A Stranger's London
Bless 'em all
"Our Olympic athletes, from Seb Coe and Tessa Sanderson to the also-runs, did us proud and we should be proud of them," gushed the Mirror comment. "We have the best all-round athlete in the world in Daley Thompson, even though he wouldn't get a bronze as a comedian. Our show jumpers, our marksmen, our relay runners, our javelin throwers, our yachtsmen and our women rowers did the best they could and, in many cases, better than they have ever done before.."Zola Budd is upset at the treatment she got from Mary Decker, as graceless in defeat as she would have been arrogant in victory. We hope Miss Budd gets over it. Despite the American razzmatazz, the biased TV coverage, the blatant patriotism and the eccentric judging in boxing, the Games were great…”
So be it. Thus endeth the great Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Boy George's debt to cafe boss
Boy George, the millionaire pop singer whose flamboyant outfit of drags has become a teenage fad is in a fix - a cafe owner claims he owes him money for cups of tea and plates of egg and chips.Sam Mallam got to know George and pop star Marilyn when they were unknown and broke three years ago. They took all their meals in his cafe, the Ramblers in Cleveland Street, Soho, London because they could not cook in their digs.
Cost of generosity
Paul St George, the escapologist was put into a straight-jacket and into a potentially suffocating sack in Pater Noster Square recently to perform an act which was all in the day's job. Predictably, the busker from Norwich escaped from his straight-jacket unscathed. Even though his act was sponsored by British Telecom, St. George then took a collection from his audience for charity, egging them on with his own brand of philosophy: "Remember that in these days of inflation, it costs very little to appear generous."Yes, indeed.
Knock and ye shall be opened
To a large extent the Church of England has forgotten how important visiting members of the church resident in parishes is. The excuses often are "with a parish of 10,000 how can I call on every house" or "with jumble sales to run, choir practice to attend, the scout troop to look after how can I knock on doors?"The thought of knocking on doors fills some clergymen with dread. That lay people should shoulder some of the burden is quite true, but the impact and goodwill caused by the vicar calling cannot be ignored. Clergy are so often delighted at the welcome they receive and are surprised at the oppor- tunities they get and the willingness of people to talk to them about religion.
By its lack of taking visiting seriously the church has lost out to some of the way-out sects who make knocking on doors a major part of their work, and it is this calling that has enabled some of these sects to build up follow- ing. In St Paul's Cathedral there is a painting of The Light of the World by Holman Junt which shows Christ knocking on a door.
Perhaps the clergy of the Church of England should meditate on this paint- ing and do likewise".
This is what is called divine advice.
Busty Di tribute falls flat
It would have been fitting tribute to the busty film star but plans for a memorial statue of Diana Dors in her home town have been scrapped. The reason? Because she was Britain's best known sex symbol."She was rather busty and other statues of women like that in the town have been badly vandalised," said the Mayor of Swindon, Wiltshire, Coucill - or Harry Garrett. Instead, a drama class will be named after the town's most famous sex bomb, who lost her brave battle against cancer three months ago.
The agony column
"My problem is that I don't know how to kiss because I'm scared to try. I'm 16 and a virgin, and when boys ask me out I tell them I am already going with someone else. My friends talk about different kinds of kissing and I don't know what they mean. Can you help?AGONY AUNT'S ANSWER: Not a lot. You don't need printed advice - you need some action. Kissing, particularly when being kissed by someone who knows how, is marvellous. So don't be scared. And it's one of those things that happens naturally.
If some nice boy starts to move in on you, shut your eyes, put your arms around him - and wait for it!
FOR OPINIONS THAT CHALLENGE YOUR BELIEFS WHERE ELSE BUT IN TALKING DRUMS
