The filming of a new television drama threw a 'lifeline' to a village pub that had been forced to close during the pandemic. The Bell Inn, in Kersey, Suffolk, was used as one of the locations of the BritBox series,
The Magpie Murders. Wendy Gray, its landlady at the time, said the film company hired the building and car park for two weeks. She said the timing was 'fortuitous' as, due to the restrictions, in May 2021, it could only open outside. The TV series is an adaptation of bestselling writer Anthony Horowitz's crime thriller which was partially set in the county.
The Lord Of The Rings fans - and there are, indeed, quite a few of them - have been given
the first glimpse at footage from the new one
billion dollar Amazon TV series.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power is credited as being the most expensive TV show ever made. Set thousands of years before the books - and Peter Jackson's movies - it will bring author JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth to the small-screen from September. The
sixty-second teaser trailer appears to show ancestors of the hobbits and a host of other mysterious characters.
Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis' portrayal of Michelle Obama is seen in
the first trailer for a new TV drama.
First Lady, which will be broadcast later this year, will explore the lives of the women married to three US presidents. The ten-part series will also star Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and
From The North favourite Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt.
In 2019, during the fifth series of the BBC's acclaimed police corruption drama,
From The North reported some truly idiotic comments about the series made by (then) real-life copper, The Met's Cressida Dick - a classic example of 'the Peter Principle' if ever there was one. Someone who appeared to be the very definition of nominative determinism, Dick by name and dick by nature - who, seemingly, hadn't got enough to do in her
actual job (whatever
that entailed, besides incompetent attempts to cover-up the manslaughter of innocent Brazilians) without wanting a new gig as
a whinging TV Critic. 'Leave that to the professionals, sweetheart and maybe try solving some of the reported
fifty murders which occurred on your patch in 2018' this blogger noted at the time. 'God save us all, dear blog reader, from armchair critics (this blogger very much included). But, particularly those armed with their own truncheon.'
Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio's spirited response to this abject nonsense -
slapping down The Odious Dick into the gutter in a most satisfying way - was, of course, perfect. Therefore, dear blog reader, as you can probably imagine, The Dick's recent very public - and
very funny -
resignation after a series of spectacular incompetent blunders in office was greatly welcomed at the Stately Telly Topping Manor Plague House. This blogger had intended to write a lengthy - admittedly, somewhat sneering - 'Farewell, Then, Ms Dick & Try To Let The Door Hit Your Arse, Extremely Hard, On The Way Out' obituary to her career. But, he's not going to because
From The North favourite Marina Hyde of the
Gruniad has done it for him and, indeed, for all of us,
Farewell, Cressida Dick, The Met Chief Only Interested In One Thing: Ignoring Bad Coppers. Allow this blogger to quote Marina's first couple of paragraphs, in full, because they're really
very good. 'Cressida Dick absolutely despised
Line Of Duty,' begins Marina, much as this blogger intended to. But, she's a much better writer than Keith Telly Topping so what follows was preferable. 'The endlessly promoted Metropolitan police chief really crossed the road to tip on the BBC smash hit - so tellingly incensed by a show about sidelined cops doing the painful and unpopular work of rooting out bad apples. As Dame Cressida finally resigns from the spoilt barrel of The Met, I couldn't help but recall a 2019
Radio Times interview in which she expanded on her issues. "I was absolutely outraged by the level of casual and extreme corruption that was being portrayed as the way the police is," Dick told the magazine. "It's so far from that. The standards and professionalism are so high." Mmm. It was left to the show's creator, Jed Mercurio, to offer a little background. "My inspiration for creating
Line Of Duty was The Met Police shooting an innocent man and their dishonesty in the aftermath," he explained icily, "so thanks to Cressida Dick for reminding me of our connection." Dick, of course, ran the bungled counterterrorism operation that resulted in Met officers fatally shooting Jean Charles de Menezes, an entirely innocent twenty seven-year-old electrician. But oddly - indeed, bizarrely - that wasn't the only Mercurio creation The Met chief had issues with. Both in the
Radio Times interview and in an earlier outing on
GMB, she added that she'd had to switch off the BBC's
Bodyguard - at the time, the most watched drama since current records began - because she couldn't handle the mere idea of the two protagonists beginning a sexual relationship. As she put it: "The moment when the Home Secretary made a pass at the protection officer was just beyond me, I'm afraid." And yet, beyond her
how? Beyond her
why? In recent memory, a police protection officer had been dismissed for allegedly having an affair with the wife of the then Home Secretary, Alan Johnson. At the time, the special operations directorate to which he reported was being run by ... Cressida Dick. Forgive me for beginning by focusing on Dick's outrage about entirely fictional events, when she appeared to experience only
mild displeasure at so many hideously
real situations involving her officers. But Dame Cressida's telly critiques unwittingly revealed her most deadly flaws: a total failure of imagination, even in the face of overwhelming evidence and a total loyalty to officers that superseded all else. The public came a very distant second and increasingly knew it.' Yeah. What
she said, dear blog reader. To
the very end, Dick by name ...
And, speaking of the
Gruniad Morning Star - and proving that even a broken clock can be right twice a day - Benjie Goodhart's excellent piece
'At 6pm Every Evening The Screen Went Blank': The Outlandish Tale Of The UK's TV Blackout is, also, well worth a few moments of every dear blog reader's time. Especially for those with an interest in TV history (and, let's face it, that should be most of you).
Buck-toothed horrorshow (and drag) Rob Beckett has
reportedly told ITV 'I'll see you in court' after the broadcaster allegedly 'replaced' him on a recent episode of
The Masked Singer. The thirty six-year-old extremely unfunny 'comedian' (
very popular with students, apparently) has been 'taking to social media' to insist he was The Traffic Cone on the bafflingly popular singing competition and feature in
From The North's
Worst TV Shows list of both
2020 and
2021. Slappably-unfunny plank Beckett continued to claim he
was the character on the show even when it was revealed to be Aled Jones prompting a response from the broadcaster. The broadcaster replied with a laughing emoji to which Beckett replied: 'See you in court.' And, this utter self-publicising
horseshit constitutes
'news' apparently.
If Bamber Gascoigne was ever irked by the fact that he was best known to the British public for the phrase: 'Fingers on buzzers, your starter for ten,' he never showed it. More than thirty years after his retirement as the quizmaster on
University Challenge - a post he had held for a quarter of a century between 1962 and 1987 - the phrase still dogged him, despite everything else he did in a life well-lived. Gascoigne, who has
died aged eighty seven, with his easy patrician manner, born of a family steeped in centuries of aristocratic connections, proved an inspired if incongruous choice to chair a television quiz show on a commercial channel, even in the early 1960s. He looked and spoke like a junior Oxbridge don, gradually evolving into an uncensorious professor. He did not, he noted, mind being
parodied by Griff Rhys Jones in an episode of
The Young Ones, or by Mark Gatiss in the movie
Starter For Ten in 2006 and he even played himself in an episode of
Jonathan Creek.
TV producer and
From The North favourite Beryl Vertue, whose company created
Coupling,
Men Behaving Badly and
Sherlock, has died aged ninety. The media executive, who rose to the top of the industry after starting as a secretary, 'passed away peacefully' on Saturday, her family
said. Industry colleagues called her one of the most influential women in British TV. Daughters Sue and Debbie, producers at the company their mother founded, said: 'She meant so much to so many.' Beryl's career began when she was asked by the writers of
Hancock's Half Hour and
Steptoe & Son, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, to type up their scripts. In the mid-1950s, Beryl become an agent, almost by accident, representing comedy writers Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight, Galton and Simpson, and Terry Nation (for whom she brilliantly negotiated to keep partial rights to his Dalek creation for
Doctor Who). She also Hancock (until 1961) and Frankie Howerd. She also had success selling shows such as
Til Death Us Do Part and
Steptoe & Son to the US market. In 1979, she founded Hartswood films, producing a series of shows including the 1990s sitcom
Men Behaving Badly. Her company was also behind the critically acclaimed drama
Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch, produced by Vertue and her daughter Sue, who is married to the series co-creator
From The North favourite The Lord Thy God Steven Moffat (OBE).
Love Thy Neighbour star Jack Smethurst has died peacefully at home aged eighty nine, his family has
confirmed. Smethurst played the bigoted factory worker Eddie Booth in the 1970s ITV sitcom.
The American humourist and
From The North favourite
PJ O'Rourke, who has died aged seventy four of lung cancer, was a writer of sharp wit which ranged from dry to lusciously over-the-top, but was always leavened by a measure of self-deprecation that stopped it from being cruel or harsh. In the political satire that dominated his later writing, he became that rarest of things, a
funny conservative.
Film-maker Ivan Reitman, who directed blockbuster comedies including the original
Ghostbusters, has died at the age of seventy five. After his family fled Communist oppression in post-war Czechoslovakia, Reitman grew up in Canada, where he trained in film-making. His big break came when he produced the 1978 frat-house comedy
National Lampoon's Animal House. His other films as director included
Twins and
Kindergarten Cop. He died peacefully in his sleep at his home in California,
his family said.
Sections of the fabric roof of London's O2 arena have been shredded by the strength of
Storm Eunice's winds, causing the venue to temporarily close. Opened in 2000 - and formerly known as The Millennium Dome - the landmark in Greenwich has been damaged by gusts of up to eighty miles per hour. 'The safety of our visitors remains of paramount importance,' the O2 said in a statement.
A live
YouTube stream of planes attempting to land at Heathrow during Storm Eunice has become
an unexpected online hit. Aviation enthusiast Jerry Dyer has been streaming aircraft's attempts to land at the London airport in the strong winds on his
Big Jet TV channel. His lively commentary - plus the footage as planes approach, sometimes having to abort - have been attracting more than two hundred thousand live viewers at times. Dyer told the BBC that the feed was 'the most exciting stuff you can get.' For several hours on Friday, Dyer has been running the live stream from the roof of a specially adapted van, shouting 'go on son,' 'nicely done' and 'fair play mate' at pilots who land successfully. For trickier landings, he advised pilots to 'go around again' and, as one pilot abandoned an attempt to touch down at the last second amid strong winds, Dyer exclaimed: 'Ooh, he did
not like that.'
US actor Rockmond Dunbar is
attempting to sue the makers of TV drama
Nine-One-One, saying he was fired after claiming exemption from having a Covid vaccination. He says that he was denied 'medical and religious exemptions' and 'faced racial discrimination' when producers Twentieth Television stipulated that all actors had to be vaccinated. The Disney-owned company says it complied with its legal obligations and denied making decisions based on race. Dunbar, who has appeared on the drama since it began on the FOX network in 2018, requested exemptions based on his 'beliefs' as a member of The Church Of Universal Wisdom (no, me neither) and an undisclosed disability, according to his legal case. He claims that he was refused permission to remain unvaccinated while other cast and crew members - of whom 'none sought a religious exemption and none were Black' - were granted exemptions.
Production of the BBC's
MasterChef will be
moved to Birmingham from 2024, producers have announced. It will be the first time the show, one of the BBC's most popular franchises, will be made outside of London in more than twenty years. It is set to be made at the new Digbeth Loc Studios, run by
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. The BBC's Director General, Tim Davie, said that the decision was 'great news for Birmingham and the BBC. We said we would create jobs and investment, bringing decision-making and productions to the West Midlands as part of our Across the UK plans,' he added. 'Moving one of our biggest programme brands shows we are making that a reality.' In 2021, the BBC announced plans to shift its 'creative and journalistic centre' away from London to
'better reflect, represent and serve all parts of the country.'
MasterChef is one of the corporation's biggest entertainment shows and a number of other spin-offs - including
Celebrity MasterChef,
MasterChef: The Professionals and
Young MasterChef - will also be produced in Birmingham.
A statue of The Famous Be-Atles' famous manager famous Brian Epstein in his famous home city of Liverpool has been
granted planning permission. Famously. The sculpture of the impresario, who also managed Cilla Black and Gerry & The Pacemakers, will be erected near to his family's former record shop, NEMS, in Whitechapel. Epstein managed The Famous Be-Atles (a popular beat combo of the 1960s, you might've heard of them) from November 1961 after watching them at The Famous Cavern Club until his death six years later. The Extremely Famous Sir Paul McCartney said that he was 'delighted' to hear of the plans. Jane Robbins, one of the statue's sculptors and Famous McCartney's somewhat less-famous cousin, said: 'He said a few rude words but we were at a family party and I had the photos of the final clay on my phone. I showed him the photograph and he said "bleep, bleep, bleep Janie, that's dead good, like." He spent several minutes looking at it and he was delighted. I don't know if there was an actual a tear in his eye but he was very moved to see the clay and that, I think, speaks volumes. When you get a likeness, people do often cry because that person isn't around anymore.'
A notebook containing hand-written lyrics to The Famous Be-Atles famous classic 'Hey Jude' is
to go on display for the first time. The book, compiled between 1967 and 1968, features The Famous Sir Paul McCartney's draft of the famous song alongside poetry and doodles. Stephen Maycock, a specialist in The Famous Be-Atles memorabilia, said that the book provided 'a fascinating insight' into The Famous Be-Atles' 'creative process.' It will be exhibited at
The Be-Atles Story in Liverpool from 22 February. The notebook also contains a part-lyric for 'Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band', recording notes by The Famous George Harrison (Scouser Of Distinction) for 'All You Need Is Love' as well as verses for other 1967-era songs including 'Being For The Benefit Of Mister Kite', 'Good Morning, Good Morning' and '
All Together Now'. The book belonged to The Famous Be-Atles famous tour manager, the late (
and famous) Mal Evans.
From The North favourite Neil Young has
continued to criticise Spotify, following his
extremely impressive departure from the platform in protest over their support of podcaster Joe Rogan. In a message posted to his website, Young wrote: 'To the musicians and creators in the world, I say this: You must be able to find a better place than Spotify to be the home of your art. To the workers at Spotify, I say [co-founder and chief executive officer] Daniel Ek is your big problem - not Joe Rogan. Ek pulls the strings. Get out of that place before it eats up your soul. The only goals stated by Ek are about numbers - not art, not creativity.' Neil also encouraged readers to divest from four US banks - Chase, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo - 'for their continued funding of the fossil fuel damage even as the global temperature keeps climbing.'
Meanwhile,
From The North ... whatever the
opposite of 'favourite' is, Sting, has
reportedly sold his entire songwriting back catalogue, including solo work and material by The Police, to the Universal Music Group. For a shitload of coin, one imagines.
No justice.
Dizzee Rascal (he is a rapper-type individual, very popular with young people, m'lud) pushed and injured his ex-fiancee during a row when he dropped off their children, a court has
heard. The rapper, whose real name is Dylan Kwabena Mills, has been accused of attacking Cassandra Jones at a property in Streatham in June 2021. Wimbledon Magistrates' Court heard that the thirty six-year-old 'barged' his way into the house, put his forehead against Jones' and 'pushed her to the ground.'
Really hard. Dizzee Rascal of Sevenoaks in Kent, denies 'assault by beating.' Jones and the grime artist, whose top hit tunes include '
Bonkers' and '
Dance Wiv Me', had two children before they split up in February 2021.
From The North's favourite headline of the week, by some distance, came from the
Gruniad.
Boris Johnson 'Not A Complete Clown', Says His New Press Chief. Which is, obviously, something of a relief to have confirmed.
Though, to be fair,
Pine Martens To Be Used As 'Bouncers' To Keep Grey Squirrels Out Of Highlands, from the same media organ, pushed it jolly close to the award.
As, indeed, did the
BBC News website's
KitKat & Durex Makers Nestle And Reckitt Warn Of Price Rises. But, how will the human race survive this horrific discombobulation?
And, as if
that's not bad enough, dear blog reader, Unilever, the firm behind brands such as Marmite and Dove Soap, has
said it will also put up its prices as 'overheads continue to rise.' Chocolate, condoms and, now,
Marmite are getting more expensive, dear blog reader. We might as well just give up and kill ourselves, clearly.
Protest is familiar in Westminster and always has been. It's an important part of our political tradition. But in 2022, very angry gatherings are increasingly common. Small bands of
furious members of the public are often spotted on the corner of Parliament Square, or outside Portcullis House, where many MPs work and gather. They sometimes hold placards and are normally carrying camera phones to record and share their exploits, carefully watching who goes past.
Last Monday such a group spotted the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. He became the latest, along with the Shadow Foreign Secretary and Labour's leader in the Lords, to be personally targeted and swarmed by wretched lowlife scum, before being bundled into the back of a police car for his own safety. The experience, inevitably filmed and posted online within minutes, was another ugly reminder of what many politicians encounter in the name of this modern form of protest - abusive, personal, edgy. But it's also reignited the considerable anger inside the Conservative Party at the Prime Minister's
false claims in Parliament a week previously. Bashing Boris Johnson - who, remember, is 'not a complete clown', apparently - misleadingly suggested that the Labour leader had been involved in the decision not to prosecute serial sex offender Jimmy Savile, a political attack which attracted criticism from some Conservatives straight away. And, wasn't even true. It led later in the week to the resignation of one of Johnson's closest political confidants and was one of the reasons why concern was spreading in Conservative ranks about Johnson's leadership. His refusal to apologise - and, only partial retraction - made some MPs queasy and was the trigger for at least one of them to add their private letter to those already submitted in an effort to oust him.
A sushi restaurant, due to open for the first time last Friday, has
grovellingly apologised after 'mistakenly' publishing a dress code which specified women had to wear 'sexy' clothing to gain entry. Beluga in Leatherhead, Surrey, said on its website that women could wear 'sexy black ankle-strap heels with a form-fitting top', or could opt for 'skinny jeans' or 'midi or bodycon dresses.' Men were told not to wear tracksuits. In a post on
Instagram the restaurant offered its 'sincere apologies.' It said: 'The description was inappropriate, disrespectful and offensive and does not reflect the image we're seeking to promote. We wish to clarify that our policy is a smart dress code for men and women.'
Researchers
believe there may be a planet which could sustain life, in the vicinity of a dying sun. If confirmed, this would be the first time that a potentially life-supporting planet has been found orbiting such a star, called a white dwarf. The planet was detected in the star's 'habitable zone' where it's neither too cold nor too hot to sustain life. The study is published in the monthly notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society. Professor Jay Farihi of University College London, who led the study, said the observation was 'completely new' to astronomers. 'This is the first time that anything has been seen in the habitable zone of a white dwarf. And thus there is a possibility of life on another world orbiting it,' he told
BBC News. The research team do not have direct evidence of the planet's existence - but the movements of sixty five Moon-sized structures orbiting the white dwarf's habitable zone, suggest it
is there. The structures' distance in relation to each other does not change, suggesting that they are under the influence of the gravity of a planet in the vicinity. Or under the influence of anything else, come to that.
A new planet has been
discovered around the star closest to the Sun that is within reach of 'future exploration.' Astronomers found evidence of the body orbiting the Proxima Centauri star using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The planet is the third detected in the system and is just a quarter of Earth's mass, making it the lightest yet discovered orbiting the star - which is just over four light-years away from the Sun. Named Proxima D, the newly discovered world orbits Proxima Centauri at a distance of about four million kilometres - less than a tenth of Mercury's distance from the Sun. So, if you're thinking of going, dear blog reader, it might be an idea to pack the Factor Fifty.
Astronomers
say that a rocket section set to crash into the Moon in March did
not come from Elon Musk's space exploration company as they first thought. Instead they believe it is probably a Chinese rocket stage launched for a lunar mission in 2014. The impact of the collision with the Moon will be minor, scientists say. Although, if it happens to land on Mooncase, that
might be somewhat less 'minor' than anticipated. Astronomers first identified a piece of machinery on course to crash into the Moon on 4 March in January. Machinery left in space that doesn't return to the Earth's atmosphere after completing missions is known as space junk. Data analyst Bill Gray identified the object as a Falcon 9 booster from a 2015 launch by billionaire Elon Musk's space exploration programme SpaceX. It was subsequently
reported by journalist Eric Berger. But now, Gray claims he 'made an error' and, instead, believes it is a rocket launched in October 2014 as part of China's Chang'e 5-T1 mission that sent a small spacecraft to the Moon.
With the Moon waxing into its First Quarter phase this week becomes less about pure dark sky stargazing and more about watching our satellite and the planets. This week, for example, gives us
a rare chance to see Uranus - which, let's face it, is
always nice - then Venus, though one will need to be up and about early to glimpse the latter.
Several Chinese streaming platforms have been
accused of censoring LGBT-related plotlines from the hit US sitcom
Friends. The show was re-released in China earlier last week on Tencent, Bilibili, Sohu, iQiyi and Alibaba's Youku. But Chinese fans have complained of scenes being deleted, including those that reference a lesbian character and another featuring a same-sex kiss. It is unclear why the scenes have been removed - apart from, you know, the obvious, sick and disgraceful homophobia - and none of the platforms have responded publicly to the accusations. Though, to paraphrase
From The North favourite Mandy Rice-Davies, 'well, they wouldn't, would they?'
In news which will, one presumes, be less-than-welcome in the People's Republic of China, a
new report has found LGBT representation on American TV is at an all-time high, with nearly twelve per cent of regular characters who are identifiably LGBT. The numbers come from a study by LGBT media advocacy group GLAAD.
Ukrainian singer Alina Pash says that she is ready to represent her country at this year's
Eurovision Song Contest in May, after winning a TV competition on Saturday. Ukraine's national broadcaster UA:PBC has now suspended the signing of the agreement for her to be the country's representative at the song contest. There is,
reportedly, an investigation into a 2015 trip she made to Crimea, an area Russia seized control of in 2014. It means her
Eurovision journey is 'on hold' as she waits for the outcome.
An energy firm has
snivellingly apologised after seventy four customers hit by power cuts during Storm Arwen 'accidentally' received compensation cheques for
trillions of knicker. Northern Powergrid was supposed to be paying tens of thousands of pounds to customers hit by days of outages last November. But a number with Halifax and Newcastle postcodes received cheques made out for thirteen-figure sums. Northern Powergrid said 'a clerical error' was to blame. No shit? Pictures of the erroneous cheques have been circulating on social media days after the firm was criticised for taking months to process compensation claims. Incidentally, dear blog reader, if you're wondering, this blogger was
not one of the recipients of this windfall. If he had been, he'd have cashed the bugger - as a lesson to the company not to be so error-bound in future.
The government is
investigating after new reports of dead crabs and lobsters along the North East coast. This, presumably, being the same government which couldn't organise a piss-up (or several) in Downing Street under lockdown? The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is to 'undertake additional sampling' after fishermen reported further deaths. Tens of thousands of the crustaceans first washed up on shores from Seaton Carew down to Whitby in October. DEFRA previously claimed it had 'completed a thorough investigation' which found a natural 'algal bloom' was responsible.
On September day last year, Simon Hunt took his boat down to the Thames near Brentford and spotted
something lurking in the shallows. Lying on the pebbles and rocks of the riverbed at low tide was a human femur, or upper leg bone. Carbon dating has since indicated it to be more than five thousand years old, meaning it had come from someone who lived in the late Neolithic period - the end of the Stone Age. Experts say it is dated between 3516 and 3365 BC and belonged to a person who was about five feet seven inches tall, but it's not been possible to tell if they were male or female.
The Grand Old Duke Of York, dear blog reader, he had ten million quid. That was, however,
before he gave an unspecified - but, allegedly,
huge - amount away to a woman whom, he claims, he has
never met (despite photographic evidence existing which places him with her
and convicted sex-offender Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001). Prince Andrew, just in case you hadn't heard, has
settled a civil sexual assault case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre who had been suing The Grand Old Duke Of York (he
used to have ten million quid), claiming he sexually assaulted her on three occasions when she was only seventeen. Allegations which - it is important to note - The Grand Old Duke Of York has, repeatedly, denied. One or two people even
believed him. Quite a few media commentators have had quite a lot to say about the final outcome of this affair, including the BBC's
Emily Maitlis whose notoriously direct interview with The Grand Old Duke Of York (he
used to have ten million quid) on
Newsnight did him more harm than good. And, the
Gruniad Morning Star. And, indeed,
just about every other newspaper in the UK (and far beyond). This blogger has little to add ... except to offer the thought that he does
not give permission for a single penny of
his taxes to be used to help pay off The Grand Old Duke Of York's, presumably
massive, legal fees. Just in case the dear old mum of The Grand Old Duke Of York (he used to have ten million quid,
used to being the operative words in this sentence) happens to be a secret - or, indeed, not so secret - reader of
From The North. Not
one single penny, ma'am. Incidentally, for anyone wondering exactly where The Grand Old Duke Of York (he had ten million quid) got his money from in the first place,
this acticle provides a few - though, not all - of the answers. ' Royal finances are not always straightforward. When he was a "working royal," carrying out duties on behalf of The Royal Family, it was suggested that Prince Andrew received about two hundred and fifty thousand smackers per year, including the cost of running an office. But that would have ended when he stepped down from official royal duties in 2019, in the wake of his
Newsnight interview. It hasn't been confirmed whether that was replaced by The Queen paying him from her private income.' Nice work if you can get it, dear blog reader.
A French modelling agent and a former associate of the late US financier, convicted and disgraced sex offender and close personal beast fiend of The Grand Old Duke Of York (he used to have ten million quid) Jeffrey Epstein has been found
extremely dead in his prison cell in Paris. Jean-Luc Brunel was found hanged in La Santé prison on Saturday morning, French media reports. He has been in custody since being placed under formal investigation in 2020, accused of sexual harassment and the rape of minors aged between fifteen and eighteen in France. Brunel had denied any wrongdoing. As, indeed, had The Grand Old Duke Of York (he used to have ten million quid). Just, you know, for a bit of perspective, there.
Michael Masi has been
extremely removed as F1 race director as part of a 'restructure' at governing body, the FIA, in the wake of last year's disastrous finish to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In the least-surprisingly news of the year so far this will, of course, give notoriously whinging faceache Lewis Hamilton one less thing to whinge about. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem announced a series of changes as a result of the inquiry into the controversial end to last year's World Championship. Masi failed to correctly apply the rules in a late safety car period and it had a direct impact on the outcome of the title race. Two men will now alternate in the role, while extra help will be provided to officials. Presumably, working of the assumption that they
both can't make as big a cock-up of The Rules as Masi, undeniably, did.
League One Sunderland will
not be reappointing Roy Keane as their new manager, this blogger's former colleagues at BBC Newcastle have
reported. The fifty-year-old permanently angry Irishman had two-year spell with The Mackem Filth between 2006 and 2008, during which he led them to the Premier League. The Scumchester United legend has been out of football management since leaving Ipswich Town in 2011 and has been appearing as a, frequently monosyllabic, pundit for ITV ever in their - not very good - football coverage ever since. Blunderland were second in the League One table after their most recent league win over Portsmouth on 22 January, but a six-nil pants-down hiding at Notlob Wanderings in their next game saw former boss Lee Johnson extremely sacked and they have subsequently lost against Doncaster, Cheltenham and, this weekend, the MK Dons and dropped to seventh. Shortly after Keane turned them down, Alex Neil (no, me neither) was
announced as Sunderland's new head coach.
And then, of course, there was
Kick-The-Pussy-Cat-Gate. Which, unbelievably, became an even bigger story in the UK than The Grand Old Duke Of York (he used to have ten million quid). As a cat-lover, this blogger was
utterly horrified, appalled and disgusted by West Hamsters United's Kurt Zouma and his disgraceful actions in relation to his pets. And, indeed of West Hamsters United's failure to take anything even close to what appeared reasonable actions against the player to match the apparent seriousness of the offences he was filmed committing. What made this blogger slightly curious, however, was the reaction of the general public towards Zouma as compared to the reaction a couple of years ago when his manager, David Moyes,
threatened this blogger's former BBC Newcastle colleague, Vicki Sparks, with 'a slap' when he was Blunderland manager and she asked him a question which, seemingly, he didn't like the tone of. About which this blogger
wrote, extensively, at the time. The fact that the odious Moyes continues in regular employment in football management after
that necessarily colours this blogger's opinion concerning
the crass excuses which the odious Moyes has made about Zouma and his horrible cat-kicking ways. If nothing else, dear blog reader, the very negative public reaction to Zouma and the, seeming, lack of a similar censure for the odious Moyes from the wider football community -
a thirty grand fine notwithstanding - says much. About Great Britain as a nation of animal-lovers but who, generally speaking, seem less bothered about crass misogyny and threats of violence made by men against women.
Priorities, dear blog reader. Good word, that. And, again, this blogger says
all of this as
a life-long cat-lover who thinks Zouma hasn't been treated anywhere near harshly enough as yet by
his club, The Fuzz
or the
RSPCA. Here endeth the latest
From The North bloggerisationism lesson.
Meanwhile, Peaky Blinders creator, Steven Knight, has been interviewed by the Gruniad Morning Star on where he plans to go next with the Shelby clan (big shock, it seemingly involves ballet). 
Neighbours has been very dropped by Channel Five, putting the long-running Australian soap opera's future under threat. Which is, obviously, a complete tragedy. The network announced on Sunday that it would stop showing the programme later this year, after broadcasting it for more than a decade. Former Neighbours star Jason Donovan said the soap 'changed the Australian television landscape.' Though he didn't say whether that was, necessarily, for the better. Australian broadcaster Network Ten said it would look for a new partner to work with in an effort to keep the soap on-air. Set and filmed in Melbourne, Neighbours was first broadcast in Australia in 1985 and launched on the BBC a year later. It became a huge hit in the UK and in Australia, and helped launch the career of numerous stars, including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce, Natalie Imbruglia and later Margot Robbie.
