Andy Atzert has added a photo to the pool:
When it comes to origin stories, comedians have some of the strangest – from performing for a £5 bet to getting back at their boss to making an unlikely pact with a friend
Not all standup comedians wake up one day and decide to be funny for a living. That wasn’t the case for John Bishop, anyway. He took up comedy to avoid paying a bar’s cover charge and to escape his failing marriage – a story that inspired Bradley Cooper’s new film, Is This Thing On? And Bishop is not the only comic with an unusual origin story. From impressing girlfriends to losing their voices, brain tumours to bad bosses – or not wanting to lose a £5 bet – British comics told us the reasons they became standup comedians and the lengths to which they went to get on stage for the first time.
Continue reading...Video shows the Hudson frozen partially frozen near the George Washington Bridge in New York City after a heavy winter snowstorm. Eight people were found dead outside over the frigid weekend in the city, according to officials, as New York experienced its snowiest day in years, with neighbourhoods recording 20-38cm (8-15in) of snow. Over the weekend at least 30 deaths were linked to a winter storm that hit North America's north-east. Some regions may not see temperatures rise above freezing until early February. The Midwest, in particular, is forecast to be hit with exceptionally frosty temperatures
Continue reading...Newton Aycliffe was meant to be a model town for a fairer postwar Britain. But unaffordable rents on a high street amounting to 0.12% of its property tycoon owner’s holdings have made it a symbol of decline – and a warning for Labour
How has your local high street changed since 2019? Check your postcode
Labour risks election wipeout unless it improves Britain’s high streets
Under blue skies and bunting, the whole of County Durham seemed to turn out for the young Queen Elizabeth II. They lined the streets in their thousands, waving flags and marvelling at the grand royal procession weaving past their newly built homes.
It was 27 May 1960 and the recently crowned queen was officially opening the town of Newton Aycliffe on her first provincial tour after the birth of her third child, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, three months earlier. A 16-page commemorative pamphlet, priced at two shillings and sixpence, records the local Light Infantry buglers playing to the giddy crowd.
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Vooruitlopend of eraan parallel met de solo Nu het er nog is in Kröller-Müller – opening 14 maart ja echt – een crowdfunding bij Voordekunst voor een monografie over meer dan twintig jaar kunstenaarschap in [Meer...]