Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[RED-DOG]

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FFS! You could shit yourself three times in those before you needed to change them.

[tikay]

Tyson is his heyday was an animal, but was terrific to watch, so exciting, & aggressive, so beautifully & powerfully built. He could bite, too.

not the best photo of said ear.......but I couldn't see the join. 

That is one for the album, Nick, one to show the grandkids. Where & when was that?

[tikay]

I wrote a piece about Ian Hislop, & HIGNFY, & the interesting thing was how that Show, despite it's longevity, seems to transcend all generations - almost everyone loves it.

Think back almost 10 years, Angus Deayton was Hosting it, got the tin tack, & we all thought the Show would never recover, but it has, & even though the format has barely changed in all those years, it still delivers wonderfully. (Damn, I need a better adjective again....).

Jack Dee seemed the natural replacement, but it was not to be, and now he fills Humphrey Littleton's shoes incredibly well in R4's "I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue".

The thing I never quite grasped was how keen both Merton & Hislop seemed to make fun of Deayton after the scandals, & contributed to his dismissal from the Show. I learned today, from Wiki, that it may have been money-motivated, in that Deayton was getting £50k per show, whilst the two lads were "only" getting £12,500 per Show. If so, & they did engineer his sacking, both Hislop & Merton are deducted 2 house points. But maybe there was more to it than meets the eye.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angus_Deayton

Since then, Deayton's career has barely spluttered along, as he is no longer considered a safe pair of hands. If Deayton really was getting £50k per Show, & they do, say, 26 episodes per year, it has cost him the fat end of thirteen million quid. Jeez.

[tikay]

Talking of longevity, & institutions, as we - well just me, as there is no feedback - are (am?) today, hands up if you have never eaten a Cadburys Creme Egg?

They are only sold between Jan 1st & Easter - God knows what happens to the unsold ones - but they sell 200 million of them annually, & the Cadburys factory churns out - lays? - 1.5 million of the things every day during the manufacturing season. What do they make the rest of the year, in that spare production capacity, I wonder?

PS - Bet gatters is first to spot the deliberate mistake in that photograph.....

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[tikay]

Message for 77Dave.....

Yes, Sky Poker DO accept Moneybookers, plus PayPal, Neteller, & all the usual credit cards.

So yes, you have no excuse not to play next week's £220 Sky Poker Tour affair in G-Luton.

Be there.

I really do hope as many of my friends as possible play it, the Luton & DTD legs of SPT are tops.

Chomps, Vinni, Pizzled, Scotty77, Jeff Buffenburger, Thewy, British Gas, Angry Greg Raymer, & loads more are all lined up, & we are going to have a terrific weekend. I've arranged for Vinni to be interviewed by Anna Fowler, he's drooling already, & Sarah Champion will be there on Saturday evening, too.

Tighty will be running the Show, I'll be playing (briefly) & then abusing you all. Lovely.

Just need to work on Tom, Ralph, Andrew, Claire, Mr Giblin, & co to be there now.

I sort of dread these SPT weeks in some ways. The seats have been abvailable for months, & take up has been lethargic, though 111 seats have gone now, & G-Luton have been allocated 30, 5 of which are for a Live Super Sat tomorrow. (It needs 150 to hit the £30k Guarantee, which it will, with ease). But by Friday, when all the seats are gone, my inbox will be HEAVING with folks begging for a seat, & throwing a strop when I say I cannot assist. It was always so. Never mind, worse things happen at sea.

Here's the queue for seats at last year's renewal.

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[tikay]

Talent, imagination, brilliance, creativity, flair, prodigy, perspicacity

[Kev B]

Talking of longevity, & institutions, as we - well just me, as there is no feedback - are (am?) today, hands up if you have never eaten a Cadburys Creme Egg?

They are only sold between Jan 1st & Easter - God knows what happens to the unsold ones - but they sell 200 million of them annually, & the Cadburys factory churns out - lays? - 1.5 million of the things every day during the manufacturing season. What do they make the rest of the year, in that spare production capacity, I wonder?

PS - Bet gatters is first to spot the deliberate mistake in that photograph.....

Click to see full-size image.

Trailer number plate.

I see Tom brought the culture over on the Robbie trousers pic. He's a Stokie (Robbie, not Tom) you know but the stupid side of him stems from him being a Port Vale supporter.

[ripple11]

Tyson is his heyday was an animal, but was terrific to watch, so exciting, & aggressive, so beautifully & powerfully built. He could bite, too.

not the best photo of said ear.......but I couldn't see the join. 

That is one for the album, Nick, one to show the grandkids. Where & when was that?

Mint Casino London , September 2010.

Holyfield was over here promoting Real Deal Poker, who's USP was online poker using real decks of cards!

He was at Poker in the Park during the day and then Real Deal held an invitational tournament in the evening, in which he played. £50 freezeout, but Champ needed a couple of rebuys.
I managed to luckbox a win, and so agreed to some promo shots at the end.

I think Real Deal Poker folded shortly after.

[77dave]

ill be playing the sky sat at the G tomorrow.

no chance of me cashing so i dont really need a sky account.

[tikay]

There is a legends of racing series in the RP this week Tony and yesterday featured Michael Dickinson, focussing mainly on his famous five in the Gold Cup.

There were two stats in there that I found amazing. The first one was his total wins figure, which for a man held in such high regard was only 380 winners ( this was in fact only 2 more winners than the 378 he rode as a jockey)

The second was he still holds the world record for a trainer with most winners in one day which was the 12 he had from 20 runners on December the 27th 1982. What intrigued me the most about that was he ran 20 horses that day and 19 of them finished in the first three. The incredible number in that story for me was his total string that season was just 55 horses, so he managed to get just under 40% of his entire string to run in the first three in one day, this included the winner and the 3rd in the King George.

Been meaning to reply to that for weeks now, Phil.

If anyone follows jump racing, they'd do well to read your Post.

We have Posted about longevity, talent, & freak results today, & the Dickinson family tick all those boxes.

I followed the Dickinsons from start to finish, I think Tony - the Dad - held the Trainers licence originally, but wife Monica was the powerhouse. Michael - the son - was the stable jockey, then took over the training licence, & after he retired, I think Monica, who died recently, took the reins again.

Michael was a fine jockey, a bit tall, but rarely lost a race he should have won. I backed them almost blind, including all 19 of his runners on that famous Boxing Day, ugh, how daft was that?

There was no value, of course, the prices were always skinny, the value - which I had - was in the early years, with horses like Gay Spartan - the best the stable ever had imo - & Silver Buck.

Will any trainer, or stable, ever saddle the front 5 again in a Cheltenham Gold Cup? That, I doubt.

They finished like this.....

1) Bregawn

2) Captain John

3) Wayward Lad

4) Silver Buck (the best of the 5, imo)

5) Ashley House.

Big race wins for Michael, as a trainer? He just got the lot. Look at this for a roll of honour.....

Mildmay of Flete Handicap Chase (1981)
Mersey Novices' Hurdle (1981)
Cheltenham Gold Cup (1982, 1983)
Hennessy Gold Cup (1982)
King George VI Chase (1982, 1983)
Peter Marsh Chase (1982, 1983)
Queen Mother Champion Chase (1982, 1983, 1984)
Sun Alliance Novices' Hurdle (1983)
Blue Square Gold Cup (1983)
Supreme Novices' Hurdle (1984)
Top Novices' Hurdle (1984)

Later, he became a flat trainer, for Sangster, & then in America, but he never cut it, (though he did win two Breeders Cups with the same perpetually injured horse, "Da Hoss"), & eventually moved into another field altogether, with a Synthetic Turf business. No idea if he is still doing that, or even still alive.

We will never see the likes if the Dickinson family again.

Michael was a lovely kid, modest & humble to a fault, impossible to dislike, really.

Oh what wonderful memories the Dickinson's have given me. Not all my gambling memories are good, far from it, but I was way ahead of the bookies with that family.





Here's Monica, with Wayward Lad, in '86.

[RED-DOG]

I see Tom brought the culture over on the Robbie trousers pic.

And wonder ye not if his speech be uncouth,
nor look ye much for his rhymes to be smooth,
nor that the words should flow lofty and free,
from one with so little schooling as he.

A rough stab from memory, with my apologies to the author.

[tikay]

I see Tom brought the culture over on the Robbie trousers pic.

And wonder ye not if his speech be uncouth,
nor look ye much for his rhymes to be smooth,
nor that the words should flow lofty and free,
from one with so little schooling as he.

A rough stab from memory, with my apologies to the author.

Oi, we don't have arty poetry nonsense here.

[pokerfan]

Talking of longevity, & institutions, as we - well just me, as there is no feedback - are (am?) today, hands up if you have never eaten a Cadburys Creme Egg?

They are only sold between Jan 1st & Easter - God knows what happens to the unsold ones - but they sell 200 million of them annually, & the Cadburys factory churns out - lays? - 1.5 million of the things every day during the manufacturing season. What do they make the rest of the year, in that spare production capacity, I wonder?

PS - Bet gatters is first to spot the deliberate mistake in that photograph.....

Click to see full-size image.

Trailer number plate.

I see Tom brought the culture over on the Robbie trousers pic. He's a Stokie (Robbie, not Tom) you know but the stupid side of him stems from him being a Port Vale supporter.

Must be something else, that's a trailer on a trailer.

[david3103]

HIGFNY was a progression onto TV of the R4 staple 'The News Quiz' which hasn't varied it's formula in a lot longer than 10 years.

I mention this as a way of quoting Alan Coren who was a regular.
He once described Sainsbury's as existing for the sole purpose of keeping the chavs out of Waitrose.
His children have done pretty well for themselves too.

[tikay]

HIGFNY was a progression onto TV of the R4 staple 'The News Quiz' which hasn't varied it's formula in a lot longer than 10 years.

I mention this as a way of quoting Alan Coren who was a regular.
He once described Sainsbury's as existing for the sole purpose of keeping the chavs out of Waitrose.
His children have done pretty well for themselves too.

Ooh, good shout, David, Alan Coren was sheer genius, and as you say, his kids, Giles (something of a loose cannon, but VERY bright), & Vicky, ain't done too bad, either. Most of us would do well do do one tenth as well as Vicky has, & she has such range, too, EPT winner, TV Host, newspaper columnist, successful author, &, for the most part, well-respected.   

Click to see full-size image.