Fame or infamy, what does it matter? I shan't be forgotten.

We are less than two weeks away from "Gay Xmas" aka Gay Pride in London, and our outfits are all done and sorted. We can only hope that this new heatwave has subsided by then, otherwise we'll look less-than-glamorous, bathed in sweat...

Speaking of all things gay, we're well overdue another faboo classic film review by the lovely "Tired Old Queen at the Movies" Mr Steve Hayes - and when I saw his latest was one of the great British gay films of the 1980s [cf. Maurice, My Beautiful Laundrette], that coincided with my own coming-out, I whooped with joy! Some of the quotes alone are timeless:

Guy Bennett: "But you couldn't help it, could you? Because in your heart of hearts, like Barclay and Delahay and Fowler and Menzies, you still believe, in spite of your talk of equality and fraternity, you still believe some people are better than others because of the way they make love. Now, think of that for a lifetime. Think of the names: pansy, nancy, fairy, fruit, brown-nose."

Menzies: "You'd better take a pull on yourself, Guy!"
Guy Bennett: "I'd rather do it with you."

Fowler: "I have half a mind to ask Barclay for permission to beat you!"
Tommy Judd: "Well, you've half a mind. We can all agree on that."

Guy Bennett: "Fame or infamy, what does it matter? I shan't be forgotten."

Tired Old Queen at the Movies - Another Country 1984 Review

Wonderful...

Another Country is currently available to watch on YouTube - catch it while you can!

Of sci-fi geeks, rainbow rebellion, a gay barman, incompetent councils and "You can fill my hole again"

Now that's what I call a weapon!

It's another snippets post today. dear reader:

• The dark side of the Force news: Darth Vader’s lightsaber has been sold for £2.7million at auction - making it the most expensive Star Wars prop in history. Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man suit, Indiana Jones' bullwhip and holster, and the Platform 9¾ sign from Harry Potter all surpassed their expected sale price. There's some rich geeks out there...
• 90s student bedsit music news: After seven years of inactivity, Radiohead has announced a reunion tour. I wonder how all that teenage angst will go down, now they're all in their 50s?
• Plucky gays news: A rainbow road crossing ("crosswalk") in Orlando that formed part of the memorial for victims of the Pulse gay nightclub massacre in 2016 has become a pivot for rebelliousness. Florida's governor - and grade-A cunt - Ron DeSantis ordered it to be overpainted, and protestors keep using chalk to colour it in again, despite the fact he sent in the state troopers to make arrests. I hope his blood pressure goes into overdrive!
• Guess who's pulling your pint today? news: Film star Rupert Everett has lent his support to a campaign to save his local village pub, doing shifts behind the bar. I can't wait to hear him say "Hotpot, Ken?"
• Bureaucratic incompetence news: A non-smoker who lives in London has been fighting a £433 penalty and conviction for "dropping a cigarette butt" - 200 miles away in Manchester! You really couldn't make it up...

• Oldest bitch in town news: Farewell Baddie Winkle, nonagenarian model, influencer and internet personality, whose unforgettable slogan was "Stealing your man since 1928"...
• And finally... Among another mismatched list of fellow celebrants that includes the peerless Sylvester, Idris Elba, Tim Henman, Jo Anne Worley, Macy Gray, Spitting Image creator Roger Law, Greg Rusedski, Mathew Horne, Pippa Middleton, Emily Maitlis, CeCe Peniston and - erm - Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners, troubled tabloid fodder and founder member of Atomic Kitten, Kerry Katona is 45 years old today. Although she'd left the group by the time this became the girls first #1 hit - and was edited out of later versions of the video in favour of her replacement - here is the original:

Atomic Kitten - Whole Again

I love that song - unsurprisingly, since it was written by Andy McCluskey of OMD - and have happy memories of seeing the girls (minus Kerry) perform it live at the post-Pride festival [when such a thing still existed] at Finsbury Park way back in 2001. We, of course, changed the lyrics to "You can fill my hole again". As you do.

And the weather? Windy, but lovely and warm. The garden's been watered, and all's right with the world. Apart from the "demon children" next door, of course.

I have nothing to complain about

Lordy. Rupert Everett is 55 years old today.

I had a major crush on him when his career first launched, with Another Country in 1984 - when he and I were both mere babes. I watched with horror how the beauteous ingénue began being subsumed in the morass of Hollywood (with its penchant for Botox and B-movie roles), then breathed a sigh of relief when his savage self-destructiveness propelled him double-quick back out again.

It didn't exactly help matters when he announced on daytime TV in America - land of the hypocritical "new puritans" - how his student days were supplemented by prostitution; nor did his tirade of celebrity slaggings-off in his autobiography Red Carpets And Other Banana Skins assist his safe passage. It was probably unwise to describe former "BFF" Queen Madge as a "whiny old barmaid" who played with her boyfriend's penis in public...

I thought it was brilliant, actually - and I admire Mr Everett for being such a wonderful old-school rebellious bitch.

He's settled more-or-less into a life of stage stardom and cerebral documentary-presenting roles these days, and we certainly don't see enough of him.

And yes. I still would.

But he's still full of surprises - who even knew he sang?!

Rupert Everett - Generation of Loneliness

(...after a fashion.)

"I'm a gay man who came from the last years of illegality. That focused my whole character. I think it focused everyone's character in a way. You saw yourself as outside of the main structure."

"Being gay and being a woman has one big thing in common, which is that we both become invisible after the age of 42. Who wants a gay 50-year-old? No one, let me tell you."

"These awful middle-class queens - which is what the gay movement has become - are so tiresome. It's all Abercrombie & Fitch and strollers."

“I have nothing to complain about... except maybe people wondering if a queen like me can be butch-it-up enough to play a convincing straight man.”

"You're not allowed to be an eccentric in the world, you have to fit in."

Rupert James Hector Everett (born 29th May 1959)

"I'm a good girl, I am!"

We went along to see Pygmalion at The Garrick Theatre last night - and it was a remarkably surprising production! For despite the lure of seeing the eternally sexy Rupert Everett and the magnificent Dame Diana Rigg on stage together, it was the (previously unknown to me as I don't watch soaps or reality TV) first-timer Kara Tointon who emerged as a genuine star in the making.

Despite evidently being directed to impersonate Audrey Hepburn rather than actually portray an Edwardian character, Miss Tointon really injected some personality into her Eliza Doolittle - and provided a perfectly feisty foil for Mr Everett's terrifyingly dismissive Professor Higgins and Peter Eyre's aloof Colonel Pickering. Her scene when first introduced to polite society, engaging in ‘small talk’ with the society ladies, was hilarious and impeccably delivered - and her transformation from "squashed cabbage leaf" flower girl to well-spoken lady (without losing her anger) was convincing. Not bad for a West End debut!



Dame Diana was marvellous (as she would be) as Mrs Higgins - holding court in her drawing room - and Roberta Taylor’s Mrs Pearce the housekeeper is perfectly controlled as she seethes quietly about the Professor's callousness. There was only one weak spot - and a rather unfortunate one, given the importance of the character - in the fact that poor Simon Ward is unwell and has had to pull out of the production, leaving an obviously under-rehearsed Michael Feast to carry the part of Alfred Doolittle (who has so many of George Bernard Shaw's best lines in the play). Mr Feast is a good actor, but I felt myself wince several times as he stuttered, trying to get the lines - and losing a little of their emphasis on occasion.



The elegance, charm and wit of GB Shaw's writing shone through beautifully with such a great cast of thespians. Despite the unfortunately widespread set design, which placed Rupert Everett and Kara Tointon out of the eyeline of half the audience in the Circle on several occasions, at least you could always hear the dialogue. I am sure I was not alone in half-expecting them to burst into song ("reminder to self: this is the original, not My Fair Lady"), especially as little bursts of music do permeate the play...

Another joyful evening's entertainment, in celebration of the lovely Paul's birthday - and we managed to get our programmes autographed by a Dame, a queen and a debutante at the Stage Door afterwards!

Pygmalion at the Garrick Theatre