Houdini Type Escape goes Badly Wrong...

Not Houdini but Moodini 

This is one trick you won't see Andy's Magic trying. The guy in this stunt goes under the name of the The Great Moodini - his real name is Michael Anthony Mooney. He is an escapologist from Metro Atlanta who performs Houdini Style escapes. 

Here he is attempting a fairly new escape - only performed twice before (successfully, he claims). It's the intermission at the 'Atlanta Motor Speedway's Thursday Thunder' and the idea is that 'Moodini' is shackled to a chain which is tied to a pace car. He then has 8 seconds to escape before the pace car takes off and drags him around the track.

Thousands of spectators stand and watch as the intermission entertainment goes horribly wrong...

WARNING: Not suitable for those of a nervous disposition.

If you watched the video you will see The Great Moodini aka Michael Anthony Mooney was slammed head first in to the ground - but miraculously he suffered no head injuries. He was rushed to hospital and suffered a broken leg, arm, wrist and several finger; he recovered with no lasting damage. Lets face it Moodini is no Houdini and after this mega fail should rename himself Boo-dini. Lets face it the only escape he managed on this day was a very lucky escape...

The Two Ronnies - Mastermind Sketch

The Two Ronnies were the highlight of Saturday night light entertainment for over sixteen years (1971 - 1987) and made our hero's Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett in to TV stars and one of the most successful double acts around.

But unlike their biggest rivals, Morecambe and Wise, Corbett and Barker were not an exclusive pairing. They worked together as The Ronnies but also had their own projects. Barker had a string of sitcom hits including Porridge, Going Straight, Open all Hours and Clarence. Corbett scored a massive success with the Sitcom "Sorry!" that saw him a playing forty-something single librarian, Timothy Lumsden.

The Two Ronnies Show always featured comedy sketches in which Corbett and Barker appeared both together and separately. Corbett always had his own spot sitting in his chair, facing the camera, telling corny jokes, whereas Barker would appear in clever word-play sketches that he had, more often than not, written himself. There were also those hilarious mini-serials that featured detectives Piggy Malone and Charley Farley, and the classic "Phantom Raspberry Blower of old London Town" which was written by Ronnie Barker and Spike Milligan. And, of course, the shows finale was always some big musical spectacular that often saw our boys in drag.

There are countless sketches I could have picked to show here on my blog: The classic "Four Candles" Sketch for example, but I plumped for this very clever and equally as funny parody of the quiz  show "MasterMind". Ronnie Barker is Magnus Magnusson and Corbett is the Contestant who is "Answering the question before the last one". It's a fine example of why The Two Ronnies were so popular, and here it is in full. I hope you enjoy.

 

The show always opened and closed with the famous spoof news-readers routine and this gave rise to their catch phrase:

     Corbett: So, It's goodnight from me.

        Barker: And it's goodnight from him...

....Goodnight.

Stan Boardman and Des O'connor - the Fokker joke

Stan Boardman

This clip, featuring Stan Boardman, caused great controversy when it was aired live on the Des O'Connor Show in the mid-eighties. Stan's joke centres around a Polish fighter pilot who is  reminiscing about one of his missions. Stan made great play of the word Fokker, and not only in relationship to the German Focke-Wolf Aroplanes. Boardman ended up being banned from making any other appearances on ITV(Thames)... for a while.

By today's standards though this joke is fairly tame and far from unacceptable... I remember watching it live - I thought it was funny then and still funny now. Take a look see what you think.

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Abbott and Costello - Who's on First?

Bud Abbott & Lou Costello

This is the classic Abbott and Costello routine. The premise is simple: Bud Abbott is trying to explain to Lou Costello which players are in his baseball team and in which positions but their names and nicknames are slightly usual, to say the least, and Costello interprets them as non-responsive answers to his questions - confusion ensues. It's an hilarious routine performed to perfection by one of the best double acts in the business who performed it thousands of times on the radio, Television, on stage, in their debut movie - "One Night in the Tropics", and even performed it several times for the then President, Franklin Roosevelt.

So here it is in all its glory in HD Quality. If you haven't seen this before take a look now and I'm sure you'll agree.

Thanks for visiting my blog-spot... see you again soon

Britain's Got Talent - Magic Trick Epic Fail

Oh Dear, it's all gone wrong...

...vanishing and reappearing duck turns into multiplying duck!

James Herbert (1943 - 2013)

Master of Horror-Fiction - James Herbert

Yesterday, we heard the dreadful news that legendary author James Herbert,  a giant of popular Horror-fiction, had died at the age of just 69 - it really was a shock and totally unexpected, not just to me, but to his friends, family and those at Pan MacMillian, his publishers. James hadn't been ill, he apparentley passed away, peacefully in his sleep.  

James Herbert has always been a great influence in my life. I started reading his books when I was just eleven years old and I've never stopped. Just a few weeks ago I finished reading his latest book "Ash"—a superb read and highly recommended. And I've just completed my collection of James Herbert's work by purchasing the out of print and hard to obtain graphic novel - "The City". My collection is complete, but sadly there will never be able to add anything new to it now.

Me and James Herbert OBE

I had the amazing experience of meeting James back in September last year at a book signing event for, what turned out to be his last book "Ash"   – read the full story here:  "Meeting James Herbert"

My Signed Copy of Ash

He gave an interesting talk, lasting for over 90 minutes, an insight into his life and his work, he shared his thoughts and wisdom on writing and there was also an question and answers session, too. It was an incredibly enjoyable event and was followed by the book signing. There were just over 200 fans at the event all with at least one book they wanted signing. I was lucky, getting there early secured me a great seat near the front, this in turn meant I was also found myself  near the front of the queue when it came to the signing began. But even with so many people wanting so many books signed, some had their arms full of Herbert classics, even so, he was incredibly generous with his time. He never rushed anyone, answered all their questions and chatted for several minutes with each and every person in that queue whilst signing their books. He started signing at around 7:30pm and didn't finish until 11:30pm. It was a superb event and one that I will never forget.

In his early years he was prolific, releasing a new novel nearly every year and sold well over fifty-six million copies and which were published in 34 different languages.

Over the last 12 months James had been riding high on the crest of a wave, finding  massive success with his last book "Ash" and the BBC Adaptation of his novel "The Secret of Crickley Hall" - a mini-series that gained great acclaim, and his popularity was at an all-time high with a series of sell-out public events across the UK.

I'm greatly saddened by the lost of such an incredible writer whose clever and intriguing mind always managed to produce stories that have entertained me and millions like me for nearly 40 years. I will, of course, be re-reading some those classic titles that put James Herbert right at the top of his field, but I'm struggling with the concept that I will now never be able to read anything new from the master of horror-fiction.

James Herbert is survived by his wife Eileen and his three daughters; to them I send my deepest sympathies and to James Herbert I say: "Goodbye Sir and may you rest in peace"

How to fall down the stairs and still look cool

If you're going to fall down stairs then be as cool as you can about - just like this guy. He manages to trip, role and  go head over heels before land at the bottom of the stairs on his knees. He then simply gets up and calmly walks away as though nothing has happened. I'd say this was a set, performed by someone who knows how to fall - why else would he be coming down stairs that are cordoned off at the bottom. Fake or not it's still pretty cool.