Trombone and parachute

I am continually delighted by the random nature of connections generated by the internet. A visitor to this blog was sufficiently interested to make his own very wonderful contribution (above) - click on the image to see it large enough to read.

Hugh also says "My old school song - in Birmingham - ended with "die of service not of rust", so I'm sticking to it. I've a friend in Chile who ferried hundreds of aircraft with the ATA in WWII. She did her first parachute jump at 65. Then another at 75. Then another, at 85, from 13,000 ft. Yes we can, to borrow a phrase."

Thank you, Hugh. May we all be jumping out of aeroplanes, literally or figuratively, at the age of 85; and never be afraid to blow our own trombone.

Rappin' Granny

You go, girl...

More about the Zimmers

A great article on the BBC site today about the Zimmers, who I mentioned on this blog a few days ago. They've covered The Who's "My Generation" - even though one of their number did prefer to call it "The Generation Game".

And I'm delighted to read there that Power to the People: The Great Granny Chart Invasion broadcast on Monday 28 May, 2007 at 2100 BST on BBC2. Less delighted to realise that I found this out two hours after the event. Never mind - I'm sure they'll be back...

The Zimmers

We have Young@Heart in the USA; we have now The Zimmers in the UK. Through the Silver Surfers Day site, I found this extraordinary mob, who are about to release a single later this month of The Who's My Generation. Brilliant.

The Zimmers on MySpace

and here's the YouTube video of their performance:

Young@Heart

I saw this incredible documentary when it was shown on Channel 4 in the autumn of 2006. As one reviewer put it, "I haven't cried this much since Bambi's mum got shot"...

We saw a choir whose ages range from early 70s to early 90s singing Should I stay or should I go and I feel good; we followed them through their rehearsals for a show during which two of their number died; we saw them performing in a local prison; and the immortal performance of Coldplay's Fix You, let by octogenarian Fred Knittle (together with his breathing apparatus, which can be heard during the song) is quite simply the most moving thing I've ever seen.

Incidentally, we've just found out from the Young@Heart website that the documentary has been awarded not one but two awards in the Rose D'Or Festival in Lucerne: Best Art Documentary and the Best of 2007 Special Prize. It certainly deserves every accolade it gets.

Here are a few links:

• Young@Heart official website
• Young@Heart on MySpace
• More4 article about the documentary

and finally, here is the YouTube video of Fred Knittle:


(the little lady mouthing the words along with Fred at about the 1'55" point in the video, and standing at the end, is his wife, I understand)