Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

I’ve only just realised how much interest USA Presidents have given me in my lifetime.

It began with Kennedy being shot stone dead. 57 years ago, & I remember every detail as if it were yesterday.

Along came Nixon, & Watergate might just be the greatest news story of my entire life. I’ve got every Watergate book ever written & it still fascinates. So much irony too – he denied any wrongdoing, but he had a secret tape system recording everything in his office & that was his undoing. First he denied he had it, then he refused to turn the tapes over. Eventually he had to, but he wiped crucial passages - & blamed his Secretary, Rose, for doing it. What a pos.

Clinton – I DID NOT HAVE SEX WITH THAT WOMAN. I think you did sunshine.

And along came Trump. Jeez.

What were the chances that Americans would elect Trump & at the same time the crook Boris would be our PM?   

[tikay]

I love watching this girl strut her stuff. I know she’s said to be biased, but I don’t think she is. She’s abso the best at her job. I’m fixated watching her, and that slightly crooked way her lips form. 

[tikay]

I never miss a chance to watch this dreadful woman either. Horrible, horrible sort, but a compelling watch. Again, she purses her lips in a slightly odd way. But only when she’s procrastinating. Which is always.

Has to be the GOAT smirker, surely?

[tikay]

It’s a shame we will never see this lady interview Trump or Boris. She’d eat them both alive, she is magnificently savage.

WARNING - a nasty watch, the lady interviewer absolutely eats the poor fella then spits him out.



https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1317774892310401025

[tikay]

This amused me more than it should.

Is it fake? Probably, but if it is, please don’t tell me.

 

[tikay]

He was not universally admired, partly with good reason, but I was so sad when Peter Alliss passed away. He had done a few pieces to camera from home for this year’s Masters & it was clear he did not have long left, & sure enough, he popped off a few weeks later. For me, his golf commentary was wonderful, second only to the man he followed, the great Henry Longhurst.

Who can forget Peter’s masterful commentary when Jean van de Velde imploded at that famous Open?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV8Qj91T3o0

[tikay]

You ever watched any of the documentaries Alan Yentob does? If anyone does them better I’ve yet to see them. I watch every one of them, from Rod Stewart to Tracy Emin.

I would never have watched the Andrew Lloyd Webber one were it not for being done by Yentob. It was simply majestic. Mr Lloyd Webber was never really my cup of tea, but my oh my he has some talent.

All the way back in 1972 I was given a ticket to see Jesus Christ Superstar (JCS) at The Palace Theatre in London, the music to which Lloyd Webber wrote. Quite why I went I have no idea, Musicals don’t float my boat at all. I enjoyed it so much I went & saw it three times.  

Having recently seen the Yentob thing, a New York version of JCS on Sky Arts earlier this week caught my eye, so I decided to have a watch of it, all 2.5 hours. Utterly superb. I sang along, & knew every word to every song, despite it being almost 50 years since I saw it. And yet I can’t remember what I had for dinner yesterday. How that work?

It’s an embellished story of the last 7 days of the life of Jesus, with sort of ironic & modern twists to the language, as per these words by King Herod. (Played, would you believe, by Alice Cooper).

 
So if You are the Christ
You're the great Jesus Christ
Prove to me that You're no fool
Walk across my swimming pool



Excuse the poor quality vid, it’s the only one I could find. Don’t suppose too many of you will bother watching it anyway, lol.

 




Here’s Rik Mayall’s version. Yes, that Rik Mayall…


 

[tikay]

When I was a little boy, The Eagle (the best comic ever ever ever) used to tell us stories of how one day we would be able to make telephone calls & SEE the person at the other end. At the time we shared a party line with next door – I doubt anyone here even remembers party lines. Basically, two different houses share one phone line, so you could listen in to next door’s calls. Truly.

Anyway, my boss got hold of me on Slack the other day – oooh, hark at me, I can use Slack, which is a sort of adult version of Discord. Anyway, he said “have you got a moment for a Zoom call?”. Yes yes, no problem. And a second or two later, moving pictures & real-time sound of him phoning me came up on my lappie. WTF? Who pays for that call? Will poor old BT go out of business?

We do Town Halls too. Flutter are big into Town Halls. A Town Hall used to be a big grand building down the High Street, now it’s a video conferencing call with the Suits talking to us bottom feeders “live” so to speak. Press a button on the lappie, that’s it, job done, & I’m hooked up to Flutter in Dublin. (Flutter now own SB&G, & the last I heard AndrewT worked for Betfair, so I guess we share the same bosses now). 

The internet is so weird, but even I could not live without it, especially in these terrible COVID dominated times where we are all stuck at home.

[tikay]

I don't really welcome 'phone calls, I've become socially awkward, but out of the blue Jamie Moult (bookiebasher) rung me yesterday & it was all rather enjoyable.  I was very touched by his kindness, he just wanted to see if I was OK. Regards rings me from time to time too, bless him.  

I wish I had more time to spend on blonde, but somehow every day is filled with this & that. Oddly, I've received & sent literally hundreds of blonde PM's this year to & from my special friends. xx to you all.

[tikay]

Wonder if kids still get these at Xmas?

Click to see full-size image.

[vegaslover]

Missing Vegas was a blow. And it was not suddenly cancelled, it just sort of slowly became inevitable.

It’s OK, but there’s an advert on TV which uses the WSOP Intro Music. Sitting down to play a WSOP was the best thing ever & I miss it very much. And every time that chuffing advert comes on it reminds me.

Here’s the ad…..






And here’s the real thing, which was played at the start of every WSOP event. Used to make me quite emosh actually.

Obv the film (where I first heard it) is older than WSOP

[tikay]

2 recent photos I particularly enjoyed. Even as traditional social values erode, proud parents still evoke emotions. I'd have given anything to have had proud parents, though, to be fair, whether I could have done anything to make them proud is another matter.

Anyway, hope these two lads go on to great things.

Click to see full-size image.

 

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Missing Vegas was a blow. And it was not suddenly cancelled, it just sort of slowly became inevitable.

It’s OK, but there’s an advert on TV which uses the WSOP Intro Music. Sitting down to play a WSOP was the best thing ever & I miss it very much. And every time that chuffing advert comes on it reminds me.

Here’s the ad…..






And here’s the real thing, which was played at the start of every WSOP event. Used to make me quite emosh actually.

Obv the film (where I first heard it) is older than WSOP

Oh dear, I never even knew it came from a film. What film?

[Doobs]

The Good,The Bad and The Ugly.  Absolutely classic scene.  Funny thing is I don't remember much else from the film.   Probably just because I get the yearly tune reminder, but it is very much associated with the WSOP when I hear it now.

Good to have you back posting.  I like Laura Kuenssberg too, but also think the BBC do a fine job.  The people on the left who think she is biased against them also think the Guardian is biased against them, so I wouldn't waste too much time on it.  She clearly has nothing on Fox News or Kayleigh McEnany, so think we are ok for now.

Hope there is a way to see Jill again regularly in the summer and am confident WSOP2022 will be a safe enough thing.

Got family stuff to do. Merry Christmas Tony.

[Doobs]

If you want to get to the tune, it sparks up 3 minutes in.