely splendid day, dear boy!!

Licenced to thrill

Possessed of one of the most seductive speaking voices in acting history, the lovely Timothy Dalton is - gulp - 80 years old today!

In his long and enviable career, Mr Dalton has played alongside most of the greats of theatre and movies - Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins in The Lion in Winter, Richard Harris, Alec Guinness, Robert Morley, Charles Gray, Dorothy Tutin, Hugh Griffiths, Harry Andrews, Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson amongst them.

Another in a long line of Welsh acting maestros, with his piercing green eyes and 6ft 2" frame Timothy Dalton has always been a commanding (and extremely sexy) figure on screen. I had a major crush on him for years...

Just check out his debut screen performance:

Timothy Dalton - The Lion In Winter

Of course, the most lucrative role in his four-decade career, and the one for which he is likely to be most remembered worldwide, is his stint as James Bond in the 80s. Licence to Kill was one of the best of the series, as a result:

Timothy Dalton - Licence To Kill

Inevitably, there are always some less salubrious points in any actor's career. Here are a couple of them...

Timothy Dalton and Mae West in Sextette - Love Will Keep Us Together

Timothy Dalton - TV advert for Brains Faggots

Many happy returns, Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett (born 21st March 1946)!

Totally at your whim

"If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of Spring..."

Hoorah! The weekend's almost upon us - and, for a change a) we have no events, exhibitions, parties or anything planned; and b) the forecast is for more sunshine!

I think a little celebration is in order - and since it happened to have been the (gulp) 80th birthday yesterday of the sole surviving Pointer Sister, Ruth Pointer, let's give the girls the spotlight to shimmy in, and...

...Thank Disco It's Friday!

Pointer Sisters - Automatic

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

Of a bonk-buster queen, floral vibrators, a radio legend, reincarnated Daleks, snake oil, a cuddly rat and wife-carrying

I'm very sad to discover that the very lovely Lauren Henderson aka "Rebecca Chance", doyenne of the "bonk-buster", Polari stalwart, raconteur and very funny lady has departed for Fabulon, aged just 59. A great loss. RIP.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Catch that buzz news: Attendees at this year's Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show (from 19th to 23rd May) may be in for a double shock - there will be a sex-themed garden on show sponsored by a company that sells vibrators(!) and the "ban on garden gnomes" has been lifted. Not sure which is going to cause the most uproar amongst the blue-rinse brigade!
• Another sad departure news: The utterly faboo Liza Tarbuck, host of our absolute favourite Radio 2 show every Saturday, is leaving after 14 years at the helm. Nobody understands quite why, least of all Michael Hogan in The Telegraph, who wrote:

  The funniest show on British radio is no more. News that the unfailingly hilarious Liza Tarbuck has left her Saturday evening programme on Radio 2 after 14 glorious years has left listeners distraught and colleagues stunned. The talent exodus from BBC radio in recent years has been worrying enough. Tarbuck’s exit represents another nail in the coffin... there remains an air of mystery around the reasons for Tarbuck’s typically unconventional departure, which seems to have blind-sided bosses. Had the 61-year-old broadcaster fallen foul of BBC management? Are rumblings of ageism relevant? Does that enigmatic line, “imagine what else we could do”, tease a surprise new chapter for this maverick talent? There are few clues at this stage.

  ... Since 2012, Tarbuck’s joyous blend of eclectic songs and freewheeling chat sound-tracked listeners’ Saturday sundowners, supper-making or domestic pottering... So how did a weekly gossip session, helmed by a self-effacing midlife woman, become appointment listening for so many? It was all down to the riotous brand of mayhem and mirth that Tarbuck created. It’s not hyperbole to describe her as one of our last radio geniuses. This is why her loss to the national airwaves is so deeply sad. If the Corporation can’t retain such one-off broadcasters, we all suffer.

• Exterminate!? - not quite - news: Two lost episodes of Doctor Who featuring old foes the Daleks, unseen since airing in the 1960s have been discovered in a cardboard box belonging to a deceased film aficionado - and one of the co-stars (alongside the First Doctor William Hartnell) of that early series, the [gulp!] 87-year-old Peter Purves was treated to a surprise showing at the premiere of the restored archives at a cinema in Leicester, where they were found. Regeneration, indeed.
• Snake oil news: Want to lose weight? Try ingesting extract of python! There's no mention of side-effects. A sudden craving for live mice, perhaps?
• G'Day, Possum! news: A real, live possum startled shop staff when they discovered it hiding amongst the stuffed toys on display at the main airport in Tasmania, Australia. Beats bloody Labubu dolls, hands down!
• And finally: A Finnish couple won a barrel of local ale after finishing first in the the annual UK Wife Carrying Race! I said Dorking was a strange place...

And the weather? Bloody lovely - just in time for the Spring Equinox tomorrow!

Both at the same time!

An outbreak of decent weather has inspired truly heartbreaking levels of joy across the UK.

With temperatures bordering on the pleasant, Britons are scampering in circles like over-enthusiastic termites, hardly knowing what to do with themselves.

Sales co-ordinator Emma Bradford said: “I’ve bought a straw hat and a Summer Fruits Oasis in anticipation of the first beam of sunlight penetrating the dense wall of grey cloud which has been overhead for five months.

“Let me just check out the window. Here it comes. Oh my.”

Office worker Tom Logan added: “It’s warm and sunny! Not just warm or sunny, but both at the same time.

“I’m going to eat my lunch outside with my sleeves rolled up to my elbows. And you can’t get much better than that.

“Everything’s going to be alright forever.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

[The "real" news]