Tuesday - World Record Holder!!

I'm afraid thsi will have to be brief. Clearly, some of you are pleased to hear it? I do waffle on some times, I know, and my last few blogs have been a bit 'name droppy'. I apologise and shall, I'm sure, get back to the less celeb packed writing that I usually do. Or maybe it's all been like that? I suddenly have a desire to actually look back and read what I've been writing and see if it is a load of 'look who I know' bollocks?

But I shall resist. That's up to you to decide. I shall continue writing whatever enters my head or my life and stick to my resolution (private until now) that I shall only look back on this blog when I have finished the tour in July. It makes it more interesting for me. I think, as I forget what I've been writing about and try to not let one blog affect another, if you see what I mean? I don't want to develop a style or spend time editing (apart from the awful spelling and not always twat) what I've written. I hope that this will result in a more conversational style? What d'ya reckon? Really, that's very interesting. And how's your dog been recently?

Alright, not that conversational.

Unfortunately, having berated myself for the recent celebfest I am going to continue in that vein and, indeed, artery, with a report on my evening at the Royal Albert Hall and our attempt to break the World Record for the largest kazoo orchestra ever. I hate to see you kept in suspenders, well, publicly anyway, so, yes, we did it! I am now a World Record Holder. You may even have gathered that from the title of this blog? Very observant.

We broke the previous record held by the Aussies so we continued this years habit (although I suspect that won't be the case at the Cricket World Cup?). And what an occassion it was! Being one of the fortunates to be invited I was plied with wine and packets of Walker's Crips (oh the glamour) beforehand and got to meet up with loads of people I have worked with and become friendly with over the years and a number of people that I only really know through twitter. We cling to each other in a safety group of similarly employed tweeters, and it's very pleasant, thank you for asking.

I shan't name them all, but it was lovely to see Helen Atkinson Wood. It always is. And to meet up with Kevin Cahill again. We have only ever met in Italy, bizarrely, and he is a delightful man. He used to work in theatre but is now responsible for running Comic Relief which, as you can imagine, is a gargantuan job which he does in a gentle and relaxed manner that belies the enormous pressure he must be under most of the time. As religious types say, bless him!

We had to play the kazoo with out interruption for the entire five minutes of, first, the Ride of the Valkyrie and then the Dambusters. I'd forgotten that the Dambusters' tune has that jolly tiddlely-tum bit in it. look it up on YouTube and you'll see what I mean. It was hard to play the kazoo for that long, but such fun! Nearly four thousand of us. it rivalled the sound from the football matches in South Africa.

There were more exciting things though. Basil Brush hosted the evening. I'd forgotten just how funny and enduroing that silly puppet is. (incidentally, I once did a voice over with the man who then did his voice and he couldn't do it unless he crouched under the desk and held his arm in the air - honestly.) Plus, Sue Perkins, the incomparable Sue Perkins, conducted Elgar's Nimrod. Bloody hell!! Tears all around. Especially as we were sitting behind the orchestra and could see her face throughout and just what it meant ot her to be doing such a once in a lifetime thing. Conducting Nimrod at the Royal Albert Hall! Amazing. I certainly shall never be able to listen to that piece again without seeing that image. Beautiful.

Oh, flippertygibbet, I said I was going to be brief, didn't I? My fingers run away with me. I could mention so many other lovely little things that happened. Like another member of the young 'Mud' cast doing exactly what Russel Brand did to me the last time I was at the Albert Hall. This time it was the very talented Russel Tovey (were they all called Russel) from Being Human and other great shows. He said he was eleven at the time. That made me feel great - thanks!

Anyway, enough. Here are some photos and hopefully videos from my phone. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Mike xx
OFFICIAL VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-G1jew9JEM
OTHERS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNWxQe_zVe8
AND MORE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOsQ_rQmmao


MY OWN VIDEOS ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BLOG X