Manchester United And Frank Munn 1928: The Player’s Cigarette Card V The Player

FLASHBACK to September 1 1928: How much did Manchester United footballer Frank Munn resemble his Player’s cigarette card?

The card in 1929:

Munn in 1929:

Anorak

Posted: 1st, April 2014 | In: Flashback, manchester united, Sports | Comment

1987: When Charming Hans Klein Danced With Big Haired Elke Koska

FLASHBACK to November 14 1987:

West German Minister for Economic Cooperation, Hans Klein, right, dances with Elke Koska, wife and muse of German conceptual artist HA Schult, at the annual federal press ball on Friday, November 14, 1987 at the Beethoven Hall in Bonn, Germany.

It’s cracking photo.

And it’s her we’re looking at, isn’t. It;’ what she hoped we’d do. Here’s Elke in 2009:

This is her husband and his work:

German performance artist HA Schult, right, holds a small model of the famous Cologne Cathedral, which he along with engineers and trainees of the Ford company rebuilds by assembling car fittings in Cologne, Germany, Tuesday, March 21, 2006. The sculpture, seen being assembled in background, will be auctioned to raise money for victims orphaned by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The auction will be held in New York at the end of 2006.

People view sculptures by the German environmental artist HA Schult at the Grand Place in Brussels, Friday April 1, 2005. The 1,000 different sculptures of ‘Trash People’ are intended to draw people’s attention to environmental problems. The exhibit opened on March 31 and runs until April 4, 2005. 

And here’s Hans Klein. We were looking at Elke’s gigantic hair and HA’s zany art. But it’s Hans who turns out to be the one to watch:

Former Munich Summer Olympics chief press officer, CSU member of parliament Hans “Johnny” Klein, smokes a cigarette on May 2, 1977 in Bonn, Germany.

German government spokesman Hans Klein, dressed in carnival costume, left, smiles surrounded by dancers at a carnival party on February 21, 1990 at the Chancellery in Bonn, Germany.

If you spot a recurring theme, do say:

Hans Klein, the old charmer, died on December 2 1996.

A trained journalist, a diplomat, press officer of the Olympic Games in Munich, close friend of Franz Josef Strauss and development minister. He became Helmut Kohl’s government spokesman in April 1989.  It was job he called: “The worst suicide mission to which I have ever gotten myself into.” After the Berlin Wall carbon let his chancellery minister Rudolf Seiter inform the media. ”

We need more charmers like him in politics.

Anorak

Posted: 1st, April 2014 | In: Flashback, Politicians | Comment

Aberdeen Woman Decorates Dog Poos With Strawberries And Cream

WHEN THERESA Ritchie spots a dog poo on an Aberdeen street she decorates it in strawberries and cream, or icing sugar and Nutella, which she keeps in her handbag.

Theresa says:

“People in Peterhead are regularly stepping on dog mess on the pavements. I wanted to highlight the problem in an amusing way. This shows people are watching dog owners who can’t be bothered to clean up after their pets. The food idea has showed that dog poo wasn’t being cleaned up by the council. It sometimes lies on the streets for around eight weeks.”

Anorak

Posted: 1st, April 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comments (3)

These 1970s Onesie Bodysuits Got Men ‘Into Something New’

MEN’S fashion is an endless source of point-and-laugh fun. In this instalment, we hard back to the 1970s, wherein the Onesie For Him was knocking them bandy in the boardroom and bedroom.

Do say: With your Onesie, you look macho and more ready for action than an aroused Playgirl stud. Nice moustache.

Don’t say: Ha-ha. It’s a babygro, you muppet!

Anorak

Posted: 1st, April 2014 | In: Fashion, Flashback | Comments (2)

Spoonfuls of Horror: The Worst Breakfast Cereals Of All Time

THE worst cereal of all time, for me, has always been Grape-Nuts (AKA aquarium gravel). Yet, as I grew older, I actually came to like these granular pellets which look like they belong at the bottom of a fish tank. Tastes evolve.

I say this to underscore the fact that this list is purely subjective. Yet, it’s still fun to poke through the vast arrays of breakfast cereals from years past and single out the worst of the worst. I apologize up front if I am besmirching your cherished childhood favorite, but it simply must be done.   And so here they are – the definitive list of the absolute worst breakfast cereals of all time (in no particular order). Enjoy.

1. Triple Snack (1963)

I’m not sure about the idea of roasted peanuts in cereal. Almonds are fine, but you start tossing roasted peanuts into the mix, and things get weird.

2. Pink Panther Flakes (1973)

The corn flakes were bubblegum colored, which is bad enough, but the cereal became notorious for rapidly losing its color. Almost as soon as the milk hit the flakes, the bubblegum color ran off, leaving behind soggy albino flakes. Your breakfast started so full of promise, with the brilliant pink hue signaling good tidings ahead. Fast forward a few seconds, and you’re eating your soggy albino flakes in quiet disappointment.

3. Donkey Kong (1982)

The taste was not bad; it was the texture that presented problems. Many will recall the “barrels’ scraped the roof of your mouth like a mouthful of broken glass. To be fair, after repeated spoonfuls, your throat and mouth would swell and become inflamed enough to no longer feel the sharp pain. So, enjoying the cereal wasn’t entirely impossible.

4. Punch Crunch

“Little pink rings with a big pink flavor just like fruit punch… a dandy part of a nutritious breakfast.”

At what stage of desperation do you have to be in to attempt a punch flavored cereal? Was Captain Crunch suffering from scurvy when he concocted this vitamin C inspired cereal? It would seem to be the only rational explanation.

5. Sir Grapefellow (1972)

There are just certain flavors that don’t belong in a cold milk cereal. Thus, as much as we may happen to like bacon and pizza, it doesn’t mean they will make for good cereal flavorings. Someone should have told General Mills that grapes fall into that same category.

6. Corn Flakes with Instant Bananas (1964)

This one was discontinued in ’66 due to problems with the preservation and freeze drying of the bananas. Apparently, Kellog’s hadn’t yet perfected the fancy carcinogenic preservatives and dyes we all take for granted today. Upon the addition of milk, the “bananas” turned into shriveled bits of brown before your very eyes. Had the box prepared consumers and perhaps been labeled “Corn Flakes with Shriveled Bits of Brown” instead, things might’ve been different.

7. Smurf Berry Crunch

Aside from the fact that many recall a distinct iodide smell, the primary problem was what happened after it was consumed. Evidently, Smurf Berry Crunch turned your poop a brilliant purple. While that may have been a “plus” to many consumers; for most, violet poop was an unwanted side effect.

8. Norman (1971)

Very little information remains beyond first-hand accounts. Most will tell you that this BUTTER flavored cereal was the most revolting thing they’ve ever eaten. It basically amounted to small crunchy butter flavored balls which in no way went nicely with cold milk. Those unfortunate enough to have experienced this breakfast horror tell the story as one would recount a grisly battle – with hushed somber tones, a vacant stare, and an expression that belies the tragedy of it all. Our deepest respect to the poor souls who took a spoonful of Norman to their lips and lived to tell the tale.

Yeoman Lowbrow

Posted: 1st, April 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, The Consumer | Comments (6)

Unreleased Material Tragedy: Michael Jackson’s Rubbish Offcuts of Offal Pop Anyone?

WHAT happens when a musician dies? They get a TV special and a ‘Best Of’. Eventually, they’ll get a musical too, possibly written by Ben Elton or Jennifer Saunders.

Between those, they’ll have their crypt ransacked by music industry CEOs with white ponytails sticking out of the back of their thinning heads. That’s right. Pop deaths mean Unreleased Material Time!

UMT sees tracks that weren’t finished or deemed too poor to be issued in the artist’s lifetime, stuck onto albums that no-one pays for anymore, possibly with a guest rap from Pitbull or something involving a children’s choir. Failing that, just get a load of no-marks to remix a load of stuff you like into something you like considerably less.

Mof Gimmers

Posted: 1st, April 2014 | In: Music, Reviews | Comment

1970: Kate O’Mara And Keith Prowse Horror of Frankenstein Playing Cards

YOU can buy Horror of Frankenstein playing cards, reliving the  Hammer House of Horror 1970 blood and babes fest in the comfort of your own game of Patience.

There are cards featuring the late Hammer House of Horror sex symbol Kate O’Mara and ‘Green Cross Caode Man’ / ‘Darth Vader’ Keith Prowse.

Anorak

Posted: 31st, March 2014 | In: Film, Flashback | Comment

Copyright Law Result: Tonight We’re Going To Legally Burn CDs Like It’s 1999

Disc jockey Gregg Whiteside loads a disc into a compact disc player at WOXR radio station in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1989. Whiteside says he uses CDs for 95 percent of the music he plays because “the sound is beautifully clean.” LP sales are falling drastically while the compact disc’s popularity is soaring. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Date: 15/02/1989

GOOD news people from the past! You can now burn CDs and DVDs for personal use and no-one is going to send you to a jail to be beaten into a Spam fritter by an inmate with hands so large that each finger has it’s own rib cage!

That’s right; the incredibly up-to-date government has put through some legislation to update copyright law which means, from June 1st, people in the UK will be at their ease when copying music music and media purchased on one device, but intended for use on another.

Mof Gimmers

Posted: 31st, March 2014 | In: Music, Reviews | Comment

Everything You Heard About Climate Change Is Wrong

TODAY’S the lovely day we all find out how we’re going to fry in that latest report from the IPCC. You know, the scientific consensus on how climate change is doing damage to the planet and what it is that we might do about it. And what we all get told about what we ought to do about it is entirely wrong.

I mean all of that stuff that comes from The Guardian, Green Party, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and so on. You know the damn mantra. we must grow more of our own food, stop this horrible market based economy, plan to make things better, stop doing all this globalisation stuff.

Tim Worstall

Posted: 31st, March 2014 | In: Money, Reviews | Comments (2)

Huge PVC Whale Banned From London Park For Being Too Religious

KIDS can strike off climbing inside a  5oft PVC whale from their list of holiday days out. It’s a matter of billing. When the whale beached in the park opposite Tower Bridge was part of a pirate adventure, it was fit for purpose. Pirates who slit your throat and rape your granny are good wholesome fun. Moreover, their pet whales.

But when the whale was reused to illustrate the Bible story of Jonah, it was deemed morally wrong. The brains at the Potters Fields Park Management Trust, which runs the site, say the whale is now too religious.

Anorak

Posted: 31st, March 2014 | In: Reviews | Comment

Miracle Appliances And The Desperate 1970s Women That Loved Them

WHEN mankind emerged from the primordial ooze that was that was the 1940s, homes began a rapid upgrade.  The Western nations’ economies grew in tandem with technology, and the benefits began to enter the home in the form of appliances that promised to transform the household.  Now you could own a toaster  – oh, the possibilities!

Yeoman Lowbrow

Posted: 31st, March 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Technology, The Consumer | Comment (1)

Cliffe Bonfire Society Meeting Hired Lewes’ Phoenix Theatre Destroyed By Fire

FIRE has gutted the newly refurbished Phoenix Theatre and Studio building on North Street in Lewes, East Sussex.

Witness Adrian Sunderland says the venue had been hired by the – get this – the Cliffe Bonfire Society.

Anorak

Posted: 30th, March 2014 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment (1)

Watch The Blight: A Wonderful Documentary On Glasgow’s Barrowfield Gang Lands In 1982

GLASGOW has a tough reputation.  In 1982, the BBC documentary department went on safari in Glasgow, reporting on the city’s gangs.

The show focused on the Barrowfield is an area of east Glasgow in Camlachie, close to Celtic Park, home of Celtic Football Club.

The study on urban decay and life was split in four parts:

BLIGHT, WORK, THE SCHEME and THE BOND.

Anorak

Posted: 30th, March 2014 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, TV & Radio | Comment (1)

Nebbish Rap: Dave In Charge Takes His Ghetto Rhymes To The Mean Streets Of Hampstead

“I DISCOVERED rap from a young age,” says David Palmer, 25, who performs under the name Dave In Charge. He’s the grandson of Monroe and Susette Palmer, now life peers Lord and Lady Palmer of Childs Hill, Barnet, London.

The nebbishy looking rapper who recorded his song from his parent’s The Vale, Golders Green crib and the video on the mean paths of Hampstead Heath, goes on:

Anorak

Posted: 30th, March 2014 | In: Music, Politicians, Reviews | Comment