July 2010 Archives

Quite a crowd had gathered by the time the last remaining LIverpool Overhead Railway carriage in the world made its way down the Strand this morning with a police escort.
It was well wrapped up against the weather, rather ironic considering that for 60 years it plied its way up and down the exposed waterfront day in day out and in all weathers.
But there was rain threatening, and the restorers didn't want all their work undone before the motorcoach reached its new home in the Museum of Liverpool on Mann Island.

Well, it just keeps on coming, and the fat lady hasn't even started her warm-up exercises. Thank goodness for the wonderful summer weather we're having.
Oh........
The latest bad news is the pulling of £2.4m NWDA funding for the Everyman theatre rebuilding project, and the news that what NML boss David Fleming hinted at in my chat with him the other week is likely to come true.

You know when you meet someone and you've got so many questions but only a finite amount of time to ask them? That's the position I found myself in with ex-Python Eric Idle a couple of weeks ago.
My interview with the co-creator of Spamalot is in today's Echo - but that only really scratches the surface of what we spoke about. And what we spoke about only scratched the surface of the South Shields-born, Wallasey-raised (until the moment he was sent to a Dickensian boarding school in Wolverhampton of all places) star's life and work.

A quick glance at Saturday night TV (I have a rare night in!) and it appears Liverpool is taking over the primetime airwaves.
First BBC2 is showing the RLPO's superb performance at this week's Proms - more of that anon. Then you can switch almost straight over and find John Bishop's new comedy show on BBC1.

Congratuations to Londonderry/Derry for winning the first UK City of Culture title.
I was told by Phil Redmond that the bid was so impressive it was a unanimous decision by the eight-strong independent judging panel.

Congratulations to the four Liverpool musicians - Marcus Cahill, Josh Ferrigan, Jimmy and Tony Coburn - who are off to Los Angeles to play the Beatles.
They lads make up almost half the cast in the recreation of the Abbet Road recording sessions at Paramount Studios this autumn.

Very exciting news - I am going on tour with the RLPO.
Obviously since I only play extraordinarily bad piano and it's quarter of a century since I passed grade 5 theory and singing, I won't, you'll be pleased to hear, be performing.
But I will hopefully be keeping Echo readers up to date with how the tour of the northern cities of Spain is going.

Sometimes I can go weeks before I realise I haven't left the city environs, so last Thursday I accepted an invitation to spend the day at the Buxton Festival.
Amazingly, I've never been to Buxton but I plan to go back now - it seems like a lovely little town, and even if you don't want to drive, which I didn't (Sir Ranulph Fiennes no less, taking part in a literature event at the festival revealed he'd been playing cat and mouse with parking wardens), it's easy to get there by train with a change at Picadilly.

Congratulations to the cast of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists which closed its run at the Everyman on Saturday.
I hear the production is expected to be a record-breaker for the theatre, with people clamouring for tickets right up to the last day.

Exciting news for the children of a West Everton primary who are set to perform at the Royal Festival Hall today.
More than 100 youngsters from Faith Primary School are due to take part in two In Harmony concerts which will be streamed live on the internet at lunchtime and teatime.