Smoke signals:
cannabis law
to be relaxed
The Home Office today defended its decision to relax the law on cannabis in the face of criticism from a United Nations anti-drugs panel that it is "sending the wrong signal".
Leading drugs charity DrugScope said credibility of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) had been damaged by its report, published today, which concluded Home Secretary David Blunkett's policy would damage the UK's health and could increase cannabis supplies on Britain's streets.
In the 90-page report the INCB said it was "concerned" about the move to downgrade the drug so possession will not be an arrestable offence for the vast majority of users.
The board's Nigerian president, Philip Emafo, said: "It is important that consensus prevails in international drug control.
"No government should take unilateral measures without considering the impact of its actions and ultimately the consequences for an entire system that took governments almost a century to establish."
Asked if Mr Blunkett's policy was sending a bad message to the world, the INCB's Professor Hamid Ghodse told reporters in London: "Indeed. That stands to any logic.
"Our young people are confused. On one hand you are telling them not to go to clubs and use Ecstasy because it is dangerous, but on the other hand you are not doing anything about cannabis."
Mr Blunkett is due to take final steps towards reclassifying cannabis from Class B to Class C this summer.
Once new police guidelines from the Association of Chief Police Officers are in place, people found in possession of small amounts of cannabis will only be arrested in "exceptional" cases, such as when they cause a disturbance or blow smoke in a police officer's face.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We do not accept the INCB's statement that the decision to reclassify will lead to confusion and they are wrong to say that this sends a signal that we have decriminalised cannabis.
"Reclassification, based on scientific evidence from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, does not legalise cannabis but does make clearer the distinction between cannabis and Class A drugs like heroin, crack and cocaine - the drugs that cause the most harm to individuals and families, that tear apart communities and turn law-abiding citizens into thieves.
"Reclassification of cannabis enables us to put out a more credible - and therefore effective - message about the harmfulness of different drugs and allows the police to focus its resources on tackling the drugs that cause the most harm and this is a view shared by communities up and down the country.
"Cannabis is a harmful substance that still requires strict controls to be maintained.
"That is why we intend to reclassify it as a Class C drug."
Today's report on the international drug situation said the UK Government's reclassification of cannabis "could lead to increased cultivation of cannabis destined for the UK and other European countries".
A conference in Nairobi last September heard that the UK's reclassification would "undermine the efforts of governments of African countries to counter illicit cannabis cultivation, trafficking and abuse," said the document.
Mr Blunkett's initiative had led to "worldwide repercussions ... including confusion and widespread misunderstanding."
The report said cannabis was "not a harmless drug as advocates of its legalisation tend to portray".
It can affect the functioning of the brain, is linked with heart attacks in young people, lung disease and cancer, it added.
A recent study by the British Lung Foundation found smoking three cannabis joints caused the same damage to the linings of the airways as 20 cigarettes, said the document.
However, leading drugs charity DrugScope said the INCB's credibility had been thrown into doubt by its reliance on "dubious science and misleading conclusions".
When the British Lung Foundation research quoted in the report was published last year, it was wholly rejected by anti-smoking group Action on Smoking on Health (ASH), said DrugScope.
There had also been concerns that the research drew misleading conclusions from research more than 15 years old.
DrugScope chief executive Roger Howard said: "The credibility of the INCB is thrown into doubt when its criticism of the UK government's sensible proposal to re-classify cannabis is based on dubious science and misleading conclusions."
He pointed out that the UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs supported the Home Secretary's proposal to re-classify cannabis after a "thorough review of the international scientific evidence".
Mr Howard continued: "Throughout Europe, Australasia and Canada, scientific experts and a growing number of politicians agree that very strict regimes applied to the control of cannabis causes disproportionately more harm to society than the harm caused by the substance itself."
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Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Zara finishes trails on a High with third-place finish to nudge selectors - Daily Mail
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Zara Phillips kept her Olympic dream alive after delivering an eye-catching display in the final trial for London 2012 on Sunday.
World and British number one William Fox-Pitt dominated the Equi-Trek Bramham International Horse Trials, winning both feature three-star classes to continue his brilliant run of form.
My Kingdom is a horse: Zara Phillips and High Kingdom finished third
But 2006 world champion Phillips ensured she remained in the thoughts of Great Britain selectors Ian Stark, Mandy Stibbe and Angela Tucker by thriving under pressure on High Kingdom.
With the selectors meeting today and set to announce their eventing team of five for London later this week, her nudge in their direction could not have been better timed as she secured a third-placed CIC finish behind Fox-Pitt and New Zealander Andrew Nicholson.
Phillips, whose 2004 and 2008 Olympic selection hopes were dashed by injuries to her former top horse Toytown, beat fellow London contenders Nicola Wilson, Tina Cook, Laura Collett and Lucy Wiegersma, although they also all performed impressively.
While Fox-Pitt, Wilson, Mary King and Piggy French are widely expected to be picked for London, the fifth spot appears a battle between at least five riders, including 31-year-old Phillips.
Making a splash: Phillips powered through the cross country event
'Everyone is fighting to get on the team, especially with the Olympics being on home ground,' said Phillips, the Queen's grand-daughter, who must now play a nervous waiting game.
'He (High Kingdom) has improved loads this year, and it has been great to have had the opportunity to really show to everyone what he can do.
'He's is constantly improving and we are fighting for our spot.
'Competition is so strong that it is probably tougher for the selectors than anyone else. Everybody wants to be at the Olympics, and I am no exception.
'He had a double clear inside the time and a personal best dressage. Hopefully, they will see that he has improved and might get even better.
Impressive form: William Fox-Pitt partnered Chilli Morning (left) and Neuf Des Coeurs (right) to overall victory
'It was probably good to have a bit of pressure on here and to see if we could come up with the goods.
'He is pretty different from Toytown. Toytown loved the crowds and being at big competitions, and this guy is pretty relaxed and just gets on with it.'
Great Britain team manager Yogi Breisner described himself as 'very pleased' with Phillips' performance, and he anticipated a long selection meeting as final deliberations took place at Bramham House in Yorkshire on prospective London combinations.
'I don't think it will be an easy decision because I think there are quite a few of them that both here and at Houghton International two weeks ago have put up some pretty smart performances,' Breisner said.
'Looking at the horses here now, they are just starting to come into gear, which I rather like.
'Experience from a riders' point of view is very much key, and there are riders that are in form, performing well.
Runner-up: Andrew Nicholson, aboard Tristar II, split the two Brits to claim second
'From a horse's point of view, traditionally in Olympic Games, inexperienced horses have often done well, but they still need to be horses of the right calibre in the right sort of form.
'You can't just select on one result and one competition, you have to look at the overall picture and look at what the horses have done in the past.'
Fox-Pitt wrapped up Bramham's CIC class by going clear inside the time on Neuf des Coeurs, which should put the horse in Olympics selection contention alongside Lionheart and his double four-star winner Parklane Hawk.
And Fox-Pitt's healthy overnight lead was never threatened in the CCI section as he landed his first title with new ride Chilli Morning - and sixth overall at Bramham - following a showjumping clear that left them well ahead of runner-up Pippa Funnell (Mirage D'Elle) with Izzy Taylor (Briarlands Matilda) third.
'Nick has done a superb job on him,' Fox-Pitt said, of Chilli Morning's previous rider Nick Gauntlett.
'All the donkey work has been done, and I am the lucky one who has got him at the age of 12 when he is grown-up and established.
'It is just a question of trying to form a partnership, but it is still very early days. I didn't know what to expect in the cross-country, but he ate up the course.
'Neuf des Coeurs was a totally different horse here (after a fall at Houghton). Sometimes you need a wake-up call to make you think about things a bit more.
'I just hope the three of my horses are in the mix for London.'
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Sacked Celtic coach Alan Thompson calls off divorce as he reunites with estranged wife - Daily Record
Jun 10 2012 Exclusive by Lynn McPherson and Steve Smith, Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail front page from 2011 when Alan Thompson and wife Joanne split
How the Sunday Mail broke the story last year
SACKED Celtic coach Alan Thompson has won back his estranged wife as he prepares to sue over his dismissal.
The former Hoops star has reunited with Joanne after she furiously accused him of a fling with a former Britney Spears lookalike.
We can reveal that the couple have now agreed to call off their divorce with Thompson concentrating on taking his proposed legal action against the Parkhead club.
His lawyers have already discussed the possibility of suing for unfair dismissal.
First team coach Thompson, 38, was dismissed by telephone on Sunday after refusing to meet with Parkhead boss and long-time friend Neil Lennon in his home town of Newcastle.
But speaking to the Sunday Mail yesterday, he said he “couldn’t be happier” after moving back in with his wife and three children.
He has told pals he is furious over claims that he was sacked over his lifestyle and claims that his drinking had become an issue for the club’s management.
Thompson said: “Things couldn’t be better.
“I’m off to Portugal and then Dubai and things are great.
“I’ve had the best week and I couldn’t be happier.
“I won’t be saying anything about the job and anything that is said will come from my solicitor.”
His 15-year marriage to Joanne hit the rocks in December 2010 and months later, she had divorce papers served on him at Celtic’s training complex at Lennoxtown.
At the time, it seemed likely there was no way back. But delighted Joanne told us: “We are back together. The divorce is off.
“I’m not at liberty to reveal anything about Alan’s job.”
One source said: “Alan is amazed that his lifestyle could be called into question when in fact he has been working quietly behind the scenes to get his marriage back on track.
“He and Jo have actually been quietly trying to repair things since January.”
“He enjoys going to the pub but it’s not as if he is going around causing trouble.”
Another source said: “There may have been tensions among the coaching staff at Celtic over wages and responsibilities.
“Everyone thinks of Thommo as the assistant manager but he isn’t – that’s Johan Mjallby.
“Alan had a higher profile and was a higher earner because he was already in a job with Newcastle United when Celtic hired him.
“Some people think there may have been tensions behind the scenes as a result.”
On Friday, Thompson and wife Joanne enjoyed a couple of drinks together in a pub near her new home in Ponteland, on the outskirts of Newcastle.
Blonde Joanne joined the sacked Celtic coach at the Diamond Inn – a favourite haunt of Newcastle United and Sunderland footballers.
The couple spent an hour standing at the bar with their young daughter before driving away.
An onlooker said: “Alan is a regular at the Diamond because it’s very discreet and there are always footballers in there – they don’t get any hassle.
“He was drinking lager, then his wife and daughter arrived just before 7pm and she had a glass of wine as they chatted at the bar for an hour.
“They were just like any other couple meeting for a teatime drink on a Friday. They seemed pretty relaxed.
“Alan was obviously still very upset about being sacked from Celtic because he kept talking about it and what Celtic said publicly about what happened.” Thompson, 38, played for the Glasgow side between 2000 and 2007, scoring 37 goals for the club.
He also helped Celtic win four Scottish Premier League titles and three Scottish Cups before returning to Parkhead in 2010 as a member of Lennon’s backroom staff.
When he took the post as first team coach, Thompson moved into a plush apartment in Glasgow’s west end, while Joanne and their three children remained at the family home in Morpeth, Northumberland.
He insisted the break-up was “amicable” when he confirmed the couple were divorcing last year – but former ballet dancer Joanne said their marriage foundered due to Alan’s “mid-life crisis”.
At the time, Joanne revealed: “We were idyllically married.
“I will never discredit my marriage. He is having a midlife crisis, so he can get on with it.”
She added: “I’m going to write a book about this and I want every single other footballer’s wife in the world that’s had it done to them to stand up and applaud me.”
Thompson was then spotted out with new girlfriend and mum-of-three Kirsty McLeod, a 34-year-old former model and one-time Britney Spears lookalike.
Joanne and the children moved out of the six-bedroom Morpeth home, which has been on the market for £1.3million since 2010 and now lies empty.
Kirsty declined to comment at her home in the west end of Glasgow.
The former Celtic coach’s two-bedroom Glasgow bachelor pad was also put on the market in April at offers over £340,000 and he has moved into his wife’s new home near Newcastle.
A statement earlier released from Thompson’s solicitors Bridge Litigation after his departure from the SPL champions said he was “profoundly disappointed” but hoped the situation could be resolved “amicably.”
Source: www.dailyrecord.co.uk
London Theater Journal: Another Prisoner of Noble Title - New York Times Blogs
LONDON — What do you suppose she’s really thinking beneath the mask of majesty? All that nonstop pomp and pageantry must feel like a straitjacket. And surely she has disturbing things on her mind at the moment — worries about her husband, for one — as her reveling subjects pay such ostentatious tribute to her. Wouldn’t you just love to know what’s going on inside that serene head of hers?
No, not her. Not Queen Elizabeth II, though she has inspired many such questions in recent days. I arrived in London a few days too late to be a firsthand witness to the parades and parties and river flotillas that commemorated her 60 years on the throne. But I did manage to catch, just before she left town, another, livelier woman who could be said to be the prisoner of her title.
Her name? The Duchess of Malfi. And should the current queen of England have chosen to spend time with this entrapped creature, embodied with genuine tragic grandeur by Eve Best in John Webster’s 1613 play at the Old Vic Theater, she might have found a soul sister of sorts in a doomed Italian noblewoman of another age.
Or perhaps Queen Elizabeth’s thoughts would have turned to women in her family who were unlucky in love and paid a price, like her sister, Margaret, or her daughter-in-law Diana. Jamie Lloyd’s thrilling production of “The Duchess of Malfi,” which ended its limited run on Saturday, makes it all too clear that if you’re stuck on a world stage in a royal role, you had better keep your passions to yourself.
Is it only a coincidence that the Old Vic scheduled this production to coincide with the nationwide Diamond Jubilee celebrations? Written by Webster when memories of the first Queen Elizabeth and her sacrifices to the state were still fresh, “The Duchess of Malfi” achieves a thrilling new immediacy in Mr. Lloyd’s interpretation. (Can’t it please be reincarnated soon, ideally in New York?)
Not that this rising young director resorts to weary postmodernist tricks of dragging a centuries-old classic into a present of cellphones, tabloid journalism and television screens. On the contrary, as designed by Soutra Gilmour, this “Duchess” is set firmly in its period. The deep stage at the Old Vic has been transformed into a three-tiered cathedral-like space; like a tomb, it echoes with intimations of both eternity and decay.
The inhabitants of this sepulchral, candle-lighted world step out of shadows amid clouds of incense. And whether they be rough soldiers, stately churchmen or genteel ladies, they are all wearing Venetian-style masks as they advance toward us in ceremonial procession. They scarcely seem mortal, these exotic creatures.
But observe that one woman stands taller than the others in her handsome, floor-brushing gown. The strong light behind her reveals the silhouette of a woman’s naked body beneath the form-concealing dress. The lady is definitely made of flesh and blood. More’s the pity, for that will be the undoing of the Duchess of Malfi, who presumes to fall in love with her own steward (Tom Bateman, a worthy lust object) and to marry him in secret.
With these opening images, beautifully underscored by James Farncombe’s lighting and Ben and Max Ringham’s music, Mr. Lloyd establishes a visual vocabulary that matches Webster’s stark poetry of paradoxes. T.S. Eliot memorably wrote that Webster was always conscious of “the skull beneath the skin.” This “Duchess” expertly insists that we never forget its existence or that of the bodies beneath the robes and the faces behind the masks.
Indeed, I have never seen a production of any Jacobean tragedy that is so fully imbued, on so many levels, with a sense of duplicity, of doubleness. I mean not only the hypocrisy of state and church, embodied by the Duchess’s conniving brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal (Harry Lloyd and Finbar Lynch, in juicy and credible performances), but also the more far-reaching dichotomies of appearance and reality, of shadow and substance, of the spiritual and the physical, that are also always in play.
It seems appropriate that the plot’s major agent of change, the hired assassin Bosola, should be such an ambivalent figure. Portrayed with rough magic by Mark Bonnar, he is utterly of his corrupt world and also contemptuous of it. He lives as he must in this moment, in this place, but it sickens him to do so.
As with all well-told stories, this one doesn’t let you linger too much on its conceptual aspect while you’re watching. It’s only afterward that you realize how seamlessly its presentation has matched its theme. The production moves with such involving momentum that even its notoriously grisly coups de théâtre (severed hand and waxwork corpses) and far-fetched instances of mistaken identity seem not only feasible but also natural in this world of perfumed pestilence and intrigue.
As for Ms. Best, a great London stage star who has been seen on Broadway in revivals of “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and “The Homecoming,” her Duchess is the most compelling contradiction of all. She is clearly accustomed to command, and there’s arrogance in her carriage. Having to bend to seduce Mr. Bateman’s character doesn’t come easily to her. And living with the privileges of her title has made her cocky and careless; she believes that her stature is an all-concealing veil.
But what ultimately makes this Duchess more than human is, strangely enough, her great humanity. Subjected to some of the nastiest forms of psychological torture in literature, Ms. Best’s Duchess seems to shed her courtly mannerisms and become a figure of centered, radiant naturalness. And she brings to the acceptance of her death the grand, inspiring resignation we associate with Shakespeare’s tragic heroes.
Nonetheless she doesn’t die easily, as is evidenced by the graphic, protracted scene of her murder. On the edge of extinction, she blazes. Had Queen Elizabeth II seen Ms. Best’s performance she might well have approved of this triumph of the true majestic mettle that was always beneath the glitter.
Source: artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com
Law of the Sea Treaty may be improved, but remains deeply flawed - Human Events (blog)
One of President Ronald Reagan’s finest hours was in 1982 when he killed that year’s version of the Law of the Sea Treaty. With the apt acronym LOST, the treaty would have ceded sovereignty and taxing authority over the oceans throughout the world to the United Nations.
Now, the Law of the Sea Treaty is back, supposedly refurbished so well in a 1994 reworking of the agreement that some say Reagan now would support it. The new version is supported by President George H.W. Bush, Reagan’s vice president, and by President George W. Bush, as well as by five Republican secretaries of state: George Shultz and James A. Baker III, who served in that post under Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.
“Flaws in the treaty regarding deep-seabed mining, which prevented President Ronald Reagan from supporting it, were fixed in 1994,” the five secretaries wrote in the Wall Street Journal on May 30. They added that other problems had been dealt with. Some Senate Republicans already have pledged support: Dick Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Olympia Snowe of Maine.
But not so fast. Writing June 5 in the Los Angeles Times, former Reagan Attorney General Edwin Meese III insisted that Reagan would not sign the treaty today because it still poses “a direct threat to American sovereignty.” He added, “President Reagan so strongly opposed the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that he didn’t just not sign the treaty. He very publicly refused to sign it. He also dismissed the State Department staff that helped negotiate it.” Tough guy.
“Reagan would not support it,” Doug Bandow told us; during the LOST debate 30 years ago he helped craft Reagan administration policy as a deputy representative to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, which concluded in 1982. He is now a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. Seabed mining, in fact, remains a problem in his view, even though changes have made the section “better than it was.”
These seabeds under the world’s oceans—71 percent of the world’s surface—effectively would become U.N. property and the Law of the Sea Treaty would empower a new international bureaucracy, the International Seabed Authority. Only recently was America even granted a permanent seat on the governing council. “But that doesn’t mean anything,” Bandow said, because America easily could be outvoted by 35 other council members.
The authority could tax income and redistribute proceeds from America’s and other developed countries’ production on those seabeds to Third World countries—or, as is so often the case, to Third World despots’ Swiss bank accounts. LOST’s language even says the money could be given to “peoples who have not attained full independence or other self-governing status”—that is, almost anybody.
Supporters cite certainty, China
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports LOST, arguing that the treaty “provides certainty in accessing resources in the Arctic and Antarctic and could ultimately enable American businesses to explore the vast natural resources contained in the seabeds in those areas.”
LOST supporters, such as a May 9 editorial in the Christian Science Monitor, also contend that it would help temper Chinese claims to large portions of the South China Sea and other areas. China is one of 162 countries that have signed the treaty. “I am utterly baffled by how they think the Chinese will behave better under the treaty,” Bandow said. “China already said LOST doesn’t apply to the South China Sea. In a real crisis, it won’t matter. These are issues of great power politics.”
Currently, American sea interests are protected by the U.S. Navy, by far the most powerful naval force on earth. Critical shipping lanes such as the Strait of Hormuz or the Strait of Malacca are more likely to be kept open by the U.S. Navy, not by treaty.
Finally, as Human Events’ Hope Hodge reports on page 12, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) proposes a “Madisonian” approach that would retain valuable navigation rights for businesses and the U.S. Navy, but allow Congress to dispense with other provisions that encroached on American autonomy. But, the treaty can’t be split into “good treaty” and “bad treaty.”
Senate 1994 rejection
The treaty was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, but he couldn’t muster the two-thirds approval needed in the Senate to make it a binding treaty, and the Senate has not voted on it since. Hearings were held May 23 this year by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.) He said more hearings are forthcoming. But a vote wouldn’t happen until after the presidential election. At that point, even if Republicans take back control of the Senate, the treaty could be approved by the lame-duck Democratic majority joined by renegade Republicans. So, it’s possible a treaty signed by a Democratic president back in 1994 could be approved by a Democratic Senate repudiated by voters in November.
In short, the Law of the Sea Treaty is still LOST, even if improved. It is not the best path, the only path and certainly not a guaranteed path toward America’s energy self-reliance. In fact, relinquishing even a limited measure of U.S. sovereignty to a worldwide organization could precipitate mischief we can’t begin to imagine.
Source: www.humanevents.com
LAW 'N HISTORY: Old whiskey and young women - Patriot Ledger
He was the original Tasmanian devil; a charming rogue as dashing and devilish off the screen as he was on it. At a fit and muscular 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, the seemingly permanently bronzed hulk, complete with a cleft chin and dimples, looked every bit the movie star that he was. Perhaps unknowingly being far more insightful than he intended, he described his life as, “I like my whiskey old and my women young.” Little did he know he was describing his downfall.
Errol Flynn was born on June 20, 1909 in Australia. Tasmania to be exact. After a somewhat turbulent school career which found him in trouble for fighting and having sex with the daughter of a school official, he left for a succession of jobs before finding his true calling- acting. His first role, a minor one filmed in New Guinea, was in 1933. Two years later he married the French actress Lili Damita, who bore him one son. The lore of Hollywood beckoned and soon he was in America.
His big break came when Warner Brothers, searching for a film to ride in the wake of MGM’s popular Mutiny on the Bounty, cast him in the lead of Captain Blood. The movie was a major hit. Soon he starred in a movie that would forever define him, The Adventures of Robin Hood, in which he again played the debonair swashbuckler.
As busy as he was working, and despite being married, his nightlife was never-ending. He partied and he drank, not necessarily in that order. Many of his female cohorts, whom he often met in the fast lane of show business, were attractive and young. It thus came as little surprise, to the Hollywood crowd at least, that in 1942, the year of his divorce, he was charged with two counts of statutory rape, of having sexual relations, at different times, with two 16-year-olds, Betty Hansen, an aspiring actress, Peggy Satterlee, a nightclub dancer.
The trial, which ran for nearly a month in early 1943, was itself like a Flynn movie, complete with his multitude of adoring fans mobbing the court scene. Starring in the role of his primary defender was Jerry Geisler, the high powered attorney to the stars. The jury was packed with women who, Geisler hoped, would be drawn to the charismatic defendant, who sat quietly as the two young girls detailed the lurid details from the witness stand.
The pretty, and innocently attired, Betty Hanson took the stand first and detailed how she had dinner with Errol at the home of one of his friends. Of how she drank some foul-tasting drink which sickened her. Errol took her upstairs where they had sex.
Satterfield, similarly, told the enraptured jurors that Flynn took advantage of her on his yacht. Indicative of their relationship, Flynn had nicknamed her “J.B.” (for jail bait). On successive evenings, they shared nights of unwelcomed bliss on the gentle ocean.
On cross, Geisler had a field day with both witnesses, which at some points had spectators either laughing or shaking their heads in disbelief. The witnesses confused their stories and readily admitted to sordid pasts.
Although he probably didn’t need to, Flynn took the stand and casually testified that he never had sexual relations with the two young ladies. After deliberating for thirteen hours, the jury entered a packed and tense courtroom and rendered its verdict.
In a scene worthy of a Hollywood drama, bedlam broke out. The crowd cheered wildly as the defendant spontaneously leapt to his feet, a broad smile stretching his handsome face. Flashbulbs popped. Female admirers rushed to touch the star. The judge rendered the final review when he told the jury, which had just presided over a lengthy trial involving the alleged ravaging of two young females, “I have enjoyed the case, and I think you have.”
While similar scandals had wrecked careers in the past, this one had the opposite effect. Errol’s popularity soared. Indeed, indicative of his devil may care persona, a term was coined which found popularity throughout the world, “In like Flynn.”
As always, Flynn remained in character. During the down time of his trial, the bad boy spent much of his time wooing eighteen year old Nora Eddington, who worked in a nearby food stand. When she became pregnant, they wed. They had two children before divorcing in 1949.
Epilogue
A year later he wed for the third time. Despite being married, he, as always, took up with another female, this one an aspiring actress, Beverly Aadland. Calling her by her nickname, he sighed, “Here I go again Woodsey.” She was 15.
This romance however would not end like the others. His lifetime of drinking and carousing took its ultimate revenge. His good looks, like his career and health, faded. He died in 1959, having recently just turned 50.
Jamie Wells assisted in the preliminary research of this article. Marc Kantrowitz, who is writing longer versions of his columns for a future book, can be reached at rmarckantrowitz@comcast.net.
Source: www.patriotledger.com
Where can I buy 1940s clothes in London? - Daily Telegraph
Revival on Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street, will testify to this. Owner Rowena Howie sells exact reproductions of 1940s clothing and new designs inspired by the fashions of the decade. So you can stock-up on 'wiggle skirts', nautical 'Sailorette' tops and classic tea dresses. They stock Starlet, Vecona Vintage and Aris Allen and you can even make a personal shopping appointment in store or by video call.
For the real retro deal, try Rokit, which has shops on Brick Lane, in Camden and in Covent Garden. Rifle through rails and rails of vintage items and you’ll find some lovely ladylike frocks. You can also search by era on their website.
Beyond Retro, off Brick Lane, is a cavernous warehouse with enough vintage gear to dress every art student in East London. They sell everything from silk scarves for £1 to frocks from around £50 and rails are organised by era.
Or if you'd prefer to rummage through charity shops, try Cruise Aid on Churton Street in Victoria. It has an eccentric selection of items and labels including Ralph Lauren, Givenchy and Nicole Farhi.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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