{"id":341487,"date":"2011-03-27T01:28:17","date_gmt":"2011-03-27T01:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/27\/barry-manilow-surprisingly-assertive-you-dont-get-out-of-brooklyn-by-being-a-pushover\/"},"modified":"2011-03-27T01:28:17","modified_gmt":"2011-03-27T01:28:17","slug":"barry-manilow-surprisingly-assertive-you-dont-get-out-of-brooklyn-by-being-a-pushover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/27\/barry-manilow-surprisingly-assertive-you-dont-get-out-of-brooklyn-by-being-a-pushover\/","title":{"rendered":"Barry Manilow ‘surprisingly assertive’: You don’t get out of Brooklyn by being a pushover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

Last updated at 2:28 AM on 27th March 2011\n<\/p>\n

I was extremely fortunate to be given a test drive in the new McLaren
\nMP4-12C sports car this week. <\/p>\n

I suspected Ron Dennis’s company had
\ntargeted me as I’m known to be a vocal devotee of their primary
\ncompetitor, the giant that is Ferrari. I knew their plan. Surely if
\nthey could lure me away from my chosen carbon-fibre idol of many years,
\nthey could seduce anyone\u00a0 –\u00a0 and thus ensure the future success of
\ntheir first mass-production luxury sports model…\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\"Want<\/p>\n

Want to own the the new McLaren MP4-12C sports car? You’ll have to wait a while…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

After a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, including a tour of
\nthe space-age McLaren HQ and a one-on-one with Chris, one of the chaps
\nwho’s been developing the car for the past five years, it came to the
\ncrunch. Given the hospitality, it would have been rude of me not to
\nhave raised some hope among my hosts.<\/p>\n

‘So,’ I enquired, naughtily
\nteasing the sales executive with an air of vague interest, ‘what if I
\nDID want to purchase a vehicle?’ <\/p>\n

He replied in a flash. ‘Oh no, there’s no chance of that, sir. Not for at least a year. We’ve completely sold out.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taxi for Evans! <\/p>\n

****************************<\/span> <\/p>\n

‘So tell us, Chris,’ I’m asked on an almost daily basis, ‘what
\ndo you actually do when you’re between radio and TV studios and Ferrari
\nshowrooms and the McLaren HQ?’ <\/p>\n

The answer is, enough to make my head
\nspin, and make the promise of my Friday-night ritual escape to the New
\nForest with wife and small son all the more critical\u00a0 –\u00a0 although even
\nthat isn’t guaranteed to make me unwind as much as required. Take a
\nrecent Friday. <\/p>\n

It began with breakfast with Barry Manilow. My first
\nimpression was how surprisingly assertive he is in real life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\"On<\/p>\n

On Barry Manilow: You don’t bat your way out of Brooklyn as a poor skinny Jewish kid and end up owning a palace in Palm Springs by being a pushover<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thinking
\nabout it, I don’t actually know why I was surprised. You don’t bat your
\nway out of Brooklyn as a poor skinny Jewish kid and end up owning a
\npalace in Palm Springs by being a pushover. <\/p>\n

What a schmuck I can be
\nsometimes. At the end we hugged\u00a0 –\u00a0 or rather, I was hugged by Bazza.
\n(I’m never sure about this with people I don’t know, especially when
\nthey’re famous and they go in first. I always start too weakly and then
\novercompensate by going too tight and holding on for too long.)<\/p>\n

When I at last managed to disengage, I skipped down to the
\nthird floor of BBC HQ to have a meeting with my agent of the past 20
\nyears, Michael. <\/p>\n

A TV show was being offered. There often is. They are
\nusually terrible. This most recent proposition did not disappoint in
\nits disappointment. It was a revamp (beware). <\/p>\n

‘Bring back WHAT?’ I
\nscreeched, like John Galliano on his 14th absinthe and Slimline. <\/p>\n

To put
\nit politely, it was a no from both of us, which left Michael with
\nanother ten per cent of nothing and, more importantly, me with half an
\nhour to spare before I had to be at The One Show<\/i>. Thus I trotted off to Mario, my magician with the
\nscissors. <\/p>\n

Mario looks Scandinavian, but is in fact Belgian\u00a0 –\u00a0 and very Belgian when you get to know him, in that he is utterly pragmatic and so honest sometimes
\nit hurts.<\/p>\n

I refer to him as a magician, because that’s what he has to
\nbe where I’m concerned. There are so few strands to currently work with
\n(my little blue hair pills have still to kick in properly) that he
\nactually has to flesh out my visits with other things to fill the time.
\nThere are at least two frothy coffees, a scalp rub, a shoulder massage
\nand what has become a shared reading-and-movie list for us to discuss.
\nMost of the films Mario nominates star beautiful young men. <\/p>\n

I don’t
\nbelieve there will ever be a Mrs Mario. The brief for the hair? It’s a
\nquick wash and trim plus a peppering of colour. But shhh! Mario said if
\nwe applied this gradually no one would notice\u00a0 –\u00a0 unless I told them. <\/p>\n

After the hugely enjoyable but gruelling experience that is The One Show<\/i>, it was on at last to one of
\nthose country house hotels that are so gratifyingly posh that there’s
\nsomeone waiting on the gravel drive to greet you personally and park
\nthe motor. We go there to do as little as possible and have been
\ngetting pretty good at it. Venturing out of our regular lodging is an
\nalmost unheard-of occurrence.<\/p>\n

Yet by the following lunchtime, the sniff
\nof spring in the air and the golden glow of low, warm sun lured us out
\nof the big iron gates back into the real world. Big mistake.<\/p>\n

We went for a steak at a nearby pub. I was starving by the
\ntime the meal arrived\u00a0 –\u00a0 we had bravely decided to earn our pub grub
\nvia a hearty walk on the beach beforehand. When whatever it was that
\nwas sitting on my plate next to some worryingly over-bright yellow
\nchips finally arrived, I had to admonish the young lad who delivered
\nit. <\/p>\n

‘Excuse me,’ I said firmly, but fairly. ‘I ordered steak and chips, not teak and chips.’ <\/p>\n

The kid of course looked lost and forlorn, while the steak
\njust looked lost and like it had never been part of anything that was
\nactually alive. <\/p>\n

I own a pub. In fact, I own two. I used to own three. If you
\nhave one, never, ever do this to your steaks. Otherwise you too will
\nhave to put up with blokes like me, entering their early grumpies,
\ncomplaining to kids about red meat they shouldn’t be eating anyway. And
\nwhose wind-down ritual clearly needs winding up. <\/p>\n

****************************<\/span><\/p>\n

Three jollier horsemen of spring: daffodils, on their latest
\nstoic tour of duty. Lambs, blissfully unaware that this is it for them\u00a0
\n–\u00a0 enjoy 2011 while you can, my little ones; no London 2012 for you. <\/p>\n

And with an often brilliant sun at both ends of the day, the first
\nexcuse to dust down last year’s shades and pop them on your head in
\nreadiness for the glare. Which is all fair and good\u00a0 –\u00a0 as long as
\ntheir mobilisation is not then abused. <\/p>\n

Whether your aegis is the breastplate of experience or the
\nscabbard of steely determination, each of us must have something with
\nwhich to protect ourselves. Such weapons of self-defence cannot be
\nbought; they go by the names of truth, passion and sincerity, and the mark of their presence is the look in the eye of the holder. <\/p>\n

What am I on about? Beware anyone who wears sunglasses when
\nit’s not actually sunny. And even when it is, hold on to a healthy dose
\nof suspicion.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\u00a0<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

More from Chris Evans…<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\n<\/p><\/div>\n

I drove some injured soldiers around a private track in one of my stupidly quick cars the other day while trying to remember not to be stupid.<\/p>\n

I went as fast as I could, but have to confess I was, at all times, far more nervous than any of my passengers. <\/p>\n

Hardly surprising really, when you consider what the guys sitting in the passenger seat next to me must have been through. I thank them sincerely for at least attempting to appear a little unruffled by my efforts. And I am happy to turn up every week until I die, if any of their other deserving pals want to be equally unimpressed. <\/p>\n

To gift Help for Heroes a day out\u00a0 –\u00a0 of any sort\u00a0 –\u00a0 email gina.jones@helpforheroes.org.uk. <\/p>\n

It’s a win-win situation. They escape for a few hours. You are reminded how bloody lucky you are for a few hours. <\/p>\n

It’s the last episode of Wonders Of The Universe<\/span> tonight. I do hope it comes back soon. By which I mean our ‘soon’, not Professor Brian’s ‘soon’, as in ‘Betelgeuse could go supernova at any moment soon\u00a0 –\u00a0 that is, any time in the next million years’. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

View original post here:
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Last updated at 2:28 AM on 27th March 2011 I was extremely fortunate to be given a test drive in the new McLaren MP4-12C sports car this week. I suspected Ron Dennis’s company had targeted me as I’m known to be a vocal devotee of their primary competitor, the giant that is Ferrari. 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