Well it was a turn up for the books, after all my kiddies taking turns to be unwell - I got a night out with bezzie friend J (the one with connections to the Music Biz). A trip to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Classic Brit Awards and listen to some of the finest musicians and singers from around the world.
Hosted by Myleene Klass it was a weird, slightly surreal but enjoyable evening: with a mixture of presenters, winners, and entertaining music. Now I'm no high brow Stephen Fry kinda gal and I sort of know my Beethoven from my Bach but I am very guilty of identifying classical tracks from whatever TV advert it had been used on!
I had to take the flash off my HTC camera phone so apols for the terrible pictures. We had very good seats in the stalls - not that it looks that way from the photos!
Andrea Bocelli sang a spine tingling 'Amazing Grace' at the start of the award ceremony.
Somewhere seated at the piano is (Sir) Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gary Barlow standing at Keyboards, next to him Gareth Malone and the Military Wives singing. This picture is dedicated to Kate at
Make Do Style - I tried really hard to get up close to Gary and pass on your message sweetie :-D
The ladies in crinolines playing a a waltz which got some of the crowd swaying. J slyly said shoot her if she ever started to do something like that.....
In front of us in the VIP area were the assorted record company, sponsors, musicians, singers finishing off their dinners and getting stuck into the wine. There were a couple of old dears a few rows behind us tucking into their brought in sandwiches. You could hear their dentures gnashing away - maybe it was the acoustics inside that amplified the noise?
We had great fun people watching and some ladies really did dress up; long gowns full of sequins and some bared a lot of flesh which was most amusing considering the appalling weather outside. We played spot the celeb and I'm happy to report back Alan Titmarch, Anthony Hopkins and Cerys Matthews were spotted - where I started to launch into my rendition of 'Mulder and Scully' (don't worry it was during the intermission at this point). Oh and him who came runner up in Britain's Got Talent who lost out to the performing dog!
Just before the end there was a medley of music by the London Chamber Orchestra music composed by John Williams (who was honored with a lifetime achievement award). At this point I totally lost my composure and quietly chuckled throughout the theme from ET, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Superman, Jaws etc. On the back stage screen ,film clips were shown to accompany the music - yes including that clip of the shark jumping out of the water! But as John Suchet said when giving out the award his music is the first time young ears would hear an orchestra and I truly believe a well scored film deserves the recognition in making a movie Really Good. *I should do a separate blog on why the Johnny Depp version of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ' was pants compared to the Gene Wilder version*
By the end of a highly entertaining evening I was buoyed up wanting to be the cymbal player in an orchestra - who wouldn't want to be crashing those shiny gold objects about!!!
The whole thing was recorded and will be shown on ITV on Sunday night after Downton Abbey. Look out for me right side of the stage Block L, Row 8 - I'm wearing my Alice by Temperley bright pink crepe dress.
xxx twosp xxx
So help yourself to a St Clement Muffin - one of Mary Berry's finest recipies. 
