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Posted: 08-09-2013 17:46 Post subject:

Redruth church organist marks 50 years of playing

A church organist from Cornwall is celebrating 50 years of playing at the same Redruth chapel every week.
Malcolm Brown, 80, has been accompanying the choir at Redruth Methodist Church for five decades.
Mr Brown said his earliest influences were the BBC radio organists of the 1940s.

Despite reaching his 50th anniversary at the same church, and his 66th year as an organist, Mr Brown says he intends to carry on playing.
"As a boy in 1947, I went to my church where I was brought up in Four Lanes and the organist hadn't turned up. I had only had three or four lessons, but I was asked to play for the service, so I did.
"It's very special for me because I have played it for so long."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-24006329

Very Happy

Posted: 08-09-2013 23:18 Post subject: 107-year-old man shot dead by SWAT team

I've quoted the whole article as it's quite short.

Posted: 08-09-2013 23:51 Post subject:

Well that SOB aint gona be celebratin his 108th. Rolling Eyes

Posted: 11-09-2013 06:13 Post subject:

Rage against the dying of the light ... with Sony Playstation and friends.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/04/brain-training-video-game-old-age

Posted: 13-09-2013 15:53 Post subject:

The Guardian has a serene interview with Julian Bream, now 80.

He no longer plays the guitar and reflects that he feels a greater musician than ever, though with no way to show it!

It is notable that back in the sixties his fame and massive record sales could fund a very expansive life-style: manor house and vintage cars! Not many classical artists could do that now.

I was fortunate to hear him once live in the vast space of Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall - amazing how the range of tone colours he could conjure from his instruments made it seem such an intimate occasion. Smile

Posted: 13-09-2013 16:52 Post subject:

I once saw Julian Bream live - he did an evening performance at my school in the early 60s! Mostly I remember the evening for the drive there and back in my dad's old Morris 8, in the fog over the Hog's Back!

But looking back on it, I guess the school music teacher must have known J.B. previously, in order to persuade him to play at such an unlikely venue (it could hardly have been for the money).

Posted: 25-09-2013 09:19 Post subject:

A couple more active oldies:

There's no deviation for Just a Minute veteran Nicholas Parsons
The 90-year-old actor and presenter of Radio 4's Just a Minute shows no sign of slowing up
By Cristina Odone
7:59PM BST 24 Sep 2013

Nicholas Parsons is such a gent that he is even nice about his stalker. “Bless her heart, she never meant any harm. It was years ago, before I was well known. She was a sweet girl, from Hornsey. She wrote me a fan letter, and I replied – I always do – until she suddenly started writing to me about assignations we’d never made, like: 'I’ll meet you at Victoria station. Now, Nicholas, don’t let me down again.’

“And on another occasion: 'Our romance is now the talk of the ping-pong club.’ She sent me her picture.” He chuckles. “My first wife Denise was worried that any moment she might show up – but, thank goodness, she never came.”

He refuses to call his fan crazy, even though she clearly was. And there was obviously no talk of a restraining order. “You can’t treat your fans like that,” he shakes his head, disapproving. “It may be old-school, but I think everyone deserves respect.”

He grows pink with pleasure when I suggest that these are the words of a real gentleman. “Oh darling, I would never say that. But my father, he was a typical English gentleman, who prized courtesy and respect, and maybe I take after him.”

Parsons will turn 90 on October 10. But in his dapper suit and cravat, with his white hair beautifully combed and not a Zimmer frame or stick in sight, the Just a Minute presenter looks far younger. Indeed, his schedule would exhaust a 50-year-old. Last month he hosted his comedy chat show, Nicholas Parsons’s Happy Hour, at the Edinburgh Festival – for the 13th year in a row. He’s just finished recording a new series of Just a Minute, which has been running on Radio 4 since 1967. And the evening after I meet him, he was entertaining guests at a charity dinner.

After 60 years as a presenter, actor and comedy performer, Parsons knows his profession is unforgiving and recently admitted that he tried to keep his age a secret for fear it would put off employers.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10331368/Theres-no-deviation-for-Just-a-Minute-veteran-Nicholas-Parsons.html

Only 60 years in the business? Bruce can trump that! Wink

When Miranda Met Bruce

Miranda Hart interviews the legend that is Sir Bruce Forsyth about his 70-year career in showbusiness, finding out the key to his success and longevity in the challenging world of entertainment. The programme is a glorious romp through Sir Bruce's career, celebrating the highs, the not so highs, and also the moments that not many people know about or have forgotten.

The show finale is a once in a lifetime show-stopping performance featuring Miranda and the brilliant Sir Bruce.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03bsq0f/When_Miranda_Met_Bruce/

Available until 8:39PM Sat, 28 Sep 2013 (Only a few more days!)

Posted: 12-10-2013 10:33 Post subject:

A long article, covering Paul's life from before his marriages to the present, as seen by the people from the Mull of Kintyre:

Paul McCartney and the Mull of Kintyre: 'Maybe the memories make it too painful for him to return’
As he sacks estate staff, locals fear Paul McCartney has lost his love for the Mull of Kintyre
By Tom Rowley
10:00PM BST 11 Oct 2013

...

“We don’t hear so much from Sir Paul now because life has moved on for him,” adds Mr Cousin. “It was his place and Linda’s, when the family were growing up. Life has changed.”

...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopmusic/10372859/Paul-McCartney-and-the-Mull-of-Kintyre-Maybe-the-memories-make-it-too-painful-for-him-to-return.html

The Mull of Kintyre has been a thread in my own life too. My wife-to-be and I had only been there once, to Campbeltown, but we had sailed past the Mull several times in the 70s. We got married in October '77, about the same time that the record "Mull of Kintyre" came out, so it seemed an appropriate anthem for us.

We started a family, but after a few years the marriage broke up. (My wife, like Linda McCartney, died fairly young from medical problems.) In later years, my daughter worked as a vet in Campbeltown, reviving the thread.

So the song has mixed memories for me.

Posted: 16-10-2013 16:07 Post subject:

Took their time.