the title of this one, look you see, probably says it all. there will be a bit of waffle and words from me here, but more or less put them aside (if you don't usually anyway) and just admire the pictures. well, not admire the poor quality that my blueberry phone does, but admire the content of them.
behold, ladies and gentlemen, the plaque on the recreated bench from the opening credits of Bottom that was commissioned and placed by whoever is in charge of Hammersmith. Hammersmith Borough Council, i suppose.
apologies for the reflections and things on, it being all shiny and gold - as befits Rik - made it difficult to get a good picture.
now on to a bit of story, then, which you can scroll down past with pleasure and simply look at all the pictures if you so wish. if i were a Rik fan who had stumbled upon this, i probably would.
my travels around london took me, with perhaps alarming frequency, to Hammersmith. for the most part, i must confess, i merely used the place as a convenient spot to change lines on the tube, or if you like underground system that london has. i could not, however, resist having a walk around.
my wish to walk around Hammersmith was partially because of the Motorhead album, No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, but mostly to see the tribute to the Rik Mayall.
Spiros, who was with me but does not feature in any of these images, kindly agreed to take a picture of me sat on the bench placed in tribute. i did not, of course, dare sit on the Rik side of the bench.
you will note that i mentioned this, alas, isn't the original bench from the opening credits for Bottom. that was taken away a while ago due to some redesign or redevelopment. on the one side you could call Hammersmith council, or whoever, twats for doing that. however, i would encourage you not to - in fairness, when they were made aware of their folly, after Rik's sad passing last year they agreed to commission an as near as possible replica of it, and placed it as close as they possibly could to the original site. so well done to them and, indeed, thank you.
here's another effort of me taking a picture of the plaque on the bench.
and coming up are pictures of all the fantastic tributes presently in place around the tribute or memorial bench. i shall limit the words a bit, i think, all you need are the images.
this one i was particularly happy to see as it pays tribute to my favourite Rik incarnation, Colin Grigson, aka Mr Bass Man.....
i did, standing there looking at these, get a massive pull on the heartstrings, you know. i am aware that it's terribly trendy for people to take to social media and announce that whoever has died the most recently was "the greatest and best ever". it wasn't that, though. it was a tugging at the heart and a smile on my face as i became all too aware of just how many people he made laugh themselves silly.
was he for me the "funniest ever"? tough call. he's up there with people that never ceased to make me laugh, which means in the same bracket as Peter Cook, Monty Python, The 12th Man and Denis Leary. and George Carlin, of course.
yeah, the y-fronts are probably the highlight of the tributes. a big thank you indeed to whoever was kind enough to donate them!
and finally...............
well, not all that much i can add here. i know many of my friends love what Rik did as much as i, whether they grew up at the same time as me watching The Young Ones or had me thrust the magic of Rik at them over the years.
however you came to stumble upon these images, i trust they've not made you sad, but rather remembered what a damned, damned funny man Rik Mayall was.
Update - many thanks indeed to my mate Mark for the much clearer image of the plaque in place on the bench. he has a far smarter phone than me!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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