A Game of Names

For 2 or more players

Rules: One player says the name of a famous person. The next person has to think of someone whose first name starts with the first letter of the previous person's last name. When both names start with the same letter the order of play is reversed.

E.g.
Player 1 - "Barack Obama"
Player 2 - "Orson Welles"
Player 3 - "Wayne Rooney"
Player 4 - "Robert Redford"
Player 3 - etc

You could make this harder by specifying a category (film stars, musicians, politicians....).

Anyway, we tried to come up with as many double letter names as possible a few months ago, and then recently I tried to list one name for each letter and came up with the following list, which I hope doesn't say anything too worrying about what goes on in my head. I did try to think of real people for all of them, but failed. Any suggestions for filling the gaps?

Alan Alda
Bill Bailey
Calvin Coolidge
David Davis MP (or, confusingly, David Davies MP)
Dame Edna Everage
Freddie Flintoff (although his real name is Andrew)
Germaine Greer
Harriet Harman
I ?
Jesse Jackson
Kevin Keegan
Laura Linney
Magnus Magnusson
Nyron Nosworthy
Olive Oyl
Peter Purves
Q ?
Robert Redford
Simon Schama
Thomas Truax
U ?
Vince Vaughn
Wincey Willis
X ?
Y ?
Z ?

The Mystery of the Secret Coffee Shop

We went to The Island two weekends ago and last weekend we went to The Forest. Possible suggestions for next weekend's expedition so far include:
1. The Mountain
2. The Castle

A good test I think is whether it can be incorporated into an Enid Blyton style title with the addition of an appropriate adjective, as in "Adventures on the [spooky/old/haunted/mysterious/secret/enchanted/strange] Island" or "Four go to the [as above] Forest".

Sussex isn't known for its mountains, though, and although I could go to a castle, spooky, old, haunted, mysterious, secret, enchanted, strange or otherwise, I suspect that this weekend will be slightly less adventurous. "Adventures in the Mysterious Laundrette" and "Two go to the Enchanted Supermarket" are probably more like it.

How is your weekend looking?

Countdown conundrum

It is Advent. Calendars abound, as do perfume adverts, large tins of chocolates, and sparkly lights.

As they say in adverts for financial products, past performance is not a guarantee of future results, which gives me some hope that this will be the year I arrive for Christmas on time, sober and with all my presents selected, bought and wrapped. This would be pleasing. My own countdown to Christmas will most likely be alternately highly organised and entirely shambolic as this list will demonstrate:

1st - 10th (approx) - State of denial, other than admiring sparkly lights
11th - Make lists of a) card recipients, b) present recipients, c) presents I would actually like for Christmas (too late now - in despair everyone has got me vouchers)
12th - Buy cards
13th - Write cards
14th - Send cards. Feel smug
15th - Get over-excited about decorating tree with sparkly lights etc
16th - Go to shops and freak out in crowds - go home for a cup of tea and a sit down
17th - Buy presents online
18th - Dash about trying to see everyone I know
19th - Decide presents bought online won't arrive in time and rush to the shops
20th - Online presents arrive
21st - Solstice! Go to Burning of the Clocks and then pub
22nd - Recovery
23rd - Last minute shopping and more pre-Christmas drinks
24th - Arrive at parents' house hungover, and go straight to the traditional Christmas Eve pub gathering / birthday celebrations
25th - In bosom of family. Eat, drink, relax.