Danskcolin: Monday December 13th 2021

I cherish routine - you know me, I'm a bit of an old stick-in-the-mud, I'm afraid, so today is a funny old day for me. Lois decides to make 4 years of Christmas puddings today.

This drives a coach and horses through our usual Monday morning routine of a walk on the local football field and cups of hot chocolate at the Whiskers Coffee Stand. And it means that I'm one exercise down on my required total for the week, so reluctantly I decide to do a 5-mile ride on my exercise bike to compensate.

The recipe Lois uses comes from her great-grandmother, an Oxfordshire woman. Lois calls it a countrywoman's pudding because the ingredients are all fairly cheap and easy to come by in the countryside - but without any "luxury" items. But I can certify that the puddings are certainly really tasty, for all that.

...assembling the ingredients

just like that - 4 years of Christmas puddings

(warning: some bowls not shown)

What a woman !!!!!

16:00 We settle down on the couch with a cup each of TeaPigs extra-strong Earl Grey tea, and Lois picks up the crossword in "The Week" magazine, which gives a digest of last week's news from home and abroad.

the cover of this week's "The Week" - the cartoonist has

helpfully put Nichola Sturgeon's name on her hard hat - thanks, mate,

I was wondering who that was!

What's the word for the phenomenon that all people all over the world in all countries readily recognise: the fact that you can hear about somebody you haven't thought about for years - and then the very next day you hear about them again.

Yes, what is that called? Answers on a postcard please. [Don't waste your time on this one, readers! It isn't really "a thing" at all. It's just that people don't notice the billions of times that it doesn't happen. Simples! - Ed]

Last night Lois and I watched an episode of the 1980's sitcom "Chance in a Million", in which Mandy Rice-Davies, the 1960's "model" and survivor of the decade's biggest political sex scandal, had a small part in the sitcom playing somebody's mistress, a woman called Celia.

"model" and political sex scandal survivor Mandy Rice-Davies, seen here

as Celia, somebody's mistress, in the 1980's sitcom "Chance in a Million"

You could imagine our surprise to see sexy model Mandy pop up fleetingly in this episode of the sitcom, and say a few lines. And we get surprised all over again today, when Lois looks at the crossword in this week's copy of "The Week".

The clue for 24 down / 19 across / 21 down turns out to be, "Did many a service for modelling" - she would, wouldn't she!

This clue is a witty reference to Mandy's now-famous reply in court, after she claimed that she had had an affair with Lord Astor. The prosecutor reminded her that Lord Astor had denied the affair, and Mandy famously replied, "Well, he would, wouldn't he!"

flashback to 1963: Mandy Rice-Davies (left) with Christine Keeler

the 2 "models" who discredited Harold Macmillan's Conservative Government

Spoiler alert: if you're still hoping to complete the crossword, LOOK AWAY NOW haha!

20:00 Lois's sect's Monday Bible Class is taking a break till the new year, so we both sit down on the couch to watch one of our favourite TV quizzes, "Only Connect", which tests lateral thinking.

We read the above blurb in the Radio Times before the programme starts, and we guess immediately that the thing George Orwell, Jeremy Hunt, the Wilkin Family and Paddington Bear have in common was marmalade, and so it proves, although we don't know what the connection is with Tory politician Jeremy Hunt. But anyway.

We're so annoying, aren't we! [You can say that again! - Ed]

Yes, and apparently, marmalade was an early business venture of Jeremy Hunt MP. And who knew that? Not us and not tonight's teams either, it seems.

The other connections were: the "Tiptree" brand of the Wilkin Family produces marmalade, and writer George Orwell was a keen marmalade maker.

But Lois and I didn't know that in 2019, the British Council formally apologised to the deceased George Orwell, because in 1946 they had rejected an essay of his about British dietary habits, which included a recipe for marmalade, saying that it called for too much sugar - this was just after World War II, and their argument was that people shouldn't be putting too much of their meagre sugar rations into the things they might be making. But their apology came 69 years too late for poor George.

What a crazy world they lived in, back in those days !!!!!

In the "wall" round of the quiz, Lois does well to find the connection between these four things: "mon", "pent", "vice" and "rated" - a question that defeats the Muppets team:

Yes, "sermon", "serpent", "service", "serrated". Simples!

Tremendous fun!

21:00 We go to bed on an interesting documentary about the life and career of film-star Joan Crawford (1924-1972), on the Sky Arts Channel.

Lois and I see quite a lot of these film-star retrospectives. And it's interesting to notice how many big stars really didn't want to get into movies at all in the first place, until they were talent-spotted, and so thought they'd give it a try.

But this wasn't true of Joan Crawford, who right from the beginning was determined to be a dancer, and then after that, transferred very willingly into films, as soon as she had been "spotted" by a director. And as well as being a incredible dancer, she had a great, strong voice, so that she made the subsequent transfer to the talkies without a problem.

Lois and I liked her best in the series of films she made playing opposite Clark Gable in the 1930's. We could see the chemistry between the two of them was good, but we never knew exactly why until tonight. According to the documentary, Crawford and Gable were having a long affair at this time.

Suddenly it all begins to make sense! And perhaps that was why Gable felt entitled to slap Crawford on the bottom in this scene from "The Dancing Lady" (1933).