royal visit and filming in the city

By Catherine Jones on May 23, 08 08:27 AM

Ah, a day (almost) at rest after the flurry of the Queen's visit yesterday.
And I'm not the only one who is probably relieved - a little bird told me Liverpool One boss Rod Holmes could be seen scurrying around the site on Tuesday telling everyone "come on, come on, the Queen's coming" or words to that effect.
Still, Rod has what is probably a rather busy week ahead of him now whereas for most of the rest of us it's the bank holiday.
At least the sun shone and several hundred people turned out to see the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

I loved the Knotty Ash Signing Choir standing outside St George's Hall singing Pete Wylie's Heart as Big as Liverpool, and, as the Queen left, Ticket to Ride.
The sight of Ken Dodd, who was rather amusingly asked for his ID by security, standing on the edge of the red carpet and pulling out a big yellow comb and giving his hair a once over before the royal party turned up was also rather charming.
Inside, I spotted Gerry Marsden and his wife Pauline standing in line to be introduced to the Queen.
Pete Price was in the Duke of Edinburgh's line-up, but cheekily told the Duke he thought he should be on the other side "meeting your wife".
Pete spotted the Viennese ball dancers on the way in and said he thought at first he was underdressed. Pete Price underdressed?! Maybe he should have worn his Ugly Sister outfit from this year's Cinderella.....
Then there was the Bishop of Liverpool who had popped out to buy Prince Philip a bottle of Cains 2008 beer to have with his lunch as apparently he is partial to a drop of the stuff.

It was certainly appreciated - the Duke was spotted asking the waiter to come back and top his glass up properly.
At the Echo Arena they did rather a whizz around and it was a bit of a scrum because of the space - so I missed what they thought of the giant Orrery and the shanty singers.
It was also a bit of a shame for the youngsters taking part in The Line dance that they didn't get to spend more time with the Queen.
But they did very well considering they couldn't have their usual music playing.
I had a short break at lunchtime and dropped into the Walker Art Gallery for a bite to eat.
Someone else who wasn't invited to sit down to venison and exotic fruits (including a dragon fruit which prompted the Queen to ask what it was) was ex-cricketer Phil Tufnell who rolled up at the next table with a film crew.
I heard later he was doing some filming in the Art in the Age of Steam exhibition.
Apparently Adam Hart-Davis was also seen filming in the city yesterday, down in the middle of the Strand. He's doing something involving the Maritime Museum but we'll have to see what.
With Les Dennis also filming in Liverpool, and Alexei Sayle's programme being shown next month, and of course the royal visit and Macca's imminent arrival, the city's profile continues to ride high.