Hamsters, croquettes, slippers, drugs and no regrets

Another snippets post today, dear reader:

• Rodent chaos news: An aeroplane was unable to take off from Ponta Delgada airport in the Azores for four days because of "loose hamsters".
• Gay icon news: Judy Garland's ruby slippers from The Wizard Of Oz will be on display in London next week, before they are auctioned off in December (at an estimated sale price of £4 million). I would place a bid, but they wouldn't fit my size 11 feet.
• Ancient Egyptians had raves shocker: A Ptolemaic-era Egyptian mug decorated with the head of Bes, an ancient deity or guardian demon, has been found to contain traces of hallucinogenic drugs and alcohol. Were The Prodigy or The Shamen involved? We should be told.

• Many happy returns to our fave Radio 2 DJ Liza Tarbuck, whose show cheers us up every Saturday evening - she's 60 years old today!
• Croquette scandal news: A supermarket worker in Spain was unlawfully sacked for having eaten a croquette that was going to be thrown away, a court has ruled.
• Pride of Britain?: The Elizabeth Line, London's fast-train "Crossrail" service - named after our late Monarch - was actually run by a Hong Kong Chinese company; now it's Japanese. So much for patriotic fervour.

• And finally: RIP Charles Dumont, who composed Edith Piaf's Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien...

Edith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien

And the weather? Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!

Coq Galoise, encore

Gratuitous photo of French totty, bien sûr.

Across the channel, our leetle Froggy chums are having a party - for today is their biggest day of celebration, Le Quatorze Juillet (or, as it is better known here, Bastille Day!

To mark the occasion, shall we dance..?

Cassita - La Foule

Je soigne les remords

Do you wake up to clear blue winter skies only to find the sun’s gone by the time you’re dressed? Here’s how to make the most of your tiny slice of daylight.

Get out of bed
Special as it can be to watch the sun rise and set in six minutes from under the duvet, it means you’ll be doing everything else in the dark for the rest of the day. If you get up while it’s light you’ll feel you’ve achieved something, even if it’s just putting on underwear.

Gaze out of the window
Spend a few of those precious daylight moments looking out of the window. It might be the only time you’ll see the outdoors bathed in natural light all week so, as well as admiring the pretty clouds, take a moment to check the car hasn’t been nicked.

Look in the mirror
If you haven’t seen your face in natural light for several days, be brave and have a good look in the mirror. It will be a miserable experience compared to the soft glow of your smile in a low wattage light bulb, but it’ll prompt you to get your roots done before Christmas.

Go outside
If you find a moment when it isn’t pissing with rain, step outside. It’s important to let some vitamin D penetrate your dry, pasty skin and make sure the few muscles left in your wasted, sedentary body still vaguely work.

Get back into bed
By the time you’ve achieved anything, your tiny window of winter daylight will have closed and it will be pitch dark again. Like a bird with a blanket over its cage you will immediately return to sleep.

The Daily Mash

Of course.

Let's escape from the gloom for a moment, courtesy of "The Little Sparrow" (who was born 115 years ago today), allons-nous?

Édith Piaf - Milord

Oh, that's better...

Édith Piaf (born Édith Giovanna Gassion, 19th December 1915 – 10th October 1963)

Vive la différence

Hoorah!

France has become the 14th country to approve a law allowing gay marriage.

The bill, which also legalises adoption by same-sex couples, was passed by 321 votes to 225 in the French parliament.

The decision follows a divisive public debate with some of the biggest protests seen in France in recent years.

To celebrate, here's an appropriate number from that French icon Edith Piaf:

Edith Piaf - Hymne L'Amour

Read more on the BBC

Coq Gaulois

As today is Le quatorze juillet, better known to non-Frenchies as Bastille Day, in addition to posting a photo of a proud French cock I decided to dig out some Gallic treats for our delectation.

A million years ago, I was in a relationship with a French boy (we're all still friends today). The very first contemporary French artiste he introduced me to was ex-soap actress turned singer Ysa Ferrer, and this brilliant song became something of an anthem at the time:

Ysa Ferrer - Mes Rêves

Next is one of those "must-haves" for anyone (like me) who delights in collecting bizarre and eclectic music - a dance remix of one Edith Piaf's hits La Foule (of course!):

Cassita - La Foule

And speaking of the divine Edith, here's the little sparrow herself:

Edith Piaf - Padam, Padam

Of course, any tribute to French music cannot be complete without that glittering gay icon Dalida - whose costume here (in her own tribute to an earlier Gallic legend Mistinguett) may well provide us with another option for next year's Pride outfits:

Dalida - Comme disait Mistinguett

Nor should I neglect the wonderful Charles Trenet, whose iconic status in France was undented by a gay sex scandal (he was apparently briefly imprisoned for "corrupting minors") in the 1960s. Boum, indeed:

Charles Trenet - Boum

And to end this brief (and incomplete) trawl of music from the land of strong cigarettes, wine, smelly cheese, Napoleon, garlic and air traffic controller strikes, here's their national anthem, brilliantly sung here by opera diva Jessye Norman:

Jessye Norman - La Marseillaise (200 aniversario Revolución Francesa - La mar)

Bastille Day

La Vie en Rose

92 years ago today a certain Edith Piaf was born (as Edith Giovanna Gassion).



A tragic figure, and a tiny slip of a girl (hence her nickname Little Sparrow), Piaf rose from her incredibly poor background in the backstreets of Paris, mingling with pimps and mobsters, to become the most incredibly popular singer France has ever seen.

Her popularity was largely due to the way she interpreted ballads with her singularly heartbreaking voice, and among the songs for which she is famous are timeless classics like La Vie en Rose, Milord and Je ne Regrette Rien. Along the way to success, Edith was responsible for launching the careers of such French luminaries as Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour, and she grew to become an international star, performing to sell-out audiences across Europe and in the US. She was renowned for her appetite for pleasure - and indeed there were many men in Edith Piaf's life, husbands, lovers and friends.

On her tragic - and early - death in 1963, it is said that the traffic stopped in the city of Paris for only the first time since WW2. An icon, a star, never to be emulated, imitated, or matched...

Edith Piaf - La Vie En Rose

La Vie en Rose, a biographical account of Edith Piaf's life, was released as a movie in 2007. Order a copy of the DVD on Amazon

Edith Piaf on Wikipedia