Author Topic: A magical area  (Read 25370 times)

Langstraat

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #22 on: October 30, 2006, 12:35:53 AM »
Thats right Jackie, it was a french film with no dialogue just street noises.
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john2000

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #23 on: October 30, 2006, 10:40:02 AM »
I seem to remember the music to that film ( the red balloon ) wasn't it called forbidden games, I know that the tune hunted me for years after and I learned to play it to my kids, and it was alway a great party peace.
As some of us may know that the film was made in Paris,.... :)
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Jacqueline

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #24 on: October 30, 2006, 02:42:21 PM »
Going back to the red balloon song did the lyrics metion a Paris park?

Graham

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #25 on: October 30, 2006, 07:53:59 PM »
Oh yes Jacqueline,

 `well the Old man passed me by ...and he didn't hear me cry..
didn't know his name..and he never came again
and the sun was coming out and the kids began to shout
and the dogs began to bark in the lovely Paris park  Callow callow la vitaŽ

My photo shoot in that Paris park was late in 1967. The photos came out in 1968 at the same time as the song. Red Balloon by the Dave Clark Five entered the British charts on the 21st September 1968. Hence the connection.

wam

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #26 on: November 03, 2006, 11:39:20 AM »
There must be something better than singers so obscure you have to look them up on the internet. The biggest name listed so far since the industrial revolution is Tolkien and he wasn't from around her (South Africa?) and he's best known as being from Oxford - that's where the fan group hold their annual meeting.
The next name down on the writer list is John Wyndham (Day of the triffids and a bunch of other things filmed/ out on TV in the 60s or 70s).
As to the pop groups, I spent too much time in the Barrel organ and at "Battle of the Bands" gigs to say that nothing came out of Birmingham but most of it didn't get anywhere afterwards. Duran Duran are back again - the name comes from the film Barbarella and they used to hang out in Barbs. I know UB40 are still about but they seem to be living on past success now. The big names seem to be retired now. It always surprised me that a city so big should (apparently) produce less than the likes of Liverpool and Manchester.
As to comics - I would have thought that Lenny Henry was the biggest we've got at the moment. He had a TV show in the last year which is more than Jasper Carrott. Then again, wasn't he from Dudley and JC from Solihull?

Langstraat

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #27 on: November 03, 2006, 12:10:58 PM »
Wam,

I totally agree with you and said as much at the start of this thread about a list of well known celebrities from Brum never mind those restricted to Sparkbrook. It's proving to be as thin as expected. It's only when you stretch the boundaries to include the midlands that you get a better selection but again most are from a distant time. When I was a teenager Led Zeppelin practiced in West Bromwich. Other heavy rock groups also had a footing in the Black Country. Slade were big for a time and had their mansions on the Hardtop estate of Sutton Coldfield. Next to Justin Haywood of Moodies fame.
Steve Winwood is still on the scene but the whole pop scene climate has changed now with small venues a thing of the past. The mega productions still come to the NEC where Health and Safety are able to cope with the crowds safely. When I saw the Who at 'Mothers' in Erdington it was above a furniture shop. We were packed in like sardines and had to face the stage directly otherwise the volume would deafen/kill you if you turned side on. Half way through their set there was a break where everyone spilled out into the night to get some fresh air before cramming back for the ear splitting crescendo. The following morning I had blood on my pillow those were the days eh, eh, you'll have to speak up, eh you what pardon.
Never argue with an idiot, they'll drag you down to their level and try to beat you with experience.

Graham

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #28 on: November 03, 2006, 12:41:55 PM »
I also agree that it is a bit thin for such a large population, but I started this thread to see if anyone knew of any interesting people from the area that are not widely know. I think that I made that quite clear.

There must be quite a few characters that we have forgotten. I think that Tolkien is as much a Brummie as I am, his roots are there for sure and he has really only become big now thanks to the film.

Graham.

wam

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #29 on: November 06, 2006, 10:07:48 AM »
I don't think Tolkien owes that much of his fame to the films - the books did amazingly well before that. On the other hand his Birmingham connection is probably over-rated. There's a biography at  http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html if you're interested

Langstraat

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #30 on: November 06, 2006, 10:27:04 AM »
A little bit off topic.

As long as I can remember Tolkien's books have always had a cult following. We read the Hobbit at school and I must confess to finding them difficult to get to grips with. There were too many charactors to keep track of, well in my mind there were. Over the following years there were a few radio adaptions which were serialized I also had a problem with those. I found it much easier reading and understanding War and Peace than Tolkien. I went to the cinema and saw the trilogy of films even fell asleep in two of them. I guess you either like him or you don't his work requires more consentration than I'm able to cope with. I know a lady who's almost ninety she knows every character and their relationship and takes delight reliving the storyline and putting Peter Jackson to shame with his film adaptation of the epic Ring movies. I thought it was a lot of fuss about nothing but wonderful scenery and computer generated wizardry.
Never argue with an idiot, they'll drag you down to their level and try to beat you with experience.

Graham

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #31 on: November 06, 2006, 11:13:15 AM »
Topic is not so important just as long as we keep exchanging ideas, don't you think?

I was an avid book worm in my younger days but never got round to Tolkien, I think that that's why I only now relate to the film as being the success of The Lord of the Rings & Tolkien. Last week I did see on Dutch TV that the film had been voted "best film ever". Now I didn't catch if this was best film ever in Holland or in the world.

Wam, thank you for the link. I am interested in everthing and anything. Tolkien's connection with Brum may be over-rated but there is a undisputed connection, like it or not.

As for entertainers there contribution is not always long-lived and although they are well-known I don't take a great pride in them as famous Brummies.

john2000

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Re: A magical area
« Reply #32 on: November 06, 2006, 01:13:44 PM »
Does anyone remember  "Journey into space ". by Charlie Chilton, it used tobe on the radio at 7.15 on a Monday night, I used to love it, I would sit there with my ear stuck to the radio, never moving till in was the end, and then later there was another on "the planet behind the sun,"my uncle took me into town one Saturday morning to the book shop in New St, and he bought me the journey into space book, I think I read the words off right that book, we've come a long way in 50 odd years, in my mind I was sitting there in the space ship with doc and Lenny, ( I still remember the story today,  as thou it was yesterday,).................... ;D
Growing old is mandatory..........Growing up is optional


 

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