BillF

Here the recently-departed Mel is replaced by Dennis Mackrel and the repertoire consists largely of compositions and arrangements by band members Jim McNeely, Ted Nash, Kenny Werner and Ed Neumeister. 63 minutes of dense, intricate music promises much future quality listening.

Peter O'Toole Claude Nobs Knocker Norton

Philly Joe is something else on this one!

Jan Garbagerek Gene Gammage The Gambols

Bilko Fender Paparelli

Yet another favorite! (Reminds me in some ways of PKD's Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch)

Ivor Cutler Jack Sheldon Clament Attlee

A favorite!

Arnold Fishkin A V Roe Prunella Scales

Max Roach Dave Pike Julian Bream

Maynard the Fox Three Little Foxes Cubby Broccoli

Mini Me Morris Minor Ford Prefect

Honest John Freddie Trueman Billy Liar

Wasn't it to somewhere crazy like Halifax, West Yorks that he ended up living? Astonishing ! Yes, he lived with a girlfriend in Halifax (definitely not crazy). Easy to pop across the Pennines for a solo gig in a small room in Manchester University Students' Union. He was nice and chatty, signing albums and recalling recording dates.

Larry Grayson Danny LaRue Lily Savage

Tadd Dameron, Dameronia (Prestige)

Bunky Green Mrs Bedworthy Doll Tearsheet

Buffalo Bill Cody Horace Tapscott Flashman

Lord Peter Wimsey Randolph Quirk Count Dotti

John Wyndham Giorgio Gaslini Master of Arts

What a loss it would have been to the future record industry if these various events had taken a different turn!

I can't really claim to remember any of this - but almost! I was born in Cardiff in November 1939. My parents told me that in the winter of 1940-41 German aircraft passed over Cardiff so regularly without incident on their way (presumably from northern France) to bomb Liverpool that no one bothered to take shelter when the air raid sirens sounded. The exception was the night of 2nd January 1941 when incendiary bombs were dropped on Cardiff. My parents always described this as some sort of error that only affected us personally, but this week's news coverage has revealed to me that it was a raid on Cardiff as a coal exporting port. An incendiary bomb dropped just outside the bedroom window where I was sleeping, passed through a glass verandah and hit the concrete patio below, making a hole, but not exploding/igniting. Much to my mother's horror, my father ran out and kicked the thing down the garden, away from the house. Whether it then ignited, I don't know, but I do remember helping him to fill in the hole with cement a few years later. Funny, I've always regarded this as a family experience, rather than a historical event, but current coverage has sent me to Google with this result: http://www.hyperaction.org.uk/RoathVillageWeb/War/2jan41.htm

Garth Wayne The Green Knight Green Cross Code Man Dave Prowse Jaws Chu Berry Steve Swallow Shirley Eaton

Just finished this. Le Carré has here moved from British spies to the world of Israeli/Arab espionage and, while gripping, it doesn't come up to the perfection of the George Smiley novels IMHO. Perhaps it's the English class system that Le Carré did so well!