A week has been experienced full of sunshine and tears of joy and it is now back to the reality of disciplined days in which I have much to cover in writing of what has been and preparations for a busy April with in the order of the activity the start of the cricket season, an important medical visit and a trip to London for Durham Cricket at Lords. I am not going to list all the events experienced or the tasks to be undertaken from the fear of being overwhelmed or taking the decision to summarise and move on which would be the sensible approach.
I begin with my second visit to a theatre to see a show in eight days, second for this year and for the past two years. The cause of the effort was a musical story about the life of Susan Boyle, I dreamed a dream which world premiered at the Theatre Royal Newcastle on Thursday 22nd March 2012 at the start of a tour which travels to Aberdeen, Bradford, Liverpool, Dublin, Bristol, Southend, Cardiff, Birmingham, Inverness and Manchester, but not her home city or the East midlands or London.
The full house was not allowed to commence to take seats until well after 2pm which meant queues out into the street so it was just as well it was a warm sunny day. It was not surprising the performance did not being until 2.40 as a consequence and during the wait the audience of oldies remained expectant rather than restless. Unlike the namesake at Nottingham the theatre has dreadful seats with no space to allow people to pass by so everyone has to get up and leave a row to enable those sitting further along to take their seats if they are late. The seats slant forward and are not wide. The gentleman to my right had a hard time because his partner was at least twice my width which is saying something!
The story of Susan Boyle is well known throughout the world since her amazing performance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 when at the age of 47 a plain middle age woman stunned those who had come to mock, the judges and 100 million people who subsequently viewed the video on You Tube with at the last count 650 million viewings to-date. The reason for the reaction is that Susan has a powerful theatrical voice which electrifies an audience. It was only after the performance that we learned her life and what happened in the days immediately after the televised showing of an event which had taken place several weeks earlier.
Susan was born on April 1st 1961 in former mining community in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland the youngest of a Catholic family of four brothers and five sisters. She was deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth and was later diagnosed with a learning difficulty. Because of bullying at school where she was known as Susie Simple. He father had served in World War II, was a miner and led the family in singing. Her mother was a shorthand typist of Irish background.
Her parents, particularly her father were protective blocking the one relationship with a boy which developed when he became a teenager and the absence of a companion continues to haunt her life. Apart from attempting to become a cook at a college for further education she was cared for at home while her brothers and sisters left home and established lives for themselves. The death of her father was significant but that of her mother was devastating.
Susan had sung in the church choir and at local social clubs winning a talent competition in the area but had dreamed of being a professional singer. She participated in the 1995 Michael Barrymore talent show My Kind of People, auditions and the tape of her experience shows that this awful man was more interested in mocking her than the potential. His failure then was everyone’ else’s gain and it is pleasing that that his life has become so disastrous a view which a line in the show echoed. It is also important to provide perspective the family arranged singing lessons and that she attended an acting school in Edinburgh. She made one CD to showed off her talents with 1000 copies pressed and which again having been uploaded to the Internet has been viewed 100’s of million times. She pulled out of applying for the X Factor because she believed the lacked the looks to be accepted.
This is the official background context for her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. A lot more happened to Susan during the five decades of previous life and as the actress playing her role admits during the show some things she is keeping private and some things she shares she wished were not so.
This is something which scum journalists attempted to penetrate in those extraordinary days between her first appearance, the semi final and final. She was ill equipped for what happened and in truth no one could have equipped for what happened as interests swept world wide, especially in the USA and she was asked to give hundreds of interviews and was followed day and night with some taking rooms on the same floor of the same hotel where she stayed for the semi final and final of the competition just to try and photo her in unguarded moments.
The consequence was that at the semi final she froze and her voice cracked and her performance in the Final failed to ignite the public interest which coupled which bad publicity by some of the tabloids who sensed blood resulted in her becoming the runner up to the dance troop Diversity. There remains the suspicion that the result was orchestrated because it was judged Susan could not immediate cope with the realities on stage concerts and tours. She did not participate in the tour undertaken by the Finalists.
She needed a period of recuperation out of the limelight but feeling low she accepted advice on the appointment of a manager with all the qualities needed to help her move from being an overnight sensation to an international icon with staying power. She has produced three albums the first selling three million copies in the USA and second only to one by a local talent show winner while topping the charts in the UK and in Italy. I am listening to the first album now commencing with Wild Horses, I dreamed a dream, Cry me a River, How Great thou Art, You’ ill See, Day Dream Believer, Amazing Grace, Who I was born to be, Proud, The End of the World, and Silent Night.
In many respect the reliance on album sales is contra the recent trend because of the ability of people to listen without purchasing, legitimately as I am doing on line without downloading. Today the money is made through concert performances which creates a problem for Susan as she finds it difficult to cope with demands of stage appearances. It is therefore not surprising that she is not playing the role in her own story although this is what she did in a TV special, The Susan Boyle Story where she was able to control the involvement through filmed interviews over a period of time as well as film of her public appearances.
This included an expensive plate dinner organised by her USA fan club in which fans travelled from all over the USA to share a couple of hours in her presence. Feeling loved and secure she continued to chat for twice as long as scheduled leaving everyone happy that they had the experience to treasure for the rest of their lives.
The present show includes the statement that she would a personal appearance although not saying she would sing. The production is clever because the show appears to end without her presence thus causing a nearby member of the audience to openly express their disappointment. But the audience, especially those who had seen the local notices new better and with flashing spotlights lighting up the audience to indicate what it is like to appear live the curtain was raised again to reveal Susan standing in a glittering dress to receive a standing roar of ovation a from a crowd used to giving polite applause. Because of the knowledge imparted through the show and the knowledge of her life brought by the audience into the theatre it was one the most emotional shared experiences encountered in such a situation. She sung I dreamed a dream and who I was born to be and although one or more numbers would have been appreciated no one felt cheated and everyone left the theatre with smiles on their faces.
Understandably there has been much considered writing on both sides of the Atlantic about the phenomenon especially her success in the USA which is something the majority of British entertainers aspire but only a handful achieve and none to the same extent. In no order of significance there is empathy because her talent was not recognised outside her community for the greater part of her life and that she led such a normal life with the Christian background, singing in church looking after her mother and also volunteering in the community. She also was willing to expose her personal limitations and vulnerability, especially her reaction at coming second, because this meant there were more who voted for another act than for her,
There is also the aspect of American Dream and the fairy story but I suspect the most potent reason was the unexpected that someone as old and who looked and dressed plainly had such an amazing talent as good as any performer on the London music stage. Today, youth, looks and fashion dominate the culture together with the ability to project presences from Newsreader and weather forecaster, reality TV performer, footballer and politician it is about appearance and effective sound bite. Susan was negative in all the boxes although now she had all the same support of hairdressing and make up, and stage wardrobe as any other International performer and personality and the degree which she remain private and alone. I suspect she has achieved enough to stay the course and join the other UK female icons of Gracie Fields and Dame Vera Lynn.
On Saturday evening the 2012 series of Britain’s Got Talent with another individual getting the same level of attention as Susan, 17 year old large. shy and ungainly youth of few words Jonathan with an operatic voice which if trained could be as good as Pavarotti according to Simon Cowell was accompanied by 16 year old Catherine with a popular or theatrical suitable voice and the two complemented in their singing as well as providing support for the young man on stage. They were being interviewed across the TV networks during today.
The second event of the third weekend of birthday celebrations was to see the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The film is richly textured with humorous insights into the problems and challenges of getting old. There is an outstanding all star cast. The theme is the same as the Susan Boyle Story in that you should never judge someone by their appearance alone.
Seven elders decide to gamble with their futures and go to live in the Indian city of Jaipur although two do so under protest and with no intention of staying. The Hotel is a dilapidated former Palace in the middle of the city offering a package which includes prepaid one way standard airfare and transfers and a modest full board deal of service for retired people which in theory provide a higher quality of life than likely in the UK. Unfortunately the venture is managed by the head in the clouds son of a successful family whose father had held a similar ambition but also lacked the business skills.
.
Dev Patel plays Sonny full of ambition and good intentions but struggling to achieve the basics of what is promised from clean cockroach free rooms, effective plumping and telephone systems. The venture gets off to the worst possible start with the plane from the capital to the hotel located city postponed because of fog and the group follow the lead of one of its members in taking the overnight bus rather than putting up somewhere in the capital. I also did not understand why they did not take the train as the city is the HQ of the state and regional railway system.
The story only hangs together because of the desperation the group although never explain why the most reluctant of the group Muriel played by Dame Maggie Smith should end up in the hotel albeit for a temporary period rather than book a traditional unit with lift and all mod cons for her operation and recovery. Muriel urgently needs a hip replacement and is offered a waiting list short cut by having the operation in India. The problem is that Murial is a racist and has no wish to be touched someone without a white skin. She asks to be seen by someone born in the UK and this brings her an Indian hospital doctor but such is her constant discomfort that she overcomes her prejudice but takes a supply biscuits and other portable foods with her although liquids are removed at the airport under the prevailing security conditions.
The operation being successful she remains at the hotel a prisoner pending recovery and it is during this period that she pays attention to the hotel maid who is one of the untouchables. She is invited to take tea with the family of the young woman and this experience is not without its problems. She finds her feet in every sense and learning that the future of the hotel is under threat she investigates without revealing her intentions and arranges a bank loan on the understanding that she is to be the Assistant Manager. As with the other guests each has a back story which makes them ideal residents. She was in service with a family for several decades and was asked to help train an assistant only to find she was retired with the assistant taking her job.
In contrast Tom Wilkinson plays a High Court Judge who decides to retire and go to India in search of his one and only true love, then a young Indian boy where the relationship was severed when the nature of their friendship was discovered. He had returned to the UK and made no attempt to maintain contact with the young man whose family regarded the orientation as a humiliation. Unfortunately the house where the young man lives had been demolished along with the rest of the street and there was no immediate way of finding out the relocation. He spends days visiting the authorities filling the same form at the start of each day until the man is located. He finds that he is married although his wife knows all about the relationship and the two meet with great feeling.
Graham, the former judge has lived with the guilt as well his lost love during rest of his life but is now content to find that the man has had a good life and that the experience was viewed as he had. He is found dead soon afterwards when it is revealed that he had a serious heart condition which had led to his decision to return to India.
Norman is a con man lothario played by Ronald Pickup who finds it difficult to faceup to his age and that he is no longer attractive to the young women he fancies. He hopes to find someone young and rich in a new land although Russia and the new Europeans states would have been a more likely destination as well as the Far East. Celia Imrie as Madge is the female version of Norman although she has led a more conventional life and now divorced whose daughter wants to keep safely in a box so she escapes to India in the hope of new life. She joins the local club pretending to be Royalty, seeking a discount and is then introduced to Ronald Pickup and she introduces him to an older woman at the bar who lives in the city and is lonely and also looking for an adult relationship. Fortunately he drops the act and the two find they have sufficient in common to establish a meaningful relationship although he visits a doctor for virility pills although the claim is then made that she substituted them for aspirins on their first night of passion together. Madge is been having dinner with a wealthy looking Indian gentleman towards the end of the film.
This leaves the blossoming relationship between widowed Evelyn played by Dame Judi Dench and Douglas played by Bill Nighy who is married to Jean (Penelope Wilton). They both victims of trust and loyalty. Evelyn was married for decades leaving financial affairs to her husband who she trusted implicitly only to find that when he died suddenly he had substantial debts which were more than available assets so she had to sell the family home. Her daughter wanted her to move in with her and her family but Judi has other ideas.
The idea of India arose after attempting to speak to an Indian based call centre whom refused to communicate and attend the problem because she was not the account holder. Once in India she seeks employment at a call centre only to see that the place is full of ambitious young graduates but she is taken on as a trainer adviser. Bill Nighy on the other hand had invested his pension fund money in his daughter’s Internet business and they were left to downsize with a sheltered housing flat with railings one property visited. The Indian Hotel appeared on paper a better solution. Bill adapts to the limitations well and becomes a friend of Judi but his wife cannot cope with the noise and the smells, the poverty and begging and the hotel becomes a sanctuary from which she refuses to move and join her husband on his expeditions to the many places of interest in the state. She sees the former Judge as a hero and becomes infatuated with him until being told that he is gay. She is rescued when the company run by her daughter becomes successful and immediately sets off for home with Bill reluctantly agreeing. Their relationship ended in mutual disappointment long before the financial disaster so when because of a festival, the road to the airport is blocked for vehicles, and she gets the opportunity to go on the back of a motor cycle they agree to part and he walks back the hotel and later we see him also on a motor scooter with Judi as his pillion passenger.
The hotel and is limitations as well as the nature of contemporary India remain the core of the film. The hotel is jointly owned by Sonny with two older and successful brothers and their bossy but well intentioned mother is determined that they should sell property and her youngest should move to the Indian capital with her and marry a girl selected for him by her. He is in love with a girl who works at a call centre, the very one where Evelyn has a job and in fact has helped retrain the girl to being more effective when communicating with English speaking people. She is guarded by an older brother who does not think Sonny is good enough for her and indeed that appear to be an ill matched and unlikely couple. When she goes to his room one evening he has forgotten to tell her he has moved to accommodate one the of guests and she is effectively thrown out of the hotel and his life but his mother who he refuses to stand up to. The situation is resolved first by Muriel and getting a loan so the hotel can be developed to become an ongoing paying proposition and then by an elderly family retainer who reminds the mother that the relationship with her husband was not approved by her family so she accepts the situation of the relationship as does the girl’s brother.
The film is designed as a feel good comedy for oldies and therefore contains a good dose of romanticism but it insights into the realities of aging together with the strong cast will lave a mark in the memory and may make into something of a classic.
It is also the end and the beginning of the financial year. The occupational pension is to increase by 5.2 the biggest increase in a year for a decade and the state pension is being increased by over £5 a week but in order to pull back some the government expenditure the income tax allowance is being frozen for the future financial years as that for those below retirement age is being equalised so as to take some of the lowest group depend upon state pensions on low wages out of paying income tax all together although of course those in work pay national insurance and pension plan payments. I have been phone texted to say I can claim some £2600 plus from a loan completed during the past Ten Years. I am in the processing of sorting out my financial records so will get out the paper and enquire if appropriate. You never know
Over a decade ago a supermarket chain bought the Vaux Brewery site on the banks of the River Wear on the city side of the main b from the north. The City Council object because the site did not fit into its development plans for the site and this morning I noted that the small store centre close to the Football Stadium off the main road is in the process of demolition in a deal with the Council and the Supermarket chain.
I went in search of an additional pair of 3D glasses after finding none of the stores in the Newcastle Gateshead area had a pair although I cam close as a pair was registered at Byker but was not confirmed.. I received an email this morning to say that I could book an inexpensive ticket for my trip to Brighton in June about a third of the standards fare. I am going by train in part because it is significantly cheaper than the car and I go for the Sleep Apnea initial consultations shortly and who knows if it will lead to losing the driving licence in time if the condition is diagnosed and is of sufficient severity to merit such action. I now have three of the four trips arrange this year already booked by train and I could also do the fourth if necessary as there is a bus from the station at Nottingham to the Travel Lodge where I will be staying at least for three of the four planned nights.
My journey home on Monday went without a hitch and I stopped at Wetherby for m a quick comfort break and then went for the essential shop at Tesco on the way which is the most expensive of the three major supermarkets ion the town and where another of the smaller outfits is opening to make four of these plus an Iceland in a community of less than 100000. This compares to Sunderland which still only has one Supermarket and not a large one in the town centre with Sainsbury’s on the south side and Morison’s at Seaburn which is almost as the northern boundary. There is no Azda which I assume is planned for the new site which again is outside the immediate shopping area. One factor is that the two town centre located ones in South Shields have large car parks unlike the Tesco in Sunderland which has none, so in fact they may also be wanting to move to a new site where they can expand.
I am still in a film catch up ,ode with three Family Films to report and also the cricket on Television with five one day games of the English and Welsh men and those of the woman who played a series of 20 20 games. I say this as my season book for the Championship matches arrived just before last weekend with the news that an extra friendly is being played at the beginning of April against Yorkshire. Unusually this appears to be of only two days in duration commencing on Sunday. This poses a challenge because the Newcastle Liverpool game is also being shown on TV. I have my medical appointment ton the afternoon of the second day.
I had no previous knowledge of the Anthony Hopkins film about Exorcism called the Rite, written from the perspective of the Catholic Church, It is said to be based on a true story and that the three main characters, possibly four are all based on real people who are continuing their work to day.
The film is also about the faith required to become and remain a Catholic priest, Michael Kovak played by Colin 0’Donoghue lost his mother when a primary level school boy and was brought up by his father a Mortician who insisted on the boy becoming familiar with his work with a view to him joining the family business. His mother had ambitions that he would become a priest similar to others in her family.
The one thing Michael does not want to be is a mortician or remain at home with his father and the only way he can afford a college education is say he wants to become a priest. However he lacks the one essential ingredient, faith and while he obtains straight A in his chosen subjects the one exception is the required religious studies! This lack of devotion is evident to his tutor but who then witnesses the capacity of the man to connect with people.
Michael as planned tends his resignation shortly before he is due to take his final vows and be Ordained. The Tutor (Toby Jones) warns that in strict accordance he could cancel the free four year college education and require repayment of the $100000 investment converting to a student loan. After receiving the email letter he sees Michael and calls out to him thus forcing a young cyclist to swerve and fall into the path of a car. Michael is asked by the victim to provide the last rites which he does reluctantly but brings the individual peace.
The tutor hits on the idea of sending Michael to a residential course in Rome to study Exorcism on the premises that this will provide a true test of his faith and once there among the students he is selected by the course Director to accompany Hopkins as Father Lucas on his work in the city. Because of the growth of referrals over the past decades the Church has taken the decision to appoint specialist priests in every area headed by a Bishop. Michael is even more sceptical of the need holding the view that those who are referred as possessed or hearing voices telling them to undertake evil deeds are not being possessed or driven by the Devil but are psychological disturbed and mentally ill.
In order to bring some female interest into the film, a female journalist has been permitted to attend the course and she is puzzled by his scepticism and lack of faith establishes a platonic relationship focussed on his experience.
Father Lucas involves Michael in one of his current cases in which a pregnant girl raped by her father appears possessed and initially Michael is horrified by the diagnosis and methods used by the Exorcist. When the child is born prematurely and the mother dies in circumstances where it is evident the girl could not have self harmed Father Lucas is devastated by his failure and the being crossed to him and also challenges Michael with a series of worst fear hallucinations. Accompanied by the Journalist Michael sets out to help Fr Lucas who he has come to respect and realising the man has become possessed he attempts to contact his superior only to find the man is away for the weekend and he is then faced with the rest of face as well as skill. He is successful. Michael becomes a priest back in the USA but also a priest recognised as a specialist in Exorcism in the area should the need arise, one of eleven such appointments said to have been made in the USA and Father Lucas reported to have been moved to a less challenging environment but where he continued his good works. The Journalist writes her story which received international attention.
I continue to regard myself as without religious faith but with a moral framework and educated conscience but I lack any experience of the supernatural since one or frightening dreams during sickness periods in early childhood when the Devil appeared to be a real being as subsequently portrayed by others in films suggesting similar childhood hallucinations or waking dreams.
I begin with my second visit to a theatre to see a show in eight days, second for this year and for the past two years. The cause of the effort was a musical story about the life of Susan Boyle, I dreamed a dream which world premiered at the Theatre Royal Newcastle on Thursday 22nd March 2012 at the start of a tour which travels to Aberdeen, Bradford, Liverpool, Dublin, Bristol, Southend, Cardiff, Birmingham, Inverness and Manchester, but not her home city or the East midlands or London.
The full house was not allowed to commence to take seats until well after 2pm which meant queues out into the street so it was just as well it was a warm sunny day. It was not surprising the performance did not being until 2.40 as a consequence and during the wait the audience of oldies remained expectant rather than restless. Unlike the namesake at Nottingham the theatre has dreadful seats with no space to allow people to pass by so everyone has to get up and leave a row to enable those sitting further along to take their seats if they are late. The seats slant forward and are not wide. The gentleman to my right had a hard time because his partner was at least twice my width which is saying something!
The story of Susan Boyle is well known throughout the world since her amazing performance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 when at the age of 47 a plain middle age woman stunned those who had come to mock, the judges and 100 million people who subsequently viewed the video on You Tube with at the last count 650 million viewings to-date. The reason for the reaction is that Susan has a powerful theatrical voice which electrifies an audience. It was only after the performance that we learned her life and what happened in the days immediately after the televised showing of an event which had taken place several weeks earlier.
Susan was born on April 1st 1961 in former mining community in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland the youngest of a Catholic family of four brothers and five sisters. She was deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth and was later diagnosed with a learning difficulty. Because of bullying at school where she was known as Susie Simple. He father had served in World War II, was a miner and led the family in singing. Her mother was a shorthand typist of Irish background.
Her parents, particularly her father were protective blocking the one relationship with a boy which developed when he became a teenager and the absence of a companion continues to haunt her life. Apart from attempting to become a cook at a college for further education she was cared for at home while her brothers and sisters left home and established lives for themselves. The death of her father was significant but that of her mother was devastating.
Susan had sung in the church choir and at local social clubs winning a talent competition in the area but had dreamed of being a professional singer. She participated in the 1995 Michael Barrymore talent show My Kind of People, auditions and the tape of her experience shows that this awful man was more interested in mocking her than the potential. His failure then was everyone’ else’s gain and it is pleasing that that his life has become so disastrous a view which a line in the show echoed. It is also important to provide perspective the family arranged singing lessons and that she attended an acting school in Edinburgh. She made one CD to showed off her talents with 1000 copies pressed and which again having been uploaded to the Internet has been viewed 100’s of million times. She pulled out of applying for the X Factor because she believed the lacked the looks to be accepted.
This is the official background context for her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. A lot more happened to Susan during the five decades of previous life and as the actress playing her role admits during the show some things she is keeping private and some things she shares she wished were not so.
This is something which scum journalists attempted to penetrate in those extraordinary days between her first appearance, the semi final and final. She was ill equipped for what happened and in truth no one could have equipped for what happened as interests swept world wide, especially in the USA and she was asked to give hundreds of interviews and was followed day and night with some taking rooms on the same floor of the same hotel where she stayed for the semi final and final of the competition just to try and photo her in unguarded moments.
The consequence was that at the semi final she froze and her voice cracked and her performance in the Final failed to ignite the public interest which coupled which bad publicity by some of the tabloids who sensed blood resulted in her becoming the runner up to the dance troop Diversity. There remains the suspicion that the result was orchestrated because it was judged Susan could not immediate cope with the realities on stage concerts and tours. She did not participate in the tour undertaken by the Finalists.
She needed a period of recuperation out of the limelight but feeling low she accepted advice on the appointment of a manager with all the qualities needed to help her move from being an overnight sensation to an international icon with staying power. She has produced three albums the first selling three million copies in the USA and second only to one by a local talent show winner while topping the charts in the UK and in Italy. I am listening to the first album now commencing with Wild Horses, I dreamed a dream, Cry me a River, How Great thou Art, You’ ill See, Day Dream Believer, Amazing Grace, Who I was born to be, Proud, The End of the World, and Silent Night.
In many respect the reliance on album sales is contra the recent trend because of the ability of people to listen without purchasing, legitimately as I am doing on line without downloading. Today the money is made through concert performances which creates a problem for Susan as she finds it difficult to cope with demands of stage appearances. It is therefore not surprising that she is not playing the role in her own story although this is what she did in a TV special, The Susan Boyle Story where she was able to control the involvement through filmed interviews over a period of time as well as film of her public appearances.
This included an expensive plate dinner organised by her USA fan club in which fans travelled from all over the USA to share a couple of hours in her presence. Feeling loved and secure she continued to chat for twice as long as scheduled leaving everyone happy that they had the experience to treasure for the rest of their lives.
The present show includes the statement that she would a personal appearance although not saying she would sing. The production is clever because the show appears to end without her presence thus causing a nearby member of the audience to openly express their disappointment. But the audience, especially those who had seen the local notices new better and with flashing spotlights lighting up the audience to indicate what it is like to appear live the curtain was raised again to reveal Susan standing in a glittering dress to receive a standing roar of ovation a from a crowd used to giving polite applause. Because of the knowledge imparted through the show and the knowledge of her life brought by the audience into the theatre it was one the most emotional shared experiences encountered in such a situation. She sung I dreamed a dream and who I was born to be and although one or more numbers would have been appreciated no one felt cheated and everyone left the theatre with smiles on their faces.
Understandably there has been much considered writing on both sides of the Atlantic about the phenomenon especially her success in the USA which is something the majority of British entertainers aspire but only a handful achieve and none to the same extent. In no order of significance there is empathy because her talent was not recognised outside her community for the greater part of her life and that she led such a normal life with the Christian background, singing in church looking after her mother and also volunteering in the community. She also was willing to expose her personal limitations and vulnerability, especially her reaction at coming second, because this meant there were more who voted for another act than for her,
There is also the aspect of American Dream and the fairy story but I suspect the most potent reason was the unexpected that someone as old and who looked and dressed plainly had such an amazing talent as good as any performer on the London music stage. Today, youth, looks and fashion dominate the culture together with the ability to project presences from Newsreader and weather forecaster, reality TV performer, footballer and politician it is about appearance and effective sound bite. Susan was negative in all the boxes although now she had all the same support of hairdressing and make up, and stage wardrobe as any other International performer and personality and the degree which she remain private and alone. I suspect she has achieved enough to stay the course and join the other UK female icons of Gracie Fields and Dame Vera Lynn.
On Saturday evening the 2012 series of Britain’s Got Talent with another individual getting the same level of attention as Susan, 17 year old large. shy and ungainly youth of few words Jonathan with an operatic voice which if trained could be as good as Pavarotti according to Simon Cowell was accompanied by 16 year old Catherine with a popular or theatrical suitable voice and the two complemented in their singing as well as providing support for the young man on stage. They were being interviewed across the TV networks during today.
The second event of the third weekend of birthday celebrations was to see the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The film is richly textured with humorous insights into the problems and challenges of getting old. There is an outstanding all star cast. The theme is the same as the Susan Boyle Story in that you should never judge someone by their appearance alone.
Seven elders decide to gamble with their futures and go to live in the Indian city of Jaipur although two do so under protest and with no intention of staying. The Hotel is a dilapidated former Palace in the middle of the city offering a package which includes prepaid one way standard airfare and transfers and a modest full board deal of service for retired people which in theory provide a higher quality of life than likely in the UK. Unfortunately the venture is managed by the head in the clouds son of a successful family whose father had held a similar ambition but also lacked the business skills.
.
Dev Patel plays Sonny full of ambition and good intentions but struggling to achieve the basics of what is promised from clean cockroach free rooms, effective plumping and telephone systems. The venture gets off to the worst possible start with the plane from the capital to the hotel located city postponed because of fog and the group follow the lead of one of its members in taking the overnight bus rather than putting up somewhere in the capital. I also did not understand why they did not take the train as the city is the HQ of the state and regional railway system.
The story only hangs together because of the desperation the group although never explain why the most reluctant of the group Muriel played by Dame Maggie Smith should end up in the hotel albeit for a temporary period rather than book a traditional unit with lift and all mod cons for her operation and recovery. Muriel urgently needs a hip replacement and is offered a waiting list short cut by having the operation in India. The problem is that Murial is a racist and has no wish to be touched someone without a white skin. She asks to be seen by someone born in the UK and this brings her an Indian hospital doctor but such is her constant discomfort that she overcomes her prejudice but takes a supply biscuits and other portable foods with her although liquids are removed at the airport under the prevailing security conditions.
The operation being successful she remains at the hotel a prisoner pending recovery and it is during this period that she pays attention to the hotel maid who is one of the untouchables. She is invited to take tea with the family of the young woman and this experience is not without its problems. She finds her feet in every sense and learning that the future of the hotel is under threat she investigates without revealing her intentions and arranges a bank loan on the understanding that she is to be the Assistant Manager. As with the other guests each has a back story which makes them ideal residents. She was in service with a family for several decades and was asked to help train an assistant only to find she was retired with the assistant taking her job.
In contrast Tom Wilkinson plays a High Court Judge who decides to retire and go to India in search of his one and only true love, then a young Indian boy where the relationship was severed when the nature of their friendship was discovered. He had returned to the UK and made no attempt to maintain contact with the young man whose family regarded the orientation as a humiliation. Unfortunately the house where the young man lives had been demolished along with the rest of the street and there was no immediate way of finding out the relocation. He spends days visiting the authorities filling the same form at the start of each day until the man is located. He finds that he is married although his wife knows all about the relationship and the two meet with great feeling.
Graham, the former judge has lived with the guilt as well his lost love during rest of his life but is now content to find that the man has had a good life and that the experience was viewed as he had. He is found dead soon afterwards when it is revealed that he had a serious heart condition which had led to his decision to return to India.
Norman is a con man lothario played by Ronald Pickup who finds it difficult to faceup to his age and that he is no longer attractive to the young women he fancies. He hopes to find someone young and rich in a new land although Russia and the new Europeans states would have been a more likely destination as well as the Far East. Celia Imrie as Madge is the female version of Norman although she has led a more conventional life and now divorced whose daughter wants to keep safely in a box so she escapes to India in the hope of new life. She joins the local club pretending to be Royalty, seeking a discount and is then introduced to Ronald Pickup and she introduces him to an older woman at the bar who lives in the city and is lonely and also looking for an adult relationship. Fortunately he drops the act and the two find they have sufficient in common to establish a meaningful relationship although he visits a doctor for virility pills although the claim is then made that she substituted them for aspirins on their first night of passion together. Madge is been having dinner with a wealthy looking Indian gentleman towards the end of the film.
This leaves the blossoming relationship between widowed Evelyn played by Dame Judi Dench and Douglas played by Bill Nighy who is married to Jean (Penelope Wilton). They both victims of trust and loyalty. Evelyn was married for decades leaving financial affairs to her husband who she trusted implicitly only to find that when he died suddenly he had substantial debts which were more than available assets so she had to sell the family home. Her daughter wanted her to move in with her and her family but Judi has other ideas.
The idea of India arose after attempting to speak to an Indian based call centre whom refused to communicate and attend the problem because she was not the account holder. Once in India she seeks employment at a call centre only to see that the place is full of ambitious young graduates but she is taken on as a trainer adviser. Bill Nighy on the other hand had invested his pension fund money in his daughter’s Internet business and they were left to downsize with a sheltered housing flat with railings one property visited. The Indian Hotel appeared on paper a better solution. Bill adapts to the limitations well and becomes a friend of Judi but his wife cannot cope with the noise and the smells, the poverty and begging and the hotel becomes a sanctuary from which she refuses to move and join her husband on his expeditions to the many places of interest in the state. She sees the former Judge as a hero and becomes infatuated with him until being told that he is gay. She is rescued when the company run by her daughter becomes successful and immediately sets off for home with Bill reluctantly agreeing. Their relationship ended in mutual disappointment long before the financial disaster so when because of a festival, the road to the airport is blocked for vehicles, and she gets the opportunity to go on the back of a motor cycle they agree to part and he walks back the hotel and later we see him also on a motor scooter with Judi as his pillion passenger.
The hotel and is limitations as well as the nature of contemporary India remain the core of the film. The hotel is jointly owned by Sonny with two older and successful brothers and their bossy but well intentioned mother is determined that they should sell property and her youngest should move to the Indian capital with her and marry a girl selected for him by her. He is in love with a girl who works at a call centre, the very one where Evelyn has a job and in fact has helped retrain the girl to being more effective when communicating with English speaking people. She is guarded by an older brother who does not think Sonny is good enough for her and indeed that appear to be an ill matched and unlikely couple. When she goes to his room one evening he has forgotten to tell her he has moved to accommodate one the of guests and she is effectively thrown out of the hotel and his life but his mother who he refuses to stand up to. The situation is resolved first by Muriel and getting a loan so the hotel can be developed to become an ongoing paying proposition and then by an elderly family retainer who reminds the mother that the relationship with her husband was not approved by her family so she accepts the situation of the relationship as does the girl’s brother.
The film is designed as a feel good comedy for oldies and therefore contains a good dose of romanticism but it insights into the realities of aging together with the strong cast will lave a mark in the memory and may make into something of a classic.
It is also the end and the beginning of the financial year. The occupational pension is to increase by 5.2 the biggest increase in a year for a decade and the state pension is being increased by over £5 a week but in order to pull back some the government expenditure the income tax allowance is being frozen for the future financial years as that for those below retirement age is being equalised so as to take some of the lowest group depend upon state pensions on low wages out of paying income tax all together although of course those in work pay national insurance and pension plan payments. I have been phone texted to say I can claim some £2600 plus from a loan completed during the past Ten Years. I am in the processing of sorting out my financial records so will get out the paper and enquire if appropriate. You never know
Over a decade ago a supermarket chain bought the Vaux Brewery site on the banks of the River Wear on the city side of the main b from the north. The City Council object because the site did not fit into its development plans for the site and this morning I noted that the small store centre close to the Football Stadium off the main road is in the process of demolition in a deal with the Council and the Supermarket chain.
I went in search of an additional pair of 3D glasses after finding none of the stores in the Newcastle Gateshead area had a pair although I cam close as a pair was registered at Byker but was not confirmed.. I received an email this morning to say that I could book an inexpensive ticket for my trip to Brighton in June about a third of the standards fare. I am going by train in part because it is significantly cheaper than the car and I go for the Sleep Apnea initial consultations shortly and who knows if it will lead to losing the driving licence in time if the condition is diagnosed and is of sufficient severity to merit such action. I now have three of the four trips arrange this year already booked by train and I could also do the fourth if necessary as there is a bus from the station at Nottingham to the Travel Lodge where I will be staying at least for three of the four planned nights.
My journey home on Monday went without a hitch and I stopped at Wetherby for m a quick comfort break and then went for the essential shop at Tesco on the way which is the most expensive of the three major supermarkets ion the town and where another of the smaller outfits is opening to make four of these plus an Iceland in a community of less than 100000. This compares to Sunderland which still only has one Supermarket and not a large one in the town centre with Sainsbury’s on the south side and Morison’s at Seaburn which is almost as the northern boundary. There is no Azda which I assume is planned for the new site which again is outside the immediate shopping area. One factor is that the two town centre located ones in South Shields have large car parks unlike the Tesco in Sunderland which has none, so in fact they may also be wanting to move to a new site where they can expand.
I am still in a film catch up ,ode with three Family Films to report and also the cricket on Television with five one day games of the English and Welsh men and those of the woman who played a series of 20 20 games. I say this as my season book for the Championship matches arrived just before last weekend with the news that an extra friendly is being played at the beginning of April against Yorkshire. Unusually this appears to be of only two days in duration commencing on Sunday. This poses a challenge because the Newcastle Liverpool game is also being shown on TV. I have my medical appointment ton the afternoon of the second day.
I had no previous knowledge of the Anthony Hopkins film about Exorcism called the Rite, written from the perspective of the Catholic Church, It is said to be based on a true story and that the three main characters, possibly four are all based on real people who are continuing their work to day.
The film is also about the faith required to become and remain a Catholic priest, Michael Kovak played by Colin 0’Donoghue lost his mother when a primary level school boy and was brought up by his father a Mortician who insisted on the boy becoming familiar with his work with a view to him joining the family business. His mother had ambitions that he would become a priest similar to others in her family.
The one thing Michael does not want to be is a mortician or remain at home with his father and the only way he can afford a college education is say he wants to become a priest. However he lacks the one essential ingredient, faith and while he obtains straight A in his chosen subjects the one exception is the required religious studies! This lack of devotion is evident to his tutor but who then witnesses the capacity of the man to connect with people.
Michael as planned tends his resignation shortly before he is due to take his final vows and be Ordained. The Tutor (Toby Jones) warns that in strict accordance he could cancel the free four year college education and require repayment of the $100000 investment converting to a student loan. After receiving the email letter he sees Michael and calls out to him thus forcing a young cyclist to swerve and fall into the path of a car. Michael is asked by the victim to provide the last rites which he does reluctantly but brings the individual peace.
The tutor hits on the idea of sending Michael to a residential course in Rome to study Exorcism on the premises that this will provide a true test of his faith and once there among the students he is selected by the course Director to accompany Hopkins as Father Lucas on his work in the city. Because of the growth of referrals over the past decades the Church has taken the decision to appoint specialist priests in every area headed by a Bishop. Michael is even more sceptical of the need holding the view that those who are referred as possessed or hearing voices telling them to undertake evil deeds are not being possessed or driven by the Devil but are psychological disturbed and mentally ill.
In order to bring some female interest into the film, a female journalist has been permitted to attend the course and she is puzzled by his scepticism and lack of faith establishes a platonic relationship focussed on his experience.
Father Lucas involves Michael in one of his current cases in which a pregnant girl raped by her father appears possessed and initially Michael is horrified by the diagnosis and methods used by the Exorcist. When the child is born prematurely and the mother dies in circumstances where it is evident the girl could not have self harmed Father Lucas is devastated by his failure and the being crossed to him and also challenges Michael with a series of worst fear hallucinations. Accompanied by the Journalist Michael sets out to help Fr Lucas who he has come to respect and realising the man has become possessed he attempts to contact his superior only to find the man is away for the weekend and he is then faced with the rest of face as well as skill. He is successful. Michael becomes a priest back in the USA but also a priest recognised as a specialist in Exorcism in the area should the need arise, one of eleven such appointments said to have been made in the USA and Father Lucas reported to have been moved to a less challenging environment but where he continued his good works. The Journalist writes her story which received international attention.
I continue to regard myself as without religious faith but with a moral framework and educated conscience but I lack any experience of the supernatural since one or frightening dreams during sickness periods in early childhood when the Devil appeared to be a real being as subsequently portrayed by others in films suggesting similar childhood hallucinations or waking dreams.
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