Of floral abundance, prehistoric birds, the ultimate pin-up, sweet treats and Temptation

[click any pic to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• King Sniffs Beckham's Bloomers news: The world's greatest floral extravaganza, Chelsea Flower Show opened its doors today, but not before HM The King Charles and Camilla had a good old pootle around. Charles, Sir David Beckham and former Gardeners World host Alan Titchmarsh were co-sponsors/co-creators of the RHS and The King’s Foundation Curious Garden, designed by Frances Tophill. The show commands crowds of 40,000 visitors per day over five days - and tickets are currently completely sold out!
• Pseudo-scientific hoo-ha news: A US biotech company that previously claimed to have recreated a long-extinct dire wolf by gene manipulation, and claims to be working on the "de-extinction" of the woolly mammoth, has announced it has taken the first steps towards doing the same with the giant Moa bird of New Zealand. A quote from Dr Louise Johnson, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Reading, on this announcement made me laugh out loud: "It sounds impressive but then it would, because it’s a press release. I look forward to reading more details when they’re published, but until there’s a peer-reviewed paper I might as well give expert commentary on a YouTube ad." More Jurassic Park than real science, then.

• Boop-boop-bee-doo news: In celebration of her 100th birthday on 1st June, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait will explore the life, career and legacy of Marilyn Monroe through portraits created by some of the greatest photographers and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery {from 4th June - 6th September 2026} will also include personal belongings such as books, scripts and clothes to enrich understanding of the woman behind the image. [NB Coincidentally, it was on this very day in 1962 that Marilyn Monroe performed her famously breathy rendition of Happy Birthday, Mr President for JFK]
• "All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening" news: We're in the midst of National Doughnut Week - and I didn't even notice... I am just going to have to buy a massive bag of Morrisons' finest jammy ones on my way to the office tomorrow, and scoff the lot!
• And finally: Sharing the day, as he does, with a host of luminaries including Victoria Wood, Grace Jones, Alma Cogan, Lady Nancy Astor, Malcolm X, Pete Townshend, Dame Nellie Melba, Ho Chi Minh, Edward de Bono, Sandy Wilson, Nancy Kwan, James Fox, Sam Smith, Joey Ramone and (erm) Pol Pot - it's Martyn Ware's 70th birthday today! Co-founder of the original Human League, British Electric Foundation and Heaven 17, it is to the latter we turn by way of a tribute [and a song that, despite being an all-time favourite, I appear never to have featured here before! How?]

Heaven 17 - Temptation

Utter genius!

And the weather? Blustery, showers, still too cold for mid-May. Grim. However, the forecast looks much improved for the end of the week and the Bank Holiday Weekend!

We wuz robbed, #976 in a series

Yes, yet again we had a marvellous "gathering of the clans" for our Eurovision Song Contest party on Saturday. We cheered, we booed, we gave points, we drank, and the buffet I prepared (with additions from guests, all of whom were allocated to bring food from one country, booze from another, and a country to support) was polished-off nicely over five hours...

...and yet again, the UK was dealt a crushing blow as our valiant entry Look Mum No Computer [see here for his song Eins, Zwei, Drei] received the grand total of one solitary point [from the Ukraine jury], coming last! Even if his song divided opinion [even among our little gang - some of us (myself included) loved it, others loathed it], it didn't deserve to receive no points at all from audience votes.

Sigh.

Our gang, as always, pulled out all the stops with their costumes...

l-r from top row: Madam Arcati: France, me: host/UK, Lou: Lithuania, John-John: Greece, Houseboy Alex: Germany, Baby Steve: Italy, Joe: Belgium, Russ: Malta, Crog: Australia, Hils: Finland]

John-John, Eurovision fanboy as he is, prepared our scorecards and a spreadsheet(!) for capturing them once marked. That's always a fun part of the party - being bitchy about naff acts - and it's also interesting to compare our consensus with the final scores at the "real" contest.

But, before the voting stage, there was a rather faboo interval, that featured previous contestants, some of them winners of the contest, covering some of the most notable winners over the years. Fancy hearing the eternally youthful Alexander Rybak sing Sir Cliff's Congratulations? Verka Serduchka doing Puppet On A String? Goth-metallists Lordi performing Save All Your Kisses For Me? Ruslana belting Euphoria? Or the assembled talents of the aforementioned, together with more recent entrants like Erika Vikman, Kristian Kostov and Miriana Conte on Waterloo? Now's your chance:

Celebration! Eurovision at 70 (Grand Final Interval, Eurovision 2026)

Once the dust had settled after that, and John-John and I had filled all the points in on the spreadsheet, the Top Five scores from the Dolores Delargo Towers Jury were:

#1:

Jonas Lovv - YA YA YA (Norway, Eurovision 2026)

[Click here for the official video]

#2:

Monroe - Regarde! (France, Eurovision 2026)

[Click here for the official video]

#3: Bulgaria [more on that in a mo]

#4:

Akylas - Ferto (Greece, Eurovision 2026)

[Click here for the official video]

#5:

Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen - Liekinheitin (Finland, Eurovision 2026)

[Click here for the official video]

The final, final official results of the combined Eurovision juries and audience scores were a bit different:

Bulgaria has not won the Eurovision Song Contest since making its debut in 2005 - but this was indeed a fabulous performance of a rather good choon, and a well-deserved winner, for a change!

Dara - Bangaranga (Bulgaria, Eurovision 2026)

[Click here for the official video]

It was an utterly faboo evening, disappointments or otherwise!

Same time, same place, next year?

YOU BET!!

Eurovision round-up from the BBC

‘I haven’t had a loo break since 2009!’ The truth about Eurovision – as told by its biggest icons [The Guardian]

¡No quiero verte, vete!

Nooooooooo!

Another lovely break is over and, for the first time in seventeen days, I have to open that bloody laptop and re-enter the ever-delightful world of work.

To add insult to injury, the nasty cold, dank greyness that has held sway the whole time since we returned from holiday is due to break midweek, and we'll have proper warm weather for this time of year, maybe even a heatwave - while I am in the office!

Sigh.

Never mind eh? It is a Tacky Music Monday, and, with memories of Spain fading from our minds almost as quickly as our tans - ¡Dios mío! - have I found a corker from that country, for your delectation, dear reader... Enjoy!

Los Amaya - Vete

Have a good week. I won't!!

Music and passion were always the fashion

Still coming down to earth after our fantabulousa Eurovision Song Contest party last night - I finally got to bed after 4am! - and still reeling from the UK entry's disappointing performance [more on that later, no doubt], there is only one thing that can help me now.

As two weeks of hedonism draw inevitably to a close, and I steel myself for "back-to-work-time" tomorrow - our "house band" has come up with the goods! Again...

Postmodern Jukebox feat. Tatum Langley - Copacabana (Barry Manilow cover)

We love Postmodern Jukebox!

It's Eurovision time!

Yes, indeed - "The Gay World Cup" is upon us...

Let the madness commence!

Meanwhile, in a discotheque in Bosnia-Herzegovina...

It's been a busy old week, dear reader. Despite having the old "post-holiday blues" after a splendid week in Spain, and despite the shit weather, I haven't really stopped! Rearranging the garden, a bit of shopping here, a bit of sorting and tidying the house there, and there's still loads to do - but hey ho! We do indeed have "the party of the year", the "Gay World Cup", our annual Eurovision Song Contest party tomorrow - and a houseful of guests in ridiculous costumes are, as ever, expected.

So, to get the celebrations going, here's an old stalwart - the 2004 entry from Bosnia-Herzegovina, in all its campery.

Thank Disco It's Eurovision Eve Friday!

DEEN - In The Disco

Have a good weekend, peeps, whether you're planning to watch the Euro-madness of the world's longest-running and biggest music event or not...

---

FOOTNOTE:

It seems the Google gnomes are still being bastards, as yesterday's post took seven hours to appear in the Reading List. I think we need to mount a coup...

---

FOOTNOTE UPDATE:

This post was set to publish at 9am this morning. It is now 11pm, and it's still not in the Reading List!! Is this some kind of sabotage effort by the Google gnomes to piss us all off so we end up moving to the (evidently hellish, according to some) world of Wordpress? It reminds me of the dying days of MySpace, all over again.

Sigh.

Of Eric, Grace, Bonnie, Bobby and Alison

Morecambe & Wise and the tribute statue to Eric in his home town Morecambe, after which he took his stage name. [click any pic to embiggen]

It's another snippets post today, dear reader:

• National treasure news: It's the centenary today of one of Britain's most beloved comedians, Eric Morecambe, "the funny half" of the prime-time-TV staples Morecambe and Wise. He was a phenomenon, and their popularity led to an endless stream of top guests, including one soon-to-be-Dame:

Morecambe & Wise - Shirley Bassey:

• Where does time go? news: Over at the superb Bitterness Personified blog, Mr Graham Russell reminds us that we're all getting old - it is 45 years since Grace Jones' magnum opus the album Nightclubbing was released! Gulp.

Grace Jones - I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)

• It's a Heartache news: The legendary Bonnie Tyler is "seriously ill but stable" after undergoing emergency surgery in Portugal, where she has a home. Get well soon, darling!

Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For a Hero

• Ol' Mackie news: It's ninety years since the great swinger Walden Robert Cassotto, better known as Bobby Darin was born!

Bobby Darin - Mack the Knife

• And finally: The utterly faboo Miss Alison Goldfrapp was 60 years old yesterday! Another gulp.

Goldfrapp - Strict Machine

And the weather? Up and down like a whore's drawers again, dear reader - one minute brilliant sunshine, the next black skies, rain and even thunder. Britain, Britain, Britain.