Following the tradition that began in 1932 by her father, King George V, Her Majesty The Queen broadcast her inaugural Christmas message live on the radio from her study at Sandringham, Norfolk in 1952. The Queen began that year with: “Each Christmas, at this time, my beloved father broadcast a message to his people in all parts of the world. Today I am doing this to you, who are now my people.”
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Much like watching It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story, Tuna Christmas or, as evidenced by a recent admission, Die Hard, one of my annual Christmas traditions is to listen to John Cleese’s adaptation of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas from podcast No. 28. Never mind that there have been endless readings over the years by the likes […]
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A very familiar face (i.e. Bill Bailey) is taking home the Glitterball trophy from the 2020 Strictly Come Dancing competition which just concluded Saturday evening in the UK. The awesome thing is, that the familiar face to most people in North America comes from his time on the brilliant Dylan Moran comedy, Black Books. Bill Bailey was equally as […]
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On January 10, 2021, PBS’s Masterpiece series, the long-time anchor of the Sunday night line-up, turns 50. It was Sunday, January 10, 1971 that The First Churchills, about the life of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and his wife, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, starring John Neville and Sarah Hampshire was first broadcast. Another notable event occurred on that same day in 1971 as it marked the start of a 22-year stint for Alistair Cooke, the British-born American writer, journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster, as as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theatre from 1971 to 1992.
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In 1979, the idea for Life of Brian came about when members of Monty Python were promoting their previous film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Eric Idle joked that their next project would be called “Jesus Christ: Lust For Glory”, and his fellow Python realized that no one had ever made a comedy about […]
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British espionage writer John le Carré has died aged 89, following a short bout with pneumonia, his literary agent has said. There was no end to the author’s greatness who gave us the likes of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Smiley’s People, The Honorable Schoolboy and A Legacy of Spies to name but a […]
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No reason to post this other than we all need a bit of a laugh today as we begin to close the book on 2020! As Silly Walks signs encouraging people to make the Ministry of Silly Walks proud as they venture out on their daily walk are popping up around the world there is […]
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A new adaptation of Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Paul Gallico’s much-loved novel (Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris) about a cleaning lady in 1950s London who falls in love with an haute couture dress by Christian Dior and decides to gamble everything for the sake of having one of her own, has been filming this past […]
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If it wasn’t the case before, I’m now fully convinced that if you looked up the definition of brilliant in the dictionary, there would simply be a photo of Dame Judi Dench. The Oscar/Tony/BAFTA/Laurence Olivier/Golden Globe/Screen Actors Guild award winner turned 86 years young on Wednesday and shows no signs of slowing down any time […]
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