Queen music fans will be intrigued to hear that late front-man Freddie Mercury “appeared” on stage as part of a special West End production of the musical ‘We Will Rock You’.

As part of the 10th anniversary of the show Mercury appeared on stage using a technical stage effect, according to Queen guitarist, Brian May.

The technique is not said to be a hologram, with May describing it as an “optical illusion of sorts”. A similar technique was employed last month at the Coachella music festival where Tupac Shakur ‘performed’ on stage to fans (see video below).

May added: "It is a little unfortunate they did that thing with Tupac as we’ve been trying to make Freddie appear on the stage for quite a while.

"[That technique] is something we’ve looked at ourselves but I think probably for a show that runs eight shows a week it’s not really quite practical."

The anniversary performance on 14th May was held at London’s Dominion Theatre, with almost the entire original London cast in attendance, including Hollywood ace Robert De Niro.

The greatest front man of all-time?

Labelled as Britain’s first Asian rock star, Freddie Mercury is regarded in some quarters as the greatest front man of all-time, with his flamboyant stage persona and stunning vocals capturing the imagination of Queen fans across the world.

The Tanzanian-born star was not just a successful performer; he was also an incredible songwriter and musician in his own right. Mercury penned a host of Queen’s biggest hits, including Bohemian Rhapsody, Somebody to Love and Don’t Stop Me Now.

Mercury also influenced 80s pop star looks with a stunning array of bright and bold outfits that not only got Wembley Stadium rocking, but gave many other party-goers the confidence to be loud and proud on the dance floor!

Freddie tragically passed away in November 1991 after contracting bronchopneumonia, brought on by AIDS, just one day after publicly announcing he had the disease. The world lost a music icon far too early, but this musical production is a great way of paying tribute to his lasting legacy.

We’ve covered some pretty obscure record breaking attempts in this blog in the past few years but this one takes the (dog) biscuit- last week in Kansas City, USA, an attempt to break the world record for the biggest costumed Chihuahua ‘parade’ sadly failed! It appears that not enough of the invited pooches turned up, leaving the event organiser, Mark Valentine, disappointed but undeterred. According to Mark, ‘We were 200 dogs short of breaking the record. However, we are going to keep doing this until we run out of dogs in Kansas City and have to start shipping them in!’

This surreal record attempt culminated in an organised ‘dog raise’ where all the owners literally raised their Chihuahuas in the air, to reveal a vast array of doggy costumes and accessories, including sombreros, Stetsons and even an American football helmet. Some over enthusiastic dog owners had even gone to the trouble of making doggy sized army tanks complete with stars and stripe flags! We’re a little surprised that some of the pooches didn’t start singing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’!

On a more serious note the event did help to raise more than £1,500 for a local charity. It seems that every dog really does have his day! You can check out the full article from the Metro newspaper here.

 

 

Britain’s best-loved British-Asian family are all set to make a return to our nation’s television screens this autumn with The Kumars at No. 42 bagging their very own Sky One series.

The previous winners of two International Emmys and a British Comedy Award will have their own chat show, with Sanjeev Bhaskar interviewing the hottest celebs straight from his family home.

The new show is expected to be called The Kumars at No. 42B – with Sanjeev and his clan forced to downsize to a flat in Hounslow, West London due to the economic climate.

“It is incredibly exciting to revisit these warm, oddball characters and bring them up to date,” said Bhaskar.

“We’ve tried to retain what viewers loved about the original show and to inject new characters and elements in a slightly new format that we hope will appeal to an even broader audience.”

Its initial success on BBC2 saw the show last for 53 episodes, spanning seven series. The satirical premise of the show was that Sanjeev’s parents supported his dream of becoming a television presenter by having a TV studio built onto the back of their garden to host the biggest celebs for the best gossip!

The success of the show and the reason it appealed to viewers most was its improvisational feel, with Sanjeev’s family often cutting in on the action and interrogating the guests themselves!

Did you know?

In conversation with interviewer Mark Lawson back in August 2007, Sanjeev Bhaskar revealed the inspiration behind the cult show was an embarrassing evening spent taking his girlfriend to meet his parents for the first time. After an awkward spate of questions, Bhaskar began wondering how they would act if he ever brought a celebrity back to his home – cue the birth of Ashwin and Madhuri!

Here is a hilarious clip of Absolutely Fabulous star, Jennifer Saunders being quizzed by Sanjeev and co. back in 2004:



The Kumars are just one band of people that we, the British public, have taken to our hearts from our TV screens. There are so many television personalities that we look forward to seeing after a hard day’s work or at the weekend to brighten up our day.

For those celebrity fancy dress moments we can provide you with instantly recognisable television themed outfits allowing you to step into the shoes of your best-loved TV stars. You never know, you might just get on the Kumar’s sofa!

The UK’s comic book fans have been converging on the nation’s cinemas this week following the release of the new Marvel Avengers Assemble film that has stormed to the top of the UK and Ireland box office.

The film sees Marvel superheroes from bygone comic books, including iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America team up to save the world.

Its weekend takings exceeded those of Spiderman 3 and The Dark Knight. At the end of the opening week The Avengers had taken £15.78 million across the UK and Ireland as thousands flocked to catch a glimpse of the ambitious uniting of Marvel’s biggest characters on screen.

The success of the film is almost certain to enchant a new generation of Marvel comic fans, with youngsters likely to be in awe of the power, strength and authority of Captain America and his pals. Initial reviews have been largely positive, indicating that the Avengers franchise could stick around for a few more films yet!

The film was released to the general public in the United States on 4th May and is expected to far exceed the $281.1 million already grossed since its release worldwide.

The Plot

The film centres on Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D, an international peace-keeping agency – a veritable who’s who of Marvel characters including The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America. When the world’s security is endangered by Loki and his cronies it is down to Nick Fury and his team to use all their special powers to keep their enemies at bay and save the world from cataclysmic disaster.

If you haven’t yet been to the pictures to see The Avengers in action here is a little taster of what you are missing out on:



Did you know?

• Maverick actor, Ed Norton was originally set to reprise his role from The Incredible Hulk but discussions between he and Marvel Studios broke down, with Mark Ruffalo replacing him for shooting.

• Lou Ferrigno provides the voice for the Hulk in this film, playing the Hulk in almost every live-action since 1978, including three television specials, one feature-length movie and various animated productions.

The Queen’s impending Diamond Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace attracted over 1.2 million ticket applications, despite there being just 10,000 tickets up for grabs.

Although the cherished tickets were allocated to lucky winners last month, the application figures were only announced by the Palace this week.

The concert promises to be a blockbuster with Take That singer-songwriter Gary Barlow engineering a stunning line-up of artists including Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey and Stevie Wonder that will “transcend multiple decades of music” according to Barlow.

The gig is due to take place on 4th June in close proximity to the Queen Victoria Memorial near Buckingham Palace on a spectacular stage overlooking the masses.

For any of our customers fortunate enough to have secured a ticket for this unforgettable event we have some fantastic outfits available to showcase the Best of British at the Palace. Street parties are also likely to rumble on into the early hours across the country, so in the spirit of celebrating our Queen’s 60-year reign why not get involved!

There is no better year to celebrate being British, what with the London 2012 Olympic Games also on the horizon with less than 100 days now until the opening ceremony of the Games. Now is the time to prepare your wardrobe and support your country in bright and colourful union jack outfits and accessories.

At All Fancy Dress we have a great selection of patriotic designs including a wearable union jack flag that can simply slide over any outfit, allowing you to transform your usual attire into a symbol of great national pride!

The British Film Institute (BFI) is to pay homage to British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock this summer as part of their involvement in the London 2012 Festival celebrations – a three month programme of arts events designed to run parallel to the Olympic Games.

Hitchcock, who pioneered camera techniques that are still practised in today’s scary movies, was the master of suspense with such classics as Psycho, Vertigo and The Birds revolutionising popular cinema as we know it.

All 58 of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies are set for screening as part of the London 2012 Festival, including restorations of his most successful silent movies.

Heather Stewart, creative director at the BFI, said the BFI was keen to showcase the “big guns” of British arts and entertainment throughout the Olympic year.

“The idea of popular cinema somehow being capable of being great art at the same time as being entertaining is still a problem for some people,” she added.

“Shakespeare is on the national curriculum, Hitchock is not. After Psycho, in particular, film-making could never be the same again.”

Many of Hitchcock’s unforgettable characters have left a lasting impression on film lovers around the world. The likes of Norman Bates and Mrs Danvers are still extremely popular choices for fancy dress outfits at film or horror-themed parties. If you are planning on going to see any of the open-air screenings of Hitchcock’s films you could always make things more entertaining by turning up in a scary outfit to terrify your friends!

Film fancy dress has always been a successful party theme, with so many costumes available to create that true film star look. If you are feeling extra creative then you may also add an extra dimension to your outfit with fancy dress accessories, enabling you to make the ultimate party entrance!

 

Lake District based festival Kendal Calling have announced a “Fairy Tales and Comic Books” theme for this year’s event. The festival will run through the weekend beginning 27th of July to the 29th (Friday – Sunday) and will be held at the Lowther Deer Park in East Cumbria.

Entertainment will be provided by Happy Slap Boutique and we can also expect to see a circus, fire and glow performers and rave aerobics. The festival is also set to feature a resting sleeping beauty, Rapunzel, letting down her long hair!

The top acts headlining the festival are Dizzee Rascal, Benga, Andy C and Shy FX; most appearing for the first time at Kendal Calling. 

If this sounds appealing to you then see below for a quick guide to the main transportation routes:

• By car (Applies to all ticket holders) – 

o From the South - Drive along the M6 and take the exit at junction 39, turn left onto the A6 at the end of the slip road, turn right at the T Junction and follow the A6 North, keep on the A6 through the Village of Shap, 1 mile after the underneath passing of a motorway turn left into Lowther Estate and follow the driveway to the main car park.

o From the North – Continue onto the M6 to junction 39 and follow the directions above

• By Coach – There is currently a coach service that arrives on Friday the 27th of July and departs the festival on the 30th. The “Big Green Coach” company will be picking up from the following locations:  Barrow, Blackburn, Bradford, Carlisle, Dalton, Durham, Kendal, Lancaster, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Preston, Sheffield, Stockport, Sunderland and Ulverston.

• Train/Shuttle Bus – The closest station is Penrith and you can get to it from one of the following train stations: London Euston, Birmingham New Street, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester. Shuttle Busses are operational from outside Penrith Train Station at 10:00 – 19:00 Friday 27th July and 07:00 – 12:00 Monday 30th July.

Alternatively, click here for an exact pinpoint on Google Maps. For more information on the Coach and Shuttle Busses please click here.

Stuck on ideas for costumes for this magical event? Here are a couple of fairy tale suggestions:

The Sexy Red Riding Hood Costume – fun, vibrant and most importantly of all, sexy!

Fever Fairy Tale Costume- this Snow White style outfit is sexy and innocent in equal measure!

 

With the London Marathon over, we at All Fancy Dress thought we’d provide an update on our previous post. This year the runners added 29 new entries to the Guinness Book of Records ranging from the fastest Marathon “Hula Hooping” and the “Tallest Costume in a Marathon”. Here are some of the record breaking highlights

• Fastest marathon dressed as a Vegetable (Male – Carrot) – Edward Lumley – 2:59:33
• Fastest marathon dressed as a Baby - Michael Brigham – 3:11:53
• Fastest marathon in an animal costume (Female - Peacock ) - Susannah Gill – 3:18:09
• Fastest marathon wearing a Gas Mask - Andy McMahon - 3:28:38
• Fastest marathon dressed as a video games character (Mario and Luigi) – Nash Pridhan and Dan McCormack – 3:29:41
• Fastest marathon hula hooping - Sasha Kenney – 5:05:57
• Tallest costume, Blackpool Tower - David Lawrenson – 26 foot 2 Inches/7:0:19

We’re really pleased to see so many people using fancy dress as a fun way to raise money. The idea of running in a costume was supposedly started in 1981 by 2 Olympic champions- Chris Brasher and John Disley.

As is often the case sad news can often creep unexpectedly into life and unfortunately a 30 year old woman, Claire Squires, collapsed while running along Birdcage Walk. There was at least some good news to help balance such a tragic event, in that as the news circulated more and more people donated to her cause. Claire had thankfully opened a Just Giving page to raise money for the Samaritans and the sum of donations increased from £500 to over £1 million after the news of her death. It is reported that over 600 people went to her funeral.

Congratulations to all the new record breakers! And from All Fancy Dress and good luck to all future runners!

For those of us old enough to remember real crime shows like ‘Police 5’ with Shaw Taylor, you will have fond memories of those ‘old-school’ photo fits of wanted criminals. These photo fits were often hilarious looking montages of odd facial features literally ‘pasted’ together, that ended up forming some pretty scary looking mug shots!

It seems that modern technology hasn’t much helped on the photo fit front though, if these recent ‘E-Fits’ issued by Gloucestershire police are anything to go by! The pictures, which could quite easily have been created by a 7 year old playing around with Photoshop, show two criminals dressed up in what appears to be some kind of period costumes and a third who is in dire need of a new hair stylist! It really does look as if these shady characters just walked off the set of Downton Abbey!

The three suspects are wanted by Gloucestershire Police for their suspected involvement in what they refer to as ‘distraction thefts’. The press release publicising the e-fits has become an internet sensation due to the comical and somewhat amateurish appearance of the images.

Sadly, it seems that more and more criminals are using fancy dress costumes to hide their identity. Fortunately it hasn’t put people off from dressing up in cops and robbers outfits for parties and get-togethers. It seems that this classic party theme is one that will stay popular for generations to come. Let’s just hope that the police finally catch up with these suspected criminals before they can carry out more crimes against the public (and fashion!)

You can read the full article here in the Daily Mail.