The alternatives were something like Billy, Bobby or Barry. Luckily the contestant who was asked that question was in his 70s and knew that Billy was the answer. The other three contestants were much younger and admitted that they had no idea what the answer was.
So much for the Billy Cotton Band Show and Billy Smart's Circus, staples of the entertainment world when I was growing up along with Two Way Family Favourites with all that BFPO stuff. BFPO stood for British Forces Post Office and not British Forces Posted Overseas and of course this wasn't long after the Second World War.
I seem to remember that there was some controversy surrounding the show when it emerged not very long ago that some of the messages from those serving abroad to loved ones at home were false and made up. So the bumper bundle may not have been that bumper.
Mind you I've never got over the shock of finding out that the clapometer on Opportunity Knocks was just an old pointer on a piece of board and was controlled by an employee of the show who vaguely judged the level of clapping. No technology was harmed in that process.
But back to the two Billys and the sad fact that nobody under the age of 50 seems to have heard of them. I have written about both in the past so don't want to repeat myself but I did try to remember the people who sang on the Band show. There was Ross McManus who is probably better known as the father of Elvis Costello (who the quiz people may or may not have heard of). There was Alan Breeze who lived in Suffolk and owned the Buck Pub at Flixton. I couldn't remember the name of the female singer and so had to look it up. It was Kathy Kaye and not Kathy Kirby.
Then I looked up Billy Cotton and unearthed some unexpected facts. To me he was the rather round, elderly Londoner who ran the show. But, surprisingly, in his youth he was a good sportsman. He played amateur football for Brentford and Wimbledon and came fourth in the 1948 British Grand Prix and so was very fast on four wheels. Funny what you find out when you delve into something.
*. *. *
Read an article in a Sussex magazine about how Eastbourne is now taking on neighbours Brighton in the seaside stakes. Apparently previously somanbulistic Eastbourne is no longer populated by what used to be referred to as God's Waiting Room and is taking on Brighton as a centre of the arts and the average age of those living there is 42- the age of eldest son who lives there.
We like Eastbourne a lot. It has a top class art gallery, a top class annual tennis tournament, some unusual independent shops, good pubs and restaurants, lovely gardens, good entertainment and stunning views as you climb the coastal road out of the town and drive towards Brighton.
If you haven't visited Eastbourne, do give it a look. We find the most comfortable way to get there and the way to avoid driving round the M25 is to go by train. We take the Norwich to Cambridge train and then the Brighton train, getting off at Gatwick Airport to catch the Eastbourne train. Next time we go we are going to try Cambridge to Brighton and then Brighton to Eastbourne as a slight variation.
*. *. *
Read yesterday that one of the two post offices at Wymondham is closing again, having only moved to the Jarrolds' Store a short while ago.
It leaves a town of 16,000 people with just one PO and that's nowhere near the town centre. I've said it before and I will continue to say it. Why oh why as we have more and more development foisted upon us are services diminishing? It doesn't make much sense to me but perhaps I'm getting old and crabby.
There's a bit of journalistic licence used to emphasise the story which says other than the existing post office the next nearest is over four miles away in Hethersett. That should read three miles away at the most. But never allow the true facts to stop a bit of exaggeration to add additional effect. The piece on the newspaper is written by somebody described as a "live reporter." I wonder how many dead ones they have? Checking stories for accuracy doesn't seem to come into it. The main body says the post office is closing on February 26th ie yesterday whilst the headline says March 26th.
It's interesting that nobody has so far written about the unmerciless cull of journalists on the local newspaper. I do understand why. The local papers are not going to report on what is a rather unsavoury situation and local radio and television are all going down the same path so aren't going to report it either.
*. *. *
Better talk a bit now about the latest day yesterday on our week's holiday in Madeira.
After a slow start to the day we decided to take the local bus to Camara De Lobos which is probably the nearest decent sized village to where we are staying.
We went there on our last visit but then I think we walked down the lavadas (passages). This time we got to the bus stop in plenty of time but the bus didn't come. So after the best part of half an hour waiting we bargained with a taxi driver who seemed very interested in negotiating a charge. One had already offered to take us for four Euros each. This one said five so we turned out back on him and he dropped it to four. He piled six of us into his taxi so the one way trip was reasonably lucrative to him, making 24 Euros. He even tried to entice a couple of walkers into his taxi for another four each. But they were walking for a reason ie they wanted to walk.
We had a good look round, took lots of photos (will share later) and sandwiched all that with lunch, coffee and two nervous breakdowns. Neither of the nervous breakdowns were in our party. Both were waitresses and both were stressed out through being overworked but dealing with it in very different ways. The first was grumpy and intolerant and quite sullen and rude. The second was upbeat but you could see she was struggling and close to tears.
She kept apologising and got quite animated and thanked us for being so understanding as she got most of the order wrong and then forgot other bits. She might have benefited from a pencil and paper.
She told us that it had been a manic day, much busier than usual. It was possibly because two cruise ships were in at the capital Funchal. But she admitted they were very short staffed and just couldn't attract new people. That seems to be a problem all over Europe. People have walked away from service industry jobs. Goodness knows how shredded these two felt after a day on their feet serving.
Camara De Lobos was much busier than we remember from our previous visit. It was a favourite haunt of Winston Churchill after the war when it was a relatively quiet fishing village. I'm not sure Churchill would have approved of all the tourists and not sure what he would have made of having a restaurant and a hotel named after him or of the statue of a very rotund figure sitting at an easil. This is what the internet has to say:
"The uniqueness of the Câmara de Lobos Bay was immortalised by Winston Churchill, on the day when, in January 1950, sitting at the Espírito Santo Viewpoint, facing the sea, he set up his easel and painted a picture that he would never forget."
And the following:
"Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) British politician and statesman, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (between 1940 -1945 and between 1951-1955). He was also a journalist, British Army officer, historian and writer, having received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953, with his memories of World War II. He arrived at Funchal pier on January 1, 1950, accompanied by his wife, Lady Clementine Hozier Spencer Churchill (1885-1977), Colonel William Deakin (his literary assistant) and two secretaries, staying at Reid's Palace Hotel (now Belmond Reid's Palace).
He dedicated himself to painting in his leisure time, with the images captured at the viewpoint of Espírito Santo (today the viewpoint of Winston Churchill, located at the entrance to the city of Câmara de Lobos), where the amateur painter representing the bay is seen and the islet.
He left the island on January 12, 1950 on board a seaplane from the English company "Aquila Airways"
Incidentally Reid's Hotel is listed as one of the great luxury hotels in the world, alongside the likes of Raffles. We have been to Raffles but not to Reid's.
We got the service bus back to the apartment and that was a very cramped and at times unpleasant journey but sometimes you have to experience unpleasantness if you want to experience local life. The one thing we have learnt yet again that being the first to wait for a bus doesn't mean you get on first. It's always the survival of the fittest and you have to be prepared to block and use your arms almost to knock people out of the way. If you don't do it to them, they will certainly do it to you.
Today it's off to the capital Funchal to see if it's changed since our last visit. I suspect the museum to Christiano Ronaldo will still be there with the statue out front that looks absolutely nothing like him.