Something nice to study, phoning up a buddy, being in my nuddy

Farewell, Gunther Von Hagens, whose Body Worlds freakshows exhibitions of "plastinated" corpses were wildly popular amongst the ghoulish in the early 2000s.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• It could crush a small child news: As part of its centennial celebrations, the Los Angeles Public Library has put on display the world's biggest-ever pop-up book, spanning approximately 31 by 20 feet when open! Your arms would be aching trying to read that one...
• Surprising food choices for a heatwave news: Supermarket giant Waitrose has reported a surprise increase in sales of winter comfort foods, such as cottage pies, gratins and red wine, despite the ongoing heatwaves across the UK. Let's face it, that kind of dish is a damned sight tastier than lettuce, any day!
• We're almost at the end of [the somewhat concocted] "Disability Pride Month" [something I certainly never heard of in all the time I worked for the leading UK disability charity Scope, so I assume it's yet another US import] - but no further excuse is necessary, really, to play one of the UK's most celebrated and defiant disabled heroes, the late, great Ian Dury:

Ian Dury and The Blockheads - Reasons to be Cheerful (Part Three)

• Wakanda Forever news: In a surprise announcement at Comic-Con in San Diego, the next "Black Panther" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to be British actor David Jonsson - an actor best known for, ummm, a load of stuff we've never watched and are not likely to, such as "investment bank-based drama" Industry or streaming-channel-only rom-com The Road Trip. Let's hope he lives up to expectations.
• Don't do this at home news: In possibly the most pointless Guinness World Record ever, an Idaho man got the record for the most consecutive flaming torch juggling catches while riding on a unicycle - and burned off his eyebrows in the process! The only thing that comes to mind is "why the fuck would you do that?"
• And, finally: RIP, "national treasure" Bill Oddie, comedian, broadcaster, one of the original hosts of the BBC's Springwatch, famous birdwatcher - and, of course, a pivotal member of this lot, one of the most beloved anarchic comedy troupes of the 70s, alongside Monty Python:

The Goodies - Kitten Kong

The Goodies - Funky Gibbon

And the weather? Heatwave #4 is upon us - with temperatures in London set to reach 33C/92F (and possibly higher) tomorrow, and no respite in sight. Pass me a gin'n'tonic with loads of ice and a slice of lime, my dear...

It's a Heartache

"I wanted to be a singer, not a star. There's a difference between wanting to be famous and wanting to sing well. I have never gone out of fashion. And do you know why? Because I never sought it. When you don't seek it, it's always with you."

We here at Dolores Delargo Towers are distraught at the sad news that Swansea's finest export Miss Bonnie Tyler has donned her last pair of leather trousers and departed for the great pyrotechnics-dry-ice-and-wind-machine-equipped stadium in Fabulon.

We adored her for her down-to-earth, no-nonsense personality, her bounce-backs and - of course - her vocal talents. She's gone far too soon...

Facts about Our Bonnie:

• Her uniquely husky singing voice was apparently the result of an operation to remove vocal nodules in the mid-1970s.
• From working in a local shop, the then Gaynor Hopkins won a local talent contest in 1969 and launched herself as a singer under the name "Sherene Davis".
• Finally, her big break came in 1975 when a talent scout spotted her, brought her to London to secure a record deal, and suggested she ditch "Sherene"; so Bonnie Tyler was born.
• Through her husband, property developer Robert Sullivan, she was related to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and attended her wedding to Michael Douglas.
• In the 1970s and 80s, she became one of the best-selling artists in the world, with a string of million-selling singles.

Speaking of hits, here are two of her early ones, before she ever met Jim Steinman:

Bonnie Tyler - It's a Heartache

Bonnie Tyler - Lost in France

Regarding the "Steinman years", I posted their collaboration Holding Out for a Hero back in May [when the news first hit that Bonnie was in a coma], so how about this, that rarely gets an outing, despite its outrageously camp video:

Bonnie Tyler - Faster Than the Speed of Night

No tribute on this sad day would be complete, of course, without this song. No, not the original, but the hilarious "literal interpretation" video of her campest ever single - Total Eclipse of the Heart!

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (literal video version)

RIP, Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins, 8th June 1951 - 8th July 2026).

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:

---

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."

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)

"It's a number written for me by Jo-Hann Strauss"

Alongside a raft of "names" including HM The Queen Victoria, Patti LaBelle, Jim Broadbent, Lilli Palmer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Gene Anthony Ray, Bob Dylan, Alfred Molina, Jean-Paul Marat, Prince Buster, Priscilla Presley, Eric Cantona, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Mai Zetterling, Jan Smuts, Rosanne Cash, Steven Norris and - opportunely, given the heatwave in London - Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, inventor of the Fahrenheit scale...

...today marks the centenary of the birth of the fantabulosa Stanley Baxter [who only died last year]!

By way of a respite from the (officially-designated) heatwave [even I - "part-man, part-lizard", who loves basking in the sun - needed to get out of it mid-afternoon], here's another couple of classic sketches from the great man himself:

Stanley Baxter - Miss Chop Suey

Stanley Baxter - Liberace

He was great, and is greatly missed!

Stanley Livingstone Baxter (24th May 1926 – 11th December 2025)

Beat me on the bottom with a Woman's Weekly

"Everyone's a national treasure these days; you can't move for them. But there should only ever be one at a time. For years, it was Dame Thora Hird. After she died, it was going to be Judi Dench, but then Joanna Lumley saved the Gurkhas so she got the gig."

It's certainly the year of sad anniversaries. On this day a decade ago, we lost the genius that was Victoria Wood. And, yes, she was a "national treasure"!

Needless to say, I, Madam Arcati, and all "our gang" absolutely idolised the woman. As did the majority of British society. We can all recite lines - maybe even whole sketches word-for-word - from her ground-breaking television series. And here's just a tiny sample of our favourites...

Victoria Wood and Julie Walters - Turkish Bath

Victoria Wood - Two Soups

Victoria Wood - Shoe Shop

Victoria Wood - Acorn Antiques

Of course, I haven't forgotten it's a Tacky Music Monday - so here's the ultimate pick-me-up with which to start the week!

Victoria Wood - Ballad of Barry and Freda

Victoria Wood (19th May 1953 – 20th April 2016). We still miss you.

Have a good week, dear reader.

Just the one, dear?

Another day, another centenary...

Today, one hundred years ago, someone who was very dear to our hearts was born - Dame June Whitfield!

Probably the most "treasured" of "national treasures", in her long career she played ditzy "Eff"in The Glums, and the long-suffering eponymous wife in Terry and June, appeared in a long-running series of adverts for Birds Eye, played various supporting characters alongside comedy greats such as Jimmy Edwards, Tony Hancock, Roy Hudd, Arthur Askey, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill and the Carry On team, and was even Miss Marple (on the radio).

She stuck her tongue firmly in her perfectly-crafted cheek for "cult" roles with Julian Clary, French & Saunders and in Dr Who, culminating in possibly her best-loved role as "Gran" in Ab Fab.

She sang with big and small bands, played deadly serious as well as light entertainment parts; the woman could do anything...

We had the privilege of sitting right in front of the great lady (and Prunella Scales and Timothy West, to boot!) at Wilton's Music Hall when Roy Hudd was appearing on stage delivering his History Of The Music Hall, and she was every bit the dear, sweet little old lady she appeared to be.

Speaking of "sweet":

June Whitfield - "Gran"'s finest moment [Absolutely Fabulous]

All hail, Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11th November 1925 – 29th December 2018)!

When stout-hearted men can stick together man to man

Yep. Back to the old routine...

Another enjoyable weekend has gone boom! - and it's back to the office time again... Hey ho.

Today, alongside fellow celebrants Dame Anna Wintour, John Barry, Adam Ant, Monica Vitti, Charles Bronson, Roseanne Barr, Lord Kenneth Baker, Dolph Lundgren, Jeremy Brett, Vincenzo Bellini, Robert Miles, Ben Fogle, Ian Wright, Viscount David Linley (2nd Earl of Snowdon), Dylan Moran, Gary Olsen and Benvenuto Cellini...

...it's Lulu's birthday!

So, to cheer us up, and to give us a bit of a wake-up call on this Tacky Music Monday, how about the great lady herself with this "safety-gay-heavy" number?

Lulu - Stout-Hearted Men

Have a good week, dear reader.

Farewell, Kitty

Oh, dear - it appears that my cryptic "out-of-office" message on Thursday caused consternation and concern amongst my viewing public (tee-hee!).

In summary: Mother was supposed to have a cataract op back in August [and I went down to stay in an apartment just around the corner from her house in Portsmouth in case she needed some help and support afterwards]. To her annoyance, they couldn't complete the job back then, and it was rescheduled to this week - thus I ended up back down there again. Thankfully, the op went ahead this time - so hopefully once the soreness goes down, she will notice a difference.

My message was merely a quick "holding page", as I knew that I would be on my work laptop both days and tending to Her Ladyship in between dealing with work stuff, so it was not going to be feasible to post to Blogger.

I had in the back of my mind that I might "play catch-up" on my return to London yesterday, but no! Some selfish bastard decided to throw him/herself onto the rails just outside Wimbledon - one of the busiest spots on the South Western network, where all the lines from Hampshire, Surrey and the West Country converge on their way into London Waterloo - and all trains had to be taken out of service. At Woking. The middle of fucking nowhere.

The station was absolutely heaving, as several full trainloads of disgruntled passengers were crowded on to the platforms. I got out for a fag (of course), and started weighing up the options. I could have gone into the - ahem - metropolis of Woking, found a pub and waited it out. That did not seem like a good idea. I could have stood outside in the rain waiting for information. Nope. I could have got a taxi to London, but I'm not that rich! Then I spotted that there was a coach connection from out the back of the station to Heathrow Airport, and the Piccadilly Line runs from there all the way home to Wood Green - so, understandably I took that option!

Having left Portsmouth Harbour station at 2.15pm, I finally arrived home at 7 o'clock... Oh, what larks.

Sigh.

---

Meanwhile...

We are in absolute mourning here at Dolores Delargo Towers, as one of our favourite actresses and Patron Saint Dame Patricia Routledge has departed for Fabulon, to knock some sense into the place, no doubt, at the venerable age of 96.

I have paid homage to the great lady many times - not least here, here and here [and we went to see her in conversation back in 2011] - and needless to say, the tributes are pouring in across the media, from friends, co-stars and from the numerous organisations of which she was a patron and supporter.

Most people have focussed in on her long and lauded theatrical career, her readings for Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, and the TV roles for which she was (understandably) most recognised, "Hyacinth Bucket" in Keeping Up Appearances and the eponymous Hetty Wainthropp Investigates - however, it was for one particular character on Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV that we first fell in love with her:

Patricia Routledge - Kitty

And, then there's this - possibly the last time we ever saw her on our screens:

Dame Patricia Routledge - I Went to a Marvellous Party [Noël Coward]

How very appropriate.

RIP, Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge (17th February 1929 – 3rd October 2025)

My heart wants to sing every song it hears

She's practically perfect, in every way!

Yes, the venerable and venerated Dame Julie Andrews blows out 90 candles on her cake today, and the tributes are rolling in - not least this amusing one in The Guardian. Who knew she used to drive around Los Angeles with a “Mary Poppins Was a Junkie” bumper sticker on her car?!

But I digress... On with the show!

Julie Andrews - Saga of Jenny (from Star!)

Julie Andrews - Wedding Song (Trinkt le Chaim) (from Thoroughly Modern Millie)

Julie Andrews - A Spoonful of Sugar (from Mary Poppins)

Julie Andrews - Le Jazz Hot (from Victor, Victoria)

Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music Opening Scene

Many, many happy returns, Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (born 1st October 1935)

The Diva from Doncaster

Heavens! Miss Lesley Garrett, the "Diva from Doncaster" - the first modern opera diva to do "the crossover", landing her own BBC television show in the late 80s in which she gave the audience a potted history of certain pieces of classical music, then sang them, alongside myriad special guests as diverse as Elaine Paige, Renee Fleming, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Marti Pellow, Michel Legrand, Alison Moyet, Michael Ball, Maxim Vengerov and Ian Bostridge - blows out 70 candles on her cake today!

Gifted with a natural Yorkshire "down-to-earth" manner as well as a beautiful vocal tone, Miss Garrett is rightly regarded as a "national treasure", and lauded for her place in taking opera to the masses (a trend that has continued ever since with the likes of Katherine Jenkins and Russell Watson, and of course Classic FM today).

Here are some clips of the lady herself, firstly with two very special guests...

Lesley Garrett, Patricia Hodge and Lily Savage - Three Little Maids

Before she discovered grooming, here she holds her own alongside mezzo-soprano Ann Murray singing the traditional Rule Britannia at the Last Night of the Proms in 1990:

Lesley Garrett, Ann Murray - Rule, Britannia

And finally, her solo version of Handel's Tornami a Vagheggiar:

Lesley Garrett - Morgana's aria Tornami a vagheggiar (from Alcina by George Frideric Handel)

Happy Birthday, pet!

Lesley Garrett (born 10th April 1955)

Of Batman, spies, censorship, earth-moving, god-botherers and a Dame

RIP, Val Kilmer, gorgeous star of "Top Gun" and "Batman Forever".

Another snippets post today, dear reader:

• Spy news: Compact spy cameras, microdots in a talcum powder tin, a briefcase abandoned by Soviet spy Guy Burgess as he fled the UK, and a desiccated 110-year-old lemon that played a pivotal role in WWI are all on show in a new exhibition MI5: Official Secrets at the National Archives, opening this weekend. I wonder if they have any of James Bond's gadgets on display?
• Philistines news: Paris may be scented by centuries of coffee and Gauloise aromas, but the Paris Metro has banned a poster advertising a new David Hockney exhibition because he happens to be holding a cigarette! "L'Etat nounou", vraiment! ["Nanny State", indeed! in English]

• Never complain about potholes again news: Britain's 'wonkiest road' that was so badly damaged by a landslip during "Storm Eunice" in 2022 it was being used as a makeshift skate park has finally reopened after £5million was spent on repairs.
• False miracles news: Zealots in a church in Indiana who thought red marks on a communion wafer were some kind of miracle have been told it was actually just bacteria from being handled by dirty hands. Hallelujah!
• And finally: Among a slew of birthdays that includes Sir Alec Guinness, Marvin Gaye, Emperor Charlemagne of the Franks, Michael Fassbender, Emmylou Harris, "Adrian Mole" creator Sue Townsend, Paul Gambaccini, Casanova, Buddy Ebsen, Hans Christian Andersen, Serge Gainsbourg, Émile Zola, Linford Christie (who is 65!), Keren Woodward of Bananarama, Pedro Pascal (50) and - erm - Dr. Demento...

  ...it is the 85th birthday today of darling Dame Penelope Keith, star of The Good Life, To the Manor Born, and so much more besides - including her guest appearances on the Morecambe and Wise Show! All hail...

And the weather? The glorious Spring sunshine continues (even if the wind's a little chilly at times)!

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Our daffs have been glowing in the sunshine today!

Happy Saint David's Day, dear reader!

It's been a beautiful day for the celebration of all things Welsh - and floral - and I have spent it fruitfully in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers. I've dug out and repotted a big Thalictrum and two hardy geraniums, pruned back a few more ferns, and redone the window box that had been ripped out and scattered everywhere by a bastard fox, pottering and tidying as I went along. Now I'm aching - but happy.

Speaking of things to cheer one's spirits - how about a bit [and I know which bit I'd have liked when he still looked like that!] of Sir Tom Jones, Tom Jones? Os gwelwch yn dda!

Tom Jones- Help Yourself

Fab-las!

Speaking of all things Welsh - "What's occurring?"

Gavin & Stacey: The Best of Nessa

Well lush.

Sweet and heady, like my love

It will be the 80th birthday next Tuesday of one of the UK's finest singers, Miss Elkie Brooks!

Originally a cabaret and jazz vocalist (with Humphrey Lyttleton's band), she went on to form the legendary blues and rock band Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer - earning the reputation of the wild woman of rock 'n' roll, due to her energetic stage performances.

However, it was as a solo singer that she finally hit the big time, with a string of hits in the 70s and 80s - including these:

Elkie Brooks - Pearl's A Singer

Elkie Brooks - No More the Fool

Elkie Brooks - Lilac Wine

Perfect "Sunday Music", methinks.

Many happy returns, Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder, 25th February 1945)!

Either you got it, or you ain't

Counting down the days...

Sigh. Another thrilling week begins - but at least we know that this is the last one before we jet off to Spain on Saturday! Thank heavens.

Meanwhile...

In addition to Paul Newman's centenary, yesterday would marked the 80th birthdays of two remarkable women, from opposite ends of the cutural spectrum entirely (both of whom departed much too young) - the remarkable classical cellist Jacqueline du Pré, and...

...the potty-mouthed stand-up comedienne and singer from the working mens' club circuit, who [thanks to winning talent show New Faces in 1975, beating both Lenny Henry and Victoria Wood!] became a household name and national treasure, Miss Marti Caine!

As it's Tacky Music Monday, I think something from the latter (replete with her "safety gays"), rather than the former, is more appropriate to provide us with our wake-up call!

Marti Caine - Some Cats Know

Have a good week, dear reader.

Now hold on a minute, before we go much further, give me a dime so I can phone my mother

Sir Rod Stewart, a national treasure and genuinely decent bloke, the man behind a slew of classics including Maggie May, You Wear It Well, Sailing, You're in My Heart, The Killing of Georgie (and covers of I Don't Want to Talk About It and The First Cut Is the Deepest) and much, much more in a career spanning six decades, is 80 years old today!

As a child, he lived above his father's newsagent shop in Archway, North London, and had ambitions to be a footballer.

Yesterday, he and his extended family kicked off his 80th birthday celebrations in grand style, enjoying a luxurious 10-day getaway aboard a $150 million super yacht in the Caribbean.

Not bad for a lad from a Scottish family whose musical career started off busking in Leicester Square...

As another weekend hoves into view it's only fitting to play, by way of a tribute, the spiky-haired-one's biggest-selling hit - and Thank Disco It's Friday!!

Rod Stewart - Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?

Have a great weekend, dear reader! Our gang's off to the panto at the London Palladium tomorrow (Oh, yes we are!)...

Many happy returns, Roderick David Stewart (born 10th January 1945)!

Keep on cruisin', let's have the music!

You know you're getting (very) old when you discover that...

...70s pop idol, 80s cosy sitcom fave, and theatrical treasure Mr Paul Nicholas is 80 today!

Here are just two of the massive chart hits that made him a household name in the UK:

Paul Nicholas - Grandma's Party

Paul Nicholas - Dancing With the Captain

Oh dear. I remember it all too well...

Many happy returns, Paul Nicholas (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck, 3rd December 1944)!

Ooh, yeah, you're amazing!

It's Diwali - the Hindu Festival of Lights - next week! Celebrations in London start tomorrow in Trafalgar Square.

Another snippets post today, dear reader...

• Appellation d'origine contrôlée news: The MP for Basildon and Billericay in Essex has begun a campaign to secure protected status for traditional pie and mash to celebrate the “original fast food” and its London origins.

• Horticultural icon news: RIP Jim McColl, amiable presenter of the BBC Scotland gardening programme Beechgrove for 41 years. We loved him.
• Happy National Black Cat Day! Funny that it (almost) coincides with Hallowe'en...
• End of an Era: Legendary DJ Johnnie Walker, veteran of the pirate radio station Radio Caroline in the 1960s before joining BBC Radio 1, has hung up his microphone after 58 years in the business! He'll be missed...
• Cheese news: In an audacious scam, 22 tons (950 wheels) of luxury cheese has been stolen from the renowned Neal’s Yard Dairy in London. Follow that smell!
• And finally - music news: The utterly wonderful Kate Bush, our Patron Saint of Dramatic Gestures, has revealed in an interview that she is planning to release new music soon. Wow, indeed!

Kate Bush - Wow

And the weather? Dank. Just in time for the clocks to go back, and the gloom of autumn to descend in earnest...

Surrender yourself to extravagance

Maggie Smith once went with Kenneth Williams to Fortnum & Masons to buy a bra. Upon being told the price, she replied "Seven Guineas! It'd be cheaper to have your tits off!"

Flying for the first time in a helicopter, she observed: "I never thought I’d look down between my legs and see Guildford."

As Desdemona to Laurence Olivier’s Othello, he, in full black make-up, criticised her pronunciation; she faced off to him with a stentorian "How, now, brown cow!"

On completing her most famous role after six series: "I think the wig I wore in Downton is more tired than I am!"

As Serena McKellen has it, "Maggie's got a tongue on her."

Ian McKellen on Maggie Smith - Women I've Filmed With

Here are just a few of my favourite clips of the great Dame in action, from her long and brilliant career:

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

Murder by Death (1976)

Travels With My Aunt (1972)

A Private Function (1984)

California Suite (1978)

Evil Under the Sun (1981)

And, of course...

Downtown Abbey - Maggie Smith Moments

“If you have been around long enough you are an icon. A rather dusty icon... or a national treasure.”

There will never be another like her! RIP, Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, CH, DBE (28th December 1934 - 27th September 2024)

---

PS

Just one more slice of genius...

Maggie Smith teaches Carol Burnett how to speak Cockney

A Regular Royal Queen

Today would have been the 80th birthday of the late, much-missed Mr George Logan, better known (of course) as "Doctor Evadne Hinge" [pictured left, above] - one half of one of the most enduring British drag acts of all time. By way of a celebration, here's an extract of my post way back in 2009:

Hinge and Bracket [for it is they] first became a double act with their regular bookings in the early 70s every Sunday lunchtime at a gay Kensington restaurant run by the iconic April Ashley. Their earliest breakthrough into the mainstream, however, was their smash hit appearance in 1974 at the Edinburgh Festival.

Patrick Fyffe (Dame Hilda Bracket) and George Logan (Dr Evadne Hinge) both had brilliant operatic singing voices, and their evocation of middle class gentility in the mythical "Stackton Tressel", suffused with smutty double-entendres, kept their flame alight until they were "discovered" by the BBC in 1977 - resulting in hit radio series such as The Enchanting World of Hinge and Bracket, followed by The Random Jottings of..., and At Home with....

As well as gracing us with their TV commercials for sherry, they appeared in two Royal Variety Performances, their own series of "Gala Evenings", starred on The Good Old Days, landed their own prime-time TV series Dear Ladies, and made a number of records. They also appeared in a televised Royal Opera House production of Die Fledermaus in 1983, conducted by Placido Domingo and starring Kiri Te Kanawa as Rosalinde.

Our own precious copy of the Best Of Hinge and Bracket is often on an evening's playlist, not least for the pair's superlative versions of We'll Gather Lilacs, Zigeuner and A Regular Royal Queen.

Sadly Patrick died in 2002; George moved to France to run a guest house - and departed to join him in Fabulon just last year. But we will never forget the sheer joy that Hinge and Bracket gave us...

Perfect "Sunday Music".

George Logan (7th July 1944 – 21st May 2023)

Hinge and Bracket official website