The Unorthodox Website Blog

Jerry Lee outside Westbury Hotel, May 1958 (click on picture to enlarge)

Fans outside Westbury Hotel, May 2008 (click on picture to enlarge)

50 years ago last weekend, Jerry Lee Lewis arrived in the UK for his first concert tour. Elvis had gone into the U.S. Army, Jerry Lee was all set to grab his crown as the new King of Rock’n'Roll, already he had two huge million sellers with ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ and ‘Great Balls of Fire’. Unfortunately the tour was aborted after just 3 concerts in London, due to the cultural differences between the UK and the Southern States at the time, and the fact that the British Establishment hated this American ‘rock’n'roll’ and were looking for a place to stick the knife in.

When Jerry got back to America, the Establishment over there, who were also trying to kill off rock’n'roll, used the bad publicity in the British press to ban his records from the radio.

Mixed bathing pond – click on picture to enlarge

We are having an exceptionally hot early May, with temperatures in London reaching 27 degrees celsius, which I believe is 80 degrees or over in real ‘old money’ temperatures.

Quite often we have sunny days at the beginning of May (though never as hot as it is currently), and not to put a damper on things, it is then usually gray skies and rain all the way thru, way past mid-Summer’s day, until the days start closing in.

Last year we didn’t get a Summer at all – just a few sunny days here and there. The more usual pattern after some sunny weather in April and early May, is for the weather to wait till the outdoor swimming places open for the Summer in mid-May, and then for the weather to turn relatively cold, gray and rainy right thru till July. If we’re lucky, July, August and early September see some good weather.

For the second time in his two careers as leader of London, Ken Livingstone has been kicked out of office largely due to the voters in the outer London suburbs.

However, this time it doesn’t leave such a bad taste in the mouth as when the voters of the London Borough of Bromley and other Conservative boroughs on the edge of London managed to achieve the abolition of the GLC, of which Ken Livingstone was the leader.

This time the London Assembly at City Hall, and the office of London Mayor, continue, with Conservative Boris Johnson at the helm as the new Mayor.

He deserves a chance to prove himself capable of the high level of responsibility now put on his shoulders. Most people see him as a buffoon, but on the other hand he is certainly an extrovert personality and something of a political maverick frequently out-of-control of his Party, much like Ken Livingstone was.