MY RECENT virginal experience with audience participation at The Rocky Horror Picture Show prompted some research into what makes a cult movie. And what other films generate audience interaction such as dressing up in character, call backs to the screen, and singing or dancing along. Look up Wikipedia for a list of cult movies and…
FORMER England cricket captain Michael Atherton once famously described the game of cricket as “a game of skill and gentlemanly conduct where everyone hates the Australians equally”. The next Ashes series between England and Australia starts towards the end of 2017 but already the MCC lawmakers at the home of cricket at Lords are looking…
I WENT this week to see for the first time The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the cult movie which last year celebrated its 40th anniversary. How did I miss it before? This week’s outdoor screening was made even more memorable by sharing the experience with my friend Jim who was seeing it for the…
CHRISTMAS is a time for tradition, one of which is the age old custom of kissing under the mistletoe. The serving class of Victorian England is credited with first recording the custom but it seems the power of the mistletoe goes back much further. According to Wikipedia, the tradition dictated that a man was allowed…
AS WE RING in the New Year the major cities of the world try to outdo each other with the most creative and most grandiose fireworks display. To my mind, Sydney generally wins because of the natural setting of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. But the iconic features of London, Paris and…
WE’RE thinking of signposting the path from the lower tennis courts to the clubhouse as ‘Orthopaedic Walk’. It’s the walk when the topic of conversation is the aches and pains of our aging bodies. Thanks to the wonders of medical science, there are new knees, new hips and new shoulders in abundance as we make…
I WAS DELIGHTED to learn today from a radio interview that the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, a Government agency in Western Australia, has a 95% satisfaction rating in its services. Presumably that means that only 5% of its inhabitants are turning in their graves in disappointment. Seriously though, it seems death is big business. The radio…
ONCE upon a time, when I was young and carefree, I ran away from home with my toothbrush, a bottle of milk and some biscuits raided from the larder. I slipped round the corner to my friend and stayed there all day, both of us setting up home in our secret place beneath the trees…
HAVE you noticed how organised life is these days? And it starts even before we’re born. In my parents’ day, you fell pregnant, invited the midwife round to the house when the time was imminent, popped out the babe, and resumed life as normal a few days later. Dad was not involved. Well, not for…
I HAVE just told my grandson – he’s aged 5 – that he should be a publican when he grows up. Now you might think this is self-interest, that I might hope to get the odd free drink when I’m visiting. But in fact, I’m making the suggestion in his own best interest. Turns out…
Booming Marvellous 