Down Mexico Way - and an unexpected visitor

Brodiaea laxa “Queen Fabiola” is a sparkling joy! [click to embiggen]

It's been rather hot and humid in London again today - and of course, I spent hours in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers, potting-on more specimens that have rapidly outgrown their current space, and watering the whole shebang from end-to end [that's a lot of pots!].

There's one wall-pot that isn't going to be sprayed down with the hose for a while, however - for we have discovered, among the branches of our Fuchsia Viva Ireland (with its companion self-seeded fern), and shaded by a branch of the climbing Fuchsia Lady Boothby, directly opposite our back door to the garden...

...a Robin has made her nest!!

That's a first - for any garden we've had - and it will be lovely to observe [fingers crossed] the pair raise their chicks! If I can do so without disturbing her, I hope to get a pic at some stage.

Meanwhile, let's take a trip to exotic climes, in the company of the ever-wonderful Soft Tempo Lounge, shall we? I think we should:

Soft Tempo Lounge - Holiday in Mexico '63

Just what the doctor ordered.

I wonder if all that hideous brutalist architecture's still standing?

[Music: Orchestra King Zérand - Pop in Mexico]

But what kind of holiday is this?*

The weekend's almost upon us, the sun is blazing (it's 29C/85F, and likely to get even hotter next week!)...

...and it would have been our Patron Saint of Terrifying Head-Flicks Signorina Raffaella Carrà's birthday today!

Sufficient excuse (if any were needed) to revisit this - as La Carrà and her impossibly-tight-trousered safety gays show us how to party. Thank Disco Raffaella It's Friday!

Raffaella Carrà - Santo Santo (Ma che vacanza é)

Have a great weekend, dear reader...

[Ma che vacanza é = "But what kind of holiday is this?" in Italian]

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FOOTNOTE:

I'm taking bets on how long today's post will take to arrive in the Blogger Reading List... Wednesday's and yesterday's both arrived together on the dot at 9am - that's more than 36 hours for the former, and 19 hours for the latter! Someone needs a good kick up the arse at Google HQ.

Feel the room swayin', for the band's playin'

Sad news. The last surviving member of that fabled and eternally camp trio The Beverley Sisters, Teddie Beverley has shimmied her way up the dazzling stairway to Fabulon, at the ripe old age of 99.

True "national treasures", The Bevs (as they were known) gave a much-needed boost to post-War Britain with their close-harmony singing and their cheery personas, which made them an ideal Light Entertainment staple. They always dressed in identical outfits, had a string of hits in the 1950s, performed endlessly on the cabaret circuit, and were the highest paid female entertainers in the UK for more than 20 years, becoming "gay icons" in the process.

I actually saw them on stage, headlining the Gay Pride festival at Jubilee Gardens [where the London Eye is located today], at the first Pride I ever attended way back in 1985!

Another long-distant chapter of my life closes. Sigh.

Beverley Sisters - Hello Dolly/Mame

More Beverley Sisters over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp, including this footnote, that I simply have to repeat here:

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FOOTNOTE

Such was the "camp icon" status of the girls, even Rod Stewart, Elton John and Freddie Mercury desired their "look":

[In 1978 the trio discussed] "...the possibility of the three of us forming a supergroup; the name we had in mind was Nose, Teeth & Hair, a tribute to each of our most remarked-upon physical attributes. The general idea was that we could appear dressed like the Beverley Sisters. Somehow this project never came to anything, which is contemporary music’s deep and abiding loss."

Of pie-flinging, Dame Judi, pottery, Istanbul not Constantinople, gay spliffs and Who?

Only in Britain: The World Custard Pie Championship was held this week at Coxheath in Kent, where it was founded way back in 1967.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• National treasure news: In a ground-breaking announcement - no theatre has previously been named after a living actress - the West End's Shaftesbury Theatre is to be renamed in honour of the sublime Dame Judi Dench in 2027. All hail!
• Potty news: RIP, Denby Pottery, one of the mainstays of the ceramics industry in Britain since 1809. Bizarrely, cheap-and-nasty household store chain Home Bargains appears to have placed a bid to save the brand (but not the actual factory, I bet!).

• Nobody's Business But the Turks news: The latest announcement from our beloved Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) is the first UK exhibition to tell the story of one of the world's most influential cities, Istanbul. Spanning 330 AD to 1922, Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires will bring together remarkable works of art, design and architecture to reveal the enduring creative legacy of an imperial capital that shaped the Mediterranean world and far beyond. Another one for the list! It's on from 7th November 2026 to 9th May 2027.
• Who's for sale? news: It's all change for one of the BBC's most iconic series, as Doctor Who is being put out to tender for a new production company to take over, Russell T Davies [who was behind the successful revival of the show back in 2005] has announced that he is departing, and the previously announced Xmas special has been cancelled. A regeneration is afoot, it seems...
• And finally - god-bothering bigot news: One of the US's many crazy self-proclaimed "Christian" pastors has said that marijuana makes you gay! Idiot. However, a word of wisdom comes to mind: "When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself." - Bob Marley.

And the weather? Still far too breezy, but there's been a noticeable rise in temperature - and more sunshine ahead...

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STOP PRESS:

Here we go again. I published this yesterday evening [Wednesday], and here we are, half a day later [on Thursday] - and it still hasn't arrived in the Blogger Reading List! Bastard Google Gnomes...

Typing in 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' gave me an embolism

None of the advances in technology of the last half-century have made it any easier to enter text via a remote control.

A technological black hole means anyone attempting to search for a film or TV show has to enter it letter-by-letter as if they were putting their initials by a Space Invaders high score in 1980.

Jim Bates of Congleton said: “I tell speakers to play music and they do so. I type a destination into my car and it shows me how to get there. But on my TV?

“There’s no slick user interface. To find a movie on Netflix I have to mash down flimsy rubber buttons while it brightly suggests movies that are not what I want or close to it. All the others are the same.

“Even on the PlayStation, a controller with at least 30 different inputs demands I do it one letter at a time. Why does all pretence of being user-friendly stop at the telly? Why has it remained in the Ceefax era?

“Every site online’s always checking I’m not a sophisticated bot buying tickets or logging into my bank account. They should get these fucking bots working on the telly. Then maybe I could watch 'Insidious 5' without first having to look up how to spell it.”

Technology expert Jack Brown said: “Now most of our technological agency is given over to machines it’s important to have such instances of human independence, even though typing in 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' gave me an embolism.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

He doesn't sound it, though, when you hear him

Fuck. Too soon, too soon - another week begins. We need a pick-me-up!

Among another "mixed bag" of names such as Neil Patrick Harris, Edvard Grieg, James Robertson Justice, Noddy Holder (who is 80 years old), Richard Baker, Johnny Hallyday, Simon Callow, Courteney Cox, Harry Nilsson, Lord John Redwood, Erroll Garner, David Rose, Waylon Jennings, Chris Morris, Yuri Andropov, Helen Hunt, Julie Hagerty and - erm - Xi Jinping...

...it would also have been the 80th birthday of the unlikeliest of sex symbols, Demis Roussos!

On this Tacky Music Monday, out of his lesser-known back-catalogue, I have discovered this! Lemon-and-brown flared outfits deserve a comeback.

Demis Roussos – Midnight Is The Time I Need You

However, we can never disassociate the man from the legendary summer of '76, fifty years ago, with its stand-pipes in the streets and months of sunshine.

Reflecting that magnificent heatwave, the great Greek mountain emerged from obscurity to hit Number 1 with one of the eternal summer anthems:

Demis Roussos – Forever and Ever

It always brings back thoughts of Abigail's Party to me...

"Laurence, Angela likes Demis Roussos, Tony likes Demis Roussos, I like Demis Roussos and Sue would like to hear Demis Roussos.

So do you think we could have Demis Roussos on?"

"It's a pity he's so fat."

Yeah, but he doesn't sound it, though, when you hear him."

Demis Roussos (born Artemios Ventouris-Roussos, 15th June 1946 – 25th January 2015)

Time, oh give me time

"...I’ve always been positive. I wouldn’t still be here if I wasn’t. I think you’re always who you are, but life distracts you, particularly because of fame – everybody treats you different, therefore you end up with a distorted idea of who you are. Don’t you think that life’s about growing into yourself in a funny kind of way? You’re looking for answers and I think as you get older, you realise there aren’t really answers. You just have to kind of get on with it. Life is kind of like clinging to a rock, isn’t it? We’re all clinging to a rock, and some people have got a better grip than others. Some people look bedraggled, and other people look like Jerry Hall dressed as mermaid on that Roxy Music album cover.”

Oh, lordy! You know you're getting old when...

...you realise that Boy George is 65 years old today!

Time flies...

Culture Club - Time

Hot Since 82 & Jamie Jones feat. Boy George - Body Control

Many happy returns, Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd, 14th June 1961)

Arise...

l-r: Dame Helen Mirren CH, Cerys Matthews OBE, Dame Julia Donaldson, Anneka Rice MBE

...Sir Kevin Sinfield [rugby league star who fundraised millions for Motor Neurone Disease awareness in honour of his fellow player Rob Burrows who eventually died of the condition], Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton [founders of Aardman Animations studio, that gave the world Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run], Dame Malorie Blackman [former Children's Laureate] and Dame Julia Donaldson [children's author who created The Gruffalo]. The divine Dame Helen Mirren and photojournalist Sir Don McCullin are made Companions of Honour, of which there are only 65 at any one time.

Among thousands of other names from the worlds of sport, entertainment, fundraising, politics and public service, also honoured are:

• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE): beauty products entrepreneur Charlotte Tilbury;
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE): Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews, film director and actor Dexter Fletcher, film score composer Patrick Doyle;
• Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE): broadcaster and TV personality Anneka Rice, DJ Judge Jules, soprano Louise Alder, founder-member of Black Sabbath Tony Iommi, multiple Chelsea Flower Show gold medal-winning garden designer Sarah Eberle, fashion designer of Princess Diana's wedding dress David Emanuel, sport radio presenter Garry Richardson, Emmerdale actress and TV personality Lisa Riley, Judge Dread comic character co-creator John Wagner.

Congratulations, one and all!

HM The King's Birthday Honours 2026

Got me on a passion ride, I'm crazy

Almost there...

As what might well turn out to be a decent warm weekend is looming on the horizon, so we need to get ourselves into the party mood!

How about something completely hilarious, as we venture into the murky world of obscure low-budget 80s Hi-NRG productions, such as this one - from an US "artiste" who was based entirely in Japan (where presumably they didn't mind that she could barely sing and certainly couldn't dance).

Enjoy - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Cathi Linn - Dancing with the Sunshine

Have a great one, dear reader!

The one with the vagina lasers

Oh, wow..!! Our Glorious Leader Madonna has done it again - after all, why do a three-minute pop video for a single when you can do an entire mini-movie, with clips from several tracks, to tease the arrival of your new album?!

Featuring an all-star cast that includes Sabrina Carpenter, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kate Moss, Gwendoline Christie, Richard E. Grant, Julia Garner, Shygirl, Arca, Odessa A’zion, Archie Madekwe, Debi Mazar, Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon and Chelsea footballers Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro, this trailer for her much anticipated Confessions II is a cinematic work of epic proportions - and I love it!

Madonna - Confessions II - The Film

I can't wait for the album itself to arrive on 3rd July - just in time for Pride in London!

Le Groove

Fashion. Inflatable rooms and furniture?! Human kaleidoscopes?!

Let the wonders commence, and let those marvellous people at Soft Tempo Lounge take us on a trip. And it is a trip...

Soft Tempo Lounge - Le Groove '70

Ah, that's better.

[Music: Les Masques - Mais un jour...]

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FOOTNOTE - a word from our sponsor:

A.I. CONTENT vs STL PRESENTATIONS

Dear fans and friends, we have crossed the ‘A.I. Rubicon’… not to be too melodramatic.

The flood of A.I. generated videos, images, and music across YouTube and the Internet is at an unprecedented pace. Driven by algorithms that reward relentless content production these creations increasingly dominate search results, recommendations and playlists. The sheer scale of A.I. ‘retro/lounge’ content is overwhelming the authentic music, art and culture, while stripped of historical context, cultural depth and the human experience that gave it meaning.

We are not condemning those who enjoy A.I. generated content. On the contrary, there is room in the world for many forms of creativity, and the more joy people discover, the better. Yet imitation is not the same as heritage.

As original recordings, films, photographs, and artwork become harder to discover, we risk losing touch with that heritage - the musicians, performers, filmmakers, designers and countless other creative individuals whose talent, vision and dedication shaped the era we cherish.

At Soft Tempo Lounge, we remain committed to celebrating authentic recordings, genuine artistry, and the rich cultural history of the music and visual aesthetics we love. Our little corner remains a place where the REAL THING can still be found... where it remains accessible, appreciated, and connected to its true origins.

Thank you for joining us in keeping that legacy alive!

The Soft Tempo Lounge Team.

What’s schadenfreude?

The Spanish tourist board is encouraging Britons to visit this summer for a good chuckle at all those miserable because they cannot be in Dubai.

As thousands of former influencers and the wealth-adjacent are forced to spend summers in a less glamorous location due to an inconvenient war, ordinary people are invited for a cheap holiday to wallow in someone else’s misery.

Holidaymaker Jordan Gardner said: “You can see them congregating in beachfront cafes, bitching about how low the skyscrapers are or that 30 degrees isn’t hot enough.

“My girlfriend and I settled in next to them, luxuriating in their complaints that you can’t get a decent gold leaf coffee anywhere. It’s so relaxing hearing them fall silent as a Mercedes S-Class goes by, swallowing their bitter regret they’re not in it.”

Susan Traherne, owner of Inspector Morse-themed bar One More Pint said: “We get them in here, moaning none of the hotel pools are infinite, disappointed their cocktails don’t cost three figures.

“We put an influencer on stage to bitch that she couldn’t hire a gold-plated Lamborghini anywhere so how could she make content and it was harming her hustle. The regulars were in stitches. Far better than the Chubby Brown tribute we’d booked.”

Former Dubai resident Nikki Hollis said: “How can it be a holiday without a Prada store? Why has this crowd gathered? What’s schadenfreude? Is it a German watch brand? Are they up for a collab?”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

When a person's personality is personable

Among another oddly-matched list of "names" including Joan Rivers, Bonnie Tyler, Robert Preston, Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Schumann, Mick Hucknall, John Everett Millais, Nancy Sinatra, Tomaso Albinoni, Jerry Stiller, Boz Scaggs, Barbara Bush, James Darren, Colin Baker, Frank Lloyd Wright, Scott Adams, Alexis Smith, Francis Crick and - erm - Kanye West...

...it's Millie Martin's birthday today (and thankfully she's still with us, aged 92). Most famous as the regular singer on That Was The Week That Was in the Swinging 60s, she's had a remarkable career, on telly and on stage - not least as a Sondheimite, nominated for a Tony award for her part in the original cast of Side By Side By Sondheim

And, on this Tacky Music Monday, here she is as part of an estimable ensemble of West End luminaries [in Hey, Mr. Producer!, June 1998], singing one of the great man's funniest "patter songs"...

Ruthie Henshall, Maria Friedman, Lea Salonga and Millicent Martin - You Could Drive a Person Crazy

Love it!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Of po-faces (British and French), Tom of Finland and Matilda, Weller's ex, avian wanking and a Colombian diva

Clematis “General Sikorski” is scaling the heights of the downpipe outside our back door! [click to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• NIMBY news: The joyless arseholes calling themselves "The Soho Society" have declared that they will oppose every new and renewed alcohol licence in the area, causing a backlash from The Mayor and local businesses. This ain't rural Surrey, dears - without pubs, Soho will be yet another dead space in the heart of London's West End!
• Puffins and porn news: The world’s largest space dedicated to illustration, and named after one of the UK's most beloved illustrators of children's books (in particular those of Roald Dahl), the Quentin Blake Centre at New River Head in Clerkenwell opened its doors on Friday. Surprisingly, amongst all the Moomins, Where the Wild Things Are, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, Puffin Books and so forth, there's a display of Tom of Finland's graphic gay artwork! Possibly worth a visit...

• Scary how time flies: Former backing singer for Wham!, Style Council ingenue (and former Mrs Paul Weller) Dee C Lee celebrated her - gulp - 65th birthday yesterday! She only ever had one solo hit, but what a classic it is:

Dee C Lee - See The Day

• Po-faced Lefties news: Speaking of "joyless", over in France the massive gastronomic (and boozy) gatherings known as banquets géants have become quite "the thing" for young hedonists. Step forward radical left party La France Insoumise (LFI - France Unbowed), which has accused the events of being a mask for nationalism and not representative of "...modern France, which is a place rich in its diversity." Proof, if ever any were needed, that "politically correct" people simply do not understand the concept of FUN...
• Doing what comes naturally news: Birds wank, scientists have observed.
• And finally: RIP, the esteemed Colombian singer Totó la Momposina. Nope, me neither - then I looked her up, and found this!

Totó La Momposina - La Candela Viva

Perfect for a Sunday.

And the weather? All over the place! Still blustery and battering our garden, but at least the rain held off today. Until tonight...

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PS:

The demon spawn next door have been screaming all afternoon on their fucking trampoline. Thanks to a discovery by Madam Arcati, we have the perfect answer:

Don't judge a book by its cover

And so, farewell to the twinkly-eyed, devilishly handsome, suave and sophisticated Anthony Head, who died this week.

Many people associate him most, understandably, with his long-running character "Rupert Giles" in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I hardly ever watched the show.

Instead, like most Britons of a certain age, it is for this - the role that made him famous, the most romantic "soap opera" ["coffee opera", perhaps?] on telly in the 80s - that we remember him most!

Gold Blend adverts compilation [Anthony Head, Sharon Maughan]

He was so much more than that, needless to say. He had a much-lauded stage career, and as a singer released a few albums of solo work.

This, of course, was perhaps his most surprising role...

Anthony Head - Sweet Transvestite [Rocky Horror Tribute Show, 2006]

Don't get strung out...

RIP, Anthony Stewart Head (20th February 1954 – 1st June 2026)

It's all right all right all right all right

The weekend hoves into view at last!

The weather may be persistently grey, blustery and forecast for more showers - but here's something suitably uplifting to get us in a party mood...

So whip on your best flouncy pink satin jumpsuit, sing along with Gonzalez - and Thank Disco It's Friday!

Gonzalez - Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet

Have a fab one, dear reader!

Música ecléctica

I think we are well overdue, dear reader, another little selection of some of the "newer" choons that have caught my ear of late, don't you..?

Let's start with something completely unexpected - and rather wonderful:

Pomplamoose ft. Sarah Dugas - Sweet Dreams vs Seven Nation Army mashup [Eurythmics, White Stripes]

Next up, a new one from everyone's fave gay Glam-Rocker:

Adam Lambert - Eat U Alive

It's always good to hear something new from one of my most revered bands of the 80s - and it is indeed [gulp] forty years this year since Notorious was released - with "their friend Nile". I love the pastiche of Top of the Pops in this video, too:

Duran Duran feat. Nile Rodgers - Free to Love

One of our most cherished divas of late has put together what she's calling a "visual album" on her YouTube channel - and from it, I adore this one:

Jessie Ware - Don’t You Know Who I Am [official visualiser]

Speaking of "Divas", our beloved Princess has released a brand new track to accompany her Netflix documentary. Perhaps not destined to rank amongst her classic back-catalogue, but it has charm, nonetheless:

Kylie Minogue - Light Up [visualiser]

But - saving the best to last - THIS!

MEEK - Beautiful Freeks

As ever, I love to know your thoughts...

Planning your holiday?

...choose carefully; and always take a map!

[click to embiggen - oo-er, Missus!]

From Vargic's Miscellany of Curious Maps. A must for every bookcase.

Arseholes

An office arsehole has greeted the end of the May heatwave by saying ‘Hope you enjoyed summer,’ and the worst of it is that he may well be correct.

Martin Bishop, aged 44, has accosted everyone he meets with the one-liner he mistakenly believes to be the pinnacle of ironic British humour, but is more likely to be an entirely accurate forecast.

He continued: “Apparently summer’s on a Wednesday next year! Eh? Eh? You like that one? Why the sour face mate, only a joke.

“Three months of chilly drizzle’s only going to make you appreciate your holiday more. And my gag, which is as British as greasy fish and chips in soggy newspaper and will surely only get funnier as the grey weeks roll on.

“After all, you can’t get more British than complaining about the weather, can you? That stiff upper lip, battling through valiantly in the face of adversity. It’s a classic. Everyone here’s just a miserable bastard who hates to laugh.”

Colleague Emma Bradford said: “He’s right about us being miserable bastards, but it’s not laughing we hate. It’s Martin.

“Is there any kind of old pagan tradition about sacrificing a regional sales manager to the gods in order to banish the clouds and guarantee a good summer? Because if not I’m willing to start one.”

The Daily Mash

Of course.

[The "real" story? It's been pissing down, with thunderstorms, today.]

Boop-boop-de-boop!

Oh, fuck. Monday again!

As we brace ourselves for the deep, deep joys that await us in the week ahead, let's pay due homage to the greatest of photogenic icons, Miss Marilyn Monroe, shall we, whose centenary it is today!

On this Tacky Music Monday, it simply had to be this:

Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend [Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953]

...and this!

Marilyn Monroe - I Wanna Be Loved By You [Some Like It Hot, 1959]

Have a good week, dear reader...

Boop-boop. De-fucking-boop.

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STOP PRESS:

This!

[click any Marilyn to embiggen]