tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62464505236807611792012-02-16T18:30:42.290Z...contemplations on events past and present.Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-18359381393141148162011-08-04T12:36:00.002+01:002011-08-04T15:45:23.612+01:00

I have just discovered the true meaning of the words mind-numbing and tedious. Three hours watching a company of actors sing their dialogue at each other while swinging from a barricade or spinning around on a revolving stage drove me to the very edge of reason. On Wednesday afternoon my partner and I attended a matinee performance of Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. I

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-30979116170700895502011-07-13T08:41:00.005+01:002011-08-04T15:56:35.289+01:00

You have Sky +. You've had it ages and you're quite happy with it, no intention of changing anything. You also have a forty something inch HD ready lump of plastic, either hanging on the wall or sitting in the corner on that very expensive smoked glass unit, and the picture is perfectly fine. You can see every acne spot on Wayne Rooney's finely chiselled features, and, at this moment in time,

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-64000741350893037732011-07-11T10:28:00.005+01:002011-07-11T21:23:38.539+01:00

Philip Neville 2011 This is an edited transcript of a piece that appeared in the pages of Toffeeweb. It is a very long letter. If you are interested in Everton Football Club I would advise you to read it. An unedited version is available here. * * * * There is considerable interest in a very good letter put together by fans calling themselves The People's Group on Facebook. Their aim is to

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-8655457698943212552011-01-29T09:38:00.002Z2011-01-29T09:40:28.569Z

"Only the best is good enough..." As a lifelong Everton fan I would like to write a piece about the destruction of a once great football club, but I can't. I'm too close to it and I'm too angry. Whatever I wrote would turn into an unmitigated rant, which wouldn't help the situation at all. But there are Everton fans who can write what they feel in a lucid and informative way. And one of those

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-49812460857299980172011-01-28T09:47:00.070Z2011-01-29T12:14:14.681Z

Ray Cooper. My wife first noticed him during an old Elton John concert from the mid nineties, showing on the Sky Arts channel. A short, middle aged guy, shaven head, sunglasses, he was standing at the back of the stage nonchalantly rattling a tambourine. Didn't seem to be doing that much, to be honest. Then a couple of weeks later we were watching another concert - a tribute to George Harrison

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-21758025684490609582011-01-25T15:58:00.005Z2011-01-28T12:09:44.620Z

A half crown - 1921 If you live in London, you've seen it a million times and probably haven't noticed. If you are visiting London on holiday, or just passing through on the top of a bus, you'll see it at least half a dozen times before you reach your destination. It appears everywhere. On public buildings, military banners, cap badges, buttons, coins - it even appears on the lamp posts

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-62574489954344107842011-01-24T11:26:00.006Z2011-01-25T13:06:48.382Z

Hollywood rejection letter 1920 Have you ever submitted a script to a studio or an agent? I have - several times. Most came back with letters of rejection attached detailing every reason you could possibly think of for rejection. The script wasn't good enough, the story was weak, they couldn't see a market, etc, etc. Some detailed rejection letters were quite humorous, as it was possible to see

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-83835338590004953362011-01-23T12:28:00.445Z2011-01-28T08:49:17.428Z

June 9, 1909 - New York City On the morning of June 9, 1909, in a rain-drenched New York City, a 22-year-old woman, Alice Ramsey, waited outside the Maxwell car showroom at 1930 Broadway, to begin a journey no woman had ever before attempted - driving a car coast-to-coast across the United States. The Maxwell-Briscoe Car Company donated the vehicle Alice was about to drive and also acted as a

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-40942229865848846952011-01-22T11:48:00.000Z2011-01-24T12:28:06.174Z

'Nellie Bly' 1890 Journalist and social reformer, Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (1864 - 1922), came to public attention at the close of the nineteenth century. Her newspaper articles concerning the lives of the poor and the inherent disadvantages suffered by woman at that time, heralded a new form of journalism. Investigative reporting. She obtained her information by venturing into a series of

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-88135470035370096852011-01-20T12:58:00.000Z2011-01-20T12:58:57.993Z

Hawley Harvey Crippen. 1910 Hawley Harvey Crippen was an American who moved to England with his wife in 1900. He set himself up as a 'quack' doctor peddling various medical cures. He was a quiet, mild mannered man, who carried a burning resentment that his qualifications weren't good enough for him to become a proper doctor. Instead, he had to sell homoeopathic remedies to make a living. His

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-10068243990711759462011-01-19T09:07:00.001Z2011-01-21T10:16:59.615Z

"The other day I went to the grocery store and had to sign fifteen autographs before leaving. On one hand, it's just so flattering. On the other hand, sometimes it would be nice to get the bread and leave, you know?"Clay Aikin - American singer/actor. Joe DiMaggio. 1941 Have you ever shoved a piece of paper under the nose of a celebrity and asked them to sign? Most will scrawl their signatures

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-39949056415931355542011-01-18T09:02:00.512Z2011-01-19T12:41:07.395Z

On December 4, 1982, a man of about 40 years of age enters the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Boise, Idaho, and sits quietly in a corner of the church preparing himself for confession. He never gets the chance to offer his confession to a priest. As he waits - perhaps not realizing it will take several minutes before a confessional is available - he swallows a cyanide capsule. A few minutes

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-42920550443524127722011-01-16T09:00:00.012Z2011-01-24T16:06:59.334Z

Eric Liddell 1927 The name rang a bell. It was listed in one of those newspaper items used to fill the white space, People Born On This Day. The day in question was 16 January, and the entry was minimal. Eric Liddell. Athlete. 1902-1945.  A man's life encapsulated in just one word - athlete. And it was a short life, too, just 43 years. Then the 1981 film Chariots of Fire sprang to mind. Wasn't

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-25748622140314516012011-01-15T09:51:00.000Z2011-01-15T09:51:54.623Z

I said; 'Cinzano and lemonade and a dry white wine.' The pictures broadcast on the 10 o'clock news are usually bleak. Shaven-headed thugs - baseball caps pulled down over their eyes - pitching half bricks and bottles into the massed ranks of the police. Two warring tribes come together to celebrate...what? A football match. Ninety minutes of football is not enough. Now they have to smash pub

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-36716969244903712392011-01-14T13:44:00.002Z2011-01-14T22:16:48.712Z

They say that if something appears to be too good to be true - it probably is. But that doesn't stop thousands of people falling for scams every day. And it doesn't matter where you are in the world, in these times of economic recession even the most vigilant among us seem to be falling for one particular scam. If you study the various adverts placed by the scammers, it's not hard to see why

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-87699778546804814442011-01-11T10:04:00.015Z2011-01-12T09:35:52.842Z

The Mall. London. March 20, 1974. 7:45 pm. The maroon Austin Princess limousine carrying Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips has only travelled a couple of hundred yards down The Mall when a nondescript Ford Escort swerves recklessly across the front of the royal car, forcing it to a halt. Royal protection officer, James Beaton, 30, sitting in the front passenger seat, initially thinks the

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-74602561234223570332011-01-10T13:07:00.008Z2011-01-11T08:25:18.173Z

Mark Chapman 2009 Who killed John Lennon? At just after 11pm on 8th December 1980, Mark Chapman (pictured left) then 25-years-old, was found leaning nonchalantly against the entrance to the Dakota Building flicking through a battered copy of J D Salinger's novel Catcher In The Rye. The smoking gun he'd apparently used to pump four bullets into Lennon lay on the floor beside Lennon's iconic

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-9383660863101595782011-01-04T08:54:00.023Z2011-01-11T07:51:54.023Z

The number of The Beast 668 - The neighbour of the beast DCLXVI - The Roman numeral of the beast 666.0000 - The number of the high-precision beast 0.666 - The number of the millibeast 1/666 - The common denominator of the beast 1010011010 - The binary number of the beast -666 - The negative number of the beast £665.99 - The retail price of the beast £799.20 - The price of the

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-27933720556103276252010-12-27T11:00:00.017Z2011-01-11T09:38:34.348Z

Boxing day. Too much turkey, too many mince pies, and far too many Quality Street (especially the ones with red wrappers) and I can't get the waistband on my trousers to fasten. Can barely breathe, let alone stand up and actually do something. And then the conversation turned to cinemas. Not the present day ten screen multiplexes with Dolby extra+ sound systems that make your ears bleed. No,

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-52714205622264622072010-12-20T17:49:00.008Z2010-12-20T18:49:11.744Z

Charles Dickens Some people laughed to see the alteration in him (Scrooge), but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter...                                  A Christmas Carol (1843)

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-30463514772780196762010-12-11T07:35:00.003Z2010-12-11T07:41:16.136Z

Charlie Gilmour respecting the dead. I could write a thousand words about this photograph. Just one will do...  Moron 

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-18560759974929768272010-12-08T22:49:00.001Z2010-12-11T07:54:34.205Z

John Lennon - December 1980 On December 8th 1980, John Lennon was gunned down by Mark David Chapman outside the Dakota Building in New York City. There are many conspiracy theories about Lennon's death, the most popular one being that Mark Chapman was working for the C.I.A as a Manchurian Candidate. I don't know what the truth is, and until I do, I'll keep an open mind. John Lennon was a big

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-76178383435261405812010-11-29T10:00:00.014Z2011-01-11T07:24:30.296Z

Have you ever purchased a book based on a review you'd read on the Amazon page? And have you ever thought, that book bore no resemblance to the review I read, how could they get it so wrong? I have, and it's annoying, not to say expensive when you find yourself in possession of something you would never have bought had you known the truth. It all started with The Cato Street Conspiracy, a true

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-29887799197780411052010-11-28T10:10:00.041Z2011-01-11T09:48:37.806Z

'Been here before...' My friend had stopped ranting and raving about the disastrous concert he had attended the previous evening (see here) and was now stuffing a Cornish Pasty into his mouth. He downed another pint of Guinness in one go and turned to face me. 'If Eric Clapton in Liverpool was the worst concert you've ever attended, and I find that hard to believe, what was the best?' 'That's

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6246450523680761179.post-85819453285969615012010-11-26T11:01:00.021Z2011-01-11T09:46:20.634Z

Rose and Crown SW19 Lunchtime. Sitting in the local pub, pint of Guinness in one hand, Cornish Pasty in the other. My companion is ranting and raving about a concert he attended the previous evening. I've given up trying to commiserate with him, I can't get a word in edgewise and the rest of the pub is now hanging on his every word. There's one bloke sitting at the bar and he's leaning sideways

Rob Hamiltonnoreply@blogger.com