For the last couple of years, I have slowly – that is to say, quite quickly, become addicted to attending car boot fairs. Luckily, the small Cambridgeshire village I live in is equidistant to two fairs – one on Saturday, the other the day after. I don’t think I’ve ever come away with nothing, though […]
When a magician breathes no more, there are no sliding doors nor sleeves big enough to rustle up an escape route. That’s all, folks. But that cannot be the last word in the wizard fraternity – a sorcerer’s corpse worth its salt must undergo the broken wand ceremony. The notion of a magician’s demise or […]
One-time sideman of musical nuisance Trevor Horn’s The Buggles, Hans Zimmer is now a byword for Hollywood movie scores and is credited with revolutionising the art form, a feat achieved by using modern technology and synthesizers alongside more traditional instrumentation and arrangements. I can scarcely think of anything less necessary. There used to be two […]
Peter Stumpp (died 1589) (whose name is also spelt as Peter Stube, Peeter Stubbe, Peter Stübbe or Peter Stumpf) was a Rhenish farmer, accused of being a serial killer and flesh-eater also known as the “Werewolf of Bedburg”. There is much confusion around his real name as ‘Stumpp’ quite possibly refers to the fact that he only had one hand. This […]
Acromegaly: noun (Derived from the Greek words “akros“, extremities, and “megas“, big) A medical disease in which the bones of the head, hands, and feet grow larger than normal, caused by the pituitary gland producing too much growth hormone Rondo Hatton was born with the genetic condition acromegaly which affects the pituitary gland. Like all sufferers, there were few, if any signs, when he was young, the effects only becoming more obvious […]
Whilst no one would ever describe him as a singer or actor, Ken Nordine undoubtedly had one of the most incredible voices of the 20th Century. It was a voice of such depth, sonority and gravitas that it kept him in gainful employment over the course of eight decades and allowed him the anonymity many […]
A little while ago I reviewed the new Galileo 7 album, ‘You, Me and Reality’, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was very happy to get a message from Allan Crockford from the band thanking me, though he was intrigued I found it such a positive album considering the subject matter of several of the songs. […]
On the banks of the Ganges in Northern India, centred around the ancient city of Varanasi, live a sect of Hindus who practice some of the most extreme rituals of any existing religion. The Aghori are devotees of Shiva, sadhu in the extreme, shunning not only conventional ways of life but those well beyond other […]
Born Angelo Salvatore Rossitto in February 1908, his humble beginnings led to a sixty-year acting career and an indelible imprint on popular culture…yet few know his name. One of five children, his parents had settled in Omaha, Nebraska after relocating from Sicily, Angelo was born with dwarfism, growing to only 2’11, though he became one […]
Baron Samedi (the slightly less impressive Baron Saturday, translated into English,) and also Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi, or Bawon Sanmdi, is one of the Loa (or Lwa) of Haitian vodou, the spirits of the dead. Samedi is a Loa of the dead, along with Baron’s numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix, and Baron […]
