98 Years Young

My last acquaintance with George Young was in the spring of 2007, when at the Priory Players AGM I suggested that I would like to see the group do more of Shakespeare's history plays. "Ah", came the reaction. "That would make a change, George can't stand the Histories."

He was entitled to his preferences perhaps, for in a sense he was a part of history itself: as a veteran of both Dunkirk and D-Day (see Colchester Gazette article), his was of an "enlightened" generation that had experienced the war, and were able to enrich their lives and that of others by pursuing the things that most mattered, such as drama and the theatre, in his case.

As president of the Priory Players in Colchester, he was a staunch figure of amiable near-legendary status, especially into his tenth decade, but always very amenable. I remember him in the Priory's production of The Merchant of Venice where he was playing "Old Gobbo" - for the second time, well into his 80's, with his first and original son Launcelot Gobbo into his mid-50s! And there was no-one better suited to playing the old Soothsayer in Julius Caesar - "Beware the Ides of March!"

A legend of Colchester's amateur theatre (and much else besides), who had a bloody good innings and almost reached his century.

Good Things: 19

Internet smileys - once I realised that in order to appreciate them you have to look sideways.

:-)

Events of the "Noughties"

Or what I would prefer to call the "post-90's", a decade which encompassed the all-pervading media and the hectic pace of life in the Western world so much, that the entire ten years seemed to go in the blink of an eye. It began with the portentous celebrations for the Millennium, but began in all honesty from 2001 - September 11th, 2001 to be exact - from which the rest of the decade has been in the shadow of that black day for America and the free world.

Here are some events that I remember from diaries of the last 10 years:

2000

Millennium Dome finally opens after technical hitches.
Dr. Harold Shipman gets 15 life sentences for malpractice.
Concorde crashes in Paris.
HM the Queen Mother's 100th birthday.
Oil price rises lead to lengthy queues at petrol stations.
Slobodan Milosevic is finally ousted in democratic Serbian elections.
Stalemate in US Presidential election: Al Gore is forced to concede to George W. Bush.

Deaths in 2000: Colin Cowdrey, John Gielgud (96), Alec Guinness, Stanley Matthews, Damilola Taylor.

2001

Foot & Mouth disease across Britain.
Westminster statue of Winston Churchill is defaced by demonstrators.
Labour wins second term under Tony Blair.
Planes hijacked and flown into World Trade Centre & Pentagon by terrorist suicide bombers. World Trade Centre collapses.

Other deaths in 2001: Don Bradman (92), George Harrison, Mary Whitehouse.

2002

Headgate Theatre opens in Colchester.
Bethlehem Church of the Nativity besieged.
Train crash at Potters Bar.
World Cup in Japan & Korea. England beaten 2-1 by Brazil, who go on to win the tournament.
Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Flash floods in Britain & Europe.
Terrorist bomb in Bali kills British tourists.
Russian theatre held hostage by Chechen rebels - hundreds are killed in the attempted rescue.
Firemen's strikes in UK.
Baby elephant born in Colchester Zoo.

Deaths in 2002: Myra Hindley, Princess Margaret, Spike Milligan, Dudley Moore, H.M. the Queen Mother (101), Rod Steiger, Kenneth Wolstenholme.

2003

Chancery Lane tube crash.
Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates on re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
Anti-Iraq war demonstration in Hyde Park.
My birthday - US invades Iraq. Second Gulf War begins.
Controversial Titanic exhibition (of salvaged artefacts) at the Science Museum, London.
President Bush's state visit to UK.
England win Rugby World Cup v. Australia.
Saddam Hussain found in hiding by US forces.
Ian Huntley given life sentence for murders of Holly Wells & Jessica Chapman.


Deaths in 2003: Charles Bronson, Adam Faith, Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope (100), Alan Keith, Thora Hird (91), Bob Monkhouse, Gregory Peck, Barry Sheene, Denis Thatcher.

2004

Harold Shipman hangs himself in prison.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King wins 11 Oscars.
Terrorist bomb in Madrid, just days before General Elections in Spain.
Release of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in cinemas.
World Cup in Portugal: England knocked out on penalties by the hosts, who lose 1-0 to Greece in the Final.
Democratic government installed in Iraq.
National Savings axed to make way for new "Easy Access Savings" account.
England win all four Test Matches at home to West Indies.
Hundreds of children killed in a Russian school by Chechen terrorists.
George W. Bush wins a second term in The White House.
H.M. The Queen visits Colchester.
Sikh riots and demonstrations cancel a new play at a Birmingham theatre.
Earthquake and tsunami in South East Asia, killing thousands.

Other deaths in 2004: Yasser Arafat, Marlon Brando, Brian Clough, Alistair Cooke (95), Caron Keating (of breast cancer), Keith Miller, John Peel, Christopher Reeve, Peter Ustinov.

2005

Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker-Bowles, now Duchess of Cornwall.
Cardinal Josef Ratzinger elected Pope Benedict XVI.
London wins Olympic bid for 2012.
Terrorist bombs attack London Transport the day after successful Olympic bid.
An innocent terrorist suspect is shot at Stockwell Tube station.
A tornado hits Birmingham.
Release of Revenge of the Sith, the last of the Star Wars series.
New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
England win The Ashes in exciting Test Series against Australia.
Fire on Southend Pier.
200th anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar.
Oil refinery explosion at Hemel Hempstead.

Deaths in 2005: Dave Allen, Ronnie Barker, George Best, Johnny Cash, Arthur Miller, John Mills (on St. George's Day), Pope John Paul II, Prince Rainier, Richard Whiteley.

2006

Charles Kennedy resigns as Liberal Democrat leader.
A whale swims through London along the River Thames.
Egyptian ferry disaster kills over 1,000.
Chelsea overcome Colchester United 3-1 in the FA Cup Fourth Round.
H.M. The Queen's 80th birthday.
Italy win World Cup, beating France on penalties.
Ball tampering row cancels the Fifth Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval.
The Christmas lights fall down in Colchester High Street.
The Suffolk Murders.
Australia regain The Ashes - just 15 months after losing them.

Deaths in 2006: James Brown, Alan Freeman, Saddam Hussain (executed), John Lyall, General Pinochet, Fred Truman.

2007

Australia beat England 5-0 in Ashes Test Series.
Ireland beat Pakistan in Cricket World Cup, on St. Patrick's Day#.
Gerry Adams and Rev. Iain Paisley agree to share power in Northern Ireland.
30 killed at a technical college in Virginia.
First FA Cup Final at new Wembley: Chelsea beat Man United 1-0 in a dull match.
30th anniversary of Star Wars.
Tony Blair steps down as PM, to be replaced by Gordon Brown.
Postal strike.
Terrorist alerts in London, also attempted car bomb at Glasgow Airport.
Last Harry Potter book published.
Minneapolis river bridge collapses during Rush Hour.
Actor Chris Langham convicted of child pornography.
Muttiah Muralitharan becomes leading wicket taker in Test cricket.

Deaths in 2007: Alan Ball, Alan Coren, Ingmar Bergman, Benazir Bhutto (assassinated during General Election in Pakistan), Deborah Kerr, Magnus Magnusson, Bernard Manning, Marcel Marceau, George Melly, Luciano Pavarotti, Paul Tibbetts (pilot of Enola Gay, 92) Bob Woolmer (the day after Pakistan's defeat#), Boris Yeltsin.

2008

Steven Wright convicted of Suffolk Murders.
New Terminal 5 at Heathrow at a standstill.
Boris Johnson(!) elected Mayor of London.
Cyclone in Burma during May Bank Holiday - Burmese authorities refuse outside aid.
China Olympic Torch controversially transported through London.
Michael Vaughan resigns as England captain, replaced by Kevin Pietersen.
Colchester United move to new stadium.

Deaths in 2008: Arthur C. Clarke, Charlton Heston, Edmund Hilary, Heath Ledger (29), Humphrey Lyttelton, Anthony Minghella, Paul Scofield.

2009

Barack Obama becomes first black President of the United States.
Fierce bush fires in Australia.
Sri Lankan cricket team bus attacked by terrorists in Pakistan.
A 100-1 shot (Mon Mome) wins the Grand National.
Outbreak of worldwide swine 'flu reaches UK.
British MP's expenses scandal.
England regain The Ashes from Australia.

Deaths in 2009: Clement Freud, Jade Goody, Tony Hart, Michael Jackson, Maurice Jarre, Edward Kennedy, Danny La Rue, Karl Malden, Wendy Richard, Natasha Richardson, Bobby Robson, Mollie Sugden, Richard Todd.

Some Highlights of 2009 (updated)

Cultural Highlight: my sister Catherine's wedding
I'm biased here of course, but the selection of music was excellent, performed by members of Essex Concert Band and Colchester Choral Society, beautifully complimenting the occasion.

Musical Moment of 2009 (excluding the above)
Susan Boyle's appearance on Britain's Got Talent, triumphantly puncturing the general snobbbishness in the music business, reminding us all that singing should be about singing and not about looks.

Theatrical Highlight of 2009: Depot
For the best, and the worst of reasons.

Most Memorable Sporting Moment:
Norwich City 1 Colchester United 7 - though you'd expect me to say England winning the Ashes.

Favourite Film of the Year: Star Trek
Not a particularly brilliant film actually, but the opening scene had more excitement than most of the Star Wars prequels, and in my opinion this is the one film that comes closest to capturing the spirit of the original TV series.

Curiosity of the Year:
Anthony Gormley's One and Other at Trafalgar Square












I'm only sorry I wasn't involved in it myself.

Worst Moment of 2009: Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time

Good Things: 18

Boots!

(the footwear that is, not the chemist)

Particularly the ones with strong grips to deal with all the ice and snow, because boy have they been needed at the moment.

"Page the Oracle"

That used to be the slogan of ITV's teletext service, which has now passed the way of all things non-digital. I can't help wondering how unnecessary a loss such a useful and entertaining information service this is. In its heyday, there would be frequent occasions when I would turn on the television just to look at the Ceefax/Oracle pages rather than the programmes.

I can remember first looking at Oracle 30 years ago in 1979, when TV strikes were about, but in between the periods off-air we occasionally got snatches of this exciting new ASCII coloured screen with a "Reveal" button for various answers to questions or (more often than not) jokes - back in the days of the new fangled "Teletext Television Set". Nowadays that term itself is now default, and defunct. The digital box and the in-built digital channels will soon rule the roost, though they have their own hang-ups too, and have generally not been as reliable as Teletext was.

Natalie Portman in 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' ....!

.....so it says according to Variety magazine.

With a title like that, I shall have to see it once out of pride (being a fan of Natalie's.) If I see it twice, I'll probably have my prejudices. And to see it a third time, I will probably have to become a zombie.