Angelus71

Happy Birthdays

GEORDIE busker Ronnie Lambert has died. The Toon-mad 58-year-old who found fame after penning Toon Army anthem, Home Newcastle, passed away unexpectedly in his sleep, yesterday morning. Ronnie’s heartbroken daughter, Ashley, 25 today paid tribute to her talented dad, whose tune was regularly played at St James’s Park. “He was the best dad anybody could wish for,” she said. “He was so down to earth and so approachable. You instantly warmed to him. He had a lot of friends and so many people loved his music. He was a big character in the North East.” Ronnie lived in Biddick, Washington, with his wife Hazel, 53. He also has a son, Ronnie junior, 31. Ronnie was known for writing songs about Newcastle United. When Kevin Keegan brought Toon hero Alan Shearer back to Newcastle for £15m in 1996, he released a tune called, Shearer’s Back. But it was Home Newcastle for which he was best known. Ronnie was a Newcastle United season ticket-holder and went to every home game. He never made much money from his music, but hearing his own songs ringing around St James’ Park more than made-up for it, said Ashley. “He didn’t do too well out of his music but I think the fact that people knew his songs was more important to him,” she said. “He was really proud that they were played at St James’s Park.” And like every other Toon fan this season, Ronnie had been dreading the prospect of seeing his team relegated. “He said he didn’t want to see Newcastle go down and whatever happens he won’t have to now,” said Ashley. “He also said if they stayed-up up he would die a happy man. Football and music were his main loves.” Born, in Gateshead, Ronnie, also known as ‘Busker’, grew up in what he described as “a rat-infested hovel called 17, Wylam Street”, at the spot where Gateshead Metro Station now stands, before moving to the Leam Lane estate. His love of music was discovered in local pubs and clubs like the Ship Inn, and the Felling Welfare, where Ronnie and pals would catch the local bands of the day. Ronnie wrote his famous anthem when he was in his late 20s, while working as a bricklayer. Home Newcastle tells the story of his return to Tyneside after spending six months working in London at the age of 18. “One late Sunday morning as the wife was cooking Sunday dinner, I decided to write a song I'd planned for years,” he explained on his website. “It was inspired by a strong emotion I'd experienced 11 years earlier, returning home after six months in London at the tender age of 18. That feeling never left me, even after repeating it several times in life, so that morning I wrote Home Newcastle.” The song sold tens of thousands of copies in the 1980s. R.I.P

Here's another canny site I've used for a couple of years..... http://newcastlephotos.blogspot.com/

That's it man....suck in that gut!

venom

Here's one for the people of Beirut.....oops I mean Walker http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67731549045

reminds me of the ship from the Asteroids game from years ago! or a huge Dairylea.

Anyone watch it? I've almost finished watching series 6. It's a fucking scream. If you've never seen it, download series 1 and give it a look. It gets funnier and funnier every episode. Can't wait for series 7 to start over here! Larry David = writing genius!

LOS ANGELES – With an ever-present smile that gave way to ready laughter, Dom DeLuise possessed a jovial warmth that charmed not only film and TV audiences, but the actors and directors with whom he worked for decades. Though lighthearted onscreen, the prolific actor was deeply passionate about food, forging a second career as a popular chef and cookbook author. The affable and portly star, described as a natural comedian who kept the laughs rolling even when the cameras weren't, died Monday at age 75. "You can't teach someone to be funny," his agent, Robert Malcolm, said Tuesday. "He was born funny, and he knew how to charm you and he knew how to make you feel comfortable. He loved people." DeLuise was surrounded by his wife and three sons when he died "peacefully" Monday evening at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., Malcolm said. The family did not release the cause of death, saying only in a statement on the actor-comedian's official Web site Tuesday: "It's easy to mourn his death but easier to remember a time when he made you laugh." DeLuise appeared in scores of movies and TV shows, in Broadway plays and voiced characters for numerous cartoons. Writer-director-actor Mel Brooks particularly admired DeLuise's talent for offbeat comedy and cast him in several films, including "The Twelve Chairs," "Blazing Saddles," "Silent Movie," "History of the World Part I" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights." DeLuise was also the voice of Pizza the Hutt in Brooks' "Star Wars" parody, "Spaceballs." "Dom DeLuise was a big man in every way," Brooks said in a statement Tuesday. "He was big in size and created big laughter and joy. He will be missed in a very big way." The actor also frequently appeared opposite his friend Burt Reynolds in films such as "The End," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "Smokey and the Bandit II," "The Cannonball Run" and "Cannonball Run II." Reynolds fondly recalled DeLuise in a statement issued by his publicist. "I was thinking about this the other day," Reynolds said. "As you get older and start to lose people you love, you think about it more and I was dreading this moment. Dom always made you feel better when he was around and there will never be another like him. I never heard him say an unkind word about anyone. I will miss him very much." Another actor-friend, Dean Martin, admired his comic abilities so much that he cast DeLuise as a regular on his 1960s comedy-variety show. In 1973, he starred in a situation comedy, "Lotsa Luck," but it proved to be short-lived. "To know Dom was to love him and I knew him very well. Not only was he talented and extremely funny, but he was a very special human being," said actress Carol Burnett, who starred with DeLuise on TV show "The Entertainers" in the '60s. DeLuise also appeared on "The Carol Burnett Show" in the 1970s. Other TV credits included appearances on such shows as "The Munsters," "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.," "Burke's Law," "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Diagnosis Murder." On Broadway, DeLuise appeared in Neil Simon's "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" and other plays. In part because of his passion for food, the actor battled obesity, reaching as much as 325 pounds and for years resisting family members and doctors who tried to put him on various diets. He finally agreed in 1993 when his doctor refused to perform hip replacement surgery until he lost 100 pounds (he lost enough weight for the surgery, though gained some of it back). On the positive side, his love of food resulted in two successful cookbooks, 1988's "Eat This — It Will Make You Feel Better!" and 1997's "Eat This Too! It'll Also Make You Feel Good." DeLuise also wrote seven books for young children. "Charlie the Caterpillar" published in 1993, is an original tale of an ugly-but-loveable caterpillar whose appearance prevented him from making friends. DeLuise also gave popular children's stories, such as "Hansel and Gretel" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears," his own comedic twist. He strongly resembled the famed chef Paul Prudhomme and joked in a 1987 interview that he had posed as Prudhomme while visiting his New Orleans restaurant, K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. DeLuise was appearing on Broadway in "Here's Love" in the early 1960s when Garry Moore saw him and hired him to play the magician "Dominick the Great" on "The Garry Moore Show." His appearances on the hit comedy-variety program brought offers from Hollywood, and DeLuise first came to the attention of movie goers in "Fail Safe," a drama starring Henry Fonda. He followed with a comedy, "The Glass Bottom Boat," starring Doris Day, and alternated between films and television thereafter. "I was making $7,000 a week — a lot of money back then — but I didn't even know I was rich," he recalled in 1994. "I was just having such a great time." Day remembered him Tuesday as "such a sweet man." "I met Dom when we were filming 'The Glass Bottom Boat,' and I loved him from the moment we met," she said from Carmel, Calif. "Not only did we have the greatest time working together, but I never laughed so hard in my life as when we were together." He was born Dominick DeLuise in New York City on Aug. 1, 1933, to Italian immigrants. His father, who spoke only Italian, was a garbage collector, and those humble beginnings stayed with him. "My dad knows everything there is to know about garbage," one of the actor's sons, David DeLuise, said in 2008. "He loves to pick up a broken chair and fix it." DeLuise's introduction to acting came at age 8 when he played the title role of Peter Rabbit in a school play. He went on to graduate from New York City's famed School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. For five years, he sought work in theater or television with little luck, and finally decided to enroll at Tufts College to study biology, with the aim of becoming a teacher. Acting called him back, however, and he found work at the Cleveland Playhouse, appearing in stage productions that ranged from comedies like "Kiss Me Kate" to Shakespeare's "Hamlet." "I worked two years solidly on plays and moving furniture and painting scenery and playing parts," he remarked in a 2006 interview. "It was quite an amazing learning place for me." While working in summer stock in Provincetown, Mass., he met actress Carol Arthur, and they were soon married. The couple's three sons, Peter, Michael and David, all became actors and all appeared with their father in the 1990s TV series "SeaQuestDSV," in which Peter and Michael were regulars. David was one of the co-stars of the hit children's series "Wizards of Waverly Place." .................................... R.I.P

May the 4th be with you!

TOON owner Mike Ashley’s sportswear company is at the centre of a Government probe into unfair trading. The tycoon has been forced to make an offer to sell his stores in five UK towns to avoid punishment for breaching competition laws. An investigation by the Office of Fair Trading has found the takeover by Ashley’s Sports Direct International Plc of dozens of JJB Sports stores may have breached regulations. The OFT is now considering an offer by Sports Direct to sell off shops in five local areas following its acquisition of 31 stores from JJB Sports Plc. Sports Direct and JJB are the two largest specialist retailers of sports-related clothing, footwear and equipment in the UK. Ashley bought the stores from JJB in a series of separate deals over a two year period but under merger legislation, the OFT was able to review the deal as one individual transaction. The OFT has now ruled that the buy-out “raised competition concerns” in areas where Sports Direct already had existing stores. Sports Direct has offered to sell offending outlets to up-front buyers approved by the OFT. Amelia Fletcher, OFT senior director of mergers, said: “The OFT used its discretion in this case to roll a number of separate acquisitions of JJB stores by Sports Direct over the last two years into a single investigation, given that the overall impact on consumers had the potential to be significant. “Although our investigation indicated that the purchase of these stores had not reduced competition at a national level, we identified concerns in five local areas that needed to be addressed.” If the divestments are not accepted, then a referral to the Competition Commission will be necessary. The Government wrangle is the latest in a series of financial setbacks for the Newcastle United chief. Last week it was revealed that Ashley had lost millions of his fortune in the global credit crunch. The Sunday Times Rich List for 2009 showed the 44-year-old had suffered the biggest decline in his bank balance of anyone tycoon in the North East. Ashley lost his billionaire status having seen the value of his assets plummet from £1,398m to £700m, but still comes out as the richest person in the region. ............................. Just as well he made a good profit from selling our players, other wise he'd be further in the shit.....poor fucker, only 700 Million in the bank.

+1

LOS ANGELES - Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" and who won a Tony Award for the musical "Mame," died Saturday. She was 86. Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give details. "She was a brilliant and witty woman," said Watt, who was Arthur's personal assistant for six years. "Bea will always have a special place in my heart." Arthur first appeared in the landmark comedy series "All in the Family" as Edith Bunker's outspoken, liberal cousin, Maude Finley. She proved a perfect foil for blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), and their blistering exchanges were so entertaining that producer Norman Lear fashioned Arthur's own series. In a 2008 interview with The Associated Press, Arthur said she was lucky to be discovered by TV after a long stage career, recalling with bemusement CBS executives asking about the new "girl." "I was already 50 years old. I had done so much off-Broadway, on Broadway, but they said, 'Who is that girl? Let's give her her own series,'" Arthur said. "Maude" scored with television viewers immediately on its CBS debut in September 1972, and Arthur won an Emmy Award for the role in 1977. The comedy flowed from Maude's efforts to cast off the traditional restraints that women faced, but the series often had a serious base. Her husband Walter (Bill Macy) became an alcoholic, and she underwent an abortion, which drew a torrent of viewer protests. Maude became a standard bearer for the growing feminist movement in America. The ratings of "Maude" in the early years approached those of its parent, "All in the Family," but by 1977 the audience started to dwindle. A major format change was planned, but in early 1978 Arthur announced she was quitting the show. "It's been absolutely glorious; I've loved every minute of it," she said. "But it's been six years, and I think it's time to leave." "Golden Girls" (1985-1992) was another groundbreaking comedy, finding surprising success in a television market increasingly skewed toward a younger, product-buying audience. The series concerned three retirees Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan -- and the mother of Arthur's character, Estelle Getty, who lived together in a Miami apartment. In contrast to the violent "Miami Vice," the comedy was nicknamed "Miami Nice." As Dorothy Zbornak, Arthur seemed as caustic and domineering as Maude. She was unconcerned about the similarity of the two roles. "Look -- I'm 5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line," she told an interviewer. "What can I do about it? I can't stay home waiting for something different. I think it's a total waste of energy worrying about typecasting." The interplay among the four women and their relations with men fueled the comedy, and the show amassed a big audience and 10 Emmys, including two as best comedy series and individual awards for each of the stars. McClanahan said Arthur felt constrained by the show during its later years and in 1992 she announced she was leaving "Golden Girls." "Bea liked to be the star of the show, she didn't really like to do that ensemble playing," McClanahan said. McClanahan first worked with Arthur on "Maude," playing her best friend, Vivian. The women quickly became close friends in real life. McClanahan recalled Arthur as a kind and caring person with a no-nonsense edge. The three other stars returned in "The Golden Palace," but it lasted only one season. Arthur was born Bernice Frankel in New York City in 1922. When she was 11, her family moved to Cambridge, Md., where her father opened a clothing store. At 12 she had grown to full height, and she dreamed of being a petite blond movie star like June Allyson. There was one advantage of being tall and deep-voiced: She was chosen for the male roles in school plays. Bernice -- she hated the name and adopted her mother's nickname of Bea -- overcame shyness about her size by winning over her classmates with wisecracks. She was elected the wittiest girl in her class. After two years at a junior college in Virginia, she earned a degree as a medical lab technician, but she "loathed" doing lab work at a hospital. Acting held more appeal, and she enrolled in a drama course at the New School of Social Research in New York City. To support herself, she sang in a night spot that required her to push drinks on customers. During this time she had a brief marriage that provided her stage name of Beatrice Arthur. In 1950, she married again, to Broadway actor and future Tony-winning director Gene Saks. After a few years in off-Broadway and stock company plays and television dramas, Arthur's career gathered momentum with her role as Lucy Brown in the 1955 production of "The Threepenny Opera." In 2008, when Arthur was inducted in the TV Academy Hall of Fame, Arthur pointed to the role as the highlight of her long career. "A lot of that had to do with the fact that I felt, 'Ah, yes, I belong here,'" Arthur said. More plays and musicals followed, and she also sang in nightclubs and played small roles in TV comedy shows. Then, in 1964, Harold Prince cast her as Yente the Matchmaker in the original company of "Fiddler on the Roof." Arthur's biggest Broadway triumph came in 1966 as Vera Charles, Angela Lansbury's acerbic friend in the musical "Mame," directed by Saks. Richard Watts of the New York Post called her performance "a portrait in acid of a savagely witty, cynical and serpent-tongued woman." She won the Tony as best supporting actress and repeated the role in the unsuccessful film version that also was directed by Saks, starring Lucille Ball as Mame. Arthur would play a variation of Vera Charles in "Maude" and "The Golden Girls." "There was no one else like Bea," said "Mame" composer Jerry Herman. "She would make us laugh during 'Mame' rehearsals with a look or with a word. She didn't need dialogue. I don't know if I can say that about any other person I ever worked with." In 1983, Arthur attempted another series, "Amanda's," an Americanized version of John Cleese's hilarious "Fawlty Towers." She was cast as owner of a small seaside hotel with a staff of eccentrics. It lasted a mere nine episodes. Between series, Arthur remained active in films and theater. Among the movies: "That Kind of Woman" (1959), "Lovers and Other Strangers" (1970), Mel Brooks' "The History of the World: Part I" (1981), "For Better or Worse" (1995). The plays included Woody Allen 's "The Floating Light Bulb" and "The Bermuda Avenue Triangle," written by and costarring Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna. During 2001 and 2002 she toured the country in a one-woman show of songs and stories, "... And Then There's Bea." Arthur and Saks divorced in 1978 after 28 years. They had two sons, Matthew and Daniel. In his long career, Saks won Tonys for "I Love My Wife," "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues." One of his Tony nominations was for "Mame." In 1999, Arthur told an interviewer of the three influences in her career: "Sid Caesar taught me the outrageous; (method acting guru) Lee Strasberg taught me what I call reality; and ('Threepenny Opera' star) Lotte Lenya, whom I adored, taught me economy." In recent years, Arthur made guest appearances on shows including "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Malcolm in the Middle." She was chairwoman of the Art Attack Foundation, a non-profit performing arts scholarship organization. Arthur is survived by her sons and two granddaughters. No funeral services are planned. R.I.P

Zico Martin

I heard Emu was holding it for him!!!

TV host Lennie Bennett dies at 70 Lennie Bennett Lennie Bennett carved out a career as a game show presenter Comic entertainer and game show host Lennie Bennett has died at the age of 70, his agent has confirmed. The TV personality first appeared on stand-up show The Comedians in 1971, and became the presenter of shows including Punchlines during the 1980s. The Blackpool-based performer starred alongside Jerry Stevens on their own comedy show Lennie and Jerry in 1978. Bennett moved out of the limelight and was last seen on a game show hosts' edition of The Weakest Link in 2003. Star turn Irish comedian Frank Carson, who also appeared on The Comedians, said that Bennett was "a very good comedian and a very good performer". The funnyman, who also lives in Blackpool, told the resort's Gazette newspaper: "Lennie was an absolutely wonderful fellow and we had lots of laughs together." Lennie Bennett on The Weakest Link Bennett appeared on a special edition of The Weakest Link in 2003 The newspaper reported that Bennett died after a fall at his home. Bennett was a familiar face on TV screens during the 1980s, becoming a regular star turn on popular quiz shows Blankety Blank and Celebrity Squares. Punchlines ran for 150 shows, and during his heyday, Bennett became famous for his mop of tightly-curled hair. He also performed in 12 Royal Variety Shows, and had a brief stint as a chat show host on London Weekend Television in 1982. The performer - who was born Mike Berry - was a newspaper reporter before making a break into showbusiness. The later years of his career were spent on the after-dinner speaking circuit and hosting entertainment for corporate clients. R.I.P

Aye, that's how I saw it. To me the Cat gets the most laughs.

I'll carry the fucker there if they buy him!

To be fair i think he could be quite hard to replace, it wouldn't be that easy to find somebody else that inept, lazy and incapable of ever striking a ball cleanly even once in their entire career! be fair to old Stevie though, I bet he moves faster than Shola!

Fucking hell...."caser" never heard that word in years!

If you had a little extra cash, I'd highly recommend the Canon 450D (or the Rebel XSi as it's called over here) I've got it and I'm really impressed with it. Here's some of the shots I've taken with it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelus71-/

Should that not be "The Ugly, the Bald and the Cunt"? FYP

Should that not be "The Good, the BALD and the Ugly"?

He'd be dead by the end of the week if it were only an April fools.