£2,700 for Dylan's Harmonica.....

John Fellas, an electrician and lifetime Dylan fan, outbid fans from Britain and abroad to secure the instrument at an auction in a church hall in Norwich.
Mr Fellas, of Gorleston, Norfolk, who wore Dylan-style sunglasses while bidding, said he was plucking up the courage to tell his wife what he had done.
''I read about it in a local newspaper yesterday and I just had to have it,'' he said.
''I've just grown up with Dylan. I love him. And it's not every day you get a bit of Dylan memorabilia on sale in Norwich.''
He added: ''I've got a wife who thinks I'm mad. I haven't told her about this yet.''
Mr Fellas refused to give his age or his wife's name and said he was adopting Dylan's approach to interviewers.
Mr Fellas said he had seen Dylan a number of times but had never bought a piece of Dylan memorabilia before.
"I just love the lyrics," he added.
"I think it's a generational thing. I've grown up with him. I love Bob's words."
Auctioneer Gary Barnes said Dylan had given the harmonica to an English member of his wardrobe department during the 1974 tour.
"She told Dylan that her brother was a big fan and asked if he would autograph something for him," said Mr Barnes.
"She was expecting a menu or something, but Dylan gave her the harmonica and signed the case "to Bob" – ironically her brother's name.
"She was English and brought it back to England to give to her brother.
"The brother died four or five years ago and the harmonica then passed to a renowned private collector who lives in this area and who we know well."
Mr Barnes said there had been interest from around the world and about 50 serious buyers had expressed interest.
"We actually gave it a guide price of between £400 and £600 but the problem is that it's almost impossible to estimate what things like this will fetch.
"Dylan is an iconic star who plays the harmonica and Dylan memorabilia rarely comes up for sale.
"I think that's what has given this such a high price.
"Also the 1974 tour was special and historic because he hadn't toured for some time and he was playing with The Band.
"A lot of the people who expressed interest were particularly interested in it because it came from the '74 tour."
Mr Barnes said he was not a big Dylan fan and could not think of a suitable Dylan quote to describe the sale – but agreed that Dylan's 1973 song Going Going Gone would have been an appropriate accompaniment to the auction.
Dylan signed the inside of the case with the words "To Bob, Good Luck Bob Dylan 1974."
"I guess Dylan would have paid a few dollars for it," added Mr Barnes.
"But I actually think that at £2,700 the buyer has got a bargain."

Licence John Fellas and harmonica photographs here.

R.I.P Henry Allingham...

Great War veteran, and the world's oldest man, Henry Allingham has died this morning.

Mr Allingham, one of only two surviving First World War veterans in the UK and the last surviving founder member of the RAF, celebrated his 113th birthday on June 6. He lived at St Dunstan's care home for blind ex-service personnel in Ovingdean, near Brighton.

'Vere' Are Your Papers'...

In the midst of a thunderstorm, Tory leader, David Cameron appeared for a question and answer session in Norwich. His handlers, not wanting a picture of their man getting his hair wet told photographers and tv crews there would be no arrival picture..... A bit of grumbling and the placing of cameras by feet turned this decision around, although he did them get dropped off at another entrance and appeared through a corridor. Quite why the PR machine thinks a possible future Prime Minister is unable to cope with a little rain is beyond me. All it does is annoy journalists and creates an early line for a story, which at seven o'clock with deadlines looming is all important.

As with most of these meetings, nothing of any real revelation is ever said. Every answer is carefully crafted, never quite pinning down a yes or no. However, on the subject of ID cards, Cameron pledged that they would not come to pass under a Conservative administration. In a cod-German accent he said "Where are your papers?" An off the cuff, unscripted response that perhaps most of the population would make, particularly those who are fans of Fawlty Towers. One woman questioned the wisdom of the remark, and that was it; a gaffe, a story, references to Basil Fawlty and talk of a diplomatic row.

Telegraph story here.
Sun story here.
Licence David Cameron photographs here.

Eccees... The Story That Just Keeps on Giving...

The sorry tale of MP's expenses rolls ever onwards on what seems like day 238! Today it's the turn of Norwich North MP, Dr Ian Gibson to be caught with his finger in the pie.... the one member I didn't expect to be selling photographs of for involvement in this sorry tale, but there you are, I was wrong. However I've got a front page on the Times and will no doubt be spending the day chasing him around.

Times article here.
License Dr. Gibson photographs here.

Crime Doesn't Pay...

An old aircraft hangar on a disused World War II aerodrome in the East Midlands is piled high with property confiscated from Britain’s criminals under Poca. Outside the hangar is a row of about 100 cars: a two-year-old Mazda 5 sits next to a bashed-up BMW 3 Series; an ancient Rover saloon is parked alongside a £90,000 low-mileage midnight-blue BMW M6 cabriolet, the former pride and joy of an East Midlands crack dealer.

They’ve all been recovered during criminal investigations and will be stored here until a court orders that they be returned to their owners. More often they are sold off to pay for what a judge deems to be monies gained through criminal activities.

But it is what lies inside the warehouse that is of most interest. This is an Aladdin’s cave, giving an insight into Britain’s criminal tastes.

Mail on Sunday Live Magazine article here.
Licence images here.

The Prime Minister We Never Had?

Former Home, and Education Secretary, Charles Clarke MP has claimed the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair wanted to position him to become a leadership rival to Gordon Brown. Astonishingly the MP for Norwich South, in an interview with the New Statesman, says that Blair wanted to offer him the post of Foreign Secretary to make him a more rounded candidate. According to Clarke, the then Prime Minister made this revelation the day after sacking him from the Home Office in 2006 when it emerged that more than 1,000 foreign prisoners had been released without being considered for deportation. Blair, it is claimed, then invited Clarke and his wife to a private dinner at Chequers.

"He had a great plan, apparently, that he wanted me to be foreign secretary because he thought that if I had been foreign secretary and home secretary I would be a credible opponent to Gordon, as the leader of the party. And this had been his long-standing strategy, and that was what he had been intending to do, and that's what he hoped to do. Which ran against, of course, what I had said to him about feeling I needed to do home secretary for three or four years. I knew nothing about this until after the event, and I said to him if he was nice enough to think I ought to be leader of the party, then he might as well have been courteous enough to tell me this was his plan" said the former Home Secretary.

Following his dismissal from Government, Clarke has be a constant thorn in the side of Gordon Brown, criticising his appointment as Prime Minister; setting up a website with Alan Milburn to put out their vision for the Labour Party, and questioning his mental state, claiming he has phycological issues and is a control freak.

Clarke is currently seen as attempting to eye up the position of Transport Secretary but concedes that he'll never run for leader.

Read the New Statesman interview here.
Licence Charles Clarke photographs here.

The Tin Tabernacle

The tiny corrugated iron chapel began life as a £350 flat-pack in kit form, taking only weeks to build as a temporary place of worship for the swelling population of a Victorian village.
More than 120 years later as other, more sturdy, churches have long since closed their doors, the “tin tabernacle” at Saxlingham Nethergate, Norfolk, is bursting at the seams… and has just appointed its first pastor.
Former policeman Ian Masson believes his congregation at the Evangelical Chapel has been boosted by the credit crunch.
‘With the fall in house prices and the recession, a lot of people have become disillusioned with material gain and they are increasingly turning back to the church and God,’ said the 53-year-old known as “Pastor Ian” to his flock.
Until fairly recently the timber-framed, metal-clad chapel was on the verge of being demolished, after 120 years of East Coast winds had taken their toll. But as the worshippers flocked back, so did the money for refurbishment, and a £90,000 makeover left the building with an extension to house an inside lavatory, kitchen and meeting room.
Air-conditioning, however was not on the list. ‘It’s like an ice box in winter until the heating fires up, and like sitting in a Hovis tin in the Summer,’ said Mr Masson, with the deafening noise of rain thundering in the background on the roof.
At one time, there were thousands of the corrugated iron churches around Britain, with manufacturers sending them out in kit form to the provinces and colonies alike.

Licence Tin Tabernacle photographs here.