Good evening, fellow Bookworms!
Happy World Book Day! Estimated birthday of William Shakespeare, birthday of composer Sergei Prokofiev (of Peter and the Wolf fame) and The Big O, Roy Orbison amongst others. I say estimated birthday of Shakespeare as they went off the fact Will was baptised on 26th April and that babies were generally baptised 2 or 3 days after birth back then due to infant mortality rates in those days. He sadly died on 23rd April, as did poet William Wordsworth.
Also Chief Bookworm’s birthday – yep, 51 today! Went out earlier today with Mum and had a lovely brunch at Blossom by La Turka.
You may remember, in my previous blog, that I was having a rant because I had geared myself up to vote, but the envelopes only contained leaflets about the local elections, not the actual ballot papers. Well, those did come last week, so X really did mark the spot eventually, lol, and I made my choices, as did Mum on her papers, and they have been put in the post!
BBC2 celebrated its 60th birthday this Saturday just gone, 20th April, although I understand it had some technical difficulties when it first came on air in 1964 and they weren’t actually able to show any programmes that evening – their first programme was the children’s programme Play School the following day!
I may be old, but I am not old enough to remember Beeb 2 starting. I do, however, remember Channel 4 starting on 2nd November 1982 as I was 9 and a half when that channel first came on air. I watched that happen at Grandma and Grandad’s. They had some issue on their first night but just one that meant there were no adverts – they were able to broadcast some programmes, and the first one was the quiz show “Countdown” which is still going, although we lost the original presenter, Richard Whiteley, some years ago.
BBC2 marked its 60th birthday with an evening of 60 songs taken from various shows on Beeb 2 over the years, including a performance of West End Girls, by the Pet Shop Boys, who had been celebrated on Friday night on BBC Four! Obviously, I was watching PSB Night on Friday, but I do have all of those shows on my Sky+ box so didn’t have to record any.
The new album comes out this Friday, 26th April, and you will not be the slightest bit surprised to learn that it has a one word title! The new album is called Nonetheless. I don’t think they set out to do it deliberately at first, but it was pointed out to them when either Actually or Introspective was released, and they stuck with the one word titles ever since! Song titles have been a mix of lengths, though, and there have been some notably long ones, such as “I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing”, “You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk” and “I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More”!
Actually, I was on You Tube the other night, and having a go at some classical music quizzes, and one of the tunes on one quiz was an excerpt from The Rite of Spring, by Igor Stravinsky, and this just reminded me of the Pet Shop Boys because this composition is mentioned in one of their songs!
“I feel like taking all my clothes off, dancing to the Rite of Spring, and I wouldn’t normally do this kind of thing!”
Of course, it’s quite normal for Neil and Chris! After all, Claude Debussy gets namechecked in “Left To My Own Devices” and has also fetched up as a blog title on here – Che Guevara and Debussy to a Disco Beat!
I need to mention at least some books now, lol, but even my most advanced Ongoing Concern, The Almost Nearly Perfect People, mentions the Pet Shop Boys! In the part about Finland, Michael Booth starts off one section by mentioning the lyrics from “West End Girls” which are about Lenin being smuggled back from exile – “from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station”.
I am currently 84% read so hoping to get that finished soon! On for the final section, about Sweden, and there is a mention for our former player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic! So, a very interesting book about the Scandinavian countries, with bonus points going to the writer for mentioning the Pet Shop Boys and Zlatan!
Need to sort out May in my general journal, but in my book journal, I have gone with “I Need Space” as there is Star Wars Day in May, and also Towel Day, in honour of the late great Douglas Adams, who wrote The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the other books in the series.
Apart from the book about Scandinavia, I’ve not made progress on the other Ongoing Concerns, although I may get a bit more of About Britain read depending on what the traffic is like after tomorrow’s match at home to Sheffield United. It’s a rearranged fixture that was originally due to be played last month but United were busy knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup on that day so the Blades have had to wait a few weeks to visit Old Trafford.
I also need to choose a new Ongoing Concern, as I currently only have six on the go and one of those is nearing the end. Haven’t decided on a new book yet, got plenty to choose from!
I think that is about all for now. I know there aren’t all that many books mentioned tonight but I have been focusing mainly one just one book, so there was little point in mentioning the others where no progress has been made since the previous blog. So, until the next time, which will probably be the monthly review this time next week, take care and Happy Reading!
Joanne x x x
Books mentioned in this blog entry…
- The Almost Nearly Perfect People – Michael Booth
- The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
- About Britain – Tim Cole
Joanne's Bookshelf 