Lola: What are you reading?
Mandy: The Guinness Book of Records. Mandy II: Mandy Bloody Blower, at the nailbar
These people are gods: they’ve done something with their lives … I’m not a record breaker. But I am a line-dancer though. I’m going to win the local line-dancing endurance competition. Practising? I’ve done twenty-two hours straight through. I’ve got a secret … [inaudible] … nappies … ibid.
Mandy: I heard you’d gone to the Peak District tot start a new life. I heard you’d got a hot-tub.
Susan Blower: I did. But it’s all gone to shit … It’s all gone. I want to make it up to you. ibid.
Lola: Step 1: Gaze into the eyes of the voodoo head; Step 2: Name you foe; Step 3: Tell the head what you want – and you must be specific.
Mandy: I want to be the last one standing at the local line-dancing endurance competition. ibid. Lola buys head over the internet
Announcer: The prize will go to the lady line-dancer standing. And remember, you must keep your thumbs in your belt-loops at all times. Otherwise you are DISQUALIFIED! OK, good luck everyone. Positions please. And here we go. ibid.
… [20 seconds into competition Mandy staggers] … Lola! Water! ibid.
Loo roll! Loo roll! ibid. Mandy et Susan remain
Announcer: Susan Blower wins the award. God rest her soul. ibid. Susan crushed by giant glitterball; voodoo-head mistakenly brought into competition hall and onlooking from table
Prost v Senna: What a wonderful problem to have … Ego and ambition are very very close bedfellows, and very often people will misunderstand the intenseness [sic] that you bring to your ambition … It’s a fine line. Ron Dennis, interview, The Race to Perfection V: Controversial Moments, Sky Documentaries 2020
Lord Louis Mountbatten: the respected war hero. Brutally murdered by the IRA in 1979. But does his public image reflect the man he really was? Known for his military might in World War II, he made some disastrous mistakes that cost the lives of his men. As Viceroy of India he was in charge of independence, but was he to blame for the resulting bloodshed? As self-appointed adviser to Prince Philip, Prince Charles and the Queen, he penetrated the heart of the Royal Family. But his carefully created public image hid a scandalous marriage and sexual exploits. Lord Mountbatten: Hero or Villain? Channel 5 2020
‘He was very impressive and he was a bully. He was very good at getting his own way.’ ibid. historian
‘I’m the most controversial man you can possibly imagine.’ ibid. Mountbatten
‘The shattered and splintered woodwork is mute testament to the severity of the bomb blast.’ ibid. news report
Mountbatten was born in 1900 at the beginning of a century when Britain underwent massive change … A great-grandson of Queen Victoria, they lived in Britain as members of the extended Royal Family. One of four children, Mountbatten, known as Dickie, was the youngest by eight years. ibid.
Cosying up to senior royal would only help in his quest to bring honour back to his family name and avenge his father’s departure as head of the Navy. But his aspirations were very nearly derailed by his marriage and the dysfunctional and scandalous private lives led by him and his wife. ibid.
In October 1939, while in command of HMS Kelly, Mountbatten was given orders to engage with a German battleship and rescue several hundred British seaman: ‘He decided to do things a different way. He always liked going shortcuts. He was impatient. And the result was he that missed the battleship and he also failed to rescue 600 seaman. As a result, they spent the war in a prisoner of war camp. Mountbatten was arrogant. He thought he knew best. ibid.
‘During his command of the Kelly he lost more than 150 men.’ ibid. historian
‘He was shameless really in his ambition and his ruthlessness. And he was very effective.’ ibid.
Far from covering himself in glory, Mountbatten’s actions in extracting Britain from India were to leave a devastating legacy. ibid.
Partition: two days later when the borders were revealed, panic set in. And the full horror of partition was unleashed. In the ensuing weeks, one million people lost their lives, and fifteen million were displaced as people fled across the borders. ibid.
Mountbatten had been engaged in an audacious plot to overthrow the prime minister [Harold Wilson] he was now glad-handling. ibid.
I’m not an overly ambitious person; I don’t feel like I have to excel. Chris Evert
President XI Jinping has said he wants to restore glory to the people of China. To achieve this goal, tens of thousands of people are working for a shadowy branch of the Chinese Communist Party, called the United Front Work Department. Governments around the world have uncovered secret Chinese influence operations infiltrating their systems. Has Chinese influence become interference, espionage, stealing technology and know-how? China’s Magic Weapon, BBC 2021
President Xi has called the United Front a magic weapon to realise China’s ambitions. ibid.
And the deal made that day [USA & Saudi Arabia] on the Great Bitter Lake meant that America would get its oil but it would also be protecting Wahhabism, a force that had its own global ambitions, ambitions that were very different from America’s. Adam Curtis, Bitter Lake, BBC 2015
She was our most infamous queen. The second wife of Henry VIII tried on his orders for crimes of adultery and treason. Anne Boleyn was led from her rooms at the Tower of London to her death by an executioner’s sword. The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family, BBC 2021
Thomas Boleyn: the ambitious patriarch; George, the fearless son; the sisters Mary, the reluctant mistress; Anne, the calculating courtier, and their brutal uncle Thomas Howard. The family played a dangerous game and paid the ultimate price. But they left a remarkable legacy. ibid.
But neither Thomas Boleyn or Thomas Howard can match the meteoric rise of the third Thomas – Thomas Wolsey, who has won himself a seat in one of the highest circles of court, the Royal Council. ibid.
But in his daughter Anne he has raised a woman whose ambitions will soon outstrip even her father’s. ibid.
Henry VIII has been on the throne for seventeen years. The Boleyns are one of many ambitious families jostling for power at the Tudor court. Led by Thomas Boleyn this is a dynasty on the make. The Bolyens: A Scandalous Family II
‘I think we can sense that Henry is the one that falls in love first, he is attracted, but Anne does what all Boleyns do and makes use of good opportunity.’ ibid. historian
To help to end his marriage, Henry turns to Wolsey, the most senior churchman in England. ibid.
The deposing of Wolsey is the Boleyn family’s greatest victory so far. ibid.
George and Anne think the absolute power enjoyed by the pope should be challenged. The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family III
The family are seen as dangerous iconoclasts, prepared to smash a thousand years of religious tradition to get what they want. ibid.