mattypenny

I really like SSMS as a query tool, but i found it much easier to pronounce ‘Toad’

I’ve never been able to imagine Cary Grant speaking in a Bristol accent

(For those outside the UK, think of Speak Like a Pirate Day…..but all the time.)

Cary Grant’s humble Bristol roots honoured with blue plaque

According to the Times, Kemi Badenoch has appointed 20 whips to look after her 121 MPs

According to Google, the DFe says that it’s good to have 1 adult for every 6 to 10 kids on a primary school trip…so Kemi is at the top end of that

My most un-English opinion is this.

I find the Shipping Forecast really boring

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all who are celebrating it today

I don’t really see much of the Great British Bake Off

I’m sad when it ends though…just the thought of nice people doing nice things in a nice tent, and in nicer weather than we’re currently experiencing - I find it all very cheering

I’ve never thought much about the folk song ‘Ilkley Moor Baht ‘at’ before Paul Sinha mentioned it on his radio show.

I think the only bit in the words below that really needs explanation is ‘baht at’ means ‘without a hat’ ….but there is a full translation on Wikipedia

ON ILKLEY MOOR BAHT ‘AT

Wheear ‘as ta bin sin ah saw thee,

On Ilkla Moor baht ‘at?!

Tha’s been a cooartin’ Mary Jane|

Tha’s bahn t’catch thi deeath o’cowd

Then we shall ha’ to bury thee

Then t’worms ’ll cum and eat thee oop

Then ducks ’ll cum and eat oop t’worms

Then we shall go an’ ate oop ducks

Then we shall all ‘ave etten thee

That’s wheer we get us oahn back

Lauren Laverne is the host of the Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs.

She used to be in a band, called Kenickie

I’m kind of sad that, so far, nobody has ever picked a Kenickie song as one of their eight discs

The job title ‘Platform Engineer’ sounds to me like I’m working on an oil rig

Like many English blokes of a certain age, I’m fascinated by Winston Churchill…so this looks great - the Imperial War Museum has an exhibition of Churchill cartoons

We shall satirise him on the beaches… Churchill through the eyes of cartoonists

This is the first in what might possibly be a continuing series of songs I’ve discovered in the last couple of weeks

The Lady Loves Me (from the MGM movie soundtrack "Viva Las Vegas") - Ann-Margret,Elvis Presley - I'd either never heard this song, or forgotten it. It's a duet from Viva last Vegas...but don't let that put you off!

You might like this if you like 'Jackson', or 'Did you Evah?'

In the Ghetto - Susan Cadogan - This is lovely - a reggae cover of a Bee Gees song.

You might like this if you like Lovers Rock, or the popp-ier end of reggae in general

Ali Baba - The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra - This is a modern version of a fantastic song by John Holt. I think Lee Thompson is one of Madness, but I may be wrong. It's different enough from the original to be worth listening to. The LP is named 'The Benevolence Of Sister Mary Ignatius'. Sister Mary is worth looking up, if you are interested in Jamaican music.

You might like this if you like 2 Tone, or Desmond Dekker

Midnight Stroll - The Revels - This was on a Halloween compilation, but I'm going to be listening to it all year round. Spotify features an LP cover showing five white blokes, but Wikipedia shows five African Americans from Philadelphia.

You might like this if you like Songs the Cramps Taught Us, or the Coasters

Ringo - Lorne Greene - I've been listening to a few of these sort of 'cowboy songs'. Lorne Greene was in Bonanza.

You might like this if you like 16 Tons, Camouflage, Ghost Riders in the Sky

I like the Scottish ‘outwith’, which I think is ‘outside’ in the sense of ‘outwith the realms of possibility’

I’m trying to replace the phrase ‘Maternity Leave’, or ‘Mat Leave’ with the phrase ‘Parental Leave’

So far I have been mainly spelling it ‘Paternal Leave’ or ‘Prenatal Leave’

I don’t know whether watching Paddington and Gladiator II together might become a thing, like it didn’t with ‘Barbenheimer’

If it does, I don’t know whether I’d prefer ‘Gladdington’ or ‘Paddiator’.

The latter sounds a bit like a reference to Paul Mescal being Irish

• I very much enjoyed it

• Not having seen the original film, it was more gory than I was expecting

• I thought it might have worked better as an 8 hour mini-series or something - there was a lot of plot

• Well worth seeing in a cinema as it was all very spectacular

• I enjoyed the slight nods to Spartacus, and I, Claudius

• the two Emporers idea was very good

• I would pay good money to hear a live commentary by Mary Beard

British tabloids have an awful lot to answer for but I did enjoy this sub-headline

BOFFIN REVEALS SURPRISE CHOICE FOR NEW MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE IN THE EVENT THAT ALL HUMANKIND CARKS IT

Especially since it’s octopuses. Or possibly octopi.

Nice to see these guys again, in the Chantry Centre in Andover

I expect they come to life at night….when the shopping centre is all shut down for the night, and it’s all dark and quiet.