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Today I learned...


SpursRiot2012

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2 hours ago, Bellenda Carlisle said:

Ashamed to say I only recently learnt about this amazing guy Yakima Canutt who lived a ridiculously full life.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakima_Canutt

Started as an actual cowboy and was worlds best bronco buster at 17. Then he fell into acting and went on to become one of the best stuntmen ever and a pioneering stunt coordinator.

He even taught John Wayne how to be a cowboy and Wayne's entire persona, voice and body language were copied off Canutt, they worked together developing new ways to do stunts and movie fights. 

When he was too knackered to do stunts he became one of the top second unit action directors in Hollywood and lived til til he was 90.

That summary doesn't even do him justice, the guy really got around.

Vic Armstrong, aka the second best stuntman of all time, raves about him and set up one of the stunts in Last Crusade as a tribute to him. Interestingly enough Armstrong followed his lead in becoming a second unit director and its now quite common for former stunt workers to run 2nd units to shoot the action for directors with no experience with it (Kenneth Brannagh leaving the bulk of Thor to Armstrong to shoot depending on who you believe) 

An absolute pioneer and trendsetter 

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What's fascinating to me is that his career pretty much all kicks in after the decline of the Wild West Show - in the days of Buffalo Bill, his career trajectory from cowboy to stunt rider to Hollywood likely wouldn't have been all that unusual (not to downplay the tremendous success he had), but to do so when the context of the travelling Wild West show had died off is quite unusual

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1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

The closing theme on New Tricks is a cover of a real song. Only noticed because it was playing on the PA system in the local garage at lunchtime!

 

The Travelling Wilburys are one of the best supergroups ever formed. Roy Orbison, Geoge Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.

My father in law loves them, which is quality enough, but for as long as I worked at Adrians Records in Wickford, my favourite ever job, you couldn't really get any of their stuff on CD and they became stuff of legend. You could only really import something from somewhere and I remember it being £50 or something in 2003, which wasn't to be sniffed at.

Anyways, either way, this tune is quality. 

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3 hours ago, scratchdj said:

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1 hour ago, Monkee said:

That was in Enfield and there’s a blue plaque to commemorate it!

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I went on a date in Enfield Chase last year, and we went for drinks at the pub across the square from there. They've actually gold-plated (well, brass-plated, I guess) the ATM!

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In a similar vein Ernie Wise made the first civilian phone call. That, Varney's cash and Wogan's putt have come up at about 60% of the quizzes I've been to. Along with which professional football team is closest to the River Mersey?

 

Spoiler

Stockport County

 

Edited by PowerButchi
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Yeah, I used to lunch by the Mersey when I worked in the town they're from. Certainly don't need a ferry to cross it there. 

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