So it looks as though he will be going to Borneo as that is where the orang utans live.

Thanks TT, I'm so pleased it's been confirmed by the BBC, that Will's appearing in Saving Planet Earth, that's something else to look forward to now. :yahoo:

:cheer: confirmed!..Will drought?!..what Will drought!? :lol: :cheer: :dance:

I usually hate wildlife programmes because there is always a dead animal somewhere along the line, but I will have to make the exception to watch this one. What a strange project to get involved with - but I'm sure that Will is going to love doing it.

Didn't he say he would have liked to have been a zoologist if he hadn't gone into Pop Idol? Or a vet but wasn't clever enough!

I usually hate wildlife programmes because there is always a dead animal somewhere along the line, but I will have to make the exception to watch this one. What a strange project to get involved with - but I'm sure that Will is going to love doing it.

 

 

Didn't he say he would have liked to have been a zoologist if he hadn't gone into Pop Idol? Or a vet but wasn't clever enough!

 

 

I hate seeing animals being attacked and eaten by other animals as well Harri :cry:

and yes Dot, I remember Will saying that as well. :D

I remember Will saying that as well. :D

 

I remember him saying it when some of the Pop Idol finalists were staying in a hotel. They were all in their white towelling robes in from of a log fire, discussing what they would do if they didn't succeed as singers :wub: :wub:

 

Just seen this posted on O/S :

 

Just bringing this over, with thanks to Nanfan on Devoted.

 

On the current affairs programme 'Frost Tonight' 11pm

 

David Frost was chatting to Ben Elton about reality progs, asking his opinion on talent shows. Ben said that people want to believe that they can become famous, then said that of course they don't, except of course there is Will Young but then he is a 'Particular special talent'

 

:wub: :cheer:

Edited November 10, 200618 yr by munchkin

Thanks for that munchkin, I can remember Ben Elton being very complimentory about Will at the Prices Trust concert as well, so he obviously knows what all Will fans know.

The Observer Music Monthly article is great. Thanks to Carly on Devoted for posting it. Off to buy the paper!

 

3. Will Young on the genius of Noel Coward

 

I find Noel Coward fascinating - particularly the notion of him as a celebrity and the extent to which that relates to our idea of celebrity now. It's almost exactly the same. He set the standard for men's style at the time - regardless of his sexuality. There's a comparison with someone like David Beckham today, who has heralded this metrosexual age. Because Coward was so suave and sophisticated and slightly effeminate, that became the way that young men wanted to present themselves. It's an astonishing level of influence for a gay man to enjoy, particularly given the fact that homosexuality was illegal at the time. And of course his relationship with fame underwent exactly that thing that every British celebrity goes through now. He was hugely popular and then hugely unpopular.

 

Next year I'm appearing in a production of The Vortex in Manchester. It's a play that was rather punk rock for its day, dealing with the mass consumption of cocaine - again, you can draw parallels with the present day - and then he went on to this period of unparalleled theatrical success with Hay Fever and Private Lives where he'd have three shows running concurrently in the West End at any given time. He became so nationally loved and so popular that people had nowhere to go with him but to start hating him.

 

I was talking about this kind of nature of success with my boyfriend only the other day. It's like what happened to David Gray. Massive. Then nowhere. But we live in a lot more fickle times now. If someone comes along and does David Gray in a better way than David Gray did it - like James Blunt did - then there is no need for David Gray any more.

 

What happened to Coward was the Sixties. When you have John Osborne with Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court I guess you don't really need Noel Coward. There is something essentially repressed about Coward that fell out of favour. So he went to Vegas and did shows there and bought a house in Jamaica and ... well, good on him! There is a great album called Noel Coward Live at the Sands, Las Vegas, with an iconic shot of him in the desert on the cover. I think the British saw it as a betrayal, that he was cashing in a bit on his success. But why not? England is so funny. In a way it was a double betrayal. It betrayed him so he betrayed it. And then he came back later and did a show at the Cafe de Paris with Marlene Dietrich, which must just have been the most amazing thing.

 

He knew everyone, of course. There are diary entries about him going to Chequers to visit Churchill and he was completely accepted by royalty and by politicians, people who were the society figures of the day. Politics and royalty were so much more glamorous then. There is a brilliant story of him taking tea at the Ritz during the Blitz. Bombs were going off around him and he said: 'How marvellous that the band kept playing.'

 

He does get a lot of criticism for not being more open about his sexuality, but it's all there. You could argue that he was bottling it by not being a bit more expressive, could have embraced it a little more - but you have to remember the times. And in a way his gayness did work against his classic English gentlemanliness.

 

The theatre and the music business were havens for people like Coward. It was one of the only places that you could have any sense of freedom about your sexuality, which follows through in the British arts right up until recently. And then you can trace it back to Oscar Wilde, who was vilified in something like the way George Michael is now. I'm sure Wilde would have been falling asleep at the wheel of his Mercedes if he was around now!

 

Coward's music is so important too. Largely, it is very patriotic, like 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'. 'London Pride' is ever so ironic, if you think about it.

 

One of my favourite songs is 'Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans'. Just the title. It is so camp. But isn't that fantastic? Songs like that, and 'Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs Worthington' are incredibly camp. But then the British do have a very long and enduring relationship with the idea of camp. They love it. And the reciprocal situation here is that entertainment becomes a safe house for camp people. They are incubated by it. The British have a huge tradition of comedians, singers, actors, performers and pop stars who are incredibly camp, whether they are Noel Coward or Freddie Mercury. And they are all loved for it. I guess in some ways Coward didn't need to come out.

 

A lot of this helps to explain why I became a performer. I remember at school feeling this sense of difference, of otherness, that I think most gay people feel. You spend a lot more time observing things than necessarily participating in them and I think it gives you an eye for human behaviour that lends itself towards performance or some sort of social commentary, which Coward was fantastic at.

 

There's a great line from Coward's diaries: 'All I ever had was the talent to amuse.' I think that just about sums up the entire position of the gay relationship with entertainment. It is, quite literally, 'let's put on a show!' It's such a fantastic, resilient approach. Which is why I think, yes, being gay does still affect music.

 

· Will Young is appearing in The Vortex at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, from 17 January

 

 

 

Mentioned in a couple of other pieces too ...

 

:

Ever since the Beatles, the imagery needed to make pop and rock stars click with the public has included aspects of gay culture. The more the public has seen of it, the more indifferent they have become to it. Robbie Williams will probably be the last pop star able to tease us with the 'is-he-or-isn't-he?' theme, his provocation silenced by Will Young's brilliance at persuading us that 'gay is normal'.

 

Forty years ago that was the Beatles' message too. John, Paul, George and Ringo - the most visible, most photographed, most talked-about four people the world had ever known - had a gay manager. And they took him everywhere with them.

 

 

:

Will Young presents his homosexuality with no compromise and it matters very little.

 

 

:

And all the best music icons have cross-sexual, all-gender sex appeal, from Elvis, through Madonna, to Amy Winehouse and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. When you're a real pop fan, the fact that your idols are gay or straight is irrelevant. Thus, Will Young and the Scissor Sisters' records are bought by housewives as well as gay men.

 

I was talking about this kind of nature of success with my boyfriend only the other day

 

First mention in British press!

Edited November 12, 200618 yr by Dot

Thanks for bringing it over Dot and to Carly for posting it in.

It's a very interesting and articulate article from Will but that's always been the case, he's such a deep thinking intelligent guy. I love it that he mentions the boyfriend as well. :wub:

I was talking about this kind of nature of success with my boyfriend only the other day

 

 

 

 

 

First mention in British press!

 

 

Is it really first mentioned? I mean... I thought his relationship with Conor is obvious... I'ts kind of funny from my point of view, but I guess things with one's sexuality look diffrent in UK. :)

First mention in British press!

Is it really first mentioned? I mean... I thought his relationship with Conor is obvious... I'ts kind of funny from my point of view, but I guess things with one's sexuality look diffrent in UK. :)

 

How do you mean luneara? I'm curious, tell me how it's different in Poland. :D

 

Thanks for the article

 

He tends to leave me behind when he goes off on one. He's so articulate, and thinks deeply about a lot of things. Also makes some interesting points

 

Fab he's mentioned Conor :wub:

How do you mean luneara? I'm curious, tell me how it's different in Poland. :D

 

Well... What I meant... Is that:

 

If any of our celebrities admitted to being gay, the next day the whole nation would know his boyfriend's name, surname, adress, pics etc. ;) Still, we don't have any 'gay star', so I can only suppose it would be so...

 

ARGH, have difficulties with finding right words to explain what I meant... I guess it's after watching MHP and THE scene all over again?! :D :D :D :wub: :wub: :wub:

Edited November 12, 200618 yr by luneara

Well... What I meant... Is that:

 

If any of our celebrities admitted to being gay, the next day the whole nation would know his boyfriend's name, surname, adress, pics etc. ;) Still, we don't have any 'gay star', so I can only suppose it would be so...

 

ARGH, have difficulties with finding right words to explain what I meant... I guess it's after watching MHP and THE scene all over again?! :D :D :D :wub: :wub: :wub:

 

Ahh, so Poland isn't a very gay friendly place maybe? otherwise you would have plenty of gay pop singers/actors etc to support, they must all be keeping shtum (quiet) about it. :D

Edited November 12, 200618 yr by suggy

Ahh, so Poland isn't a very gay friendly place maybe? otherwise you would have plenty of gay pop singers/actors etc to support, they must all be keeping shtum (quiet) about it. :D

 

Well... You're probably right bout that non gay friendly place... Just realized that... Ah well... 2 years more and I'm moving to UK :D

Thanks for bringing that over Dot. :)

 

I wonder if the mentioning of Will's relationship has been a conscious decision by both Will & Conor. Maybe they see it as an ideal time with Will taking a musical break. Certanly indicates they have a very strong steady relationship. :wub:

Leading figures from the worlds of pop, the arts, broadcasting and politics will come together this week to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Royal Mencap Society....Guests at Tuesday's reception will include Formula 1 driver Damon Hill, actor Christopher Eccleston, singer Will Young, [will he be back from SA then? ]artist Alison Lapper, Dame Norma Major and actress Paula Sage.....

 

Will Young, a Mencap ambassador said it was a letter from a fan with an autistic son that led him to be involved.

 

 

Seems there are going to be lots of events to mark Mencap's birthday as well as Tuesday's reception....rock concerts, a BBC TV series and the publication of a commemorative book ( though Will not mentioned as being involved in these ).

 

From the Mail on Sunday...couldn't see posted anywhere else : you're all too busy reading the Observer

 

Thanks to Spider on devoted. He's obviously coming back to the UK before he goes off on his safari for the Beeb.

 

Thanks for the Observer article - the man has my total respect and admiration and I don't give a $h!t what some hack thinks of him.

Edited November 12, 200618 yr by munchkin

Thanks to Spider on devoted. He's obviously coming back to the UK before he goes off on his safari for the Beeb.

 

 

I hope so munchkin, :yahoo: let me think now, :thinking: he could be flying home today, spend quality time with his :wub: then go to the 60th anniversary Mencap reception and then fly out to film those monkeys with the BBC. :dancing: