Hello, peeps and welcome to TTW or Tuesday Totty Watch. Every Tuesday, as the name suggests, I will feature a gorgeous specimen of British (or in this case Anglo-American) manhood for you to….observe.
So class, if you will observe Mr John Barrowman. All-singing, all-dancing, all-acting and ALL 100% hunk.
He was born in Glasgow, but moved to Illinois with his family shortly after. At the age of 20, he came back to Britain and began acting in stage musicals. His career took off from there and he has rarely been off stage or screen since. Most people would know him as Captain Jack in Torchwood and Dr Who, but he has also been a tv presenter, a judge on Any Dream Will Do and has a successful career as a solo artist.
The sheer talent and energy this guy puts into his career as a performer is just amazing. Looks, talent, personality- yes, Mr John Barrowman has it all!
Ah, you’ve got to admit. There’s something about a man in a suit that’s incredibly sexy. The classic style of them, the way they instantly add a kind of James Bond-suaveness to anyone who wears them. So here’s a selection of British totty for you to feast your eyes on, ladies (and gents!)
From the top: Jude Law, Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Matthew Rhys, Richard Armitage and James D’arcy.
Well, since the post of David Beckham in his underwear went down so well with the readers of this blog, I thought you might equally enjoy a photo of Daniel Craig in his speedos.
Happy St. George’s Day to all my English readers, wherever you are in the world!
However you might be celebrating your national day, I hope you are having a great time. There is so much to appreciate about England- its history, its natural beauty and culture. The many talented people who were born there and have made all our lives richer by producing fantastic works of music, literature, art, architecture, film making and design. Or who have changed our lives for the better by introducing fairer laws and political ideals (the Magna Carta, the Abolition Act which ended the slave trade or the Suffragette Movement, to name a few.)
We have all been moved by stories of the courage and bravery shown by so many notable Britons over the centuries- Wellington, Lord Nelson, Elizabeth I, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher (only joking about that last one!) that I think whether we are English or not, it is worthwhile taking a moment or two to think about just how much this great island nation has given us.
Rule Britannia! (I’m rather partial to England and the English, you know.)
Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset. Courtesy of beautifulengland.net
This picture of David Beckham in his jocks has nothing to do with anything really. I just felt like having a perve at his gorgeous bod and thought you might like to, as well. Yes, I know I’m shallow. And I don’t care.
Hi, just a quick post to let you all know that I will be blogging over the Easter weekend and I have also added some new links that you might like to check out.
Until then, hope you all have a great Easter and enjoy this special time with your families!
I still remember when this album came out. I was 14 years old, so I was just the right age to get caught up in the whole Oasis hysteria. The single for ‘Whatever’ had just been released (off the ‘Definitely Maybe’ album) and I recall thinking:”Hey, this band is allright. I hope they have some more songs out.”
Then later that year, they came out with this- ‘What’s the Story (Morning Glory)?’ and all of a sudden, I was an Oasis convert. I didn’t care that the intro to ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ was lifted almost directly from the intro to ‘Imagine,’ and I didn’t mind that they sounded like The Beatles because I was already getting into The Beatles at that stage.
Now-and please don’t judge me too harshly because I was only 14- pre-Oasis my favourite bands had been East 17 and Take That, although I also liked Blur and Pulp so hopefully that restores my credibility a little.
But everything changed once I heard this album. I suddenly scorned boy bands and all that mattered was rock’n’roll, man! I don’t know how many times I played it but it’s a fair bet that by the end of the year, the pensioners who lived next door to us at the time knew all the words to ‘Roll With It’ too.
It was the best musical education I could ever have recieved, and even now there are songs on this album that are still absolute gems. ‘Wonderwall,’ ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger,’ ‘What’s the Story,’ and ‘Champagne Supanova,’ to name just four.
At the height of their powers, the Gallagher boys were so revered that most people forgave them for their potty-mouthed rants and lewd behaviour. But the constant in-fighting between Liam and Noel eventually grew tiresome, and many fans lost interest.
Added to this, was that none of their subsequent albums ever achieved the kind of success that ‘Morning Glory’ did (it sold over 4 million copies in the UK alone) and the whole phenomenon of Britpop itself was sadly all too brief.
But for people like me who were young kids at the time, spending all their spare dosh on albums and copies of ‘Q’ Magazine, Oasis were so much more than just another band. Their music broadened my interest in The Beatles and introduced me to The Stones, The Kinks and The Who, and from there I got into The Sex Pistols, Led Zep and David Bowie.
Love them or loathe them, Oasis were one of the most influential bands of the ’90’s, and remain so to this day.
This beautifully adapted drama was first aired in Britain in 2004. Starring Daniela Denby-Ashe as Margaret Hale and Richard Armitage as John Thornton, the four-part series based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1855 novel was an instant hit with audiences, surprising the BBC who were convinced it wouldn’t do well in the ratings.
However, we costume drama fangirls know better. Put a good-looking actor like Richard Armitage in a sexy waistcoat and shirt, and we will watch anything, regardless of what it is. Fortunately, though, the show had more than just totty watch going for it.
Set during the height of the Industrial Revolution, North and South tells the story of proud and genteel Margaret Hale, a girl from the south, who is forced to move with her family to the grimy mill town of Darkshire (a ficticious Manchester) when her father suddenly decides to leave the clergy.
Darkshire is Margaret’s worst nightmare come true. The streets are filthy and full of smoke, thanks to the surrounding mills that run night and day, the weather is inhospitable, and worse of all, the people are coarse and ill-mannered. Particularly one John Thornton, whom Margaret takes an instant dislike to, even though he is one of the wealthiest men in town.
Thornton’s wealth is self-made, though, and the harsh experiences of his younger years have left him with a chip on his shoulder. Despite his gruff manners and no-nonsense talk, he proves himself to be honest, hard-working and intelligent.
But Margaret refuses to see his good side and rejects him when he proposes to her, believing him to be haughty and snobbish-as some in the town think she is.
Through a series of crises, in which Thornton-without any fanfare- stands by Margaret and helps her when he can, she comes to realise that perhaps he is a decent sort after all, and is just the kind of man she would like to spend the rest of her life with. Aww.
A very big happy birthday to actor, David Tennant, who turns 40 today (I know, I can’t believe it either!)
Born on the 18 April, 1971 in West Lothian, Scotland, Tennant knew he wanted to be an actor from a young age. At 16, he changed his surname from McDonald to Tennant (there was already another actor called David McDonald), and at 17, he became the youngest person to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
As hard as it is to believe, he has actually been around for awhile, having started his tv career back in 1988.
But he became a household name in 2005, when he took over from Christopher Eccelson in the role of ‘Doctor Who’. Along with the show’s writer, Russell T. Davies, Tennant was responsible for breathing new life into the series, and bringing it to an entire new generation of fans.
Again, in 2005, he was cast as Casanova in the BBC mini-series of the same name, which also starred Peter O’Toole and Rupert Penry-Jones. Tennant proved just how versatile an actor he is, and his comic timing was perfect.
In 2008/09, he played Hamlet to rave reviews at the Novello Theatre in London, also managing to pick up a swag of awards for his turn as the Prince of Denmark.
In 2010, he left the tardis for the last time, and is currently filming Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’.
Congratulations are also in order for David, as he and his girlfriend, Georgia Moffett became the proud parents of baby Olive, who was born on the 29 March, 2011.
Whatever role David Tennant plays, whether it is the Good Doctor, or the greatest lover in history or Hamlet, the fact is he is just incredibly enjoyable to watch on screen. In every performance he gives, his special brand of energetic enthusiasm and quirky humour shines through!
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