Monday, September 22, 2008
Ask the Old Codgers
Dear Old Codgers,
I am a great fan of Moira Lister. Where did they shoot that lovely film "The Dirty Dozen?"
Mabel Stitchwort, Bishops Stortford
The Old Codgers say:
Oho! You're a card, aren't you Mabel! "The Guns of Navarone" was entirely shot on location in The Pussycat Tea Rooms in Stowmarket.!
Thanks for your letter; a Useless Eustace sink tidy is winging your way!
Dear Old Codgers,
When did they stop stitching cats into the hems of sailors bellbottoms to keep them from flapping about in Church Parade?
Bishop Stortford, Mabels Stitchwort
The Old Codgers say:
You'll be pleased to know, Bishop, that Henry Campell-Bannermann is alive and well and still appearing in pantomime at the North Pier, Rugeley!
Thanks for your letter; you'll soon be receiving a Monty Fresco tooth mug!
Dear Old Codgers,
Is it true that if you put an onion in your sock your gable wall will never fall down?
Monty Shrdlu, Passing Winds
The Old Codgers say:
Well, we're never ones to put too much trust into old wive's tales but the one about her at number fifty-seven could do with the council coming round to sort things out!
Thanks for your letter; Mister Postman will be bringing you your very own pebble-dashed Garth jockstrap!
Do you want to join the hundreds of readers writing in from the four corners of the editor's typewriter. You do? Then send a stamped addressed envelope to: "Dr. Seymour Loonies, Bide-a-Wee, Colney Hatch"
Sunday, August 12, 2007
An interview with the Reverend Gentleman 1
Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions about the Cosy Corner.
That's OK. I'm just amazed that anyone can be arsed to ask questions about it in the first place.
How and why did you start doing the Cosy Corner?
The How's easy: I just started writing and drawing on bits of paper. Why's trickier. Part of that's got to be that I was bored. Besides that, I was irritated and angry by the sheer absurdity and wickedness of the world around me - I've read your blog so I guess you can relate to that! At the time there were lots of people going around "being political," which usually amounted to saying rude things about Margaret Thatcher while setting themselves up in cosy bits of employment. It galls me to think that I was being chucked out of my local Labour Party for not toeing the Socialist Worker line at the same time as Tony Blair was sucking up to CND and the like. At the last election I was asked if I would be voting Labour. I told them straight: if I wanted to vote for the policies of Margaret Hilda Thatcher I'd have done it when the bitch was available for election.
So that led to the Cosy Corner?
Pretty much. I couldn't be arsed being another agitprop wanker lecturing the masses so I decided to be an absurdist wanker drivelling to myself in a corner. That's why I ended up giving up on it in the end.
How so?
The world got too absurd. There I would be, writing some utter drivel about politics or popular culture and some beggar would go and do or say something even more stupid. I'd stand no chance these days. I'll bet if I came up with some nonsense about a TV series called "When Celebrity Toothbrushes Go Bad" I'll find it's already in post-production for one of the Channel 4 channels.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Celebrity GossipWith Thurlaston Codpiece, our man who's just as ignorant as the rest of you but that doesn't stop him writing
8 Guess who was seen shopping in Timothy White's last week! Nicholas II, Tsar of All The Russias, that's who! Our scouts spotted him buying "something for the weekend." Bit of news you're not telling us about, eh, Nicky boy?
8 Despite his jolly demeanour it seems that Joey Grimaldi is a miserable soul in real life. A taxi driver tells us: "I had that Joey Grimaldi in my cab last week. And do you know, he was a right miserable sod he was. 'Ain't you that Joey Grimaldi?' I arsked him and what did he say? 'Joey Grimaldi's dead isn't he?' 'Well if he's dead I'm carrying a pretty chipper corpse in the back of me cab,' I riposted. And do you know what he said to me? 'Don't be so bloody stupid. I'm Prince Phillip. Now get your finger out before the bookies are closed." You heard it here first!
8 Who is that being lined up for the latest Steven Spielberg film? Why, it's none other than Lord Lucan, fresh from a six-week engagement on the North Pier at Blackpool!
8 Which well-known celebrity was seen coming out of an off-licence in Tooting? Could it be Sir Stafford Cripps?
[No, of course it couldn't. You're fired. Eddie the Pissed-off Editor]
Sunday, September 10, 2006
I dreamt I went to the Policeman's Ball thanks to "Socko" the magic duck whitener
From "The Thighpad's Last Twinklings," October 1986
Sergeant Peaseblossom Gussetmonger writes:
"I used to be the station wallflower and all the other chaps used to rag me for my shyness. But now my confidence has blossomed and I have the schoolgirl complexion that's oh so essential in the Obscene Publications Squad. And it is all thanks to "Socko" the magic duck whitener."Tuesday, August 29, 2006
CHAOS MOUNTS AS U.N. MONITORS ENGLISH ELECTIONS
From "The St. Lone Ranger's Day Special," June 1994
Chaos mounted today as the. United. Nations' Commission for Local Elections, Jobs in Overseas Elections, Money and Politics (UNCLE JOE'S MINT BALLS) oversaw the latest in a fractious round of by-elections in parts of England. After a suitably fractured truce called to mark the sincere sorrow of all politicians at the passing of a thoroughly nice and decent man they'd all spent the past two years cheerfully vilifying, the first shots were fired in what all concerned hoped would he a "kinder, gentler election campaign".
The Prime Minister, That Nice Mr. Major told reporters: "I wunt us all to he able to engage in political argument in a more measured and mature way. We in the Conservative party are serious in our intentions to stop all this shallow backbiting and, snide side-swiping, not like the shit-for-brains on the benches opposite." A Liberal spokesman said: "We are the nice guys of politics. Aren't the others a frightful bunch of bastards?" Mr. John Prescott said. "Who are you calling aggressive? I'll see you outside."
Shocked
In a related development, the Liberal Party's spokeswoman on health, disability, social affairs, the export of live frogs, shake and vac, Ms. Ohyouknow Theonewhomasearasthewhitesofhereyes, said something or other rather portentous in a canary yellow suit. And Gracie Fields is still dead.
Naughty vicar
Celebrities flocked to see the new showing of Michael Portillo's political acumen after his success as the Conservative Party's London elections supremo. In a new move, he nailed his Thatcherite credentials to the sofa by appearing on BBC Children's Television to tell children: "I don't think a smug git with a silly haircut will become Prime Minister in my life time."
UNE ADDRESS DU
CAPITAINE PADDY ASHDOWN, V.C.
Allons citoyens! C'est moi, Paddy Ashdown, le chef de la partie plus communitaire en England, avec des mots très important de nos temps. As vous will connâit, les elections de la Union European ont au dessus de nous. Votez pour nous, les autres parties sont petites anglaises, et j'ai de commando training.
Copyright: The Mad Mullah 1984
Sunday, August 27, 2006
The more thrilling adventures of H.H.Asquith and Sir Edward Grey, the Boy Wonder
The story so far: 6 o'clock was cocktail time. Sure enough, one came through the window. "Holy Agadir, H.H., Prince Kropotkin's very punctual today," said the Boy Wonder. "Ah, Miss Violet, you have broken my heart in seventeen places, including Shepherd's Bush," observed the Prince of PMs. "I think I'll have to brush up my French," said Ll.G. "Things are getting touchy in the Channel." "I think we need to think about inflation; time was, you could set fire to a small country and still get change from a penny. So much for the Licensing Act," muttered H.H. as he slid to the floor. "Mine's a small one but it still fits in the envelope!"
The Queen of Moston
Part sixteen of our thrilling chronicle, continued from page 6
"Well, you know, some of us know some very important people, we're not all just tat you know, oh no, I knew that Lord Byron you know, mm, that's right, well, I never met him, but I saw a book of his in a bookshop once, well, I was told about the bookshop, it was next to a cottage I went to once when I was just going to see my friend the butcher boy, ooh no, he's in the recreation department, he's just a bit butcher than a lot of the old queens you see on the stamps, well he'd had a row with his boss, the Supernintendo, no, not Lord Byron, though he was a nice old doll, he left me some chocolate biscuits you know, are you listening to me?
HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD!!
Tony Bollockbrain brings us the best of the new releases from the film capital of nowhere in particular.
Citizen Kong (RKO)
Orson Welles' searing verité exposé of the American media system. Robert Armstrong stars as an adventurer who visits a remote South Seas island and brings back a monster that sets New York on its ear. Also starring Fay Wray as Linda Lusardi.
Alien in Wonderland (CBS)
Also billed as The Return of the Ploughman's Lunch.
In one of the grossest moments in mainstream cinema, the scene where the white rabbit jumps out of Alice's stomach used real cream!
An American Werewolf in Paris (Paramount)
Thrill to Gene Kelly as the moon-crazed lycanthrope, Lon Chaney Jr. as Jack Buchanan and Peter Lorre as Cyd Charisse. Features that romantic Left Bank moment where Kelly slobbers all over the heroine's frock.
Cinema in pictures
Sylvester Stallone and Kathleen Turner relaxing on the set of "Noah II: Revenge of the Woodworm," a major new release due out next summer.
The Cinemagoer beats the censors! The scene that was cut out of "The Tallulah Bankhead Story" (1972)
A scene from Howard Hawks' 1937 production of "Mopsy, Flopsy and Cottontail" starring George Raft as Mummy.
Meryl Streep posing on location for her film hit "Out of Africa" (1985)
A rare moment of lyric passion in Russ Meyer's adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's "Women In Love," presently being filmed in a scout hut in Digbeth. Robert Maxwell and Clive James share this intimate scene.
High drama in the Spanish Main as Captain Eric Blood (Basil Radford) engages in bloody duel with Jasper Yellowbeard (Claudette Colbert) in Talbot Rothwell's thrilling bodice-ripper "Coo Lummee!"
Video Review
This week's reviewer is Police Inspector Arnie Nunfondler of the Queen's Own Mounted Freemasons.
I Spit In Your Gravy (1979)
An idiosyncratic portrait of the Brothers Roux. A high school convention of cuisine minceur freaks falls victim to the blood-crazed madnesses of mousses aux girolles and galettes suisses. Cissy Spacek stars as the rissole.
The Last Remake of Phillip Jenkinson (1977)
A small-scale cinematic classic starring John Hurt as an outrageously camp television magazine presenter thrown into the slough of despond after misguidedly demonstrating the techniques of French kissing on his pet kitten.
Abbott & Costello Meet Austen Chamberlain (1943)
Join our lovable clowns in a period romp as Bud is mistaken for German statesman Gustav Stressemann, a confusion compounded by Lou's quite remarkable resemblance to Lord Crewe. Adolphe Menjou, as Stanley Baldwin, lends a degree of urbanity to this knockabout farce using the Treaty of Locarno as a backdrop.
The St. Lone Ranger's Story (1937)
C.B. de Mille's classic revokation of the legend of the great saint. Forty-seven extras were injured in the filming of the Hannigan's Truss Boutique scene. Clara Bow steals many of the quieter scenes. Look for the cameo by Erich von Stroheim as Fazackerly, last of the Lancashire Giants.
The Last of the Red Hot Mongols (1957)
Yul Brynner stars as Sophie Tucker, the blood-crazed megalomaniac who ravages the whole of Asia, setting entire communities to risqué ballads. Look out for King Oliver as Vasili II, Tsar of all the Russias.
Absolute Binliners (1986)
A musical extravaganza starring Patsy Kensit, David Bowie, someone else, that bloke in the loud suit from the Club Legover advert, forty-seven extras from a C.B. de Mille picture, twelve thousand failed interviewees for the part of Pippi Lonstocking and twenty-nine thousand advertising agents in an all-singing, all-dancing, all-consuming mess set in the London of the 1970s. Don't miss Sir John Gielgud as Malcolm MacLaren and Denholm Elliott as Bill Grundy.
Blue Peter The Motion Picture (1985)
John Carpenter's homage to washing up liquid bottles and sticky back plastic. You'll never look at sensible scissors quite the same way again!
The Desert Song (1912)
The original version directed by Vasili Goncharov with Maxim Gorki as the Red Shadow. A seminal work which influenced Eisenstein's "Пять идти в Киеве" ("Five Go To Kiev"). The original score by Wally Whyton (for years supplanted by a Leonid Brezhnev and the Crickets album) is played by Andrei Sakharov on a paper and comb.
Directing By Numbers (1988)
Peter Greenaway invites us to tarry awhile in the warm glow of obfuscationist cinema. Bernard Hill stars as Rondolfo, an itinerant newt-sexer and underwater saxophonist who falls in love with Gertrude (Debbie Greenwood in a fun fur and cardboard viking helmet), a Bessarabian cat meat saleswoman and mistress of Wotan, a chartered accountant from Crewe.
INTERNET SPECIALWITH WIBBLY PIG
Everyone's been talking about the Internet, but just what is it and why and what are all those squiggly things and can you really get instructions on how to make a bomb and cats and cannibal cookbooks and Elvis is married to the Loch Ness Monster and Jimmy Clitheroe sings counter tenor under half a pound of boiled ham at the Albert Hall with Luciano Panzerotti bullshitcomputer.bollocks.uk up up and away, heigh ho Silver cut awat cut away with William Tell and Bela Lugosi as Anne Shelton on the European Special world wide jet set superhighway to the stars including James Last and the Jimmy Hill Latin American dancers.
Coming soon: Windows 95 -- embedded objects to improve your love life
EUROSCEPTIC IN SHOCK NEW OUTBURST
"I never did care for Emporer Rosco," says Gorman.
UNLUCKY LOTTO WINNER
Report by our National Lottery correspondent Phil Filooker
"My friends don't want to know any more," says National Lottery winner John Major.
More of this drivel at length inside.
News in Briefs
Coatbridge Sunnyside: Commuters reeled in shock as a train pulled out of the station on time. "I was shocked and stunned," said local blacksmith Mrs. Ethel Crutchley. A shocked Scotrail spokesman said: "Obviously this is the kind of thing we shall want to get rid of when the services are fully privatised."
Dr. Day's Junction: Inter Milan have put in a £2.5m bid for wayward midfield maestro Jackie Chan.
BAYWATCH - MY STORY BY SIR ROBERT ARMSTRONG
COSY! MEETS VLAD THE IMPALER AT HIS BUCHAREST VILLA
Text by Betsy Coed
Pictures by Clifford Llandudno
TUMULT AND FRENZY IN COMMONS ROW
ATTILA THE HUN ADMITS GOINGS-ON
Report by our Commons Correspondent, Patsy Plenty
Amazing scenes ensued after a personal statement by the Right Honourable Attila the Hun Q.C. M.P., member for British West Hartlepool and Secretary for State for Inclement Weather. The statement followed disclosures concerning the untruth of his answers to the House in Question Time last week. He had been asked by Gordon Nowhere, member for Bedlam West, whether there was any truth in the allegations that he had personally indulged in rapine and pillage, set the villages of the Magyar Plains to fire and tempest, tortured and killed many innocents, spilt Christian blood, abased two dozen bishops and personally disgraced a Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church. Mr. the Hun replied that it wasn't him.
Subsequently, he was asked by Miss Betty Bluebell, the Speaker of the House: "Are you sure?" To which he replied: "Oh, yes, that's right. I did it."
The House was unimpressed. There was an intervention by the member for Dangling Strangely, Mr. Dundee Gobshite, who said: "I don't give a flying fuck for what you do out there matey, but you can't tell fibs to us. You should be strung up!" There were cries of "hear hear!" "mine's a large one," and "she looked older than fourteen to me, officer."
Speaker: "You're a naughty little man, aren't you?"
Mr. the Hun: "Sorry."
Speaker: "Oh alright, then. Have an OBE."
Tumult and jubilation. Cries of "jolly good show," "press intrusion" and "after you in the barrel, Michael."
Hooray for Hollywood!
[I'm trying to get hold of good copies of the pictures to scan]
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1932)
Warner Brothers' presentation of the Beatrix Potter story, starring George Raft and James Cagney and featuring Pat O'Brian as Mr. McGregor.
An American Werewolf in Paris (1951)
Lon Chaney Jr. stars as Gene Kelly in this sumptuous extravaganza of lycanthropic terpsichore.
The Rather Over-compensating for Shyness Version Of Brief Encounter (1947)
The remake of the David Lean classic wherein Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson are arrested at Carnforth Station after complaints lodged by catering management.
Citizen Kong (1943)
How a seventy-foot tall gorilla conquered the Yellow Press of America.