Happy Birthday Dory!

Click here and read the end of this post :)

50 and counting

This weekend was a good friend of mine's 50th birthday. So: to celebrate I've made a list: Now, a number of prominent people where born in 1958 and here is a list of 50 of them. See if you can work out who my mate is...

Grandmaster Flash - rapping pioneer
Matt Frewer - actor, Max Headroom
Vicki Peterson - Guitarist for The Bangles
Jools Holland - musician and broadcaster, Squeeze and Later With...
Ellen DeGeneres - Actress and famous lesbian
Michael Jackson - television executive
Tip Tipping - actor and stuntman (Aliens)
Nik Kershaw - pop star and music writer
Andy Gibb - pop star (the Bee Gees)
Gary Numan - pop star
Sharon Stone - actress (Basic Instinct) and China agitator
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Holly Hunter - actress (Broadcast News)
Gary Oldman - actor (Batman Begins)
Alec Baldwin - actor (The Hunt for Red October)
Will Sergeant - guitarist, Echo and the Bunnymen
Fish - singer (Marillion)
Eric Singer - drummer (Kiss)
Neil Finn - musician/song writer (Crowded House)
Annette Bening actress (American Beauty)-
Prince - pop star
Zane Llewelyn - racing driver
Keenen Ivory Wayans - actor/director
Meredith Brooks - singer
Bill Watterson - cartoonist (Calvin and Hobbes)
Jennifer Saunders - comedian
Kevin Bacon - actor (Footloose)
Michael Flatley - dancer
Kate Bush - singer/songwriter
Bill Berry - former drummer of REM
Bruce Dickinson - rock star (Iron Maiden)
Madonna - pop star
Angela Bassett - actress (What's Love Got to Do With It?)
Belinda Carlisle - pop star (The GoGos)
Steve Guttenberg - actor (Police Academy)
Tim Burton - director (Edward Scissorhands)
Michael Jackson - pop star
Chris Columbus - director (Harry Potter)
Andrea Bocelli - opera singer
Thomas Dolby - pop star (Hyperactive)
Tim Robbins - actor (The Shawshank Redemption)
Viggo Mortensen - actor (Lord of the Rings)
Mark King - singer/bass guitarist (Level 42)
Simon Le Bon - singer (Duran Duran)
Mark Austin - newsreader
Jamie Lee Curtis - actress (Trading Places)
George Saunders - author
Nick Park -animator (Wallace and Grommit)
Niki Sixx - rock star (Motley Crue)
Alannah Myles - singer (Black Velvet)

Also celebrating her birthday this week (though not 50th) is my great friend, Dory. I couldn't let it go by without a mention cos she's took lovely and one of the kindest, friendliest people I have the pleasure know. So have a great birthday this week honey.

Happy Birthday Sally!

It was my beautiful wife, Sally's birthday yesterday so I thought I'd dedicate a list to her. I didn't do it yesterday as we went out for dinner last night after she'd spent the day shopping in London. Unfortunately I couldn't get the time off work, which was probably a good thing, to let her shop alone! When I came back from work tonight she was on one of her presents, the Wii Fit: highly recommended.

Anyway, here is a list of events that happened on the 29 May:


:: 1660 - Charles II (on his birthday is restored to the throne of Great Britain (the Restoration)

:: 1886 - The first advertisement for Coca-Cola appeared (in the Atlanta Journal).

:: 1913 - The premier of Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring performed in Paris.

:: 1942 - Bing Crosby records Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling Christmas album in ever.

1953 - Edmund Hilary conquers Mount Everest

:: 1954 - First of the mysterious annual Bilderberg conferences for the world's rich and powerful.
:: 1982 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff ever to visit Canterbury Cathedral.

:: 1985 - Heysel Stadium disaster: , 39 football fans die and hundreds are injured at the European Cup final in Brussels in the match between Liverpool and Juventus.

:: 1999 - Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.

:: Birthdays: 1630 - Charles II, 1903 - Bob Hope, 1914 - Stacy Keach, 1917 - John F Kennedy, 1949 - Francis Rossi, 1953 - Danny Elfman, 1959 - Rupert Everett, 1967 - Noel Gallagher, 1975 - Mel B, and of course, Sally.

"Let meee introduce you to my leettle frind" Happy Birthday Al Pacino

Today is the 68th birthday of actor Al Pacino. Born in 1940 in Manhattan he has made over 40 films and won an Oscar, 4 Golden Globes, Tonys, 2 BAFTA, an Emmy and SAG awards (and countless nominations) so it's not just me that thinks he is one of the greatest living actors.

He made his feature debut in the little noticed Me, Natalie (1969) after appearing a number of times on stage (in which he is still quite prolific) but it wasn't until playing a heroin addict in The Panic in Needle Park (1971) that people really started to take notice. What catapulted him to super stardom was his role in The Godfather movies.

Having studied at the same stage school as Robert De Niro under method acting coach Lee Strasberg he is often compared to this other greatest living actor (his list will be on August 17, if I remember!) and they finally appeared together on screen in Michael Mann's excellent Heat (they both appeared in The Godfather II but never shared a scene).

The following list is my favourite roles of Pacino, from films which I have seen (I really must try and catch Glengarry Glenross, Serpico and Insomnia, amongst others). Having Al Pacino in a movie usually makes it worth watching (though I'll probably be giving Gigli a miss).

1. Don Michael Corleone - Godfather trilogy
2. Sonny - Dog Day Afternoon
3. Tony Montana - Scarface
4. Vincent Hanna - Heat
5. Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero - Donnie Brasco
6. Carlito 'Charlie' Brigante - Carlito's Way
7. Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade - Scent of a Woman
8. John Milton - The Devil's Advocate
9. Lowell Bergman - The Insider
10. Bobby - The Panic at Needle Park

As well as those great parts he's also turned down a number of huge roles. Imagine him as Han Solo in Star Wars, Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now, Paul Sheldon in Misery, Ted Kramer in Kramer Vs. Kramer and Edward Lewis in Pretty Woman.

Michael Caine, 75 today

"My name is Sir Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr., CBE". Better known as Michael Caine, the English actor is 75 today. One of this countries best known actors I thought I'd mark the occasion by listing my top ten favourite Michael Caine movies. Same rules as usual, only films I've seen and only ones where he plays a major role, rather than a small part (like Batman Begins).

1. The Ipcress File (and The Billion Dollar Brain)
2. Get Carter
3. The Italian Job
4. Alfie
5. Educating Rita
6. The Eagle Has Landed
7. Zulu
8. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
9. The Forth Protocol
10. Escape to Victory

...and he's done a few stinkers but nothing as bad a Jaws: The Revenge

37 and counting

Despite being at work today and my cold lingering on (I feel fine, the gunkiness just won't shift!) I feel pretty good today. Yep, it's my birthday. Even the postal strike backlog delaying a few presents isn't even bringing me down. Sally is coming into my work later with some buns she's baked, so things can only be good.

So here's a list of things that happened on my birthday (don't worry, not 37 of them!)

• 1356 - Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps destroyed the town of Basel, Switzerland
• 1851 - Herman Melville's Moby Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.
• 1867 - United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
• 1929 - Women are considered "Persons" under law in Canada.
• 1944 - Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia.
• 1968 - A police raid on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's flat finds 168 grams of marijuana. They later plead guilty and are fined £150.
• 1968 - Bob Beamon sets a world record of 8.90m in the long jump at the Mexico City games. This becomes the longest unbroken track and field
• 1968 - The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends two black athletes for giving a "black power" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.
• 1991 - Azerbaijan declares independence from USSR
• Famous birthdays include: 1405 - Pope Pius II (d. 1464) , 1926 - Chuck Berry, 1926 - Klaus Kinski, German actor (d. 1991), 1927 - George C. Scott, American actor (d. 1999) , 1939 - Lee Harvey Oswald, purported American assassin of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963), 1974 - Robbie Savage, Welsh footballer, 1982 - Ne-Yo, American "singer".
  
  131,036 People

Free Online Dating from JustSayHi

40th Birthdays

As well as being BBC Radio One's 40th birthday, it is also my brother's 40th too. So Happy Birthday bro' and here is a list of today's top ten singles chart followed by the top ten on the day they were both born:

2007:

1. All About You - Sugababes
2. No U Hang Up/If It's Ok With You - Shane Ward
3. Ayo Technology - 50 Cent/Timberlake/Timberland
4. Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston
5. Let Me Think About It - Ida Corr Vs Fedde Le Grand
6. Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's
7. Stronger - Kanye West
8. 1973 - James Blunt
9. She's So Lovely - Scouting For Girls
10. Shut Up and Drive - Rihanna

The Official UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company

1967:

1. The Last Waltz -Engelbert Humperdinck
2. Excerpt From 'A Teenage Opera'- Keith West
3. Itchycoo Park - Small Faces
4. Flowers In The Rain - Move
5. Let's Go To San Francisco - Flowerpot Men
6. Reflections - Diana Ross & The Supremes
7. I'll Never Fall In Love Again - Tom Jones
8. San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair) - Scott McKenzie
9. Hole In My Shoe - Traffic
10. We Love You / Dandelion - Rolling Stones

I doubt the 2007 tunes will be considered classics, like most of the 1967 tracks are, in 40 years time.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Today is my Mum's birthday so this list is in tribute to her.
So here's a list of people who share her birthday:

• 1852 - Hubert H. Asquith, British Prime Minister (1908-16)
• 1902 - Margaret Hamilton, actress (Wicked Witch of the West in Wizard of Oz)
• 1913 - Jesse Owens, athlete who ruined Hitler's 1936 Olympics with 4 gold medals
• 1931 - Ian Holm, actor (Alien, Lord of the Rings)
• 1940 - Linda Gray, actress (Sue Ellen Ewing -Dallas)
• 1944 - Barry White, singer (the walrus of lurve)
• 1949 - Mark Knopfler, rock singer/guitarist (Dire Straits)
• 1951 - Joe Pantoliano, actor (The Fugitive, The Matrix)
• 1956 - Brian Robertson, rock guitarist (Thin Lizzy)
• 1965 - Moby, musician, composer and pop star (solo artist)
• 1971 - Johnny Vegas, comedian/actor (Bleak House, Sex Lives of the Potato Men)

Happy birthday Mum.