#ken dodd show

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Mona Baptiste was a 21-year-old Trinidadian blues singer, registered as a clerk for the voyage. Six weeks after disembarking, she was singing on the BBC's Light Programme, and would go on a successful tour of English theatres and perform on TV shows, including the Ken Dodd show on the BBC. She went on to develop a hugely successful career as a singer in the UK and Germany.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[lesbianelainebenes]

have we talked about how drugs (cocaine) are so linked to homosexuality in the language of succession? before tom’s bachelor party Logan asks greg to look out for Kendall by saying he “doesn’t want him to end up at the bottom of some French fag’s pool” - so the fear is not of ken using/ODing but of him doing some gay shit while on drugs. and of course while Kendall is fine in that episode, he does end up underwater with a (presumably - I have yet to see a plausible heterosexual explanation for greg getting out of the Andrew Dodds’ car the morning of the wedding) queer man. and that’s what Logan accuses him of in s3e8 - “hey, are you queer?” not that Kendall is a pathetic junkie for having to use during his sister’s wedding, but that he maybe was sexually involved with another man. 

at tom’s bachelor party, when greg does all that coke to prevent Kendall from ending up in the fag’s pool, he’s “sucking on those big white dicks, you pervert.” so to tom, greg doing coke is gay (who actually has a big white dick in the show?) and then we hit s4e8, which opens with tom talking about how tense he is (you’ve read a pwp fic that starts like that.) and then we get greg offering him something. it’s super vague at first - why? not to diminish it, but it’s just cocaine. I’ve worked in big corporate America and it’s not as common as I think it used to be, but doing cocaine with coworkers/to get through a long night at work isn’t the craziest thing on the planet. tom’s used it probably dozens, hundreds of times in the past so WHY DO THEY ACT LIKE IT’S SUCH A TABOO THING? 

I promise I'm trying not to be a crazy tomgreg and I'm not just watching it for the shipping whatever and if nothing further happens between them, then so be it. but I am fascinated by this side of the show and I think that, in the language of the show, greg sucked tom’s dick.

[lady-of-the-silver-lakeatron]

Bridgerton Season 3 Episode 2 Initial Reactions

I'm late I know, but I didn't get to post these reactions so here they are.

ooh the historical pineapple reference!! I love the set design people they just keep delivering these little gems.

Edwina beloved! I think this confirms the marriage to the Prussian prince. Good for her, go be a princess babe.

Charlotte's wig is so beautiful and elaborate

Not Kate getting called old and hopeless on the marriage mart like free my woman from these allegations.

Nicola is eating up these green looks

"But have no interest in other debutants" not Benedict sniffing out my imaginary lesbian love story here.

Pen regretting her latest column

Penelope being so awkward at flirting is giving baby gazel trying to walk for the first time. it's vv endearing

Oh no is this foreshadowing Francesca diamond allegations? I read the books but I've forgotten this bit

Tbh I'm loving Featherington women they are peak bimbo

The actress for Phillipa has such a good voice it matches the character perfectly

Portia Featherington don't be controlling challenge

The most realistic representation of regency era sex ed I fear.

Colin threesome? See I said it was a slutty summer.

Not to nit pick/slut shame but at the least an hour needs to pass between your sinning and then being around your future love interest.

Aww Polin first meeting reminiscing.

You know nothing Colin Bridgerton you could have Apollo gift you with prophecy and you would still know nothing!

Aww they're apart and not in the same bed. They're really cute.

Yes madam Delacroix encourage these women to take fashion risks.

So Francesca wants to get matched to avoid attention? But she welcomes the prospect of marriage, hmm…

Bridgerton family cuteness

Hyacinthe being good at cards and a menace! I'm loving the younger kids being brought into this season.

Secret Polin meeting the tropes are troping.

Colin getting offended when Pen is like "you" bahaha

"Your eyes are the most remarkable shade of blue..." Colin was shooketh that boy is living in his "romancing mr.bridgerton" era.

Not her finding his musings on his smutty summer and getting turned on.

To paraphrase: "Were you reading my smutty journal Penelope?" like do you not know how nosey she is??

They’re touching hands and staring into each other's eyes your honor.

Girl what was this "lesson" even, I enjoyed it but still

Honestly same girl I too would vibe with pretty jewelry.

Colin wants the tea for the Pen and Eloise drama so bad!!

"how is she" spoken like a true divorced couple Eloise

Eloise speaking fax about how strange Colin and Pen's arrangement is.

Queen Charlotte back with a banging wig and more disparagement

Francesca: I was promised a music man, and I shall like one right this instant.

Mr. Dankworth and Mr. Finch we finally learn their names! Or maybe I have terrible memory?

Not them getting abandoned by their wives lmao

Not Portia acknowledging Mr. Dankworth's Kenergy "You are so pretty" and then the Kens are terrified of her this family is giving me too much entertainment

Colin "If you speak to one man tonight you can read of my sexploits" Bridgerton

"His horse recently died" ma'am this show is so unserious

Also not usually very caring of this but their height difference is everything

Eloise's talent would have been stand up commedy if it were not 1815.

Benedict’s commitment issues continue I see

It's the way this scene with Benedict has explained the complexity of all these society rules being in place solely for the sake of the marriage mart institution

Hannah Dodd so beautifully portrays a music nerd that just wants to be alone

Volet-Danbury shenanigans are afoot

Also Lady Danbury's outfits are so cute this season

Omg Featherinton sex talk is 10/10 comedy

"Inserts himself? Inserts himself where?" was delivered so perfect no notes just me gasping and dying laughing. Mr. Finch idk what your game is but I am deceased.

Oh no these girls are pirannahs and they smell blood

Aww Pen meeting a Whistledown fan in the wild is so sweet.

Also, she has a caller! Thank you Lord Remmington!

Oh no, oh no, oh no no no no their scheme is exposed poor Penelope will have to ruin her own reputation.

While I feel terrible for Pen she kinda deserves her serving of karma

Lady Danbury you are a level 1000 master manipulator here for Francesca.

Oh no Fran looks so distraught this is everything she was against

Ok I'm seeing the commentary they want to set up with the Kent’s situation

Visitor- sounds controversial Lady Danbury

GO off Eloise defend your cancelled wife!!

Ok Cressida has some points here.. that still doesn't endear me

Omg it's the first Polin kiss scene!!

"But you would be dead" best comedian right here give him his award!

Also, that was one passionate kiss for helping a dear friend out. These two dorks are so in love they can’t even see it (facepalm).

You can see it on his face he has unlocked something, he doesn’t know what but it’s something.

Tbh the maid is the MVP here she has allowed all of this to happen.

I'm starting to see where the plot is going and I approve. I will say the Polin story line is going well and I have no notes but a lot of other characters do not get screen time. There are no Lady Danbury Penelope interactions. It does feel at times there are too many characters due to these interactions.

Overall good, the ending odiously was the strong point I gave it 10/10.

[tomwambsmilk]

Okay I’ve thought about it some more and I think I actually do have exactly one (1) criticism of the finale but it’s not really an artistic critique so much as a worldview one. Both Jeremy Strong and Jesse Armstrong have talked about the fundamental bleakness of the show, and Jesse’s worldview that people simply don’t change, and I think that the ending of the show (particularly the last 5 minutes) has been written and cut to drive this home. I think that’s a really valid artistic vision, I think it’s executed well, and I think it’s not out-of-step with the world of Succession and it’s characters.

But, on a fundamental worldview level…. I disagree.

I agree that many people don’t change, even if given the opportunities to. Change is long and slow and painful, and you can try your whole life and still never fully escape the patterns and habits and worldviews you were raised in. But I don’t agree that there is no hope of change. I believe pretty firmly that people can always try, and they can even make progress, and they might backslide but that what progress they make is still worthwhile.

And because of that, I believe that the ending of Succession does, objectively speaking, have little glimmers of hope in among the bleakness. There is hope for Kendall in him not being CEO, and there is hope for Roman in him not being with Waystar, and there’s both tragedy and hope in that final shot of Tom and Shiv, in them holding hands but not. What is the hope for? I think that’s open-ended. I don’t think it’s any one thing. But I think there really is hope in the fact that they’ve all found themselves back at the beginning. The tragedy, of course, is all they’ve suffered for apparently nothing, in the lack of progress they’ve supposedly made. And yet, in that ‘reset’, in that return to the status quo, as awful as it is… I think there’s hope for the characters. There’s possibility. They very well may not take it. But it’s still there, even if the show itself refuses to acknowledge it.

…. And I think it’s maybe a tiny bit disingenuous not to acknowledge it, actually. In part because the only people who don’t get a bittersweet ending, whose ending feels purely bleak, is the three siblings. And also because, as bleak as Jesse’s worldview may be, the show has always featured some hope, some silver lining, even in its bleakest moments. The siblings fail to go up against Logan but they're finally united in 3.09. In 2.10 Shiv is forced to make a horrible choice which ultimately results in Ken pushing back on Logan. Even in 1.10, the horror of Kendall killing Dodds is tempered by the wide shot of the dance floor to 'Somebody Who Loves Me.' The show has always said that yes, these are bad people, yes, they make bad choices, yes, they harm each other immensely. And yet! And yet there's still something there, some glimmer of love, and the fact that glimmer exists provides some form of hope that maybe they can find their way back to it. Probably, they won't. But they could if they wanted to.

So the choice to end Succession on a series of shots which convey such bleakness and misery, without any glimmers of real hope to offset that, just doesn't sit right with me. But a lot of that is subjective; there's a whole other camp, likely including Jesse Armstrong, that would have found it disingenuous to include those glimmers of hope, because their worldview is fundamentally different than mine. I can't really argue with that. All I can say is that its a choice which simply doesn't work for me.

[svu-barisi]

My Fics on AO3

Novel: Recovery: A Barisi SVU Novel Crossovers: Criminal Minds, L&O Criminal Intent, L&O OG Ships: Rafael Barba & Sonny Carisi, George Huang & Nick Amaro, Olivia Benson & Elliot Stabler, Amanda Rollins & Mike Dodds, Ed Tucker & Rita Calhoun, Casey Novak & Alex Cabot, Aaron Hotchner & Emily Prentiss (CM), Kevin Lynch & Penelope Garcia (CM), Jess Katz (OC) & Ken Taylor (OC)

Series:

Barisi Get Together Fics: * Strangled * Concealed Fear & Love * Bring Me To Light * A Final Call At Forlini's: An Alternate Ending * Objection: Argumentative & Ridiculous * A Tragic Love Story * The Titanic Meets the Hindenburg Meets My First Year of Little League * No Show * First Kiss * Mirror, Mirror (Crossover w/ The Princess of South Beach) * The Verdict Is In * Be Mine * Fuck, Blow, or Marry *

Pre-Established Barisi: * Close Call * Spiraling * Up Where--Oh! *

Barmarisi (Rafael Barba, Nick Amaro, & Sonny Carisi): * Aftershock * Overruled! *

[kinonostalgie]

Sir Michael Edward Palin KCMG CBE FRGS FRSGS FRSL (born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

Palin started in television working on programmes including the Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report, and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin joined Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974) alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman. He acted in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot sketch", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition", "Bicycle Repair Man" and "The Fish-Slapping Dance". Palin continued to work with Jones away from Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns.

Palin co-wrote and starred in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983). For his performance in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.[7][8] Other notable films include Jabberwocky (1977), Time Bandits (1981), The Missionary (1982), A Private Function (1984), Brazil (1985), Fierce Creatures (1997), and The Death of Stalin (2017).

Since 1980, Palin has made numerous television travel documentaries, and is a widely recognised writer and presenter. He has acted as a travel writer and travel documentarian in programmes broadcast on the BBC. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe, and Brazil; in 2018, he visited North Korea, documenting his visit to the isolated country in a series broadcast on Channel 5. From 2009 to 2012 he was President of the Royal Geographical Society.Sir Michael Edward Palin KCMG CBE FRGS FRSGS FRSL (born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

[robthepensioner]

Daffodils in Marine Gardens, Fleetwood, with Marine Hall in the background. I have attended both a Ken Dodd show and Fleetwood Beer Festival in the Hall. Guess which one I left early because people were throwing bottles at each other.

[bethanyactually]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kenneth Mitchell (@mr_kenneth_mitchell)

Kenneth Mitchell, who among his many other roles played Nancy Drew’s biological uncle Josh Dodds in the first season of the CW show, has died of ALS at age 49.

There’s a gofundme to help support his family and pay the costs of the medical care he required over the last five and a half years.

[bambiesque]

New thread for McCoy!Doctor.

Serial: Time and the Rani - I still feel bad for Colin Baker. Quite enjoyed the Rani pretending to be Mel. I'm seriously impressed by Bonnie Langford's lung capacity - that girl can scream - and running through quarries ability.

Serial: Paradise Towers - Richard Briers taking a break from being good for few weeks. I think Bonnie Langford would have made a good Doctor, tbh. This season is kind of a slog so far.

Serial: Delta and the Bannermen - This one I like. The holiday camp with yellow coats. All the Welsh characters are amazing. Random Ken Dodd. It's bonkers but lovely with it.

Serial: Dragonfire - I will miss Mel. I liked her despite the odd introduction. But this was a good start for Ace. The second half of this season was definitely better than the first and I am enjoying McCoy!Doctor.

Serial: Rememberance of the Daleks - A great serial with lots of fun callbacks to the shows history. Some great supporting characters and a creepy little girl. What more can you ask for?

Serial: The Happiness Patrol - Lots of pink and a monster that looks like Bertie Bassett. Lots of interesting politics. I enjoyed it.

Serial: Silver Nemesis - That was a bit of a mish-mash and probably the weakest Cyberman story of all (so far).

Serial: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy - There are far, far too many clowns in this story. Maybe this is where my aversion to them started. Nope, nope, nope.

Serial: Battlefield - The Brigadier. I have missed him. I enjoyed this serial. I liked Ace getting a girlfriend. Wish Shou Yuing had stayed around tbh.

Serial: Ghost Light - I really liked this serial. A nice spooky ghost story, some Ace backstory, McCoy!Doctor being both a dick and a good egg.

Serial: The Curse of Fenric - Vampires, Vikings, Lesbians. It's a great story. I think if the past few years had been more like this season it may have survived. And speaking of...

Serial: Survival - The last Classic Who serial and the Master is back because he's the best. I feel bad for Ace's cheetah gf. It's quite an epic ending.

McCoy!Doctor Era Round-up

Favourite Companion: Ace.

Least favourite Companion: None

Favourite Serial: Battlefield / Ghost Light

Least Favourite Serial: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

McCoy!Doctor's stories got better as the show went on. I think rather than cancel it they should have tried a different showrunner but obviously there was lots of politics going on that ruined it for everyone.

So, I'm finished with the Classic episodes. On to the movie!

Current Doctor standings

Davison

Pertwee

TBaker

CBaker

McCoy

Troughton

Hartnell

Current Top 10 Companions (no change)

Jo Grant

Tegan Jovanka

Barbara Wright

Vislor Turlough

Sarah Jane Smith

Nyssa of Traken

Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart

Leela

Romana II

Zoe

[littlemuoi]

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh officially opens Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot

The Duke of Edinburgh has officially opened the Shakespeare North Playhouse on Merseyside.

In his first official engagement since the coronation of King Charles III, Prince Edward unveiled a commemorative plaque at the £38 million theatre in Prescot, Knowsley.

His Royal Highness met local dignitaries, members of the Shakespeare North team and some of the people who have been instrumental in the creation of the new venue.

The prince joked that he needed to make the unveiling “as slick and as professional as possible."

Referring to his late father, he added: "I was really worried having been given this new title.

"I was actually following in the footsteps of the most experienced plaque-unveiler the planet has ever known."

The theatre first opened to the public in July 2022 after being entirely built during the pandemic.

Prince Edward visited the venue's Cockpit theatre, the only 17th-century style timber theatre outside London, and watched local school taking part in an educational session.

The 450-seat Cockpit theatre is accompanied by a studio for smaller showers, a learning room and an outdoor performance garden funded by the Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation.

Supporters hope the theatre will be a catalyst for economic regeneration, community engagement and education, and develop a new generation of talent. 

It is expected that over 140,000 people a year will visit the area because of the theatre.

Prince Edward told invited guests, "I'm optimistic and positive about life, and I just think the most fantastic clash of cultures is here at the Shakespeare North Playhouse.

"You had a bit of Eurovision in here as well.

"That's what the arts are about, bringing that to life and that contemporariness to it as well.

"The unveiling of a plaque is not necessarily the most exciting thing that has happened in your lives, but I know this probably comes as a bit of a disappointment.

"There's an air of expectation.

"I need you to pretend that it really is the most exciting thing that has happened in Prescot in 400 years!"

Why Prescot?

In the 1590s, a remarkable theatre stood in the town and hosted performances made possible by the Earl of Derby, resident at Knowsley Hall.

It is thought that it was the only purpose-built indoor playhouse outside of London, and players brought with them new shows from a popular playwright of the day... William Shakespeare.

[beatlblog]

lengthy list of missing and updated links under the cut

the whole ken dodd 1963 interview where they were all smiley and laughing 

george smiling while ringo is working out how to play octopus’s garden

(this is from let it be movie also's in get back 2021)

“morning paul!” “morning rich!”

also from let it be and in get back 2021

paul waiting for his turn with ringo’s attention so he can show him a random painting

john the baptist 

i don’t even want to know why george was laying there 

Outtakes from "The Beatles: 1st U.S. Visit" Documentary

everything about this video 

The Beatles - I'm Down (Live At Shea Stadium) starts at 27:14

“what have you grown up to?” “29.”

george speaks his own language i swear to god 

he really does - i'm assuming this is ahdn

iconic george and ringo interview 

idk marples mabye?

morons 

The Beatles First U.S. Visit

george dancing “aye i like it, do it again for me.”

assuming this is also the u.s. visit doc

this is the saddest thing ive ever heard john say 

???

george being cute and paul being moody 

not sure here's a screenshot

“we aint written no poetry”

i know what this is but beats me if i can find aa link rn

“i don’t mind whether i’m remembered or not” and he’s now considered one of the greatest artists ever 

beatles links for when you’re feeling sad 

when the interviewer spit on george 

“well, we just sort of wanked :o oops sorry!”

“can we talk about your quotes on lsd?” GASP

the whole ken dodd 1963 interview where they were all smiley and laughing 

george pushing john into oncoming traffic 

random singing in an interview followed by fighting 

oh how the tables have turned 

george smiling while ringo is working out how to play octopus’s garden

“morning paul!” “morning rich!”

i talk about george reacting to this boy a lot but it warms my heart 

something about the announcer telling the audience the beatles are so excited followed by a shot of ringo stoned makes me laugh 

paul waiting for his turn with ringo’s attention so he can show him a random painting 

john the baptist 

i don’t even want to know why george was laying there 

“SHUT UPPP.”

“shut up while he’s talking..” 

ringo’s dance moves 

paul mccartney making mashed potatoes 

the good ‘ol shakespeare skit 

“if we did know we’d form another group and be managers.”

“thanks for the purple heart”

everything about this video 

“where could we go” “argentina?”

the way he screams gets me every time 

the beatles first radio interview 

“hey mister can we have our ball back!”

john throwing a pillow at paul 

eric lennon 

baby beatles

“what have you grown up to?” “29.”

“she looks more like him than i do.”

george speaks his own language i swear to god 

iconic george and ringo interview 

pattie and george interview 

learning about new cameras 

“why are you called the beatles?”

morons 

george dancing “aye i like it, do it again for me.”

george dancing again 

john dancing 

this is the saddest thing ive ever heard john say 

their dumb texas interview that includes the “john’s wife” joke 

george hitting himself in the face 

“you’re the first person from liverpool i’ve met” “great.”

mockers 

george being cute and paul being moody 

john and paul doing impressions 

“we aint written no poetry”

these bloopers 

“they’re entitled not to like us and were entitled not to have anything to do with us.”

“i don’t mind whether i’m remembered or not” and he’s now considered one of the greatest artists ever 

i’m sharing the yoko and john screaming in the studio bc it does make me laugh tbh 

cynthia..you deserved the whole world and i hope you’re happy wherever you are. 

love by john lennon 

hey jude by the beatles 

i’m happy just to dance with you by the beatles 

do you want to know a secret by the beatles 

hello, goodbye by the beatles 

all together now by the beatles (it’s catchy. leave me alone)

the guitar solo in i saw her standing there 

john’s stand by me cover 

here comes the sun by the beatles 

in my life by the beatles 

keith moon’s cover of in my life bc i love it so so so much 

“and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” <3

[thelenazavaroniarchive]

1st November 2024.

𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟒. The Hollywood Reporter had a full page photograph of Lena to publicise her appearance on The Carol Burnett Show the following day.

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟗. The Stage mentioned that Lena would be releasing her single, Somewhere South Of Macon on Friday 2nd.

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟗. The Daily Record reported that Lena had been taken to hospital.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐. The Sunday Mirror published a small photograph of Lena alongside a reader’s letter.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐. The Birmingham Weekly Mercury had a feature about young stars, mentioning Lena several times.

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗. Das Neue Blatt, a German weekly women's magazine mentioned Lena's death.

𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟖. Turned Out Nice Again - The story of British light entertainment, by Louis Barfe was published in Hardback. In a paragraph about the Lena & Bonnie show, it is noted that Richard Afton, the television critic for the Evening News gave Lena a good review, while he gave Bonnie a bad one, it turned out that he was a friend of the Solomons.

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (542): Sun 10th Sep 2023

Near the end of my shift I got approached by one of the managers telling me that I needed to do another refresher quiz to make sure I was aware of the dangers of hazardous materials. I normally have a way of getting out of these but unfortunately I’ve just spent a lot of money on a holiday and I’ll have to use a lot more on spending money so it looked like this time a bribe was out of the question and I was just going to have to do the exam. Personally I think this exam is bullshit because a Donald Trump was President for four years despite thinking that you can get rid of covid by drinking disinfectant thus proving you can get by without knowing the intricate details of hazardous materials. Lucky I passed this stupid test relatively easily and now don’t have to do it for another year. When I finished my shift I saw that it was pissing it down outside and I had r brought my motorcycle trousers so I got drenched in the way home but I really didn’t give a fuck because it meant I could treat myself to a warm bath and an early night. Before sleepy bye bye time I made sure to transfer all the jokes / observations I’d made during the day from my phone to the laptop and write them into my journal. When I get to the end of this year long challenge and I have a years worth of jokes to choose from I’ll just pick the best stuff I’ve written from the large document I’ve saved to my laptop. However I also want to physically write them out into a journal just as a visual indicator of how productive I’ve been. I watched a documentary about Joan Rivers once and there was an amazing moment where she showed the audience her filing cabinets where she kept her jokes and it was fucking enormous. According to her over the course of her career she had written 65000 jokes which is obviously why she was so amazingly good at what she did. She had spent so many years training her brain to constantly be on the lookout for material and to be able to find the funny in everything she saw. I like to think that these enormous filing cabinets weren’t just a place to store her jokes but also a reminder of how hard she had worked and that the larger the filing cabinets got the funnier she became. Now I’ll never get to the stage where I’ll have written 65000 jokes but hopefully my ever expanding collection of journals will motivate me to carry on expanding my comedy brain. Even though I’m still in the very early stages in my joke writing challenge I have to say it’s scary how many jokes I’ve come up with in just ten days. Normally when I make a pact to start trying to come up with comedic material I stick it out for a few days then just give up but I’m being surprisingly productive. Hopefully training my brain in this way will also get me better at being able to make off the cuff jokes to other people in everyday life. There was a story this week about Ken Dodd’s joke books being donated to the Liverpool museum which I think must be the ultimate dream for any comedian. I’d love to have one of my joke books end up in a museum but because a good chunk of the jokes I’ve written have been about hypothetical sex scenarios I think it’s more likely it’ll end up in Amsterdams Sex Museum than in the Museum of Comedy. As long as it’s not being used in court as evidence of my state of mind after I’ve been charged with some sort of hideous crime then I’ll be happy (although if my jokes are being used as evidence in court after I’ve done something horrible and they still get laughs then I’ll know I’m funny).

[sumpix]

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes … because I live just around the corner. Lynsey Hanley

To a dour Brummie like me, living in Liverpool is an unending source of hope and delight. I took this photo to remind me

Once a place is immortalised in song it’s hard to imagine it as somewhere in which people really do walk their dogs, or go to the Londis or get a haircut. When it’s the Beatles doing the immortalising, it becomes almost impossible – unless, of course, you live there.

Penny Lane, in Mossley Hill, south Liverpool, lives on not just as a Beatles song but as a street five minutes’ walk from my house. John Lennon and George Harrison went to the primary school on the corner, and Paul McCartney was a choirboy at the church opposite the song’s “shelter in the middle of a roundabout”, where this photo was taken. (Mossley Hill was a bit too posh for Ringo, who has his own mural in Toxteth.)

I see these landmarks while going about my daily business, and in the 10 years I’ve lived in Liverpool it has never ceased to feel wonderful and strange. Sometimes, it’s like living in a theme park: the open-top Liverpool Explorer bus passes the top of my street a couple of times a day. The Magical Mystery Tour bus – you can see the sticker on the street sign – ambles round daily on a three-hour tour of historic sites that I’ll never quite be able to take for granted.

Come to my house and I could walk you to John and Paul’s childhood homes. I’d show you the fire station, the barber shop, the park they walked through to get to each other’s houses, and the bus stop where Paul caught the same number 86 that I get into town most days. It’s a daily privilege to see something like the world they wrote about – still recognisable, though inevitably altered, 60-odd years later – through my eyes.

For someone who grew up in a pop-worshipping household, far away in Birmingham, a household that regarded the Beatles essentially as family members, it can resemble a living dream, a bit like the song itself. It was partly because of them that I knew growing up to have something like the life you dreamed of was attainable. Although moving to Liverpool wasn’t part of that early dream – I’m here because I married a Merseysider, falling in love with the place as well as the person – it’s in so doing that I’ve found the community and life I always hoped for.

Macca’s mental map of these streets remains intact to this day, as it was when he wrote Penny Lane from his Regency mansion in St John’s Wood, around the corner from Abbey Road in London. In McCartney’s telling, the “pretty nurse” selling poppies by the tram shelter “feels as if she’s in a play/ she is anyway”. When I’m going off to the doctor’s, or dropping bags at the charity shop, within sight of that same tram shelter, I catch myself thinking, how lucky am I?

Part of this comes from Liverpool’s own irrepressible, elaborately gregarious character, which to a dour Brummie like me is an unending source of hope and delight. Among the sights I’ve seen within yards of my front door are Ken Dodd’s extensive funeral cortege (with Dicky Mint, his puppet Diddyman, guarding his coffin), two Liverpool FC cup-winners’ processions – the main road a cheering sea of red and white, and a thumbs up from Mo Salah – and Stephen Graham wearing plus-fours and a tweed waistcoat outside the local wine bar.

Liverpool is exactly this, all the time: the dreamlike and the everyday overlapping at every opportunity. That’s not all it is. It’s also about dockers striking and winning, as they’ve done this year; chasing fascist sympathisers out of town to the sound of the Benny Hill theme tune, as Liverpudlians did in 2017; about LFC and Everton fans going from collecting tins to building a national campaign for the right to food. Its socialism is practical and dreamful at the same time. The sticker commemorating the life of the late Guardian columnist and campaigning writer Dawn Foster is there for a reason: Liverpool was her kind of town.

Ask a scouser what Britain’s second city is and of course they’ll reply, “London.” But I love that in a place. Maybe it takes moving here from somewhere else to recognise how special that is. I never wanted to live in a fantasy world, but I always hoped to find a place that was real and fantastic at the same time. Penny Lane is it.

Lynsey Hanley is the author of Estates: an Intimate History and Respectable: Crossing the Class Divide

[roychewtoy]

was surprised seeing.. idk if outrage is the right word for it, but just ??? at shivs ultimate decision in the vote. just because when i was watching for the first time it was a moment that washed over me so naturally, didn't stick out like a pin prick or anything because yeah. of course shiv isn't letting ken get the crown. when kendall was asking why not and shiv was like ?? i was instantly back at her rattling off his faults in shit show at the fuck factory and concluding it with, i don't think all that im just trying to be dad's voice. especiaaaally cause its paired alongside romans comments on kendalls kids not being his biologically and then him saying hey, he's just saying what dad thought. dodds being brought up is the nail in the coffin, like the fucking looks that shiv and roman share during that maaaaan. even rome is like yeah no, no its not you kendall. shiv is truly between a rock and a hard place to put it fucking lightly, but godddddd it cannot be kendall. it just can't. already said up there ☝️but shiv being the deciding vote is just. wooooooooooooooooooooof....perfect to me

shiv and kendall with their mirror, im the real you, sure you're the real me. like it truly could never be either of them, if you arent getting it im not getting it and round and round they go. the push and pull is too strong. looking at roman in the boardroom scene and thinking, oh god are we gonna get you better be sniffing your armpit romullus 2.0, standing against kendall annnnnnd Nope ! clutches it, a vote for kendall. because now Kendall is the logan stand-in, baring down on him and guiding his hand. (maybe i should just cut off my arms and give one to each of you!!!!!). it coming down to shiv being the deciding vote is soooooo choice, its fucked! its literally delicious to me.