Some classic outtakes in the cinema
It is possible that these tales of fubs and fumblings are apocryphal, but as they have been repeated numberless times in the comparatively closed world of the film studios, they are obviously based on...
View ArticleThe ancient game of football
In the first twenty minutes or so of a foolish movie called First Knight, cinemagoers were treated to the Hollywood spectacle of a young and beautiful Lady of the Manor playing football with the burly...
View ArticleGuess who said (or wrote) these things?
Give us your answers in the form of a Comment “I must have a drink of breakfast.” “Somebody left the cork out of my lunch!” “She’s all done up like a well-kept grave.” “I exercise extreme self...
View ArticleSome notes on the 2000 Scarlet Pimpernel series
Some notes on the 2000 TV series ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ I have in my possession a box set of this production, the material contained in four DVD discs. The series was adapted from the books by the...
View ArticleLilibet – a purely American invention
Five of Carolly’s inventions / o.canada.com Intrigued by the title, ‘Lilibet’, I ordered a hard-bound first edition from my online bookshop Bibliophile (how lost I would be with it). I suppose it is a...
View ArticleWho said it?
An auctioneer / joystiq.com Our first slightly intellectual quiz for the year 2015 presents the published words of an eccentric and wit, male, and the only clue to his identity is that he is not...
View ArticleThe wit of two conductors
Sir Thomas Beecham / dailymail.co.uk It is possible that many players in orchestras have heard very funny comments made to them during rehearsal, or even during the actual performance of an orchestral...
View ArticleCorrect behaviour of gentlemen
/ illustration by 10best.com 'Tea at the Ritz' Four Europeans of different nationality sat down at a tea table with the great lady who was their host. As they sipped the Lapsang or the Earl Grey,...
View ArticleWho was the dreaded Mosley?
The Mosleys in retirement / en.wikipedia.org I doubt if more than a handful of today’s teenagers have ever heard of Sir Oswald Mosley, or if they have, he is but a shadowy figure haunting the nineteen...
View ArticleThe real Sir William Wallace
Statue of William Wallace in Aberdeen, Scotland / en.wikipedia.org Some years ago the anglophobe film star and director Gibson made a Hollywood-backed movie called Braveheart. This tasteful work of art...
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