Meet the Belfast barber who cut Laurel and Hardy's hair BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Barber Jim Hanna's memories of his meeting with comedy icons Laurel and Hardy in Belfast over 60 years ago are, rather fittingly for his profession, razor sharp. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/meet-the-belfast-barber-who-cut-laurel-and-hardys-hair-37723275.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/article37723272.ece/d0a8c/AUTOCROP/h342/2019-01-18_lif_47288192_I5.JPG Email Barber Jim Hanna's memories of his meeting with comedy icons Laurel and Hardy in Belfast over 60 years ago are, rather fittingly for his profession, razor sharp. Jim (85) cut the hair of the famous funnymen during their visit to Northern Ireland for a sold-out two week run at the Grand Opera House in June 1952. And he still remembers every detail of the close encounter with his most illustrious clients - from the persistent shaking of his nervous hands before the trimming of their locks to their hugely … [Read more...] about Meet the Belfast barber who cut Laurel and Hardy’s hair
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The Paras: Men of War on ITV takes a look inside the Paratroopers – ‘What makes the grass grow? Blood, blood, blood!’
YOU’RE f***ing pathetic, get in that pack now,” Corporal Ollie Seal shouts in the face of a recruit struggling to run under the weight of his 35lb Bergen backpack. The young man stops to be sick, and Corporal Danny Morris bellows: “Do it on the move! Keep going! Keep going! This way, get here now! Get here now!” The wannabe soldier is on the Parachute Regiment's elite 28-week training course. The most brutal in the British Army, it transforms raw recruits into elite soldiers trained to kill. It includes a 60ft aerial assault course, carrying a 180lb metal stretcher for five miles and the feared log race - a two mile trek carrying a 60kg telegraph pole. Now just over half way through the course and as the physical training intensifies, this stage is known as ‘Beat Up’ for good reason. Seconds later, another recruit collapses on the ground in exhaustion. His eyes glaze over as he takes desperate gasps of breath. He's suffering a panic attack. These … [Read more...] about The Paras: Men of War on ITV takes a look inside the Paratroopers – ‘What makes the grass grow? Blood, blood, blood!’
The Place Nightclub was the the only place to be in the 1960s
When my boss in the newsroom told me to go out and find the nightlife of the Potteries I thought he was joking. The year was 1963 and most people in North Staffordshire were in bed before midnight. Club land meant drinking holes for working men and their wives. However, my boss had heard about this new-fangled discotheque in Hanley. I hardly knew what the word meant, but I soon found out after a night in the converted warehouse in Bryan Street. The Place was like nothing I’d experienced before and it wasn’t my cup of tea. I’d been brought up on ballroom dancing. Inside it was like a dimly-lit dungeon. The walls were painted black, for heaven’s sake, and the music was deafening. I saw people who appeared to be dancing alone. Yes, this Potteries innocent was in at the birth of a social revolution. Although the rise of The Place in the Swinging Sixties is now part of pop history, I still marvel at what was achieved in the old warehouse. It was a time when the … [Read more...] about The Place Nightclub was the the only place to be in the 1960s
Social media is there for people to post pictures of pets or hairstyles — not for passing judgment on celebrities
WELL, there we are. Anyone with an internet now knows for sure that Sir Philip Green is a sexist and a racist who abuses women, and then uses the money he stole from pensioners to keep their mouths shut. We should therefore confiscate his boat, put sugar in the fuel tanks of his jet, strip him of his knighthood and make him walk naked through the streets while we chant “shame” and pelt him with sewage. That is what absolutely everyone seems to be saying. Except me. It’s said that Sir Philip would call women “darling” or “love” rather than their actual names, but what’s wrong with that? You hear the same sort of language on every market stall in the East End and in every chip shop up North. It’s how people speak. I often refer to men as “mate” when I can’t quite remember who they are. It’s also claimed Green would fly into expletive-filled rages and, again, this is not unusual. This very … [Read more...] about Social media is there for people to post pictures of pets or hairstyles — not for passing judgment on celebrities
The extreme lengths Prince William and Harry go to for publicity revealed – including competing with their father Prince Charles
IT’S not often a humble commoner like me feels any sympathy for PRINCE CHARLES, our over-indulged and self-important heir to the throne. But a bombshell new book timed to coincide with the future king’s 70th birthday paints a picture of a man struggling to deal with his “publicity-hungry” sons WILLIAM and HARRY’s constant bid for their own spotlight. I appreciate this is a narrative that’s hard to swallow, given the PR machine constantly operating around the young princes. Selfless Wills and big-hearted Harry, after all, are the shy and retiring young men who hate more than anything appearing in ghastly newspapers like this one. Not quite, according to veteran reporter ROBERT JOBSON, one of the most respected and long-serving members of the royal press pack, who has been particularly close to Prince Charles for many years, even breaking news of his engagement to CAMILLA in 2005. With the help of Charles himself and many of his nearest and dearest, … [Read more...] about The extreme lengths Prince William and Harry go to for publicity revealed – including competing with their father Prince Charles