Whoops!

On this day in 1935, the Aquitania runs aground:

Gordon throws a party

And it's dead cool, honest:



From Headcases, the new ITV satire series

Tweet, &c., &c.

This digital channel transmits only birdsong.

Making contact

A recently republished photo of the eight-year-old Helen Keller with the teacher who helped her conquer blindness and deafness.

Salty spouse

Married to the Sea - where tawdry artwork from naffer times is reincarnated as humour.

A New Waste Land

Tony Benn applauds Michael Horovitz's long polemical poem.

That Certain Party

More from the Temperance Seven. Sound only, but it lifts the spirits (3½ minutes):

Cor baby, that's really obscure

Froog celebrates John Otway, pop's dauntlessly gigging veteran non-star.

Underestimated

Supposedly not a natural leader, Pearl Cornioley commanded thousands of resistance fighters and was given her parachute wings at 92. A four-minute radio item here.

A fellow gleaner

…whose links and videos are Nothing To Do With Arbroath.

Delicate and subtle

The best obituary of Brian Wilde, famous as Barraclough in Porridge and Foggy in Last of the Summer Wine.

Pick on someone your own size

Composer, screenwriter and Ufologist Desmond Leslie assaults Bernard Levin on live television, enraged by a bad review he'd given Agnes Bernelle, Leslie's wife at the time:

Lo, he comes with strangulated vowels descending

There's fun to be had at the playful and unofficial BrianSewell.co.uk (not entirely safe for work). Personal highlight: the "Learn to speak like Brian Sewell" section.

Echoes of laughter

A well-established, content-rich history of comedy blog, with writers who seriously know their onions, and dozens of rewarding links: take care to slip on The Third Banana.

Speaking of which…

Whoo, whoo, whoo

This blog's second posting referred to a sound recording made in 1878, said to be the world's earliest. Now a recording from 1860 surfaces. Much less distinct, though.

Subverting Heston

Did Gore Vidal really introduce a gay subtext into Ben Hur?

Photo-ignominy

The top five MPs in ridiculous costumes.

A holiday from irony

Margaret Thatcher at close quarters, observed by Ferdinand Mount.

Gratuitous divers' helmets

Can't have too many:


Hat tip: the late & much missed Al Rankin