GLASGOW TO NEW YORK IN MINUTES WITH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

GLASGOW has been transformed into New York City as Benedict Cumberbatch, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Lord of the Rings Star Hugo Weaving prepare to hit the city for a new TV series.
Melrose, a Sky Atlantic show will follow the character of Patrick Melrose, “an aristocratic and outrageously funny playboy” who turns to substance abuse to erase bad childhood memories of his abusive father and a mother who tacitly condoned the behaviour.
 The programme is set in the south of France in the 1960s, New York in the 1980s and London in the early 2000s.
As well as changing bank building signage in Bothwell Street over to popular New York names like The Drake Hotel, and covering up red post boxes with graffitied metal boxes, an array of yellow cabs and other US vehicles took over the streets of the city centre for pre production activity yesterday ( Saturday)
Yesterday cones were put around the streets to stop cars from obstructing the Film set and cars which were parked after 4pm were towed.
Roads around the city will be closed between October 29 and November 3 to accommodate the production including Bothwell Street, Bothwell Lane, St Vincent Street and Renfield Street.
In recent years Glasgow has been turned into various American destinations due to its grand architecture and grid system of streets.

GLASGOW’S MIDGE URE WANTS TO GO CLASSICAL - AT A COST

MIDGE Ure says he’d love to go on tour with a classical orchestra but being a true Scotsman is worried about the cost.
The Ultravox singer is currently touring with an electro band but says he’d love to involve strings and brass next time round.
He said: “It would be lovely to do but I am Scottish and I’ve still got that thing of ‘how much is it going to cost going out on tour with an orchestra?’. That’s lots of money. We are looking at the possibilities of doing it next year.”
He added: “I’ve got a very versatile electronic band for this tour but I’ve got an album orchestrated and I’ve been working on it for eighteen months now and it came about because I’ve done a few performances over the last couple of years with orchestras and of course it transpires with what I’ve written in the past with Ultravox really suits orchestral treatments. It’s very cinematic, poignant, grandiose, very sad and next year we will look at the possibilities of a live tour off the back of the album.”
From Scotland with Love - theshowbizlion.com

ROD STEWART JOINS HOST OF FOOTBALL STARS TO PAY TRIBUTE TO GLASGOW MUM

ROD Stewart paid tribute to a very special member of Celtic Park - and serenaded her before telling her he loved her.
In an exclusive video to honour Glasgow's Angela Thomson who celebrated thirty years of working behind the scenes at Parkhead, Rod gave a tour of his Celtic themed home gym.
Standing by a Celtic flagpole, he welcomed her to his gym decked out with Hoops scarves and placques and said: "Angie its Rod. It's raining. Come into the gym. Come quickly. Come on in. This is my gym. Angie, I just wanted to thank you for your thirty years to the best football team - not always the best football team but certainly the best club in the world. You've been absolutely wonderful. What would we have done without you? I wish I could have been there for you but I'm away tonight to the south of France for a rest but I love you and I'll see you soon. I'm going to bring you up a present and I'm going to sing a song as well."
After singing the opening verse of 'Have I told you lately that I love you?' Rod added: "See you soon Angie. Take care darling. Love you"
The brilliant video and night was organised by Made In Scotland and Celtic Former Players Association with Spirit Aid and was one of the largest events in Celtic Park's function rooms with a whopping five hundred and fifty guests.
Rod wasn't the only celebrity to pay his respects to Angie who has kept the players strips clean and smart over the years.
It was like a Who's Who of the clubs history as over 100 past and present names and four ex managers turned up to honour Her.
John Hartson, Henrik Larson, Jackie McNamara, Neil Lennon, Frank McAvennie, Gordon Strachan and Martin O Neill were amongst those who paid tribute to Angie in the flesh alongside the current squad and Brendan Rodgers. Pierre van Hooijdonk, Peter Lawwell and Lubo Moravcik also sent special video messages to Angie as she is affectionately known.
The 59 year old started off in catering before moving to the clubs laundrette.
Angie's daughter said: "It was amazing for us to see how well respected Angela is and to see how many people love her. She is so special to us.
"She thought she was going to a Celine Dione tribute night and was in shock when she saw a big picture of herself on screen. I was blown away too. She's been with the club for 30 years and she started with catering and then went to work in laundry."
Ex player Joe Miller who heads up the Former Celtic Players Association said: "It was a great event and pretty touching as well. Angie started at the club the same time as I started at Celtic and used to help Neil Mochan who was kit manager at the time. She's a great character and has looked after everyone. She's an important part of the club and has played a huge part in the players lives and made an impression. You could rely on her if you needed anything signed - even once you left the club. A lot of people who work at the club are unsung heroes and Angie comes under that category. She is at the heart of the club.
Players flew in from around the world to be with her."
Jacqueline Doherty from Made In Scotland who put together the videos for the event said: "Getting Rod was the icing on the cake and we compiled a potted thirty year history for this lady. It was wonderful."
Excerpts of this article have since appeared in the Scottish Sun
From Scotland with Love - The Showbiz Lion.

CON DINE WITH ME SAYS SUZIE

RADIO DJ Suzie McGuire ended up making a real dogs dinner of things after announcing on social media that she was going to appear on Come Dine With Me - and got over 480 messages of congratulations.
The former Clyde 1 presenter's news received hundreds of replies on Facebook and beyond after she announced "Whoop whoop I've just been accepted on Come Dine With Me."
Suzie's post was so popular that a Glasgow evening paper even covered it as a legitimate story.
She also received messages from as far afield as South Africa and Florida asking her when the transmission date was.
But the announcement was a fake - and Suzie has now revealed to The Showbiz Lion that she was just doing her bit for an autism charity - and shared the post in a bid to raise awareness for the cause.
Suzie said: "I don't normally entertain or agree these chainmail messages but a friend of mine who has a wee boy with autism sent it after I commented on his post and I felt I couldn't ignore it.
"The message I received back said I had to 'pick from one of the sentences below and post it as your status. This is the 2017 Autism Awareness game. Don't be a spoil sport. Pick your poison from one of these and post it as your status.'
Suzie had options to choose sentences like 'Just found a squirrel in my car!', 'Just agreed to a sexual favour to get out of a speeding ticket.', 'I've no clean pants for tomorrow, so just going to turn them inside out!' and 'My haemorrhoids are playing up like crazy tonight!'
She said: "I wasn't going to tell people that I was pregnant or that I'd p**d myself which were other options so I thought I'd put up the status about being chosen to go on come dine with me which was the last option in the list, but I never expected all this carry on."
As soon as she posted the status, Suzie's timeline was flooded with messages of congratulations from people like Stephen Hamilton who said: "Brilliant, Suzie. I've never seen toast and beans washed doon wi a boattle of Scotmid's special offer on TV before.xxx"
Nadine Hawkins said: "Better get the Indian on standby!"
Other suggestions of food included bangers and mash, Fray bentos pies, and boxed cheesy pasta.
A hopeful Graham Ray added: "Well done. What's for dinner then? Let's us know when you are due to be on. Two people I know have won this."
Naked Butler Paul Lawlor even volunteered to strip for the occasion.
He offered: "Brilliant! If you would like someone to greet your guests i'd be happy to come along and surprise them. Obviously at no expense.x"
Suzie said: "Everyone got so involved and came up with ideas of the menu including Buckfast and Fray Bentos. When I went to a pub quiz that night people were congratulating me and asking when I was going to be on telly and I got numerous or page messages from people too."
When Suzie saw her announcement had been picked up by a local rag she knew she had to private message people to come clean.
She said: "When it turned up as an article in the evening paper I was speechless. It was only meant to be a giggle and now I have repetitive strain injury in my hand from sending private messages to people telling them it was for autism awareness."
The reaction to her post has however made Suzie think about doing the show for real and she says she'd be game for a laugh next time the telly show is looking for Scots contestants.
She said: "It might actually maybe lead to me being on Come Dine With Me.
"I am a good cook and have become a domestic goddess while I've taken a break with the kids. I really enjoy cooking now and there's six of us and a slow cooker. I love to make a curry or a nice fillet of steak and I love a wee dinner party so I'd be up for going on the show for real. Nigella and Jamie eat your heart out."
This article has since appeared in the Scottish Sun.
From Scotland with Love - theshowbizlion.com

SCOTS COMEDIAN BILLY CONNOLLY HAD TO HIDE UNDER A TABLE

BILLY Connolly once had to hide under a table during the troubles in Northern Ireland according to broadcaster Gloria Hunniford.

Gloria, and her Rip Off Britain golden girls Angela Rippon and Julia Somerville can't wait to come to Scotland this week to host a week of live episodes of the BBC one consumer show. 

She recalled meeting her first ever big name Scot - in the form of Billy. 

She revealed: "Billy Connolly was probably the first big famous Scot I met. When I was in Northern Ireland he was a great friend of Phil Coulter who is a great composer and pianist and performer. They still are really good mates. Phil lived in Derry and during the bombings Billy would literally bite the bullet and come across.  

Gloria who regularly reported on the bombs, bullets and barricades long before she was sent to London to work for Radio 2 said: "Phil wanted Billy to come over this one time and Billy wasn't keen. 

He said: "I don't want to come over." Phil said: "You'll be safe as houses. They don't ever attack anyone in sport or entertainment." 

Anyway Billy was in St Columbs Hall in Derry and there was a bomb scare. So he was hiding under the table during this bomb scare and shouted to Coulter 'Wait till I get my hands on you." 

At the same time there was somebody crawling commando style in his chest and hands and knees and said to Billy 'Hey Billy could I have your autograph."

Gloria also revealed her young son couldn't get round the idea of historic Scottish ruins when they first came on holiday to Scotland. 

She said: I remember the first time we came to visit Scotland when we were living in Northern Ireland. We could go round Stranraer very easily for a holiday and we went when my kids were small and I do recall going to the Rose Abbey when my son Paul was seven or eight at the time and he said: "Oh mum. Who blew it up?" He couldn't understand it was a ruin air everything he'd seen in Northern Ireland had been blown up."

Excerpts of this article have since appeared in in the Scottish Sun.

From Scotland with Love - The Showbiz Lion

THE SEX PISTOLS THOUGHT DUNDEE WAS MORE PUNK THAN THEM

ON the fortieth anniversary month of Sex Pistol's Never Mind The Bollocks, original band member Glen Matlock has recalled the bands first ever Scots gig in Dundee - and the unexpected carnage of the night.

Glen who was the band's bass guitarist and man who cowrote ten out of the twelve tracks on Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is currently on tour and plays Aberdeen's Lemon Tree tonight (Sunday).
Despite the band's rebellious reputation Glen admits the Dundee gig was full on and he says he'll never forget the welcome he and the young punks received there in October 1976.
He said: "I played here with the Sex Pistols in 1976 and we played at a teacher training college in Dundee. It's not really on the radar this gig and we got bottled off.
The gig was at the Dundee College of Technology’s Union, more commonly known as the Bowling Alley by the locals and Glen recalled:
"There weren't that many people there but they must have drunk a lot cause there were lots of bottles of Tennent's and Newcastle Brown.
"People just began throwing bottles at us and we had to go off stage. The door was just behind the drum riser and it was going bang bang bang bang bang from the sound of the bottles for about fifteen minutes.
"Eventually they ran out of ammunition and we opened the door and the place had cleared and we went to the bar to get a drink.
These two blokes were there and they said to us 'Why didn't you come out and play any more numbers?' and we said 'Because you were throwing bottles at us and they replied: "But we read that you liked that.'
The young band were meant to return to Dundee following their debut that same year at Caird Hall but had to quickly re-arrange their plans at the last minute to enable them to appear on the "Today" tv programme that was broadcast live on December 1 1976.
 Their appearance with Bill Grundy was full of profanities and as a consequence of all this publicity, the Pistols were "banned" from most of the Anarchy tour venues, including Dundee - so they never returned.
Glen who will soon been touring in Australia and New Zealand as well as playing Glastonbury and nostalgia festivals like Rewind this year parted ways with the Pistols in 1977 said: "Life hasn't been that bad. It's a bit up and down being a musician but I've been doing lots of things."
"I'd tell my teen self to get a good lawyer. There's always something going on and always somebody who will try and take you for a charlie."
He added: "I've always loved Scotland and I had a song called Ghost of Princes In Towers which I did with a fellow Scot of yours Midge Ure. We got on well and I’m proud of our project the Rich Kids. We were a bit before our time.”
For his gig tonight Glen who has already played Paisley and Edinburgh this week says he's ready to rock n roll.
He said: "I just need plenty of Silk Cut and some coffee when I play. It keeps you on your toes. Then I strap up my guitar and off I go."
Excerpts of this story have since appeared in the Sunday Post.
From Scotland with Love - theshowbizlion.com

VEGGIE AWARENESS MONTH SEES GLASGOW DHABBA CREATE EXCITING DISHES

OCTOBER is Vegetarian Awareness Month and veggies as well as those who fancy giving it a shot will be in their element as restaurants and bars around Glasgow offer some of the best quality dishes. 

 Amongst them is The Dhabba North Indian restaurant in Merchant City who have decided to share the recipe for one of their classic vegetarian dishes with theshowbizlion.com. 

The restaurant, which recently launched a new menu and even makes its own bread and cheese on the premises, is passionate about the quality of ingredients it uses.

Owner Navdeep Basi said: "Nowhere in the world is vegetarianism so strongly associated with, than India. It has its origins in the sixth century with the introduction of

Buddhism. For a lot of Indians today, vegetarianism is the way things should

be, according to the natural law of the universe. Mahatma Gandhi, perhaps

India's most famous advocate of vegetarianism, proposed vegetarianism as a

path to the observance of non-violence. To him it was not only a means of

rejecting chaos and confusion but also a healthy positive outlook that led

to good for all man and womankind."

Navdeep and his team made a video of the detailed process that goes into making Sheetal Kachori, a delicious appetiser of bean sprouts, pomegranate, and crispy bread, drizzled with cool yogurt.

Navdeep said: "Here at The Dhabba we are proud of our Indian heritage. Our chefs are

classically trained and respect the cultural roots of Indian cuisine. Our

menu has a great selection of healthy, wholesome vegetarian food. Using only

the freshest and finest ingredients our chefs create and present unique

delicacies to our patrons. On the occasion of Vegetarian Awareness Month celebrate by trying some of our vegetarian fare here at The Dhabba - we think you will like it."