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Michael Stevenson, aka Dai Bando, Johnny Foreigner, Monsieur Pas De Merde, is a blogger of French and British culture. His blogs "Pas De Merde" and "The Hobbledehoy" have been called "marvelous" by some, and "meh" by others.

Liverpool bartender to represent UK in Beefeater global final

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He won the UK final in early October with his cocktail On Holiday By Mistake (pictured), impressing the judges with what they described as “a masterclass in creating the perfect gin serve”.He was deemed to have best echoed this year’s theme of iconic London cinema with his recipe using Beefeater 24 and inspired by the film, Withnail and I.

The scene where Withnail orders “two large gins, two pints of cider” was used by Joe as inspiration for a twist on a Corpse Reviver #2, using cider syrup and cider vinegar as well as a pineau des Charentes and absinthe. It takes its name from another line spoken by Withnail.

READ MOR AT Source: Bar news | Liverpool bartender to represent UK in Beefeater global final

Laura Marling and Olivia Newton John to perform at Celtic Connections 2017 

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The Mercury nominated and Brit award-winning singer songwriter Laura Marling will make her Celtic Connections debut leading an orchestrated performance of her songs at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Thursday 19 January for the Opening Concert.

She will be performing with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and special guests, and the orchestration will be written by by composer and instrumentalist Kate St. John.Roberta Sá, a Latin Grammy award-winning pop singer in Brazil, will make her first appearance at Celtic Connections at Drygate on Friday 27 January.

Olivia Newton-John, Grammy nominee Beth Nielsen Chapman and Amy Sky will perform music from their collaborative album Liv On live for the first time, at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Tuesday 24 January.

Source: Laura Marling and Olivia Newton John to perform at Celtic Connections 2017 (From Herald Scotland)

Folk legend Eliza begins a new UK tour with Bury St Edmunds show – Newmarket Journal

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Eliza Carthy first assembled the Wayward Band in 2013 in order to explore and celebrate her long and varied career in folk music; ‘the last truly underground music scene’.To do this Eliza put together a team of hugely talented people from across the UK, and set out on the road to promote her ‘Best Of’ compilation, Wayward Daughter (Topic Records), which coincided with a biography of the same name.Since then the band has become a festival favourite, and Eliza has been awarded the MBE for services to folk music.

Source: Folk legend Eliza begins a new UK tour with Bury St Edmunds show – Newmarket Journal

It’s time to challenge the notion that there’s only one way to speak English

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From the start, it has been my intention to someday lure Linda Thompson to blog for The Hobbledehoy. Her Facebook posts – frequently hilarious, always intelligent – might be the best reason to have Facebook (second only to unfriending one’s racist aunt or poisonous pastor.) Linda is mentioned in this recent article nicked from The Standard.
The topic is one I’ve debated with friends quite a bit lately. I mean, like literally every minute. [- Johnny Foreigner]

Linda Thompson, admired for her work in the folk-rock genre, occasionally delivers magisterial rebukes to those guilty of sloppy or ugly expression. Robin Little/Redferns

After the terrible accident that killed four people on a ride at an Australian theme park last Tuesday, an official spoke these words to the media: “They sustained injuries that were incompatible with living.”Oddly enough, it took a French woman to draw attention to such a strange and inelegant example of what the English writer George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, might have called officialspeak.

Flossie Malavialle, a singer who lives in the UK and performs exquisitely in English and French on the British folk music circuit, posted on Facebook that it seemed a “really weird” way of saying four people had been killed.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE FROM THE STANDARD