Clare Balding set to scale down Channel 4 horse racing duties

Jesus.

She will only cover the nine days of Cheltenham and Ascot


Like a dagger to the heart.

Why can't she just bugger off altogether?

Gock Wan does Ascot coverage now, and a better display of gushing sycophancy would be hard to imagine.

Rugby league misses her.

At 2nd row mostly..

Great news, but they shouldn't let her cherry-pick RA and Cheltenham - get rid, ffs - and get the most excellent Lydia in, as soon as possible.

hahaha!

I would have thought that her description of the racehorse would be much better understood by the children, to whom it was addressed, than simply naming it's sire and dam. She was talking to them in a manner that they would understand and might spark a further interest in these noble beasts.

As for the emotional display...I think it conveyed to the public the sense of achievement and sudden release of tension that was felt by herself and her brother. In hindsight, perhaps the interview should have been carried out by a third party.

One more vote for the minorities.

It seems to me after her successful presenting role at the Olympics on London (in which she was very good) she opened herself up to a new audience who before had never heard of her and in return her popularity amongst Horse Racing enthusiasts was dampened somewhat. Maybe it subconsciously inflated her ego along with her bank balance who knows. Though not sure why she would have went downhill after interviewing her brother?

Groucho Marx sings Lydia The Tattooed Lady

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4zRe_wvJw8

She was the most glorious creature
Under the su-un.
Thais. DuBarry. Garbo.
Rolled into one.

Oooooooh
Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Lydia, the Tattooed Lady?
She has eyes that folks adore so,
And a torso even more so.

Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopedia,
Oh Lydia the Queen of Tattoo.
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo.
Beside it The Wreck of the Hesperus, too.
And proudly above waves the Red, White, and Blue,
You can learn a lot from Lydia.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

When her robe is unfurled, she will show you the world,
If you step up and tell her where.
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paris,
Or Washington Crossing the Delaware.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Oh Lydia oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Oh Lydia the Tattooed Lady
When her muscles start relaxing,
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson

Lydia oh Lydia, that encyclopedia,
oh Lydia the queen of them all!
For two bits she will do a mazurka in jazz,
With a view of Niagara that nobody has.
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz.
You can learn a lot from Lydia.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Come along and see Buff'lo Bill with his lasso.
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso.
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon.
Here's Godiva but with her pajamas on.

La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la

Here is Grover Whalen unveilin' the Trylon.
Over on the West Coast we have Treasure Island.
Here's Nijinsky a-doin' the rumba.
Here's her social security numba.
or
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia,
Lydia the Tattooed Lady?
When she stands the world grows littler.
When she sits, she sits on Hitler.

(whistles)

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia that encyclopedia,
Oh Lydia the champ of them all. (or "queen of them all")
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet.
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat.
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
For he went and married Lydia.

I said Lydia (He said Lydia)
I said Lydia (We said Lydia)

La La!

Other uses
In the 1940 movie The Philadelphia Story, Dinah Lord (played by Virginia Weidler) sings the song's first verse.

The song has been recorded by Stubby Kaye (1961), Michael Feinstein (album: Pure Imagination, 1992), and Joan Morris (album: Bolcom, Morris & Morath sing Yip Harburg, 2003).

In January, 1976, Kermit the Frog sang this song, complete with a Muppet pig version of Lydia, on the second episode of The Muppet Show, which featured Connie Stevens as the guest star. Muppets creator Jim Henson is said to have considered the song one of his favorites. Henson also drew all the tattoos on the Lydia puppet. The song was also used in Jim Henson's memorial service, performed by Kevin Clash in his ¨Elmo¨ voice.

On the television series M*A*S*H, Maxwell Klinger sang part of this song in the episode "Images" after seeing the extensive tattoo work on a wounded soldier.

An abridged Barbershop Quartet arrangement was performed by "The New Tradition" quartet while dressed and acting as the Marx Brothers as part of their final song set as they won the 1985 International Barbershop Competition. They subsequently repeated this performance during shows they performed, and finally recorded it as part of an LP.

The song was also sung by Robin Williams in the 1991 film The Fisher King. In that version, the reference to Andrew Jackson is changed to Michael Jackson.

In the 1995 Disney comic "The Treasury of Croesus"[3] by Don Rosa, Donald Duck sings the song throughout the comic. This is a pun on the ancient kingdom of Lydia — as Donald asks whether King Croesus really existed, his uncle Scrooge asks him if he has never heard about Lydia, to which Donald replies that he learned all about Lydia on last night's late movie. When asked to share his newfound knowledge, he starts singing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady".

In the situation comedy It's a Living, pianist Sonny Mann (Paul Kreppel), meeting a woman whose body is covered with tattoos, plays the song until one of the waitresses flips the keyboard cover onto his fingers (a running gag in the series).
In season 4 of the Canadian sketch comedy series The Kids in the Hall, a sketch is featured in which an escape artist successful in the '30s, played by Dave Foley, performs the song at Carnegie Hall whilst being hung from the ceiling and bound in a straitjacket as part of his final public performance.

In the series finale of Breaking Bad, "Felina," part of this song is featured as a ringtone on Todd Alquist's cellphone when he receives a phone call from his boss and love interest, methamphetamine distributor Lydia Rodarte-Quayle, after Todd was strangled to death by Jesse Pinkman. Ironically, it was Walter White who retrieved the cell phone from Todd's body and took the call.