Of beligerent grannies, The Doctor, tiaras, Diana, gay pioneers and "ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah"

Another peek up my back passage, with new plant shelving centre-stage

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Checkout rage news: A wheelchair-using woman went berserk and started throwing her shopping at another customer in Morrisons in Eccles, Greater Manchester. I only came in for a balloon," said the victim...

  ...meanwhile, in Thailand they do it bigger and better - as a hungry elephant was filmed helping itself to snacks in a grocery store!

• Chav news: A woman from Newcastle complained her holiday in Corfu was a "nightmare" because the hotel had no English food and not enough chips. Perhaps someone should point out to the stupid cow that Corfu is, in fact, in - erm - Greece?!
• Geek news: Much chatter has erupted in nerdy sci-fi fan circles, after the surprise ending of the current Doctor Who series showed Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor incarnation transform into - Billie Piper, who played the Doctor's companion "Rose Tyler" in the early seasons of the show after its revival back in 2005! Confused? You will be...

• Jewellery news: Nancy Astor's gorgeous turquoise and diamond Art Deco tiara [above] has sold at auction in London for the princely sum of £889,400! I wanted to put a bid in, but it probably would have been too small anyway...
• People's Princess news: Speaking of auctions - a collection of frocks, accessories and memorabilia of the late Princess Diana are being auctioned in a few weeks' time. Maybe this time, I'll be lucky? [I have my eye on that ostrich-feather fan!]
• A gay pioneer departs: RIP, gay author and memoirist Edmund White, whose ground-breaking A Boy's Own Story was essential reading for me and a whole generation of gay men when I came out in the 1980s - and remains a classic of its genre today. Read a selection of tributes from authors (and others) who he influenced.
• And finally: It's the marvellously eccentric Miss Laurie Anderson's birthday today! What better excuse to play this bizarre number (a favourite of mine)? All together, now...

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

And the weather? Pissing down and miserable. "Flaming June", my arse.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...

Our spectacular Madeira geranium is almost in full flush in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers [click to embiggen]

Having spotted that not one, but two great composers were born on this date, this gives me another perfect excuse to inject some class into this blog...

...with a twist, inevitably.

Whoever would have come up with the idea of putting Gabriel Fauré [born 12th May 1845] and David Guetta together? This lot did...

The Piano Guys - Titanium (David Guetta) vs Fauré's Pavane

[I didn't even recognise the David Guetta song - it's here, fyi]

Even weirder, whoever would have thought this piece of music-as-artform that was a surprise hit back in 1981 was based upon a work by Jules Massenet [born 12th May 1842]..?

Laurie Anderson - O Superman

Indeed, Miss Anderson even subtitled the record "for Massenet". According to a column by Olivia Giovetti for Operavore:

"The work, a breakdown of Massenet’s "Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père" from Le Cid, channels Massenet’s text through a vocoder, layering in several other elements that obscure the source material but amplify its heart..."

Here's the original - see what you think. Apart from the fact that her lyrics "O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad." are an evident pastiche of the song's title, I can't hear it, myself!

Jonas Kaufmann - Ô Souverain, ô Juge, ô Père (Massenet)

I wonder what either composer would have thought...