Sunday, December 20, 2020
Born March 22, 1920; died December 20, 2020
The founder of The Leeds Piano Competition and admired piano teacher, Dame Fanny Waterman, has died at the age of 100.
Born in Leeds, Waterman studied with Tobias Matthay, and later at the Royal College of Music, London, with Cyril Smith. After an impressive career as a soloist, including a performance at the 1942 Proms with Sir Henry Wood (playing as one of the pianists in Bach s Triple Keyboard Concerto), she felt that her real vocation would be as a teacher. Over the years she gave masterclasses on six continents, appeared on television and radio, and compiled a series of publications entitled
Ducky, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg: NCIS hero David McCallum was a gangsta rap star
NCIS hero David McCallum became an unlikely chart star 20 years ago at the age of 67 with the godfather of gangsta rap.
David McCallum, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg.
NCIS hero David McCallum became an unlikely chart star 20 years ago at the age of 67 with the godfather of gangsta rap.
Dr Dre included a swaggering sample from McCallum’s 1966 instrumental record The Edge on his 2000 single The Next Episode which featured Snoop Dogg.
McCallum, now 87, who has family links to Macduff, played Russian spy Illya Kuryakin in the hit 1960s series The Man from U.N.C.L.E and received more fan mail than any other actor in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s history including Clark Gable and Elvis Presley.
It is one of the all-time classic moments in British comedy: André Previn is trying to conduct a special pre-decimal arrangement of Grieg s Piano Concerto, with Eric Morecambe as his soloist, and it is not going at all well.
Morecambe has already called him by the wrong name ( Ah, Mr Preview - how are you? ); insulted the members of his orchestra ( I ve seen better bands on a cigar! ); made an ill-judged claim about his own musical credentials ( You re now looking at one of the few men who has actually fished off the end of Sir Henry Wood Promenade! ); lectured him on how to do his job ( In the second movement - not too heavy on the banjos ); asked him to lengthen the introduction by about a yard ; suggested that they phone Grieg himself in Norway for some musicological clarification ( Mind you, you might not get him - he could be out skiing ); and coaxed the conductor into leaping high up in the air so that his cue can be seen from over the lid of the piano.