R.I.P. Jeremy Beadle

It's always sad when a comedian dies (as Hamlet once said to Yorick "where are your jests now?"), even a celebrity as facile as this one was. But they bring a little joy into people's lives (depending on your sense of humour), and the world is a rather sadder place when they are gone.

One TV commercial I remembered from the 1980s has a slightly unfortunate ring about it: Stephen Fry narrated a cough mixture advertisement (Benylin I think) with an unwell Jeremy Beadle in bed, declaring that because dear JB hasn't taken any Benylin, then joy upon joys, "there will be no new series"! Jeremy Beadle died yesterday of pneumonia, at the age of only 59.

Good Things

Here is the first of a series of minor little bits and bobs (in no particular order) that occur to me as being nice and helpful things to have today, to remind me that the world isn't really such a gloomy place.

1. The lids on take-away coffee cups - they retain the heat very well, and with the little hole on the top you can savour your drink for ages.

2. Radio 3 in the mornings to gently wake up to.

Presidential Candidates

I am dismayed to learn that Hillary Clinton, the only possible voice of sense and reason in The White House, has fallen into third place in the Democrat Party contest. This seems due to the rise of the up-and-coming candidate Barack Obama, who has crucially captured the all-important black vote including those who would presumably have leaned towards Mrs Clinton, with the rest of the vote thus split between her and John Shepherd in second place.

Is it once again that often despised American word "liberal" that is affecting Hillary? Vengeance for September 11th is still high on their agenda, I feel.

What with this, and the last 8 years of George W. Bush, I begin to wonder who actually votes for leaders in America.

Then again, I used to think that over here in the days of Mrs Thatcher.

A Commonplace Book

I got the idea for this blogpage when the above titled book was published (posthumously) where Alec Guinness gave some random jottings, most of them intended for his untitled final volume of autobiography. It seemed a good means of putting little thoughts down that might otherwise be lost.

Having said that, I'm not sure I have the skill to "think" or reflect properly when I'm sitting at a computer terminal.

Another year, another blog page.

Welcome to what basically I fear is another means of wasting more time on the Internet, blogging away with some random reflections when I've got nothing better to do with sensible things such as watching films, reading books, or writing a proper diary with pen and ink.

If that first paragraph sounds a little candid, I suppose it is.

Fear not - for those who may just be reading this besides me - I don't intend to turn this into a "Grumpy Young Man's" blogpage, just a way of marking things down without having to worry about where I'd left them if they were pieces of paper. Sort of an online Memo book, if you like.

The intention is to be bright and brief, without waffling on too much. This introduction, by the way, is hopefully one of the long blogs!

The title derives from the fact that at school I used to be chided for my tendency to mumble, something which I still do today, alas, when I'm feeling insecure or underconfident. This is perhaps also why I've turned to acting just lately.

Ciao for now,



Joe