More or Les (was Bloody Plurals)

[Ozzyjack]

You always manage to make me roar with laughter when I'm at work.  Think my career as a professional receptionist is in danger...?

Not a possibility, Pen.  I don't have the details of your newspaper or I would arrange a story with the headline
INFECTIOUS LAUGHING RECEPTIONIST RAISES PATIENTS' MORALE.  GETS WARD AWARD.

Think you're right about "Sykes".  My friend Eve said exactly the same think that he'd been replaced.

I found a  couple of Sykes clips but they didn't rate so you got the bird.  

 Fingers & toes crossed.
Ciao for now

In that case you probably can't type and you walk funny.  

Rob: It’s impossible to fool a ballerina.
Steve: Why?
Rob: Because they are always on their toes.

Anyone who is awake at this hour is either an insomniac or totally barking mad.  Woof! I am now leaving you to decide which.

[Hobbit]

By the time you read this it'll be Morning Jack!  You really are going to have to stop howling at the moon
Loved the headline
The Professionals was one of my favourite programmes.  Loved both Martin Shaw & Lewis Collins.  Also really enjoyed Judge John Deed.  Not a patch on Rumpole of The Bailey with the wonderful Leo McKern.  If memory serves (which it often doesn't!) I think he too was one of your fellow countrymen.
I've been pondering the dinner guest question.  So far I've only come up with Michael Vaughan....

Must skidaddle as I need to find some words
Pen

ps  Can't believe Les played hookey

[Les303]

G'day Penny / Jack ( & anybody else who might be having a squiz ),

I also enjoyed " The Professionals ".
Gordon Jackson was of course a very accomplished stage & film actor, I can remember seeing him in lots of war movies like " The Great Escape " before taking on this TV role , I believe that he passed away within a few years of the series finishing.
We all know that Martin Shaw went on to star in several other brilliant TV shows but I wonder if anyone knows whatever happened to his side kick, Lewis Collins?
I cannot remember seeing him in anything at all after The Professionals.
Another question I have is that I vaguely remember reading somewhere that The Professionals was either banned or at least was not very popular in the U.S. because, would you believe, it was deemed to be too violent?

" Minder " i thought was an absolutely brilliant show.
George Cole was another that i remember seeing in countless old movies before he mad the successful transition to T.V.

Jack, i hate to disappoint you but i don't think that you will be making a fortune with your " scoop " for the newspapers as I can assure you that my absence from work would have barely raised an eyebrow.

Thankyou for your good wishes on my little win yesterday although I have to say that I did not get off to a very good start.

I got out of bed at 7am, it was a particularly cool morning & the temperature was exactly 7 degrees.
I walked the 7 blocks down to my local convenience store to buy a paper but was annoyed that i had to queue up as there were already 7 people in line at the counter so while waiting i decided to pick up a few groceries.
When i finally got served i asked the woman behind the counter for a paper.
" Your lucky " she replied as i only have 7 left anyway with all your groceries that will only cost you $77 due to our Saturday promotion where we offer a 7% discount on everything between 7am & 7pm.
Once i arrived back home with my 7 bags of groceries, i quickly flipped through the paper to find all the racing information listed on page 77.

Imagine my surprise when i saw that horse number 7 in race 1 was actually named " Seven " but it had very poor form & was at odds of 70 to 1 so i dismissed it as an option & continued to study the rest of the form.
The first race was due to jump at 12.07pm so at 11.07am i ordered a taxi for the short drive to the race track.
On arrival at the track i paid the driver his $7 fare & proceeded to the bar.
As i paid the barman $7 for my first stubby, i noticed that the time was exactly 11.37am & i also noticed that not surprisingly for such an early hour there were only a few people in the bar & when i actually counted them, including the barman & myself, the total came to 7.

This is just ridiculous, how can i possibly ignore so many omens, so i go to the bookie & have $70 a win on horse 7 named "seven" at 70 to 1 for a potential return of 4.9K.

The field jumps right on time at eaxactly 12.07pm & horse 7 named Seven runs seventh!

Cheers Les

[Ozzyjack]

You really are going to have to stop howling at the moon

OK, but I am not sure that I will be able to contain myself when we have a full moon on May 30.

The Professionals was one of my favourite programmes.  Loved both Martin Shaw & Lewis Collins.  Also really enjoyed Judge John Deed.

If you haven’t already, you must catch him in Inspector George Gently.

Not a patch on Rumpole of The Bailey with the wonderful Leo McKern.  If memory serves he too was one of your fellow countrymen.

Correct.  Did you know he shared a characteristic with Les – he was one-eyed.  In Leo’s case it was literal, he lost an eye in an accident when he was 15.  In Les’s case, it is metaphorical, and it is because he is a dedicated Brisbaneophile, especially when it comes to beer and football teams.

If you get a chance you might Enjoy Leo in Travelling North. Great story- great scenery.

Travelling North - Trailer  

I've been pondering the dinner guest question.  So far I've only come up with Michael Vaughan....

I think this was a great idea from Cmh but I am having some difficulty.  It is easy to pick 5 people who you would like to have dinner with.  But would they be compatible with each other.  For example, If I chose Mahatma Gandhi and Sir Les Paterson to sit opposite each other even I, not known for my sensitivity, could see that it might not work.  I could easy pick a dozen forumites I would like to invite to dinner but if I had to shortlist to 5, would the others feel slighted.   Back to the drawing board.
 

Can't believe Les played hookey

There was a time in Australia when jobs fell off trees and it was assumed jobs were for life, taking a sickie was a national sport.  Not so much now when security of employment is no longer taken for granted.  But I guess Les knows he is irreplaceable.

Must skidaddle as I need to find some words.

Have you thought of looking in the dictionary.

Speaking of birds and dogs as we were yesterday, I will leave you with the joke of the week from Peter FitzSimons in the Sydney Morning Herald today,

A courier up Gulargambone way has just been asked to deliver a package to a place he’s never been before, on the western side of town. He arrives at the address and sees a big sign marked “Beware of the parrot!” nailed to a tree. Looking down the garden path, he spies, sure enough, a parrot sitting on its perch. With a little chuckle to himself, and without a worry in the world, he opens the gate and walks into the garden. He gets as far as the parrot’s perch, when suddenly it calls out: “Brutus, attack."

[Les303]

 " Did you know he shared a characteristic with Les – he was one-eyed. "......And proud of it!

I did enjoy watching the clever wit of Rumpole.

Did you every see the Australian series about a barrister which featured on the ABC,  it was called Rake & starred Richard Roxbourgh, i thought it was brilliant.

[Ozzyjack]

Did you every see the Australian series about a barrister which featured on the ABC,  it was called Rake & starred Richard Roxbourgh, i thought it was brilliant.

No. It may well be brilliant but I like to admire my heroes for their ethical behaviour not their rat cunning.

[Ozzyjack]

I'll blame Ozziejack for setting a bad example with his lengthy posts.

Ok. I plead guilty, although  a lot of the length is white space.

[Les303]

Bugger me , I was just about to reply to your previous post when the damn thing told me that I had timed out, bloody frustrating!!!!

[Ozzyjack]

Bugger me , I was just about to reply to your previous post when the damn thing told me that I had timed out, bloody frustrating!!!!

I hope you’ve paid your telco bill. It sounds like your time out is getting shorter and shorter.

[Les303]

 

Really,...Although i didn't actually refer to Roxbourgh or anyone else from that show as my " hero " i was simply stating that i enjoyed the series.

I quickly get bored with the same theme of predictable shows that are rolled out one after the other so am delighted when i come across a new program that is prepared to go outside of the excepted norms, push the barriers to the limit  & take the risk to do something different.

" Breaking Bad " would be another good example, loved the show but of course did not agree with the ethics but it was great entertainment.

Watching my first episode i thought who in the hell cast this show, i couldn't think of anyone less suitable than Bryan Cranston from " Malcolm in the Middle " to be playing the lead role but of cousre he won me over after just a couple of episodes.

Obviously my hero's in real life are people with proper ethics & morals just like your good self.

It's goodnight from me & it's goodnight from him.
'

[Ozzyjack]

I wonder if anyone knows whatever happened to his side kick, Lewis Collins?

Another question I have is that I vaguely remember reading somewhere that The Professionals was either banned or at least was not very popular in the U.S. because, would you believe, it was deemed to be too violent?

Wikipedia article on the life of Lewis Collins

I couldn't find out anything about the reaction to The Professionals in America.  One 1977 episode Klansmen, in which black people are harassed by a group that has modeled itself on the Ku Klux Klan, was banned and never shown in the UK.

[Ozzyjack]

Really,...Although i didn't actually refer to Roxbourgh or anyone else from that show as my " hero " i was simply stating that i enjoyed the series.

I quickly get bored with the same theme of predictable shows that are rolled out one after the other so am delighted when i come across a new program that is prepared to go outside of the excepted norms, push the barriers to the limit  & take the risk to do something different.

" Breaking Bad " would be another good example, loved the show but of course did not agree with the ethics but it was great entertainment.

Obviously my hero's in real life are people with proper ethics & morals just like your good self.

Les, I think you misunderstood the meaning of my message.  I was not in any way criticising your judgement or taste in liking Rake.  I was merely reiterating as I have in previous posts the type of shows I like.  There is not enough hours in the day to watch them all so I restrict my viewing to shows I think I might like.  I concede that this will mean that I will probably miss out on some very good shows. Nor, as I have stated before, have I claimed to have the qualities that I admire in the "heroes" of the shows that I like.  Perhaps "heroes" was a bad choice of words.  I should probably have said "principal characters".

One of the problems of keeping posts short is that misunderstandings are more likely.  I hope you will accept my apology for  expressing my view ineptly.

[mkenuk]

(re 'Breaking Bad')  i couldn't think of anyone less suitable than Bryan Cranston ....... to be playing the lead role but of cousre he won me over after just a couple of episodes.

I was quite surprised to fund out just how long Bryan Cranston has been working in films and TV; since the early 1980s, apparently, but Breaking Bad really got him onto the 'A' list.
Two very good (imo) films  based on (fairly) recent US history in which he stars are Trumbo, about the life and work of the screenwriter who went to jail and was blacklisted for his membership of the Communist Party, and All the Way about Lyndon Johnson.

Not comedies, but well worth watching

[cmh]

As I had the idea of a dinner party list  I suppose I should give mine but when I start to compile the list I now realise that a lot of mine are quite parochial and as we have a world stage on the forum this is causing me a problem. Regarding whether or not your guests need to get on with each other - well does that matter? Indeed do I have to "get on with " my guests? I think this type of hypothetical gathering may benefit from a bit of friction or controversy.
I would start my selection with Stephen Fry but I have no idea how well known he is outside of the UK but he has made a programme in which he traveled around the the USA. He is an extremely educated man with strong opinions and would be sure to ruffle some peoples feathers.
To keep my husband happy we would need a Formula One driver. He would probably ask  for it to be Lewis Hamilton but I would push for Daniel Ricardo - lovely to look at for me (and fun) and F1 info for the hubby!
Who else? Not sure at the moment but as my idea evolved from a discussion about Martin Shaw I suppose he would be the 3rd choice.
Finally I need to let another woman share the table. Maybe I could be allowed to resurrect  a lady I admire? If so it would be Barbara Castle a British politician of yesteryear and the woman who really should have been our first female PM (not Maggie). I always feel that she really knew how to handle male colleagues and also that she would not have squashed all the other women around her like MT did in order to make herself look good. I am not a political person ( I rarely vote) but I think this would be an opportunity to learn a thing or two.
Well I hope this is a list that travels at least part way around Chi world.

[Les303]

G'day Jack,

" One of the problems of keeping posts short is that misunderstandings are more likely.  I hope you will accept my apology for  expressing my view ineptly. "

I appreciated & fully understood your explanation, no bloody apology even necessary but of course duly excepted.

Ever since they first dragged me, kicking & screaming, into the 21st century, i have had problems with emails.
Particularly at work where an email has been sent with the very best of intentions but perhaps because it was poorly worded it was misconstrued & the tone completely taken completely out of context.
A couple of quick phone calls & all is quickly remedied but i cant help thinking why i just didn't ring them in the first place.

Chees Les