Starting in London then wandering around

Would I swap places with 75-year-old multi-billionaire Samuel Tak Lee? Nah! So what if he owns/owned properties in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Geneva and London? In recent years, he has had to try to contain a scandal by a trusted ex-secretary who tried to blackmail him, for which he paid over £1m in legal costs. Then, just months ago, he helped to appeal against his son's wife's divorce settlement of a record HK$1.4bn. The wife, who is a solicitor, wanted half the marital assets, around HK£6.5bn. The son seems to be 'privileged' and denies himself nothing: a jet, a couple of yachts, 28 cars (28 cars!!) and half the world's expensive wine – and he demanded that his pregnant wife must have an abortion.

What does all this matter to me? Nothing really, I just came across these snippets when searching for something unrelated and found myself in the middle of a Hawaii-50 script!

Anyway, closer to home, Lee reportedly purchased 14 acres of prime investment in London's West End, between Soho and Mayfair, known as The Langham Estate, for $75 million/£51million 20 years ago – it must be worth considerably more now. It is listed as being owned by Mount Eden Land Ltd (a Guernsey-registered company) where businesses can rent commercial space with prestigious London addresses, including restaurants and offices (there's a comprehensive list of clients that have been blogged about). It’s amazing what interesting stories can be discovered just by searching for new premises and checking out the property management companies!

For instance, in Eastcastle Street, W1, outside the very interesting grade II listed Capel Bedyddwyr Cymreig, a Bugatti Veyron reminded me of the YouTube video of a ‘bobby on a bicycle’ who pulled over the Bugatti driver for not having a front number plate. This led to many discussions so I looked up the official rules and discovered that failure to properly display number plates is a fine up to £1,000 (no problem if you can afford a £1m Veyron) and… your car will fail its MOT test!! (Of course, if you ride a motorbike, you don’t need a front number plate.)

And here's a rare image of a Bugatti Veyron WITH a front number plate.

Brina

The 39 Steps - stage play adaptation

I've seen a couple of the film versions, years ago, and recently read the book by John Buchan. Yesterday, I saw the stage play adaptation of The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow, performed in the West End by a cast of four.

It was cleverly funny, with numerous references to Alfred Hitchcock (director of the 1935 film) including his silhouette, some birds, a rear window, vertigo, the man who knew too much and a 'psycho' moment.

One of the many highlights was delivered by 'Mr Memory':

"Who won the cup in 1926? The Tottenham Hotspurs won the cup in 1926 defeatin’ the Arsenal Gunners by Five goals to nil in the presence of His Majesty King George the Fifth. Am I right, sir?"

According to theFA.com, he wasn't:

• Tottenham Hotspur won the cup in 1921, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0
• Bolton Wanderers beat Manchester City in 1926, 1-0
• Arsenal reached the final in 1927, losing to Cardiff, 1-0

But who cares? We'll take that win! ;-)

3BPs

Twinkle: ♫Terry ♫Golden Lights ... retirement

Actor Fay Ripley (Cold Feet) mentioned her Auntie Twinkle (Lynn Ripley) during an interview.

In the mid-60s, Twinkle released a couple of singles: Terry and Golden Lights, songs that she wrote herself. Appearing on Top of the Pops as a teenage mod in fashionable clingy striped top,  mini-skirt and long boots, with her long blonde hair, full fringe and pale lipstick, she was the envy and idol of every teenage school-girl. Twinkle's time in the spotlight was less than two years and she retired from her pop singing career at the ripe old age of 18.

I heard one of the songs on the radio at the weekend and decided to share these with you:

♪ ♫ Terry by Twinkle (unfortunately, the link no longer works)

♪ ♫ Golden Lights by Twinkle

 

Recommended Music Blog: soundsandvision

Beebopalula

Passion vs Perfection in music

Quite often, my favourite songs from an artist or a band are their early ones where the enthusiasm and excitement comes across. As an example, listen to '5 colours' from McFly and compare it with their later recordings which are very good but less exciting.



Going way back, other examples include Cliff Richard and David Essex. An exception to this is Queen whose synergy grew to the heights of unparalleled entertainment, both visually and musically. Many 'entertainers' have tried, including Elton John and Robbie Williams, but none have come close (in my opinion) to those four talented people in a harmonious direction.

Except, perhaps, The Beatles with their song-writing talents and harmonies, who exempted themselves by shifting their style (and possibly the LSD was a factor in that). But, unlike Queen, The Beatles were talented people with ambitions in different musical directions.

And the other exception: the constantly shape-shifting David Bowie.

This theory is more difficult to prove for 'mentored' artists but if we think back to the X-factor final between Joe McElderry with a perfect voice that won him the competition and Olly Murs whose voice was good and gave him in second place - who really won? Olly Murs had the energy and obvious enjoyment of performing for his audience and is as popular as Joe McElderry is obscure - thus illustrating that passion beats perfection.

Beebopalula

Doctor Who's Birthdays

A truly random post. Here is a list of Doctor Who's birthdays - well, the birthdays of all the actors who have been Doctor Who. Might be handy in some sort of weird quiz!

• 8 January 1908 - William Hartnell (Capricorn)
• 20 January 1934 - Tom Baker (Capricorn)
• 22 January 1940 - John Hurt (Aquarius)
• 16 February 1964 - Christopher Eccleston (Aquarius)
• 25 March 1920 - Patrick Troughton (Aries)
• 13 April 1951 - Peter Davison (Aries)
• 14 April 1958 - Peter Capaldi (Aries)
• 18 April 1971 - David Tennant (Aries)
• 26 May 1913 - Peter Cushing (Gemini)
• 8 June 1943 - Colin Baker (Gemini)
• 7 July 1919 - Jon Pertwee (Cancer)
• 20 August 1943 - Sylvester McCoy (Leo)
• 28 October 1982 - Matt Smith (Scorpio)
• 14 November 1959 - Paul McGann (Scorpio)

Additional Comic Relief Doctors* not included!
*Rowan Atkinson, Richard E Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant & Joanna Lumley.

3BPs

How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?

I've just discovered this song from 1929 - link to info and lyrics

Written by Blind Alfred Reed, here is the original:



There have been several covers, including from Ry Cooder and my personal favourite, at a live performance in London in 2006, a powerful rendition by Bruce Springsteen. 

 

Comments welcome :-) 

Recommended Music Blog: soundsandvision

Beebopalula...

♪ ♫ I think It's Going To Work Out Fine.

Everyone I've spoken to lately is stressed or depressed. Maybe the weather, their health, their job or the cost of living is the underlying cause - I can do nothing about that but if you close your eyes and listen to "I think it's going to work out fine" by Ry Cooder, really listen, it is calming and then uplifting. Enjoy.

Recommended Music Blog: soundsandvision 

Beebopalula...