It's The Way That You Do It

Sharing the date with a whole raft of fellow celebrants, including Dame Penelope Keith, Sir Alec Guinness, Marvin Gaye, Émile Zola, Hans Christian Andersen, Casanova, Linford Christie, Serge Gainsbourg, Paul Gambaccini, Emmylou Harris, Pedro Pascal, Buddy Ebsen, Sue Townsend, Max Ernst, George MacDonald Fraser, Teddy Sheringham, William Holman Hunt, Michael Fassbender, Camille Paglia, Brian Glover, Kenneth Tynan and - erm - Dr. Demento...

...it is the (gulp!) 65th birthday today of the lovely Miss Keren Woodward, founding member of house faves Bananarama!

No further excuse needed for a dose of cheer from the ladies themselves:

Bananarama - I Want You Back

Fun Boy Three and Bananarama - It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)

Bananarama - Look On The Floor (Hypnotic Tango)

[Yes. It is a tribute to another great "house favourite" here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Hypnotic Tango by My Mine...]

Bananarama - Love In The First Degree

As it is a foreshortened week thanks to Easter, perhaps I should be saying Thank Disco It's Thursday(?)!!

Have a great extended weekend, dear reader!

Fools!

From Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service this morning:

At 01:04 this morning, Beacon Hill in Charnwood, which has lain peacefully dormant for countless millennia, suddenly and unexpectedly erupted, sending millions of tonnes of super-heated rock, ash and magma into Earth's atmosphere.

Please avoid the area.

A cursory glance at the calendar, on receiving such news, would have alerted you to the fact - it's April Fools' Day again! Here are some of the choicest pranks:

Don't like the jam in Jammie Dodgers? Try the "middles"...

Apparently most people log in to play the National Lottery while on the loo - and Tombola has announced a themed toilet seat...

Oh, yummy - how about IKEA's new meatball-flavoured lollipop..?

Whovians of the world head to Iceland! - their new "Darlic Bread" is apparently in stores now...

Ever wondered what those sneaky sheep are saying behind your back? Herdy Homewares has an app for that...

Chocolate-covered Babybel, anyone?

There were loads more, of course, including a Scottish Mountain Rescue search and rescue cat, Robert Gordon University's "therapy capybara", Asda's adult-sized shopping trolley seats and the announcement of the "first female James Bond"...

...and then there's this:

All very clever. Did anyone fall for any of them?

Of banana excess, Viv up North, chocolate theft, "Hello Campers!", a Macca media mishap, Totty of the Day and surrealism

RIP the utterly surreal cartoonist Glen Baxter (4th March 1944 – 29th March 2026)

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Yes! We have no bananas news: Tesco in Kirkwall, Orkney, is giving away boxes of bananas for free after mistakenly ordering 38,000 of the things - apparently equivalent to two per person living on the island! They had, it seems, intended to order 380kg (750lb) of the fruit. However, a mistake meant that 380 wholesale boxes arrived at the weekend instead.
• Fashion maven news: A new landmark exhibition dedicated to one of the most off-beat fashion pioneers the late Dame Vivienne Westwood opened last weekend - featuring dozens of items from the personal collection of a Lancashire chemistry teacher(!), as well as items on loan from other museums across the country. I was getting excited when I read about it, but then realised that it's actually on at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, County Durham! I'm not likely to be travelling 262 miles just to see it. Let's hope it arrives in London some time in the future...
• Easter, ruined? news: The theft of a shipment of 12 tonnes of the eternally popular Nestle KitKat chocolate bars somewhere en route between Italy and Poland has led to warnings that there might be a shortage - just in time for the "peak chocolate season", Easter. I imagine Cadbury's is rubbing its hands with glee...

• British holidays nostalgia news: To celebrate 90 years in operation, the pioneering holiday-camp company Butlins [the inspiration for the comedy series Hi-de-Hi, of course] has commissioned a bejewelled version of its iconic "redcoat" (as worn by the camp hosts) to mark the occasion in style. The "Rhinestone Redcoat" [designed by The Masked Singer costume designer Tim Simpson] is being auctioned now to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital charity. I could be a "camp host" in that...
• Old people and social media news: The venerable and venerated Sir Paul McCartney found himself banned from Reddit for sharing photos of his own concert! Apparently attendees at the Fonda Theatre in LA were instructed to deposit the mobile phones before the show, and this was intended to be his way of rewarding them with official pics taken by his team. Oops...
• And finally: Happy 55th birthday today to "sex god" Ewan McGregor!

And the weather? Blustery, showery - but warming up. Typical Spring.

---

PS - more Glen Baxter:
[click any pic to embiggen]

Loved his work!

Nessuno, ti giuro, nessuno!

Oh dear. It's that time again. Having lost an hour on the weekend thanks to the clocks going forward, it feels even worse this morning trying to adjust to the alarm going off again...

Never mind, eh? Another recent birthday [she's 86 - gulp!] we missed was that of the utterly magnificent Mina, our "Patron Saint of Screamers" [several of whose biggest hits were translated into English and became hits for other singers, including our very own Shirley Bassey's Never, Never, Never] - so what better way to wake us up on a Tacky Music Monday than this faboo number?

Mina - Nessuno

Oh those groovy hepcats!

Have a good week, dear reader.

You make me feel like I am home again

"Peel me a grape, my dear..."

If this is British Summer Time, it's not got off to a good start. It's grey and miserable out there, with a constant threat of rain.

Needless to say, not a day for the garden. It's more a day of light pottering about in the house (I've hung a few more pictures), listening to Radio 2 - and this! Our "house band" here at Dolores Delargo Towers, paying tribute to that "Goth national treasure" Robert Smith - brilliantly, of course:

Postmodern Jukebox feat. Emma Smith - Lovesong [The Cure 1940s Big Band style cover]

Ah, that's better.

We love Postmodern Jukebox!

I'm breaking *

Our Cymbidium orchid is spectacular again this year!

I had a flurry of activity this afternoon in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers! It was lovely and sunny, despite the really chilly wind, and I spent a few hours systematically pruning back all our fuchsias, as well as salvias and ferns that hadn't already been tackled. Knackering, it may have been - but it's all getting ready for the summer to come [and, indeed, our clocks go forward tonight and British Summer Time begins tomorrow]!

Meanwhile, on a day of birthdays that include Sir Dirk Bogarde, Sir Michael Parkinson, Dame Flora Robson, Mike Newell, Maxim Gorky, Lord Neil Kinnock, Vince Vaughn, Reba McEntire, Sir Richard Eyre and - ahem - Lady-fucking-GaGa...

...today marks 460 years since the foundation of the fabled walled city of Valletta, capital of "plucky little" Malta!

To mark the occasion, how about their surprisingly faboo Eurovision entry from back in 2021?

Destiny - Je me casse

She's obviously a Lizzo fan.

[Je me casse - "I'm breaking" in French]

Hungover?

Wheeee!

Whew! Nearly there...

Despite the fact the weather is not looking particularly promising for the weekend, it is still a weekend - and time to party!

We happened to miss the birthday yesterday of our "Patron Saint of Hogging-the Spotlight-in-Sparkly-Gowns", Miss Diana Ross, so who better to lead the celebrations - in the company of a troupe of very odd [some slightly phallic, I thought] creatures, indeed? Thank Disco It's Friday!

Diana Ross - Love Hangover [The Muppet Show]

Have a great one, folks!