Saturday 31 December 2022

Pay attention to the things that I said


We've hired him to make up the numbers...

Despite the fact that four out of our five guests for New Year's eve have phoned in sick, we'll still have a party to see off another benighted year, come hell or high water!

I've given up on doing what used to be a traditional round-up of the year [suffice to say, we have happy memories of our two(!) trips to Spain, of Gay Pride and of Amsterdam, and a few other faboo events dotted here and there] - Mr DeVice has done such a great job that I don't really need to.

I'm not even going to do a run-down of the year in music, yah boo shucks. However, if there could be such a thing as the "Song of the Year", it would be this...

Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR, dear reader!!!!!

RIP, 2022

'Tis almost the close of another not-so-fucking-great-after-all year, and, ahead of our "gathering of the clans" at Dolores Delargo Towers to tell 2022 to stick it up its arse and to welcome in 2023 - which will be a momentous year for birthdays and anniversaries (if nothing else) - it's time for one last sorrowful duty.

Let's open "The Book of the Dead 2022", an inevitably selective list of the great and the good (and the not-so-good) who departed these shores this year, some for Fabulon, a few for somewhere (ahem!) hotter.

It's quite a list...

Claude Taittinger (French businessman, director of Taittinger Champagne company)
Lawrence Brooks (US supercentenarian (112), nation's oldest living man and oldest WWII veteran)
Peter Bogdanovich (US film director, The Last Picture Show, What's Up, Doc?, Paper Moon)
Sidney Poitier (Bahamian-born US actor, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Porgy and Bess, director and legend)
Jack Dromey (British politician, spouse of Harriet Harman MP)
R. Dean Taylor (Canadian singer-songwriter Indiana Wants Me, There's a Ghost in My House)
Marilyn Bergman (US songwriter (with husband Alan), The Way We Were, The Windmills of Your Mind, You Don't Bring Me Flowers)
Maria Ewing (US opera singer and icon)
Nicholas Donnelly (British actor, "Mr MacKenzie" in Grange Hill)
Margherita, Archduchess of Austria-Este (Italian aristocrat)
Gary Waldhorn (British character actor, Vicar of Dibley, Brush Strokes, Lovejoy)
Stephen Churchett (British character actor, The Brittas Empire, Agatha Christie's Marple; screenwriter, Monsignor Renard, Lewis)
Ronnie Spector (US singer, The Ronettes, Be My Baby, Baby I Love You, Walking in the Rain, and legend)
Rosa Lee Hawkins (US singer, The Dixie Cups)
Leon Lissek (Australian-born British actor, The Sullivans, Time Bandits, "Bruno di Marco" in EastEnders)
Sonny Turner (US singer, The Platters)
Lord John Sainsbury (British businessman and politician, former chairman of Sainsbury's supermarkets)
Peter Seabrook (British gardening writer and television broadcaster, Gardeners World, Pebble Mill at One)
Nino Cerruti (Italian haute couture stylist, founder of Cerruti 1881)
Jon Lind (US songwriter, Save the Best for Last for Vanessa Williams, Crazy for You for Madonna)
André Leon Talley (US fahionista and fashion journalist, creative director and editor-at-large of Vogue)
Yvette Mimieux (US actress, The Time Machine, The Black Hole)
Hardy Krüger (German actor, A Bridge Too Far, The Wild Geese)
Meat Loaf (US singer, Bat Out of Hell, I'd Do Anything for Love; actor, The Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Elza Soares (Brazilian singer)
Robin Sarstedt (British singer, My Resistance Is Low)
Beegie Adair (US jazz pianist)
Thierry Mugler (French fashion designer)
Wyn Calvin (British (Welsh) comedian, entertainer and pantomime Dame)
Barry Cryer (British comedian and scriptwriter, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, The Two Ronnies, Doctor in the House; national treasure)
Sir Crispin Tickell (British environmentalist and diplomat, United Nations)
Leonard Fenton (British actor, "Doctor Legg" in EastEnders)
Andy Devine (British character actor, Emmerdale, Queer as Folk)
Jo Kendall (British actress and comedienne, I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, Emmerdale)
James Bidgood (US filmmaker and homoerotic photographic artist, Pink Narcissus)
Monica Vitti (Italian actress, Modesty Blaise, L'Avventura)
Antonio Miró (Spanish fashion designer)
Lata Mangeshkar (Indian Bollywood playback singer, voice on over 30,000 songs over seven decades)
Douglas Trumbull (US cinematic visual effects artist, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner)
Bamber Gascoigne (British television presenter, University Challenge, author and national treasure)
Luc Montagnier (French virologist, pioneer in HIV/AIDS research, Nobel Prize laureate)
Joseph Horovitz (Austrian-British composer, theme for Rumpole of the Bailey, Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo)
Betty Davis (US funk and soul singer, former lover of Hugh Masekela, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Robert Palmer)
Ian McDonald (British multi-instrumentalist musician, founder member of both King Crimson and Foreigner)
Beryl Vertue (British talent agent, Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, Galton and Simpson, Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd), television producer, Men Behaving Badly, Sherlock)

PJ O'Rourke (US satirist, humorist and journalist, National Lampoon, Rolling Stone, and author, Parliament of Whores)
Jack Smethurst (British comedian and sitcom actor, Love Thy Neighbour)
Brad Johnson (US actor and model, "Marlboro Man")
Gary Brooker (British musician, vocalist and founder member of Procol Harum)
Richard Shepherd (British politician, MP who had the Tory whip withdrawn as a "Maastricht Rebel", aka one of John Major's "bastards")
Stewart Bevan (British actor, To Sir With Love, Doctor Who, former fiancé of Katy Manning)
Sami Clark (Lebanese singer)
Anna Karen (British character actress and "national treasure", "Olive" in On the Buses, "Aunt Sal" in EastEnders)
Sally Kellerman (US actress, M*A*S*H (the film), The Big Bus, Prêt-à-Porter)
Nick Tesco (British punk vocalist, founder member and lead singer of the Members, The Sound of the Suburbs)
Hugh O’Shaughnessy (British journalist, foreign correspondent for The Observer)
Bob Wellings (British television presenter and journalist, Nationwide)
Alan Ladd Jr. (US film magnate, president of 20th Century Fox who approved the production of Star Wars; film producer, Braveheart, Moonstruck, Thelma & Louise)
Tony Walton (British set and costume designer, All That Jazz, Murder on the Orient Express)
Shane Warne (Australian world champion cricketer)
Lynda Baron (British actress, "Nurse Gladys Emmanuel" in Open All Hours)
Jeremy Child (British character actor, Jewel In The Crown, Fairly Secret Army, Minder, and noble (Baronet Child of Bromley Place))
Ron Pember (British character actor, Only Fools and Horses, Victoria Wood, The Two Ronnies)
Timmy Thomas (US singer-songwriter, Why Can't We Live Together)
William Hurt (US actor, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Body Heat, Children of a Lesser God)
Micaela, Countess of Paris (Chilean-Spanish aristocrat)
Steve Wilhite (US computer scientist, inventor of the GIF)
Peter Bowles (British actor, To the Manor Born, The Bounder, Rumpole of the Bailey; national treasure)
George Montague (British gay rights activist, "The Oldest Gay in the Village" regular at Brighton Pride)
Alan Hopgood (Australian character actor, "Wally Wallace" in Prisoner Cell Block H)
Madeleine Albright (US politician, former Secretary of State and ambassador to the United Nations)
Denise Coffey (British comedian and actress, "Mrs Black (and 'er 'orrible 'andbag)" in Do Not Adjust Your Set, The Stanley Baxter Show, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End)
Taylor Hawkins (US drummer, Foo Fighters)
Jennifer Wilson (British actress, The Brothers)
Tom Parker (British pop singer, The Wanted)
Patrick Demarchelier (French fashion photographer, portraitist of Princess Diana)
C. W. McCall (US country singer, Convoy)
Estelle Harris (US character actress, Seinfeld, voice artist, Toy Story series)
June Brown (British actress, "Dot Cotton" in EastEnders, "Nanny Slagg" in Gormenghast; legend and national treasure)
Derrick Goodwin (British screenwriter and director, Within These Walls, Z Cars, Mixed Blessings)
Pamela Rooke aka Jordan (British punk, model and actress, Derek Jarman's Jubilee)
Bobby Rydell (US rock'n'roll singer, Wild One; actor, Bye Bye Birdie)
Dame Jill Knight (British politician, homophobe, proponent of Clause 28)
David McKee (British children's illustrator, creator of the animation series Mr Benn)
Con Cluskey (Irish vocalist, founder member and lead singer of The Bachelors)
Jack Higgins (British best-selling author, The Eagle Has Landed)
Liz Sheridan (US character actress, ALF, Seinfeld)
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (British modernist composer)
Gavin Millar (British (Scottish) film director, critic and BBC television presenter, Arena)
Robert Morse (US actor, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Mad Men)
Eric Chappell (British television comedy writer, Rising Damp, Only When I Laugh, Duty Free, Home to Roost)

Cynthia Albritton aka Cynthia Plaster Caster (US artist and "super-groupie", created casts of the penises of all her rock star lovers)
Renate Holm (German-Austrian operatic soprano, Vienna State Opera)
Susan Jacks (Canadian singer-songwriter, The Poppy Family)
David Birney (US actor, Serpico, St. Elsewhere)
Neal Adams (US comic book artist, Uncanny X-Men, The Avengers for Marvel, Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Batman for DC)
Régine Zylberberg (Belgian-born French singer, nightclub owner, gay icon and legend)
James Anderton (British chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, homophobic commentator on the AIDS crisis)
George Pérez (US comic book artist and writer, Inhumans, Fantastic Four, Avengers "Korvac saga" for Marvel, Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths for DC)
Robin Parkinson (British character actor, Allo, Allo, Rising Damp, Kenny Everett Television Show)
Dennis Waterman (British actor, Minder, The Sweeney, New Tricks, singer, I Could Be So Good For You)
Norman Dolph (US music producer, The Velvet Underground, songwriter, Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me))
Teresa Berganza (Spanish mezzo-soprano)
Kay Mellor (British television writer, Coronation Street, Brookside, Band of Gold, Fat Friends)
Vangelis (Greek electronic pioneering musician and film composer, Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner)
Anne Howells (British operatic mezzo-soprano)
Bob Neuwirth (US singer-songwriter, Mercedes Benz for Joni Mitchell)
Colin Cantwell (US film concept artist and designer, Star Wars "Death Star" and "X-Wing fighter")
Andy Fletcher (British musician, keyboardist and founder-member of Depeche Mode)
Ray Liotta (US actor, Goodfellas, Something Wild, Field of Dreams)
Alan White (British drummer, long-serving member of Yes)
Patricia Brake (British character actress, Porridge/Going Straight, Eldorado, Coronation Street)
Lester Piggott (British jockey, nine-time Epsom Derby winner)
Paul Vance (US songwriter, Catch a Falling Star, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini)
May Routh (British-US costume designer, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Being There, Splash!)
Joyce Burditt (US television writer and producer, Father Dowling Investigates, Perry Mason, created Diagnosis: Murder)
Hal Bynum (US songwriter, Lucille for Kenny Rogers)
Sir David Nicholas (British journalist, news editor and producer, former chief executive of Independent Television News (ITN) and director of Channel 4)
Jean Varon (British "Swinging 60s" fashion designer, possible inventor of the mini-skirt, costumier for Diana Rigg as "Emma Peel" in The Avengers)
Jim Seals (US musician and songwriter, Summer Breeze, hit for The Isley Brothers)
"Monsignor" Bruce Kent (British priest, former chair and secretary-general of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND))
Julee Cruise (US singer, Falling (the theme from Twin Peaks))
Meg Wynn Owen (British actress, Love Actually, "Hazel Bellamy" in Upstairs Downstairs)
Matt Zimmerman (Canadian-British actor, voice of "Alan Tracy" in Thunderbirds)
Terry Sanderson (British secularist, former president of the National Secular Society, gay rights activist, Campaign for Homosexual Equality, and author, How to be a Happy Homosexual)
Patrick Adams (US music arranger and record producer, Musique, Jocelyn Brown, Loleatta Holloway)
Jimmy Bryant (US playback singer, the voice of Richard Beymer's "Tony" in West Side Story and James Fox in Thoroughly Modern Millie)
Frank Williams (British actor, "Reverend Timothy Starling" in Dad's Army)
Peter Brook (British theatre producer-director, Royal Shakespeare Company, film director, Lord of the Flies, Marat/Sade)
Brian Jackson (British character actor, "The Man from Del Monte" in the advert for fruit juice)
Alan Blaikley (British songwriter and composer, Have I the Right?, The Legend of Xanadu, themes for The Flame Trees of Thika and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple)
Mona Hammond (Jamaican-British actress, "Blossom Jackson" in EastEnders)
Robert Hoffmann (Austrian actor, The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe)
Manny Charlton (British (Scottish) rock guitarist, founder member of Nazareth)
James Caan (US actor, The Godfather, Misery, For The Boys)
Michael Barratt (British journalist and television presenter, Nationwide; national treasure)

Monty Norman (British composer, James Bond theme)
Chris Stuart (British journalist, radio presenter, BBC Radio Wales, executive producer, BBC Two quiz show Only Connect)
Ivana Trump (Czech-American businesswoman, author, model and socialite, former wife of Donald)
Paul Ryder (British bass player, founding member of the Happy Mondays)
Dee Hock (US businessman, founder of bank card company Visa)
Enam Ali (Bangladeshi-born British businessman, founder of The British Curry Awards)
Rebecca Balding (US actress, "Carol David", mother of "Jodie Dallas"'s child in Soap)
Alan Grant (British comic book writer, Judge Dredd, Batman)
David Warner (British actor, The Omen, Tron, Time After Time, Titanic)
Paul Sorvino (US actor, Goodfellas, Nixon, Law & Order)
David Trimble, Baron Trimble (British (Northern Irish) statesman, former first minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the Good Friday Agreement)
Bernard Cribbins (British actor, The Railway Children, Carry On films, Fawlty Towers, Doctor Who, voice of The Wombles, singer, Right Said Fred; national treasure)
Burt Metcalfe (US actor, writer, director and producer, M*A*S*H)
Sir Christopher Meyer (British diplomat, former Downing Street press secretary and ambassador to the United States)
Tom Springfield (British musician, The Springfields), songwriter, I'll Never Find Another You, Georgy Girl)
Michael Redfern (British character actor, The Two Ronnies and many other comedy series, "Dad" in the "OXO family" in the long-running series of adverts)
Pat Carroll (US actress, voice of "Ursula the Sea Witch" in The Little Mermaid)
Nichelle Nichols (US actress and legend, "Lieutenant Uhura" in Star Trek)
Fidel Ramos, (Filipino military officer and statesman, pivotal in the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, former president)
Alastair Little (British restaurateur, influential chef and cookery writer)
Judith Durham (Australian singer, The Seekers)
Issey Miyake (Japanese fashion designer and perfumier, L'eau d'Issey)
Torgny Söderberg (Swedish songwriter, Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley [winning song at the Eurovison Song Contest 1984])
Carlo Bonomi (Italian clown and voice actor, Pingu)
Lamont Dozier (US record producer, Holland–Dozier–Holland, and songwriter, You Can't Hurry Love, Nowhere to Run, Standing in the Shadows of Love and dozens more)
Dame Olivia Newton-John (British-Australian singer, Take Me Home Country Roads, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Physical, actress, Grease, Xanadu)
Raymond Briggs (British children's writer and illustrator, The Snowman, Fungus the Bogeyman)
Nicholas Evans (British best-selling author, The Horse Whisperer)
Sir Ralph Halpern (British fashion industry executive, founder of Topshop)
Darius Danesh (British singer, Colourblind, talent show contestant, Popstars, Pop Idol, musical theatre actor, Chicago)
Anne Heche (US actress, Donnie Brasco, the remake of Psycho; former partner of Ellen DeGeneres)
Pauline Stroud (British actress, Lady Godiva Rides Again)
Wolfgang Petersen (German film director, Das Boot, The NeverEnding Story, Troy)
Duggie Brown (British stand-up comic, The Comedians, The Good Old Days, and character actor)
Tony Hunt (British structural engineer, the biodomes of the Eden Project in Cornwall)
Bruce Montague (British actor, "Leonard" in Butterflies)
Robert Kime (British interior designer to Prince Charles and the nobility)
Josephine Tewson (British actress, "Elizabeth" in Keeping Up Appearances, "Miss Davenport" in Last of the Summer Wine)
Jerry Allison (US drummer, The Crickets, and songwriter, That'll Be the Day, Peggy Sue)
Inez Foxx (US singer (with brother Charlie), Mockingbird)
Mikhail Gorbachev (Russian statesman, last general secretary of the Communist Party, former president who oversaw the break-up of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc)
Bill Turnbull (British journalist and presenter, BBC Breakfast; national treasure)
Charles Wilson (British journalist and editor, the Times, managing director, the Mirror group)
Drummie Zeb (English reggae musician, lead singer of Aswad)
John McVicar (British robber and writer, subject of a biopic starring Roger Daltrey)
Marsha Hunt (US actress of the Hollywood "Golden Age"; centenarian)


HM Queen Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, Queen of Scots, Duke of Lancaster, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, Royal Lady and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Sovereign of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India, Dame Grand Cross and Sovereign Head of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, Lady of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order, Sovereign of the Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Sovereign of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Sovereign of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order, Colonel-in-Chief of the UK's armed forces.


Mavis Nicholson (British (Welsh) writer and broadcaster, After Noon, Mavis on 4)
Gwyneth Powell (British actress, "Mrs McClusky" in Grange Hill)
Harry Landis (British actor, "Felix" in EastEnders)
Ramsey Lewis (US jazz pianist, The 'In' Crowd, Wade in the Water)
Jean-Luc Godard (French-Swiss film director, Breathless, Bande à part)
Irene Papas (Greek actress, Zorba the Greek, The Guns of Navarone)
Eddie Butler (British (Welsh) rugby union player, British & Irish Lions, Barbarians, national team, commentator and journalist)
Cherry Valentine (British drag queen, RuPaul's Drag Race UK)
Stu Allan (British dance music DJ and producer, Clock, Whoomph! (There It Is), Keep the Fires Burning)
Dame Hilary Mantel (British author and Booker prize-winner, Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies)
Robert Marlow (British synth-pop singer (and friend of Vince Clarke), The Face of Dorian Gray)
Louise Fletcher (US actress, "Nurse Ratched" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
Coolio (US vocalist and rapper, Gangsta's Paradise)
Raymond Allen (British television screenwriter, creator of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em)
Eamonn McCabe (British photographer)
Loretta Lynn (US country music singer-songwriter, Coal Miner's Daughter)
Peter Robinson (British-Canadian crime writer, DCI Banks novels)
Lenny Lipton (US poet and lyricist, Puff, the Magic Dragon)
Ivy Jo Hunter (US songwriter, Motown, Behind a Painted Smile, Dancing in the Street)
Judy Tenuta (US comedian, actress and comedy musician)
Gabrielle Beaumont (British television director, Hill Street Blues, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Dynasty)
Kenny Clayton (British record producer and arranger, Petula Clark, Matt Monro, Cilla Black)
Dame Angela Lansbury (British-US actress, The Manchurian Candidate, Death On The Nile, Murder She Wrote, five-time Tony winner, singer; legend)
Joyce Sims (US singer-songwriter, Come Into My Life)
Robbie Coltrane (British (Scottish) actor and comedian, Cracker, Tutti Frutti, Harry Potter, Blackadder; national treasure)
Noel Duggan (Irish musician, founder member of Clannad)
Libor Pešek (Czech conductor, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic)
Leslie Jordan (US comedian, writer, raconteur and actor, Will & Grace, Sordid Lives; gay icon)
Julie Powell (US blogger and author, subject of the film Julie & Julia)
Joyce Molyneux (British chef and Michelin-star-winning restaurateur, The Carved Angel in Dartmouth, Devon)
Jerry Lee Lewis (US pioneering rock'n'roll singer, Great Balls of Fire, Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On)
Peter de Savary (British business tycoon and property developer, once owned both Land's End and John o' Groats)
Kevin O'Neill (British comic book illustrator, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
David Davis (US television producer and writer, co-creator of The Bob Newhart Show and Taxi)
Ron Peck (British gay film producer, Nighthawks)
Nicole Josy (Belgian singer, "Nicole & Hugo", Eurovision Song Contest 1973)
Aaron Carter (US teen heartthrob singer, Crush on You)
Carmelo La Bionda (Italian musician and songwriter, La Bionda, One for You, One for Me)
Bill Treacher (British actor, "Arthur Fowler" in EastEnders)
Michael Butler (US theatre producer, Hair)
Leslie Phillips (British actor, Carry On films, Doctor films, The Navy Lark, national treasure)
Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (British financier and philanthropist, former chairman of The Economist, one-time financial adviser to HM The Queen)
Pierre Kartner (Dutch musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, "Father Abraham" of The Smurfs)
Tom Owen (British actor and son of "Compo" Bill Owen, Last of the Summer Wine)
Dan McCafferty (British (Scottish) co-founder and lead singer of Nazareth)

Gal Costa (Brazilian singer, bossa nova and tropicalia)
Carlos Pacheco (Spanish comics artist, Avengers Forever, X-Men: Legacy, Fantastic Four)
Garry Roberts (Irish guitarist, founder member of The Boomtown Rats)
Nik Turner (British saxophonist, flautist and vocalist, Hawkwind)
Keith Levene (British guitarist, founder member of both The Clash and Public Image Ltd)
Rab Noakes (British (Scottish) singer and guitarist, founder member of Stealers Wheel, touring member of Lindisfarne)
David English (British charity fundraiser, cricketer, actor, writer and former president of RSO Records who signed the Bee Gees and Eric Clapton)
Nick Fisher (British television scriptwriter, journalist and angler, collaborator with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on The River Cottage Fish Book)
Joyce Bryant (US singer, dancer and civil rights activist)
Gray Frederickson (US film producer, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)
Wilko Johnson (British guitarist, founder member of Dr. Feelgood)
Dame Frances Campbell-Preston (British courtier and centenarian, former lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother)
Richard Shepherd (British Michelin-star-winning chef and restaurateur, Langan's Brasserie)
Irene Cara (US singer and actress, Fame, Flashdance)
Sheila Vogel-Coupe (British sex-worker, oldest prostitute in the UK)
Louise Tobin (US singer with the Benny Goodman Band, I Didn’t Know What Time it Was, There’ll Be Some Changes Made, encouraged former husband Harry James to sign the young Frank Sinatra; centenarian)
Doddie Weir (British (Scottish) rugby union player, Scotland national team)
Derek Granger (British film and television producer, Brideshead Revisited, A Handful of Dust,; centenarian)
Jiang Zemin (Chinese statesman, former general secretary of the Communist Party and president)
Christine McVie (British musician, singer and songwriter, Fleetwood Mac, Don't Stop, Everywhere, Songbird)
Al Strobel (US actor, "Mike, the one-armed man" in Twin Peaks)
Bob McGrath (US actor and singer, original and long-serving member of the cast of Sesame Street)
Kirstie Alley (US actress, "Rebecca" in Cheers)
Antonio D'Amico (Italian fashion designer and model, long-term partner of Gianni Versace until his murder)
Jet Black, (British drummer, founder member of The Stranglers)
Johnny Johnson (British Royal Air Force officer, centenarian, last surviving member of "The Dambusters")
Lee Lorenz (US cartoonist, The New Yorker)
Lord David Young (British politician, Secretary of State for Employment and later for Trade and Industry under Margaret Thatcher)
Herbert Deutsch (US electronic music composer, co-inventor of the Moog synthesizer)
Ruth Madoc (British (Welsh) actress, Hi-de-Hi!, Fiddler on the Roof, Little Britain; national treasure)
Victor Lewis-Smith (British film, television and radio producer, TV Offal, restaurant critic, newspaper columnist, Time Out, and satirist, Private Eye)
Georgia Holt (US singer and actress, mother of Cher)
Dame Beryl Grey (British ballerina)
JJ Barnes (US singer, Northern Soul favourite)
Chris Boucher (British television screenwriter, Blake's 7, Shoestring, creator of the companion "Leela" in Doctor Who)
Christopher Tucker (British makeup designer and prosthetics technician, Elephant Man, Phantom of the Opera, Company of Wolves)
Bertha Barbee-McNeal (US singer, founder-member of The Velvelettes)
Belinda Douglas-Scott-Montagu, Baroness Montagu of Beaulieu
Angelo Badalamenti (US film and TV score composer and arranger, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks)
Stuart Margolin (US character actor, "Angel" in The Rockford Files)
Mike Hodges (British screenwriter, film and television director, Get Carter, Flash Gordon)
Terry Hall (British singer and songwriter, The Specials, Fun Boy Three, Colourfield; legend and national treasure)
Martin Duffy (British musician, keyboardist, Primal Scream)
Thom Bell (Jamaican-US co-creator of "The Philly Sound", songwriter: You Make Me Feel Brand New (and more) for The Stylistics; Could It Be I'm Falling in Love (and more) for The Detroit Spinners; Are You Ready for Love for Elton John)
Maxi Jazz (British musician, singer and songwriter, Faithless, Insomnia, God Is a DJ)
George Cohen (British professional footballer, Fulham, one of the last three surviving members of the England World Cup-winning team of 1966)
John Bird (British actor, comedian and satririst, Not So Much a Programme More a Way of Life, Blue Remembered Hills, Bremner, Bird and Fortune)
Pelé (Brazilian world champion footballer)
Dame Vivienne Westwood (British fashion designer, guiding influence of both Punk and the New Romantics)
Maximilian, Margrave of Baden (German aristocrat and businessman, cousin of King Charles III)
Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict III (German Pope, homophobe, subject of the unprecedented "Protest the Pope" rally)
Barbara Walters (US journalist, newsreader, talk show host)

RIP, (almost) all...


STOP PRESS:

Anita Pointer (US singer, The Pointer Sisters)

Friday 30 December 2022

Disappointment haunted all of my dreams

As we count down to waving goodbye (at last) to another bizarrely depressing year - despite the waning of the dreaded 'Rona, we had instead that bastard Putin's invasion of Ukraine, three Prime Ministers, a global financial crisis and the death of our Monarch to deal with - it's time for the last of our traditional end-of-the-week-jollies!

We do, of course, have a proper party to look forward to tomorrow for New Year's Eve - but on a day when it's not only the birthdays of Rudyard Kipling, Tracey Ullman, Patti Smith, Tiger Woods, Russ Tamblyn, Sister Bliss, Bo Diddley, Jeff Lynne, Sir Carol Reed, Del Shannon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Gordon Banks, Skeeter Davis, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, Ellie Goulding, and - erm - "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss, but also those of not one, but two dearly departed Monkees (Davy Jones and Mike Nesmith), it would be churlish not to feature a number by said band...

I defy anyone not to tap their feet to that - and Thank Disco Made-for-television-boy-bands It's Friday!

Have a great and grand New Year's weekend, dear reader!

Thursday 29 December 2022

Everything's for sale


Our visit to see the British Museum's "Hieroglyphs: unlocking ancient Egypt" exhibition on Tuesday was on occasions - ahem - eye-opening...

I'm off to leafy Chiswick in West London with John-John today for our first "annual" pilgrimage to browse their myriad quirky charity shops since before the pandemic.

Here's our anthem...

A jolly outing!

Wednesday 28 December 2022

Auntie Margaret


We have this exact photo framed and on our wall in the hall - with the Great Dame's autograph beneath. [click to embiggen]

It's our Patron Saint Dame Maggie's birthday today! All hail.

Another opportunity for a little "recycling", methinks.

From a post I did way back in 2013, featuring her early star vehicle Travels With My Aunt:

To my chagrin, I have never yet seen the entire movie. I was too young for the original cinematic release, and don't recall it ever appearing on TV over here. However from the meagre evidence I have seen, Dame Maggie Smith appears to be having a field day, camping it up as "Aunt Augusta"...

Many happy returns, Dame Margaret Natalie Smith CH DBE (born 28th December 1934)

Tuesday 27 December 2022

Monday 26 December 2022

Spinning around

On this Tacky Music Boxing Day Monday, here's a little something I've recycled [with an updated video] from eight years ago...

It's worth remembering that this Festering Season is not just one Middle Eastern cult's baby-worship celebration, it's also another Middle Eastern cult's season for spinning weird toys.

From South Park, here's the fabulously odd Broflovski family with Cartman and Stan to explain the whole Hanukkah business in their own inimitable fashion:

Oh, and just because I love you, here* is a semi-naked man swinging round a stripper pole playing The Dreidel song on a clarinet!

And why not?

[* It refuses to be embedded]

L'chaim, dear reader!

Sunday 25 December 2022

This is my church. This is where I heal my hurt

We've enjoyed listening to the fantabulosa Paul O'Grady back on the radio again. The (gulp!) King's Speech has been delivered. The dinner's starting to digest. We're swilling in a combination of sherry, port and gin.

Time for something a bit energetic to blow out all the cobwebs, and burn off a few of those roast spuds!

With the sad news of the death of the "godfather of hands-in-the-air trance anthems" Maxi Jazz, the charismatic lead singer of Faithless, what else can we do but turn the volume up to eleven - and rave on?!!

This is my church
This is where I heal my hurt
It's a natural grace
Of watching young life shape
It's in minor keys
Solutions and remedies
Enemies becoming friends
When bitterness ends
This is my church

This is my church
This is where I heal my hurt
It's in the world I become
Content in the hum
Between voice and drum
It's in change
The poetic justice of cause and effect
Respect, love, compassion
This is my church
This is where I heal my hurt
For tonight
God is a DJ
This is my church

RIP, Maxi Jazz (born Maxwell Fraser, 14th June 1957 – 23rd December 2022)

It's all about the Hoes

It's traditional...

The crock'o'shit's almost over, dear reader.

Bah Humbug!

Saturday 24 December 2022

Friday 23 December 2022

Oh, let the temperature rise

On this, the last day in work before the Festering Season really kicks in, I'm hoping we may get to knock off a bit early - then the laptop will go away under the stairs for a fortnight!

It's pissing down out there, and I'm at home with the lamps on. We need something to lift our spirits and to get in the mood for the parties to come. What could be more festive than some Minogues, some drag queens and a load of people dancing on a beach in their swimwear..?

Thank Disco It's "Xmas Eve Eve" Friday!

You can stick your "White Christmas" and your "Let it Snow". Sunshine is the way to go!

Happy holidays, dear reader!

Thursday 22 December 2022

C'est sa vie


Bah, Humbug.

Woke up this morning thinking it was still the middle of the night, it's so dark. As is the wont here in the UK, all that drama of freezing cold and mass transport disruption has handed-over to the usual grey mizzle. Very festive.

To lighten the mood somewhat, how about a genuine "earworm"?

You know you're getting old when you find out that baby-pop pixie-girl Vanessa Paradis [latterly the woman Johnny Depp left to hook up with that gold-digger Amber Heard] is fifty years old today... and this, her biggest hit never fails to get stuck in my brain whever I hear it:

You're welcome.

Wednesday 21 December 2022

Drat, and double drat!

It's not only Midwinter's Day/Winter Solstice today, but the bunting's out for birthday celebrants Jane Fonda (85!), Kiefer Sutherland, Samuel L. Jackson, Benjamin Disraeli, Frank Zappa, Anthony Powell, Chris Evert, Emmanuel Macron, Albert Lee and Florence Griffith Joyner, and it's the centenary today of the birth of ventriloquist, US children's TV show host and actor Paul Winchell.

Who? I hear you ask...

Well, the bulk of Mr Winchell's acting work was as a voiceover artist, and his was the voice of none other than...

...the "double-dealing do-badder" himself, Dick Dastardly!

Ah, memories...

Tuesday 20 December 2022

Too much, too young

Oh, fuck. Yet another integral part of my formative years has gone. The iconic lead singer of The Specials, Fun Boy Three and the Colourfield Terry Hall has joined the throng of the "cool ones gone before their time" in Fabulon... He was just 63.

Here is a mere soupçon of the great man's talents:

So very, very sad.

RIP, Terence Edward Hall (19th March 1959 – 19th December 2022)

Monday 19 December 2022

A Bridgend Santa, sniffin' in yer pants, and poor Mike's been brown-skirted!

Paul, John-John and I had a great evening at our first outing to "London's peerless gay literary salon" in months last week, a "pop-up" A Very Polari Xmas event at the formerly sleazy Vauxhall venue Eagle London. A few familar faces were in attendance, including Emma (sans Toby, who'd double-booked) and chums, and our hostess-with-the mostest Paul Burston's hubby Paulo; but the majority of attendees in the packed house (despite the frosty weather) were people I didn't recognise.

One person who did not show up however, due to ill-health, was our advertised opening reader the lovely Susie Boyt, so Paul B, as is his wont, manfully ("person-fully"?) stepped in. He read for us a suitably Xmas-themed snippet from his forthcoming memoir We Can Be Heroes - in front of a remarkably moody pic of himself with an unconvincing Santa in Wales:

I have, of course, placed my pre-order for the book and can't wait to read it when it comes out in May!

As we tucked into the complimentary Ferrero Rocher and mince pies at the bar, "Santa Paul" introduced our next reader - who had removed his trousers for the occasion!

Polari First Book Prize 2022 winner Adam Zmith (for it was he), proudly wearing a t-shirt appropriately emblazoned with a diamante-encrusted bottle of the stuff, gave us an entertaining and inciteful extract from his extensively-researched history of the amyl nitrite family and its role in queer life, Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures - all while sniffing from "the little brown bottle"!

From a review by the revered gay author Jonathan Kemp for QueerGuru:

There’s no doubt that Deep Sniff is a passion project for Zmith. That it’s also an impressive intellectual endeavour that soberly celebrates poppers’ place in queer history is no mean feat. To sniff amyl nitrite is to join the Village People, hang out at the Mineshaft, or be an extra in Cruising. Deep Sniff acknowledges all this without shying away from poppers' more problematic aspects. All told, it’s quite intoxicating.

Praise, indeed. And yes, it is a fascinating story - how poppers coincided with (and possibly drove) the burgeoning gay scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, with its "hanky code", butch clones, thumping H-NRG music et al, and in turn came to be vilified in the press (and by some radical medical theorists) as a contributory factor when AIDS reared its ugly head.

Shame, really, that Mr Zmith didn't have any copies of his book for sale, otherwise I might have been tempted to buy it. It's on my wishlist.

After a short fag-break and a top-up of booze, it was time for our "headline act" - and a dearly-loved favourite, the "Poet Laureate of Penge" herself...

...Barbara Brownskirt!

After a series of calamities involving the lectern and the mike-stand, she asked if there was anyone called Mike in the house - and indeed there was, so he became her assistant for the opening crowd-pleaser, her tribute to her icon and lust-object, Judi Dench:

Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Dench!
10 hours I stood there
You walked past me (on the red carpet)
I was on the pavement not red but grey
I watched you go by with yet another sigh

Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Dench!
Your smile and crinkly twinkly eyes
Your little hairstyle, high on your head
Sexy Grandma
To me you are wife material

Denchy Denchy Denchy Denchy Denchy Jud-ie
How you make me want to clenchy
And I would like to travel my hand
Over your wobbly belly
To cup the young Denchy, Thirsty Drenchy
A cup full of Dench quenched. Time all spent.

Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Judi Dench!

And that was just the first of what she threatened would be 108 poems from her extensive anthology - including this minimal masterpiece:

She's just brilliant.

As the laughter subsided, it was all over far too soon, with the customary curtain call:

Although Mr B was DJ-ing for the rest of the evening by way of a jolly celebration to round off the Polari year, we decided not to risk getting caught up in any wintry-weather-related travel madness (Vauxhall isn't close to any of our abodes) and to go our different ways home - still buzzing.

We love Polari!

Roll on the next big outing - in Heaven in February 2023.

Fatty and his sack o'shit

It's dark, it's bleak and it's miserable out there. At least there's no snow to make today's journey to work treacherous, but there may well be more rain. Yuk.

On this Tacky Music Monday, here's another seasonal classic to cheer us up. All together, now...

Have a good week, dear reader.

Sunday 18 December 2022

Sentiment will not endear it; what's important is the price

The snow is turning to slush, as the rain has arrived. It's grey and grim, and all that's playing on the radio is "festive" music. Bah Humbug!

Here's a very welcome return for Mr Tom Lehrer, and his seasonal message:


Christmas time is here, by golly
Disapproval would be folly
Deck the halls with hunks of holly
Fill the cup and don't say when

Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens
Even though the prospect sickens
Brother, here we go again

On Christmas Day you can't get sore
Your fellow man you must adore
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four

Relations, sparing no expense, 'll
Send some useless old utensil
Or a matching pen and pencil
("Just the thing I need, how nice!")

It doesn't matter how sincere it is
Nor how heartfelt the spirit
Sentiment will not endear it
What's important is the price

Hark, the Herald Tribune sings
Advertising wondrous things
God rest ye merry merchants
May ye make the Yuletide pay
Angels we have heard on high
Tell us to go out and – buy!

So let the raucous sleigh bells jingle
Hail our dear old friend Kriss Kringle
Driving his reindeer across the sky
Don't stand underneath when they fly by!


Speaking of Xmas shopping, here's a lucky dip of gifts for you dear reader - just stick your hand in the bran tub, and you, too could have one of these...


[click any image to embiggen - if you dare]

Saturday 17 December 2022

What explains this mass mania to leave Pennsylvania?

It was "The Master" Sir Noël Coward's birthday yesterday. All hail.

Here's another favourite of ours among his many fabulously cynical numbers, aptly performed by another of our Patron Saints, by way of a celebration:

Travel they say improves the mind,
An irritating platitude, which frankly, entre nous,
Is very far from true.

Personally I've yet to find that longitude and latitude
Can educate those scores of monumental bores
Who travel in groups and herds and troupes
Of varying breeds and sexes
Till the whole world reels...

To shouts and squeals...
And the clicking of Roliflexes.

Why do the wrong people travel, travel, travel
When the right people stay back home?
What compulsion compels them
And who the hell tells them
To drag their cans to Zanzibar,
Instead of staying quietly in Omaha.
The Taj Mahal and the Grand Canal
And the sunny French Rivera
Would be less oppressed if the Middle West
Would settle for somewhere rather nearer.

Please do not think that I criticize or cavel
At a genuine urge to roam.
But why, oh why, do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay back home
And mind their business
When the right people stay back home
And eat hot doughnuts
When the right people stay back home
I sometimes wonder
Why the right people stay back home?

Just when you think romance is ripe it rather
Sharply dawns on you
That each sweet serenade is for the tourist trade
Any attractive native type who resolutely fawns on you
Will give as his address American Express
There isn't a rock between Bangkok
And the beaches of His---pianola
That does not recoil from suntan oil
And the gurgle of Coca-Cola

Why do the wrong people travel, travel, travel
When the right people stay back home?
What explains this mass mania to leave Pennsylvania
And clack around like flocks of geese.
Demanding dry Martinis on the isles of Greece
In the smallest street, where the gourmets meet,
They invariably fetch up
And it's hard to make them accept a steak
That isn't served rare and smeared with ketchup.

Millions of tourists are churning up the gravel
While they gaze at St. Peter's Dome,

But why, oh why do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay back home
With Cinerama
When the right people stay back home
With all that Kleenex
When the right people stay back home
I merely asking
Why the right people stay back home?

What peculiar obsessions inspire those processions
Of families from Houston Tex
With all those cameras around their necks?
They will take a train
Or an aeroplane
For an hour on the Costa Brava,
And they'll see Pompeii
On the only day
When it's up to its ass in molten lava!

It would take years to unravel, ravel, ravel
Every impulse that makes them wanna roam.
But why oh WHY do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay at home...
And play Canasta
When the right people stay back home
Won't someone tell me
Why the right people stay back home?

Friday 16 December 2022

Not so much "happy", but frozen feet...

The weekend is looming, and we need to get ourselves in the mood for a party (if for no other reason than to warm ourselves up)! We do actually have Our Sal's sparkly birthday bash at her pub The Shaston Arms off Carnaby Street to look forward to tomorrow - and according to the forecast, it looks like the Big Freeze may well start to melt on Sunday...

...meanwhile, following what was possibly the coldest night of them all last night, let's have a most appropriate number to kick things off - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Have a great weekend, my leetle chums!

Thursday 15 December 2022

It can actually slice your nose off

Britain is unsuitable for human life, it has been confirmed.

Amid blade-like freezing gales that can actually slice your nose off, international aid agencies have offered to evacuate the population using helicopters.

A Red Cross spokesman said: “We want to get as many people out as possible, then we’ll figure out how to distribute them across nicer places, like Spain and Portugal.

“In the meantime, just stay inside. Do not attempt to leave the house or even look out of the window, it’s far too psychologically damaging.”

Stephen Malley, from Doncaster, said: “I’m sure this country is like a giant haunted house, it’s evil spirit trying everything it can to drive us out.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

[The "real" story]

Wednesday 14 December 2022

Current mood...

...Regina Linnanheimo in Restless Blood.

The "Big Freeze" continues, and the chances of dozens of plants in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers surviving it are getting slimmer, work's being a bitch, I heard Mariah Carey playing for the first time (in a shop so was unable to run and switch it off), and a mysterious and worrying discovery - an entire folder of my "projects" has been wiped off the expansion drive of our home PC, and (despite downloading several freeware file recovery programs) I think it's all gone for good.

It's lunchtime, and I am tempted to pack up and head to the nearest pub.

I need a holiday, indeed.

Tuesday 13 December 2022

Knob-twiddling

"Broadcasting is a development with which the future must reckon and reckon seriously. Here is an instrument of almost incalculable importance in the social and political life of the community, in affairs national and international."

"It was the combination of public service motive, sense of moral obligation, assured finance and the brute force of monopoly which enabled the BBC to make of broadcasting what no other country in the world has made of it."

"He who prides himself on giving what he thinks the public wants is often creating a fictitious demand for low standards which he will then satisfy."

This week a century ago, the appointment of a certain gruff, irrascible and uncompromising son of a Scottish Presbyterian minister John Reith (later Lord Reith) as the first general manager of the British Broadcasting Company (as it was then to be known) changed the course of this country and the tone and importance of its national broadcaster forever.

The arrival of radio in everybody's home in those early days of the 20th century also became a bit of a "fad", as Miss Dorrie Dene explains...

Keep twiddling, dears!

[See also my blog post on the centenary of the BBC]

Monday 12 December 2022

Rompin', stompin', pumpin', jumpin', slidin', glidin'


We've had six inches, and that's just the start of it...

The Big Freeze continues - we haven't had temperatures above freezing for days, and the combination of four consecutive nights hitting -5C, freezing fog, and now snow has seen off swathes of our pot-grown specimens. And there's no end in sight.

Hey ho. As the Madame said over at her blog: "...we will just have to wait and see, get the seed catalogues out and replace the dead in the Spring where we need to. Our garden is due for a rethink so this will be a good time to do it."

On this Tacky Music Monday, as I decide whether or not to venture to the office, let's cheer ourselves up with a sunny trip to the beach(!) - and a choon I described back in 2017 thus:

"...the faintly-ridiculous-yet-forever-remembered "barn-dance" song 5, 6, 7, 8 [which remains one of the biggest-selling songs never to have actually hit the Top 10 in our charts]".

My boot-scootin' baby is drivin' me crazy
My obsession from a western
My dance-floor date
My rodeo Romeo
A cowboy god from head to toe
Wanna make you mine?
Better get in line
5-6-7-8

Foot kickin'
Finger clickin',
Leather slapping
Hand clappin'

Hip bumpin'
Music thumpin'
Knee hitchin'
Heel and toe

Floor scuffin'
Leg shufflin'
Big grinnin'
Body spinnin'

Rompin', stompin', pumpin', jumpin', slidin', glidin',
Here we go

My boot-scootin' baby is drivin' me crazy
My obsession from a western
My dance-floor date
My rodeo Romeo
A cowboy god from head to toe
Wanna make you mine?
Better get in line
5-6-7-8

Tush-pushin'
Thunder-footin'
Cowgirl twistin'
No resistin'

Drums bangin'
Steel-twangin'
Two-steppin'
End to end

Hardwood crawlin'
Some four-wallin'
Rug cuttin'
Cowboy struttin'

Burnin', yearnin', windin', grindin',
Let's begin the dance again

You're mine, all mine now bubba
Gonna rope you in
So count me in
5-6-7-8

My boot-scootin' baby is drivin' me crazy
My obsession from a western
My dance-floor date
My rodeo Romeo
A cowboy god from head to toe
Wanna make you mine?
Better get in line
5-6-7-8

They just don't write lyrics like that any more. [Actually, they probably do, it just that you can't understand a word nowadays with all that mumbling.]

Have a good week, dear reader. Keep warm!

Sunday 11 December 2022

Day's dawning, skin's crawling

This Arctic freeze hitting the UK is getting beyond a joke now, and we are resigning ourselves to the fact we are likely to lose quite a few plants from our collection here in the extensive gardens at Dolores Delargo Towers, despite our best efforts of cramming then against the walls of the house.

Hey ho. There's nothing we can do about that except keep our fingers crossed...

Let's celebrate the fact it was the lovely Brian Molko of Placebo's 50th birthday yesterday, shall we, with something suitably dark:

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend with weed is better
A friend with breasts and all the rest
A friend who's dressed in leather
A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who'll tease is better
Our thoughts compressed, which makes us blessed
And makes for stormy weather

A friend in need's a friend indeed
My Japanese is better
And when she's pressed, she will undress
And then she's boxing clever
A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who bleeds is better
My friend confessed she passed the test
And we will never sever

Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Pure morning
Pure morning
Pure morning
Pure morning

A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who'll tease is better
Our thoughts compressed, which makes us blessed
And makes for stormy weather
A friend in need's a friend indeed
A friend who bleeds is better
My friend confessed she passed the test
And we will never sever,

Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Day's dawning, skin's crawling
Pure morning
Pure morning
Pure morning

Sigh.

Saturday 10 December 2022

Goodnight, Campers, Hi-de-Hi

Very sad news - the effevescent Miss Ruth Madoc has departed for Fabulon.

A stalwart of comedy and light entertainment for years, it was (of course) for her role as the icon of the Yellowcoats, the eternally-fustrated "Gladys Pugh" in Hi-de-Hi that we (and the whole of the UK) loved her the most...

However, one of our most-loved (and most-quoted) sketches from the entire run of Little Britain was when Miss Madoc appeared as "Dafydd"'s mother!

A tour-de-force.

We'll miss her.

RIP, Ruth Madoc (born Ruth Llewellyn, 16th April 1943 – 9th December 2022)