Two evenings out in one week!
What a treat, and a disappointment.

Saturday 8th March 2014.

This week I was privileged to get two evenings out – something that hasn't occurred in my life for some years – although with hindsight only the one night was really worth bothering with.

Mike Dilger talks about My Garden & Other Animals.

Tuesday evening saw myself and the better-half heading up to Bristol Zoo for a talk from TV presenter and nature enthusiast Mike Dilger. Most commonly known for his job as resident expert on The One Show (shown week-nights, 7pm on BBC1) Mike was there giving a talk on his self penned book My Garden & Other Animals, published by Collins in 2012. It cost £4 a ticket and the lecture theatre was filled with a mainly 50+ audience, although there were a few younger souls like ourselves peppered throughout the grey hair.

Mike spoke well, although unscripted he was a little less eloquent than on TV, and talked us all through the main premise of the book. In 2011 he moved to a village just outside of Bristol called Chew Stoke and the book is the story of his new garden's first year. There were excerpts and anecdotes to be told which were (a little disappointingly) illustrated by his wife's stylistic illustrations rather than photographs.

At the end Mike opened up for questions, which in some ways was just as entertaining as a procession of old ladies clamoured to boast about their garden wildlife under the loosely veiled guise of a question on his! Unfortunately we didn't have any cash on us so were unable to purchase a copy of the book at the end but I would definitely like to give it a read and will be keeping my eye open for a copy of it in the local charity shops.


Happy Days (the Touring Musical Production) at the Bristol Hippodrome.

Friday evening was a much more traditional form of entertainment; Happy Days (the musical) at the Bristol Hippodrome. This touring production was staring Cheryl Baker of Eurovision fame, Heidi Range formerly of the Sugarbabes, ex-Emmerdale actor Ben Freeman as the Fonz, but most excitingly for me my friend Alice Crocker (breakfast presenter on local radio station Jack FM) in a cameo role as TV announcer.

The highlight of the show was, rather unfortunately, Alice's one line wonder – had I sneezed at the crucial moment I'd have missed it! The major clue the show was going to be slightly less entertaining than the re-runs of the original TV show (repeated throughout my childhood in the '80s) was the almost empty auditorium - something I've never before seen at the Bristol Hippodrome. None-the-less I was prepared to give it a chance and kept myself open-minded as the curtain went up.

The cast were well chosen for their roles, closely resembling their TV counterparts, and the voices and dance routines were all faultless but unfortunately the original songs and music for the show were lacklustre and instantly forgettable. It was a brave attempt at originality but it just didn't live up to its potential. I don't see much of a future for this show so catch it while you can!