July 2008 Archives

Everyone who knows me, knows I'm a bit of a soppy so and so.

Give me a chick flick, a sad documentary or even an emotive soap plot and I'm a snivelling wreck on the sofa.

As an animal lover, you can always catch me wiping away a tear when those animal charity adverts come on.

But shedding a tear at last night's fly-on-the-wall (or kennel) police programme, Send in the Dogs, was the final straw.

Even if Jasper the Alsatian did die at just 5 years old, it time to toughen up......

NEWS THAT the Baggies are back in the Premiership is great for local fans.

But the club could also be about to win a whole new international audience thanks to a classic sporting moments satellite TV channel.

ESPN Classic reckons it reaches more than 26 million households across Europe, the Middle East & Africa, with local channels in the UK, France & Italy, a Pan European channel, and a recently launched channel serving the Middle East & Africa.

It also claims to be the leader in presenting classic moments in sport, reaching more than 58 million US households.

To celebrate the Baggies' emphatic return, ESPN Classic (Sky Channel 442) will be hosting a series of some of the club's most exciting games from August 4-9 as well as during the opening weekend of the season on August 16/17.

Fans will be able to relive some of the club's most exciting moments from its illustrious past.

IT'S BEEN more years than I care to remember since I last watched the Men's Singles Final at Wimbledon live.

But this year's rain was literally heaven sent.

Having been out working all day and early evening, there's no way I'd have seen this game otherwise... as none of my methods of taping the game would have lasted as long as the match did.

Congratulations to Spaniard Rafael Nadal for coming out on top 9-7 in the final set having won the first two.

Perhaps he'll come to Brum soon to see the spiritual home of the sport he now bestrides.

Lawn tennis as we know it is said to have been invented in Edgbaston, where a house in Ampton Road has a commemorative blue plaque.

What's more, the Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Society, founded in 1860, is the world's oldest Lawn Tennis Club. Olé!

When he looks back on this match in years to come, the guy Nadal will thank the most for his win will be Roger Federer.

In trying to go one year better than Bjorn Borg - whose legend was fired thanks to his rivalry with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe - the five-times champion's determination to hang on to his crown made Nadal's win in Wimbledon's semi-darkness all the sweeter.

What's more, Federer took his defeat like a man.

One doubts if many of our Premiership footballers will have been watching this as an object lesson in sportsmanship, but we can but hope.

In the meantime, I'll be screening the final set of this match to my three children before they get the chance to see Spain v Germany at the climax of Euro 2008.

When tennis is played to this standard, the sport has no equal.

One of these years, I'll even consider how you go about having any chance at all of getting tickets for a Wimbledon final.

Tennis is usually off my radar for 50 weeks of the year, so the thought normally only crosses my mind half way through the tournament!

BIRMINGHAM actor Adrian Lester has just been on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (BBC1) - and done himself proud.

You'd never guess he was a day over 26, but he's actually going to hit the big 4-0 in August.

His achievements in theatre, on TV and in film (not forgetting a newly-acquired black belt after 12 years of study) mean that this happily married, father-of-two girls is the perfect role model for all inner city kids, whatever their background.

He's often told me that he'd never have made it without the MAC so it was good that he gave the Midlands Arts Centre - to give it its full name - two good plugs.

Ross even seemed quite interested, asking if it was still there.

All in all, it was good to see that Birmingham actually got a mention on a national chat show.

The reason why it often doesn't is the fact that so many people are shamefully ignorant about the city, as this show proved only too well.

When Ross asked Adrian about his Birmingham roots, he wondered if he might have come from either the Black Country or... get this, Kidderminster!

Whether he's on £18 million or not, surely Ross can afford an atlas and be able to spend a few minutes looking at it.

Since when has Kiddie - just the odd 17 miles away - been part of Brum?

PS. As I've written in the Birmingham Mail before, it would be a dream come true for Adrian to open the MAC when it opens again next Autumn after a £13 million refurb.

Let's hope the organisers, when they are not thinking about how many more lovely trees they can chop down in Cannon Hill Park, have the sense to ask him.

PS2. And wasn't Meryl Streep lovely at the end, despite having to sit through one of Ross's dullest-ever interviews after Adrian had gone off? I can't wait to see Mamma Mia! again when it opens.

ALMOST 24 hours have elapsed since last night's BBC Ten O'Clock News featured footage of a 30-year-old man being shot dead.

Hussam Dwayat had gone on the rampage inside a bulldozer he was driving along a street in West Jerusalem.

He had crushed cars, overturned a bus and killed three people before he was shot dead inside the cab with several bullets.

At first, I thought I'd write an instant blog. A bit like foreign correspondents are expected to file news as it happens these days (even when nothing is happening at all).

But I then figured I'd take the proper, old fashioned approach.

And think about what I was going to say first...

I SAW MAMMA MIA (PG) today - and predict it will be a monster hit throughout the summer with ABBA fans going back time and again to see it.

The whole movie is so deliciously silly and funny from start to finish it will brighten up everyone's holidays.

Assuming, of course, you can't stand ABBA. In which case, you should run a mile. Or see a psychiatrist - preferably in Scotland where they think Rod Stewart is a good singer.

According to figures from the Film Distributors' Association, here's the top ten UK films of all time.

1 Titanic 20th Century Fox £69,025,646
2 Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone Warner Bros. £66,096,060
3 Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring Entertainment £63,009,288
4 Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King Entertainment £61,062,348
5 Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Entertainment £57,600,094
6 Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets Warner Bros. £54,780,731
7 Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (BVI) UK £52,515,550
8 The Full Monty 20th Century Fox £52,232,058
9 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Twentieth Century Fox £51,063,811
10 Casino Royale Sony Pictures £50,734,856

Depending on the weather and the economy, I reckon Mamma Mia! could gatecrash the top ten. And it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't challenge Titanic.

Especially as the financial downturn might even work in its favour.

Two reasons. ABBA fans - and there's plenty of them - could see it five times each and still have change from £30 (outside of London). What a bargain!

Moreover, we're all in need of cheering up... and this is the best film medicine in years, far more rewatchable than the Harry Potter and Star Wars nonsense that's hogging three of the top ten places.

Mamma Mia! stars our very own Julie Walters on top form alongside Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth (whose Bridget Jones's Diary is 17th with £42 million).

It's released on Thursday, July 10 so book your tickets for the opening weekend now - and don't miss our full review in the What's On section of the Birmingham Mail on Friday, July 11.