My OperaScarier than Mr T
Friday, May 25, 2012 8:55:30 AM
Back in the mid-seventies, a friend and I went to see a "Battle of the Bands" at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, featuring 12 local guitar-toting combos.
I can't remember why, but we had to leave before the last band, but we were convinced we had already seen the winners of the competition: an excellent band called Smiler.
Imagine our shock when we read in the local paper that the band we did not see - some outfit called Iron Maiden - had actually won the competition.
I wonder what happened to those guys?
I have just been reminded of the occasion because Radio Caroline has just played an Iron Maiden track. Also, on the telly last night there was a clip featuring Evil Incarnate (an infamous former British Prime Minister) in which she said she did not mind being called the "Iron lady" and likened it to the nickname given to the Duke of Wellington, the "Iron Duke".
Now, I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure the soubriquet she was given was the "Iron Maiden", not the "Iron lady". As students of history will know, the Iron Maiden was a most gruesome instrument of torture. If the Duke of Wellington's nickname had been the "Iron Nut-shredder", the analogy might have been appropriate.
I always got the impression that the woman never fully understood the speeches that had been written for her. Famously (though the story may be apocryphal), she did not understand a rather good joke that was written for her about then Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, who had confessed (to his son-in-law, if memory serves) that he thought of himself as being like Moses, with a mission to guide his people out of the wilderness.
The speech, as written, went something like: "All I can say to Mr Callaghan is: keep taking the tablets."
Mrs Evil Incarnate reportedly wanted to change this to "keep taking the pills".
As my friend, the late lamented Kevin Warne once memorably said, if she is a vengeful woman she will leave instructions in her will to be buried far out to sea; that way millions of her enemies will die dancing on her grave.
Hmmm. This blog entry seems to have taken on a rather sour tone, especially about a woman who is apparently suffering from dementia. It has actually made me feel some sympathy for her two children.
Let's finish with a bit more name dropping, then.
When my band was auditioning for a drummer some time in the late seventies we actually auditioned the original drummer and founder member of Iron Maiden. Surprisingly, he played more like a jazz drummer, gently tapping the ride cymbal throughout each number. That probably explains why he was replaced and why he did not get the gig with us.
Hopefully, he is still playing in a little three-piece jazz combo somewhere on Canvey Island or where-ever.
I can't remember why, but we had to leave before the last band, but we were convinced we had already seen the winners of the competition: an excellent band called Smiler.
Imagine our shock when we read in the local paper that the band we did not see - some outfit called Iron Maiden - had actually won the competition.
I wonder what happened to those guys?
I have just been reminded of the occasion because Radio Caroline has just played an Iron Maiden track. Also, on the telly last night there was a clip featuring Evil Incarnate (an infamous former British Prime Minister) in which she said she did not mind being called the "Iron lady" and likened it to the nickname given to the Duke of Wellington, the "Iron Duke".
Now, I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure the soubriquet she was given was the "Iron Maiden", not the "Iron lady". As students of history will know, the Iron Maiden was a most gruesome instrument of torture. If the Duke of Wellington's nickname had been the "Iron Nut-shredder", the analogy might have been appropriate.
I always got the impression that the woman never fully understood the speeches that had been written for her. Famously (though the story may be apocryphal), she did not understand a rather good joke that was written for her about then Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, who had confessed (to his son-in-law, if memory serves) that he thought of himself as being like Moses, with a mission to guide his people out of the wilderness.
The speech, as written, went something like: "All I can say to Mr Callaghan is: keep taking the tablets."
Mrs Evil Incarnate reportedly wanted to change this to "keep taking the pills".
As my friend, the late lamented Kevin Warne once memorably said, if she is a vengeful woman she will leave instructions in her will to be buried far out to sea; that way millions of her enemies will die dancing on her grave.
Hmmm. This blog entry seems to have taken on a rather sour tone, especially about a woman who is apparently suffering from dementia. It has actually made me feel some sympathy for her two children.
Let's finish with a bit more name dropping, then.
When my band was auditioning for a drummer some time in the late seventies we actually auditioned the original drummer and founder member of Iron Maiden. Surprisingly, he played more like a jazz drummer, gently tapping the ride cymbal throughout each number. That probably explains why he was replaced and why he did not get the gig with us.
Hopefully, he is still playing in a little three-piece jazz combo somewhere on Canvey Island or where-ever.
