#kenneth wales

[slidesworthseeing]

Found slide: John Olsen’s ‘Salute to Five Bells’, Sydney Opera House concert hall, Gadigal country, slide developed April 1974. In memory of John Olsen 1928-2023

[invisibleicewands]

‘I wanted to be seen as the greatest actor of all time. Then I realised that was nonsense’: Michael Sheen on pride, parenting and paying it forward

He’s the feted star who cracked Hollywood, but it was only when he swapped LA for his home town in Wales that he was able to do his most meaningful work yet

By Simon Hattenstone

Michael Sheen has been fabulous in so many TV dramas and movies, it’s hard to know where to start. But perhaps his most memorable appearance came earlier this year in a TV show that didn’t require him to do any acting at all. The Assembly was a Q&A session in which he took questions from a group of young neurodiverse people. Sheen didn’t have a clue what would be asked, and no subject was off limits. It made for life-affirming telly. The 55-year-old Welsh actor was so natural, warm and encouraging as he answered a series of nosy, surprising and inspired questions. I watched it thinking what a brilliant community worker Sheen would be. And, in a way, that’s what he has become in recent years.

“The Assembly’s had more response than anything else I’ve ever done,” Sheen tells me. “Almost every day someone will come up to me and mention it, particularly people who have children with autism. They say it was just so lovely to see something where the interviewers were empowered. I had a fantastic time.” He replays some of his favourite moments: the young man Leo who took an age to start talking, and then delivered the most beautifully phrased question about the influence of Dylan Thomas on Sheen’s life; the woman who asked what it was like to be married to a woman only five years older than his daughter; and the question that came at the end: “What’s your name, again?” He smiles: “And Harry with the trilby on. Just the nicest man ever.” You came across as an incredibly nice man, too, I say. “Aw well, it’s hard not to be when you’re among all those amazing people, innit.”

Today we meet in London, ostensibly to talk about A Very Royal Scandal, a gripping mini-series about Prince Andrew’s infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis – the disastrous attempt to defend his honour that sealed his fall from grace. But we don’t get to the show till it’s almost going home time. Sheen’s too busy discussing all the other stuff that matters to him, away from business.

Six years ago, he swapped life in Los Angeles for Port Talbot, the steel town where he grew up. These days he calls himself a not-for-profit actor – a term he happily admits he’s invented. “It means that I try to use as much of the money I earn as I can to go towards developing projects and supporting various things. Having had some experiences of not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises, I realised that’s what I want to do with my business. And my business is me.” He grins. There was a suggestion that he might stop acting in order to do good works, but he says that never made sense; only by getting decent gigs can he earn money to put back into the community.

It has to be said he’s got the air of a not-for-profit actor today – scruffy black top, sloppy black pants, black trainers. With a bird’s-nest beard and a thicket of greying curls, he looks nicely crumpled. But give him a shave and a trim, allow him a flash of that electric smile, and he could still pass as a thirtysomething superstar.

Sheen is best known for transforming into household names – Brian Clough in The Damned United; Chris Tarrant in Quiz; David Frost in Frost/Nixon; a trio of films as Tony Blair (The Deal, The Queen, and The Special Relationship); Kenneth Williams in Fantabulosa. His Prince Andrew is compelling; by turns petulant, pathetic, monstrous and poignant. He has a gift for inhabiting famous people – voice, body, soul, the works. He’s equally adept as a regular character actor – the dapper angel Aziraphale in Good Omens, pale and pinched as spurned suitor William Boldwood in the 2015 film of Far From the Madding Crowd, the tortured father of a daughter with muscular dystrophy in last year’s BBC drama Best Interests. He even plays a winning version of himself alongside David Tennant (and their respective partners Anna Lundberg and Georgia Tennant) in the lockdown hit TV series Staged.

But the work that changed his life was his 2011 epic three-day reimagining of The Passion on the streets of Port Talbot, involving more than 1,000 people from the local community. It was years in the making, and during that time he decided he would leave Los Angeles to come home. Initially, home just meant Britain, probably London. But the longer he spent with his people, the more it became apparent to him that home could only mean one thing – returning to Port Talbot, and helping the disadvantaged town in whatever way he could.

He admits that for many years he didn’t have a clue about the reality of life in Port Talbot. He had always lived in one bubble or another. His parents were hardly flush, but they had decent jobs – his mother was a secretary, his father a personnel manager at British Steel, and both were active in amateur dramatics. Sheen was academically gifted (he considered studying English at Oxford University before winning a place at Rada), a talented footballer (he had trials with Cardiff and Swansea) and an exceptional young actor. Then came the bubble of Rada and London, followed by the bubble of LA.

It was only when he started to work on The Passion that he began to understand his home town. One day he was rehearsing with a group in a community hall when he was approached by a woman. “She told me she was the mother of this boy who’d been in my class at school called Nigel. When I was 11, he fell off a cliff in an accident and died. It was the first time I’d known someone to die. She said, ‘I’ve started up a grief counselling group here. I have a little bit of money from the council because there is no grief counselling in this area.’” She’d had no counselling when Nigel died, nor in the 31 years since. “And all these years later, she’d set up a little grief counselling thing with a bit of money, so that was extraordinary to hear.” Next time he returned he discovered that the group no longer existed because of council cuts.

Every time he went back he discovered something new. He met a group that supported young carers. Sheen doesn’t try to disguise how ignorant he was. “I said, ‘All right, what are young carers?’ And they said, ‘They’re children who are supporting a family member.’ And I’m like, ‘OK, this is a profession, they get paid, right?’ And I was told, ‘No, they don’t get paid and our little organisation gives them a bit of respite – once a week we take them bowling or to the cinema.’ I went bowling with them one night and there were eight-year-old kids looking after their mother and bringing up the younger kids. This one organisation was trying to take these kids bowling one night a week, and then that went. No funding for that, either. That kind of stuff was shocking.”

As a child, SHEEN says he was oblivious to struggle because he was so driven by his own dreams. First, it was football. By his mid-teens it was acting. West Glamorgan Youth Theatre, which he calls “one of the best youth theatres in the world”, was on his doorstep. “The miners’ strike was on when I was 15 in Port Talbot and I wasn’t really aware of it at the time. That’s how blinkered I was, because I was so obsessed by acting at that point.” Acting wasn’t regarded as a lofty fantasy in Port Talbot as it may have been in many working-class communities. After all, the town had produced Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins.

In his late teens, heading off for Rada, Sheen feared he would be surrounded by giant talents who would dwarf his. When he discovered that wasn’t the case, he suffered delusions of grandeur. “I wanted to be recognised as the greatest actor in the world,” he says bluntly. In the second year, the students did their first public production: Oedipus Rex. “I thought, well obviously I’ll be cast as Oedipus, then we’ll perform Oedipus to the public and when the world sees me for the first time I’ll be carried shoulder-high through the streets of London and hailed as the greatest actor of all time.” I look for an ironic wink or nod, but none is forthcoming.

Sure enough, he was cast in the lead role. “We did our first public production and I thought I was brilliant.” But nothing changed. It didn’t bring him instant acclaim. By the third night, he could barely get through the performance.

Were you a bit of a cock back then, I ask. He shakes his head. “No, I was having a breakdown. I was crying most of the time. I just fell apart. I spoke to the principal of Rada and I said, ‘I can’t continue at drama school, I have to leave.’ And he said just take some time off, which I did, and two or three weeks later I slowly came back and then completely changed the way I acted.”

Until then he believed acting was just about what he did. “I thought you just worked out how to say the lines as cleverly as you could; it had nothing to do with responding to other people or being in the moment. It was showing off, essentially. And there’s a ceiling to where you can get with that. That breakdown I had was because I’d reached the ceiling and didn’t know how to go any further. That’s why I fell apart.”

He gradually put himself and his technique back together. Was he left with the same ambition? “No. The idea of being considered the best actor of all time becomes nonsense.” In 1991, Sheen left Rada early, because he’d been offered a job he couldn’t turn down. He made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in a West End production of Martin Sherman’s When She Danced. Theatre was Sheen’s first love, and his rise was meteoric. From the off, he was cast as the lead in the classics (Romeo and Juliet, Peer Gynt, Henry V, The Seagull) and the 20th-century masterpieces (Norman in The Dresser, Salieri and Mozart in Amadeus, Jimmy Porter in Look Back In Anger).

Sheen was doing exceptionally well when he and his then partner Kate Beckinsale moved to LA for her work in the early 2000s. She was four years younger than him, and already a movie star. Their daughter Lily, now an actor, was a toddler. He assumed that his transition to stardom in LA would be as seamless as it had been in Britain. But it wasn’t. His theatrical acclaim counted for nothing. In 2003, he and Beckinsale split up, but he stayed in LA to be close to Lily.

The first few years, he says, were so lonely and dispiriting. “I found myself living in Los Angeles, there to be with my daughter but just seeing her once a week. I had no career there – it was essentially like starting again. I had no friends and spent a lot of time on my own. It was tough. Slowly I realised how it was affecting me.” In what way? “I remember coming out of an audition for Alien vs Predator, to play a tech geek computer guy with five lines and really caring about it, and then thinking: ‘I can be playing fucking Hamlet at home, what am I doing, what’s this all about?’” He says he’d been so lucky – always working, never having to audition, getting the prize jobs. And suddenly in LA he was an outsider; a nobody.

He and Beckinsale are often cited as role models for joint parenting by ex-couples. In 2016, Beckinsale, Lily and Sheen staged a hilarious photo for James Corden’s The Late, Late Show, recreating the moment of giving birth 17 years earlier. Beckinsale reclines on a kitchen table with Lily sitting between her legs, as an alarmed-looking Sheen stands to the side. Have they always got on well since splitting up? “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re very important in each other’s lives. It would be really sad if we weren’t – like cutting off a whole part of your life. I’m not saying it doesn’t have its challenges, and I’m sure it’s been harder for her than for me.” Why? “Because … ” He pauses and smiles. “Because I’m more of a twat!” In what way? Another smile. “I’m not going to tell you that, am I?”

Sheen’s break in America came when he was spotted by a casting director who told him he would be perfect for a new project. Ironically, it was to play former British prime minister Tony Blair in a British TV drama called The Deal, directed by British film-maker Stephen Frears and shot in Britain. The Deal led to Frears’s The Queen, about Elizabeth II’s frigid response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales leading to a crisis for the monarchy. Again he played Blair, this time riding to the rescue of the royals. The movie was nominated for six Oscars (Helen Mirren won best actress) and he never struggled in America again.

The longer he lived in LA, however, the more rooted he felt to Port Talbot. And the further he travelled, around the world or just in Britain, the better he understood how disadvantaged it was. “If you’re in Port Talbot one day and then the next you’re in a little town in Oxfordshire where David Cameron is the MP, it’s fairly obvious there are very different setups there. And that was connected to a political awakening.” He started to read up on Welsh history. In 2017, he returned his OBE because he thought it would be hypocritical to hold on to an honour celebrating empire when he was giving a Raymond Williams lecture on the “tortured history” of the relationship between Wales and the British state.

He began to reassess his past. “I became more aware of the opportunity I’d had in an area where there wasn’t much opportunity. At a certain point you go, Oh, people are having to volunteer to make that youth theatre happen that I’m a product of.” You’d taken it for granted? “Completely. I was happy to think everything I was doing was because of my own talent and I was making my own opportunities, and as I got older I thought maybe that’s not the whole story.”

In 2016, the long-running American TV series Masters of Sex, in which Sheen starred as the pioneering sex researcher William Masters, came to an end. Lily was now 17 and preparing for college. “I suddenly thought, Oh, I can go home now.” And six years ago he finally did – to Baglan, a village adjoining Port Talbot. Since then he has been involved in loads of community projects.

He mentions a few in passing, but he doesn’t tell me he sold his two homes (one in America, the other in Wales) to ensure the 2019 Homeless World Cup went ahead as planned in Cardiff. Nor does he mention that a couple of years ago he started Mab Gwalia (translating to “Son of Wales”), which proudly labels itself a “resistance movement”. On its website, it states: “Mab Gwalia believes that opportunity should not only be available to those who can afford it. The ambition is to build a movement that makes change.” Its projects have supported homeless people, veterans, preschool children on the autism spectrum, kids in care, victims of high-cost credit, and local journalism, which is a particular passion. “In the early 1970s in Port Talbot, there was something like 12 different newspapers. There are none now. None. Communities don’t feel represented, don’t feel their voice is heard and don’t know if the information they’re getting about what’s going on in the community is correct or not. Those are terrifying things, and without local journalism that’s what happens.”

Perhaps surprisingly, he’s even found time for the day job. Earlier this year, he played Nye Bevan in Tim Pryce’s new play about the founding father of the NHS. He also made his directing debut with The Way, a dystopian, and prophetic, three-part TV drama about the closure of the Port Talbot steelworks that results in local riots spreading across the country. How does he feel about the rioting that has scarred the country in recent weeks? “I feel the same way I think most people do. It was awful and terrifying. I worry about how much a hard-right agenda that has been growing for a long time has moved further and further into the mainstream and has clearly got more connected. It’s frightening.” Does he think the new Labour government can deliver the positive change it promises? “Pppfft.”He exhales heavily. “More optimistic than the Conservatives being in power.” Who did he vote for? “That’s my God-given right to remain a secret, isn’t it? It wasn’t the Tories!”

I ask if he’s in favour of Welsh independence. “I don’t know how I feel about it one way or the other, but I would like there to be an open discussion about everything that entails. The problem is when it gets shut down and you don’t get to talk about it.”

Would he ever go into politics? He looks appalled at the idea. “Oh God, no. No! I’d beawful.”Why?“Because I don’t want to say what other people are telling me to say if I don’t agree with it. Look at all those people who voted against the two-child benefit cap and had the whip taken away from them. That’s bollocks. People say I should go into politics because I’m passionate about things and I speak my mind. But then you get into politics and you’re not allowed to do that any more. I’ve got far more of a platform as myself. I can say what I want to say.”

Fair enough. I’ve got another idea. A couple of years ago he gave an inspired motivational speech for the Wales football team before the 2022 men’s World Cup, on the TV show A League of Their Own. Would he take the job as Wales manager if offered it? He looks just as horrified as the idea of a life in politics. “No!” Why not? “Because it’s a completely different profession. You need to know about football. I played football when I was younger, but I wouldn’t have a clue. Wouldn’t. Have. A. Clue. Just because you can make a speech doesn’t mean you’d be any good at that sort of stuff.” He says he was embarrassed about the speech initially, but now feels proud of it. “Schools get in touch and say, ‘We’ve been studying it with the class.’ I put hidden things in. There are rabbit holes you can go down.” He quotes the line, “You sons of Speed” and tells me that’s a reference to the idolised former manager and player Gary Speed who took his life in 2011. You can hear the emotion in his voice.

I’ve been waiting for Sheen to mention the new TV drama about Prince Andrew. Most actors direct you to the project they’re promoting as soon as you sit down with them. Let’s talk about the new show, I  eventually say.

This is already the second drama about the Andrew interview. Did he know that Scoop, which came out earlier this year, was already in the works? “Yes, I knew before I agreed to do this.” Was it a race to see which would get out first? “There was no race, no. We always knew ours would come out after.” What would he say to people who think it’s pointless watching another film on the same subject? “Ours is a three-part story, so it’s able to breathe a lot more. There’s a lot more to it. In our story, Andrew and Emily are the main characters whereas they were very much the supporting ones in the other one.”

Did it change his opinion of Andrew? “No. It showed the dangers of being in a bubble, having talked about being in a bubble myself! The dangers of privilege.” He talks with sensitivity about Andrew’s downfall. “The thing that really struck me was when Andrew came back from the Falklands there was no one more revered, in a way. I didn’t realise his job was to fly helicopters to draw enemy fire away from the ships. I couldn’t believe they would put a royal in that position, so he was genuinely courageous. He was good-looking, a prince, and had everything going for him. Since then everything has just gone down and down and down.” He’s had so little control over his life, Sheen says. Take his relationships. “He was told he couldn’t be with [American actor] Koo Stark any more because of the controversy. He was essentially told he had to divorce Sarah Ferguson because the royal family, particularly Philip allegedly, was concerned that she would bring the family into disrepute.”

Did he end up feeling more empathetic towards him? “No!” he says sharply. Then he softens slightly. “Well, empathy? I felt I understood a bit more – because that’s my job – about what was going on. But he’s incredibly privileged and has exploited that. It seems like he has a lot taken away from him but probably rightfully so.”

A Very Royal Scandal is like The Crown in that it’s great drama but you’re never sure what’s real. Are Andrew’s lines simply made up? “It’s a combination of research and stories out there, and little snippets and invention.” While Emily Maitlis is an executive producer, Andrew most certainly is not. “Well, that’s the real difficulty for our story,” Sheen says. “On the one hand, you’ve got Emily as an exec, so you know everything to do with her is coming from the horse’s mouth. But everything to do with Andrew, not only is it really difficult to get the actual stuff, also we don’t know what he did.” He pauses. “Or didn’t do.” He’s talking about Virginia Giuffre’s allegation that Andrew raped her, which he denied. In the end, Giuffre’s civil case was dropped after an out-of-court settlement was reached on no admission of liability by Prince Andrew, with Giuffre reportedly paid around £12m.

I had assumed Sheen would be a staunch republican, but he doesn’t feel strongly either way. “There are lots of positives about royals, and lots of negatives.” His bugbear is that the heir to the throne gets to be Prince of Wales. “Personally, I would want the title of Prince of Wales to be given back to Wales to decide what to do with it, and I definitely think there’s a lot of wealth that could be used better.”

The biggest change for Sheen since returning to Wales is his family life. In 2019, he revealed that he had a new partner, the Swedish actor Anna Lundberg, that she was 25 years younger than him, and that she was pregnant. They now have two daughters – Lyra who is coming up to five, and two-year-old Mabli. As well as Staged, the couple have also appeared together on Gogglebox. They look so happy, nestling into each other, laughing at the same funnies, tearing up over the same heartbreakers. She also seems naturally funny. Given that two of his former partners (Sarah Silverman and Aisling Bea) are comedians, have all his exes had a good sense of humour? He thinks about it. “Yes. Yeah, you’ve got to have a laugh, haven’t you?” And he’s always got on well with them after splitting up? “Yeah, pretty much.”

When asked about the age difference between Lundberg and him on The Assembly, he acknowledged that they were surprised when they got together. “We were both aware it would be difficult and challenging. Ultimately, we felt it was worth it because of how we felt about each other, and now we have two beautiful children together.” He also said that being an older father worried him at times. “It makes me sad, thinking about the time I won’t have with them.”

Does being a dad of such tiny kids make him feel young or old? “Both,” he says. “My body feels very old. But everything else feels much younger. I’m 55 and it’s knackering running around after little kids. Just physically, it’s very demanding. And I’m at a point in my life where I’m aware of my physical limitations now. But in other ways it’s completely liberating, and I’m able to appreciate it more now.”

Has he learned about fatherhood from the first time round? “Yeah, I think so. I’m around more now. That’s a big part of it. When Lily was young, I was in my early 30s and doing films for the first time, so Kate would stay in Los Angeles with Lily and I would go off and do whatever.” Did Beckinsale resent that? “I don’t know that she resented it. Kate was doing better than me in terms of profile at the time, so it was different. Given that we then split up and I saw Lily even less, I very much regretted being away as much. So this time I wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case. That’s partly why I’ve set up a Welsh production company. I don’t want to work away from them as much.”

Talking of which, he says, what’s the time? “I’ve got to get back to my kids.”

On his way out, I ask what advice he would give his younger self. He says he was asked that recently and gave a glib answer. “I said buy stock in Apple.” What should he have said? He thinks about it, and finally says he’d have no advice for his younger self. He’d rather reverse the question, and think what his younger self would say to him if he tried to advise him.

“I saw an amazing clip of Stephen Colbert saying your life is an accumulation of every bad choice you’ve made and every good choice you’ve made, and the great challenge of life is to say yes to it. To say, ‘I love living, I embrace living.’ And in order to do that you have to embrace all the pain, all the grief, all the sadness, all the fucking mistakes because without that you don’t have all the other stuff.” He’s on a roll now, louder and more passionate by the word. “And I’d hate it if someone came and went, ‘Don’t do this, no do that.’ Then you just sail through your life. It would be death, wouldn’t it? So I’d tell my older self to go fuck himself.”

[lil-gae-disaster]

His name is August Edevane.

Yes, he's technically a Kenneth, HOWEVER his lore made him an Edevane.

He's the son of Gilroys twin brother :> so Fredericks cousin. He's the oldest of 3 children.

He fights on the side of the americans in the war, however everyone suspects of him to be a loyalist.

He's not tho

He's just an asshole

LORE SO FAR UNDER THE CUT

Augusts Father, Cyrus, once went with his father, Freddies grandfather, to the market in the nearest village. What the oldest Kenneth did NOT anticipate was his younger son running away and hiding in the human masses.

Cyrus ran away and bumped into some welsh rich nobles who were in town to visit a sick family member.

The Edevanes.

Cyrus didn't really wanna return to the farm, so he pretended to be a little pitiful orphan who had no food or shelter and had just recently lost his mother to yellow feaver

the Edevanes believed Cyrus, took pity on him, and took him with them

(Gilroy & his dad mourned the missing of Augusts dad very much)

Cyrus was named "Cyrus Edevane" and was now the adoptive son of the Edevanes

He grew up in nobility and wealth, just how he had always dreamed, and eventually found his wife

Dorothea Oldenburg (put that in Google Translate for accurate pronounciation)

(The Kenneth twin boys had a thing for german women..)

Anyway!

Cyrus marries Dorothea and together they have 3 kids, two boys and a girl

They grew up as Edevanes and were raised in nobility with the belief that they were fundamentally better than the rest of the population

August grows up, learns German and French in addition to english and then leaves to find himself a life

Just... he doesn't really see the appeal in women. And he is disgusted by the men he sees.

So, he just roams Wales all day long and seeks at balls for a woman worthy to be his wife, repressing the disgust he feels when he thinks about the implication of having kids. What needs to be done to have kids.

He's also mildly disgusted by the women who try to make themself appealing to him. He doesn't understand why.

Until. He roams a city near his home city and finds a boy, more specifically a baker with whom he very fast becomes friends.

Until August realizes that from friendship has come something more. Something more... sincere.

He's scared of that, so he flees to fight for the independence of the colonies. His family wouldn't suspect him there and he'd manage to clear his head.

Baker boy and August still exchance correspondence, which doesn't help with Augusts inner conflict. He's supposed to like the women at balls, not a baker who isn't a woman or nobility!

Yeah

Him and Freddie meet for the first time during Freddies spy mission and Freddie immediately begins to hate August because he's an asshole to him.

@hamalicious-soup @marsfingershurt @papers-pamphlet

Btw he's NOT the cousin that will inherit the farm

It's the son of Gilroys baby sister (I think they were 7? 8? Kids on the farm)

[world-of-wales]

─ •✧ CATHERINE'S YEAR IN REVIEW : FEBRUARY ✧• ─

1 FEBRUARY - Catherine appeared in a video for Shaping Us Campaign.

2 FEBRUARY - Catherine appeared in a video with Roman Kemp as part of the Shaping Us Campaign.

4 FEBRUARY - Kensington Palace released a childhood photo of Catherine with Michael Middleton for the Shaping Us Campaign.

5 FEBRUARY - She visited St. John's Primary School to mark the start of Children's Mental Health Week 2023.

8 FEBRUARY - Catherine was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire (Mrs. Elizabeth Fothergill) as she visited Landau Forte College along with Captain Harpreet Chandi.

9 FEBRUARY - Catherine and William were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall (Colonel Edward Bolitho) at the National Maritime Museum Falmouth in Discovery Quay. Afterwards, they visited the Dracaena Centre.

19 FEBRUARY - Catherine and William attended the British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall where and were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa).

21 FEBRUARY - She was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire (Mr. James Puxley) at the Oxford House Nursing Home in Slough.

22 FEBRUARY - Catherine held an Early Years Meeting.

23 FEBRUARY - Catherine received Mr. Ian Hewitt (Chairman, AELTCC ) at Windsor Castle. Subsequently, she received Major General Christopher Ghika and Lieutenant Colonel James Aldridge (Regimental Lieutenant Colonel & Commanding Officer) of the Irish Guards.

25 FEBRUARY - Catherine and William met the volunteers and staff of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust and attended the Six Nations Rugby Match between Wales and England at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. They were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of South Glamorgan (Mrs. Morfudd Meredith).

28 FEBRUARY - Catherine and William were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of West Glamorgan (Mrs. Louise Fleet) at Brynawel House Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Pontyclun. Afterwards, they visited Aberavon Celtic Leisure Centre, where His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan (Mr. Peter Vaughan) received them. Subsequently, they were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Dyfed (Miss Sara Edwards) as they opened the new patient room at Wales Air Ambulance in Dafen.

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

Wild Carneddau Foal and Mother - Pensychnant Nature Reserve, Sychnant Pass, Conwy, North Wales - 21.6.2022 by Kenneth Simms Via Flickr: En route to Penmaen-bach Headland, to capture the Summer Solstice Sunset, I came across this newly born Carneddau Foal and its Mother three quarter of one hours earlier in the 148 acre Pensychnant Nature Reserve. It's can only be a few months old. Compared to the rugged and open surrounding hillsides and mountains this area offers distinct advantages for raising young. In fact I saw several parent groups with much older foals too. There are thought to be around 200 Carneddau Ponies living wild on the Carneddau Plateau between Aber and Conwy on the North Wales Coast - of which the Pensychnant Nature Reserve is a part. They are a sturdy and hardy breed capable of surviving even the harshest of winters. Research has shown them to be one of the rarest breeds in the world - having lived in the mountains for thousands of years and being around since the time of the Celts. Such lovely and endearing animals - long may they continue!

[george-the-good]

George VI has always loomed large in his mind. There are now only two people alive who were in Sandringham House on the night the King died in his bed there in February 1952. Prince Charles, aged three, and Princess Anne, aged one, were staying with their grand-parents while Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were in Africa, at the start of their round-the-world Commonwealth tour. [...] More than half a century later, the historian Kenneth Rose was introduced to the Prince of Wales at a Welsh Guards event on what happened to be the Prince’s birthday. ‘I offered him my congratulations as you would,’ Rose later told me, ‘and he said the most extraordinary thing. He replied: “I am today of the same age that my grandfather was when he died.” Which indeed he was but it was sort of chilling really.’

- ROBERT HARDMAN // Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story (2024)

[guerrerense]

'Didcot Delivers' - for my 60th Birthday por Kenneth Simms Por Flickr: Back in time again and my first serious opportunity to Drive and Fire a steam loco. 27th February 2010 saw me celebrate my 60th Birthday and my wife arranged a 'Special Steam Day Experience' for me at the Great Western Railway Society's Didcot Heritage Centre as near to my birthday as possible. Suitably attired in boiler suit, boots etc, I've just enjoyed a 'Hearty Fry Up' in the 'Mess Room' with my crew for the day. It's 9.30am and pictured is my loco for the day GWR 43xx 2-6-0 5322 in R.O.D livery - easing the coaching stock out of the shed - so my wife could travel in more comfort. During the Great War 1914-18 R.O.D 5322 was one of twenty GWR 2-6-0s built in Swindon in 1917 and sent when new to France. This was in response to a call from the Army in the Summer of 1917 for the British Railways to supply a further 160 locomotives to help with transporting supplies from the Channel Ports to the front line. Here its shown in its original Ministry of Supply livery. After its extensive use across much of the GWR network, including being based at Didcot 81E, its final shed before withdrawal on 24th April 1964 was Pontypool Road South Wales 86G. By 28th December 1963 (after which records were no longer kept) its total recorded mileage was 1,355,262 - so the railways certainly got their monies worth!

[thealogie]

To be fair Michael Sheen is very big in Wales and Britain more generally. Of the two actors I’d say Michael is popularly understood to be the more ‘talented’ ‘serious actor’ of the two (I’m NOT saying I believe this just my experience of popular British culture)but David is considered to be a more popular name bc of Dr Who (and certainly more popular for people under 40). For middle aged people not that keen on dr who Michaels seems to be the more popular considering his experience as Brian Clough, Kenneth Williams, and Frost all big late 20th c figures

I’ve kind of learned over time that that’s their reputation in the UK but it’s so funny because in the states people would AT BEST know David Tennant and Michael Sheen is like “who?”

[aristidetwain]

Jenny and the Gang: An Interview With Joe Macaré & Nelson Evergreen

Today, October 24th, 2023, marks the 21st anniversary of Name’s Not Down, commonly regarded as the first completed Jenny Everywhere comic story. The work of Joe Macaré and Nelson Evergreen, it was formally released into the public domain on Jenny Everywhere Day last year alongside its sequel, Damn Fine Hostile Takeover, at my own instigation.

Having managed to track down both of these highly esteemed creators — long since departed from the Jenny Everywhere community — it was then my duty and my very great pleasure to conduct the first-ever joint Jenny-centric interview of two of the honoured few who shaped the character in her infancy.

Goggles on! Shift to Interviewspace in three… two… one…

How would you introduce yourselves to Jenny Everywhere readers?

Joe: My name is Joe Macaré (he/him), and I was raised in the Midlands (UK) and now live in the Midwest (US). I work in fundraising and communications, currently for a LGBT+ rights advocacy organization.

Nelson: I’m Neil Evans, a Welsh illustrator and comic artist occasionally going by the pseudonym Nelson Evergreen. I moved back to my hometown of Wrexham, North Wales in 2017, after twenty merry years in Brighton on the south coast of England. Illustration work this year includes a version of George Orwell’s 1984 (Oxford University Press), an anthology of weird — and often terrifying — Christmas folklore from around the globe (Cider Mill Press) and a 72 page graphic novel detailing the life of Mamie Phipps Clarke, the psychologist and activist whose research with her husband Kenneth was key to the abolition of racial segregation in US schools (Magination Press).  Between jobs I’m busy with various ongoing personal labours of love, a couple of which are, after years of agonisingly glacial/troubled development, tantalisingly close to shareable. You can find me at neil-evans.net!

How did you originally learn about Jenny, and what led to your creating full comics starring the character? If those are different questions, what did you/do you like about the character — was it the open-source nature of the project? The appeal of Jenny herself as a protagonist? Something else?

J: I was active on the Barbelith message board from 2000-200something; closer to the truth to say that around the time Jenny Everywhere was created I was deeply, deeply enmeshed on that forum and in that community. It was my first internet “home” and so it’s probably accurate to say that I was initially drawn to the character because it was a Barbelith creative project and therefore something I wanted to be a part of.  But also, when Steven “Moriarty” Wintle drew that first sketch, it definitely popped. Jenny, especially with the paragraph description attached, seemed like someone I knew, or someone I would like to know. An idealized avatar in some ways, but a plausible person in others.

N: I found Barbelith not long after I began “boxsetting” The Invisibles (very belatedly, it was close to the end of the comic’s run), and got quite addicted to the forum. It was a good place.  I’d been messing about making music in bands for a few years, neglecting the illustration/comic side of things, and wanted to get back into drawing… and Barbelith happened to have lots of folk who were very good with words. So I posted a few pieces of work and asked if anyone had any comic scripts they wanted drawn, and I’m guessing Moriarty/Steven’s Jenny thread must have appeared at around that time or very shortly after..? Joe and I had certainly already touched on the idea of working together, so when Jenny appeared I think we just took it as read that that was “the one”.  With Jenny, the initial appeal for me was the very unique nature of her potential: the dozens/hundreds/thousands of different ways the character could go, depending on who’s working with her. Also, I’m generally quite content in my own company - god knows, you have to be when you’re illustrating comics - but I loved the online hubbub around her at that time. There was something really… *cosy* about knowing others were working on their own versions of this character. So that was another huge part of the appeal, that sense of community.

Even though the multiversal gimmick is one of the first things people hear about Jenny, neither Name's Not Down nor Damn Fine Hostile Takeover make any direct reference to it. Was this a conscious choice, and if so, what motivated it?

J: For my part it was a conscious choice and it had a lot to do with the kind of comics I was reading at the time and being influenced by. At the time, complicated continuities and parallel universes seemed like slightly embarrassing excesses that characterized Marvel/DC superhero comics. They were prog rock, and were being challenged by a new wave of what Oni Press called “real mainstream” indie comics. Punchy, punky, often black & white, and very self-consciously influenced more by movies, TV, and music than by superhero comics. You could put fantastical elements in there but nothing that demanded a long explanation. Now, not only did the idea of making comics without multiverses become the mainstream, so that they were more like movies and TV, turn out to be onto a losing proposition and *the exact opposite of what happened,* for better or worse, but half the star writers and comics “thinkers” of the time later turned out to be predatory creeps. Whoops! But at the time, this was the cultural scene that shaped what I wanted to write. A comic you wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen reading at the zine fair or dance party. Of course, goody nerd that I’ve always been, I couldn’t help but include Smallville references, so any attempt to be consciously cool was always somewhat doomed.

Were there any interesting, non-obvious inspirations or references baked into these stories, that you'd like to share? 

J: Oh god, sometimes I think those scripts were nothing *but* references and it’s quite possible I’ve forgotten some of them now. I mean I’d be very embarrassed by all the Smallville references were it not for the fact that I remember that in the UK, the show was aired in the Sunday morning block which made it perfect hangover television.  Clea was named after Clea Duvall. Bradley was named the somewhat obscure 2000 AD character. I think the most obscure influence/reference is having the character Lex, who considers himself a charmer, always introduce himself by saying “Greetings!” That’s a reference to eldest son Joey in the late 1980s BBC comedy series, Bread. That one was probably only noticed by other British people my age who grew up relating greatly to a show about a working class family with an absent father who constantly worried about money. The television I watched as a kid also led to me choosing Apollo Coffee as the name of the Starbucks stand-in, Starbuck and Apollo being a reference to the original Battlestar Galactica (the reboot had not yet come along!). “Damn Fine Hostile Takeover” is obviously extremely far from a serious piece of political polemic, but I do remember consciously wanting to introduce at least a small flavor of agitprop, compared to “Name’s Not Down” which is mostly just a power fantasy about beating up needlessly aggressive doormen to get into a club. The early political “analysis” I had at the time, which didn’t go much beyond big corporate chains being bad and small local independent coffee shops being good, was obviously influenced by stuff like Naomi Klein’s No Logo. And a sort of bastardized pop culture version of that, that had showed up in things like Grant Morrison’s Marvel Boy. Oh, and a misunderstood El-P lyric. Speaking of Morrison, as befits a character created on Barbelith, that approach of “shove in references to everything you’re inspired by, watching, reading, or listening to at the particular moment you’re writing the comic” was very much inspired by Morrison in general and The Invisibles in particular. Although the Morrison comic I was most trying to emulate, at least in “Name’s Not Down” was Kill Your Boyfriend. But also, the whole reason I set those comics in a thinly fictionalized version of Brighton is because at the time, I was living in London and knew a bunch of people in Brighton (again, many of them through Barbelith, or adjacent to people I’d met via that place). They all seemed very impressive and cool to me at the time: people who put on club nights (It Came From The Sea), wrote about music (Careless Talk Costs Lives / Plan B), or on whom I just had a really big crush. I would take the train down to Brighton many weekends and it loomed large in my imagination. Although there’s no evidence of this on Google, I did not invent calling it “Right-On”: that’s another thing I stole or borrowed and can’t remember from whom or where.

How detailed were the scripts/how much freedom was there on the art end of things? Did you start from a synopsis, or a script, or a storyboard? Are there any notable ways in which the finished works differed from the original outline?

N: I can’t refer to them because I lost my copies in a hard drive calamity a couple of years later, but I remember being struck by how full of gusto and enthusiasm Joe’s scripts were. They really got me fired up to draw. The stage directions had the same infectious energy as the dialogue. I get some quite perfunctory scripts in my line of work — and that’s fine — but I do appreciate the ones that go above and beyond.  I think I’m right in recalling the scripts as being very precise..? Joe had a very clear idea of the pacing, and how the story and gags would flow from panel to panel. The dialogue was all there from the start. I remember reading through and immediately getting a clear mental picture of how it was all going to look. It was very tightly scripted but not in a way that felt restrictive, it was very free and easy to illustrate. And it gave me plenty of leeway to come up with hordes of characters/creatures in those big ensemble panels.

J: I no longer have the scripts so I’m going from memory, but: I wrote pretty detailed scripts but I definitely had panels or entire pages where I encouraged Nelson Evergreen to cut loose and add whatever details and weird characters sprang to his mind. This is as good a place as any to state that I got phenomenally lucky when Nelson agreed to collaborate. Of all the artists who were kicking around Barbelith at the time and who were at all interested in the project, he was perhaps the most talented and I certainly can’t imagine anyone else who would have drawn those comics as well, or that they would have been received as warmly had they been drawn by anyone else.

A mysterious bald man makes conspicuous cameos in both of your long-form Jenny comics. What's the significance of this character? Some of us in the Jenny Everywhere Discord suggested he might have been meant to be Grant Morrison themself, owing to the focus of the forum on which Jenny originally appeared; short of that, we have no idea… 

N: I *think* he was my addition, but again, without having the scripts to hand, my memory may be playing tricks on me. I mean, he *looks* like the sort of thing I’d have thrown in! I’ve always enjoyed the sight of one lone person looking utterly severe/unimpressed in the midst of general merriment, and I’m guessing I improvised MBM in one panel, he made me laugh, so I put him in another, and then another. Dave, the keyboard player in my band at the time, had that exact t-shirt, with the “Guides” logo, which he wore all the bloody time, and that must have seemed to me like the perfect outfit. So yeah, just a silly little running visual thing I threw in off the cuff to amuse myself really. Looking back at if from a distance, he *does* look quite significant, doesn’t he? Sorry! I feel like a right troll. 

You've stated in the past that you included the Jenny Nowhere cliffhanger in Damn Fine Hostile Takeover without a conscious plan for what that story might be about — but did you ever have any plans for further Jenny stories that didn't materialise? If so, what were they about? And if you had to write the Nowhere story, what might it be like?

J: The only idea I remember from “The Two Jennys” was that Jenny Nowhere would have made her base of operations the Right-On version of the ruined West Pier (the real world version of which in Brighton is now even more skeletal and not practical for even the most doomer supervillain to use as a hideout). I think it would have culminated in a Quadrophenia-style beach brawl between each Jenny’s followers (Nowhere’s gang all being various black-clad kinds of goths, punks, and techno-nihilists, in contrast to Everywhere’s more brightly colored subcultures). But it’s been long enough now that I can confess that at various points I was working on two or three other ideas for follow-up stories.  One was entitled “Dance-Off 2004” (the year kept changing as it got delayed) and the concept speaks for itself. Then there was “You Say Derby! We Say Die!” which was not a reference to the town in the Midlands but rather to my interest in roller derby which peaked circa 2007-2009 or so (and was named after the band You Say Party). But the last time I was kicking an idea around, it was 2012 and I was already thinking about something with a very different tone that was based around the idea of the Jenny Everywhere “gang” reuniting after going their separate ways. Lex now runs a pub and is married (to Lois from the coffee shop) with two kids. Bradley made a fortune designing extremely blasphemous videogames. Clea is an academic in San Francisco. Everyone quit smoking. Those three aforementioned sequels that never got made would appear as flashback panels, a montage of sorts, unfinished comics repurposed as “lost/secret adventures.” The tone for this was once again stolen from a Grant Morrison comic, namely the “zzzzenith.com” one-off sequel to Zenith. Less a sequel, more a bittersweet look back at an era.

If you've kept up with more recent Jenny projects to one degree or another, what are your thoughts on them? 

N: I haven’t, but they’re on the ‘to do’ list.

If you had limitless time and budget for it, what would be your “dream” Jenny project?

N: Limitless time and budget…? Oooooh. Multiverse versions of the Right-On gang. Sci-fi stuff, cosmic stuff. Stuff that’s wild to draw. The same snappy feel and flow of the originals, but with extra helpings of the rainy melancholy Joe brought in at the close of Damn Fine Hostile Takeover. 

Do you think you'll ever return to the character? How differently would you approach it if you did?

N: Time permitting, absolutely. It was fun. 

J: Well, the gap in time since I last toyed with the idea of a nostalgic sequel comic is now longer than the original time period between the first comics and that one. And those years mean that I both feel more distance from my version of the character, and the supporting cast I gave her, but also more unqualified affection. I joked about embarrassment earlier but it’s actually been long enough now that I’ve passed through and out of the period where I found anything about it embarrassing. What I was writing reflects who I was at the time and also maybe a little of where the zeitgeist was: the violence is cartoony, there’s no consequences to it, and there’s what I would call a Bush-era assumption that going out and partying is in itself halfway to being some kind of act of resistance. For me those comics are a memento from a very specific time in my life, and if I wrote something about that particular Jenny Everywhere now, it would definitely be an older, wiser version. As a sober 45 year-old living in Chicago, Illinois, looking back at something I wrote when I was a heavy-drinking Londoner in his early 20s, it’s even more bittersweet and melancholy.  Jenny and the gang were supposed to be reminiscent of various friends of my own. Over the course of 20 years, you inevitably lose touch with people. You move far away physically (I relocated to a different continent!), you drift apart. And sometimes you fall out with people, and sometimes people die, both of which have happened to me. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Nila Gupta (rest in power) here, who was a big inspiration for my version of Jenny and for my general idea of a gang of cool anti-corporate people running amok in Right-On.  Losing people who used to be part of your life is individually tragic but it’s also the kind of experience you’re a lot more likely to have by the time you’re 45 than when you’re 23. If this answer sounds like it’s turning into a bummer, it shouldn’t entirely, because the flipside to that is you do develop some perspective, some better priorities, some sense of what you’re supposed to be doing with your life.

N: Oh Nila… ❤️ I had no idea your Jenny was inspired by them. That's beautiful. 

And that's all, folks! They'll be reading this over, so I want to thank Joe and Neil/Nelson again, both for helping to create a character who still means so much to so many of us, niche though she may be… and for taking the time to bring us these insightful, entertaining, and often moving glimpses into the mental world from which Jenny — at least their Jenny — first sprung.

Happy Jenniversary, and thanks for everything!

[techtow]

Exploring the Talent of Michael Sheen

Michael Sheen, a versatile and accomplished actor, has captivated audiences with his compelling performances across film, television, and stage. Born on February 5, 1969, in Newport, Wales, Sheen has become a household name known for his ability to immerse himself in diverse roles.

Sheen's acting journey began in the world of theater, where he honed his craft and earned critical acclaim. His breakthrough came with his portrayal of playwright Kenneth Williams in the play "Prima Facie." This success paved the way for a remarkable career on both stage and screen.

In the film industry, Michael Sheen has showcased his range by taking on roles in various genres. Whether portraying real-life figures like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in "The Queen" or iconic journalist David Frost in "Frost/Nixon," Sheen consistently delivers performances that are both authentic and compelling.

Television audiences also recognize Sheen for his memorable roles, including his portrayal of the vampire Aro in the "Twilight" series and the enigmatic Dr. William Masters in the critically acclaimed series "Masters of Sex." His ability to bring depth and complexity to his characters has made him a sought-after talent in the entertainment industry.

Beyond acting, Michael Sheen is known for his philanthropic endeavors and advocacy work. He actively supports various charitable organizations and uses his platform to address social issues. Sheen's commitment to making a positive impact reflects his dedication to both his craft and the world around him.

In summary, Michael Sheen's career is a testament to his talent and versatility. From the stage to the big screen, he continues to leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. As audiences eagerly anticipate his future projects, one thing remains clear – Michael Sheen is a force to be reckoned with, and his contributions to the world of acting are nothing short of extraordinary.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 6.24

Holidays

Accla Brewing Day (Ancient Inca)

Araw ng Maynila (a.k.a. Manilla Day; Philippines)

Bannockburn Day (Scotland)

Burning of the Lamps (Sais, Egypt; Ancient Egypt)

Calcio Fiorentino (Florence, Italy)

Carabobo Day (Venezuela)

Cat World Domination Day

Celebration of the Senses Day

Countryman’s Day (Peru)

Day of the Caboclo (Amazonas State, Brazil)

Dia del Indio (a.k.a. Day of the Indian; Latin America)

Discovery Day (Newfoundland and Labrador; Canada)

Dobbs Anniversary Day

Experiment 624 Day (a.k.a. Angel Day; Lilo & Stitch)

Farmer Day (Peru)

Festival of Contagious Magic

Fisherman's Day (Zaire)

Flying Saucer Day

Free RPG Day

French Canadian-American Day

Global Day of Action to Climate & Employment Proof Our Work

Hawaiian Coffee Day

International Day of the Makeup Artist

International Day of Women in Diplomacy

International Fairy Day (a.k.a. Faerie Day)

International Ia Day (Romania)

La Festa Dei Gigli (Festival of the Lilies; Italy)

Lost Handkerchief Day

Manila Day (Philippines)

Melpomene Asteroid Day

Museum Comes To Life Day

National Ageless Day

National Day of Joy

National Holiday of Quebec (Canada)

National Kenneth Day

National Indigenous Day (Peru)

National Le Day

National Midwife Day (Indonesia)

National Parchment Day

National Patch Day

National Pegging Day

National Relationship Equity Day

National Upcycling Day

Quarter Day (England, Ireland & Wales) [2 of 4]

Rosemary Day (French Republic)

Sânziene (Carpathian Mountains, Romania)

St. John’s Wort Day

Stonewall National Monument Day

Summer List Day

Summersgiving

Surfside Remembrance Day (Florida)

Swim a Lap Day

Swing a Kid Day

Think Your Way to Health Day

Tibedetha (a.k.a. Tiber’s Day; Elder Scrolls)

Universal Day of the Romanian Blouse

World Alsace Lovers’ Day

World History Day

World Messi Day

World Senses Day

World UFO Day [& 7.2]

World Young Doctors Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

American Barley Wine Day

National Creamy Pralines Day (a.k.a. National Pralines Day)

National Take Back the Lunch Break Day

Independence & Related Days

City Day (Porto, Portugal)

Constitution Day (Zaire)

Edanzia (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Gishabrun (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

4th & Last Monday in June

Hetero Male Monday (Boise, Idaho) [Every Monday in June]

Motivation Monday [Every Monday]

Please Take My Children To Work Day [Last Monday]

Weekly Holidays beginning June 24 (4th Full Week)

Boys & Girls Club Week (thru 6.28) [Mon-Fri of Last Week]

Lost Handkerchief Week (Shamanism)

Festivals Beginning June 24, 2024

APGA Conference (Boston, Massachusetts) [thru 6.27]

HTEC 2024 (Charlotte, North Carolina) [thru 6.27]

INmusic Festival (Zagreb, Croatia) [thru 6.26]

National Insect Week (thru 6.30)

Feast Days

Alfred (Positivist; Saint)

Amitabha Buddha Day (Buddhism)

Ambrose Bierce (Writerism)

Anton LaVey Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Bartholomew of Dunelm (or Farne; Christian; Saint)

The Burning of the Lamps (Ancient Egypt; Everyday Wicca)

Claribelle (Muppetism)

Eleanor Norcross (Artology)

Feast of Parvati )Woien’s Festival; India)

Feast of Rahmat (Baha’i)

Ferdinand Bol (Artology)

Festival of Fata (Ancient Roman Goddess of Fate and Chance)

Fors Fortuna (Ancient Rome)

Fortuna’s Day (Pagan)

International Fairy Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Inti Raymi (Ancient Inca)

Jan Matejko (Artology)

Jean Metzinger (Artology)

Lawrence Block (Writerism)

Margaret Olley (Artology)

María Guadalupe García Zavala (Christian; Saint)

The Martyrs under Nero (Christian; Martyrs)

Midsummer

Mog Ruith (Servant of the Wheel; Celtic Book of Days)

Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (Christian; Saint)

Robert Henri (Artology)

St. John’s Day [and 2nd Day of Midsummer celebrations] (a.k.a. ... 

Bonfires of St. John (Spain)

Enyovden (Bulgaria)

Feast of the Dews (Lithuania)

Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun, a.k.a. Peasants Day, Peru)

Jaanipäev (Estonia)

Jāņi (Latvia)

Joninės (a.k.a. Saint Jonas' Festival; Lithuania)

Jónsmessa (Iceland)

Macau Day (China)

Midsommardagen (Sweden)

Midsummer Day (England)

Midsummer’s Day (Estonia)

Quarter Day (England)

Saint John the Baptist Day (Andorra)

Saint Jonas' Festival or Joninės (Lithuania)

Sant-Jean-Baptiste Day (Quebec)

Sânziene (western Carpathian Mountains of Romania)

Surinal (North Korea)

Wattah Wattah Festival (Philippines)

Zuni Buffalo, Corn and Comanche Dances (Zuni Native Americans)

Saloua Raouda Choucair (Artology)

Sexual Fantasy Day (Pastafarian)

Simplicius (Christian; Saint)

Sun Festival (Peru)

Zamling Chisang (Universal Prayer Day; Tibetan Deities, esp. Samy Dolde)

Zemlya's Night (Mati-Syra-Zemlya, Slavic Goddess of the Earth)

Orthodox Christian Liturgical Calendar Holidays

Whit Monday [50 days after Orthodox Easter] (Orthodox Christian) a.k.a. ... 

Doua Zi de Rusalii (România)

Holy Spirit Monday

Kataklysmos (Cyprus)

Monday of the Holy Spirit

Pentecost Monday

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [37 of 57]

Premieres

All a Bir-r-r-d (WB LT Cartoon; 1950)

Ape Suzette (The Inspector Cartoon; 1966)

Bewitched (Film; 2005)

The Caine Mutiny (Film; 1954)

Cars 2 (Animated Pixar Film; 2011)

Cat Ballou (Film; 1965)

Catch-22 (Film; 1970)

Chastity (Film; 1969)

A Chinaman’s Chance (Ub Iwerks Cartoon; 1933)

Dangerously in Love, by Beyoncé (Album; 2003)

Elvis (Film; 2022)

4, by Beyoncé (Album; 2011)

Generation Cancellation, by Little Big (Song; 2022)

The Great Milenko, by Insane Clown Posse (Album; 1997)

Happy-Go-Nutty, featuring Screwy Squirrel (Tex Avery MGM Cartoon; 1944)

Hawaiian Vacation (Pixar Toy Story Cartoon; 2011)

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (Film; 1977)

Hot Air Races (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1949)

Independence Day: Resurgence (Film; 2016)

The Last Indian (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1938)

The Lion King (Animated Disney Film that ripped off Kimba; 1994)

Little Girl Blue, by Nina Simone (Album; 1958)

The Man from Toronto (Film; 2022)

March of the Penguins (Documentary Film; 2005)

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Film; 1971)

Mr. Robot (TV Series; 2015)

The Newsroom (TV Series; 2012)

Nuts and Jolts (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Pink Paradise (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1967)

Scalp Trouble (WB LT Cartoon; 1939)

A Scent of the Matterhorn (WB LT Cartoon; 1961)

A Sleepless Night (Heckle & Jeckle Cartoon; 1948)

Sorcerer (Film; 1977)

Spaceballs (Film; 1987)

A Spaniard in the Works, by John Lennon (Book; 1965)

The Spy Swatter (WB LT Cartoon; 1967)

Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon (Novel; 1937)

Swiss Army Man (Film; 2016)

Symphony No. 5 in D Major, by Ralph Vaughan Williams (Symphony; 1943)

Ten North Frederick, by John O'Hara (Novel; 1955)

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John le Carré (Novel; 1974)

Under the Dome (TV Series; 2013)

Undone - The Sweater Song, by Weezer (Song; 1994)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Film; 1988)

Who’s Cookie’ Who? (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1946)

The Will to Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl (Psychology Book; 1969)

Yellowbeard (Film; 1983)

Today’s Name Days

Johannes, Reingard (Austria)

Enio, Yanita, Yanka, Yanko (Bulgaria)

Faust, Ivan, Krsto (Croatia)

Jan (Czech Republic)

Hans (Denmark)

Annes, Ants, Hannes, Hans, Jaan, Jan, Janno, Johan, Johannes, Juhan, Juho, Jukk, Juss, Kanek (Estonia)

Jani, Janne, Johannes, Juha, Juhana, Juhani, Juho, Jukka, Jussi (Finland)

Jean-Baptiste (France)

Johannes, Reingard (Germany)

Giota, Giotis, Panagioula, Panagoula, Panayotis, Panagiotis, Panos, Panousos, Panagis, Panagos, Panagiota, Panayota, Pani, Panikos, Pegie, Pegy, Takis, Tota, Toula, Yiota, Yiotis (Greece)

Iván (Hungary)

Gabriele, Giovanni, Romolo (Italy)

Jānis, Žanis (Latvia)

Eiviltas, Eiviltė, Jonas (Lithuania)

Hans, Johannes, Jon (Norway)

Dan, Danisz, Danuta, Emilia, Jan, Wilhelm (Poland)

Ioan (România)

Ján (Slovakia)

Bautista, Iván, Juan (Spain)

Johannes (Sweden)

Bohuslav, Bohuslava, Boris, Boryslav, Boryslava, Ivan, Jean, Joan, Johanna, John, Slavka, Slavko, Yvonna (Ukraine)

Hans, Giovanna, Giovanni, Ian, Ivan, Jan, Jana, Jean, Jeanette, Jeannette, Johan, John, Johnnie, Johnny, Juan, Juana, Juanita, Sean, Shana, Shane, Shanna, Yancy (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 176 of 2024; 190 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 1 of week 26 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 16 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Geng-Wu), Day 19 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 18 Sivan 5784

Islamic: 17 Dhu al-Hijjah 1445

J Cal: 26 Blue; Fryday [26 of 30]

Julian: 11 June 2024

Moon: 91%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 7 Charlemagne (7th Month) [Alfred]

Runic Half Month: Feoh (Wealth) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 5 of 94)

Week: 4th Full Week of June)

Zodiac: Cancer (Day 4 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Feoh (Wealth) [Half-Month 13 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 7.8)

[grandmaster-anne]

Court Circular | 10th March 2023

Buckingham Palace

His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa (Secretary General, Muslim World League) was received by The King this afternoon. His Majesty this evening attended the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall, London SW7, and was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa).

Kensington Palace

The Prince of Wales, President, the Earthshot Prize, this morning received Ms. Hannah Jones (Chief Executive) at Windsor Castle.

St. James's Palace

Today is the Anniversary of the Birthday of The Duke of Edinburgh. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh this afternoon attended a Reception at Edinburgh City Chambers, 253 High Street, Edinburgh, in support of members of the Ukrainian community and were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh (Councillor Robert Aldridge, the Rt. Hon. the Lord Provost).

St. James's Palace

The Princess Royal this afternoon visited Special Quality Alloys Limited, Bessemer Road, Sheffield. Her Royal Highness afterwards visited ITM Power plc, 2 Bessemer Park, Sheffield. The Princess Royal, Patron, the Vine Trust, this evening held a Dinner at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and was received by the Reverend Neil Gardner (Deputy Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh).

Kensington Palace

The Duke of Gloucester, Grand Prior, the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, this morning invested Mr. Stuart Shilson as Prior of the Priory of England and the Islands at the Priory Church, St. John's Square, London EC1, and was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa). His Royal Highness, Royal Patron, Temple Bar Trust, this afternoon attended the Ceremony of the Official Opening of the Gates of Temple Bar in Paternoster Square, London EC4. The Duchess of Gloucester, Colonel-in-Chief, Royal Bermuda Regiment, was present at the Memorial Service to commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Sir Richard Sharples (formerly Governor of Bermuda) and his Aide-de-Camp, Captain Hugh Sayers, which was held in the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London SW1, today.

[world-of-wales]

─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : FEBRUARY ✧• ─

1 FEBRUARY - William held an Investiture Ceremony at Windsor Castle. 2 FEBRUARY - He received Brigadier Giles Harris and Lieutenant Colonel John Livesey (Regimental Lieutenant Colonel & Commanding Officer) of 1st Battalion Welsh Guards at Windsor Castle. 3 FEBRUARY - William held an Investiture at Windsor Castle. 9 FEBRUARY - William and Catherine were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall (Colonel Edward Bolitho) at the National Maritime Museum Falmouth in Discovery Quay. Afterwards, they visited the Dracaena Centre. 10 FEBRUARY - He visited the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust at Ipswich Ambulance Station and afterwards visited Ipswich Hospital on Heath Road.

19 FEBRUARY - William and Catherine attended the British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall where and were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa). 23 FEBRUARY - He held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace and afterwards opened Bentley House and Passage House on King's Scholars Passage in London. 25 FEBRUARY - William and met the volunteers and staff of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust and attended the Six Nations Rugby Match between Wales and England at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. They were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of South Glamorgan (Mrs. Morfudd Meredith). 28 FEBRUARY - William and Catherine were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of West Glamorgan (Mrs. Louise Fleet) at Brynawel House Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Pontyclun. Afterwards, they visited Aberavon Celtic Leisure Centre, where His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan (Mr. Peter Vaughan) received them. William became the Patron of Wales Air Ambulance and subsequently, he and Catherine were received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Dyfed (Miss Sara Edwards) as they opened the new patient room at Wales Air Ambulance Ty Elusen in Dafen.

[aimeedaisies]

Court Circular | 13th July 2023

Buckingham Palace

The King was represented by Admiral Sir Antony Radakin (Chief of the Defence Staff) at the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of Admiral of the Fleet the Lord Boyce KG (former Chief of the Defence Staff) which was held in Westminster Abbey, London SW1, this morning.

The Prince of Wales was represented by Commander Robert Dixon RN.

The Princess Royal was represented by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were represented by Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Lord Stirrup KG.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent were represented by Mr. Nicholas Adamson.

Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy was represented by Prince Michael of Kent.

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal this afternoon opened the King’s Arch at Government House, St Saviour, and was received by the Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bailiwick of Jersey (Vice Admiral Jeremy Kyd).

Her Royal Highness, Patron, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, afterwards visited the Tortoise Takeover Trail at Gorey Castle, Castle Green, Gorey, and subsequently opened the Tortoise Tunnel at Jersey Zoo, la Profonde Rue, Trinity, Jersey.

The Princess Royal, Royal Fellow, accompanied by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, this evening attended the Royal Academy of Engineering Annual Awards Dinner at the Londoner Hotel, 38 Leicester Square, London WC2, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa).

[speedbird1987]

A couple of New OCs for my AU of the Fireman Sam Series. They are First Responders and top Government agents who work closely with the Pontypandy Emergency Services. Here are the names of each one and what they do. We have DC Maya Lee who is a Detective with Newtown Police/Heddlu Drenewydd, Michelle Jones and Lewis Harrelson who are Special Agents with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), PC Leah Richards who is a Police Officer with South Wales Police/Heddlu De Cymru, Firefighter Jade Myers who is with the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service/Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub De Cymru, Firefighter Kyle Higgins who is a Firefighter with the London Fire Brigade, Station Officer Kenneth Lane who is a Station Officer with the London Fire Brigade, Commander John Rimmer who is a Police Officer with the Metropolitan Police Service, Anastasia Orlóva (Анастасия Орлова) who was a Police Officer in the Russian Police (Полиция России), Juliana Diaz who is a School Safety Agent with the New York City Police Department (NYPD), and Stacy Mendez who is an officer with ths U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

[safarigirlsp]

Did you see the announcement that Adam is going to be in Heat 2 with Michael Mann again? What are your thoughts on that? Do you have any dream team directors you would like to see him work with? I wish he’d do the Chloe Zhao Dracula movie!

HI! Sorry it took me a while to get to this.

I did hear the Michael Mann announcement, and all AD movie announcements are definitely good news to me! I've never been super impressed with Mann as a director and I have disliked all of his movies that I've seen, which admittedly aren't all of them. I'd be very happy if he did a Last Mohicans 2 and let AD have long hair and run around shirtless for 2 hours fucking people up with a hatchet, but Heat 2 isn't really blowing my skirt up. In all fairness, I've never Heat 1 so now I need to. I'll see how he looks in it before I get too excited lol. I made that mistake with Megalopolis by getting super excited over an upcoming movie only to have my hopes crushed when the first pics leaked. Megalopolis now falls under the same category for me as White Noise - I'll watch it, but I'm going to bitch the whole time, and need a Jacques and Mills mental palette cleanser afterward!

I haven't see a Chloe Zhao movie, so I can't weigh in on her as a director. But I have heard the Dracula rumors and how it's supposed to be a Dracula Western and omfg I would love that!! That would definitely be on my dream list of AD movies. However, I personally speculate that with the new stupidly fun looking Nic Cage Dracula movie coming out, AD will not want to take a Dracula role. Which is really too bad. But I think he likes to be more original than that. I'd love to be wrong though!

Here are the directors I'd love to see him work with! The first three are my top three in order, then they're just random as they came into my head.

Chad Stahelski aka the John Wick director! AD needs to be the next John Wick! Or a bad guy in a John Wick movie! Or anything similar! Absolutely one of my dream roles for him! The John Wick movies are favorites, complete with some of the best action around, hot and well dressed men, gorgeous cinematography, and kick ass music. I love them! AD in a John Wick sort of role and all the things that are bound up in that get my #1 vote!

Quentin Tarantino. I have my fingers crossed that AD will be in his upcoming movie! That would be a dream for me! Inglorious Basterds, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, Django Unchained, and Deathproof are some favorites of mine. AD really has to get Tarantino on his punch card for the best directors out there, and I really hope he doesn't miss the opportunity to work with him.

Clint Eastwood. Preferably in a western playing a scruffy cowboy with facial scars! I love Clint Eastwood and he's so good and genuine with creating rugged manly men. I grew up watching his movies and loving them all and I still do. Unforgiven, The Outlaw Josey Wales, and Two Mules for Sister Sara are favorites of mine.

Robert Eggars. I would actually bet that AD will team up with him at some point because they’re both young and have plenty of time to do so, and they both like strong talent and making dark weird things. They’re meant for each other! I personally want another hyper masculine role like Northman. I would kill to see AD in something like that! They could even repeat the naked volcano fight and I wouldn't mind at all!

Tim Burton. Gorgeous movies with great occult vibes! AD would be perfect to play a dark disturbed Victorian dude!

Guy Richie. Great action, great characters, hilarious dialogue. His movies are all a blast!

Kenneth Branagh. HIs movies are so beautiful! I'd kill for AD to have been in Death on the Nile! That would have kept my adventurer vibes going for years! Any intelligent, beautifully filmed, period murder mystery would be great by me.

Guillermo Del Toro. Another director who does beautiful and dark so well! Weird, macabre, and a match made in heaven!

Ridley Scott. In another period movie! By making him so unbelievably hot as Jacques and letting him lean fully into his hotness, Ridley is now one of my all-time favorite directors! He was in my favorites anyway and I love so many of his movies, but that gave him an extra boost! Ridley did two awesome period movies with Russell Crowe. They actually did five movies together total - three of them were great and one was even a romantic comedy! Ridley owes the same with AD as a minimum! He's another top tier choice for me for another period piece or an epic.

After Cocaine Bear, Elizabeth Banks gets my vote for the woman director he should work with first! That was so much fun and I would love to see AD in a campy action/horror comedy where he could do dark physical comedy.

These next three would never happen, but it’d be so much fun!

Gore Verbinsky. Some first rate adventure like Pirates of the Caribbean! I love those moves so much!

Stephen Sommers. The Mummy and Van Helsing are some of my all time favorites and anything similar would be a blast with him!

Baz Lurhman. I don’t actually like a lot of his movies, but they’re all SO gorgeous and he lets his men be hot! AD needs to make more pretty movies! Baz took my second favorite, Hugh Jackman, and gave him his hottest role ever in the western Australia. It was hard to top Wolverine, but Baz did it!

I actually feel super lucky and very happy that two of my dream roles for him he’s already done, and even luckier that they’re the two where I find him the absolute hottest! A badass knight and a rugged action hero!

I'd love to know who everyone else has on their dream list of directors if anyone wants to weigh in!