What did those poor wrens ever do to you? *
Stephen Sondheim:
Boxing Day is also known as St Stephen's Day or *Wren Day.
Showing posts with label Lily Savage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lily Savage. Show all posts
Friday, 26 December 2025
Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Ja als ie maar groot is, twee vingers hoog is! *
"And so we're back. From outer space..." well, Amsterdam actually.
What a fantabulosa time we had, too!
We (Madam Arcati, Baby Steve, Houseboy Alex and I) always "do it large" when we spend a long weekend in fair "Mokum" - but this time, as an ongoing part of my 60th birthday celebrations, we literally "pushed the boat out"...
...for the Madam had only gone and got us a trip around the grachten in our own private vessel!!
Mooi!
To top it all, we disembarked at the private jetty of Amsterdam's premier grand Hotel Americain afterwards, where we were entertained by a lovely band playing Jazz/Swing standards and had a slap-up steak dinner. I felt even more like a Queen than usual...
Other than that special Sunday, the weekend was a whirlwind of meandering this beautiful city, taking in the wonders of the wonky canalside buildings, the historic Red Light District (where our hotel The Anco is located), the magnificent architecture of my beloved Tuschinski Theatre, the shopping streets, the Dam, the brown cafés on De Spui square, and (of course) visiting our favourite gay bars - Café 't Mandje, Spijker Bar, the Queen's Head, Amstel 54 and the best of 'em all, Montmartre - as well as doing as the locals do by eating mainly at FEBO and Van Dobbens [not a shred of roughage to be had!].
Ending with a bang, on Monday - our last day while waiting to get our flight home - we actually managed to catch the camp-as-tits Hartjesdag parade of men-dressed-as-women and vice-versa:
I could not have asked for more for my milestone birthday!
Did we miss anything while were away?
The journalistic and broadcasting world mourned the loss of a national treasure, the greatest chat-show host this country ever had, Sir Michael Parkinson, whose eponymous BBC show was a peak primetime hit that spanned all the way from 1971 to 1982 and again from 1998 until its final iteration (by then on ITV) in 2007. In that long, long run he interviewed myriad top stars including Bette Davis, Dame Edith Evans, Kenneth Williams, David Bowie, Peter Ustinov, Muhammad Ali, Liberace, Fred Astaire, Orson Welles, James Stewart, John Wayne, Mickey Rooney, David Niven, Gene Kelly, James Cagney, Robert Mitchum, Billy Connolly, John Lennon, Tina Turner, Madonna, Dame Edna Everage, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Redford, Joan Rivers, Oliver Reed, Helen Mirren, Ingrid Bergman, Dustin Hoffman, Bette Midler, Luciano Pavarotti, Peter Cook, Miss Piggy, and many, many more besides. And was sometimes upstaged by some of them:
Needless to say, the big news for football-loving Brits (and British media) was the fact that the women's team lost their World Cup attempt to Spain in the final; there was acres of coverage (as there has been for months) of the horrific trial of child serial killer nurse Lucy Letby, which ended in her imprisonment for life; the furore over the (probably) criminal fire and subsequent demoltion of The Crooked House pub in the Midlands continued to enthral the meejah; and there was a rather dramatic turn of events in the ongoing war in Ukraine, with the destruction of a high-tech Russion bomber way inside its own territory. Good.
However, as always when we come back from holiday I hear you cry, dear reader, "But what did you bring us back, Jon?!"
How about this?!
You do, of course, need to be fairly tanked-up on lager and Flugel shots to really "get" it I suppose. Try this one:
If that one doesn't get you going, you are just going to have to come along with us next time and experience the sheer buzz of a crowd sing-a-long to songs like this in Café Montmartre on the Amstel to see exactly why we adore it so...
Is it good to be back?
No!!!
[* "Ja als ie maar groot is, twee vingers hoog is" = "Yes if it is big, two fingers high!" - an extract from the lyrics of Viva Cerveza]
Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Farewell, Our Lil
From Matt Cain's panegyric in The Guardian:
Lily Savage could be abrasive and her form of drag was anarchic and disruptive. As the punk rock of its day, it was the perfect fit for his rebellious political views. These weren’t just limited to queer culture – in 2010, he delivered a famous rant against Tory austerity. He had a passion for social justice, and from an early age was fired up by ignorance and prejudice.
First and foremost, though, he was a gay activist. And his work on this front began when increasing visibility was key.
Lily Savage was a pioneer for drag in the mainstream, way before RuPaul’s Drag Race. With a spot on The Big Breakfast and a hosting role on Blankety Blank, O’Grady may have cleaned up his language but he didn’t tone down his act.
This meant that when he retired Lily Savage and began presenting TV shows as himself, it had a huge impact. It showed the mainstream public that gay people could be just like them. And it showed gay people that it was possible to be embraced by society without having to sanitise certain of the less “respectable” elements of our culture. O’Grady may have been embraced as a national treasure, but the British public knew exactly who they were embracing.
From rebellious and sometimes law-breaking working-class boy (and father of a child while in his teens) to waiter at a brothel in Manila, social worker, dive bar drag act, BAFTA-winning chat show interviewer (in and out of drag), "inmate" in Prisoner Cell Block H: The Musical, prime-time-telly-show-host (Blankety Blank and Blind Date), pantomime dame, gay rights campaigner, "Miss Hannigan", close friend of Cilla Black, Barbara Windsor and even (reputedly) HM The Queen, renowned dog (and every other kind of animal) lover, genial and hilarious radio show presenter, national treasure - Paul O'Grady was loved by everyone, in whatever "role" he played.
For one man to receive tributes from the likes of Dame Elton John, Queen Consort Camilla, Russell T Davies, stalwart rights campaigners including Peter Tatchell, politicians, journalists, charitable bodies, numerous drag performers, and myriad names from the world of showbiz including Sandi Toksvig, Eddy Izzard, Ken Bruce, Carol Vorderman, Susan Boyle, Tom Hardy, Lorraine Kelly, John Barrowman, Vanessa Feltz, Joe Lycett, Zoe Ball, Jeremy Vine, Gaby Roslin, Amanda Holden, Rob Brydon, Les Dennis, Paddy McGuinness, and thousands more is quite an eye-opener.
There was seemingly no end to his talents as a true humanitarian. It was, however, to his acid-queen alter-ego (despite the fact he retired her in 2007) "Our Lil" Lily Savage to whom we turn to pay due homage...
...and whoever knew she released a Hi-NRG song?!
RIP, Paul James O'Grady MBE.
There will never be another.
Monday, 29 November 2021
Sondheim of the Day - Gypsy
Probably one of my favourite musicals of all time, the semi-autobiographical tale of a timid Vaudeville-player-turned-stripping-superstar and her domineering mother, Gypsy was an extremely unlikely storyline for a musical way back in 1959 [hardly the most enlightened of times] - yet, with its book (loosely based on Gypsy Rose Lee's salacious memoirs) by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and the imperious presence of the musical sensation Ethel Merman as its "Mama Rose", it was a huge success.
In a mirror of the plot of overbearing stage mother trying to dominate her children and live her dreams of stardom vicariously through them, it was in fact Miss Merman who pushed the show to be produced in the first place - yet, however, to her eternal chagrin she lost out to Rosalind Russell when it came to casting the film adaptation!
I love Gypsy because of its brash campery, and its plethora of end-of-the-evening arm-stretch-gesturing belt-em-out numbers - and so, Curtain up! Light the lights! Let's start with an unbeatable one:
[Love this - but I'm also rather fond of the Angela Lansbury version]Needless to say, "our gang" went along en masse to see the 2015 West End revival, starring Imelda Staunton, which was utterly phenomenal! - read more about that here.
Fab-u-lous!
RIP, Stephen Joshua Sondheim (22nd March 1930 – 26th November 2021)
[One of a series of tributes I will be posting to Mr Sondheim this week.]
Previous "Sondheim of the Day" entries:
Sunday, 14 June 2020
Once I was a schleppa
Gosh! "National treasure", star of telly, radio and the stage (in his "alter-ego" of Lily Savage, primarily), Mr Paul O'Grady is 65 years old today.
We were only listening to his (currently in "best of" repeats format, since he is "shielding" in isolation during the coronavirus) Radio 2 show this evening. Coincidentally enough, the subject of this episode was Cilla Black, for the clip I have selected by way of a tribute today is an old, old favourite - in which "Our Lil" appears alongside said Cilla and fellow "treasure", Barbara Windsor...
Happy birthday, chook!
Paul O'Grady MBE (born Paul James Grady, 14th June 1955)
More Mr O'Grady/Miss Savage here, here and particularly here
Monday, 11 March 2019
On thin ice
How can that weekend have gone so quickly?!
Oh dear, never mind, let's think of ways to cheer ourselves up.
On this day in history: in 1983 Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean won their fourth gold medal at the World Ice Dancing Championships in Helsinki, a precursor to their "perfect score" and gold medal at the Olympics the following year.
This being a Tacky Music Monday, however, it's another routine I need to play...
Ah, that's cheered me up!
Have a good week, dear reader.
Thursday, 14 January 2016
"I don't mean Ratners!"
News that the British institution that is Argos is going down the pan comes as no surprise to moi.
Always a bit of a "tacky" store, emerging as it did out of the ashes of the old "Green Shield Stamps" emporia, its most recent reinvention - slowly phasing-out the traditional catalogues, paper order slips, little "betting-shop-style" pens and tills in favour of touch-screen terminals (half of which never work) and card prepayment machines (most of which never work) - has created a form of organised chaos at the collection points that, last time I went there, was reminiscent of a North African airport (minus the goats).
I went to purchase an expansion drive to backup the old PC and ended up spending 45 minutes of my life I will never get back, waiting, with all the other red-faced and angry punters, for an order that their "professional staff" had promptly lost - it seems some lucky person who was waiting for their purchased 16Gb memory stick ended up with my £60 Seagate 2Tb drive by mistake; I ended up with the correct item and a hand-written receipt eventually.
When it comes to rewarding shopping experiences, I think only the "Seventh Gate of Hell" that is IKEA comes close...
Anyway, in its favour, its appeal to the chavvier elements of society was forever immortalised in song by none other than "The Blonde Bombsite" herself, Miss Lily Savage!
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
The Linchpin of the gay scene - but for how long?
Following the recent unceremonious closures of such iconic London gay pubs and venues as The Black Cap, the Man Bar, Madam Jojo’s, the Green Carnation, Barcode and the Joiner's Arms, the battle is heating up to save possibly the most important of them all...
From The Guardian:
The threat of closure hangs over London’s oldest gay venue, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, after its purchase by Austrian property developers.
What is about this spit-and-sawdust LGBTQ south London pub that regulars love so much? Performers including Amy Lamé, Timberlina and Bette Bourne show us behind the scenes at the capital’s home of drag:
Facts:
- The RVT was built in 1863 on land which was originally part of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, and started life as a Music Hall; its metal columns are believed to have been salvaged from the original colonnades in the Gardens.
- Once at the apex of two rows of terraced houses, in the 1970s the Tavern was left standing alone when almost all of the other 1860s buildings were torn down; since then it has survived one attempt to turn it into a backpackers’ hostel and another to demolish it to make way for a shopping centre (including water park and ‘snow dome’).
- The Tavern was once the site of a riot sparked by a police raid (wearing rubber gloves in case they "caught AIDS") while Lily Savage was performing in 1984; she and ten others were arrested in the chaos.
- Princess Diana, disguised as a man, allegedly once visited the RVT in the 1980s with Freddie Mercury, Kenny Everett and Cleo Rocos.
Diana Dors with The Trollettes at the RVT
Alongside fellow campaigners Paul O'Grady (the former Lily Savage, who describes it as “the Royal Vauxhall Tavern School of Dramatic Art” and “my spiritual home”), Sir Ian "Serena" McKellen, and director of Pride (which was filmed in part there) Stephen Beresford, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson said:
"The Royal Vauxhall Tavern has been a linchpin at the heart of London’s LGBT community for more than six decades. [In June 2015] New York gave the Stonewall Inn landmark status, recognising its place in that city’s history.And here are just three of the many drag acts who made it "shine" - Lily Savage, Sandra Hush and David Dale on stage at the RVT back in the 1980s:
“The RVT’s unique contribution to the vibrancy of London life should also be celebrated. It is a beacon that is known around the world and must be made a listed building so it can continue to shine for years to come.”
I urge everyone to lend their support to the campaign to save this historic gay venue!
Sunday, 2 August 2015
A true "national treasure" departs
RIP Cilla Black, probably Britain's best-loved all-round entertainer.
Very sad news indeed - the flags are at half-mast here at Dolores Delargo Towers.
Here are some of her most memorable moments...
With Miss Dusty Springfield back in the 1990s:
Winning the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014:
And, finally - that Royal Variety Show performance:
Cheers, chuck! It was a "lorra, lorra laughs".
Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27th May 1943 – 2nd August 2015)
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Three old broads
In these times of doom, gloom, cold weather and redundancy, I cheer myself up by delving into the world of showbiz. And what better way is there?
Here's a fabulous extract from The Royal Variety Show in 2001 that features three of the greatest showgirls ever to work together - Miss Babs Windsor, Miss Cilla Black and... Miss Lily Savage! Enjoy...
Here's a fabulous extract from The Royal Variety Show in 2001 that features three of the greatest showgirls ever to work together - Miss Babs Windsor, Miss Cilla Black and... Miss Lily Savage! Enjoy...
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