CHARLIE CONDOU - No.474

A SCENE AT THE ROVERS

Charliecondou: @JOJEHARVEY just done the big scene in the Rovers. I think we've done you proud @ryanjamesthomas @realsamia @davidkester67

JOJEHARVEY: @Charliecondou @ryanjamesthomas @realsamia @davidkester67 Hoorah xx

Geoff_Hobbs: @Charliecondou @JOJEHARVEY @ryanjamesthomas @realsamia @davidkester67 Jonathan always writes good storylines

Charliecondou: @Geoff_Hobbs @JOJEHARVEY @ryanjamesthomas @realsamia @davidkester67 he definitely writes great fights!

CHARLIE’S COLUMN GETS A WASH!

KirstieMAllsopp: Loving #theaudience it's brilliant TV; Intelligent and sensitive. I'm not biased, Ch4 don't always get it right, but this is cracking.

Charliecondou: @KirstieMAllsopp we turned it off! Watching location x 3 on channel 4 + 1

KirstieMAllsopp: @Charliecondou Bless you, about to have a bath, taking Standard with me, have been saving up to read your piece.

Charliecondou: @KirstieMAllsopp haha we didn't hold back!! (ps Phil CLEARLY fancies the blonde girl!)

KirstieMAllsopp: @Charliecondou Yup, the Pope is a Catholic.

KirstieMAllsopp: @Charliecondou measured, intelligent and just a hint of pity, it'll drive him crazy.

Charliecondou: @KirstieMAllsopp that's the idea x

In a self-penned piece appearing in the Evening Standard titled 'Sorry, Rupert, but I'm proud to be a gay dad', Condou condemned the openly-gay actor for distancing himself from the LGBT community by "sniping gorgeously from the sidelines". "Sometimes it must seem a little difficult to see us mortals far below," he wrote. "Anyway, Cameron and I wish to report to you from the ground. We're a gay couple who wanted to have children and saw no reason why we shouldn't because we are, after all, people.
"We were aware that there's now robust evidence that children of gay couples grow up with almost no differences developmentally or intellectually to the children of straight couples... The challenges of gay parenting, and there are lots, are, we've discovered, actually almost the same as the challenges of parenting full stop. "But we are most decidedly mundane and proud to be of this world rather than moaning from its periphery." Condou also suggested that Everett was from an old school of thought which believed "gays were better than everyone else" for being "outsiders".
"It's sadly true that once upon a time that rickety narcissism was thought to be radical," he said. "We'd happily look inward all the time if our daughter would stand for it, but she's a switched-on 3-year-old and questions nonsense wherever she sees it. "We hope, nevertheless, that she'll one day take an interest in the soon-to-be-lost world of which Rupert and his kind are a part." Everett has publicly apologised for his comments this week, insisting that he is "not against anybody doing anything". Condou penned a similar piece to Brian Sewell last year after the critic suggested that there were too many gay characters in Coronation Street.

Sorry, Rupert, but I’m proud to be a gay dad

article by

Charles Condou

20 September 2012

Rupert Everett said earlier this week that he “can’t think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads”. My partner Cameron and I rather disagree.

Rupert is a bit of a gay dinosaur. He can currently be seen at the Hampstead Theatre playing another one — Oscar Wilde, the playwright who styled himself as the ultimate aesthete and derided the banalities of everyday life; the celebrated wit who crashed back to earth when he fell in love with the son of the Marquess of Queensberry and ended up in prison...

The above is an excerpt please click HERE to read the complete article.


percybiz: @Charliecondou Gay dinosaur eh? Less of the dinosaur and more of a crashing bore if you ask me. Good for you sex bomb :)

themaverickmen: @charliecondou well put, gents!! xx

alicearnold1: @Charliecondou well put Charlie

streetworker01: @Charliecondou That is absolutely brilliant, Charlie. x

reallorraine: Really good piece Charlie

SallyAnMatthews: @Charliecondou Brilliantly put. Measured, intelligent, honest. If only the original article had contained the same x

TheJimMurray: nicely countered Condou

_DanielRyan: @Charliecondou Well said mucker! x

stonewalluk: Fantastic response from @charliecondou to Rupert Everett's comments about gay parents. http://t.co/yO70Hbl3

LeaderAbrahams: Well said @Charliecondou for gr8t article in @standardnews on #gaydads - like you & Cameron I'm disappointed by #RupertEveretts comments!

simonfromgosh: @Charliecondou hey lovely, brilliant piece in the standard xx

gogibbogo: .@Charliecondou your article was totes based on my tweets :-P well done, great piece http://t.co/hLw2peUQ

BenSummerskill: @gogibbogo @charliecondou Luvverly piece! Xx

Charliecondou: @BenSummerskill @gogibbogo and beautifully edited!

SIZE MATTERS

Charliecondou: Baby Davey and his nan in t'Rovers @JackPShepherd88
 

Charliecondou: He's actually massive @JackPShepherd88 

 

SAME SEX PARENTING 

Seej: Hey @Charliecondou, you might like this piece on same sex parenting. Dear Seth, a letter to the baby of lesbian mums. http://t.co/avhulFk3

Charliecondou: @Seej brilliant!

Charliecondou: Our response to Rupert Everett http://t.co/xIKAMuyz

THIS TWEET IS A LOO LOO

Charliecondou: @alanhalsall NOOOOOOO!!!!
 

Confidential_CC: Alan has been stealing paper supplies again!!! @Charliecondou @alanhalsall

alanhalsall: @Charliecondou haha PMSL I'm not bringing you any !!!! #fingerwipe

FOLLOW THE LEE, DURR!

JOJEHARVEY: Bollocks I will no longer have any secrets. Lee has joined Twitter. Follow @LeeAnderson1971 if you don't value your sanity x

Charliecondou: @JOJEHARVEY @LeeAnderson1971 LEE LEE!!!!!! XXX

alicearnold1: @Charliecondou @JOJEHARVEY @LeeAnderson1971 Ok who is this Lee?..do have to follow him to be in your gang?

Charliecondou: @alicearnold1 @JOJEHARVEY @LeeAnderson1971 you do indeed

‏ alicearnold1: @Charliecondou @JOJEHARVEY @LeeAnderson1971 He doesn't follow you two..you need to SORT HIM!

JOJEHARVEY: @alicearnold1 @charliecondou @leeanderson1971 joined on a whim as sick of me talking about it. He's now at work. Will give lesson tonight

LeeAnderson1971: @Charliecondou @jojeharvey I'm trying to work with kids and learn twitter its hard multi tasking at my age ;-)

BABY BABY BABY

Above: Some additional shots of Marcus the midwife on Corrie (Charlie Condou) delivering baby Ruby in the Rovers. 

Below: Press play to see the episode containing all the action.

SHOT IN MANCHESTER 

RachelCorrie: Shooting with @Charliecondou today at the fabulous @CordBar in Manchester's Northern Quarter

Charliecondou: RT @RachelCorrie: Shooting with @Charliecondou today at the fabulous @CordBar in Manchester's Northern Quarter

AHOY

YE BLOG 

FOLLOWERS!

It's not too often I lodge personal information on this blog about my family history but today I am sharing my connection to the ship HMS Trincomalee moored at Hartlepool England (see following pic). Every so often (as is my want), I send the ship a greeting on Twitter. Yes, the ancient ship has a Twitter account!

In 2006 and 2010 when my wife and I went to the UK for extended sabbaticals, we did many weeks of family research and fact-finding before we left home. We arrived armed with pages of documents including birth, death and marriage records for many of our ancestors. Then, we visited as many UK towns and villages that we could find mentioned in these records. 

The first of our family history visits was completed before the television show "Who Do You Think You Are" aired. If you have seen the TV show you'll know how "instant" it is, in the way they gather people's information. It's made to look so easy but believe me it's not - especially if you live on the other side of the globe.

Some of the lines of descent I had unravelled for my father's side of the family showed that I had many seagoing ancestors in the UK even though I was born in the semi-arid middle of Australia. My seagoing ancestors on my dad's side of the family are the White, Ahern and Phillips families. Through these families I have discovered I have a connection to the Royal UK Navy going back some 400 years. The Phillips family were seafarers from New Quay Wales and were instrumental in making the port safe with the construction of sea walls and docks. The Aherns were from Black Rock Cork Ireland and some of the family had worked around the port for years in Customs and Excise. The White family were in the Royal Navy and also the Royal Coastguards. The White family lived all around the coastline of the UK.

My great grandfather Captain White (shown above with family), served as an officer on the HMS Trincomalee and he trained on the HMS Warrior (see picture below). Captain White was a fully qualified naval officer before rising to sea captain and moving to Australia. (If you have seen my picture on my Twitter avatar you can also see where I get my rugged good looks, thick moustache and lack of hair).

Four out of five of Captain White's sons fought in WW1. One son had been crippled with polio as a youth and couldn't go but the four others did their duty for King and Country.

David the little boy in the picture above (being held by his father), was blown apart by a grenade in Villers-Bretonneux France. I hope to visit the grave of  Corporal David White on a return visit to Europe in the near future. Sadly, David's posthumous war medals and wartime correspondence was lost in a house fire. My great grandparents lost all their possessions including their family photos, when their cottage went up in flames. The lovely family picture I have included above was discovered by me, in a cake tin of old photographs held by my Deaves cousins. They had no idea who the photographed people were. My cousins had kept it safe for over 100 years. The little girl in the pinafore is my grandmother and this is the only known picture we have of her as a child.

The Warrior is in Portsmouth and the Trincomalee is in Hartlepool. Both historic ships are working tourist attractions in England. On both occasions, that we've been aboard the ships, my wife and I were treated as honoured guests with private viewings and tours. At the end of both visits the directors of each ship presented us with commemorative books.

Coincidentally, my second visit to the HMS Trincomalee coincided with meeting TV presenter Tony Robinson who used the ship in part of his TV series "The Worst Jobs In History."

It brings me much pleasure knowing these ships are silent survivors that once played a major part in my family history...and thanks for the re-tweet HMS Trincomalee

@Tom_in_Oz_

HMSTrincomalee: @Tom_In_Oz_ thanks & good to hear from you! Come & see us if you ever get over here again.

EARLY MORNING THURSDAY

boxingbooth: My lovely daughter wakes me to present her sweet drawing of family at the beach..apparently I'm the MAGGOT on the left!

Charliecondou: @boxingbooth she's got your hair right

missmcollins: I need a cardboard cut out of kanye west by saturday ! Any ideas ?? Please !!!!

Charliecondou: @missmcollins Oh honestly, you and your sex games Michelle!

streetworker01: @Charliecondou @missmcollins Like Charlie hasn't got one... x 

Charliecondou: @lane_paula I'll come to hot yoga with you sometime! Could do with a good stretch #gettingold 

lane_paula: @Charliecondou definitely! I like a yoga buddy! Xx