Walking downstairs in unfeasibly high heels

An occasional series

# 1 Noddy Holder

And Dave Hill too

1970-1977

I never tire of looking at photographs of The Beatles, especially when I stumble across ones I've never seen (or can't remember seeing) before. Earlier today I found this little gem.

To the untrained eye you'd say it was lifted from the 1967-1970 Blue Album. But look again. It's obviously taken at Manchester Square in Marylebone (EMI's London offices), however, it's been taken from a diiferent angle and on a different day. I know it's a boy thing; if I was to show the picture to my GLW and say 'can't you see George is wearing a different jacket?' I'd get 'the look' and probably an audible sigh which, over the years, I've translated into English: it means 'grow up.'
Which is probably why I won't be showing her this photograph either.

Before they demolished EMI (the building*, not the label) another four piece combo had their mugshots taken from the bottom of the stairwell.

* I'm assured that the rail Macca is leaning on now resides in his office.

The lexicon of football

I can't see John Terry turning up in Countdown's Dictionary Corner anytime soon.

This, from the back page of today's Times:

Terry's explanation is that he responded in an aggressive fashion to an accusation phrased in the form of a question from Ferdinand, "Did you just call me a f***ing black c***?" The England captain has told Chelsea officials that he reacted by shouting, "Oi! I never said f***ing black c*** you f***ing knobhead."

Fly Navy

Fly/Navy: one of the many flight stickers adorning Fame's Hammond

Georgie Fame without his beloved Hammond organ? It's a contender for Rhod Gilbert's Celebrity Out Of Context Bingo, surely: Ant without Dec, A Chuckle Brother on his own, Jeremy Clarkson on a bus etc.

But when penning a jingle for a popular brand of petrol, Fame didn't have time in the studio to show his guitarist the chords. So he played it himself. And the song, which doesn't even mention petrol, went to Number One.

Lennon is dead, long live Lennon

Neil Harrison doesn't believe in anti-ageing cream

After 31 years of aping John Lennon, head honcho of The Bootleg Beatles, Neil Harrison, is finally hanging up his Rickenbacker. During a gig in St. Albans earlier this year Bootleg John announced that he was leaving the group 'to bring the average age down a bit.' Harrison's mimicry has mesmerised audiences the world over - the refrain 'it's like he's in the room' has been echoing around Bootlegs' shows for so long that retirement probably won't come easy (the real Lennon would have been 71 today, and obviously for him retirement was never an option). So big shoes to fill then. Step forward Adam Hastings. Not surprisingly he's been headhunted from another Beatles tribute band.

Adam Hastings - they found him in Hamburg, you know

So now, instead of plying his trade in the lower leagues, the Blue Square if you will, he's now, quite literally, playing in Europe. How will audiences react? Will they believe in the new Lennon just as they did the old? For what it's worth, I think there's another 30 years in the tank yet; a bit like The Harlem Globetrotters, or The Drifters, it's the name over the door the punters come to see.