Of big cakes, robots, gays, Home Counties and Elsa's gazebo

Someone left the cake out in the rain...

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Hartelijk gefeliciteerd, Mokum! news: Almost at the culmination of 750 hours of events and festivities [including Sail Amsterdam, which we saw in August], the 750th anniversary of the founding of Amsterdam was celebrated in Dam Square at 7.50am on Monday with a 75 metre strawberry sponge and cream cake (pictured above). There was enough, apparently, for 7500 slices, and residents queued in the rain for hours for a taste. Proost!
• Showroom Dummies news: A collection of rare memorabilia, possessions and other artefacts once owned by Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider is heading for auction on 19th November, including his suitcase synthesiser, his flute and his vocoders, personal effects, photographs and even the bike he rode in the Tour de France video!

• RIP, Björn Andrésen, aka the "most beautiful boy, Tadzio" in Death in Venice. He was a bit too creepily androgynous for me, tbh.
• Pride not Profit news: Manchester Pride has gone bust, owing thousands of pounds to suppliers, vendors and every one of the performers last year. It blamed low ticket sales. In 2024, they were charging £37.50 for a weekend ticket or £41 for a single-day ticket. We could get a West End theatre seat or a flight to Malaga for that. Incompetence? Or just greed..?
• About time we got proper royal patronage news: HM The King paid tribute to gay armed forces veterans at the unveiling of a new memorial commemorating those British service personnel who were forced to keep their sexuality a secret, and those who were ousted for being gay. [NB The acronym "LGBT" - that every media outlet seems to use when reporting on this story, or in fact on anything gay - is inappropriate in this context. Transgender people were not explicitly barred from serving. The ban was on gays and lesbians. There is no record of anyone being thrown out of the forces for being transgender; even now there are fewer than 10 transgender individuals in the whole of the British Armed Forces. Facts.]
• Farewell to Surrey news: The historic County of Surrey faces a bit of a shake-up, as its county council and 11 borough and district councils will all be abolished in favour of two administrations, East and West Surrey. Sir John Betjeman is spinning in his grave as we speak...

• And finally: Among a whole host of random fellow celebrants including Evelyn Waugh, Dame Cleo Laine, Julia Roberts, Dame Joan Plowright, Auguste Escoffier, David Dimbleby, Suzy Parker, Gwendoline Christie, Bill Gates, Jane Alexander, Francis Bacon, Edith Head, Peter Hitchens, Hank Marvin, Matt Smith, Caitlyn Jenner, Joaquin Phoenix, Bernie Ecclestone, Wayne Fontana, Stephen Morris of New Order, and Czechoslovakia...

  ...it's our Patron Saint Elsa Lanchester's birthday! She wasn't just "The Bride of Frankenstein", you know, she also sang bawdy Cockney Songs, and we love them...

Elsa Lanchester - If You Peek in My Gazebo

Elsa Lanchester - Linda and Her Londonderry Air

And the weather? Remarkably mild and sunny for Hallowe'en week...