that Russell Crowe and his 30 odd foot of Grunts aren't that bad at all with the volatile Crowe occasionally sounding a bit like Elvis Costello.

That is all.

Ian Hislop does a passable Elvis Costello impersonation.

I'm intrigued that Hislop even knows who Costello is :-).

I seem to recall it having something to do with a documentary about Cromwell that Hislop did -- he did the impersonation on HIGNFY a few years back when Paul Merton accused him of not knowing who Elvis Costello was, and he shocked everyone by breaking in to a quick chorus of Oliver's Army.

<goggle-eyed confusion>
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuuuck?
</goggle-eyed confusion>

Elvis Costello: bespectacled musician.
HIGNFY: Have I Got News For You, a popular and long-running TV comedy news quiz panel game thing.
Ian Hislop: One of the team captains on HIGNFY, and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye.
Paul Merton: Opposing team captain, surreal comedian, and proud owner of a CSE in metalwork.
Oliver Cromwell: Leading figure in the English civil war, and instrumental in the execution of Charles I.
Oliver's Army: A song about Oliver Cromwell by Elvis Costello.

And just in case:

Russell Crowe: Actor, Australian, has a sort of grizzled lived-in look that women seem to go for.

Thanks, Mat!

A pleasure...

?off is a veritable smorgasbord of information, a slightly befouled well of knowledge.

>>?off is a veritable smorgasbord of information, a slightly befouled well of knowledge.

Why the hell is that not on the side bar? Truer words have seldom been spoken.

I think Mark probably has a daily limit for even my utterances appearing on the sidebar.

More to the point Oliver's Army is about a Northern Irish Catholic's experience of the British Army during the Troubles, comparing it to Cromwell's occupation.

At University, I shared a flat with a guy from the Falls who was quite vocal on the subject...

And while we are pedants, RC is a Kiwi arrivingin Oz at the age of 4.

So there.