Saxy!

Our Lilium speciosum var. rubrum is looking lovelier than ever this year!

And so, farewell then, the implausibly-named Plas Johnson, who I just discovered has died, a week short of his 95th birthday.

Who?! I hear you ask, dear reader!

OK, he was a saxophonist and session musician who played on records by myriad artists such as B.B. King, Peggy Lee, Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra, Duane Eddy, Ricky Nelson and Bobby Vee...

...but it was for this that he is most well-known [well his playing is, if not his name]!

Theme from The Pink Panther [Henry Mancini]

What a legacy!

Manly-flavoured lollies, anyone?

Ice lolly manufacturers have responded to demand for a product that in no way resembles a cock.

A new lolly, the Ice Block Max, has been developed to meet the needs of male heterosexuals who want to enjoy a lolly without feeling they are basically eating a penis.

The new product is a grey cube on a stick resembling a building material, which tastes of bloody steak for a ‘more manly flavour’ and features a picture of Jason Statham on the wrapper.

A spokesman for manufacturers Walls said: “This lolly is so red-bloodedly male it can practically do 200 pull-ups while grunting ‘Hurr!’

“The unique, perfectly cuboid shape means that it doesn’t have a shaft. Research shows that anything taller than it is wide basically looks like an erection when being sucked.

“Of course we will continue to make the classic phallic lollies – Twister, Calippo, Mini Milk – but sales are likely to fall now men don’t need to look as if they’re well-practised at sucking cock.

“Usually when manufacturers try to make a hyper-masculine product it somehow ends up seeming super-gay. That’s why we’re thrilled to have Jason Statham promoting it.

“He’s straightness personified, especially the way he wrestles that other guy in 'The Transporter' in a big pool of oil, with his shirt off.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

And I've learned to give the well-known witches' curse

Aaaargh! (again)

The eternal conundrum continues to baffle us - why do weekends fly by so damned quickly, yet the working weeks drag so tortuously?

Yet again, we're in need of a bit of a wake-up call.

How fortuitous then, that yesterday happened to be the 86th birthday of one Florencia Bisenta de Casillas-Martinez Cardona, better known as one of our fave divas here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Señorita Vikki Carr!

On this Tacky Music Monday, I think it's appropriate to revisit an old fave of hers that I have featured several times before. Simply because I adore this uber-camp Scopitone clip..!

Vikki Carr - Everything I've Got

Many happy returns, Vikki Carr (born 19th July 1940)

Have a good week, dear reader.

He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy

Happy 50th birthday, Benedict Cumberbatch! As I have said before: Magic's come a long way since the days of Tommy Cooper and Paul Daniels...

It's a verrry slow day again today, dear reader. After a mammoth telly-and-film binge (mainly Marvel stuff) at John-John's yesterday [we started at 1pm, and I got home in a taxi at 1am], I didn't even surface today until about 2 o'clock!

At least it's not as searingly hot as it has been of late, so it's quite pleasant to sit out in, and I might, if I feel arsed to, do some pottering in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers.

Meanwhile, some suitable "Sunday music" from our house band is in order, methinks. [The original version of this was used as the theme tune to Peaky Blinders apparently; I wouldn't know, I have never watched it.] .

Postmodern Jukebox feat. Katerina Lomis - Red Right Hand (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds jazz cover)

On a gathering storm comes a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with a red right hand

He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul
But there won't be a single thing that you can do

Those lyrics bring back memories of cruising grounds of old...

Don't believe me, just watch

I'm off to John-John's today for another "marathon Marvel geek-fest", catching up on bits of the MCU I haven't seen yet, like Wonder Man [above].

Here's something appropriate for the occasion, methinks!

Marvel Uptown Funk

Love it.

Queen of the Night aria?

Gratuitous - but obligatory - Coq Galoise

And so we have crawled, tortuously, to the end of another thrilling working week...

...but in all the - ahem - excitement, I quite forgot that on Tuesday, our leetle Froggy chums were enjoying their biggest day of celebration, Le Quatorze Juillet (or, as it is better known here, Bastille Day)!

To make up for it, who better to start the weekend party celebrations than one of our revered, dearly departed, Gallic Patron Saints, Régine?

Vive le disco, c'est vendredi!

Régine - Reine de la Nuit

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

Nah, Luton Airport!

You know you're getting old when...

...you discover that "Cockney Sparrow" Lorraine Chase is 75 years old today!

She may have been a quiz show regular, she may have been in the soap Emmerdale - but it is for this she will forever be remembered by us Brits:

Campari commercial with Lorraine Chase, 1976

[NB She shares her birthday with a raft of fellow celebrants, including Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck, Angharad Rees, Sir Joshua Reynolds, John Chilton, Desmond Dekker, Roald Amundsen, Big Breakfast alumnus Johnny Vaughan (who is 60), Corin Redgrave, Michael Flatley, Denise LaSalle, Stewart Copeland of The Police, Frank Field, Will Ferrell, Corey Feldman, and "Lady Edith" in Downton Abbey Laura Carmichael (who is 40). Many happy returns, all!]