Whatever comes to mind before I alter it with the overpaint of time. Mostly satire, poetry and fiction but occasional unreliable fact, as all facts seems to be today. From deepest Notting Hill. London.
Jan called in today to wish me well and share a bottle of cheap Spanish rose; he swears by it, cheaper than a pint of beer with a kick like a nun he says... I quite concur!
Anyway Jan uncorks the bottle (real cork, I like that; class) and squirts us a couple of glassfulls.
'I don't know how they get the cat to sit on the bottle'! Says Jan.
I take a sideways squint at my glass as I try to get the first mouthfull past my natural gagging instinct.
'Jan'. I say. 'Jan, this is almost undrinkable'!
'Yes.' He replies. 'But it is potable. get it down you and stop moaning!... Why man you are in tears!.'
I asked him what made him cry. He went to the record player and put the following on, saying: This is what makes me cry:
for some strange reason I am quite mesmerised by the young lady dancing; I had always assumed that this type of dance was unsubtle and all about 'big' actions and movements. I now know that it is about the tiny, subtle elements. I'm hooked!
Last weekend, while bivouacked in my oxygen tent (o.k. that is the last reference to that event) I noticed a great deal of helicopter activity over Hyde Park.
It seems that I missed a visit from some kind of racist leader of a paedophile sect.
I thought we had laws to keep these people out of this country!
Leslie Howard with Wendy Hiller in Pygmalion. Photograph: Ronald Grant
A British documentary-maker has discovered several hours of lost personal film footage of Leslie Howard, one of Britain's most revered actors and a matinee idol.
The legendary star of classic films such as Gone with the Wind, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Pygmalion in the 1930s and 1940s can be seen for the first time in five hours of home movies, described yesterday by one historian as "a treasure chest".
Howard, whose life was cut short when his plane was shot down in the second world war, is remembered as enigmatic and distant, partly due to his most famous role as Ashley Wilkes, the southern gentleman who resists Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind.
Now the discovery of his movies, made from the 1920s onwards, shows him in a new light – on film sets, flirting with actresses, goofing around with actors and dancing the soft-shoe shuffle. There are also tender, more private scenes, reflecting an affectionate father, whose two children brought out the child in him, clowning around in a swimming pool or on a sledge.
The reels, both colour and black and white, have been saved following their discovery by Tom Hamilton, who was making a documentary on Howard. The star's 82-year-old daughter, Leslie Ruth Howard (known as Doodie), had kept them in her basement since 1979, not realising that some of the reels had decomposed.
Hamilton recalled opening a case: "A sight and smell to chill the heart … pungent and vinegary – never a good sign when dealing with film."
He then spotted another box, which was filled with canisters in perfect condition. "I uttered a silent 'thank you' to a benevolent God of film," he said. "As the first images appeared, I was startled by the visual quality, razor sharp with barely a scratch."
A married Howard can be seen on the set of Animal Kingdom, flirting openly with Myrna Loy, with whom he is believed to have had an affair. The mock romantic scenes with another leading actress, Norma Shearer, hint at further infidelities.
Hamilton said: "You get a sense of the real human being. He's quite playful and warm in a way you don't see in his films."
The footage includes a gathering on William Randolph Hearst's estate, where Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr play with a large dog, and a polo match watched by Hollywood stars Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and Mary Pickford.
Hamilton showed the material to Kevin Brownlow, the film historian, who told the Guardian: "It is extraordinary … a treasure chest."
Hamilton also tracked down Derek Partridge, who, as a seven-year-old boy, gave up his seat to Howard on a passenger plane from Lisbon to Bristol on 1 June 1943. The plane was then attacked by the Luftwaffe and all 13 passengers were killed. Howard had been booked to fly later that day, but was anxious to get back. As a VIP for the war effort, he had priority and the boy was taken off.
Among numerous conspiracy theories over his death, some have suggested that the Nazis thought Winston Churchill was on board. Others believe that Howard was working with British intelligence. He certainly played an important role in the war, with his weekly radio broadcasts and films such as Pimpernel Smith and The First of the Few, a tribute to the Spitfire. The Nazi propaganda broadcaster Lord Haw-Haw claimed on the programme Germany Calling that Howard was on a Nazi death list.
Hamilton's documentary includes the reminiscences of Howard's daughter. She recalls her mother's devotion to him, despite his affairs, his loathing for Gone with the Wind, and mutual irritation with Vivien Leigh over their line fluency. He hated that he had been made to wear make-up to look younger, and refused to attend its 1940 British premiere because he objected to the high ticket prices in war-time.
Hamilton also discovered that Howard gave up his profit share in Gone with the Wind to return to England in 1939, rather than remain in America.
The 90-minute documentary, The Man Who Gave a Damn, has been made in collaboration with Warner Bros and Howard's great-grandson, Alex Kiehl.
• This article was amended on 13 September 2010. The original referred to Leslie Howard's role in the war as inlcuding the film Pimpernel Smith, a tribute to Spitfire pilots. This has been corrected.
On Friday all was well, in the early hours of Saturday I was far from well. I have no idea what it is but it has crashed just about all of my systems; vomiting, headaches, muscle and bone aches, blood fizzing, teeth ache,short of breath, confused mind.
It has taken me a while to write this during a respite from the (Now almost constant) state of not knowing where I am or what is going on.
I have only slept fitfully and for short periods since Friday and always wake from panicked dreams.
It is to much to even go downstairs to the shop... I miss Nurse Caz even if she did try to kill me. At least she would have made sure that I was well before doing so.
Just thought I'd explain the lack of blog entries lately...
Uncle John and Hendrix in the same breath. Or in the same week... Cool.
Smoke on the water.
I'm knackered. I'm putting together an event in two weeks time which is giving me hell.
If it works it will be brilliant... If not, help!
John Golding was a proper politician who believed in the people and worked for the people. check him out. He was my mothers brother, he looked after me when I didn't deserve it.
Thank god he is not around to see Tony Blairs circus.
Next week we are celebrating Hendrix's death.... Hey John, scuse me while I kiss the sky! Now read on....
Golding was a key figure in the fight against the Militant tendency, and especially
in mobilising moderate trades union leaders to exercise their block votes to this end.
After his death writings of his about this were published under the
title Hammering the Left: My Part in Defeating the Labour Left by
John Golding and Paul Farrelly (see below).
After he vacated the Newcastle-under-Lyme seat, the resulting by-election was
won by his wife Llin, who held the seat until 2001; her successor in the seat was Paul Farrelly.
John Golding's most unusual claim to fame is that he once made a speech in committee
lasting eleven hours and fifteen minutes. It nominally concerned a small amendment to
the bill toprivatiseBritish Telecom. This filibuster was instrumental in delaying the
privatisation until after the 1983 general election, but with Margaret Thatcher obtaining
a massive parliamentary majority the privatisation was soon forced through. Changes in
British parliamentary procedure mean that Golding's record is unlikely ever to be beaten.
Jimmy Hendrix died 40 years ago in a seedy flat in a seedy hotel just down the road. There are many myths, many stories about that night.... Only I know the truth, but there again I'm probably making it up. However, on the 18th of this month the above event is happening in homage to the mans life and talent.
I'm booking acts and dealing with the trivial minutae that comes with that, I'm fucking about with the flyers and getting them printed, I'm looking for sponsorship and the obsequient snivelling that comes and goes with that, I'm worrying for Britain and Tony Blair ain't on my side...
I have a lot of friends and they all want door passes... Rock and Roll.
The joys of promoting an event.
How did I get myself into this situation?
The online ticket stuff is now up and running: www.tabernaclelive.co.uk
