5 THINGS (OF MANY) I DON"T CARE ABOUT

 

1. Who will be the next James Bond?

2. Who will replace Jon Snow at Channel 4 News?

3. Any TV show title that starts with The Great British........

4. (Linked to 3.) Any TV show that has judges.

5. Soaps

That'll do for the moment!

THOUGHTS ON KATIE PRICE

 D'ye know, I can't be bothered

AN MP, A SCOTTISH POET, A BEATLE & MY FATHER-IN-LAW

The year is 1966.  This is a true story of a Member of Parliament, a Scottish poet, a Beatle and my future father-in-law.   

The MP was Bill Rodgers who first entered the House of Commons in 1962, representing Stockton-on-Tees for Labour.  His political career included cabinet posts but he is best remembered as one of the ‘gang of four’ senior Labour politicians who in 1981 defected to form the Social Democratic Party, which eventually morphed into the Liberal Democrats.  The other three founders were David Owen, Roy Jenkins and Shirley Williams. Rodgers ended his political career as a life peer and currently is retired.

 

Four years into his Stockton-on-Tees role, Rodgers gave a speech at a dinner in the Billingham Arms Hotel organised by the Teesside Caledonian Society.  The speech caused an almighty stir.   More than 170 members, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Thornaby, were enjoying a haggis meal and celebrating the life and work of legendary Scottish poet, Robert Burns.  Rodgers, in a ‘lion’s den’ moment, declared to the Burns loyalists that the poet was equivalent to an 18^th century John Lennon.  There was nothing too inflammatory in that particular remark but worse was to come.  Rodgers described Burns as a third-rate Casanova and a second-rate poet.  He continued digging by saying that Burns’ poetry was totally incomprehensible.  No doubt “jings”, “michty me” and possibly stronger murmurs spread around the room.

 

A short time later, at another Burns celebration dinner, this time organised by the Cleveland Scots Society at Sparks Café Royal, Middlesbrough, speaker after speaker referred disdainfully to Rodgers’ comments.  The main address and toast were given by the President of the Society, Jack Woodcock, who fourteen years later would become my father-in-law.  Jack was born and raised at Crail, on the Fife coast, and his wife, Margaret was raised in Glasgow.  They moved south of the border when Jack accepted a job working for ICI at Wilton, North Yorkshire.  They were proud Scots and enjoyed attending many society functions.

 

At the Sparks Café Royal dinner, Jack said this: “A recent critic sought to liken Burns to one of the Beatles as far as poetry was concerned.  This does not even annoy me, it does not call for a reply, because the idea is so ridiculous.  I can only feel pity, as Burns would have done for such a thought, particularly when it was expressed by one to whom we have entrusted our affairs.  Such is the character of Burns that the impact of his poetry is as great today as it ever was, despite the increasing number of attractions in the world of entertainment and arts.”  Jack proposed the toast to “the immortal memory of Burns”.  He got a rousing cheer and a standing ovation.  It was a telling rebuke in his speech that he never mentioned Bill Rodgers by name.

 

Burns once wrote this: “Critics! Appalled I ventured on the name. Those cutthroat bandits in the paths of fame.”  No slurs over the years have damaged the literary reputation of Robert Burns. To many Scots all around the world, he will never be forgotten.  Sláinte, Rabbie.

THOUGHTS ON ADELE

 D'ye know, I can't be bothered.

PERSONAL BUT NOT BOOHOO - HAS ANYBODY HERE SEEN KELLY? BBC RADIO 4

 

Link to Amazon. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Has-Anybody-Here-Seen-Kelly/dp/1803022450/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KETQFW5N4DAJ&keywords=Joe+Cushnan&qid=1642708058&sprefix=joe+cushnan%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1

 

Link to BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live, a show I summarised the story of my deserting father and heroic mother. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09rwtg8

 

ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE THE WORLD RIGHT NOW

 FUCK

KATY JURADO BORN 16 JANUARY 1924

Katy Jurado - 16 January, 1924 - 5 July, 2002

Unafraid of becoming older, she once said: “You can’t put your finger in the sun and stop time”. 

Born with a gift of a name for poetry – Maria Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado Garcia - a child from Guadalajara grew to be described as fiery-eyed, luscious, smouldering, passionate, strong, and, according to one husband, a beautiful tiger. 

She was more than westerns but that is her place in the loving memories of those of us who have watched her hundreds of times in High Noon (1952: she won a Golden Globe), Broken Lance (1954), Man from Del Rio (1956), The Badlanders (1958: she was nominated for an Oscar) and One-Eyed Jacks, and seeing her tearful and distraught as she watches Slim Pickens dying in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973).

Katy Jurado was married twice, the second time (1959 - 1963) to Ernest Borgnine.  She had a relationship with western writer Louis L'Amour.

“You can’t put your finger in the sun and stop time.” But in movies you can. Hit the rewind button and the opening credits roll again, then repeat and repeat and repeat. 

On the streets of Hadleyville, Marshall Will Kane’s clock ticks relentlessly and Helen Ramirez will always be 28-years old, just like Katy Jurado.

2022 - ANOTHER 22 PEOPLE/GROUPS I WANT TO SEE LESS OF THIS YEAR

Ant and Dec

Dermot O'Leary

Real Housewives from anywhere

Katie Price

Kate Garroway

Philip Schofield

Meerkats advertising financial stuff

Prince Andrew

The Sussexes

Any TV show that has judgemental "experts" or panels

Mary Berry

David Attenborough

Jamie Oliver

Ben Fogle

Monty Don

Oprah Winfrey

Soap opera cast members who litter TV/tabloids with their characters' experiences

Any celebrity who includes their name in the title of a TV show/series

Susan Calman

Paddy McGuinness

That Go Compare singer guy

Kevin Bacon (EE bore, not the actor)

2022 - 22 PEOPLE I WANT TO SEE LESS OF THIS YEAR

TV and tabloid newspapers are obsessed with celebrities, A-listers to Z-yawners. Here is a list of 22 people/groups I want to see less of on my television set - in no order of whatever. (And that's only the beginning of the list!)

Miriam Margolyes

Davina McCall

Rylan Clark-Neal

Jimmy Carr

Adele

Any rapper

Any Strictly Come Dancing angsters

Ed Sheeran

Any Kardashian

Ben Affleck

Anyone from Friends

Johnny Depp

Piers Morgan

Bradley Walsh

Greg Wallace

Anybody involved with a "Celebrity" TV special

Tom Kerridge

James Martin

Lorraine Kelly

Jeremy Vine

David Tennant

Anybody associated in any way with Boris Johnson and the wider Johnson clan.