We're off to another of our fave pubs The Perseverance (near Great Ormond Street hospital in Bloomsbury) this afternoon, for another "gathering of the clans" at one of our irregular "Film Club" events.
This one is to mark John-John's birthday (next Thursday) - and given the impending spookiness of the Hallowe'en season, we'll be treated to not only The Witches of Eastwick (a beloved slice of campery), but also one of Bette Davis's most arch-camp-evil roles in The Anniversary:
Delicious!
It is our dear friend John-John's [dare I say it? - 65th] birthday today!
Our little gang - of course - had a "gathering" to mark the occasion on Saturday, but...
...he is "ABBA's Number One Fan", after all - so how about an old, old favourite mash-up to mark the occasion?
Many happy returns, you old queen!!
We're off later this afternoon for a get-together in one of our fave pubs, the Penderel's Oak in Holborn, to celebrate our friend John-John's birthday (which is actually on Monday).
It's also Hallowe'en weekend (that's on Tuesday) so we fully expect to see a load of people dressed up as witches, bitches, vampires and the like as the evening progresses!
John-John being Abba's "Number One Fan", I thought it appropriate to feature something from the Swedish supergroup's back catalogue by way of a celebration...
...and it's definitively their spookiest number:
I hear the door-bell ring and suddenly the panic takes me
The sound so ominously tearing through the silence
I cannot move, I'm standing
Numb and frozen
Among the things I love so dearly
The books, the paintings and the furniture
Help me...
The signal's sounding once again and someone tries the doorknob
None of my friends would be so stupidly impatient
And they don't dare to come here
Any more now
But how I loved our secret meetings
We talked and talked in quiet voices
Smiling...
Now I hear them moving
Muffled noises coming through the door
I feel I'm
Crackin' up
Voices growing louder, irritation building
And I'm close to fainting
Crackin' up
They must know by now I'm in here trembling
In a terror ever growing
Crackin' up
My whole world is falling, going crazy
There is no escaping now, I'm
Crackin' up
These walls have witnessed all the anguish of humiliation
And seen the hope of freedom glow in shining faces
And now they've come to take me
Come to break me
And yet it isn't unexpected
I have been waiting for these visitors
Help me...
Now I hear them moving
Muffled noises coming through the door
I feel I'm
Crackin' up
Voices growing louder, irritation building
And I'm close to fainting
Crackin' up
They must know by now I'm in here trembling
In a terror ever growing
Crackin' up
My whole world is falling, going crazy
There is no escaping now, I'm
Crackin' up
Crackin' up? Moi? Not bloody likely - but who knows, after another all-day drinking sesh?
There's light at the end of the tunnel, dear reader, as we crawl towards the end of another week.
I got paid on Thursday, the unseasonable warm spell across the UK is set to continue for a pleasant change, and...
...we actually do have a party to go to tonight!
It's our friend John-John's birthday next week, and we're off to Wetherspoons in Holborn for copious amounts of drink and a laugh with chums.
Happy birthday, you old fart - and have some Abba!
Thank Disco It's Friday!
It's our friend John-John's birthday today!
Our "gang" is gathering once more, as we do, for another all-day session at the Wetherspoons in High Holborn - which should be fun and games as always.
John-John's fanaticism about all things Abba is well-documented - so here, for his (and our) listening pleasure, is a selection of their classic hits...
...IN HINDI!
Inevitably, we do have this album in our collection here at Dolores Delargo Towers [and I have, of course, featured the marvellous Agha sisters here before]...
Happy birthday, John-John!
On this day in 1899 the Siege of Ladysmith began in the Boer War, in 1917 the Balfour Declaration (of support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine) was agreed, in 1938 Orson Welles broadcast his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds and caused a mass panic across the USA, and in 1973 the Bosphorus Bridge in Turkey (connecting the continents of Europe and Asia) was completed; a raft of assorted "names" were also born today, including Sir Christopher Wren, Grace Slick, Ruth Gordon, Charles Atlas, Stefan Dennis, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Mario Testino, Henry Winkler, Diego Maradona, Michael Winner, Ruth Hussey, Gavin Rossdale, Ezra Pound, Harry Hamlin, Anna Wing, Juliet Stevenson and (ahem) Ivanka Trump...
...and our friend John-John!
Since it is also the end of another uninspiring week of work and no parties to go to, I reckon we can combine the birthday boy's ABBA obsession with something a bit more "dancy", courtesy of some tarts, a boat and a pool - and Thank Disco Electro House It's Friday!
Happy birthday, dear.
Have a great weekend, dear reader!
