HER MAJESTY'S SECRET DIAMONDS (OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT)...

The tapes were second-hand when I bought them in '81.
(Or 'pre-played' as they'd be described nowadays)

It was 1981 and I was living down in Southsea.  One day, me and a friend decided to take a leisurely stroll into Fratton, and while we were in a record store, I purchased two JAMES BOND 007 soundtrack cassettes - ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER.  Curiously, the tracks on the latter tape were not in the same order as listed on the index card, but I put it down to an error and learned to live with it.

11 and a half years later (which was a significant proportion of my life back then), in '93, HMV opened a record shop in my local shopping centre, and I bought two CDs, the same soundtracks mentioned in the previous paragraph.  Back home later that night, I covered the openings on the top of the DAF tape, and recorded the tracks in the correct listed order from the CD.  It's strange just what a sense of accomplishment I felt doing this, as if I were putting right some great injustice of many years standing.

It may have taken me nearly a third of my life to get to hear the tracks on that tape in the right running order, but it was worth it.  Although I didn't really need to play the tape because I had the CD, I made a point of doing so anyway, just so my effort wasn't wasted.  Still got those two tapes, and whenever I look at them, I'm back in that record shop in Fratton (JACK's, I think it was called) and I'm a young man in my early 20s again.

If only it could always be so.

CRIVENS' CRACKING COMIC (ANNUAL) COVERS: FIREBALL XL5...

Copyright relevant owner

Here's an absolute belter for you, Crivvies!  Mighty MIKE NOBLE's fantastic cover to the final FIREBALL XL5 Annual of the 1960s.  As Mike was considered the XL5 artist from his strips in TV CENTURY 21, it was only fitting that the series of four books bowed out with his drawing adorning the cover.  It'd make a great pin-up.  Clickety-click.

BABE Of The DAY - BECKY RULE...

There's only one rule you

have to observe when the beautiful

BECKY RULE is about - and that's

 to be grateful for her presence.

NO PRICKLY ISSUE For BLONDIE And BEST PAL SMITH...

Saw this in yesterday's DAILY EXPRESS, thought you might enjoy seeing it too. (I'm so considerate.)  Click to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.

******

This adorable image shows an ultra-rare blond hedgehog rescued by an animal hospital.

Blond, or leucistic hedgehogs, have a partial loss of pigmentation which results in pale colouration of everything other than the eyes.

This particularly cute example, aptly named Blondie, was brought into Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, late last year after wandering around during the daytime suffering from malnutrition.

Blondie had been born in August and should have weighed 600g but was only a quarter of the size at 165g.

The tiny mammal was rehydrated and given antibiotics by the centre's nurses.

Soon after arriving at Tiggywinkles, Blondie befriended a hog named Smith and has gone from strength to strength and is now fighting fit.

Despite the clean bill of health, Blondie has a weak immune system and will never be released into the wild.  The unusual colour would also be an invitation to predators.

Sharon Jacobs, a nurse at Tiggywinkles, said:  "Blondie was very underweight when we got him and not at all in a good state.

"Had he been in the wild for much longer there's no way he would have survived.

"Soon after arriving here he made a friend and things started to really look up - his health rapidly improved.

"We separated Blondie and Smith when they reached 400g, as you're supposed to do, but Blondie didn't like that one bit so we put them back together."

By John Ingham.