Maybe you’re always winning your local pub quiz, or you just like to test yourself for a bit of fun. The 2023 end of year quiz will show you how much you’ve been paying attention to national and global events in the past 12 months.

We’ll admit, this one isn’t easy…

Big end of year quiz

Celebrate the end of the year with our big end of year quiz. Sport, culture, news, and everything in between... How much have you been paying attention in 2023?

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Fancy another quiz? A British icon – Sunday roast dinner quiz

Adam Jacot de Boinod

Adam Jacot de Boinod was a researcher for the first BBC series QI, compered by Stephen Fry, and is an author of three books including ‘The Meaning of Tingo.’

The post The Silver 2023 big End of Year quiz! appeared first on Silver Magazine.

The latest West End incarnation of Sunset Boulevard is bold and compelling. It is a radical departure from elaborate stage productions or the lavish sets of the 1950 film starring Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, the faded Hollywood star desperate to make a comeback (or “return”, as she prefers to call it…) with a script that we’re led to believe is appalling and inappropriate for a woman of her years.

Instead of complicated set changes, the staging is sparse. Instead of sumptuous old Hollywood costumes, the cast wear simple black and white, including Nicole Scherzinger and Rachel Tucker in their interpretations of Norma. They spend their time on stage in a black, silky slip that works as a nightgown, a day dress with sunglasses and a cocktail frock with a party hat.

Rachel Tucker, starring as Norma Desmond

And it is because of the production’s raw minimalism that there is nowhere for anyone to hide. Their collective talent is crucial to this Sunset’s success. For Scherzinger and Tucker, this means their faces are projected on enormous screens during the show. Extreme close-ups.

Even in black and white, which tends to be kinder to lines, lumps, bumps and spots, it is too easy to call these two women “brave” for allowing their visages to be scrutinised by the audience. Equally, I would be lying if I said I didn’t gasp at the thought of my 47-year-old face projected 30 feet high in the Savoy, with the crows’ feet I resolutely refuse to Botox and textured remnants of teenage acne out there for everyone to see.

…we are still plagued by the pitiful notion that older famous women should look good for their age in a way that is not expected of men

But this is where we are. Sunset Boulevard is just as relevant in 2023 as it was in 1950 when it comes to how we view women who have the temerity to show their faces after 40.

Sure, things have improved for women over 40 in Hollywood, but we are still plagued by the pitiful notion that older famous women should look good for their age in a way that is not expected of men. They are free to become silver foxes, with cragginess seen as sexy in a way that is never allowed for women. While there is nothing wrong with age-gap relationships in the real world, Hollywood scripts still allow much older actors to hook up with much younger actresses in a way that seldom happens the other way around, unless the whole point of the story is that the woman is a cougar.

Norma’s desperation to still be seen as young and vital is integral to the Sunset Boulevard story, highlighted by the appearances of Hannah Yun Chamberlain as Young Norma, who is flexible and smooth-skinned. She hires Joe Gillis, a sexy-but-struggling young writer played by Tom Francis, to administer first-aid on her Salome script in the vain hope that Cecil B. De Mille will direct her in the title role. How we all laugh when she is adamant that she can play a teenaged Biblical character.

Nicole Sherzinger and Tom Francis as Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis

There are a couple of very telling lines that reflect what everyone is thinking about Norma Desmond’s comeback.

“Norma Desmond? She must be a million years old.”

“Nothing wrong with being 40, unless you’re acting 20.”

Yep, 40 is the new 1,000,000. Laughter rippled softly around the theatre both times I saw this incarnation of Sunset Boulevard when Norma was criticised for “acting 20”, which is code for trying to conform to ridiculous standards of physical beauty, while refusing to fade away or, at the very least, having the decency to grow old gracefully. How dare Norma try to relive past glories, as if she is Mae West, stubbornly playing blonde saucepot roles into her 80s.

It is in these moments, which are genuinely more heartbreaking and depressing than comic, that we see the main differences between Scherzinger’s and Tucker’s interpretations of Norma Desmond’s desperation and descent…

As Scherzinger’s face is projected onto the big screen, her eyes become big and wild and there is a hint of Joan Collins-style campiness to her expressions. It sounds ludicrous, but it works. As she loses her grip on the grim realities of Hollywood for women, she becomes a sad, cartoonish figure, genuinely horrified that her star is fizzling out.

Tucker’s facial expressions are more measured, but equally compelling. Where Scherzinger is wild-eyed and angrily resentful, Tucker’s Norma comes across as a sad woman on the brink, knowing that the curtain is coming down on her career. She is more than a little scared about her fate, while still trying to fight cruel inevitability.

Between the two female leads, they capture the gamut of women’s experiences of ageing in the spotlight – denial that they’re considered too old, fear of irrelevance, sheer horror at being told to act their age, grim determination to fight, validation through sex and admiration, and heartbreaking resignation – which is why I strongly recommend seeing both Scherzinger and Tucker’s interpretations, if time and budget allow.

In contrast, Cecil B. De Mille’s age is never an issue. He is a Tinseltown elder statesman, a man respected for his years of experience. Nobody ever suggests he is past it. The audience only ever sees the back of his head. His appearance is not an issue. Meanwhile, Betty Schaeffer, the ambitious young studio exec, played by star-in-the-making Grace Hodgett Young, is torn between career and personal life and you leave the theatre with the feeling that she will never quite have it all.

On one level, it is depressing that a 73-year-old story about an ageing woman is still relevant. At the same time, this stark, confronting new production, regardless of who is playing the lead, shines a harsh, unforgiving light on our own prejudices about women, whether we’re famous or not. And it’s a light that still needs to burn.

Midlife is a time for change, not the mythical “midlife crisis” – Read more

Georgia Lewis

In a career that has spanned Australia, the Middle East and the UK, Georgia has written about all sorts of things, including sex, cars, food, oil and gas, insurance, fashion, travel, workplace safety, health, religious affairs, glass and glazing… When she’s not writing words for fun and profit, she can usually be found with a glass of something French and red in her hand.

The post What the latest Sunset Boulevard production tells us about older women appeared first on Silver Magazine.

When did you first know it was a big deal?

Liverpool v Atletico Madrid on 11th March. I had tickets to attend with two of my brothers and my nephew. I’d been following the news from Spain, which was on lockdown already, and it seemed odd that 4,000 potentially infected supporters from Madrid were allowed to travel. We discussed it between ourselves, and two of us decided that it would be dangerous to attend. Particularly given that we were to come home to my 85 year-old mother, and my brother had to return to his wife, who has a severely compromised immune system. To be in Liverpool, with a ticket in the hand and watching on the TV instead of being there. That was the moment it all hit home.

What was the first concession you made to the pandemic?

I suppose it was going into voluntary isolation with Mum just after the Madrid game. Mum has a couple of underlying health problems that have left her weakened, which is why she’d come to live with me since January. We didn’t want to take any risks with her health, and my employers were very understanding (Joe’s working on Hollyoaks). They closed down the studios a week later anyway.

Did you panic shop?

I think we were actually quite good… I’d not long done a Costco run, so we had plenty of loo roll, kitchen roll and coffee. The essentials! It was amazing how quickly little networks of friends formed around baking ingredients; we’re no more a nation of shopkeepers but of bakers, it seems. In making sure that Mum had a ready supply of her favourite treat, we do seem to have great many Mini Magnums though.

Who’s in the house?

Well there’s Mum and me, and Minnie the dachshund, and there’s also the amazing Frances…

You see, before the plague descended, I had met and fallen for Frances, and we were in the very early days of a new – and in both our cases – entirely unexpected love affair.

Frances has one of her sons living at her house, and after discussion we decided that, if we were to see each other at all, and with other considerations, it would be best if she – and her son – isolated with me. What could possibly go wrong?

In truth, what some friends were calling a baptism of fire has been – pretty much – one long and enjoyable episode of Bake Off/Masterchef, with honours going mostly to Frances. Mum’s delighted, as she still has a great appetite. It’s all a happy symbiosis, and we’re safe and grateful. Even if Mum now likes Frances more than me.

Do you even bother to get dressed any more?

It’s killing me that I’d got a really sharp look together only to be socially distanced into flour-stained loungewear with hair like a burst couch.

But of course. Spring and autumn are the strongest seasons for menswear. It’s killing me that I’d got a really sharp look together for the season only to be socially distanced into flour-stained loungewear with hair like a burst couch.

I’m trying to keep some stuff box fresh, so I’m down to three costume changes a day. I think the delivery guys know a sharp dresser when they see one. And I’m breaking in some heavy selvedge and Heritage Red Wings at the same time. Workwear win.

How are you stopping yourself going mad?

Cooking, eating well, loving, reading, steering clear of television news and social media as much as possible, shopping online and family quizzes. Little weed in the evening. Mellow.

I’m a pretty good loafer, practiced even, if you consider an actor’s life, and I reckon I’d be good for at least six months before I became unbearable to myself. It’s you lot that are all mad anyway.

What’s the naughtiest thing you’ve done in lockdown?

Halved the sweeteners in my Mum’s tea without telling her. True story. It’s been interesting living with Mum again after 40 odd years, but it will be even more interesting when we don’t have to be in each other’s company all day every day. I’d take a picture of my beautiful Mum right now, but I’d be dicing with death. She hasn’t seen a hairdresser for more than two months. Unprecedented times indeed.

If you could be locked down with three people, who would they be?

If not the three I’m here with, then Harpo, Chico and Groucho Marx, obviously. Or the I-Threes. Or Kraftwerk.

What normal thing do you miss the most?

Sitting at a pavement café with Frances and good friends. But I’m really missing watching the best Liverpool team in years, among the greatest supporters in the world and it feels cruel, some days. I miss the family coming to the house here before we go to the game, I miss the crowd.

What new habits have you picked up that you’ll carry on from lockdown?

I’m in the groove of baking daily bread. I’ll not let it slide again. Who’d have thought that it would be so difficult to get hold of strong flour and yeast? I’m currently eating bread made with flour from Canada and Italy, via the internet.

What’s the first silly thing I’ll do after the lockdown?

It’ll be something at work. I’m itching to get back onto set, back down the soap mines. I miss the folk.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post My Corona – Joe McGann appeared first on Silver Magazine.