HANDS up who had a crush on Johnny Logan? That’s everyone then. If you were a child of 80s Ireland you knew and loved Johnny Logan. Fans are divided into two camps, What’s Another Year versus Hold Me Now, and Sleb Safari is firmly in the latter camp. What a song. What a white suit. What a victory for Ireland in a contest that says everything and nothing about competing countries.
Hold Me Now won the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest. Sleb Safari is embarrassed to have written that. As IF you didn’t already know. All in, 1987 was a top year for music. On top of Hold Me Now The Bee Gees released You Win Again and they, along with Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield featuring Maggie Reilly, were Sleb Safari’s top three childhood songs.
Johnny Logan, let’s call him the original J Lo, is the only performer to have won the Eurovision Song Contest twice and on top of that he wrote the winning 1992 entry Why Me which was performed by Linda Martin.
Sleb Safari thinks it might have discovered its Mastermind specialist subject. What a relief.
Even better news is that soon there will additional source material for Sleb Safari to study ahead of its Mastermind appearance because a film is being made about J Lo.
The biopic, Mr Eurovision, is being developed by Northern Ireland production company Out Of Orbit Films and Glenn Patterson and Colin Carberry are handling the screenplay.
It’s going to focus on the seven years between Johnny's two Eurovision wins and the legal battles over ownership of his recordings.
Brian J Falconer, the producer, says we should think of it like Rocky with the Eurovision stage as the ring. Quite when Johnny is going to run up those steps in Philadelphia has yet to be pinned down but Glenn and Colin will handle it.
“Everybody in Ireland knows Johnny Logan,” Mr Falconer told The Sunday Times. “He has a crazy fanatical audience from across Europe that follows him to all his gigs. His fans have tattoos of him on their backs. He’s like a cult figure. They all know him as Mr Eurovision.”
J Lo says he was asked to “look back on my life” and “luckily my wife kept everything – magazines, newspaper interviews, videos – for 40 years”. Sleb Safari is going to ace Mastermind.
Let's get this Mr Eurovision biopic fast tracked and in our cinemas in 2020. Some might ask, what's another year? but to those people Sleb Safari would say don’t, don’t close your heart to how you feel. Dream and don’t be afraid the dream’s not real.
With this film in the works and tattoo artists still inking Johnny on to fans the time is right for Johnny to storm that Eurovision stage and win. Do it Johnny; do it for the fans.
Dev Patel and his River Island days
THERE’S a new entry in the top 40 celebrity stories chart and it’s gone straight to number one.
Dev Patel has shared an embarrassing story from years when he attended the Toronto Film Festival as Slumdog Millionaire was being screened and he was still an unknown 18-year-old actor.
“There was so much press around Freida. And the bodyguards got her in the car and slammed the door shut, and it started moving away. I was still outside. No-one knew who I was. I was just this kid in a River Island suit and his school shoes. I was, like, ‘Wait, I’m the lead of the movie, I should be in that car!’”
What an image.
Competition winner
The winner of RSPB goodies is Anne Henry from Upperlands, Co Derry.
Are you looking for love in space?
LADIES, listen up, there’s a billionaire out there looking for the love of a good woman. His requirements are pretty straightforward. You must be female, single, “always positive” and over 20 (which is a hoot considering he’s 44); oh, and you have to want to go to space with him.
You know what they say, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is…
Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa has booked two seats on the first space flight for tourists which is scheduled for 2023 and will fly around the moon on Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship and Yusaku wants a “life partner” to accompany him.
If you match the description and think you’d look good in a spacesuit then Yusaku is waiting to hear from you. Do send us a postcard.
Social Media Smut
I’ve been tagged by dozens of people saying I look like this dog and I couldn’t be more flattered. https://t.co/x0y3fFmeMd
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) January 9, 2020
