TRUST THE POST: Classical background to Skiffle King's talent.Byline: Peter ELSONIT'S so long since the Princes Park polymath pol·y·math n. A person of great or varied learning. [Greek polumath Fritz Spiegl Fritz Spiegl (27 January 1926 - 23 March 2003) was born at Zurndorf, Austria, the son of an agricultural merchant and his Jewish wife. He became a musician, journalist, broadcaster, humorist and collector who lived and worked in England from 1939. has been in contact that I could hardly wait to open his long-awaited missive for this humble little column. I was not to be disappointed. Mr Spiegl shares: ``On reading the obituaries of Lonnie Donegan Lonnie Donegan MBE (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) was a skiffle musician, possibly the most famous of them all, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is sometimes called the King of Skiffle and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British that his (Donegan's) father was `a professional classical violinist', Stan Kelly writes from America that we got it all wrong: `My old man's a professional classical violinist, He wears a professional classical violinist's dinner jacket and tails, He sports a cor-blimey bow-tie, And spends hours practicing scales. . .'``Altogether now. . .'' Meanwhile back in the real world, Eileen Cannell, from somewhere up the coast, is seeing blue. Or rather he's not. Blue flags that is. ``In the recent EU report about water quality, Formby beach got a blue flag. The report was covered in the Daily Post (Nov 12), but no mention was made of this local achievement among the many beaches that were accredited with improved status. Such a special accolade deserves recognition.'' My suspicion, Mr Taylor, is that this was agency copy from London which wasn't tailored with a local angle. Meanwhile P. L. Towers, complains, apropos ap·ro·pos adj. Being at once opportune and to the point. See Synonyms at relevant. adv. 1. At an appropriate time; opportunely. 2. our story of October 16 (Gloom on the tracks for region's travellers), that our reporter ``...once again repeats that train operator First North Western is hiring a freight locomotive to haul trains. The class 47 locomotives used are mixed traffic locos capable of hauling both freight or passenger trains,'' he writes. ``Some, however, are used mainly on freight whilst others are specifically different to haul mail and passenger trains. It is the latter which are scheduled to haul the First North Western trains. INDEED on the occasions I have seen them, they have been hauled by either Prince William, Prince Henry or Windsor Castle, all engines used on the Royal Trains but used on other services when not required for that duty.'' Our reporter, Eryl Crump, replies: ``Regarding Prince Henry, this clapped-out loco worked a service to Holyhead on October 28, breaking down and causing chaos both that day and the following. The Class 47s hired by FNW FNW Falcon Northwest (computer manufacturer) FNW Future of Nuclear Weapons are owned by English Welsh and Scottish Railways, a company which operates freight trains. The locos, when not used on the North Wales line, are used on parcels trains. ``Despite these locos being elderly (over 40 years' old), and unreliable (Virgin Trains says that they couldn't wait to get rid of them), they are still in use from Crewe and Chester and along the North Wales main line.'' So now you know. |
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