Hamilton Saint

I have to disagree fundamentally (but not in a fundamentalist way!) with the part I've put in bold type. There's no parallel at all.

Fundamentalist atheist? What exactly do you mean by that?

Yes, what an amazing line-up that was! Well, to give LJB his due, after his brief flirtation with the "big time" as an Engelbert Humperdinck-styled pop singer, he returned to the Blues. In 1971 he put out a great LP called It Ain't Easy - one side produced by Rod Stewart, the other side produced by Elton John. It featured the amusing lead-off track "Don't Try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll". BTW, Long John Baldry became a Canadian in the late 70s. He lived near Hamilton first and then went out to the west coast.

Must be about extermination, then, not evolution.

I remember doing a radio interview with Long John Baldry shortly after she died and asking him about her. He said he was impressed by her voice but found her material rather "twee". I was rather annoyed with the comment, but got a little dig in at him later when I referred to his brief stint as a "housewives' choice"-style of pop singer in the late 60s. [Remember Let the Heartaches Begin?] He wasn't too thrilled with me bringing that up!

Here's a live performance of B Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ipWM3DWe4

Sad news. I used to play B Movie and H2O Gate Blues regularly on my radio program.

The acropolis in Athens Salisbury Cathedral Niagara Falls Central Park in NYC Trafalgar Square Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris)

Thanks for your interesting reply. OMG! John Wayne in The Green Berets. How out of touch was that?! I remember seeing that and being appalled by its political view of the Vietnam War. Have you see The Train with Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield. Scofield plays a Nazi officer trying to steal all the best French art classics (paintings) and ship them back to Germany by train. Lancaster plays a French railway engineer linked to the Resistance, who does everything he can to stop it. What's great in the film is the focus on the French trains and the railway infrastructure of France at the time. Interesting and different approach.

Have you ever watched Tora! Tora! Tora!? Probably the definitive account of Pearl Harbour. Also of minor interest (unless you're a huge WWII film fan), is Midway. Similar topic (a Japanese attack on the U.S.-controlled island of Midway, north-west of Pearl Harbour), but it relies on lots of stock footage from the US military, and a couple of other war films. Worth a look, though -and it gives you a slice of WWII history.

I don't know what it's like over there, but over here police are not interested at all in dealing with stolen bicycles, so stamping them is pretty much a waste of time. They're clearly not keen on collecting information about stolen bikes, and when they do find abandoned bikes, they just stick them in a warehouse somewhere, in case someone should ask whether their bike has been found. Every once in a while they will sell off the bikes in a public sale or auction.

I was behind someone in line at a tea shop a few weeks back. His order was, "I'd like a large green tea - make it black."

I always use loose tea, not teabags! I like English Breakfast Tea, Irish Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey and Darjeeling. Yorkshire Tea is good, too (loose, of course!). There are a couple of specialty tea shops in Toronto I go to every few months; they import lots of excellent teas from all over Asia. My favourites so far - a Darjeeling variety, and a black tea from Sri Lanka. When I can't get into Toronto, I'll buy a Twinings tin of loose tea.

And thanks to you for delivering the messages.

I find this and other so-called "funny" comments by WGS highly overrated. People go on as though he's Tommy Cooper. Not even remotely close.

Where's that? I went to Hythe Primary.

Indeed, but they like to be consistent in their inconsistency.

That sounds painful.

... and the lady said, "Not my Schnauzer, my mini Schnauzer!" To which the pharmacist said ... By the way, djharvey, I don't think it's a mini Schnauzer - the legs look too long.

Did mine in rural Shropshire in 1966. It had a lasting, salutory effect on my bicycle riding: I treat bike riding as being in charge of a vehicle - staying off the pavement, following the rules of the road, signalling my turns. What irritates me are bicycle riders who will change instantaneously, with no advanced warning or logic, from being a vehicle on the road, to being a toy on the pavement.

Nice dog! Last weekend I planted four tomato plants: three plants that will get large, "beefsteak" tomatoes (2 "Whoppers", which mature in about 70 days, and one "Early Girl", which takes about 50 days to get ripe fruit). The other is a "cherry tomato" variety. Also put some herbs into large, clay flowerpots. It's good to have fresh herbs for salads and cooking! It now gives me the opportunity to stroll judiciously around the garden checking out their progress.

And I've been listening to Paul Simon's latest - So Beautiful and So What - constantly. It's brilliant! Even better than his last (the collaboration with Brian Eno). Here he co-produces with Roy Hallee - who goes back to the S&G days. One of the songs on here - The Afterlife - is superb!

I'm listening mostly to his recent stuff now. The album that documents his separation from Daryl Hannah, I'm Alive is excellent - a great collection of songs. I think it's his best of recent times. Of the early stuff, my favourite song is Something Fine (it's from his very first LP). It's the combination of guitar work, singing and song. Perfect!

Brilliant? An interesting person who combines several of the following traits: clever, intelligent, creative, funny, articulate, thoughtful, hard-working ... I think he fails on most counts, don't you? BTW, weird to call someone elitist (note the spelling) right after praising a person like PP.

Happy Birthday, Ron. You were my childhood football idol. I've just been looking at my set of 10 Saints programs from the 1968-1969 season. Ron Davies is featured as the cover photograph in seven of them (six with headers). [The programs back then cost a shilling!] P.S. My oldest program is from the 1961-62 season. It's from Saturday, October 7th - Saints at home to Brighton & H.A. At that point in the season we were in second place, just behind Liverpool. Also in that year's second division: Huddersfield, Notts Forest, Leeds, Charlton, Derby, Swansea, Middlesbrough, S****horpe, Norwich.