Cerberus

There was a queue at the Bank of England this morning for people to exchange their old QEII notes for new ones. Apparently the first was a coin dealer who has a shop near Leicester Square. So, if you want to know where to pick these up for only ten times face value, you know where to go!

I know some smartarse is going to say this has been posted here before - probably on the Covid-19 thread, about four years ago ... but what the hell, this is bloody brilliant. And as one of the YT commenters says, he never looks at his hands once. What could he possibly have been singing about I wonder?

Pleased to see this here. I was a big collector from around 2008-14, when I had a little extra disposable income, and discovered ebay. Bought hundreds of coins in that time, enough to fill three albums. Mostly milled (post 1660) but a handful of Roman and mediaeval too. A nice cartwheel twopence that's too big to fit in the albums! And yes a load of Royal Mint issues, £5 coins, silver Britannias, one sovereign (2009 I think), some miscellaneous oddments from the now defunct Pobjoy Mint. After that, I dunno, I just lost the bug I think. My main hangover from that time is my monthly Coin News which I never got around to cancelling. Mostly it deals with high-end auction stuff way out of the reach of ordinary collectors. Some nice pictures though.

As one of the biggest Pop Stars of his day, it wasn't unreasonable to find him in the Pop Stars thread. I would never have considered him a country singer, though he may have recorded some music in that style. Anyways, I'll leave it for someone else to cross-post in the Singles Chart section.

I would definitely be interested in that, and yes I agree about the hoarders. People boasting on SM about how many alphabet 10ps they've got, etc. I've got a couple of the 2022 50ps, got one in change in the pub and one from a vending machine. Prior to that I bought a couple on ebay - £3 each - and gave one to my partner. Don't need any more than that.

How the hell have you all missed Frank Ifield? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0vv1ngrq5yo Seems like one who ought to have been in the Fifty.

Jane Morgan, Number One in 1958 with 'The Day the Rains Came Down' - 100 today. No doubt mentioned elsewhere ... Only the second solo UK chart-topper to make three figures, after Dame Vera.

June is when the new banknotes will appear. It would be very sad if that were to prove a posthumous issue, though obviously whatever happens they'll be around for a while ... https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/king-charles-banknotes

Apart from a certain J Caesar, has anyone else of note come a cropper on this day over the years? And if Ides means "middle", shouldn't it really be the 16th? That would make 15 March days before, and 15 after. Just a thought.

Two hours later, still nothing on Cricinfo or the BBC cricket page! I only caught him at the end of his playing career but remember him being the match referee in the infamous 'forfeited' Oval Test of 2006. Shame he couldn't have got that game restarted somehow.

On his afternoon show Wright was always banging on about his latest diet - how he'd quit carbs, given up drinking etc etc - doesn't seem to have done him much good, or perhaps he got back into bad habits after his show was cancelled ... anyway, I thought this was a nice moment - from the end of Vernon Kay's show the other day https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0hc1zly/radio-2s-piano-room-piano-room-month-2024-steve-wright-tribute

To say to other NATO members that America won't come to your aid if you're attacked and haven't paid your 'subs' is one thing. To say that he would encourage Russia to attack and invade those who haven't is utterly deranged. I actually hope he gets in in November and then does a William H Harrison a month later. Whoever comes after can't be any worse.

There's been nothing else on BBC News for the last hour. Anyone would think the man was on his deathbed. All the same, I like him, and I know many people live for years with cancer (of all types). No reason why he shouldn't have a few more years yet.

Abdication is not something that can just be done on a whim. It's a huge process that involves Parliament and all the Commonwealth territories. I'm sure that William, with three young children, isn't exactly desperate to be King. If the King becomes very ill there may be a regency, but that'll be it.

Better known for his work with Boney M, I would say. As well as producing their records he also provided the male vocal parts mimed by Bobby Farrell on stage. "Oh, those Russians!"

Tim May, one of Warne's old spin partners, one to watch: https://au.sports.yahoo.com/cricket-fans-rally-tim-may-sad-revelation-first-west-indies-test-201801085.html?utm_source=Content&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Facebook&utm_term=Sport&ncid=facebook_facebook_k0cpmc7b04w&fbclid=IwAR0KR2YRTh892stCZiGcpIZapKih6Qy9GlwrPjhi6HSxqu-hDRS4oR2Bxiw

Er ... "DERAK?"

I've just been perusing the inaugural deathlist from 1987. Some interesting selections were made there. Obiously, you knew that Les Dawson (56) was not very well. But what was 28-year old racing driver Andrea de Cesaris doing there? He's still with us as far as I can tell. Did he have a reputation for dangerous driving or something? Anyway, there are four other survivors that I know of: Ozzy Osbourne Sir Jimmy Saville Anna Wing Cive Dunn 18 years on, some of them still seem to have some gas in the tank.

Even two years ago they were describing him as 'ancient' - a bit rude though. And what a great tag-line - I was expecting something along the 'Up Yours' line but that was way better. I extend my heartfelt contrafibularities to the writer.

I gather she has been diagnosed with ME, which can't be good at any age, let alone someone in their eighties. Still, there seems to me to be a difference between 'keeping a low profile' and missing the two biggest RF events of the last ten years, while letting her husband go alone. Was she seen at the Platinum jubilee?

Duchess of Kent before the Duke, surely? Fifteen months ago she was too ill to attend the Queen's funeral, and she didn't make the Coronation either. The Duke has been quite active in comparison.

I never knew his name had an accent under the 'e' - I've just been trying to wipe something off my keyboard.

How about Dabney ("9 to 5") Coleman? Just passes the fame test I reckon, and turns 92 in January. And if you buggers don't pick Roger Corman and Neil Harvey next year, you never will.

Latest update from the only surviving cast member of DL87: "I'm far from being on my last legs" he says. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66876167

Boht has sailed ... Thought she went a couple of years ago, for some reason. I wonder who I was thinking of?