Another weekend beckons provocatively... It's predicted to be the hottest day of the year so far here in London, and the forecast's good for the next few days, too! Wow. Spring's really spoiling us.
Cue the party-planning - and to kick off the celebrations in a most appropriate manner, here's something very sunshiny indeed!
Thank Disco(?) It's Friday!
Have a great one, dear reader!
Heavens! Miss Lesley Garrett, the "Diva from Doncaster" - the first modern opera diva to do "the crossover", landing her own BBC television show in the late 80s in which she gave the audience a potted history of certain pieces of classical music, then sang them, alongside myriad special guests as diverse as Elaine Paige, Renee Fleming, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Marti Pellow, Michel Legrand, Alison Moyet, Michael Ball, Maxim Vengerov and Ian Bostridge - blows out 70 candles on her cake today!
Gifted with a natural Yorkshire "down-to-earth" manner as well as a beautiful vocal tone, Miss Garrett is rightly regarded as a "national treasure", and lauded for her place in taking opera to the masses (a trend that has continued ever since with the likes of Katherine Jenkins and Russell Watson, and of course Classic FM today).
Here are some clips of the lady herself, firstly with two very special guests...
Before she discovered grooming, here she holds her own alongside mezzo-soprano Ann Murray singing the traditional Rule Britannia at the Last Night of the Proms in 1990:
Happy Birthday, pet!
Lesley Garrett (born 10th April 1955)
All rides at UK Universal theme park to be Carry On themed
Every single ride at the UK’s Universal theme park will be based on bawdy films laced with tortuous double entendres, it has emerged.
Construction plans for Europe’s first Universal theme park have revealed that the site in Bedford will be predominantly dedicated to rides based on saucy comedy movies shown on ITV2 every Bank Holiday weekend.
A Universal spokesperson said: “This park will be a celebration of the best of British filmmaking. And it doesn’t get any better than Barbara Windsor’s bra pinging off with a silly sound effect.
“Visitors can look forward to drop towers that descend to the tune of a suggestive slide whistle, and bumper cars that go ‘Ooh, don’t mind if I do’ in Kenneth Williams’ camp, reedy voice when they slam into each other.
“To create a truly immersive experience, every ride will be staffed by frumpy matrons and saucy nurses, and mascots will patrol the grounds dressed as Sid James to meet and greet the crowds. It promises to be a magical, unforgettable day out.
“If it’s a success then there’s always scope to expand. We’re already thinking of opening resorts based on other British franchises like Gonks Go Beat and On The Buses.”
Tom Booker from Croydon said: “I was hoping for punishingly bleak attractions inspired by Threads or A Taste of Honey, but I suppose this’ll have to do.”
Of course.
Another snippets post today, dear reader:
Class.
And the weather? Sunny, sunny, sunny! Hoorah!
Bah! Monday again...
Never mind, eh?
Among another cornucopia of fellow celebrants, that include William Wordsworth (his 255th, indeed), Billie Holiday, Sir David Frost, Janis Ian, Russell Crowe, Yves Rocher, Ravi Shankar, James Garner, Ian Richardson, Andrew Sachs, Gorden Kaye, Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk, Jackie Chan, Wayne "Trapper John" Rogers, John Oates of Hall & Oates, Gerry Cottle, Francis Ford Coppola, Duncan James of Blue and - erm - Ole Kirk Christiansen, founder of Lego, it would have been the birthday today of that ultimate master of easy-listening music, Mr Percy Faith!
Utterly perfect to cheer us up on this Tacky Music Monday, here's his orchestra's version of a choon originally written by Neil Diamond, with a most bizarrely-choreographed dance routine, to boot!
Have a good one, dear reader.
Another busy weekend in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers comes to a close - yesterday I demolished two rusty sets of garden shelves and erected a new pair [that Madam Arcati had ordered] in their place, and pottered about pruning and prepping the myriad little pots that will sit on them. Today, while the Madam continued the arduous task of clearing winter clag from under and around plant stands and tidying the rest of the shelving, I almost completed the process of digging out and splitting up the biggest of our herbaceous pots - and the last of the phlox is done [just some pots of Salvias to go, but they're not so urgent]! Almost ready for summer...
Meanwhile, speaking of "sunshiny things", sad news reaches our ears that Amadou - one half of house favourites here, the blind Malian husband-and-wife due Amadou and Mariam [who ascended from their roots in Africa to become huge in France, they went on to support the likes of Scissor Sisters, Coldplay and U2 on tour, and appeared at Glastonbury Festival] - has departed for the "L'Afrique C'est Chic" stage in Fabulon.
Here's my ultimate fave from their back catalogue, by way of a tribute:
Joyous!
