Who Knew?

BBC Magazine Monitor has an interesting list of surprising tidbits culled from news stories. Who knew that Franco only had one testicle? Or that one-third of England's coastline is inaccessible? See the list here.

Americans vs. Brits

There was an interesting article by Geoff Dyer in this Sunday's NY Times about Americans vs. Britains. We yanks come out pretty well! Read it here.

Make Love (Loudly), Not War

Sometimes, it seems, the neighbours would prefer you made war and not love. At least that's the case for Caroline Cartwright whose loud and frequent lovemaking with husband Steve earned her an Asbo (Anti-Social Behaviour Order) and now conviction on multiple charges of breaching this "Anti-Social Behaviour Order".

Mrs. Cartwright's cries of love - variously described in court as "unnatural" and "murder" - were clocked at 47 decibels, 50% above World Health Organization guidelines for an undisturbed night's sleep, Newcastle Crown Court was told. Sentencing is 18 January.

Khadambi Asalache

In the recent Royal Oak newsletter there's an interesting article about Khadambi Asalache, a Kenyan who came to London and created, among other works of art, an incredible interior to his house. The detail of his carving is exquisite and simply beautiful. It's all pine, all carved by hand. See photos here. He left his house to the National Trust, which is trying to raise the money necessary to take care of it.

As a footnote, the Royal Oak is selling autographed copies of Britannia in Brief. See more here.

Terry Wogan Calls It Quits

Forget the end of Oprah - Terry Wogan's packed up his morning show. "There'll be no senior moments and no blubbing," Terry Wogan promised his eight million listeners this morning at the start of the final broadcast of "Wake Up With Wogan", the most popular radio show in the UK. Little doubt though there was more than one moist eye among the millions of TOGs - "Terry's Old Geezers and Girls" - listening. Even those who don't quite qualify as TOGs should perhaps be a little saddened, if only because Chris Evans will be replacing him with a talk show starting in the New Year.

Tributes were received from "Mr. G. Brown" of Downing Street, London and one "Mr. D. Cameron," celebrating Terry's longevity and upbeat outlook in turn, among others. The reaction of famous TOG, Mrs. E. Windsor of Windsor, Berks, is so far unrecorded.

Rumours that Sir Terry decided to call it quits after realizing he could never top his mentioning of Britannia In Brief on the air this summer are completely unfounded.

UK Libel Law Review

Sarah Lyall has an article in today's NY Times about a possible change in the UK libel laws, which would be a good thing for many writers, publishers, and others out there. Read more about it here.

One well-known libel case in the UK was Oscar Wilde's. In Britannia in Brief we say:

"If only he'd just let it be...Oscar Wilde, a successful Irish-born novelist, poet, and playwright of the second half of the nineteenth century, was known for his long hair, eccentric manner of dressing, and bon mots. Wilde's close friendship (read: affair) with Lord Alfred Douglas cause Lord Alfred Douglas's father, the Marquess of Queensbury, a lot of concern. When the Marquess of Queensbury left a card for Wilde at his club, addressed to "Oscar Wilde...somdomite" [sic], Wilde made the mistake of suing him for libel.

When the evidence against Wilde was trotted out, he was arrested and found guilty of "gross indecency." Had Wilde just left it alone and not filed the libel suit, he wouldn't have gone to prison."

Head In The Clouds?

I think everyone can agree the Millennium Dome was one of the dafter ideas of recent times, (though at least they've found a good use for it now,) and Richard Rodgers wobbly bridge was something of a shaky idea. I know lots of people love the London Eye, though I've always found it sort of trivializing to have a giant fun-fair ride towering over the seat of government. Topping all of these, literally, is the idea being currently "floated" for a Digital Cloud over the East End to mark the Olympics,

What is "The Cloud"? A cluster of 120m (400ft) mesh towers supporting "a series of interconnected plastic bubbles that can be used to display images and data." From the drawings available the structure looks like a straw with bubbles blowing out the end. Like the Eye and the Millennium Bridge and so many other recent monuments it all seems rather flimsy and unlikely to survive a single good storm or change in taste. Of course, I could be wrong and The Cloud, should it ever be built, will be a thing of beauty to be cherished across the ages.

Parrish Presents this Friday

This Friday we're looking forward to signing books at the Parrish Presents--a fun and festive annual event to benefit the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton. More about it here.

NME's Top 50 List

NME has come out with it's list of the top 50 albums of the noughties and taking first place is the American band the Strokes with British indie band the Libertines taking the second spot. More about it in today's Guardian.

English Man Cave

I like the idea of an English Man Cave (this is, by the way, Leslie writing, I have no idea what William will think of an English Man Cave or Union Jack sofas). In today's NY Times there's this article about Timothy Oulton, who's an English furniture maker setting up shop at ABC Carpet in NYC. I like the end of the article where Oulton says he'd tell Ricky Gervais he had to get a Union Jack sofa--like there's no choice.