Names, nostalgia and entertainment.

On the BBC Radio 4 programme "Last Word", where they talk about famous people who have died in the last week, today they included Acker Bilk, jazz clarinettist, much admired by my late father. Acker Bilk died last weekend, aged 85, not a bad age at all. Phil wondered aloud where the name Acker came from. So I googled it. It turns out that his real name, given name, call it what you will, was Bernard. Acker is Somerset slang for "mate" or "pal". There you go. You learn a little every day. Somehow Bernard Bilk lacks the ring that Acker Bilk has. Would he have become famous if he had not used that stage name? I wonder! 

I mostly remember Acker (aka Bernard) Bilk for his 1962 hit, " Stranger on the Shore". Why do I remember it? Because the year before it became a hit, the BBC used it as the theme tune for a series about a French girl who came to England as an au pair. I had just started learning French at school, thought my young French teacher was wonderful - as you do when you are 12 going on 13 - and loved all things to do with France and the French. The tune was originally called Jenny but they changed the name to match the TV series. Another bit of useless knowledge! 

That's my bit of nostalgia over. For the time being anyway. I have read today that a team of psychologists have been researching nostalgia and have decided that on the whole it is good for us, helping us to deal with difficult times in life. Apparently women in the German concentration camps spent a good deal of time talking about family meals they had enjoyed in the past. Strangely enough, this actually made the hunger they were going through easier to bear. One of the conclusions that the psychologists came to was that children whose parents indulge in reminiscing about good times they have had, both with said children and before they came on the scene, were better at creative writing than those whose parents never talked about such things. 

In the last few days we have been to the cinema twice, not having been for ages and ages before that. It's a bit like buses: you don't see one for ages and then two come along at once. So it is for us with films at the cinema. Having seen "Le Jour se Lève" on Wednesday, we decided yesterday to head back into Manchester to see "Mr Turner", a new film by Mike Leigh about the painter Turner. So we saw a very old film and a very new film. 

I can highly recommend "Mr Turner". The scenery alone is enough to take your breath away, views obviously chosen to bring to mind Turner's landscapes. The make-up artist need to be praised as well for the tremendous job they did in ageing the actors as time went by. Timothy Spall as Turner was splendidly expressive in his use of the grunt as a means of communication. Here is a link to the official trailer for the film. 

Today we took advantage of the sunshine to take ourselves out for a walk around the area. You have to seize the moment. Tomorrow it might be raining again. Who knows. 

Mind you, if it is we can perhaps go and see another film!