Random Jottings

Sunday at home

This post is probably going to be one of stultifying boredom as I have done nothing that is world shattering but one of those days where chores and jobs have been done and emails sent, and Christmas cards written (well, I hope to this evening when I can remember where I put them all away last year), more scanning of family photos which has made me go all wobbly as I look at the snaps of   the family and daughters when tiny.  They are coming up beautifully on the PC and I intend to make Cd's of them when Ihave got them in order but it is taking longer than I thought.  I will get there.

Highlight of the day was listening to the Advent Christmas Carol service live from St John's Chapel which was on Radio 3 this afternoon.  The reason it was such a highlight was that Helen, or Dr   McCarthy as she is now officially called, was reading one of the lessons and while listening to her voice coming out of the radio into my living room I was quite overwhelmed with pride and had to grab a hanky. She read better than anybody else (yes, well I would say that) with great dramatic emphasis and, once again, I was stunned that I have managed to have two such wonderful daughters as Helen and Kathryn.

Dinner is in the oven and in an hour I am going to sit down and watch Strictly Come Dancing the results show, which is a daft thing to call it as we all know it took place last night and, in fact, I know who is leaving as there is a website with a mole at the Beeb who lets them know the result and it is posted late at night.  As everyone knows this, it renders the whole idea of this Sunday slot redundant.

Lots of arguing among the judges last night, some of which I am sure is scripted but there are occasions when I get very annoyed at it all and Len, in particular, has been very difficult this series and keeps interrupting the others and generally behaving in an uncouth manner. Shame as I rather like Len but I get the feeling that he is getting a bit big for his boots.

Fantastic pasa doble from Austin and Erin, totally over the top and Len did not like it one little bit. He warned Erin and I could see he was trying to remind her of how she lost Colin Jackson the final by some over the top choreography and tried to be just a bit too clever.  Not sure that she will take much notice.  The other judges splashed tens around like there was no tomorrow and the crowd loved it.  I have to say that naff though it was, I thought it was great.

Then at 9pm Kenneth Branagh is starring as Wallender, a new series about a Swedish detective, about which I know nil, but as KB is an actor always worth a watch, I will be giving it a whirl.

In town tomorrow to do a bit of Christmas shopping though I have done most of it on line in half an hour this afternoon which makes life so much simpler.  A few things to get which I can pick up from Debenhams and HMV and then that is more or less it.  Have ordered all my food from M&S and a local butcher and that is that. Done and dusted.  Now if only I could find those Christmas cards....

A Night at the Opera

In recovery mode today after a wonderful evening.  Allowed plenty of time yesterday afternoon to get on train and get to London and just as well as on arrival at Colchester station the dreaded words 'signal failure' were being bandied about.  Still, it was ok in the end we arrived safely, had a meal at a restaurant opposite the opera house and then in we went.

   

No matter how many times I visit the ROH I always get a thrill when I walk through the door and into the auditorium and see the lights, the red curtain, the sweep of the galleries and the buzz of an audience anticipating a good evening.  We had brilliant seats in the Grand Tier which I have bought in the light of my New Year's Resolution last year, that as I don't go to the opera that often, while I can I will buy good seats and treat myself, and we had great sight lines, could see and hear beautifully and felt much more at one with what was happening on the stage, whereas sometimes up in the amphi you can feel a tad isolated.

Last time I saw Tales of Hoffman, Domingo was singing the title role which gives some idea of what a sing this is.  Offenbach is known for Orpheus in the Underworld, La Belle Helene and the famous barcarole from this opera and, really, very little else.  This is his Grand Opera as I have already discussed at length in an earlier mail, so will not repeat here, but suffice it to say, you are sitting there enjoying the wit, the music and the fun and then suddenly out comes a stunning, glorious aria, duet or trio that would not be out of place in Verdi's grandest of grand, and knocks you for six, pins you to the seat and make every hair stand on end.  The trio in Act 3 with Antonio, the ghost of her mother and the devilish Dr Miracle, was simply sensational and brought the house down.

 

Now, what of Rolando Villazon who sang Hoffman last night?  He had to take a long break from singing a year or two ago as his voice was suffering and he also, it seems, was depressed and anxious and his come back last year was eagerly awaited.  I saw him in Don Carlos, which I do not think he should ever sing again if he wishes to retain his tenor voice which is not a golden, free voice but, in my opinion, a more dark, back of the throat tenor which will crack under pressure.  He has triumphed in Hoffman at the House in the past and, while I thoroughly enjoyed his performance and thought he brought great charisma and charm to the role, once more I have to say, I do not think he should be singing this role any more than that of Don Carlos.  His voice has similar qualities to Domingo and there were times if you closed your eyes that you could mistake him for that tenor, but Domingo has a solid lower register which comes of him being a baritone before a tenor.  This has supported his voice throughout his magnificent career and I really do not think that Villazon has the physical attributes to last as long.  He is a slight man, whereas Placido is broad chested, taller and strong.  From my years of opera going and listening to various singers throughout my attendance at opera houses, and witnessing singers attempting roles they should never have essayed, my feeling is that Villazon should be singing Mozart, Donizetti, perhaps Rossini (though not sure his voice is flexible enough for that) and Bellini, in short singing which calls for a lighter brighter tone.  It won't be easier - nobody ever said Mozart was an easy sing, but it will suit his voice better.

But, hey what do I know?  He was very very good last night, husbanded his resources beautifully so that in the last act and the epilogue he could really let rip, it is a four hour opera after all, and was a delight to watch.  The supporting cast not quite so brilliant, the baritone completely cocked up the wonderful Diamante aria in the second act, last note so flat that he came off it quick instead of floating it over the orchestra as he should have done, and some of the lesser parts a but underwhelming. But, I have not desire to sound like an operatic pedant of the worst kind, and it was a great experience all round.

And an enjoyable evening made more so by two London cabbies.  First one took us from the station to the House, turned out to be a child singer who had auditioned and appeared in a couple of operas at ROH when he was a little lad, and who was hugely entertaining and interesting.  Second, was the lovely driver of the cab which took us back to the station in the evening.  My friend Rosemary, with whom I saw the show, has very bad arthritis and cannot walk very far and when I grabbed this taxi, in the teeth of a man who had also hailed it, but I nipped in front and practically threw myself across the bonnet (much to his fury which I cannot blame him for), the driver parked it and as he could not turn it round said he would wait for me while I went to fetch her, even offering to come with me.  Then very helpful all round and chatty and nice and little things  like this just added to the joy of the evening.

Should mention that as I plunged into the traffic in search of a cab, I stepped out right in front of a cyclist who I nearly unseated and who, quite rightly, hurled abuse at me.  I apologised profusely and said I was sorry to give him such a fright and he was so taken aback at somebody actually admitting they were in the wrong, he nearly came off his bike anyway and mumbled 'oh that's alright love'.

So an eventful night all round, but glad to get home, curl up in bed and think about it all. And then this morning found myself with a car load of rubbish at the local Tip and could not help laughing at the contrast from the night before... tiaras and arias to trash.

Off to the opera

 

Off to the opera today - really looking forward to it.  So back tomorrow with news, views and photos.

The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge

Well, what can I say about the Little White Horse except to say I love love love love it.  I read it when I was about fifteen when I discovered a copy of it languishing on the shelves of the library at my convent school.  This library was incredibly out of date, no new books were ever added as far as I can recall and I remember finding the contents totally dull.  With hindsight, I now have a sneaky feeling that there were probably a lot of books there that I might now be interested in, but too late too late…

Anyway, it was a cold day and I was never one for joining in games of netball etc at lunchtime, would much rather be indoors reading (so nothing has changed) and I remember looking through the bookcases  (they were the old fashioned kind with glass fronted doors) when I pulled out the Little White Horse.  I had seen it there, unread and unloved and had never thought of looking at it, but for some    reason on this day I took it out. I started to read and that was that.  I just fell in love with it on the spot and took it home with me that evening and read it right through, to the detriment of my homework I might add.  Here is the opening of the first chapter:

"The carriage gave another lurch and Maria Merryweather, Miss Heliotrope, and Wiggins once more fell into each other's arms, sighed, gasped, righted themselves and fixed their attention upon those objects which were for each of them, at this trying moment, the source of courage and strength.  Maria gazed at her boots.  Miss Heliotrope restored her spectacles to their proper position, picked up the worn brown volume of French essays from the floor popped a peppermint into her mouth and peered once more in the dim light at the wiggly black print on the yellowed page. Wiggins meanwhile pursued with his tongue the taste of the long since digested dinner that still lingered among his whiskers"

Who can resist such wonderful characters and names?  Maria Merryweather, Miss Heliotrope and Wiggins the dog. Magical and wonderful.  Maria is an orphan and on her way to live with her cousin Benjamin Merryweather of Moonacre Manor in the West Country.  The actual location is left very vague which is as it should be to preserve the feeling of fairydom.   After a long tiring journey they near the Manor and as they are driving through the park, Maria sees in the wood a shining bright white horse which vanishes very quickly so that at first she thinks she has imagined it.  Though we do not know this at this stage, the sighting of the Little White Horse, in reality a unicorn, is a sign that Maria has an important task to carry out at Moonacre Manor.

 

This story has the most delightfully named character throughout: as well as the aforementioned, we have Loveday Minette, Old Parson, Monsieur Cocq Noir, Marmaduke Scarlet, Robin and then the animals: Wrolf, very much as Aslan type figure, Serena the Hare and Zachariah the cat.  All of these animals take a full part in the unfolding of the story.

 

Maria is the catalyst to put right a wrong and to bring to an end the darkness that has affected this lovely valley.  Monsieur Cocq Nor and his men, all dressed in black, who steal the sheep and harass the villagers, who have domain over the beach and the shore so that the Silverydew villagers cannot catch fresh fish and the children have never see the sea, hold sway as they feel they have been wronged many years ago.  After many adventures Maria and Robin, a boy who used to come and play with her when she lived in London, but who was dismissed by Miss Heliotrope as an imaginary playmate, band together with the animals to give restitution to the Black Men and bring peace to the valley.

 

It is Elizabeth Goudge's descriptive powers that I found so beguiling and delightful, particularly when it comes to food.  Just listen to this:

 

"There is enough. There is sufficient plum cake, saffron cake, cherry cake, iced fairy cakes, eclairs, gingerbread, meringues, syllabub, almond fingers, rock cakes, chocolate cakes, parkin, cream horns,Devonshire splits, Cornish pasty, jam sandwiches, lemon curd sandwiches, lettuce sandwiches, cinnamon toast and honey toast to feed twenty or more.  Have no fear young Mistress; when Marmaduke Scarlet is cook there is always enough"

 

and

 

"The table was covered with a checked red and white tablecloth that matched the counterpane, and upon it was set a blue dish full of apples,  a yellow jug of milk, a purple plate upon which were piled buttered scones, two green plates and two mugs to match"

 

Several years ago when I read The Prisoner of Azkaban, the third Harry Potter book, I came across a passage in which JK Rolwing describes the contents of Honeydukes sweet shop:

 

""There were shelves of the most succulent looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice; fat honey coloured toffees; hundred of different kinds of chocolates in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans;.....Droobles Best Blowing Gum;splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps, peppermint creams shaped like toads, fragile sugar spun quills and exploding bonbons"

 

As I read this, I was forcibly reminded of the passage I have quoted from the Little White Horse, and the thought crossed my mind that JK Rowling may have read this story herself many years ago.  I dismissed this as fanciful and that I was being perhaps just a touch too clever, so you can imagine my stunned amazement when a year or so later JKR in an interview with Jeremy Paxman, said that the Little White Horse was one of her favourite books as  child,  I let out a whoop of delight at this and told my two girls at great length what a brilliant mother they had able to pick up references and styles and attribute them to the correct author.  They were singularly unimpressed if I recall…

 

A month or two after this interview was aired the Little White Horse was re-issued in paperback with a quote on the front from JKR "this was my favourite children's book".  Some publisher latched onto this pretty quickly and jolly good too as it meant that the book was once more widely available.  So thank you JK Rowling.

 

The Little White Horse is about good v evil which, essentially, is the theme of the Harry Potter stories.  A determined child, with his friends and an unshaken resolve, prevails and restores happiness and a new order.  So it is here in the village of Silverydew and Moonacre Manor.  It is an ageless theme and one which never grows stale.  I have lost count of the number of times I have read this wonderful story and I feel another read coming on soon. I have some more illustrations to put on Random and I will be popping those on at intervals over the next week.

 

Capuchin Press have recently re-issued Elizabeth Goudge's Green Dolphin Country which is one of her adult books whichI first read as a teenager and have loved ever since. Others of her books that I would recommend, mainly because they are my favourites, are Gentian Hill, Towers in the Mist (set in Oxford) and the one I love the most, The Dean's Watch.  Do try this author if you have not read any of hers before.  I think it is time she was rediscovered and I am hoping that the re-issue of Green Dolphin Country will make other publishers have a think.

Tuesday Tuesday

It is 8.30 pm and I am going to go to bed in a minute.  And yest I know it is early and I shall read for a bit but I have had a very tiring day today. Got up early and drove over to Ipswich to collect the Aged P and take her along to the hospital to get batteries for her hearing aid and check it all out. She has been brilliant at going by herself but it is a two bus journey and I have to finally acknowledge that my darling mum is slowing down so we have to be very careful of her. So along the A12 with the usual Essex white van drivers, a breed apart I can tell you, and then when the hospital visit was done, I was taking mum along to a newly discovered, well by me anyway, place in a Suffolk village, Stratford St Mary where they have a lovely farm shop and a great restaurant.  I went there in September and took those pictures previously on the blog of disgruntled chickens and a giant sow having a kip.

Good lunch then drove back to Ipswich and went to Tesco so that mum could be stocked up with plenty of food and stuff to keep the wolf from the door. Then calling in a post office for her and pay bills and sort things out, then back to her flat and a much needed cup of tea before hitting the A12 again, and as it was getting on for school getting out time, had to watch out for children who seemed intent on throwing themselves under my car wheels, and finally got back home and fell on sofa in a heap from which I roused myself an hour later.

So, no posting tonight as work tomorrow, such a hardship....but only TWO days this week as off to ponce about in the Grand Tier at the Royal Opera House on Friday and look as if I am used to all this gracious living. I am taking a day off and me and my friend Ro are going to train it to London and then taxi it to ROH.  Can't turn up looking like we have just fallen off the back of a lorry.

 

I have just finished now Susie Verekr's latest book and will be reviewing that tomorrow, loved it and also I want to write about one of my all time favorite children's books. Here is an illustration and see if you can guess which book it is.  I am sure you can.

A bientot.

Nostalgia

I started an exercise in pure nostalgia today.  I sorted out all the old family photographs. Took me hours and there were some which were just binned - grainy out of focus shots of scenery on various holidays that I cannot understand why were taken in the first place, and loads of junk that before the days of digital photography, you had to take to ensure you had a shot you wanted.  Gosh what a lot of money I have wasted on processing.

I have also started scanning old photos that I wish to retain and this is where digital comes in wonderfully well.  All the photographs have been saved into a programme where I can lighten, darken,  sharpen, crop, straighten - all amazing and has turned some of these shabby prints into bright, sparkling photos I can save on my laptop and also burn on CDs. 

This is giving me ideas for Christmas presents and I have just spent a happy two hours uploading and sorting out photos.

One photograph I found which I knew I had buried away somewhere and I am going to send to Helen, who today has had her Viva Voce, passed and is now officially Dr Helen McCarthy. To say I am proud is an understatement and this photograph was taken when she was five at St John's where she is now a fellow so she was obviously destined to go there.

Brace yourselves for further family photos coming up in the next few weeks.  Just warning you...

Gemutlich

     

Love this word.  Practically untranslatable but seems to mean comfortable, cosy, warm and well, just nice, really.  Today is the day where it is good to be gemutlitch.  This is what I saw out of my bedroom window this morning -the first snow of the year. (Bit like the Wild Wood out there).  Shock horror. It has nearly all gone now as we had a drizzly rain almost immediately but for about ten minutes everything had that enchanted look which always appears at first snowfall.

So a good day to be indoors and warm and snuglly with the curtains drawn and a nice comfort read. Simon on Stuck in a book had mentioned Miss Read which some visitors had designated a comfort read and this led me to think what I would classify as such.

I think my main criteria in the genre of cosy/comfort reads is that no intellectual analysis is required, or a book where you have already read, reviewed and had deep thoughts on so that now you can sit back and just wallow.  As you will have seen, I attended the Persephone Lecture in London this week and the Homemaker by Dorothy Canfield Fisher is one of my all time favourite comfort reads.  I have read it many many times and Ihave thought about it and posted about it so now I just pick it up, sit back with a sigh of pleasure and just love every word. 

So a comfort read is not discarding books which make you think, but in my case, a reread of such books.

Then of course you have the sheer fun books, the books that you read and perhaps chuck in the charity box, books that you do not collect, that tax the brain not a whit and in this category comes the glorious books of Mills and Boon.  Oh, the joy of subsiding on the sofa with a little pile next to you, usually garnered from charity shops where you can find old, battered copies of titles such as Too Hot to Handle, the Master of Morley, Cobweb Morning, A Star Looks Down, oh just simply wonderful stuff.

At the moment I am on my three yearly re-read of all Ngaio Marsh and this time round am reading some of hers that I have not looked at for a long time.  Two, written back to back, Colour Scheme and Died in the Wool are slight oddities, set in New Zealand during the Second World War and involve espionage and spying and though the gorgeous Roderick Alleyn is there, they somehow are outside of her usual and not my favourites. However, re-reading them has been interesting and I may blog about these two at a later date.  Have just finished Artists in Crime, the novel where he first meets Troy, and as I have not had a copy of this for some time, it was lovely to refresh my memory and read it again.

I have so many comfort reads, would be impossible to write about them all in detail so here is a bulleted list of just some that I curl up with happily.  Would be interested to hear about other reads from anybody who visits and has the time to comment:

• Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

• Anne of Green Gables -L M Montgomery

• Anything by Georgette Heyer

• Gaudy Night - D L Sayers

• Anything by Ngaio Marsh

• A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (guaranteed to make me cry and look more kindly upon Christmas, even if this feeling only lasts half an hour)

• Diary of a Provincial Lady - EM Delafield

• The Homemaker - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

• The Mapp and Lucia books - E F Benson (not yet reread but I just know they are going to be...)

• Anything by Agatha Christie

• The Barchester Chronicles - Trollope

• The Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge

• Making of a Marchioness - Frances Hodgson Burnet (and of course The Secret Garden and A Little Princess)

and I could go on and on but will stop now.  Time for pot of tea, slice of home made fruit cake (donated by friend I hasten to add) and back to the sofa.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I am.

Amazon Vine Programme

I have mentioned this a few times on Random and have had queries about it and realised that I have never responded to these or explained what the above programme is. So here goes.

Well, it is a fount of freebies - as simple as that and about a year ago when Amazon started this and wrote and asked if I would like to be a member, I read the email several times as I honestly thought it   was a wind up.  But, no it was pukka.  Every month a Newsletter is sent out to members with a list of products you can ask to be sent to you for review.  Now products covers a wide range.  Video games, DVDs, CDs, books, both fiction and non-fiction, dictionaries, language courses and even electric toothbrushes.  I remember the toothbrush was in the first newsletter I received and as there was nothing there I wanted I requested the tootbrush but they were all gone. As it was near Christmas, I can imagine a few people got these as presents...

You have to review the items you choose - no just thinking Ooh that sounds good, grabbing it and that is that.  If you don't review then you are not allowed to choose any more until you do.  Belonging to this programme has meant I have been able to choose items that I might like to have owned but was not prepared to buy as they were not on my Must Have list.  But I have been fortunate in that I have managed to find items that have been a pleasant surprise.  The Falcones Cathedral of the Sea which I simply loved and raved about came to me through this programme and I am not sure I would have actually bought it if I had come across it in the ordinary way.  I recently had the Henshall short listed Booker novel  which I was extremely glad I had not paid for as I could not get on with it at all (one of these days I am sure I will find a Booker book I like and I continue to live in hope).  I have had some ballet DVDs and a wonderful recording of Shostakovitch's 5th symphony to review, some great films and books throughout the year.

At one stage I was told that they would take each member's interests into account as I really did find some of the items on the Newsletter wildly out of my range of preferences so when I heard this I zapped through all the opera DVDs I could think of so they would register (cunning moi?) and all the kind of books I liked.  However, this seemed to make no difference and the Newsletters continued to be a random collection but usually there was one item that sounded intriguing and which I requested.

One such arrived this morning: The Red House Mystery by A A Milne.  Yes he of Winnie the Pooh fame, that is right, same one.  Difficult to remember sometimes that AAM wrote books other than about the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood, but he did.  I come across them occasionally in second hand bookshops and I know Capuchin Press are reprinting one of his next spring.

This is his only detective story where, and I quote "secret passages, uninvited guests, a sinister valet and a puzzling murder lay the foundations for a classic crime caper" and is 'a lost gem from a time before Tigger'.

This I am looking forward to and intend to read over the weekend as the temperature has dropped and it is very chilly and this sounds to me a perfect book for sitting indoors with the curtains drawn and nice and warm and cosy.

As to how I was asked to become a member of the Vine and what the criteria are, I have no idea.  I gather that it is limited to the UK only and this is a a shame but I suppose the postage costs make this necessary, but have been thinking that perhaps it is because I spend a lot of money? No, others must spend more that I.  Is it because of the number of reviews I have had put up on Amazon?  Others have written more and I am only listed as 1,500 on the reviewers list so it can't be that (I must say as I was about 5,000 at one stage I am delighted with this).

Well, whatever the reason I am just pleased to be a part of it all. I mean free books.....what can one say?

Mark you, they have not offered me a toothbrush since the first Newsletter which I am slightly cheesed off about. ....

Friday Ramblings

Busy day today and a bit tired and the thought of a lovely lie in tomorrow is wonderful. I also have two notes shoved through my letter box that I have a package to collect so off to the local Post Office collection point tomorrow and pick them up - I am hoping they will be BOOKS.

Just a gentle ramble tonight as I am going to have a nice early evening with book, chocolate biscuit and tea and bed and gird up my loins in preparation for John's Last Waltz tomorrow night which is going to be stomach turning.  The furore seems to be dying down a bit now thank goodness but the silliness continued unabated yesterday with Sargentgate being debated on the BBC Question Time which used to be a programme where the political issues of the day were discussed.  An MP, working on the usual political principle of never lettinga bandwagon go by without jumping on it, called for the judges to be sacked.  This from a bunch of layabouts in Parliament who would let a proper judicical judge get away with stupid sentencing and utter inflexibility, calls for heads to roll of four people who pronounce on dancing on a Saturday night show on the BBC.  As I said yesterday Has the World gone Mad?

Anyway enough of all of this and I wish John well as he sails off on his all expenses paid cruise this weekend, which of course he can now go on as he has been SO noble as to leave the show...

Enough Elaine enough.

Just off to watch Have I got News for you - bet they will have something funny to say about it all

Has the world gone completely mad?

This is the question I asked myself as  I sat watched TV last night in open mouthed disbelief at the news coverage given to John Sargeant leaving Strictly Come Dancing.  It was on Sky, BBC, Channel Four, endless news bulletins and then I discovered that JS had give a PRESS CONFERENCE.  Yes, a press conference flanked by the great and the good at the BBC, and the likes of Jeremy Paxman in attendance.  Then It Takes Two was extended to a two hour special in which John was interviewed as if he had just taken over the role of Prime Minister.  It would be amusing if it was not so stunningly appalling at the publicity being given to this event.  Have we no sense of proportion at all?

The interview with John S on ITT was sheer delight.  If ever a man was enjoying his Fifteen Minutes of Fame it was him.  We had this slightly distressed and rueful Gosh what have we done stance throughout the air time he was given, hardly ever interrupted so we could really see and realise what a Great Man he was for falling on his sword, doing the right thing, leaving with dignity etc, tears from his partner gently wiped away so the mascara stayed in place. He manipulated it all beautifully and has obviously learned   how to 'spin' with the best of them after his years of observing politicians at close quarters. Claudia, who has made no secret of her favouritism but was hauled over the coals about it earlier this week after a quite blatent Let's Vote for John interview, read out all these 'sweet' messages which are flooding the forums, says she.  Oddly enough not one message which said the opposite, and there were plenty of them believe you me, were aired.

One could only sit back and admire it all.  I gather John and his partner Kristina who is a shoe in for next year I would think, should the programme survive, are going to perform a last waltz on Saturday.  Why?  He has left so go.  Instead, he will be back for one more fix and the entire Saturday night programme will, once more, be hijacked by him.  I gather Bruce Forsyth made the comment that John's going ruined his opening gag which was  'Welcome to the John Sergeant Show'.  Point made I think. 

It also appears that Brucie was invited on Newsnight. NEWSNIGHT!!!!

Apparently viewers have been voting for John in order to 'upset the judges', 'to see the judges faces and laugh' , and the more the judges are 'nasty' the more they will vote for the contestant, and other reasoned arguments. OK so why are Mark Foster and Andrew Castle not still on the show?  They had some pretty harsh comments to put up with.    Perhaps this is a case of the disgruntled BBC licence holders taking their opportunity to cock a snook at the corporation and as I have been angry at them recently myself, can feel a modicum of sympathy for them. I am glad that John has gone as I felt the joke was wearing pretty thin and hope that we can now concentrate on the dancing which last week, in particular, was of a very high quality.  The progress made by the contestants, and yes I use the word contestants, as this is a competition, has been amazing and Austin's tango, Rachel's rumba and Tom's salsa last week were enormous fun and simply terrific to watch but in all this JS hoo ha this has been totally lost.

Anyway, enough now I think.  But in closing may I say a few things:  the accusations of bullying are seriously silly. John Sergeant has been a journalist and a seasoned political correspondent for many years and has locked horns with Mrs Thatcher on more than one occasion.  Are we meant to believe that a man like this can be bullied?  I don't think so.  Also, tucked away in a small corner of a daily paper this morning is a report of an after dinner speech given at a function about two years ago in which Strictly Come Dancing featured and the speaker rather mocked the show and said he would never appear on it.  The speaker? - yes John Sergeant.

It also appears that Mr S is off this weekend on an all expenses paid cruise where he is booked as a speaker.  I would hate to suggest that this might just be the reason for his leaving and he has, of course, denied it, but this cynic here does wonder. It also transpires that his 2002 autobiography might be updated with a section on Come Dancing, his agent is taking bookings for his after dinner speeches where he will no doubt be frightfully amusing about it all.  And yet the papers are portraying him as a sweet, cuddly grandad who has been treated dreadfully badly.

I would really really love to know why he agreed to appear in the first place.  Puzzle to me.

And finally, watched It Takes two tonight - not one mention of him, all about dancing and it was SUCH a relief....