Last night was George Michael night on X Factor – a particularly ill-starred night as far as the contestants went, with a number of duff performances.
Yet again, Joe McElderry was the star of the show with his version of Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me. As Louis Walsh – Mr Rulebook for this year’s X Factor – pointed out, it’s technically an Elton John track and not a George Michael one. George only guested on it.
Surprisingly, though, none of the judges picked up on the fact that Stacy Solomon also sang a technically ‘illegal’ song. I Can’t Make You Love Me was indeed recorded by George Michael, as part of Double A Side back in 1997 with Older, but that was a cover version.
The original rendition was recorded by Bonnie Raitt. Clearly Louis, Cheryl, Dannii and Simon don’t know their music as well as they think they do.
I leave the office at 6pm every evening and walk about 10 minutes down Victoria Street to Victoria train station.
Not a long walk, but a fairly busy one. Since the Standard went free, it’s almost impossible to find a copy until I get to the station, where I have to scrabble in one of the Metro bins and avoid being knocked down by a horde of other busy commuters.
I find it hard to understand why it’s more difficult to find a copy of the Standard now it’s gone free and there are apparently more copies out there.
It’s easier to pick up a copy of the Big Issue.
I went for a lunchtime wander today and happened upon a beautiful piece of hidden architecture.
The Buxton Memorial is an impressive thing, thoroughly dwarfed by the neighbourinh Houses of Parliament.
Sited in Victoria Tower Gardens on Millbank, this is actually a drinking fountain, erected as a monument to the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act.
Slightly overblown, but impressive all the same.
Remember Beenz? How about Lycos? Altavista? Even though it’s still only 20 years old, the web (note, not the internet) has seen more than its fair share of crashes and burns.
This piece from business pundit picks 25 of the most high-profile and tries to pick out some pearls of wisdom from the detritus.
Venture capitalist Paul Graham calls these the ‘elite of failures’. See what you can learn – apart from don’t burn through all your angel money in 6 months flat!
