Front Row Dress Circle

The adorable little boy pictured at left would one day grow up to be a King of the British Empire, the father of our present Queen Elizabeth II. As Prince Albert of Wales he looks like most little boys of the era which was the early 20th century, dressed in a sailor suit for the photographer as was the trend at the time. We all think he led a charmed life – as would assume all Royals do – but sadly his childhood was not the happy childhood it could have been. He was habitually abused as a toddler by a spiteful nanny and terrorised throughout his teens by an authoritative, demanding father and teased by his brothers – no wonder he was plagued by nervous problems and a crippling stammer into adulthood. I saw The King’s Speech at the weekend which details the years in which this little boy went from being the newly married Prince Albert, Duke of York, to King George VI and how he found a man who was able to help him ultimately control the stammer that made public speaking for him such a nightmare. Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist, became a significant part of ‘Bertie’s’ life giving him the skills and confidence he needed to deliver the many speeches that rallied a nation during wartime and marked his reign as so successful. Through the film you discover the traumas that caused the young prince to start stammering as five year old child and you really deeply for the young man who was living a relatively uncomplicated life as a Naval Officer when the biggest role of all was conferred upon him.

What comes across very strongly is the sense of vulnerability in a man who had not enjoyed a happy childhood or doting parents, but rather isolation and dominance. His love of his quiet family life with his wife and two daughters was interrupted by the Abdication but the rest, as we know, is history and if you ever wondered where the Queen gets her strength and resilience from then look no further – go see this brilliant film about a man who overcame so many personal problems and issues that we experience in our own lives today and see why he certainly was born to be King.

If Colin Firth (The King) and Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) don’t both win Oscars for their roles in this film then I will eat my keyboard!

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There are some things which are in the very least tiresome and the eternal battle being waged over the name ‘Bucks Fizz’ has to rank as one of them. Maybe it’s me but I have lost track over who exactly Bucks Fizz is today and who they were thirty years ago…is it really that long?

As I understand it you have ‘Bucks Fizz’, ‘The Original Bucks Fizz’, ‘Bobby G’s Bucks Fizz’…then you have people who are the ‘original’ members, people who are ‘original’ members of the second version of the ‘original’ band and new members who are mad enough to step into the shoes of the ‘original’ members and get caught up in all this hoo-haa. The thing is none of them seem to like each other. There was Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston on he makeover show Pop Goes the Band in 2009 which was uncomfortable viewing at times as bad feeling still clearly existed between Jay and her later replacement Shelley Preston. Then you had that awful scene when Cheryl turned on past ex-bandmate David Van Day quite viciously when they faced each other on Celebrity Coach Trip recently.

With their 30th anniversary coming up they are at it again arguing over who owns the name and who doesn’t – why don’t the four authentic, original, first version members simply shake hands and reform as they were when pictured here in the photograph. I am sure they are as tired off dragging out this issue after all this time as people are of reading about their battles, their bad feelings towards each other and the bitterness that comes from over-inflated ego’s and hard-to-swallow pride. None of you are getting any younger so just get on with it eh?

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Most of us are surprised the marriage between Katie Price and Alex Reid lasted the twelve months that it dragged on for, but whether or not you still believe that Katie still carries a torch for the Andre person you have to wonder where her head is at and if she will learn any lessons from this latest matrimonial mess.Their wedding, televised last year, had as much warmth and sentimentality as a visit to the bank. For all it was worth it may as well have featured the two of them signing an agreement to do public appearances every now and then – with her maintaining her usual frosty indifference while he plays the amiable idiot.

There’s no sentimentality involved anywhere here and those who still harp on about Katie trying to make the Andre person jealous should remind themselves that that arrangement is as dead and buried as the Andre person’s persistent attempts to remain a pop star – even at his age. I don’t actually feel sorry for ‘the kids’ – they are well looked after, well-indulged and there’s no doubt they are deeply loved by both their parents – lets not take that away from the ex-Andre set-up. I just wish the Andre person would take a leaf out of his ex-wife’s book and cease parading them and his daddy-of-the-century scenes on his own TV show in future. But we all know ‘the kids’ are as much a part of his public relations campaign as Katie’s ‘novels’ and botox shots are a part of hers. Alex will go on to other reality shows – no doubt – and Katie will go onto another ‘on her own’ chapter in her TV series. She’s wealthy enough to not care what any one thinks, I know I wouldn’t if I had her millions, but she bases her fame these days on filming everything that happens in her life and so I’d say she plenty more material to use yet.

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