Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

A slight change of subject, but I was doing my thing over at Sky Poker tonight, playing the nightly £20 Deepie, & chanced into Convo with one of the players, who, in fact, went on to win it, in very fine style

It turned out he was the brother of a very respected blonde.

I asked him if he was half as clever, or half as witty, as his Bro.

"Twice as clever, twice as witty" he replied.

"And do you dress half as badly?" I asked.

"NOBODY dresses as bad as him" he said.

So who is the blonde?

cia?

Lol, you are wittier than you are often given credit for.

Err, no.

[TightEnd]

Karabiners baby brother?

[Chompy]

Got it imo...

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=43491.105

[tikay]

Karabiners baby brother?

No

[tikay]

Got it imo...

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=43491.105

Dresses badly enough, but no.

[Eck]

AndrewT ?

[Claw75]

AndrewT ?

this, obv.

[tikay]

AndrewT ?

Get's the prize.

[AndrewT]

He has trouble enough getting it quietly at the best of times without a proxy mouthpiece on here.

[Eck]

Was obviously the witty bit that gave it away not the dress sense....

[tikay]

He has trouble enough getting it quietly at the best of times without a proxy mouthpiece on here.

Ooh, brotherly love, I see....

[tikay]

I am not sure that i could place the Nixon / Watergate scandal in my mythical list over the assassination of JFK.

Well that's a good point, but it's how we perceived the stores personally, & Watergate wins hands down for me.

To begin with, it helps that nobody died in Watergate, it was just a ripping yarn, unveiled bit by bit, day after day. You could not have scripted a better slow-burner, nobody got hurt, & the whole story was beyond belief. I was at the paper-stands (this was pre-internet) at 4am every morning, & specially ordrered the Washington Post daily, which I had to drive to Kings Cross at 4am in the morning to collect.

And the whole story came out because Nixon was so vain - he'd installed a Taping Device in his Office, to record his words for posterity! A Prosecutor was appointed, & her found out about the existence of the Tapes, so he suphoened (sp) them. So Nixon sacked him! Rinse, repeat, three times.

Meanwhile, Nixon - PRESIDENT  Nixon - & his cohorts were busily editing out the evidence.

Eventually, they hand the Tapes over. That's the Edited Tapes. With gaps in them.

Prosecutor spots the gaps, & demands an explanation.

So Nixon does what? Yup, blames Rose, his lifelong, loyal, & aged Secretary. So they took HER to Court......

And he destroyed the reputation - for ever - of the "President's Office", wriggling this way & that to get off the hook.

The Tapes were eventually transcribed into book form. You won't find a more exciting or mind-boggling read anywhere.

Whereas JFK's assassinatiion.....(more.....)

[Karabiner]

Karabiners baby brother?

Now that would have been a severe shock, and not just to my tailor 

[tikay]

Whereas JFK's assassinatiion....

This had totally different texture to the Story. A pleasing journey in good company is one you want to go on for ever, & Watergate was like that - it was kinda sad when it finished.

But JFK was different. More vivid, but less of a journey, it was like a 3 page Novel, it was over almost before it had started. Stunningly dramatic, yes, but crash-bang-wallop, all over.

It was one of the few (public figure) deaths where I can recall exactly where I was, with whom, doing what. (It was a Friday evening in the UK). I have the same recollections as to the death of Lennon & Princess Di.

I remember every single detail. Elm Street, the Book Depository, the grassy knoll (I've never heard "grassy knoll" used ever, anywhere, except on that occasion), Parklands Hossie, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby shooting him, then Jack Ruby himself dying.

At the time, the Sunday Times had a superb (may still have) supplement called "Insight", & it was all beautifully covered in that.

Then came The Warren Commission, a weighty tome, & I devoured every line & word in that.

And that was that - except it was not, because then the Conspiracy Threories started. All utter tosh, imo, but at one time, 80% of the great American public never accepted the Warren Commission findings. (That Oswald acted alone).

So, a flash-bang wallop story, no time to get really deep into it, the death of a very iconic man, the whole thing tainted by daft conspiracy theorists.

And of course I hated the fact he'd been killed, whereas I was, like most, delighted to see Nixon get his come-uppance.

And the Nixon story was teased out so beautifully, it was a "long pleasant journey", & I suspect, with hindsight, that Woodward & Bernstein deliberately trickle fed it out. And of course the Story lasted a very, very long time. (For which reason, the Falklands War was such a great story, but not perfect, because it was tainted by so many deaths, on both sides).

So there, hector, are the reasons why, in my little world (an odd-bod world it is, too, I readily admit), I put Watergate above the JNK assassination. It does not reflect lack of respect for JFK - almost the opposite really - but it's just not "the perfect story".

I probably own over 30 books on Watergate, & still peruse them when time permits - particularly the original, & real, Tape Transcripts in book form, but just 2 - including The Warren Commission Report - on the JFK death.

It's just my personal choice, it's not meant to be the most important stories, just those which most fascinated me, personally. Which is why I'm curious what others would have in their lists.

[tikay]

Brixton Riots and the other riots that swept the country in the 'Thatcher years' category ?

No, did not really register with me.

Whereas the Notting Hill riots in the fifties most definitely did. This was my first, & horrific, experience of racism, with Nan & Grandad Angell both telling me openly that "the bloody blacks don't belong here, they should send 'em home". Grandad Angell, a Train Driver, had been my unblemished hero until that day.

I don't know how it is that some kids - outwardly not at all bright, as was my case - somehow know, instinctively, when something is so wrong. And yet other quite dreadful things happened to me, & I never even realised how bad they were, until 10, 20 & even 30 years later.

As to the "other riots" during Lady Thatcher's years, that'd be part of my Thatcher Years" thingie. But I'd need to be very brave to Post that one.