If you're a fan of Disney's favourite stories, this was the night to get out with the kids to see the best of the last 100 years – yes, 100 years – of magic.
Full of memorable music and lyrics, this show brought the usual two-dimensional experience to full-colour 3D life.
It's a hit because all of the children can sing along, and so can the adults.
We enjoyed a whole host of Disney legends, including Aladdin, Nemo, many of the princesses, and the cast of Toy Story, who after their recent cinematic outing got the biggest cheer of the night.
The sound quality didn't help much, though.
The It's a Small World number brought the first half to a successful close, revisiting the opening day of Disneyland Park in 1955. The colourful celebration of fun worldwide for children everywhere hit the spot, the moral of the story being that everyone shares the same hopes and dreams. Proof indeed that the magic of Disney brings everyone together.
The second half featured a skit from Mickey Mouse, then and appearance by Pinocchio, with some of the youngsters a little confused by Jiminy Cricket, as he's not on the telly much nowadays – but they went along with it, because the adventures were so good.
Mulan and The Incredibles built the excitement up until we had the musical climax with classics from The Lion King.
The finale brought all the main characters back onto the ice for their farewell, then the biggest spectacular surprise – fireworks from the famous Disney castle.
All in all, a good night, even if we were left wondering where Tinkerbell was!
Friday, October 8
Thursday, September 16
Private lives on show in real Bedroom Farce!
Four couples sharing their beds on stage gives scope for something for everyone in this gentle comedy about our private lives.
I say our private lives because what Alan Ayckbourn wrote when he put pen to paper for this one really does reflect what we get up to in the privacy of our own homes.
Of course, the stakes are ratcheted right up the scale when other people invade that space - and that's what happens in Bedroom Farce.
Three of the couples end up sharing their bedrooms with someone outside the family circle. No, it's NOT like that - but hints and nods to what they're trying to say bring sniggers of recognition from the audience as well as some glaring home truths.
So we have Juliet Mills, married to Bruce Montague. A mature couple, shall we say, with gentle Bruce still full of affection for his dear wife, and her reflecting (perhaps) on what their bedroom life might have been.
Their son Trevor (Oliver Boot) is suffering martial strife, especially when his wife Susannah (Natasha Alderslade) confesses she's started to see women in a new - maybe attractive - light.
The plot sparks into life at a party hosted by Kate and Malcolm (Julia Mallam and Ayden Callaghan) and as the dust settles, daft Trevor plants a kiss on his not too unwilling ex, Jan, played by Claire Wilkie, whose husband (Maxwell Caulfield) is at home (in bed, of course) with a bad back.
Juliet Mills gets all the best lines - patting the bed gently with one hand, enquiring "this old trouble, is it?" to her confidante.
And she brought the house down with her line that began "When S. E. X. rears its ugly head".
Her tiny figure on the stage was brought to life in her characterisation, in contrast to Montague, whose seasoned bumbling created the perfect foil for her all-knowing asides.
Bruce was the flirtatious Leonard on TV, playing opposite Wendy Craig, and at times the short monologues here mirrored a Carla Lane speech, reminiscent of the voice within from Butterflies or even the Liver Birds.
With Bedroom Farce being written in the early 70s, perhaps that's hardly surprising. Not a rip-roarer this one, but plenty of food for thought.
And you might just recognise yourself on stage...!
I say our private lives because what Alan Ayckbourn wrote when he put pen to paper for this one really does reflect what we get up to in the privacy of our own homes.
Of course, the stakes are ratcheted right up the scale when other people invade that space - and that's what happens in Bedroom Farce.
Three of the couples end up sharing their bedrooms with someone outside the family circle. No, it's NOT like that - but hints and nods to what they're trying to say bring sniggers of recognition from the audience as well as some glaring home truths.
So we have Juliet Mills, married to Bruce Montague. A mature couple, shall we say, with gentle Bruce still full of affection for his dear wife, and her reflecting (perhaps) on what their bedroom life might have been.
Their son Trevor (Oliver Boot) is suffering martial strife, especially when his wife Susannah (Natasha Alderslade) confesses she's started to see women in a new - maybe attractive - light.
The plot sparks into life at a party hosted by Kate and Malcolm (Julia Mallam and Ayden Callaghan) and as the dust settles, daft Trevor plants a kiss on his not too unwilling ex, Jan, played by Claire Wilkie, whose husband (Maxwell Caulfield) is at home (in bed, of course) with a bad back.
Juliet Mills gets all the best lines - patting the bed gently with one hand, enquiring "this old trouble, is it?" to her confidante.
And she brought the house down with her line that began "When S. E. X. rears its ugly head".
Her tiny figure on the stage was brought to life in her characterisation, in contrast to Montague, whose seasoned bumbling created the perfect foil for her all-knowing asides.
Bruce was the flirtatious Leonard on TV, playing opposite Wendy Craig, and at times the short monologues here mirrored a Carla Lane speech, reminiscent of the voice within from Butterflies or even the Liver Birds.
With Bedroom Farce being written in the early 70s, perhaps that's hardly surprising. Not a rip-roarer this one, but plenty of food for thought.
And you might just recognise yourself on stage...!
 |
| Maxwell Caulfield and Claire Wilkie |
Monday, September 13
Three young actors steal the laughs from Charley's Aunt
When two Oxford students require a chaperone at short notice so they can lunch with their sweethearts, the non-arrival of a millionaire aunt sets a trail of mayhem in motion.
The nearest they can get to a stand-in is a (male) student friend, so he togs up in ladies’ garb and the deception begins …
Nick Waring as Lord Fancourt Babberley is reluctantly called upon to be the imposter aunt by the two would-be suitors Charles Wykeham and Jack Chesney, played by Henry Gilbert and Tim Samuels.
The three young actors in Charley’s Aunt at Lincoln’s Theatre Royal excelled – and carried most of the laughs between them.
They supported the more famous faces among the senior cast, which included Duty Free’s Neil Stacy as Jack’s hard-up father, Ben Roberts from The Bill, Sabina Franklyn (the real millionaire widowed aunt) and Glyn Grain.
The humour started right from the off, with some visual gags and slapstick humour from the three young men.
While the students pursue their own loves, Jack’s impoverished father sets his sights on Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez who sadly is, in his/her own words, “no ordinary woman”.
Spurned (quite reasonably) by what he thinks is the real Victorian widow, he predictably finds love with a new arrival into the plot.
The cross-dressing Babberley then attracts another suitor and must keep the deception running long enough to secure evil uncle Stephen Spettigue’s permission for his niece and his ward – Eloise Irving as Amy Spettigue and Isla Carter as Kitty Verdun – to marry the student pals.
Bearing in mind the play was written way back in the 1890s, the humour transferred instantly to the modern audience.
Cliché it might be, with bashful lovers, an evil uncle, broke dad and a mystery missing aunt – but that is the stuff of a good farce and this one is a comedy classic which continues to impress.
The nearest they can get to a stand-in is a (male) student friend, so he togs up in ladies’ garb and the deception begins …
Nick Waring as Lord Fancourt Babberley is reluctantly called upon to be the imposter aunt by the two would-be suitors Charles Wykeham and Jack Chesney, played by Henry Gilbert and Tim Samuels.
The three young actors in Charley’s Aunt at Lincoln’s Theatre Royal excelled – and carried most of the laughs between them.
They supported the more famous faces among the senior cast, which included Duty Free’s Neil Stacy as Jack’s hard-up father, Ben Roberts from The Bill, Sabina Franklyn (the real millionaire widowed aunt) and Glyn Grain.
The humour started right from the off, with some visual gags and slapstick humour from the three young men.
While the students pursue their own loves, Jack’s impoverished father sets his sights on Donna Lucia D’Alvadorez who sadly is, in his/her own words, “no ordinary woman”.
Spurned (quite reasonably) by what he thinks is the real Victorian widow, he predictably finds love with a new arrival into the plot.
The cross-dressing Babberley then attracts another suitor and must keep the deception running long enough to secure evil uncle Stephen Spettigue’s permission for his niece and his ward – Eloise Irving as Amy Spettigue and Isla Carter as Kitty Verdun – to marry the student pals.
Bearing in mind the play was written way back in the 1890s, the humour transferred instantly to the modern audience.
Cliché it might be, with bashful lovers, an evil uncle, broke dad and a mystery missing aunt – but that is the stuff of a good farce and this one is a comedy classic which continues to impress.
Friday, September 10
Pop Idol Darius becomes big band hero
As we catch up with Darius Campbell, star of stage and small screen, we find him trapped slap bang in between interviews.
He’s busy promoting a musical tour which he’s producing himself, The History of the Big Bands, which visits Lincoln next month.
My slot was scheduled for 5.30pm, then tomorrow, than 4pm, 3pm, 2.30pm and 2.15pm, after he’d done a live broadcast. We settled for 3pm.
It sounds as though the likeable musical polymath is going through it a bit. But he confides that he really is living the dream.
Darius, who used to be Darius Danesh, said: “When I was 12 years old I was part of Scottish Opera in a children’s chorus and performed in the original production of The Trojans.
“Then I was a child actor in Carmen, which went to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
“When I was backstage I always remember what was behind the backdrop curtain.
“There was a space five times the size of the onstage area, and twice the size of a football pitch. It was filled with the stage props and staging from all the great operas – it was a bit like stepping into the other side of the wardrobe into Narnia for me.
“I remember feeling that I wanted to be part of all that.”
But Darius gave up a promising operatic career to study English literature at university, before exploding back onto the scene via Pop Idol and Popstar to Operastar.
His career has now come full circle with the chance to once again beguile the theatre audience.
“I always wanted to be involved in telling a great story. Whether that’s in a love song, acting in Shakespeare or in a West End musical, whatever it might be. It’s the spectacle.”
Having recently performed as Escamillo in Raymond Gubby’s vast production of Carmen at the O2 Arena, this is now Darius’s own chance to run the show.
He said: “I’m experiencing the challenge of producing a tour, which is really exciting.
“I want to transport the audience back to a different era.
“I’ll be reliving the big bands through the eyes of band leaders like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and taking the audience on a journey through the work of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. I am supported by big band performers who are among the best musicians in Europe. It’s not just a gig – it’s a show.”
Fans of Darius will know his range. He was Billy Flynn in Chicago, Sky Masterson in the Olivier Award-winning Guys and Dolls and Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, all in the West End.
He wrote Colourblind, which went straight to No 1 after Pop Idol, then had a platinum album, five further top 10 singles, and a Sunday Times No6 best-selling book Sink Or Swim.
He has a particular soft spot for swing, and the crooning style that goes with it.
He said: “I love what Amy Winehouse did in reinventing 60s soul. The idea of crooning is something I like. I’m lucky that my training has allowed me to explore the range of my voice.
“The only other singer that’s doing that at the moment is Michael Buble. There’s only six or so specialists.”
So which is his favourite track from the show? After all it takes in music from Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich.
Of course, he’s non committal, but offers this as a tempting tit-bit: “I’m a big fan of everything that Not King Cole did.
“Big band was something that lent itself well to his deep velvety voice.”
There’s good news then, for Darius fans – he’s also putting together a tour album to go with the show, so you can hear his own deep, velvety voice whenever you want to...
He’s busy promoting a musical tour which he’s producing himself, The History of the Big Bands, which visits Lincoln next month.
My slot was scheduled for 5.30pm, then tomorrow, than 4pm, 3pm, 2.30pm and 2.15pm, after he’d done a live broadcast. We settled for 3pm.
It sounds as though the likeable musical polymath is going through it a bit. But he confides that he really is living the dream.
Darius, who used to be Darius Danesh, said: “When I was 12 years old I was part of Scottish Opera in a children’s chorus and performed in the original production of The Trojans.
“Then I was a child actor in Carmen, which went to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
“When I was backstage I always remember what was behind the backdrop curtain.
“There was a space five times the size of the onstage area, and twice the size of a football pitch. It was filled with the stage props and staging from all the great operas – it was a bit like stepping into the other side of the wardrobe into Narnia for me.
“I remember feeling that I wanted to be part of all that.”
But Darius gave up a promising operatic career to study English literature at university, before exploding back onto the scene via Pop Idol and Popstar to Operastar.
His career has now come full circle with the chance to once again beguile the theatre audience.
“I always wanted to be involved in telling a great story. Whether that’s in a love song, acting in Shakespeare or in a West End musical, whatever it might be. It’s the spectacle.”
Having recently performed as Escamillo in Raymond Gubby’s vast production of Carmen at the O2 Arena, this is now Darius’s own chance to run the show.
He said: “I’m experiencing the challenge of producing a tour, which is really exciting.
“I want to transport the audience back to a different era.
“I’ll be reliving the big bands through the eyes of band leaders like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and taking the audience on a journey through the work of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. I am supported by big band performers who are among the best musicians in Europe. It’s not just a gig – it’s a show.”
Fans of Darius will know his range. He was Billy Flynn in Chicago, Sky Masterson in the Olivier Award-winning Guys and Dolls and Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, all in the West End.
He wrote Colourblind, which went straight to No 1 after Pop Idol, then had a platinum album, five further top 10 singles, and a Sunday Times No6 best-selling book Sink Or Swim.
He has a particular soft spot for swing, and the crooning style that goes with it.
He said: “I love what Amy Winehouse did in reinventing 60s soul. The idea of crooning is something I like. I’m lucky that my training has allowed me to explore the range of my voice.
“The only other singer that’s doing that at the moment is Michael Buble. There’s only six or so specialists.”
So which is his favourite track from the show? After all it takes in music from Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich.
Of course, he’s non committal, but offers this as a tempting tit-bit: “I’m a big fan of everything that Not King Cole did.
“Big band was something that lent itself well to his deep velvety voice.”
There’s good news then, for Darius fans – he’s also putting together a tour album to go with the show, so you can hear his own deep, velvety voice whenever you want to...
Wednesday, September 8
Fun Lovin’ Criminals. Remember them?
Perhaps best known for Scooby Snacks in 1996, they’re well and truly back, with a series of concerts and a new single We, The Three.
After some tricky times in recent years the boys are all friends and all happily settled and at one with the world.
And they’ve all relocated to this country, despite their New York connections.
Their album Classic Fantastic is testament to their new verve and joie de vivre. It features their trademark eclectic mix of sound and is a work to be proud of, according to Leicester-born drummer Frank Benbini.
“We’re like brothers from other mothers,” he says. “We argue, go on tour around the world together and still look after each other.
“We still create music and still have magical shows all over the world.
“It’s what we always do. The three of us love music of all kinds. The album has hip hop, blues, rock, funk, latin and reggae. You put all the styles in a pot and what comes out is FLC music. It’s eclectic.
“It’s a bit more upbeat because the last ones were clouded by the bad times.”
So what of these bad times the band suffered? It seems they were out of commission for almost seven years. That’s apparently been down to bad money and bad blood.
“There had been major problems with the band members and it got to the stage where we didn’t know if we were carrying on,” Frank says. “That period started from the time the World Trade Centre was hit.
“Then we had people taking money from accounts they shouldn’t have done, we lost our management and we’ve been in a law suit for the past four or five years.
“It wasn’t the best of times for us to be creative, but once we got back and Classic Fantastic came out this year we knew things had worked out.
“And all good US bands at the end of the day need a good UK drummer.”
And what of the move from America? The two from New York started the band back in 1993.
Frank himself was a Brooklyn boy for quite some time, but made the break to come back home.
“We’re all based in this country now,” he says. “We had a period when I was based in Brooklyn, New York, for five or six years.
“The others were there, too. But now we have all moved over here.
“All three of us have moved now and they have married English girls, so this is our base.”
The first leg of their tour was in March to kick-start the promotion of it and they are now back on the road for the tour proper.
And it’s tough work, almost a gig a night throughout September, covering the whole of the UK and then nipping over into Europe to begin the third leg.
Frank says: “We have always been a live band. That’s the greatest thing about FLC. We have always had a good show and always taken it seriously – it’s good to be back out there doing shows.
“It’s been going down great with the fans. They know every word and that’s good for when we forget them. It’s been getting good reviews.
“The pace isn’t too bad. A run of five days and then a day off. It’s more cost-effective too.”
After some tricky times in recent years the boys are all friends and all happily settled and at one with the world.
And they’ve all relocated to this country, despite their New York connections.
Their album Classic Fantastic is testament to their new verve and joie de vivre. It features their trademark eclectic mix of sound and is a work to be proud of, according to Leicester-born drummer Frank Benbini.
“We’re like brothers from other mothers,” he says. “We argue, go on tour around the world together and still look after each other.
“We still create music and still have magical shows all over the world.
“It’s what we always do. The three of us love music of all kinds. The album has hip hop, blues, rock, funk, latin and reggae. You put all the styles in a pot and what comes out is FLC music. It’s eclectic.
“It’s a bit more upbeat because the last ones were clouded by the bad times.”
So what of these bad times the band suffered? It seems they were out of commission for almost seven years. That’s apparently been down to bad money and bad blood.
“There had been major problems with the band members and it got to the stage where we didn’t know if we were carrying on,” Frank says. “That period started from the time the World Trade Centre was hit.
“Then we had people taking money from accounts they shouldn’t have done, we lost our management and we’ve been in a law suit for the past four or five years.
“It wasn’t the best of times for us to be creative, but once we got back and Classic Fantastic came out this year we knew things had worked out.
“And all good US bands at the end of the day need a good UK drummer.”
And what of the move from America? The two from New York started the band back in 1993.
Frank himself was a Brooklyn boy for quite some time, but made the break to come back home.
“We’re all based in this country now,” he says. “We had a period when I was based in Brooklyn, New York, for five or six years.
“The others were there, too. But now we have all moved over here.
“All three of us have moved now and they have married English girls, so this is our base.”
The first leg of their tour was in March to kick-start the promotion of it and they are now back on the road for the tour proper.
And it’s tough work, almost a gig a night throughout September, covering the whole of the UK and then nipping over into Europe to begin the third leg.
Frank says: “We have always been a live band. That’s the greatest thing about FLC. We have always had a good show and always taken it seriously – it’s good to be back out there doing shows.
“It’s been going down great with the fans. They know every word and that’s good for when we forget them. It’s been getting good reviews.
“The pace isn’t too bad. A run of five days and then a day off. It’s more cost-effective too.”
Monday, September 6
Cheer up, because those big, black clouds of summer have a silver lining
The national press has been full of some good news about how this wonderful, dry summer has revealed the best showing of aerial photos of archaeology for years.
Pardon? The last time I looked out of the window there were big black clouds and it was on the verge of tipping it down.
It seems to have been like that since the first week of July – when, incidentally, I got back from a fortnight in Cornwall feeling very pleased with myself for getting it right again. It was hot and sunny for 13 of our 14 days by the sea.
Then, as usual, the school summer holidays were blighted by cool, damp weather. There's not been much playing out in the garden for our two kids.
Sometimes I wonder if the swing set, climbing frame and see-saw could go back on eBay, where I got them from.
Yet, we've had a few days away and have been lucky. Mid-week trips to the south-west and north-west came up trumps.
Somehow, it seems as though we haven't had a summer, except for the one way back in the springtime.
We were all getting into work after a bad night's sleep because it was so hot. I remember having windows open and the bed covers off.
Yet, according to the papers, the weather conditions since early summer have allowed experts to take aerial photos of dozens of so-called crop mark sites.
They reveal a Roman camp in Dorset, a fortress in North Yorkshire, more sites in the West Midlands, Cumbria, the Yorkshire Wolds and Vale of York. Sixty new sites, mainly prehistoric, were found in just one day over the East Riding.
I'm a big fan of archaeology – I've even got a qualification in it – so this is fantastic news for enthusiasts.
And even the Met Office agrees with me about the weather: "July saw more than twice the normal rainfall in a swathe from west Wales through north-west England, southern and eastern Scotland to Shetland.
"It was also wetter than normal across most of the rest of Scotland and Wales and in Northern Ireland."
So what's all this about a great summer?
Oh, hang on – there's a "but": "In sharp contrast," it says, "much of the Midlands, eastern and southern England were very dry, with less than half the normal amount of rain in counties from Cambridgeshire to Sussex. Overall, it was duller than average, especially in many western areas."
So, there we have it. It's not been a wet summer on the whole, even for August, apparently. Just dull. And, with more of the past being revealed than at any point since the great drought of 1976, that's hardly dull, is it?
Words by Patrick Astill, first published, and copyright Derby Telegraph
Pardon? The last time I looked out of the window there were big black clouds and it was on the verge of tipping it down.
It seems to have been like that since the first week of July – when, incidentally, I got back from a fortnight in Cornwall feeling very pleased with myself for getting it right again. It was hot and sunny for 13 of our 14 days by the sea.
Then, as usual, the school summer holidays were blighted by cool, damp weather. There's not been much playing out in the garden for our two kids.
Sometimes I wonder if the swing set, climbing frame and see-saw could go back on eBay, where I got them from.
Yet, we've had a few days away and have been lucky. Mid-week trips to the south-west and north-west came up trumps.
Somehow, it seems as though we haven't had a summer, except for the one way back in the springtime.
We were all getting into work after a bad night's sleep because it was so hot. I remember having windows open and the bed covers off.
Yet, according to the papers, the weather conditions since early summer have allowed experts to take aerial photos of dozens of so-called crop mark sites.
They reveal a Roman camp in Dorset, a fortress in North Yorkshire, more sites in the West Midlands, Cumbria, the Yorkshire Wolds and Vale of York. Sixty new sites, mainly prehistoric, were found in just one day over the East Riding.
I'm a big fan of archaeology – I've even got a qualification in it – so this is fantastic news for enthusiasts.
And even the Met Office agrees with me about the weather: "July saw more than twice the normal rainfall in a swathe from west Wales through north-west England, southern and eastern Scotland to Shetland.
"It was also wetter than normal across most of the rest of Scotland and Wales and in Northern Ireland."
So what's all this about a great summer?
Oh, hang on – there's a "but": "In sharp contrast," it says, "much of the Midlands, eastern and southern England were very dry, with less than half the normal amount of rain in counties from Cambridgeshire to Sussex. Overall, it was duller than average, especially in many western areas."
So, there we have it. It's not been a wet summer on the whole, even for August, apparently. Just dull. And, with more of the past being revealed than at any point since the great drought of 1976, that's hardly dull, is it?
Words by Patrick Astill, first published, and copyright Derby Telegraph
Friday, August 27
Why it's a numbers game for Buddy Greco
Life is something of a numbers game for Buddy Greco. He’s just turned 84 and this is his 60th visit to the UK.
He’s on a run of 33 dates around the UK, on the back of his 70th album.
The big draw is that he’s no tribute act. The Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis were his best friends in the 60s and a quick search of the internet throws up dozens of images of them all having fun together during those heady days in Vegas.
Frank Sinatra rated his pal highly, saying “Buddy can make anything swing - nobody comes close in that department".
“The originals were my dearest friends in the world and I certainly miss them,” said Buddy.
“I tell stories about my relationship with Frank and Sammy and so on during the evening.”
Buddy Greco is a true legend and has been headlining in Vegas since the 1950s, yet his voice remains mellow and smooth. He started his career as pianist and vocalist for jazz musician Benny Goodman. When Goodman was recruiting for a bebop band, Buddy was one of the musicians he hired. Buddy, of course, went on to become one of America’s most popular entertainers.
He boasts Grammy and Emmy awards along hits including The Lady Is Tramp, Around The World and Girl Talk.
And now he’s taken on this huge UK tour and shows no sign of slowing.
Buddy says: “I’ve been very fortunate. My father lived until he was 99 and I have just turned 84.
“The music business is only a number. I don’t look it and certainly don’t feel it.
“I have always had a very successful career in Britain. This is my 60th trip here over the years.
“I first came with Benny Goodman in 1949. People have been wonderful to me all of my life. At one of the venues this time around a man in his 80s came up to me and asked me to sign a flyer from that Benny Goodman concert.
“Yet we have a whole new audience too. Young kids want to know about what it was like. They want to know about Marilyn Monroe, who was also one of my good friends. I love doing this.
“I do it because I love it. I’m now at that point where I just enjoy it more and more.”
Frank and Buddy
The tour takes in mostly theatres, compared with the cabaret venues of the past.
Buddy takes to the stage and does some numbers from his vast repertoire along with a little bit of chat about his great friends in the Rat Pack and their golden says in Vegas, then the tribute band The Rat Pack Is Back do their stuff, before the intermission. After that, Buddy’s wife of Lezlie Anders - who he is proud to point out is more than a couple of decades younger than he is – comes on for her tribute to Peggy Lee, before the pair combine for the finale. The Goodman Allstars Band and the Flamingo Vegas Showgirls complete the Las Vegas Experience.
While he’s not traveling, he’s settling down in the south-east to tweak his stage musical – a ‘Fever’ tribute to Peggy Lee, which he’s planning to take to the West End next year.
“We’ve found a gorgeous flat in Westcliffe on sea. I sold my house and nightclub in Palm Springs – we’re going to be here for quite a while!”
And there seems to be no stopping the creative talent that already has an impressive pedigree: “I’m a piano player/singer, not the other way around,” he said. “I try to get my hand into as many things as possible.”
“I’ve just finished my 70th album and I’m still writing, and recording and performing. And as long as the good Lord allows that’ I’ll carry on!”
Words by Patrick Astill, first published, and copyright Derby Telegraph
He’s on a run of 33 dates around the UK, on the back of his 70th album.
The big draw is that he’s no tribute act. The Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis were his best friends in the 60s and a quick search of the internet throws up dozens of images of them all having fun together during those heady days in Vegas.
Frank Sinatra rated his pal highly, saying “Buddy can make anything swing - nobody comes close in that department".
“The originals were my dearest friends in the world and I certainly miss them,” said Buddy.
“I tell stories about my relationship with Frank and Sammy and so on during the evening.”
Buddy Greco is a true legend and has been headlining in Vegas since the 1950s, yet his voice remains mellow and smooth. He started his career as pianist and vocalist for jazz musician Benny Goodman. When Goodman was recruiting for a bebop band, Buddy was one of the musicians he hired. Buddy, of course, went on to become one of America’s most popular entertainers.
He boasts Grammy and Emmy awards along hits including The Lady Is Tramp, Around The World and Girl Talk.
And now he’s taken on this huge UK tour and shows no sign of slowing.
Buddy says: “I’ve been very fortunate. My father lived until he was 99 and I have just turned 84.
“The music business is only a number. I don’t look it and certainly don’t feel it.
“I have always had a very successful career in Britain. This is my 60th trip here over the years.
“I first came with Benny Goodman in 1949. People have been wonderful to me all of my life. At one of the venues this time around a man in his 80s came up to me and asked me to sign a flyer from that Benny Goodman concert.
“Yet we have a whole new audience too. Young kids want to know about what it was like. They want to know about Marilyn Monroe, who was also one of my good friends. I love doing this.
“I do it because I love it. I’m now at that point where I just enjoy it more and more.”
The tour takes in mostly theatres, compared with the cabaret venues of the past.
Buddy takes to the stage and does some numbers from his vast repertoire along with a little bit of chat about his great friends in the Rat Pack and their golden says in Vegas, then the tribute band The Rat Pack Is Back do their stuff, before the intermission. After that, Buddy’s wife of Lezlie Anders - who he is proud to point out is more than a couple of decades younger than he is – comes on for her tribute to Peggy Lee, before the pair combine for the finale. The Goodman Allstars Band and the Flamingo Vegas Showgirls complete the Las Vegas Experience.
While he’s not traveling, he’s settling down in the south-east to tweak his stage musical – a ‘Fever’ tribute to Peggy Lee, which he’s planning to take to the West End next year.
“We’ve found a gorgeous flat in Westcliffe on sea. I sold my house and nightclub in Palm Springs – we’re going to be here for quite a while!”
And there seems to be no stopping the creative talent that already has an impressive pedigree: “I’m a piano player/singer, not the other way around,” he said. “I try to get my hand into as many things as possible.”
“I’ve just finished my 70th album and I’m still writing, and recording and performing. And as long as the good Lord allows that’ I’ll carry on!”
Words by Patrick Astill, first published, and copyright Derby Telegraph
Tales of pilots lured to their deaths
Stroll across the High Peak and you’ll always enjoy some of the country’s finest scenery.
Wander only a few minutes away from the main paths and – if you know where to look – you’ll be rewarded with an awe-inspiring, time-travel moment, where you can see and sometimes feel the ghosts of the past.
For scattered across an area from Glossop to the west and Sheffield’s borders on the east are almost 70 air crash sites, around half with debris still laying on the ground.
A new book, High Peak Air Crash Sites, explains how the sheer height of the national park lured pilots and navigators into believing they were 2,000ft up, rather than just inches above moorland sitting 2,000ft above sea level.
The evidence is there through the tons of metal strewn across 30 individual sites. A further 36 sites, often showing tell-tale craters and crash scars, can also be found. Most date from the Second World War but others are from as recently as 2006.
The author, Pat Cunningham, is a former RAF and British Midland aviator of 40 years standing, with more than 20,000 hours of operational and commercial flying under his belt.
The book tells the moving story behind each crash, discovered using coroner’s reports and researching official investigations as well as talking to the people involved and people who know the land today.
Inevitably they are stories of tragedy. One, from 1948, recalls how a US Air Force Boeing F-13A perished along with its 13-man crew on a local delivery flight between Scampton, in Lincolnshire, and Burtonwood, Liverpool, after a successful mission over Russia during the blockade of Berlin. It was their final flight and the crew would have been on their way back to the US a few days later.
Cloud conditions led the pilot, Captain Landon Tanner, to use Visual Flight Rules for the 86-mile trip. But he never completed the 22-minute journey.
Pat, getting to the human story behind the tragedies, records that the aircraft wreckage was found in line with the direct route it would have taken, and just three miles north.
The book records: “There had been no witnesses and no recorded emergency transmissions. Beyond this, a crew member’s watch had been smashed while reading 1050 hours. Taking this as the time of impact, and calculating from the known take-off time to obtain the planned estimate for Burtonwood – around 1037 hours – they might well have reasoned that the crew has done some sightseeing before entering the cloud belt; a reasonable assumption in view of their imminent departure from the United Kingdom.”
Pat, who lives in central Derby, said: “I’m a flier and a walker and I take an interest from both points of view.
“Many walkers are only interested if there is a lot of metal about but I find the stories fascinating.
“It’s the human side that’s important. A lot of people would have said in the 40s, for instance, that a crew should have known better. But you have to realise these were young chaps who were floating around in a very darkened landscape and with communications silence, so they were on a hiding to nothing.
“And very, very few were flying in anger. Of the 300 crashes in the wider area, we have about four with battle damage.
“Most were simply getting lost thinking they were over low ground and thinking they had flown higher.”
High Peak Air Crash Sites is illustrated with photographs on almost every page, as well as map references to allow walkers and sightseers to pinpoint these historic and fascinating monuments to the past.
High Peak Air Crashes (Central), [ISBN 978 1 84674 219 4] is by Pat Cunningham and published in paperback by Countryside Books, priced £12.99.
(Words by Patrick Astill; First published and copyright Derby Telegraph 27-8-2010)
Wander only a few minutes away from the main paths and – if you know where to look – you’ll be rewarded with an awe-inspiring, time-travel moment, where you can see and sometimes feel the ghosts of the past.
For scattered across an area from Glossop to the west and Sheffield’s borders on the east are almost 70 air crash sites, around half with debris still laying on the ground.
A new book, High Peak Air Crash Sites, explains how the sheer height of the national park lured pilots and navigators into believing they were 2,000ft up, rather than just inches above moorland sitting 2,000ft above sea level.
The evidence is there through the tons of metal strewn across 30 individual sites. A further 36 sites, often showing tell-tale craters and crash scars, can also be found. Most date from the Second World War but others are from as recently as 2006.
The author, Pat Cunningham, is a former RAF and British Midland aviator of 40 years standing, with more than 20,000 hours of operational and commercial flying under his belt.
The book tells the moving story behind each crash, discovered using coroner’s reports and researching official investigations as well as talking to the people involved and people who know the land today.
Inevitably they are stories of tragedy. One, from 1948, recalls how a US Air Force Boeing F-13A perished along with its 13-man crew on a local delivery flight between Scampton, in Lincolnshire, and Burtonwood, Liverpool, after a successful mission over Russia during the blockade of Berlin. It was their final flight and the crew would have been on their way back to the US a few days later.
Cloud conditions led the pilot, Captain Landon Tanner, to use Visual Flight Rules for the 86-mile trip. But he never completed the 22-minute journey.
Pat, getting to the human story behind the tragedies, records that the aircraft wreckage was found in line with the direct route it would have taken, and just three miles north.
The book records: “There had been no witnesses and no recorded emergency transmissions. Beyond this, a crew member’s watch had been smashed while reading 1050 hours. Taking this as the time of impact, and calculating from the known take-off time to obtain the planned estimate for Burtonwood – around 1037 hours – they might well have reasoned that the crew has done some sightseeing before entering the cloud belt; a reasonable assumption in view of their imminent departure from the United Kingdom.”
Pat, who lives in central Derby, said: “I’m a flier and a walker and I take an interest from both points of view.
“Many walkers are only interested if there is a lot of metal about but I find the stories fascinating.
“It’s the human side that’s important. A lot of people would have said in the 40s, for instance, that a crew should have known better. But you have to realise these were young chaps who were floating around in a very darkened landscape and with communications silence, so they were on a hiding to nothing.
“And very, very few were flying in anger. Of the 300 crashes in the wider area, we have about four with battle damage.
“Most were simply getting lost thinking they were over low ground and thinking they had flown higher.”
High Peak Air Crash Sites is illustrated with photographs on almost every page, as well as map references to allow walkers and sightseers to pinpoint these historic and fascinating monuments to the past.
High Peak Air Crashes (Central), [ISBN 978 1 84674 219 4] is by Pat Cunningham and published in paperback by Countryside Books, priced £12.99.
(Words by Patrick Astill; First published and copyright Derby Telegraph 27-8-2010)
Monday, August 23
Author Wendy took on 'bad boy' persona for tale of art, sex and money
Chick-lit author Wendy Holden has hit on an unusual marketing ploy for her latest novel, Gallery Girl.
It's set in the "high-octane world of art, sex and money" – wonderful ingredients to transform into her latest page-turner.
Wendy made time to take on the persona of her bad-boy artist character and launched an art exhibition which opened in London for a single night earlier this week.
It showcased 12 contemporary artworks, with Wendy doing the creative work to help her get into the mindset of Zeb Spaw, the villain of Gallery Girl, which came out yesterday.
She's not without a track record for being artistic.
As well as being a journalist on The Sunday Times, Tatler and The Mail on Sunday before becoming a full-time author, she's also dabbled professionally at drawing and painting, and loves sculpture and galleries.
The spoof show, angry_with_britain, by Zeb/Wendy includes Fifteen Metres of Fame, his homage to Warhol, a 15m rope hung with pictures of celebrities mounted on cardboard (mostly from All Bran boxes).
There is also Tripetych, three panels featuring blown-up images of offal.
The exhibition is trailed as "spoof and a bit of fun", and Wendy's character is "angry".
"He's not so much an angry young man as an angry middle-aged man," she said.
"I had to get inside his angry mind and also those people surrounding him. There are so many satellites of people, dealers and those who surround him, like the owner of the gallery, patrons, a predatory female nymphomaniac collector…
"In the middle of this is my heroine. She doesn't particularly like the world she has been thrown into but has to get to know it more.
"What I'm always looking for is something behind the scenes of a glamorous world, and it's got to be funny.
"The very fact of being a glamorous person is inherently funny, because it's so difficult for them to keep their façade. There's a gap between what we see and what actually goes on.
"The world of contemporary art is so terribly po-faced, it's ripe for comedy.
"Contemporary art is a perfect subject, full of money and fame. There's so much potential humour."
It was when Wendy created the character of Zeb for Gallery Girl that she decided she wanted to do some of his awful work for herself. His masterpieces included spraying crisps gold and labelling them Golden Wonder, or making a Barbie doll's toilet gold and calling it Flash in the Pan.
"I really did enjoy writing it," she said. "I've gone further than ever before with a character, not just in creating him but realising some of his artwork too."
She'd already written about the film world and glossy magazines, all with those vital ingredients of money, power and people, often pretending they are something they're not.
Of course, in the narrative of Gallery Girl, Zeb lives up to the pretence, and learns that nailing a pair of pants to chipboard will get him more headlines and interest than the traditional styles. So that's the direction he goes off in. He is drawn as a very clever person who markets his own art.
Not a career path that Wendy, now 45, saw through. "When I first started out in the late 80s my first career was as a cartoonist for all sorts of people. I realised I probably wasn't going to make a career out of that and it fell by the wayside," she said.
But she's doing just fine without that particular string to her bow. Away from the fiction, she still writes for newspapers and magazines on social and lifestyle topics and you might catch her on the radio as a contributor to debates.
It's set in the "high-octane world of art, sex and money" – wonderful ingredients to transform into her latest page-turner.
Wendy made time to take on the persona of her bad-boy artist character and launched an art exhibition which opened in London for a single night earlier this week.
It showcased 12 contemporary artworks, with Wendy doing the creative work to help her get into the mindset of Zeb Spaw, the villain of Gallery Girl, which came out yesterday.
She's not without a track record for being artistic.
As well as being a journalist on The Sunday Times, Tatler and The Mail on Sunday before becoming a full-time author, she's also dabbled professionally at drawing and painting, and loves sculpture and galleries.
The spoof show, angry_with_britain, by Zeb/Wendy includes Fifteen Metres of Fame, his homage to Warhol, a 15m rope hung with pictures of celebrities mounted on cardboard (mostly from All Bran boxes).
There is also Tripetych, three panels featuring blown-up images of offal.
The exhibition is trailed as "spoof and a bit of fun", and Wendy's character is "angry".
"He's not so much an angry young man as an angry middle-aged man," she said.
"I had to get inside his angry mind and also those people surrounding him. There are so many satellites of people, dealers and those who surround him, like the owner of the gallery, patrons, a predatory female nymphomaniac collector…
"In the middle of this is my heroine. She doesn't particularly like the world she has been thrown into but has to get to know it more.
"What I'm always looking for is something behind the scenes of a glamorous world, and it's got to be funny.
"The very fact of being a glamorous person is inherently funny, because it's so difficult for them to keep their façade. There's a gap between what we see and what actually goes on.
"The world of contemporary art is so terribly po-faced, it's ripe for comedy.
"Contemporary art is a perfect subject, full of money and fame. There's so much potential humour."
It was when Wendy created the character of Zeb for Gallery Girl that she decided she wanted to do some of his awful work for herself. His masterpieces included spraying crisps gold and labelling them Golden Wonder, or making a Barbie doll's toilet gold and calling it Flash in the Pan.
"I really did enjoy writing it," she said. "I've gone further than ever before with a character, not just in creating him but realising some of his artwork too."
She'd already written about the film world and glossy magazines, all with those vital ingredients of money, power and people, often pretending they are something they're not.
Of course, in the narrative of Gallery Girl, Zeb lives up to the pretence, and learns that nailing a pair of pants to chipboard will get him more headlines and interest than the traditional styles. So that's the direction he goes off in. He is drawn as a very clever person who markets his own art.
Not a career path that Wendy, now 45, saw through. "When I first started out in the late 80s my first career was as a cartoonist for all sorts of people. I realised I probably wasn't going to make a career out of that and it fell by the wayside," she said.
But she's doing just fine without that particular string to her bow. Away from the fiction, she still writes for newspapers and magazines on social and lifestyle topics and you might catch her on the radio as a contributor to debates.
She's currently finishing a new book – as yet untitled – about a social climber, set in the south of France, and is tossing around a few ideas for her next.
Wendy, whose previous best-selling novels include Filthy Rich and Fame Fatale, lives in Two Dales near Matlock with husband, Jon McLeod, and their two children.
She's had success with nine novels so far, every one a top-ten bestseller.
Gallery Girl by Wendy Holden, published by Headline (Trade Paperback), £12.99.
Words by Patrick Astill, first published in the Derby Telegraph
Monday, August 2
Playing safe or falling prey to the nanny state?
How long is a piece of string?
More importantly, how long are those apron strings that you should keep the kids attached to during the summer holidays?
I had an unusually liberating experience recently. I sent my kids off on a nature trail – and out of sight for ten minutes – at an open day at a local attraction.
Normally this might set palpitations in motion, as they are only six and four. There were lots of strangers about, hundreds in fact.
And yet this time it felt right. It was on home ground, a venue they were comfortable with. No chance of them wandering off into the street. Just a circular trail within the confines of a big, noisy, friendly and busy family open day.
What WAS I thinking of? A walk alone to the end of our (long) street wouldn't normally be on the cards. But then that's a through route with lots of naughty drivers ready to draw up alongside and pounce. But only maybe.
So what are we really protecting them against?
When I was a lad we lived at the coast, and we were allowed out on our bikes for half a day at a time and our parents would expect us home when we got there, often late in the day, hungry and grubby. We could only have been nine or ten, but if a ten-year-old was left to fend for themselves for half a day with an eight-year-old sibling they would no doubt be castigated by the so-called liberal press for child neglect.
While aged 11, we were invited up into the quiet signal box at our remote village level crossing. Perhaps there was a greater trust of strangers in those days. He'd let us put coins on the line and then rush back to see how they'd been flattened after the excursion had rattled by. Today he would most probably be prosecuted.
What has changed in the intervening 30-odd years?
Even now, as parents ourselves, we take risks with the children. Who hasn't, for instance, left a sleeping baby in a locked car so as not to disturb them? After all, they're only outside the house, so what could go wrong?
You've got the pair of them in the bath, only three or four inches of water. The phone rings, you nip out to answer it.
But this is safety at home rather than an issue of freedom. Is the risk of letting them explore, perhaps fall on the rocks at the beach, or perhaps get stuck up a tree, the same kind of risk?
Is it more about letting them find themselves in the real world? Have an adventure? Are we guilty of being sucked into a 24-hour rolling news agenda of tragedy, disaster, child neglect and paedophilia?
So back to my original question. The answer, of course, is "How long is a piece of string?"
More importantly, how long are those apron strings that you should keep the kids attached to during the summer holidays?
I had an unusually liberating experience recently. I sent my kids off on a nature trail – and out of sight for ten minutes – at an open day at a local attraction.
Normally this might set palpitations in motion, as they are only six and four. There were lots of strangers about, hundreds in fact.
And yet this time it felt right. It was on home ground, a venue they were comfortable with. No chance of them wandering off into the street. Just a circular trail within the confines of a big, noisy, friendly and busy family open day.
What WAS I thinking of? A walk alone to the end of our (long) street wouldn't normally be on the cards. But then that's a through route with lots of naughty drivers ready to draw up alongside and pounce. But only maybe.
So what are we really protecting them against?
When I was a lad we lived at the coast, and we were allowed out on our bikes for half a day at a time and our parents would expect us home when we got there, often late in the day, hungry and grubby. We could only have been nine or ten, but if a ten-year-old was left to fend for themselves for half a day with an eight-year-old sibling they would no doubt be castigated by the so-called liberal press for child neglect.
While aged 11, we were invited up into the quiet signal box at our remote village level crossing. Perhaps there was a greater trust of strangers in those days. He'd let us put coins on the line and then rush back to see how they'd been flattened after the excursion had rattled by. Today he would most probably be prosecuted.
What has changed in the intervening 30-odd years?
Even now, as parents ourselves, we take risks with the children. Who hasn't, for instance, left a sleeping baby in a locked car so as not to disturb them? After all, they're only outside the house, so what could go wrong?
You've got the pair of them in the bath, only three or four inches of water. The phone rings, you nip out to answer it.
But this is safety at home rather than an issue of freedom. Is the risk of letting them explore, perhaps fall on the rocks at the beach, or perhaps get stuck up a tree, the same kind of risk?
Is it more about letting them find themselves in the real world? Have an adventure? Are we guilty of being sucked into a 24-hour rolling news agenda of tragedy, disaster, child neglect and paedophilia?
So back to my original question. The answer, of course, is "How long is a piece of string?"
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