Comics Jim Davidson, Janey Godley and Canadian cottage misunderstanding

In Jim Davidson’s Fringe show, he put his annus horribilis behind him

The final show I saw at the Edinburgh Fringe last night was Jim Davidson’s No Further Action which I really do have to say was an utterly brilliant, flawless hour of comedy. Genuinely, utterly brilliant. It knocked most other Fringe comedy shows into the amateur starters section.

Janey Godley (left) & TV’s Lizzie Roper’s affectionate farewell

I am, tragically, running around too much to write a proper blog today but I was touched that, as she left Edinburgh for her Glasgow mansion last night, comedian Janey Godley gave me a slap on the cheek which, I believe, is a sign of deep respect in her home town.

This morning mysterious Mark, who runs the British Comedy Guide, introduced me (by e-mail) to Malcolm Poulton, who says he used to go to school with future comedy legend Malcolm Hardee “until Hardee got expelled for firing an air gun pellet into a prefect’s arse”.

Mark added: “Just to warn you, Malcolm Poulton tells me that, at school, he was called ‘naughty Malcolm’, whilst Hardee was ‘good Malcolm’…”

A worrying warning indeed.

Port McNicoll’s attractions – possibly misunderstood online

Meanwhile, my attention has been drawn – bizarrely by what appears to be a piece of spam – to the current Wikipedia entry for the apparently quiet and blameless residential town of Port McNicoll in Ontario, Canada.

The spam I received read: “Hendrix and Morrison both died at the same age as Jones. Hay Lins fans are capable to conjure up enormous gusts of winds, comparable to those of the exhaust gases of a jetliner. Drummond Island Ferry across the DeTour Passage was added to the route. Windows rather than force them to move.”

The e-mail’s title was a quote from Wikipedia.

According to the current Wikipedia entry for Port McNicoll:

“Most people living in Port McNicoll work in various industries in the Midland/Penetanguishene area. It is a quiet town, whose population swells, due to cottagers, during the summer months.”

I presume what we have here is a confusion between British English and Canadian English.