Peter Butterworth and the Wooden Horse
#TodayILearned that Carry On actor Peter Butterworth auditioned for a part in the 1949 film ‘The Wooden Horse’, which was about an actual wartime escape from Stalag Luft III
The wooden horse was a vaulting horse which concealed the entrance to a tunnel
Butterworth was rejected because he “didn’t look convincingly heroic or athletic enough”….despite being one of the actual vaulters in the actual prison camp a few years earlier
Via Otto English’s ‘Fake Heroes’
More here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete…
There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen. - Lenin
It’s Saint Swithun’s Day today
Saint Swithun is very much the British equivalent of Punxsutawney Phil
St Swithin’s day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithun’s day if thou be fair For forty days ‘twill rain na mair
Oh, well….
I’d like to say ‘may the best team win’ tonight…but I’d rather England did! ⚽
I’m enjoying Alan Carr’s Changing Ends auto-bio-pic on ITV
I think I’m right in saying that as well as having a dad who was a football manager he was also related to Willie Carr, who was famous for the immediately banned donkey kick
I’d never seen the donkey kick until I looked it up this morning, but it was explained and diagrammed in the Golden Goals sticker book, which as a kid I studied with almost religious intensity ⚽
The video of the kick is here - youtu.be/DOS8T8Ypn…
People I have seen on the train between Salisbury and London
The two writers were in second class the other two were in first
We’re voting again today
There’s a local council byelection. It will feel a bit flat after last weeks hullabaloo and history-making
This morning, instead of putting coffee granules in my coffee mug, i put them in the pint glass that I use for orange squash
This does not bode well
never a penalty…but never mind! ⚽
I didn’t know this Guardian series existed, but I like it 📖
Where to start with…… - www.theguardian.com/books/ser…
I was in the middle of posting very slightly off-colour and then lost eveything i’d written
This was probably through my incompetence…. but I’d like to think that it was some incredibly clever micro.blog algorithm that has worked out that I’ve had a couple of beers and might regret posting it in the morning
I like this statue of Oscar Wilde, near Charing Cross
Wilde isn’t someone who has had a huge impact on me, but I’ve always thought he’d be great to have had a night in the pub with…for me this statue, from this angle, is very much that
#TodayILearned that the chant
We know what we are We know what we are Champions of Europe We know what we are
….is Shakespearean, almost
we know what we are but know not what we may be. Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5
Recommended show: Kiss Me Kate at the Barbican, with him out of Line of Duty
I really enjoyed Kiss Me Kate at the Barbican, at the weekend. Here are some bullet points
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it’s a traditional Broadway-style musical…executed perfectly
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it’s mad that human beings can be so talented
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i really like the Barbican…but how much time has been spent over the years by people trying to work out the seat numbers?
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the words are very witty. Cole Porter knew what he was doing
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the updates were good too…it was neat that, given there was a Kate, and Ted, that they called the band leader ‘Steve’
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the set reminded me a little bit of Adrian Dunbar’s theatre in Hear My Song
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I was really impressed by what I later discovered is called “the chair rollover trick” link
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it was worth turning the phone off just before England’s penalties….but tbf I dont much enjoy England penalties anyway
I’m sure there will be disappointments and muck-ups ahead.
But for now i am enjoying the thought of ‘Prime Minister Kier Starmer’, and ‘Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper’, and ‘Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’ and all the rest
I was reminded, the other day, of something Tony Blair said
“When we came to power we were at our most popular but least effective. When we left we were at our most effective, but least popular.”
💬
I had a wonderful time yomping around Salisbury Plain on Friday, but at this point my feet are half human, and half Compeed blister plaster
The origin truth of football is that outstanding individuals doing outrageous things is no basis for a team. The origin truth of international tournaments is that, every once in a while, it doesn’t matter.
Jonathan Liew at the Düsseldorf Arena ⚽💬
England lose control and embrace the chaos to rise from the canvas again - www.theguardian.com/football/…
Because it’s easy to take a good photo of Stonehengeq
