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  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    Nice pics Pet. I assume it is a bit like Bond, you identify with the Bond/Avengers you grew up with. Honor was a bit too early for me and I first remember her in Goldfinger, and the Avengers era I grew up with was the Steed/Peel one.
    Through it all though, with Ian Hendry, then Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg then Linda Thorsan and Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt in the New Avengers, Patick MacNee was an ever present.
    La Chapeau Melon et Bottes De Cuir! Happy memories!
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down WhickwithyWhickwithy
    Posts: 5,163
    So, Honor Blackman was before Diana Rigg??!?!  I guess the earlier episodes never made it to the U.S.
    The Sentient Struggle For Transformation

    https://www.amazon.com/Sentient-Struggle-Transformation-Whickwithy/dp/1734822147/
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    Ok. The origins of the show go back to Ian Hendry in a show called 'Police Surgeon'. Hendry plays a police surgeon called David Keel. The show is a flop, but the Keel character is a hit.
    The character of Keel is retained and that of John Steed, played by Patrick MacNee is added and the show is renamed 'The Avengers'. Steed is a shadowy spy character and helps Keel avenge the death of his wife; hence the title.
    At the end of season 1, Hendry decides to leave. The show is a hit so the producers realign it with Steed as the main character and add a female sidekick, Cathy Gale played by Honor Blackman.
    This format runs for two seasons until Blackman quits the show having had an offer to play Pussy Galore in the Bond movie Goldfinger.
    For season 4, the producers provide Steed with a new sidekick, Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg. The name is a wordplay as the producers wanted a sexy partner for Steed with 'Man Appeal' or 'M appeal' as they called it.
    The series is still being shot in black and white at this time but this changes for season 5 as the program has been sold to America.
    At the end of season 5, Diana Rigg also leaves having been offered the role of Contessa Teresa (Tracy) Di Vincenzo in the Bond film ' On Her Majesty's Secret Service' ( which also has Joanna Lumley in it who eventually plays Purdey in the New Avengers).
    For seasons 6 & 7, a new Steed sidekick is brought in; Tara King, played by Linda Thorsan.
    Hopefully, this gives you a bare bones of the chronology of The Avengers WW, but this blog could go on for several hours !
    Post edited by Urban_Tribesman at 2015-07-01 17:07:28
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down WhickwithyWhickwithy
    Posts: 5,163
    Love it, UT.  Especially, the m appeal.  Hahahaha!  Diana Rigg was surely special.  I don't know if the comparision will upset anyone but she kinda reminds me of Mary Tyler Moore.  Sexy in a freshly scrubbed sort of way.
    The Sentient Struggle For Transformation

    https://www.amazon.com/Sentient-Struggle-Transformation-Whickwithy/dp/1734822147/
  • Vote Up0Vote Down iuventusiuventus
    Posts: 5,377
    Urban_Tribesman said:

    At the end of season 1, Hendry decides to leave. The show is a hit so the producers realign it with Steed as the main character and add a female sidekick, Cathy Gale played by Honor Blackman.



    They're airing these early seasons at the moment in the US. Tonight's episode must be the first of series 2, as they're showing Ms Gale around the office (?) after she accepts the position.
    Post edited by iuventus at 2015-07-02 01:29:03
    If I were dead, could I do this?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    I think she always remains a freelancer, much like Emma Peel, working with Steed but not for him or the organisation he is part of.
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down PetPet
    Posts: 1,041
    Yes, Cathy Gale was a freelancer, more independent of Steed (I would say) than was Emma Peel.

    Also, where Emma Peel used fake kung fu moves, Cathy Gale used genuine jujitsu.  In fact, Honor Blackman once knocked out an actor for real by throwing him on to a concrete floor.  She wrote a self defence book largely aimed at women.

    Honor Blackman appeared in 17 of the 26 Season Two Avengers episodes.  Three of the episodes feature, instead, Jon Rollason as Dr Martin King -- a direct replacement for Ian Hendry as Dr Keel.  Six episodes have, as Steed's freelance sidekick, a nightclub singer called Venus Smith, played by Julie Stevens.  Season Three was the only all Honor Blackman one.
    My website: http://petjeffery.co.uk/
    See also: http://chomupress.com/our-books/jane/
    And on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B009CAXH8G
  • Vote Up0Vote Down WhickwithyWhickwithy
    Posts: 5,163
    Pet said:

    Cathy Gale used genuine jujitsu.  In fact, Honor Blackman once knocked out an actor for real by throwing him on to a concrete floor.  She wrote a self defence book largely aimed at women.



    Now, that's fascinating!  Nowadays, it seems that every actor fakes everything.  Yeah, yeah, I know, that's why they call it acting.
    The Sentient Struggle For Transformation

    https://www.amazon.com/Sentient-Struggle-Transformation-Whickwithy/dp/1734822147/
  • Vote Up0Vote Down iuventusiuventus
    Posts: 5,377
    Urban_Tribesman said:

    I think she always remains a freelancer, much like Emma Peel, working with Steed but not for him or the organisation he is part of.



    I don't know anything about the story. I was going by two minutes of dialogue.

    If I were dead, could I do this?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    If I remember my Avengers lore correctly Pet, the actor that Honor Blackman genuinely knocked out was famous wrestler of the time Jackie Pallo. It was in the 1964 episode 'Mandrake' and Cathy Gale and Pallo's character Scott ( the Sexton), have a fight in a graveyard. During the scene, Blackman accidentally kicked Pallo in the face, knocking him into an open grave, where he lay unconcious for several minutes.
    Cathy Gale appeared in 43 episodes of the Avengers, first appearing in the 1962 episode 'Mr Teddy Bear' (although the 4th episode she actually shot) up until her swansong in 1964 with 'Lobster Quadrille'.
    Post edited by Urban_Tribesman at 2015-07-02 10:20:11
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    Val Doonican has died. Will the pain of this Summer never end!!
    Actually, I have to say, I saw Val in concert once, as a 10 year old, dragged along by my parents during a holiday at Gt Yarmouth or Gorleston or somewhere similar. He was a double bill on that show with one Arthur Askey! Hello Playmates !
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down LuDuxLuDux
    Posts: 1,865
    image
    RIP

    I take the needle off the Technics and put it in my vein
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    RIP Cecil the Lion. Infinately more famous in death than you ever were in life.
    image
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    RIP Walt Palmer - Hopefully soon.
    If there is any justice, your gravestone will read 'Here lies a scumbag. shed no tears, for he was the Architect of his own downfall'
    It's now official. Everybody hates the Dentist.
    image
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,681
    Found this delicate and quite intimate and beautiful acoustic version of 'Step inside Love' by Cilla Black.
    Never heard this version before a tribute show on BBC 6 Music yesterday.
    It deserves immediate release in honour and memory of Cilla.
    Sadly missed.
    That's George Martin talking to her at the end and Paul McCartney on acoustic guitar, as he wrote the song !


    Post edited by Urban_Tribesman at 2015-08-03 15:52:32
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
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