"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".
Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"
Back in '75 or '76 a pubescent, slightly oily and spotty Steve the Wargamer did "Romeo and Juliet" for his English O Levels and our most excellent teacher (and he really was excellent) dragged us all in to the school hall one day where the television on the big wheelie stand lived (all schools at the time must have had them😏) and showed us Zeffirelli's film of the play..
I was at an all-boys school (they existed in the dark ages) but was completely, utterly and totally blown away by Olivia Hussey...
|
| 😍 |
 |
| ...it was those eyes... honest... |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...and if that wasn't bad enough, a mere few days later I then heard that Johnnie Walker had also died...
...bugger! 😐
I suspect Johnnie is not as well-known as Olivia outside of the UK, but in the UK, he was a behemoth of the rock radio world... a true out and out rock DJ, he was outspoken in his support of songs, bands and genres of music when they weren't universally approved of or accepted by the powers that be, but equally dismissive of music and bands that he saw as trite...
The guy was on the radio for 58 years, started on the pirate ships (Caroline) was sacked by the BBC (or was it a mutual parting of the ways??) for his on-air comments about the Bay City Rollers, went to the US on the FM radio circuit for a while before coming back eventually to the BBC and presenting the "Sounds of the 70's" and the "Rock Show" both of which I have listened to for years and years...
...another legend passes... Ave..
...we have however, on a slightly more cheerful note, kicked off a big game...
Set in the War of the Spanish Succession this one features 10 battalions of foot, 6 regiments of horse, and two batteries of heavy guns a side, as the Maritime Powers and the Franco Bavarians fight for control of the (aptly named 😏) village of Grande Battaglia..
Big old game so I'll save the report to a separate post, but to wet the appetite here's the initial setup and table..
Laters, as the young people are want to say...
I was gutted too when I heard the Johnnie Walker had passed, I knew he was in poor health but still bad news, a superb DJ, the music world will be poorer for his passing. Good looking game, will look forward to seeing how this one pans out.
ReplyDeleteCheers Donnie.. I reckon Johnnie probably played the sound track of my formative years most weekends.. so many good songs and chat.. stay tuned for the game report..
DeleteYes, of course, the eyes......
ReplyDeleteI too listened regularly to Walker - always interesting even when the artist or music was not usually among my interests.
Glad to see you have not just been 'pootling around' and produced another good looking table. It should be a good game.
By the way, Norton seem to have decided that your blog is not dangerous! Also, I do not just sit here waiting for your weekly epistle :-)
All the best.
Morning Jim - it was the eyes.. honest! :o)
DeleteGood news about Norton, I shall rest easy of a night at last.. :o))
That's a grand large game there, so I look forward to seeing more of it. No idea though who either of the deceased were, outside my orbit I'd guess.
ReplyDeleteMorning David... I would recommend a watch of the Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet, it's very good if you like Shakespeare.. and to be fair I suspect she was not one of the better known actresses, her output wasn't prolific..
DeleteA wonderful looking tabletop and WSS miniatures.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Peter - I'd agree.. but then I would.. :o)
DeleteWow - Olivia Hussey certainly was a particularly beautiful young woman - "incandescently" is a very apt adjective!
ReplyDeleteDon't know the DJ - the only Johnny Walker I know has a red and black label on the bottle - but I did used to listen to John Peel in the late seventies!
The WSS game looks like it will be a good one.
Cheers RRoss, there are some ladies where incandescent is the only adjective that applies.. Nastassja Kinski, Sophie Marceau, and Olivia being just a few.. :o)
DeleteThe WSS game was a good one, for me anyway.. didn't turn out at all like I expected..
Yeah man she was hot. Used to be a regular listener to sounds of the 70’s with JW but hadn’t realised he was ill. To be fair none of us gets out of here alive, n’est ce pas?! We’re all on the great supermarket conveyor belt inching our way toward the checkout desk.
ReplyDeleteMorning JBM.. "hot"?! .. "hot"!? .. volcanic more like.. :o)
DeleteI'll save you a seat in departures...
I was also introduced to "Romeo and Juliet" at school albeit a few years earlier than you and on a reel to reel projector in the School Hall. I took was utterly enchanted by Ms Hussey (I used the term "luminous" in another post). I intend to revisit the film via Blu-ray very shortly.
ReplyDeleteMorning Jeremy, wow, a reel to reel.. not sure my school even owned one.. but the big telly on wheels did have one of those suitcase sized (betamax??) video players underneath it.. Luminous describes her to a T..
Delete