While you were out...

So what did we miss while we were away? A few significant things, it seems...

One of our greatest Patron Saints Miss Elaine Stritch celebrated her 88th birthday on 2nd February. Damn! Should've sent her a postcard from Benalmadena... Here she is giving one of her legendary performances, in this classic Rodgers and Hart number...

Elaine Stritch - To Keep My Love Alive

Other significant birthdays we missed included Zsa Zsa Gabor's 96th on 6th Feb, and dear old Dora Bryan's 90th on 7th. To my knowledge they never performed together...

Dora Bryan - (Why) Because He Loves Me

We bade a sad farewell to Cecil Womack (of Womack & Womack), Peter Gilmore (star of The Onedin Line) and Reg Presley of The Troggs.

Beyoncé flipped her wig at the event that is a complete mystery to anyone outside the US, the Superbowl; and New York Fashion Week was and is abuzz with the reappearance of the shamed John Galliano.

In the real world, the horsemeat-in-burgers "scandal" rumbled on interminably, and researchers found clocking up 20 hours a week of TV time appears to be detrimental to sperm production.



Oh, and of course, the UK celebrated another significant step towards becoming a 21st century country when MPs voted to legalise equal marriage! It has yet to get through the House of Lords, but it is a landmark for gay rights.

The best news of the lot? That came today, while we were still in Essex - the resignation of the Nazi Pope Ratzinger! My innate loathing for the man, and for all he stands for is well-documented. Whether a change at the top will usher in any kind of enlightenment into the Medieval throwback that is the Catholic church is probably something of which we can only dream, but (hopefully) it can only be an improvement on this bigot.

I'd still prefer another week in Spain...