28.4.11
Heute beginnt die Reise.
(The road trip starts today.) Chig's drive to Düsseldorf starts today, via the Retro bar in London tonight for Douze Points (semi-final 2) and a sleep in Walthamstow, then Eurotunnel tomorrow and a drive from Calais across a tiddly bit of France and halfway into Belgium for a stag weekend in Brussels. On Monday, another couple of hours' drive to the campsite on the Unterbachersee in Düsseldorf which will be my home for the following fourteen nights, if I can put up my new, bigger tent.
Camp Chig! Camp Eurovision! Call it what you will. It's going to be a very different Eurovision, and hopefully a lot of fun.
Eurovision rehearsals start this Sunday (1st May). I'll be reporting back from Tuesday 3rd onwards. Bis bald, meine Freunde!
Labels: Eurovision, London, road trip, stag weekend
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24.8.08
London: Olympic City
1,434 days.Or 204 weeks.
Or 3 years, 11 months and 4 days...and a mere £9.325 billion.
... until Friday 27 July 2012 - the start of the London Olympics and Paralympics.
You wouldn't want to be Lord Coe, would you?
London officially becomes the next Olympic city at the end of today's closing ceremony in Beijing. (BBC One coverage starts at 12:00 BST.) This is despite the fact that Beijing is still to host the Paralympics, which start in thirteen days' time. Bumbling Boris, who will hopefully be voted out of office two months before the London Olympics start, will be handed the Antwerp flag and then it's all ours!
At exactly 14:04 BST today, if it runs to time, London will be given eight minutes of the closing ceremony to give a flavour of what we can expect to see in 2012. (It's that Chinese lucky eight thing again.) This will apparently include:
- A London bus being chased into the stadium by three of our cyclists; gold medallist Victoria Pendleton, triple gold medallist Chris Hoy and BMXer Shanaze Reade (who fell off in her final, thereby showing the full range, from British excellence to plucky, heroic British failure).
- A soundtrack which includes the shipping forecast.
- David Beckham.
- The bus opening out like a flower.
- Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page doing 'Whole Lotta Love'.
I'm still unsure whether to be horrified or excited by this prospect. It's clearly going to be a bit naffer than 5,000 years of Chinese history, which was done so effectively in Beijing's opening ceremony. It looks very much like it will be done with a cheeky, British sense of humour, which will basically be the UK saying, "Look, we can't afford the forty billion that China has spent on the games. We're going to do it our own way, on the cheap, if that's okay with the rest of the world."
While all of this is going on in Beijing, there's a party in The Mall in London, where the Olympic spirit will be celebrated, appropriately enough, outside the home of Phil The Greek. Apparently, he and his German wife Liz won't be at home.
London has thirty screens up today to watch the closing ceremony and the gig on The Mall, in which the acts taking part, including Will Young, James Morrison and The Feeling will be doing sport-related songs. (Spandau Ballet's 'Gold', by any chance?) There's also rumoured to be a link to Notting Hill Carnival, where Heather Small will perform something. Hmm, I wonder which song that will be...
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30.4.08
London, save us all
"My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters."(Boris Johnson, 2004)
London, please don't let tomorrow be an opportunity for a fresh disaster of historic proportions. Boris Johnson is tremendously entertaining and very amusing, but we're laughing at him, not with him. If he becomes London mayor tomorrow, the world will be laughing at us all. Please don't let it happen.
Labels: Boris Johnson, election, London, mayor
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26.11.07
See, she really did do it live...
The woman who did the 'mind the gap' announcements on the tube (an underground transportation system in that there London) has been sacked.According to this BBC article, she "has worked for the Underground since 1999". You thought she just popped into a recording studio eight years ago and said three words, didn't you? But no, she has been doing it live all that time, and it hasn't been without its consequences. The story says she is 36, but as you can see from the BBC's picture (left), the pressure of saying that line over and over again for eight years has turned her into a 60 year-old. How sad.
Labels: EmmaClarke, London, LU
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29.6.07
Tiger Tiger, burning bright...
About ten years ago, I was out in London with a friend celebrating his birthday. We moved from one pub to the next and gathered on the pavement outside our ultimate destination. Then most of us went past the bouncer check and into the venue, where the punters were packed in like sardines and it was impossible to get to the bar. Those of us who were inside soon realised that birthday boy was still outside. The over-zealous bouncers had decided that he didn't have the right kind of trousers on, so we all squeezed ourselves back outside and went to spend our hard-earned cash in a more welcoming venue instead. The bar that wouldn't let birthday boy in was Tiger Tiger on Haymarket. They've been open for many years, so if the Met are looking for people with a grudge against the venue after today's shocking events, they might have a long list to go through...
Some other theories to give the police a bit of a start:
1) Gordon Brown, setting a test for new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on her first day in the job. She hadn't even been shown her desk and the Home Office fire exits before she was whisked under Whitehall for a Cobra meeting this morning.
2) Jacqui Smith's family. Yesterday morning, no one outside of the Labour Party knew who she was. Today, all over the media. Result.
3) The Poetry Militia. A little-known extremist outfit, dedicated to bringing the works of their spiritual leader, William Blake, to life.
On a serious note, if I were in London for Pride tomorrow, I think I would have changed my mind about going out on the streets. With two car bombs found so far, who knows if there are others? I'm all for 'not letting the terrorists win', but I think I would wait until the police were on top of the situation. Tonight, that doesn't seem to be the case, as it still seems to be unfolding before us.
Labels: Birmingham Pride, bombs, London, Tiger tiger
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4.6.07
Superb 2012 Olympics logo unveiled
Sadly (for the whole country), this is just one that was sent in to the BBC website by someone called James Wren. The rubbish that we'll be seeing for the next five years is this piece of 'street art':
Anyone who thinks this is a man (on the left), wanking off another man who is crouching slightly, with a newspaper over his head - think George Michael visits Hampstead Heath - is clearly a sick pervert.
Labels: 2012, logo, London, Olympics
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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
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April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
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December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
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November 2001
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