The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo

As I walk along the Bois Boolong with an independent air,
You can hear the girls declare"He must be a Millionaire."
You can hear them sigh and wish to die,
You can see them wink the other eye
At the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

I was sitting in a lovely quaint pub with a male friend recently when we were targeted by the pub's local nutjob... or so we thought. This man was scruffy in appearance and slurring his words and spilling his Ringwood bitter as he made a pass with cheeky small talk. "Who is this lady by your side?" "I've seen you in here with a girl or two." To which my friend was quite embarrassed! But it turned out that this old man was reading us a song. He had a wad of old hall songs which his grandfather used to sing to him. The one that interested us the most was The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, based on the casino gambler and trickster Charles Wells who 'broke the bank' (won more chips than was on the table) at the casino twelve times. Investigators were employed to try and work out his system but it is thought that he simply doubled his bets to make up his losses. Wells got away with this for some years before being found guilty of fraud at the old bailey and sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

What started as a feeling of dread, being approached by a strange, scruffy looking man who seemed quite lonely and bored actually turned into quite a fun and interesting history lesson. You can find this quirky character at the Black Boy pub in bar end of Winchester. Go for the crazy decor... stay for the locals!

...and if you thought I'd end this blog without a link to the song... you're wrong :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnspC0c1Sws

A Sign Of The Times...

The World Cup qualifier against Ukraine on Saturday will NOT be shown on television.

It has been revealed that for the first time in the history of football a qualifying match will not be shown on television, instead viewers will be able to pay in advance to watch it online for £4.99 on Wednesday with the price going up to £10.99 Thursday and Friday and £11.99 if you leave it until Saturday. The rights to broadcast the game were originally held by Setanta (deceased) - poor Angus! But have been sold to a company called Perform.

Of course it would be unfair to assume that every football fan can use a computer, which is probably why the game will also be shown at 11 Odeons across the country. It is unclear how this decision will be received by fans but I can't help thinking there is going to be bad feedback. When I think about watching football... I think of gathering round the television with family to support my team or country or going to the pub to watch with mates. Neither of these traditional scenes will be possible.

It does appear to reflect a shift in the way society consumes their media. Today it would be fair to say most teenagers and young adults are familiar with such internet players such as 4od (4 on demand) and bbc iplayer but such a popular event such as a world cup match is going to reach out to people of all ages and in every demographic. I could see it easing the more mature generation into the 21st century.

Maybe we'll come across some golden bloggers!

HA!

...Brown still thinks Labour has a chance!

IRAN!!! Now that is out the way let's talk prison hooch!

As Obama and Brown have been all over the news today in talks about the discovery of Iran's secret second nuclear plant I was planning to discuss this in a blog... however... I then got distracted by the story of creative Dorset prisoners using the antiseptic hand gel intended to combat the spread of swine flu... to make an alcoholic beverage! As soon as the lags spotted the alcohol based hand gel they started stealing it and making their hooch by mixing it with other drinks! I bet those inmates know how to throw a party :)

You have to worry about the clever young soul who thought it would be a good idea to make a alcohol based product readily available to the prisoners and naively thought they wouldn't see an opportunity and run with it.

Countdown to Christmas has begun!!

I walked into Sainsburys today with a friend (we were buying ingredients for the BEST CURRY EVER... but that's a different story for a different day) and we quickly realised that the build up to Christmas is getting earlier and earlier each year! The aisles were filled with festive treats... candy canes, cadbury chocolate tree decorations, selection boxes and mince pies.

The truth is everybody loves Christmas, it doesn't matter how old you get!

But the thing that struck me as odd is that whilst investigating the mince pies I found that the sell date was for November... a whole month before Christmas. This may be forgiven if it wasn't for the fact that the box even had a picture of Father Christmas on it! I read in The Sun today that Tesco is selling boxes of them that are sell by October.

The holiday season is taking oveeer!!

Newborn Tot Found In Bushes

One story this week that has really upset me is that of the newborn baby found in some bushes in Buckinhamshire. The baby was found on a piece of open ground in High Wycombe with her umbilical cord still attached, suggesting that the birth of the child was not supervised by medical professionals.

Although the baby was thought to have been safe and well whilst being cared for by staff at the Wycombe General Hospital, what emotional pain will this child feel growing up knowing that she was abandoned at birth?

I suspect that the mother was maybe a young girl who accidentally got pregnant because she doesn't think contraception is important... in the words of Jeremy Kyle "Put something on the end of it!"

Who am I to judge though? This girl/woman could have some serious deep rooted psychological issues, but to leave your own baby after birth is far beyond any mental illness I have ever come across. I fail to understand the sheer cold heartedness of this. To call it a severe case of post natal wouldn't do this defenseless child any justice.

I hope that this anonymous mother will come forward and seek help.

This weeks guilty pleasure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pccguTaYDLQ

This week I have been listening to Wake Up by French internet sensation Sliimy. I don't quite know why I like it but I do!! It is a very uppy song and even though the lyrics are mostly gibberish and you can't sing along it does leave you with a smile on your face! Just don't listen to it infront of anyone if you want to be valued as a respectful member of society...

Sliimy has been described as the "French Mika". He has been posting songs on myspace for 2 years but it was a cover of Britney Spears' Womanizer on Perez Hilton's blog that got him noticed and landed him a signing with record label Perezcious Music in the US.