Tuesday 24 February 2009

Thunder from New Zealand



John Smith's opponent in the 1992 Labour leadership election denounces the Blair-Brown Government.

Friday 20 February 2009

Bride of the Nearly Man


Times and Telegraph offer contrasting obituaries of Mollie Butler, widow of Rab, dead at 101:
"I have never met anyone with whom it was so consistently amusing to be. His company was like a fire on a bitter night which both glowed and sparkled. No wonder I was happy."

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Obama's Elf

He wants out (18 seconds):

Dahl's den


An interactive tour of Roald Dahl's writing hut.

Do something useful


Help classify a quarter of a million galaxies.

Cocktail horror


Fear the McNuggetini.

Monday 16 February 2009

Heil Sailor

Hitler (Harry Enfield) gets in touch with his stereotype-homosexual side (4 minutes):

Cult ruin


Uncle Monty's cottage from Withnail and I is up for sale.

Sunday 15 February 2009

Oldest British author ever


Edward Upward, last voice of the Thirties, dies at 105.

(This profile from 2003 is good stuff.)

"War without its glory"


Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth is to be filmed.

Saturday 14 February 2009

Distilled to her essence

Approaching eighty, Eartha Kitt (who died last Christmas) performs Cole Porter's "Love for Sale" like no one else in the history of the world (5 minutes):

Friday 13 February 2009

Thursday 12 February 2009

Wednesday 11 February 2009

What does Hazel Blears stand for?


To reach the wastepaper basket!

Shut up, growls George Monbiot, it's a serious question.

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Compare The Meerkat

An inspired idea for an ad (30 seconds):



And the website really exists…

One hell of a life


Don't think I'd heard of the Broadway star Libby Holman before today - but blimey.

Roadkill carpet


Turns your living room into a dying room.

Dogs in early cinema


Ruddy scene-stealers.

Monday 9 February 2009

What's French for Asbo?

Over-exposure to Rocky leads Rémi Gaillard into all kinds of mischief (3 minutes):

There's Probably No Point


Now relax and enjoy the Bus Slogan Generator.

Don't fire this Canon


To know John Fenton even a little was to like him a lot, and, somehow, to revere him.

Bar bans bad language


Everyone's swearing about it.

Friday 6 February 2009

Final glimpse

Laurel and Hardy together on camera for the last time, in a 1956 home movie (4 minutes, but Hardy vanishes after the first 80 seconds):

Thank President Bush


You know you want to.

Pets In Uniform


Draft your dog, conscript your cat, pressgang your parakeet here.

If they'd had Facebook in 1813


What Pride and Prejudice might have looked like.

Hat tip: Donkin Life

Thursday 5 February 2009

Losing it bigtime

When Christian Bale unleashed a foul-mouthed rant on the set of Terminator: Salvation, Lucian Piane deftly turned it into a dance track, with Barbra Streisand spliced in (3 minutes):

Not so innocent


George Davis's disillusioned ex-wife dies.

Bibliomania


In today's balmy economic climate, and with Christmas coming up, don't we all want to buy millions of cheap books for ourselves, our friends, our relations, our enemies?

And where better to find them than at README BOOKS, otherwise known as my mate Glen?

To whet your appetite, Webside Gleanings is privileged to publish this authentic portrait of Glen by stained glass artist Andy Johnston:

Kill the myth


(Still prefer my own version: "There's probably no bus. Now relax and get run over.")