Charles has been taking me back to the days of disco in the office, and on Friday we had a very fun half hour working along to the Bee Gees. We certainly left the office with the ‘Friday Feeling’ once Disco Inferno had been played. What a belter!
On some personal A1 notes I have to wish my fiancée Dom a very Happy Birthday, twenty one again, and say a Big Congratulations to Viv White who had a healthy baby boy named Rufus last week.
Dervla Kirwan make another delightful visit to the studio, though due to the ‘Boris Bike’ she arrived late, panting and sweating (steady on boys)......from not being able to find a bike docking station!
After guzzling a pint of water and stripping off to her T-Shirt (crikey!), Dervla, ever the professional, got stuck right in to her voice over job.
You better watch it Boris you don’t want the celebs of Soho turning on you – more docking stations please!
Next through the A1 doors of voicing delight, was funny man James Dreyfus and considering his brushes with Hollywood royalty he was extremely down to earth and a right nice fellow.
He is now the toast of British sitcoms, but it hasn't all been plain sailing for actor James. There was his unusual childhood, as well as the bittersweet experience he shared with the legendary Bette Midler.
James was exposed to the world of glamour and showbiz from birth - his mum lived in France and worked as a model for Christian Dior. However, she split from James' wealthy businessman father shortly after he was born, and they moved to Britain with very little money.
James' dad didn't want his boy going to any old school though, so he personally paid the fees for James to attend the exclusive public school Harrow. James hated it there and found it odd to go back and forth from the plush universe of Harrow to his very ordinary household.
After he left Harrow and finished his time at RADA, James worked on stage in many serious plays. He saw himself as a classical actor, and even had a small role in 1995's Richard III movie, with Ian McKellen. Then fate came calling when he landed the part of a camp hairdresser in Absolutely Fabulous.
He was now officially a comic actor.
Ab Fab led to him getting the similarly flamboyant role of PC Goody in The Thin Blue Line. And then came the part of Kathy Burke's gay housemate in Gimme Gimme Gimme - a show which James proudly describes as "an assault on the senses".
With the turn of the millennium came an amazing opportunity for James. Having seen him in the movie Notting Hill, the legendary American singer and actress Bette Midler personally flew him over to New York to see if he'd be suitable for her new sitcom, Bette.
"She summoned me, it was tremendously scary," James remembers. He was basically handed a script and told to improvise around certain comic scenes with Midler - an experience which had him "wiping my head with napkins in fear!"
James passed the test, and was offered a juicy role in the US sitcom. This was his biggest breakthrough yet, and James was overjoyed. But then the audience had their say - and it wasn't good.
Ratings for the show nosedived and Bette Midler, in James' words, "panicked and started firing people". It soured the atmosphere on set, and James was eventually told that the show was going to be axed. Bette Midler left town and James left aimless and alone returned to Blighty.
So the US sitcom wasn't quite the gateway to global fame that James imagined it would be, but he still managed to get roles in a number of big-budget flicks, appearing with Christian Slater in Churchill: The Hollywood Years and the sequel to Agent Cody Banks.
In 2006, he became a sitcom star once again - replacing Ardal O'Hanlon as Thermoman in My Hero. Nice tights, James!
He has just finished an appearance in Breakfast At Tiffany's at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London so maybe things have gone full circle for him again with a return to serious theatre.
James has worked with many high-profile stars over the years, but he says that there is one who stuck out for him, literally:
“Dolly Parton,” he answers. “You know those big, tall canvas chairs with your name on the back? I was sitting in one and she came up and sat next to me and she sort of shifted in her chair and fell forward out of it. As she got back up she turned round and said to me ‘Whoa, that was close. If I’d fallen on the floor you’d have had to milk me to get me back up’, which I thought was one of the funniest things I’d heard in my life. She came straight out with it and then offered me two tickets to Dollywood – from her breasts. She’d stuck them in-between her breasts. She said ‘go on then, go on then, take ‘em. Oh come on you English gent, take ‘em’”.
The stuff of legend!
Last week we talked about Nihal and his turn on Celebrity MasterChef and this week we had a bona fide culinary whizz in our midst in the shape of Mr Reza Mahammad.
Reza is one of Britain’s freshest ‘foodie’ talent and found television fame when he filmed a TV series about his trip of a lifetime through California and Nevada in search of culinary wonders, United States of Reza. He can now be seen popping up on many different TV shows including a regular slot on This Morning.
Reza was born in England to Indian parents but sent off to India to be educated to stay in touch with his roots. His father sadly passed away when Reza was only sixteen and so he took over the running of the family business, The Star of India Restaurant in London. Reza explains that he inherited a piece of 1950’s London, flock wallpaper and all, and set about inflicting his own brand of artistic flourish. Voila; from flock to Baroque!
The years Reza has spent managing The Star of India has established the restaurant as an institution and enabled him to explode onto the restaurant and food scene.
He loves to experiment with foods from all around the world, adding elements and ingredients that bring a new dimension to a traditional dish saying, “I am a firm believer in bringing a personal touch to cooking”.
Managing a restaurant does have some perks. A regular customer at The Star happened to be a television director. They got talking and he came up with the idea of doing a cookery programme with Reza and the then Goddess of Indian cookery; Madhur Jaffrey.
Reza is one of Britain’s freshest ‘foodie’ talent and found television fame when he filmed a TV series about his trip of a lifetime through California and Nevada in search of culinary wonders, United States of Reza. He can now be seen popping up on many different TV shows including a regular slot on This Morning.
Reza was born in England to Indian parents but sent off to India to be educated to stay in touch with his roots. His father sadly passed away when Reza was only sixteen and so he took over the running of the family business, The Star of India Restaurant in London. Reza explains that he inherited a piece of 1950’s London, flock wallpaper and all, and set about inflicting his own brand of artistic flourish. Voila; from flock to Baroque!
The years Reza has spent managing The Star of India has established the restaurant as an institution and enabled him to explode onto the restaurant and food scene.
He loves to experiment with foods from all around the world, adding elements and ingredients that bring a new dimension to a traditional dish saying, “I am a firm believer in bringing a personal touch to cooking”.
Managing a restaurant does have some perks. A regular customer at The Star happened to be a television director. They got talking and he came up with the idea of doing a cookery programme with Reza and the then Goddess of Indian cookery; Madhur Jaffrey.
Reza first came to the public’s attention on UKTV Food Channel’s Delhi Belly with Sanjeev Bhaskar, the star of Goodness Gracious Me/The Kumars. This lead on to Coconut Coast, United States of Reza and A Place in France.
Aside from cooking, Reza has a great passion for music and the arts and has come to realize that food and music are indisputably linked. “A symphony of taste which feeds the senses is like beautiful music which nourishes the soul.”
He was an absolute delight to meet and hung around in the Green Room talking to everyone for a good half hour once his session had finished.
I tried to sum up his exceptionally flamboyant character in one word for you, but I think I will instead take a nod to The Observer Food Monthly who described meeting Reza as "being ambushed by a cross between Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Freddie Mercury".
Outstanding!
Last but by no means least Dariel Pertwee visited us with a huge smile on her face and very sunny disposition. She is the daughter of Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee and sister of actor Sean and as a British TV actress is probably best known for her turn in the series The Buddha of Suburbia.
She has a repertoire of voice styles including comedic, animation, and corporate. She is very versatile and has an excellent capability for copying accents.
Aside from cooking, Reza has a great passion for music and the arts and has come to realize that food and music are indisputably linked. “A symphony of taste which feeds the senses is like beautiful music which nourishes the soul.”
He was an absolute delight to meet and hung around in the Green Room talking to everyone for a good half hour once his session had finished.
I tried to sum up his exceptionally flamboyant character in one word for you, but I think I will instead take a nod to The Observer Food Monthly who described meeting Reza as "being ambushed by a cross between Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Freddie Mercury".
Outstanding!
Last but by no means least Dariel Pertwee visited us with a huge smile on her face and very sunny disposition. She is the daughter of Doctor Who actor Jon Pertwee and sister of actor Sean and as a British TV actress is probably best known for her turn in the series The Buddha of Suburbia.
She has a repertoire of voice styles including comedic, animation, and corporate. She is very versatile and has an excellent capability for copying accents.
Lovely to have met you Dariel – I now believe I have met most of the Pertwee clan!
Soho/London News:
‘Roll up, roll up’ and get your fashion fix at the Lucy In Disguise London shop, featuring clothes specially selected by Lily Allen and her sister Sarah Mary Owen.
She might be better known as a singer, and controversial ‘tweeter’, but with the Lucy In Disguise London clothes shop, Lily Allen is making a further foray into the world of fashion, following a stint as a designer for New Look. Alongside all the vintage fashion on offer, a number of Lily's own designs will be available to buy.
With clothes sourced from vintage fairs and markets, there's bound to be something to please many a retro loving shopper. There's an international flavour to many of the designer clothes in the shop as well, with fashion brought in from Paris and the USA.
The brand new shop in Covent Garden features everything from Alexander McQueen designs to the specially designed Lucy in Disguise t-shirt. Fashionistas can also have a drink at the all day vodka bar inside the store, and get styling advice from the staff.
She’s not daft that Lily, she knows that a couple of voddies down the gullet and the ladies will be rampantly roving the shop and making impromptu buys under the influence. Nice Strategy Lils.
(The Lucy In Disguise London shop opens from Saturday 18th September 2010 at 10 Kings Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 8HN. Nearest tube: Covent Garden).
Fashion, food and comedy – what a nice all rounder. Join us next week for sport (Phil Tufnell) and music (Michael Nyman) as we endeavour to continue to enhance your cultural horizons. Till then, keep it Jive, keep it Talkin’.
Soho/London News:
‘Roll up, roll up’ and get your fashion fix at the Lucy In Disguise London shop, featuring clothes specially selected by Lily Allen and her sister Sarah Mary Owen.
She might be better known as a singer, and controversial ‘tweeter’, but with the Lucy In Disguise London clothes shop, Lily Allen is making a further foray into the world of fashion, following a stint as a designer for New Look. Alongside all the vintage fashion on offer, a number of Lily's own designs will be available to buy.
With clothes sourced from vintage fairs and markets, there's bound to be something to please many a retro loving shopper. There's an international flavour to many of the designer clothes in the shop as well, with fashion brought in from Paris and the USA.
The brand new shop in Covent Garden features everything from Alexander McQueen designs to the specially designed Lucy in Disguise t-shirt. Fashionistas can also have a drink at the all day vodka bar inside the store, and get styling advice from the staff.
She’s not daft that Lily, she knows that a couple of voddies down the gullet and the ladies will be rampantly roving the shop and making impromptu buys under the influence. Nice Strategy Lils.
(The Lucy In Disguise London shop opens from Saturday 18th September 2010 at 10 Kings Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 8HN. Nearest tube: Covent Garden).
Fashion, food and comedy – what a nice all rounder. Join us next week for sport (Phil Tufnell) and music (Michael Nyman) as we endeavour to continue to enhance your cultural horizons. Till then, keep it Jive, keep it Talkin’.
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