DROPPED THE MOON

  On 28 May, 1984, we lost Eric Morecambe at 58.  One of the funniest comedians in the history of forever. Here with his comedy partner, Ernie Wise, and their special gust, Andre Previn.  Their sketch, even after multiple viewings, still cracks me up.  Look it up on YouTube. Eric and Ernie - comedy gold.

Novel and short story writer Dashiell Hammett was born in Maryland on 27 May, 1894.  He was described as “the dean of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction” in the New York Times. He created Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man and The Continental Op in The Dain Curse. He was a war veteran and a political activist who was blacklisted for refusing to co-operate with the House Un-American Activities Committee in the era of McCarthyism. Hammett died at 66 in a Manhattan hospital of lung cancer and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He more than made his mark in literature and films. From The Thin Man:  “The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.”   

      John Wayne  26 May, 1907 - 11 June, 1979

On 25 May, 1961,  President Kennedy called for millions of dollars to fund a space programme to land the first man on the Moon by 1970.   In a speech to a joint session of Congress broadcast on TV and radio around the United States, he asked for an extra $1,700m to add to the federal budget.  The largest proportion of this would be spent on researching and developing ways of getting an American on the Moon by the end of the decade.  "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth,"  he said.  He said $9,000m (£3,214m) would be needed over the next five years to fund space rockets and other projects to get a man on the Moon. But the president added the plan would not need to be supported by extra taxes provided the economy continued to grow and companies exercised wage and price restraint. In July, 1969, there was a small step and a gia...

  On 24 May, 1989, a jury at the High Court in London awarded £600,000 damages to Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, against the satirical magazine Private Eye.  The award was £100,000 more than the previous record British libel sum.  Mrs Sutcliffe, who was legally separated from her husband, made no comment. She left the court shrouded in a blanket. She was due to get £25,000 of the award immediately and the rest pending an appeal lodged straightaway by Private Eye.  Its editor, Ian Hislop, said the magazine could go out of business and would be appealing to its readers for financial assistance.  He pointed out the award was 100 times larger than that awarded to three of Sutcliffe's victims. On the steps of the court Hislop said: "If that's justice, then I'm a banana." In 1981 Sutcliffe was jailed for life for killing 13 women. When he was first arrested and charged, Private Eye accused Mrs Sutcliffe of doing a d...

  Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were US criminals who robbed banks, small stores and gas stations during the years of the Great depression.  In their two-year partnership, they were relentless in their crimes that also included murder.  Their exploits captured the attention of the American public.  They had many confrontations with the police including car chases and violent shoot-outs. Finally, on 23 May, 1934, Parker and Barrow were ambushed by law enforcement officers in the Louisiana woods area.  They opened fire and Clyde was killed instantly and Bonnie moments later.  In all, about 130 rounds of ammunition were fired into the couple’s car. An extract from a police statement said: “Each of us six officers had a shotgun and an automatic rifle and pistols. We opened fire with the automatic rifles. They were emptied before the car got even with us. Then we used shotguns. There was smoke coming from the car, and...

  Before the more famous Apollo 11 moon landing adventure, an Apollo 10 team made an advance, rehearsal mission to photograph the Moon’s surface in the hope of finding suitable and safe landing areas.  On 22 May, 1969, Colonel Thomas Stafford and Commander Eugene Cernan began the journey back to their mother ship (Charlie Brown) in their lunar module (Snoopy), after taking multiple photographs.  The command module, positioned about 50 miles, 80 kilometres, above the Moon, was piloted by Commander John Young. They had come within 8 nautical miles, 14 kilometres, of the Moon’s surface, the closest any human had ever been to a celestial body. Snoopy had made two passes over the planned landing site for Apollo 11 before making a successful rendezvous with Charlie Brown.  After the first sweep at six times the speed of sound, Stafford said they had taken so many photographs he feared the camera had jammed while trying to change the film.  If the missio...

  On 21 May, 1966, Muhammad Ali beat Henry Cooper in the sixth round of a fight in London to retain the world heavyweight championship.  Cooper's hopes of bringing the title back to the UK were dashed one minute and 38 seconds into the sixth when the referee stopped the fight - a deep gash over his left eye forced him to concede victory to Ali, 24.  About 40,000 spectators watched at the Arsenal football ground in Highbury, as Cooper, fought bravely with his big left hooks to battle against Ali’s quick footwork and fast punches. After the fight Cooper was sent to Guys Hospital where he had 12 stitches for the cut that dashed his hopes of world victory.  His manager Jim Wicks, said Ali had butted Cooper with his head and should have been disqualified. (Later, analysis of slow-motion film concluded there was no clash of heads.) The 1960 Olympic champion, famed for proclaiming "I am the greatest!", took the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston in 1964. He ...

Around 20 May, 1890, Anton Chekhov travelled from Moscow to Tomsk, a place he deplored.  His journey was not always a comfortable one, as he indicated in a letter: “I’ve been hungry as a horse all the way.  I filled my belly with bread in order to stop thinking of turbot, asparagus and suchlike.  I even dreamt of buckwheat kasha.  I dreamt of it for hours on end.  I bought some sausage for the journey in Tyumen, if you can call it a sausage.  When you bit into it, the smell was just like going into a stable at the precise moment the coachmen are removing their foot bindings; when I started chewing it, my teeth felt as if they had caught hold of a dog’s tail smeared with tar. Ugh!  I made two attempts to eat it and then threw it away.”    Anton Chekhov (1890 - 1904)

  Professional wrestler and actor ‘Bomber’ Pat Roache was born on 19 May, 1937 in Birmingham.  His wrestling career included winning the British and European heavyweight championships.  At 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), he was a formidable opponent. In his acting career, he is remembered fondly as Bomber Busridge in the 40-episode UK TV comedy/drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983 – 2004), about Brit bricklayers abroad.   The ensemble cast included Jimmy Nail, Kevin Whately and Tim Healy.  Roach appeared in 36 episodes.  Created by Franc Roddam, the senior writers were Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. His film work included an uncredited part as a bouncer in A Clockwork Orange (1971), a Sherpa in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and a Chieftain in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1991), as well as small parts in other films and guest roles in many TV shows. Away from sport and acting, Pat Roache owned a scrapyard and a gym in Birmingham. He died at 67 ...

I wrote this on David McCallum's 85th birthday.  Now, he's 89 and turns 90 later this year.  I have loved him for decades.  I think he is  always worth saluting.  Scottish-born actor David McCallum seems to have been on the big and small screens forever.  His career spans over 60 years and he is still going strong as the popular medical examiner Donald “Ducky” Mallard in the hit US crime series NCIS.  Along the way, he has appeared in The Great Escape, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Colditz and Sapphire & Steel, amongst many other films and TV shows. This year he celebrates his 85th  birthday, a prompt to look back at his amazing career. David Keith McCallum was born in Glasgow on 19 September 1933.  His parents were Dorothy Dorman, a cellist and David McCallum Sr, a violinist, eventual leader of the Scottish Orchestra and later the London Philharmonic.  The McCallums lived by the Botanic Gardens, close to David’s ...

  Actor Harry Carey Jr. was born on 16 May, 1921.  He was the son of another actor, Harry Carey and actress Olive Carey.  His father-in-law was yet another actor, Paul Fix.  And his maternal grandfather was vaudeville entertainer George Fuller Golden.  Showbiz! Carey Jr. was mainly a supporting actor, particularly in westerns.  He appeared in many films, including several with John Wayne and John Ford, and a long list of TV shows. His first appearance in a film in the year of his birth,  Desperate Trails , was uncredited.  He “played” a baby.  His first appearance in a major film was Red River (1948) directed by Howard Hawks and starred Wayne and Montgomery Clift. With Ford, he appeared in  Three Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Wagon Master (1950), The Long Grey Line (1955), The Searchers (1956)  and others. He guest starred in many television shows including  Wagon Train, ...

Yesterday, 14th May, the splendid Francesca Annis celebrated her 78th birthday. She sent me an autographed photo, requested when she was starring in Epitaph for George Dillon (John Osborne & Anthony Creighton)  at the Comedy Theatre, London, November 2005. "To Joe" - swoon.......

  I want to highlight the brilliant weekly magazine, Ireland's Own, which has been in circulation for 120 years.  It's a family-friendly magazine that combines fun, history and nostalgia in its (generally) 96 pages. I loved reading it when I was young and I continue to enjoy it now that I am not as young as I once was.  It entertains, fascinates and educates and never fails as an enjoyable read. Over the past few years, I have been lucky enough to contribute articles and Shea Tompkins on the editorial team has been kind enough to publish them and to commission some pieces that have been a delight to research and write. Shea has published my writing on these subjects (most with an Irish connection): Stephen Boyd (1931 - 1977) - Hollywood star 1950s to 1970s Sam Kydd (1915 - 1982) - journeyman actor on big sand small screens Coco the Clown (1900 - 1974) -famous  clown and road safety campaigner Autograph Collecting - one of my hobbies James Ellis  (1931 - 2014) - ...

  Solomon Joel Cohen was born on 8 May, 1913 in Johannesburg.  He is much better known as the character and comic actor Sid James.  His screen career started in 1947 and the link below (via IMDB) shows the extent of his work.  Apart from his large and small screen film work, he co-starred on radio with Tony Hancock. He is best known for sitcoms like Bless This House and for the Carry On films.   Like Sam Kydd and other journeyman actors, Sid James found it next to impossible to say no to job offers regardless of the size of parts.  At times, he would work on several projects in the same week.   In 1976, he was touring in the The Mating Season (by Sam Cree).  Performing on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre, he suffered a heart attack and died at 62. Sidney James probably had the best laugh in showbusiness history, a sort of dirty cackle, and as distinctive a face as you are ever likely to see.   https://...