Sequins On My Balcony

I went to see this entertainment at the Rosemary Branch last night.

To say it was uplifting would be an understatement, but to anybody who’s been affected by breast cancer either personally or through a family member or friend’s suffering, Yvette Cowles  got it absolutely right in my view.  I have never had any cancer, that I know of, but what Yvette  said about fighting breast cancer, could have applied so much to C and her successful fight against her lump.

Nothing though, helped in C’s unsuccessful fight against the cancer that killed her.

The Man In The White Suit

This film is on BBC2 tomorrow.  The BBC has labelled it as B/W.  surely, it’s mainly white!

The Last Quartet

I saw this film last night and it was thoroughly enjoyable and a very good study of the tensions and relationships of a group of talented people.

In some ways, I found it a bit allegorical, as the tensions between the major players in Metier, were rather similar at times, although we had simpler relationships.

Of course, philistine that I am, I didn’t recognise any of the music in the film. This probably means that you don’t have to be a music lover to enjoy the film.

I saw it in the excellent Barbican Cinema and afterwards had a drink looking out of the window, at the front door of Cromwell Tower.  That was a bit surreal and I did wonder how my life would have mapped out, if C and myself had kept the flat there, which we probably would have done, if Metier had been sold earlier.

Do we just go round in circles in our lives?

The Odd Stories On BBC World

BBC World seems to have some stories that you don’t normally pick up, although of course the main BBC News may have covered them.

Cooking Oil Theft - It costs the Treasury a lot of money

Fortnum and Mason’s Bees - I must try some!

Death Penalty For Groundhog - He didn’t get the weather right!

A New City Is Growing Up

Forty years ago, when we lived in the Barbican it was a good place to live, and it was very convenient for me to get to my various jobs in the City and for C to get to University College. But it wasn’t a place for living at the week-end.

Now though, with places like One New Change, the City is becoming a complete place to live, work and play.

As it’s only a short bus ride from where I live, I can partake of the good life. I have found in recent months, that I’m visiting shopping centres like Eastfield less and less.

The Joke’s On The Recession

We may be in the depth of a recession, but you wouldn’t suss this from the magnificent response of the public to Comic Relief, as reported here  on the BBC.

The First Lesbian Kiss on British Television

Type the title of this post into Google and you get linked to an episode on Brookside.

But this is wrong!

Last night, David Rose in his presentation showed a clip from the play he produced some years earlier called Girl.

This play doesn’t appear to be mentioned on either Wikipedia or the Internet Movie Database.

So the Internet isn’t always right!

A Presentation By David Rose At The Duke Of Wellington

David Rose is one of the most important people in the history of British television and film drama.

Tonight he gave a fascinating and insightful presentation of his work at the Duke of Wellington in the Balls Pond Road.

I remember him in some ways for the work he did in the 1960s with Z-Cars and Softly-Softly. Did Z-Cars and the music scene in Liverpool in some way influence me to go to University in that city?  If it did, David is worth a big thank-you, as I’ve often said that Liverpool made me. I did of course meet C there, although she was fairly local to me in North London.

His later work for the BBC in the 1970s, was not something I remember very much, as it was the time, when we were bringing up the kids and working hard, so we didn’t watch television very much.

If David’s presentation turns up at a venue near you, it is very much worthwhile seeing.

I just wish, I’d seen more of the plays and films he has produced.  Sadly, it would appear that copies don’t exist of all of them, due to the BBC’s policy of reusing videotapes.

The Brick Lane Music Hall

The building which used to be St. Mark’s Church, Silvertown, is certainly impressive, but it was designed by the well-known S. S. Teulon 

It is certainly better it has a proper use, rather than just being a ruin.

The London Pleasure Gardens

I said I would go and find the tent-like structure, I noticed yesterday on my trip back from Woolwich.

It turns out it’s the London Pleasure Gardens, as described here in Time Out.

As you can see it looks all rather shut up, but then Time Out is now reporting the company has gone into administration.

Everything would appear to have been cancelled. The web site just shows a place page.