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Posted by Lee1975 (U4412355) on Wednesday, 30th September 2009
After the shocking news that Nicolas Cage will be switching the lights on in the City of Bath this year, I thought it might be worth setting up a thread to see if anyone can trump that humdinger.
Near me, we have Partick "Make it so" Stewart switching the Christmas lights on, (November the 19th if you're interested).
Which would sound quite impressive, were it not for the fact that he was born in Mirfield which is a village near Huddersfield, so it's not necessarily the great coup it first appeared.
I think we'll have to go a long way to beat Dennis Waterman's brother though. Now that IS impressive.
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Just to clarify, it was Dennis Norden's brother who was reportedly switching on the lights in a particular part of the Isle of Wight.
No word yet as to who might be lighting up my local high street. I think Don Letts would get the nod ahead of me. As would most of the neighbourhood.
I must admit some form in this area having once accompanied Barbara Windsor in switching on the lights on Marylebone High St in That London.
She did all the hard work. I managed to back-announce a carol played by the brass band incorrectly. I did the countdown okay though.
Must be nigh on ten years ago....
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D'oh! Thanks for clarifying Gid.
Suffice to say, I am no longer as impressed as I orignally was. Like the Big Day itself as you get older, bit of a let down!
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I seem to recall that Cliff Richard turned on the lights in the (original) Reginald-Perrin-tastic Surrey commuter village of Claygate some years ago.
The only other big music star I can think of locally now is Errol Brown from Esher.
Mind you, does this thread mean we are thinking about Christmas far too early? It's been three weeks since I saw the first orange plastic tat but we're still a month away from Hallowe'en!
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As soon as Halloween is out of the shops...
If you keep 'em peeled Lol, the lights will be going up quite soon. Especially in the big cities. Though not in Kensal Green. They swtich them on a bit later but they are there, lurking, from early November as I remember.
And it's always good to speculate in the meantime. I heard the Oxford St lights in that London were being switched on by the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. All of them.
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A bulb at a time?
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it’s santa himself who rolls up in a fire engine to switch on the christmas lights in the square, beauly.
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, in reply to message 5.
Posted by Al McGregor (U2976807) on Wednesday, 30th September 2009
No word yet on whose flicking the switch in Dundee, but at the Winter Light Night event in late November techno-ceilidh band The Grouse Beaters will be performing. Not one to miss.
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, in reply to message 8.
Posted by steve_swift (U2177659) on Wednesday, 30th September 2009
Didn't Rochdale Council put up the lights in August, to save a bit of money?
Leeds will no doubt be someone from Emmerdale I've never heard of.
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, in reply to message 9.
Posted by forget_hood (U14154702) on Wednesday, 30th September 2009
Not only are the lights cheaper to rent, but most of the evening it's too bright to turn them on, brilliant.
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, in reply to message 10.
Posted by standupandspit (U10636421) on Wednesday, 30th September 2009
StandUpAndSpit shall be the turning on the Christmas lights in the StandUpAndSpit household ....
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There is an unfounded rumour StandUpAndSpit's brother will be switching on the illuminations at the Buttons household.
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Should we ask Gid to organise a coordinated lights switch-on for all his listeners this year? On a show two weeks before the Big Day, Gid could have a "Christmas Lights Switch-On Special"! It would be like Gid switching on the lights in each of our homes! And without the need for Barbara Windsor to be there too!
What do you reckon Gid? You could do the countdown (which you've already said you're good at), and we can do the switch flicking? Photographic evidence of the tree in all it's finery could then be sent in too!
[Wonders - Am I getting too excited about this by far?]
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Great idea Lee, but I'd worry for the national grid...
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I;ll look into it. Though everyone must promise to use energy saving lightbulbs.
Maybe I could get someone else to help with the countdown. Someone relevant to the programme. Not il Professori as he's too expensive.
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, in reply to message 15.
Posted by Chris Hawkins (U14070376) on Thursday, 1st October 2009
Are you the Sunday school Santa again this year Gid?
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Not after last year
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, in reply to message 17.
Posted by purrmeister (U11445326) on Thursday, 1st October 2009
What happened last year? Or is it too embarrassing to recall?
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No idea who's switching on the lights in Liverpool (take your pic from any Atomic Kittens) but, wait for it, The Fonz, aka Henry Winkler, is playing Captain Hook in the pantomime!
Beat that!
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Sit on it. I don't think that's going to be beaten Daisy.
On the back of that revelation I'm hoping for Potsy and Ralph for our Panto.
Which will probably have to be in a Scout hut in Willesden.
While we're mentioning Pantomimes, in my days of tearing tickets and selling ice creams in a theatre in and around being a student I worked *with* the following
Nick Staverson off of Number 73
Brian Johnson - not that one, the one that sang Hi Hi Hi for Eurovision in about 1864
Sally Thomsett
Benny out of Crossroads
Jackie "Mr TV" Pallo
There must have been more.
Altogether now... "looking Hi hi hi, looking low low low, wond'ring Why Why Why did she go go go..."
Fair enough.
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, in reply to message 20.
Posted by forget_hood (U14154702) on Saturday, 3rd October 2009
I bet Bolton's panto has just got Stu Francis again this year.
*Checks*
Yes, it has.
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Gid - How much for a King Cone, two Kia-Oras and an ice-cream tub?
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Can't help you with the first two Lee but tubs were 50p. In the panto season we didn kids lollies at 20p. The queues would go all the way to row H.
The real test of competence was the sweets kiosk and this was entrusted to me on a number of occasions. Not so easy in terms of the prices. Revels were about 76 p. A box of maltesers (yes a box) about 84p.
Talking of the sweets kiosk, during a run of "Noises Off" there was a an addition to the stock. As an in-joke to the play itself (which was very good as I recall) we were given a tin of sardines which nestled (arf arf) alongside the milky bars.
One day, someone bought it. The tin of sardines that is. Never found out who. More tales from the theatre later such as the time my older brother worked with Nureyev. Yes, that older brother.
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, in reply to message 23.
Posted by File-Under-Water (U13817253) on Monday, 26th October 2009
Just found out that Blazin' Squad are turning the lights on in Banbury. While I'm confident no-one will trump this I am slightly alarmed to see that the Squad have returned as a five piece, rather than the ten strong outfit you won't remember from before.
I guess that now more than ever we should expect some attrition in boy band numbers but this seems extreme. Not really a "squad" now if we're honest.
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just reading in the courier that a local beauly resident who celebrated her eightieth birthday this year will be switching on the christmas lights. all twenty-two of them. i can't see her climbing out of a fire engine.
now that it's officially december, everywhere, can we have a track off bob's latest. please. i'll not think of christmas stockings in quite the same way ever again.
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According to this Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News article:
Nicolas Cage's arrival marked one of the high points of the history of BathΒ
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Someone called Pixie Lott did Leeds.
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Which would sound quite impressive, were it not for the fact that he was born in Mirfield which is a village near Huddersfield, so it's not necessarily the great coup it first appearedΒ I went to a Northern Soul club in Mirfield...once..long time ago. Didn't see Patrick Stewart though, he doesn't really sound like he's from up that way does he? Must be summat to with that there RADA.
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Mozo, you're not confusing the world famous, (well, it's world famous in West Yorkshire), Brighouse Ritz Ballroom with a place in Mirfield are you?
The Ritz Ballroom often does Tamla Motown nights as well as Northern Soul nights and the do draw quite a crowd. Not sure ANY building in Mirfield could actually hold sufficient people for it to be classed as a "night".
By the way Gid, are you still on for the grand synchronised, 6 Music listener, Christmas lights switch on? Or are we doing our own thing this year? I ask because I'll be buying the tree next week and wouldn't want to fire up the fairy lights only to find out I'd missed the Great Switch-On, as orchestrated by your good self.
It seems some of the locals near me are a bit quick out of the blocks. A chap a few streets away has basically covered every sqaure inch of his house and garden with what can only be described as the most tasteless, illuminated tat seen outside of a sea-side resort.
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I'm up for it. How about Monday night after the 9.30 news?
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i'd be up for it. i missed all twenty-two of beauly lights getting switched on last night. arrived in the village just as the spectators were dispersing. i missed everything last night.
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, in reply to message 31.
Posted by Mike, Wivenhoe (U7622871) on Friday, 4th December 2009
I'm up for the big-switch on for Monday evening.
After scraping the bottom of the celebrity barrel we've managed to get the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 6Music Trouser Correspondent to switch our lights on. I'm charging myself a fortune for the privilege though.
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The Ritz Ballroom often does Tamla Motown nights as well as Northern Soul nights and the do draw quite a crowd. Not sure ANY building in Mirfield could actually hold sufficient people for it to be classed as a "night"Β
Might have been there. It was all a bit of a last minute drive from London at 2 in the morning type thing. A mate lived in Mirfield and I remember falling asleep in his mums front room after driving up there and then across to Manchester to try to get tickets to see Roxy Music, which sold out when I was 3 feet from the door, having waited in the queue for 3 hours. Then we went somewhere my mate assured me was the northern soul Mecca (he was apparently an aficionado). The main thing I remember was it had large mirrors on the wall so you could watch yourself dancing. Considering what a poser I was at the time its a wonder I'm not still there now.
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At my local ceremony on Saturday 5th December, someone who was eliminated from the Z-factor pulled out.
Curiously, her replacement is actually someone we've all heard of - Mick Hucknall!
Wonder why he's doing it? Is money too tight to mention?
You could play something by the Frantic Elevators...
...then Mick gets upstaged by Ronnie Wood allegedly getting arrested on the High Street...and that's on my way to the shops! If Stella Street wasn't set in the North East (i.e. Surbiton ) I'd say I was living on video!
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Gid - Sounds like a plan, but may mean I have to get a Crimbo tree sooner than anticipated. Usual ritual is two weeks before the big day to avoid a naked tree come Decemeber the 27th but happy to break with tradition if we're getting a "Celebrity Switch-On".
Taking this thing much further than I need to, should we then take pictures and mail them in so some sort of "Gallery" can be constructed on your pages for listeners to marvel at?
Mozo - The top venue for Northern Soul was the Wigan Casino back in the day, wasn't it? That said, someone I work with told me yesterday that Todmorden Village Hall was in the top three, so it's not exactly Studio 54, is it?
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Don't think the place I went to was that big actually. It was probably just a pub/club. Could even have been a village hall. It was dark, I was young, tired and in the strange and scary north.
Also I couldn't hold my drink very well back then, so I could well just have got locked in my mates bathroom with the cassette player on for all I know.
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I won't be getting a tree but I do have a singing snowman that I'll be willing to activate at the designated hour.
Unless I've lost it.
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Mozo - The top venue for Northern Soul was the Wigan Casino back in the day, wasn't it? That said, someone I work with told me yesterday that Todmorden Village Hall was in the top three, so it's not exactly Studio 54, is it?Β
It was the Wigan All-Nighters the teenage N. Soul fans went to.
Then the Wigan Casino closed and they used to go to Snaith, Yorkshire.
I bought my Christmas tree in Finland 13 years ago. It's two flat wooden pieces about 2" high. If you look at it from above it's in the form of a cross, giving the illusion of being a round tree from the side. A bright green, 2 inch high plywood tree.
It is very ecological (no lights) and a lot cheaper than the one they've got in Poole. About Β£13,999.57 1/2 cheaper...
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I'm up for it. How about Monday night after the 9.30 news?Β
You're on. My 2" plywood tree is greenly carbon-free now, but I do have a yodelling toy marmot (true!) to furnish festive spirit at Tolhurst Towers...
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, in reply to message 39.
Posted by Mike, Wivenhoe (U7622871) on Monday, 7th December 2009
We're all set up and ready for the 9.30pm switch on.
I was going to really enter into the spirit of modern Christmas by replacing all of the lights with neon adverts for multi-national companies (other, smaller, companies are available for a limited period only).
In the end we went with white lights to match the white Christmas that we're going to have this year.
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That was exciting - the anticipation of sitting in the dark with a fluffy yodelling marmot toy on my lap trying to work out what the reference was to "duffing" on the scrolling text and composing an e-mail to Marc!
The marmot has yodelled!
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