30.10.07
100 years old today
It's not every day you go to a one hundredth birthday party. It's not often you go to a birthday party for a building either, but that's what Chig is doing this afternoon. Our local swimming baths, Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath, are 100 years old today. They were opened by the mayor on 30th October 1907, so today the current mayor of Birmingham is retracing the route taken by his predecessor and walking from Birmingham city centre, out to Balsall Heath. We'll be joining in. Then we'll be going to an afternoon tea dance opposite the pool.
This magnificent Edwardian building needs millions of pounds spent on it, because Birmingham City Council has neglected the basic structure for years. However, they are considering closing it instead, which just cannot be allowed to happen. Today's centenary celebrations are just the beginning of a year of events to raise the building's profile and hopefully save this local legacy.
Links:
The Victorian Society includes Moseley Road Baths in its list of the country's ten most endangered buildings, published earlier this month.
Friends of Moseley Road Baths - MySpace profile.
Friends of Moseley Road Baths - facebook group.
Moseley Road Baths on Wikipedia.
Labels: Balsall Heath, Birmingham, history, Moseley Road Baths
· link
18.10.07
Who does one think one is?
It was a deliciously brilliant piece of timing for the BBC to show Matthew Pinsent's family history adventure tonight, on the day when the BBC itself is one of the main news stories, as people begin to digest the cutbacks announced yesterday. In 'Who Do You Think You Are?' tonight, BBC One played one of its trump cards, by showing just how brilliant BBC factual programming can be.I've been hooked on WDYTYA? since it started (and this is the end of series four), but tonight's was one of the best. It sent shivers down my spine and made me very jealous that I have only traced my family tree back eight generations in one direction to one person born in the 1770s. I don't want to spoil the programme if you didn't watch Pinsent's story tonight, but let's just say he was able to go considerably further back and uncover some rather famous connections. (I haven't had a team of BBC researchers and genealogists to help me though, and he hasn't put in the hours at the Family Records Centre that I have, which is half the fun.) I strongly recommend you catch it when it's repeated. The repeats are currently running a few weeks behind the first showings (with Carol Vorderman's programme on after midnight tonight and Alistair McGowan's next week), but they're shown again, with signing, late on Thursday nights.
Pinsent's quest is the family history hunt to end them all, and will either encourage thousands more to start investigating their own family trees, or make people give up, because they know they will never...
No, enough, I'll say no more. Just look out for it when it's on again. If you are going to watch it, DON'T read this - it gives away too much information. If you happened to catch it tonight, what did you think?
Photo courtesy BBC.
Labels: BBC, family history, genealogy, Matthew Pinsent
· link
17.10.07
[17:35] Chig is currently listening to Five Live's commentary on the crucial Russia v. England European football qualifier. The BBC apologised for the sound quality before they handed over to their commentators in Moscow. They started the match commentating down their mobile phones, moving to a landline after about twelve minutes. They haven't explained why the Russians haven't provided proper broadcasting facilities. I'm sure we'll find out when the BBC team gets back home. In the meantime, we are having to strain to listen to commentary which sounds like it's coming from outer space, with cotton wool over the microphones.All is not lost though. As several listeners have mentioned, it's just like the olden days. Football commentary always used to be like this when I was little, so I'm feeling quite nostalgic.
On the downside, England are losing 2-1, having taken an early lead on the artificial pitch.
UPDATE: England have lost, 2-1. There is now a very real chance that they won't be in Austria and Switzerland next year for the European Championships. The maths are complicated, but we may have to hope that Israel beat Russia and FYR Macedonia beat Croatia; two very unlikely results. Suddenly, despite the fact that there's not a drop of Scottish blood mingling with the English, French, Welsh and Irish blood in my veins (as far as I know), I'm feeling very Scottish. Off to watch their game with Georgia now. At least this one's on the telly.
Photo courtesy BBC News.
· link
16.10.07
Toše Proeski RIP
Eurovision fans are in shock today, not to mention most people in the Balkans. Toše Proeski (Тоше Проески), who represented the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia in Eurovision 2004 in Istanbul, was killed at 06:25 (BST+CET) this morning in a car crash in Croatia, at the tragically young age of 26. It seems he was a passenger in a vehicle which crashed into the back of another. He was the only fatality. The driver and another passenger, Toše's manager, have survived the crash.Toše and his dramatically presented song 'Life' (above) surprised quite a few people in 2004, by getting through the first ever Eurovision qualifier and finishing a reasonable 14th out of 24 in the final. More importantly, he was a multilingual megastar in the former Yugoslav countries, where this will be massive news today.
Our condolences to all involved with him.
Labels: Croatia, Eurovision 2004, FYR Macedonia, obituary, Toše Proeski
· link
2.10.07
Tribute
It's been a bad 48 hours for the UK's Eurovision fans. On Sunday, Wogan was elevated to the status of cultural icon by well-meaning but ultimately batty Radio 2 listeners. This has probably extended his tenure on Eurovision by another five years, at least.
Today, we learn that Ronnie Hazlehurst has died. Not only was his name one of the most seen in TV credits of the 1970s, because he'd written the theme tunes, but he was also a Eurovision fixture. He was musical director for three Eurovisions and conducted the UK entry seven times. This clip, from Eurovision 1974 in Brighton, is possibly not Ronnie Hazlehurst's finest moment, but Katie Boyle does mention his name twice in the first minute, once in English and once in French. What more could anyone want?
Here's a better tribute. Hazlehurst is the one looking like Steed from the Avengers at the beginning of this 1977 Eurovision clip (Wogan-free version):
Labels: 1974, Eurovision, obituary, Ronnie Hazlehurst, Wogan
· link
1.10.07
Throwing it all away
Spurs 1-0 Villa
Spurs 1-1 Villa
Spurs 1-2 Villa
Spurs 1-3 Villa
Spurs 1-4 Villa
Spurs 2-4 Villa
Spurs 3-4 Villa
92nd minute: Spurs 4-4 Villa
Bloomin' heck!
Labels: Aston Villa, Premier League, Spurs
· link
Eurovision 2011
Düsseldorf, Germany
10th, 12th, 14th May
Eurovision 2008
Semi-Final 1 – Tue 20 May
01 Montenegro - Zauvijek volim te – Stefan Filipović
02 Israel – The Fire In Your Eyes (Ke’ilo Kan) – Bo'az Ma'uda
03 Estonia – Leto Svet – Kreisiraadio
04 Moldova – A Century Of Love – Geta Burlacu
05 San Marino - Complice - Miodio
06 Belgium - O Julissi - Ishtar
07 Azerbaijan – Day After Day – Elnur Hüseynov & Samir Javadzadeh
08 Slovenia – Vrag Naj Vzame – Rebeka Dremelj
09 Norway – Hold On, Be Strong – Maria Haukaas Storeng
10 Poland – For Life – Isis Gee
11 Ireland – Irelande, Douze Pointe – Dustin The Turkey
12 Andorra – Casanova – Gisela
13 Bosnia-Herzegovina – Pokušaj – Laka
14 Armenia – Qele Qele – Sirusho
15 Netherlands – Your Heart Belongs To Me – Hind
16 Finland - Missä miehet ratsastaa – Teräsbetoni
17 Romania – Pe-o Margine de Lume – Nico & Vlad Mirita
18 Russia - Dima Bilan - Believe
19 Greece – Secret Combination – Kalomira
Semi-Final 2 – Thu 22 May
01 Iceland – This Is My Life – Eurobandið
02 Sweden - Hero - Charlotte Perrelli
03 Turkey – Deli – Mor ve Ötesi
04 Ukraine – Shady Lady – Ani Lorak
05 Lithuania – Nomads In The Night – Jeronimas Milius
06 Albania – Zemrën e lamë peng – Olta Boka
07 Switzerland – Era Stupendo – Paolo Meneguzzi
08 Czech Republic – Have Some Fun – Tereza Kerndlová
09 Belarus – Hasta La Vista – Ruslan Alekhno
10 Latvia – Wolves Of The Sea – Pirates Of The Sea
11 Croatia – Romanca – Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents
12 Bulgaria – DJ, Take Me Away – Deep Zone & Balthazar
13 Denmark – All Night Long – Simon Mathew
14 Georgia – Peace Will Come – Diana Gurtskaya
15 Hungary – Candlelight – Csézy
16 Malta – Vodka - Morena
17 Cyprus – Femme Fatale – Evdokia Kadi
18 FYR Macedonia – Let Me Love You – Tamara, Vrčak & Adrian
19 Portugal - Senhora do Mar (Negras Águas) - Vânia Fernandes
Final – Sat 24 May
02 United Kingdom – Even If – Andy Abraham
04 Germany – Disappear – No Angels
19 France – Divine – Sébastien Tellier
22 Spain - Baila el Chiki Chiki - Rodolfo Chikilicuatre
23 Serbia - Oro - Jelena Tomašević ft. Bora Dugić
Chig's Gigs & stuff 2007-2008
Coming Up:
11/12 Steel City Tour: ABC, Heaven 17, The Human League - Wolves Civic
Gone Down:
21/01 Sing Live! - B'ham Symphony Hall
05/02 Mika - Berkeley Square, London
13/02 Shayne Ward - Nott'm Arena
21/02 X Factor - Nott'm Arena
04/05 Scooch-Nightingale, B'ham
12/05 Hosting Eurovision night @ The Nightingale
17/05 Jason Donovan-Nott'm Royal Concert Hall
25/05 Pet Shop Boys - Wolves Civic
26/05 Liberty X - Nightingale, B'ham
27/05 Scooch & Björn Again - B'ham Pride
16/06 Muse, The Streets, Dirty Pretty Things, Rodrigo y Gabriela & Zane Lowe - Wembley Stadium
28/06 Brotherhood of Man & Buck's Fizz - Nott'm Royal Concert Hall
14/07 Sing Live! - Summer in the '60s & '70s - Royal Leamington Spa Centre
14/09 Rise - Leek Wootton Village Hall
16/09 Erasure & Onetwo - Wolves Civic
17/09 The Twang & The Priory - B'ham Carling Academy 2 (private gig - Janice Long's Radio2 show)
20/09 Turisas & Abgott - B'ham Carling Academy 2
27/09 McFly - Wolves Civic
10/11 Buck's Fizz & Futureproof (The X Factor), Nightingale, B'ham
17/11 Vengaboys & Andy Williams (The X Factor) - Nightingale, B'ham
01/12 The Human League plays Dare! - Hammersmith Apollo
10/03 Gary Numan Replicas Tour & Daggers - Wolves Wulfrun
15/03 David Gray - Symphony Hall, Brum
18/03 Russell Howard, Alexandra, Brum
20+22+24/05 Eurovision Song Contest, Beograd, Srbija
10/06 Eurobeat-Almost Eurovision, B'ham Hippodrome
12/06 Yazoo - Wolves Civic
14/06-16/06 Bingham Cup, DCU, Dublin
24/06 Westlife & Hope - Nottingham Arena
07/07 Duran Duran & The Duke Spirit - NIA, B'ham
01/08 kd lang - Symphony Hall, B'ham
Coming Up:
11/12 Steel City Tour: ABC, Heaven 17, The Human League - Wolves Civic
Gone Down:
21/01 Sing Live! - B'ham Symphony Hall
05/02 Mika - Berkeley Square, London
13/02 Shayne Ward - Nott'm Arena
21/02 X Factor - Nott'm Arena
04/05 Scooch-Nightingale, B'ham
12/05 Hosting Eurovision night @ The Nightingale
17/05 Jason Donovan-Nott'm Royal Concert Hall
25/05 Pet Shop Boys - Wolves Civic
26/05 Liberty X - Nightingale, B'ham
27/05 Scooch & Björn Again - B'ham Pride
16/06 Muse, The Streets, Dirty Pretty Things, Rodrigo y Gabriela & Zane Lowe - Wembley Stadium
28/06 Brotherhood of Man & Buck's Fizz - Nott'm Royal Concert Hall
14/07 Sing Live! - Summer in the '60s & '70s - Royal Leamington Spa Centre
14/09 Rise - Leek Wootton Village Hall
16/09 Erasure & Onetwo - Wolves Civic
17/09 The Twang & The Priory - B'ham Carling Academy 2 (private gig - Janice Long's Radio2 show)
20/09 Turisas & Abgott - B'ham Carling Academy 2
27/09 McFly - Wolves Civic
10/11 Buck's Fizz & Futureproof (The X Factor), Nightingale, B'ham
17/11 Vengaboys & Andy Williams (The X Factor) - Nightingale, B'ham
01/12 The Human League plays Dare! - Hammersmith Apollo
10/03 Gary Numan Replicas Tour & Daggers - Wolves Wulfrun
18/03 Russell Howard, Alexandra, Brum
20+22+24/05 Eurovision Song Contest, Beograd, Srbija
10/06 Eurobeat-Almost Eurovision, B'ham Hippodrome
12/06 Yazoo - Wolves Civic
14/06-16/06 Bingham Cup, DCU, Dublin
24/06 Westlife & Hope - Nottingham Arena
07/07 Duran Duran & The Duke Spirit - NIA, B'ham
01/08 kd lang - Symphony Hall, B'ham
Who is Chig?
Contact me: chig at cmdh dot freeserve dot co dot uk
My Wish List
Front page
Archive
RSS feed
Chig is Nicki French's official stalker...but she doesn't seem to mind.
Chig's life can sometimes be a right pain in the balls...
Chig watches...
Dogtown, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Robin Hood, The X Factor, Spooks, Extras, Mock The Week, Popworld, Ideal, Deal Or No Deal, Eggheads, Hollyoaks, Never Mind The Full Stops, Doctor Who series 2 repeats on BBC3, The Bill, Match Of The Day, Ant'n'Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
Chig has failed at two attempts to watch the whole series of Invasion, so if you have it on DVD...
Chig still fancies Jesse Metcalfe...
...and Brandon Flowers, Roman Sebrle, Jonas Armstrong, Matthew Fox, Stefan Booth, Stuart Manning, Gary Lucy...
49= 49= 48 46= 46= 45 44 43 40= 40= 40= 39 38 37 36 35 33= 33= 31= 31= 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Where I live:
Birmingham: It's Not Shit
icBirmingham
BBC Birmingham
The Nightingale
Club DV8
Interests:
Flickr
gaytimes
Popjustice
The Official Charts Co.
Launch (UK charts)
British Hit Singles
Aston Villa FC
GFSN
Eurovision 2006
Eurovision 2005 in Kyiv
Popjustice Eurovision
Friends Reunited
Mr Gay UK
Eurovision 2007:
Official EBU Eurovision
Helsinki 2007 Official
DotEurovision (News)
ESC Today (News)
Eurovision Songs
OGAE Malta
Norway: Melodi Grand Prix
AsianMissionToEurovision(Blog)
Eurovision 2007 acts:
Qualifier:
Albania: Aida & Frederik Ndoci
Andorra: Anonymous
Austria: Eric Papilaya
Belarus: Dima Koldun
Belgium: The KMGs
Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov
Croatia: Dragonfly ft. Dado Topić
Czech Republic: Kabát
Cyprus: Evridiki
Denmark: DQ
Estonia: Gerli Padar
Georgia: Sopho Khalvashi
Hungary: Magdi Rúzsa
Iceland: Eiríkur Hauksson
Israel: Teapacks
Latvia: bonaparti.lv
FYR Macedonia: Karolina Gočeva
Malta: Olivia Lewis
Moldova: Natalia Barbu
Montenegro: Stevan Faddy
Netherlands: Edsilia Rombley
Norway: Guri Schanke
Poland: The Jet Set
Portugal: Sabrina
Serbia: Marija Šerifović
Slovenia: Alenka Gotar
Switzerland: DJ Bobo
Turkey: Kenan Doğulu
Final:
Armenia: Hayko
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Marija Šestić
Finland: Hanna Pakarinen
France: Les Fatals Picards
Germany: Roger Cicero
Greece: Sarbel
Ireland: Dervish
Lithuania: 4Fun
Romania: Todomondo
Russia: Serebro
Spain: NASH
Sweden: The Ark
Ukraine: Verka Serduchka
UK MYMU entrants
Big Brovaz
Brian Harvey
Cyndi
Hawkins & Brown
Liz McClarnon
Scooch(!)
Artists:
Prata Vetra (Brainstorm)
Marc Almond
Pet Shop Boys
Scissor Sisters
Family history:
Chig is directly descended from the following families. If you have one of these surnames, we're possibly related, so feel free to get in touch: Crowe, Harborne/Harbourne, Higgins, Hutchins, O'Sullivan/Sullivan, Talliss/Tallis.
Above: My Gran with her Gran. Snitterfield, Warwickshire, c.1930.
Shameless exhibitionism:
Chig's January 1999 Gay Times article, behind the scenes filming 'Queer As Folk'
People we know:
After The Boyf
B-Boy Blues
Bitful
Daren & Justin
David Belbin
Glenn Ball
I'm Hip To You
Loobynet
Melodimen
Over Your Head
Poplicious
Quarter Hours
Reluctant Nomad
Schlagerboys
Simon & The City
Thoughts From Fish Island
Troubled Diva
Other people we like:
AceDiscoVery
Come Into My World
Club Contact
Following Adam
Diamond Geezer
My Ace Life
Naked Blog
TheSnowInTheSummerOrSo-So
Welshcake
Zbornak
Archives:
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
December 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
November 2001
![[Powered by Blogger]](http://buttons.blogger.com/bloggerbutton1.gif){kind=small}
