Trojan

I reckon I'm a bit older than you. I remember the first time I heard the Beatles. In those days in Yorkshire we got Granada TV from Manchester, and the local news programme was called People and Places, introduced by Bill Grundy. There was an item about this band from Liverpool. They played Love Me Do! I've been a fan ever since. At the time the charts were full of stuff by Frank Ifield, Craig Douglas, Jimmy Rogers and Pat Boone, they were like a breath of fresh air. There is something about the blend of Lennon and McCartney's voices that is somehow magic. The whole was much better than the sum of the parts. Neither of them singly was a patch on them together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FAV3zr1PMk

Having listened to Tom Jones play it on Jools Holland, St James Infirmary Blues Louis Armstrong

Bradford may be East Manchester (end of Mancunian way?) But Bradford and Clayton are in Yorkshire.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/army-rugby-final-2 the player who scored the first try is Billy Boston

It's available on Spotify and You Tube. Benny Goodman also did a version. Same arranger, Fletcher Henderson, but Chick's is far superior IMO.

Stompin' at the Savoy, Chick Webb Orchestra. I'm a sucker for thirties swing!

Still Life Kirsty McColl

We had a goldfinch in our garden this morning, I've never seen one before and didn't know what it was. Described it to a friend and he said it sounds like a goldfinch. And it is. Never seen one before

I saw my first swallows of this year at Wigglesworth (near Settle) they were nesting in a workshop I was visiting. I remarked on it to the guy I was talking to and he said there had been 4 or 5 in the warm spell at the end of March, but they'd been about tor a week and then disappeared, he reckoned they died because the weather turned cold, and there was no food for them. Which reminds me of a story: There was a swallow who decided one autumn not to fly south with its mates. As September wore on into October there were still plenty of flies, but then the weather turned cold, and there was no food. The swallow fell out of the sky into a farmyard, where a cow crapped on it, the warmth of the ###### revived the swallow and it began to flutter its wings. A passing cat saw the fluttering and investigated, found the swallow and ate it up. Which goes to prove that it's not always a bad thing to be in the ######, and if you are you should keep quiet about it!

I've read most of the Sharpe books, not keen on the Vikings ones, really miss the Starbuck US Civil War stories, I thought they were excellent.

Gordon Brown "Beyond the Crash"

That's what jogged my memory to listen to Pres and Teddy again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDesCGeGLL4

Pres & Teddy - Lester Young and Teddy Wilson

Voi che sapete, Marriage of Figaro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDeFdGzthV0

I saw my first bee of 2015 yesterday. It was on the ground seemingly unable to take off. There was a programme on R4 about the life cycle of bumble bees last year. Apparently the queens hibernate and emerge at this time of year to found new colonies. It said if you find one struggling on the ground give it some sugar and water in a teaspoon and it will revive. It works!

Stompin' at the Savoy - Chick Webb Orchestra, & begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw - two swing classics

The media show on Radio 4 reckons Sky had to bid so high to secure soccer because without soccer it has no USP. The increase according to the Media Show will come from Sky's drama output and yes other sports. Not looking too bright for RL in that case.

According to "PM" spending on the Premier League amounts to 17% of all TV spending. The audience for Premier League amounts to 1% of the total TV audience.

Art Deco classic too!

I always classed "B" Movies as second features. In the heyday of the cinema, when the local fleapit would change the programme halfway through the week, if one of the films was fairly short, you'd get a second feature, the series that sticks in my mind is "Scotland Yard" with the creepy Edgar Lustgarten. Always black and white and always about some gruesome murder, so that, at the end Lustgaren could smack his lips in satisfaction in relating that the criminal had paid the ultimate penalty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2UFo5fKCwk

I had the same experience from Salisbury. Delays on the A34, delays on the M40, but mainly the M1. All the way from 15A they were flagging long delays between 31 & 34. There were certainly long delays to 31 because of all the sodding roadworks! At 34 the sign said "incident" the only incident I saw was that it was clear the road had not been ploughed. It snows nearly every year, and the weather forecasters have been flagging this for days but we are still "taken by surprise!" I blame the Tories

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl%C3%A1inte

I've just finished Evelyn Waugh's "Vile Bodies" a satire on the thirties "bright young things." Waugh was very right wing, but is an excellent writer, I always enjoy his stuff. Scoop, and Decline and Fall are really funny. The "Sword of Honour" trilogy are always rewarding, funny, informative, with an excellent plot. Funnily enough the only book of Waugh's I haven't enjoyed is the most famous Brideshead.