samhexum

Ken Griffey Sr. & Jr., the first father and son to play in a major league game together (Tim Raines Sr. & Jr. later did it, tI), will attend the Lakers' opening opening night, when LeBron & Bronny James will become the NBA's first such duo if Bronny gets into the game. The first time this occurred was in hockey when the legendary Gordie Howe and sons Mark and Marty played for the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers.

A short story by Bram Stoker, the legendary author of "Dracula," has been unearthed by a lifelong enthusiast in Dublin who stumbled upon the work while browsing in a library archive. Titled "Gibbet Hill," the story was uncovered by Brian Cleary in a Christmas supplement of the Dublin edition of the Daily Mail newspaper from 1890 and had remained undocumented for more than 130 years. The rare find, which has never been referenced in any Stoker bibliography or biography, is now being brought to the public for the first time at an exhibition in the Irish capital. "Dracula," the Gothic, mysterious and supernatural vampire novel from 1897 may have been set in Transylvania and England but its author, Stoker, was a Dubliner. "I read 'Dracula' as a child and it stuck with me, I read everything from and about Stoker that I could get my hands on," said Cleary, 44, a writer and amateur historian who lives in the Marino neighborhood of Dublin where the author grew up. Thanks to "Dracula," Stoker "had a massive impact on popular culture, but is under-appreciated," Cleary told AFP in the Casino at Marino, an opulent 18th-century building near the writer's birthplace that is hosting the exhibition. Stoker never enjoyed much commercial success from his legendary book, but in 1931, "Dracula" made it big as a motion picture, with Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi in the title role. Shocking in its time, the movie made Dracula a fixture of popular culture, inspiring literally dozens of movie and TV vampire dramas over the years. Cleary's journey of discovery began in 2021 when a sudden onset of deafness changed his life. While on leave to retrain his hearing after having cochlear implant surgery, Cleary visited the National Library of Ireland to indulge his interest in historical literature and the works of Stoker. There, in October 2023, he chanced upon the hidden literary gem, the "Gibbet Hill" story which he had never heard of before. "I sat in the library flabbergasted, that I was looking at potentially a lost ghost story from Stoker, especially one from around the time he was writing 'Dracula,' with elements of 'Dracula' in it," said Cleary. "I sat looking at the screen wondering, am I the only living person who had read it? Followed by, what on earth do I do with it?" The library's director Audrey Whitty said Cleary called her and said: "I've found something extraordinary in your newspaper archives — you won't believe it." She added that his "astonishing amateur detective work" was a testament to the library's archives, the BBC reported. "There are truly world-important discoveries waiting to be found," Whitty said. Cleary did extensive literary searches to verify the find and consulted Stoker expert and biographer Paul Murray who confirmed the story was unknown, lost and buried in the archives for more than 130 years. "'Gibbet Hill' is very significant in terms of Stoker's development as a writer, 1890 was when he was a young writer and made his first notes for 'Dracula,'" Murray told AFP. "It's a classic Stoker story, the struggle between good and evil, evil which crops up in exotic and unexplained ways, and is a way station on his route to publishing 'Dracula.'" The macabre tale tells of a sailor murdered by three criminals whose bodies were strung up on a gibbet or hanging gallows on a hill as a ghostly warning to passing travelers. To celebrate the discovery, "Gibbet Hill" has been captured in a book that features cover art and illustrations inspired by the story by respected Irish artist Paul McKinley. "It's quite surreal now to be standing next to a picture inspired by three of the characters in the story," said Cleary. "When Brian sent me the 'Gibbet Hill' there was so much I could work with," said McKinley. His eerie, sometimes sinister illustrations include a "juicy, wet, oily painting" of worms inspired by a young character in the story who has a bunch of earthworms in his hands. "Making new images for an old story that has been buried for so long" was a "fascinating challenge" said the artist.

Hollywood loves nothing more than a true-crime story about a serial killer, but a new movie directed by Anna Kendrick does a number on that familiar genre. Rather than being about the monster himself, or even one of his victims, the film is centered around a person he did not murder — someone who got away. “Woman of the Hour,” which premiered Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, is based on the 1970s crimes of Rodney Alcala, better known as the Dating Game Killer. Over a decade, he took the lives of at least eight women, but investigators believe the number could be as high as 130. Alcala’s most surreal chapter, however, was when he appeared as a bachelor on a 1978 episode of “The Dating Game” smack dab in the middle of committing these atrocities. The question posed by Kendrick, making a strong directing debut, and writer Ian McDonald: Is the justice system so screwed up and society so unconcerned with women that a prolific murderer (who had already been arrested for assault) could easily wind up on a game show — and win? Kendrick does double duty, also playing “Dating Game” contestant Cheryl Bradshaw, who picked Alcala for a date at the end of the show. Little is known about the real Cheryl, the director has admitted, so she is a mostly fictionalized creation to further the film’s talking points. She’s envisioned as a struggling actress who’s just moved to LA and takes a job on “The Dating Game” out of desperation. Fed up with the show’s sexism, not to mention that of her own life, she turns the tables on the bachelors and begins asking them her own challenging questions such as “What are women for?”. That feminist query — like most of the game show scenes featuring Tony Hale as the host — never happened. Same goes for the story of Laura (Nicolette Robinson), a woman in the audience who is certain that Alcala killed her best friend and attempts to blow the whistle during the taping. Cheryl’s appearance is interspersed with flashbacks and flash-forwards to some of Alcala’s killings in New York, Wyoming and California, as he used his day job as a photographer to intrude into women’s lives. Daniel Zovatto plays him with the right mix of creepiness and incomprehensible allure, but shrewdly avoids the tics and overacting that such roles can inspire. In the director’s chair, Kendrick doesn’t shy away from violence, though it’s not excessive either. Still, the murder scenes are difficult to watch and are made all the more real by an authentic 1970s grime that pervades these perilous apartments, rest stops, bars and parking lots. The women are all committed, but best is Autumn Best as a young runaway who ends up driving with Alcala along a desert highway. The scene most alive with tension is another imagined one. We know that Cheryl interacted with Rodney after the episode and the conversation made her decide against going on a date with him. Kendrick and McDonald turn that tidbit into a paralyzing encounter at a bar that comes seconds away from being fatal.

Had the Mets pulled off the comeback I would have been afraid of them because it would have continued their string of miracle finishes and because they had a fairly well balanced team that had flaws but could beat you in different ways. That being said, I think the Dodgers will be a tougher opponent than the Mets would've been. Yet I am very happy with the outcome because I think that if it were Yankees-Mets, the winner would get Soto. The Mets have the richer, more aggressive owner, and a better farm system at this point and Judge is 32 and Cole is 34, so if the Mets won and appeared to have a brighter future, it would've been a much easier sale to make to him than it will be now, whether or not the Yankees beat the Dodgers. Of course, Steve Cohen will WAY outbid Hal Steinbrenner, but hopefully Soto will feel that he can scrape by on somewhere between $600 and $700 million as well as he can on $750 to $850 million and will want to stay where he already knows he is happy.

I enjoyed episode two. It's not the greatest series I've ever watched but it's got me interested enough.

Everyone born between 1900 & 1970.

Most of Cuba will be without power until tomorrow night and now they have been hit by a hurricane.

Michael Emerson will recur as a judge in a couple of episodes starting in December.

BASTARDS!

I called 2 pharmacies that verified that it's just a one-time shot, though one told me that the guidelines for that might eventually be changed (but said "for now, you're good").

Not overly impressed with the start of season 26 so far.

Solid first episode that even managed to have a Nathan Lane TV appearance that wasn't off putting.

very happy to be proven wrong, but I still didn't watch a single pitch.

Typing with long nails can be cumbersome and time-consuming, despite the satisfying sound of a click on the keys. It was a daily struggle faced by Sara Young Wang, whose manicure dilemma inspired her to create the Tippy Type, a $45 keyboard cover designed with long-nailed girlies in mind. “Honestly, I know it’s such a small thing and many might say to just cut them and move on, but my long nails bring me a lot of joy and to think about having to live without them just made me sad,” she told The Post. “It felt like I was losing a fun form of self-expression and play.” The Tippy Type — a silicone keyboard cover with raised keys to allow for easier typing — has become a viral sensation among clawed corporate employees who are refusing to trim their long nails for workplace efficiency. “This is such an amazing invention for people that like to have their long nails and they have an office job,” Meraki, a content creator, said in a recent video on TikTok. Another content creator named Karina told her audience that she spends her entire day typing meeting notes or sending emails. She also gushed over the product online after purchasing one earlier this month. “This is what happens when you let women invent things,” said another TikToker named Aleisa, who, in a recent online clip, demonstrated how to use the keyboard and rejoiced at the prospect of being able to type with nail extensions. Meanwhile, Wang says she’s seen the product described as a “game changer” and “life hack,” as satisfied customers vow they’re “never going back” to regular keyboards because they “can’t type without it now.” “Millions of eyes have now seen tippy type, which has helped us build our community of like-minded individuals practically overnight, all linked by a common goal: to be able to experience the joy of nails while working efficiently,” she told The Post. “We are so grateful for the interest in our products and feel good that we are actively solving a severely overlooked problem that so many are sharing and experiencing.” After launching earlier this spring, Tippy Type hit the jackpot with an Instagram Reel that went viral by chance, which opened the “floodgates” for sales, with more demand than supply. Now, the company can barely keep product in stock, regularly selling out whenever the item starts circulated on social media. The rampant success has bolstered the company’s ability to provide a wider range of products and they now offer a preorder option so that eager customers can “reserve their spot in line.” While the Tippy Type currently accommodates medium-long nails, Wang is looking to expand after receiving an onslaught of requests for new colors, international keyboards, covers made to fit an array of device models and even a version made specifically for gamers. “I want anyone who loves long nails to be able to have them and be able to type comfortably and well. The idea of sacrificing this joy and style for the utility of typing just didn’t sit well with me,” she said. “It makes me feel like we are on the right path in terms of enhancing the overall joy and quality of people’s lives.”

NJ man looking for a wife rents billboards from Times Square to Toronto: ‘I’m not a f–kboy’ The billboards point to a website, “findmohamedawife.com,” where hopeful women can apply for a chance to go out on a date with the 30-year-old suitor. maybe he should switch from fish to tubesteak. are you sure you wanna do that.wav hello again hello.wav Here Comes Trouble.wav parental discretion advised.wav Sorry...try something else.wav urgent messages.wav what a bad boy you are.wav Fat Bottom Girls.wav

After a brief period with power this morning, it happened again.

After a hiatus of several months, the avengers is available again on prime. The funny thing is, when it wasn't available I downloaded 22 episodes and watched them on my computer. 16 of them were from the first Diana Rigg season, which was in black-and-white. That season was absolutely fantastic and I love it even more because watching it in my dark bedroom or on the computer in the middle of the night with all the lights off in black and white is moody and atmospheric. However, I couldn't find all of those episodes in black-and-white and had to download colorized versions of a handful of them and when I watched them I noticed that they were the fully uncut versions because there were a few extra lines here and there that I immediately noticed from having watched those episodes so often on prime. So now that I'm watching them on prime again, it stands out that there have been these little cuts that I am now familiar with… Including a huge blooper that they cut out from one of my favorite episodes (which was played entirely for laughs). In the uncut version, Steed is talking to a woman who is preoccupied with her knitting and he asks her a question and while she is answering him, she looks down and continues speaking, but her lips aren't moving. In the prime version, Steed never asks the question.

The entire island of Cuba is without power as their aging electrical infrastructure failed today after a problem at a power plant.

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I used to play in a band together. He played guitar, and I sang. He now has another female singer in his band, and I can hardly contain my feelings. In the beginning, he was invited into an existing band she was already in, and he accepted. But then, that band broke up and reformed, and he kept the girl in it. He knows how badly I have wanted to sing again. I tried endlessly to resurrect us as a duo or a starter band, but getting him to work with me was like pulling teeth. I was a singer in my own right before him and since, but he has never been honest with me about why he doesn’t want me to perform with him again. This has affected my confidence so much I have virtually given up singing. It kills me that I’ve relinquished my artistic identity over this. The thing is, he’s just a local player — this is not the big time. He had his heyday years ago, and she’s just average. They don’t have a following or crowds lining up to see them. I have tried to be supportive because he needed the confidence. But I’m like two people — the supportive wife and the manipulative green-eyed monster. To add insult to injury, she’s made clear that she doesn’t like me by unfriending me on social media. She named the band after herself, and posts provocative pictures of herself in the band all over the internet. I hate feeling like this. I don’t like who I am. Do you have any advice? — JEALOUS IN PENNSYLVANIA DEAR JEALOUS: Although the band was your husband’s in the beginning, at the end of your letter you state that the vocalist has named the band after herself — which leads me to believe the band is now hers and he is her employee. The fact that this new band isn’t doing particularly well may mean that it won’t last much longer. You had a singing career before you met your husband. It may be time to consider resurrecting it and reclaiming your own artistic identity. THIS IS GOING TO SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD (get it?!?), BUT KILL THE BITCH… AND REALIZE YOUR HUSBAND IS A SAINT FOR NEVER TELLING YOU THAT YOU MAKE YOKO ONO SOUND LIKE CELINE DION. DEAR ABBY: Our daughter was widowed a number of years ago. She’s now getting married for the second time. She and her fiancé are financially stable. They both have good jobs and are financing the wedding themselves. They have plenty of furniture and other household items. My question is, what can we give them as a wedding present, or how can we help them? Would it be appropriate to offer to pay for the wedding cake and champagne for the reception? Any other suggestions would be appreciated. — PARENTS OF THE BRIDE DEAR PARENTS: Why not propose your idea and ask if your daughter has any other ideas about how you can be helpful. Because she and her fiancé have good jobs and are financing the wedding themselves, consider offering to buy them something for their new home, such as an appliance, or to contribute toward their honeymoon. ASK THEM WHAT THEY WANT AND STOP WASTING MY TIME WITH THINGS THAT AREN’T PROBLEMS?

Amazon to invest in 3 nuclear plants as it scrambles to power AI programs Amazon is the latest tech giant to embrace nuclear energy as it scrambles to supply electricity-hogging artificial intelligence programs. Amazon Web Services, the Seattle-based e-retailer’s cloud computing unit, said Wednesday it will invest more than half a billion dollars in three projects — one in Washington state, one in Virginia and another in Pennsylvania. The Virginia and Washington state deals obligate AWS to put up the money for power utilities to study the feasibility of adding small modular reactors to existing energy stations. In exchange, Amazon will have the right to purchase power from an initial installation of four small modular reactors. Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will have the option to add up to eight 80 MW modules, resulting in a total capacity up to 960 MWs, or enough to power the equivalent of more than 770,000 US homes. The additional power would be available to Amazon and utilities to power homes and businesses. AWS reached agreement with Virginia’s utility company to build a small modular nuclear reactor near an existing power station in Louisa County. A small modular reactor (SMR) is smaller in size and capacity compared to traditional nuclear reactors. “Modular” means they can be produced in factories and transported to sites for assembly, allowing for more flexible deployment and potentially reduced construction time and costs. “Our agreements will encourage the construction of new nuclear technologies that will generate energy for decades to come,” said Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services. SMRs will have their components built in a factory to reduce construction costs. Today’s larger reactors are built onsite. Critics of SMRs say they will be too expensive to achieve the desired economies of scale. Nuclear power, which generates electricity virtually free of greenhouse gas emissions and provides high-paying union jobs, gets wide support from both Democrats and Republicans. But no US SMRs exist yet. NuScale, the only US company with an SMR design license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, last year had to axe the first SMR project to build its technology at a US lab in Idaho. In addition, SMRs will produce long-lasting radioactive nuclear waste for which the US does not yet have a final repository. Scott Burnell, a spokesperson at the US NRC, said “no specifics” about the planned SMRs been presented yet to the regulator. Google said on Monday it signed the world’s first corporate agreement to buy power from multiple small modular reactors to meet electricity demand for artificial intelligence. The technology company’s agreement with Kairos Power aims to bring Kairos’ first small modular reactor online by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035. The companies did not reveal financial details of the agreement or where in the US the plants would be built. Google said it has agreed to buy a total of 500 megawatts of power from six to seven reactors, which is smaller than the output of today’s nuclear reactors. Last month, Microsoft and Constellation Energy signed a power deal to help resurrect a unit of the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, the site of the worst US nuclear accident in 1979. US data center power use is expected to roughly triple between 2023 and 2030 and will require about 47 gigawatts of new generation capacity, according to Goldman Sachs estimates, which assumed natural gas, wind and solar power would fill the gap.

An ex-FDA employee has revealed what he claims is the most harmful breakfast cereal on the US market. Dr. Darin Detwiler, who previously served as a food safety expert for the agency, told the Daily Mail that Kellogg’s Froot Loops is the worst of the bunch, pointing out that the rainbow rings are “heavily processed and contain high levels of added sugars, artificial dyes and preservatives, which are linked to health concerns.” Given the laundry list of bad-for-you ingredients in the bagged cereal, Detwiler says excess sugar is the least odious. A 1-cup serving of Froot Loops contains 12.35 grams of sugar, nearly half of the recommended daily allowance for children. However, as Detwiler explains, that serving size is unrealistic as most kids eat more than the recommended single cup. The bright red hue found in Froot Loops comes courtesy of Red 40, a controversial additive linked to a slew of health problems. A 2022 study yielded “alarming” results about the effects of Red 40 — sometimes called Allura red — on the human digestive tract. Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, claimed the synthetic dye could potentially trigger irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease after observing the biomarkers of damage in the gut cells of mice. The good doctor’s revelation comes as more than 1,000 cereal lovers and health activists marched on Kellogg’s Michigan headquarters on Tuesday, demanding the end of “harmful additives” being injected into US batches of products like Froot Loops and Apple Jacks. Over 400,000 signatures were delivered to the breakfast food giant’s offices in Battle Creek, calling for it to remove artificial dyes and preservatives blamed for health defects and behavioral issues in some children. “It’s now 2024, and Kellogg’s still sells several cereals with artificial colors and flavors in America, all of which target young children,” the petition read. “Even worse, Kellogg’s continues launching NEW cereals for children filled with artificial ingredients, such as Minecraft Frosted Flakes and Disney’s Little Mermaid Cereal.” Actress Eva Mendes added her voice to the chorus, taking to Instagram to share, “I grew up on cereal. I still love it but I won’t eat @kelloggsus anymore after I found out that so many of the ingredients they use here in the US are BANNED in other countries. Why? Because they’re harmful for children.” In March this year, Kellogg investor Jason Karp, founder and chief of healthy foods company HumanCo, put Kellogg on blast, asserting that “in pursuit of short-term profits, Kellogg fills its most ubiquitous cereal products in the U.S. … with harmful artificial dyes, such as Red 40, Yellow 6, and Blue 1, as well as the preservative BHT.” Karp alleged that Kellogg’s is well aware of the dangers of these additives. He cited research from the Center for Science in the Public Interest linking the dyes to organ damage, cancer, behavioral problems and hyperactivity. Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick made waves in February when he suggested eating cereal for dinner was a solution to soaring grocery costs. The Food and Drug Administration says color additives are safe for consumption when used according to its regulations and that no causal link has been established between the chemicals and behavioral effects in children. “The totality of scientific evidence indicates that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives, but some evidence suggests that certain children may be sensitive to them,” the FDA states. In 2015, Kellogg’s vowed to remove artificial colors and ingredients from its products by the end of 2018. Red 40 and Yellow 5 — both used to make Froot Loops in the US but not abroad — are entirely barred in the UK. Japan also forbids the use of Red 40, and Canada bans the use of BHT. While the American version of Froot Loops is laced with petroleum-based food dyes, the cereal’s Canadian counterpart contains more natural dyes, such as concentrated carrot, watermelon and blueberry juices. “The quality and safety of our foods is our top priority. Our products — and the ingredients we use to make them — are compliant with all applicable relevant laws and regulations, and we remain committed to transparently labeling our ingredients so consumers can easily make choices about the food they purchase,” the WK Kellogg Company wrote in an email to The Post. “Today, more than 85 percent of our cereal sales contain no colors from artificial sources. In fact, we continuously innovate new cereals that do not contain colors from artificial sources across our biggest brands, offering a broad choice of nourishing foods for our consumers,” Kellogg continued. “This approach is consistent with our commitment to meet evolving consumer preferences.”

The 1981 DeVille Saloon was Cruella de Vil’s car in 101 and 102 Dalmatians If you regard all cars as time capsules – mobile windows into societal trends at any given point in time – then you’d be in no doubt as to the era from which the Panther DeVille harked. This coachbuilt leviathan provided the 1970s car world with a new definition of excess, from its outrageously long bonnet and unashamedly decadent, faux Gatsby-era profile, to its gas-guzzling V12 engine. In its own way, it was as emblematic of 1970s culture as bell-bottomed flares or Chopper bicycles. But unlike those more modest period fashion statements, the DeVille didn’t come cheap. When this neo-classic creation was launched 50 years ago at the 1974 Earls Court Motor Show, it was Britain’s most expensive production car. Costing £17,650, its list price topped that of the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI and Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer – and even the then-new Lamborghini Countach. No surprise, then, that during its eight-year life it became the darling of the rich, famous and notorious. High-profile pornographer David Sullivan owned one, as did the Shah of Iran and Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd. Fittingly, perhaps, bad boy actor Oliver Reed was a DeVille customer, along with Elton John (a DeVille appears briefly in his I’m Still Standing music video), Miami Vice actor Don Johnson and heavyweight boxer George Foreman. If you wanted to make a statement about your wealth and success, the DeVille ticked all the right boxes. Left: the 1981 Panther DeVille saloon, right: the 1976 Panther DeVille convertible Rear view: the 1981 Panther DeVille saloon The DeVille’s large body and inverted-horseshoe radiator grille was an homage to the Type 41 Royale Inside, full leather trim and air conditioning were de rigueur However, behind its apparently gauche façade, the Panther Westwinds company’s range-topper was probably one of the last cars produced by an independent British coachbuilder. At the time, the likes of Mulliner Park Ward, Vanden Plas and James Young (all associated with elegant Rolls-Royces and Bentleys) had either called it a day or been absorbed by car manufacturers keen to add a posh nameplate to their portfolios. Robert (Bob) Jankel founded Panther Westwinds – Panther, a good-hearted dig at Jaguar, and Westwinds from the name of his home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey – in 1970. His family owned an East End fashion business and it was here that Jankel’s sartorial flair (he designed children’s clothing ranges) soon gave way to an interest in car design and restoration. Panther’s first model, the J72, typified Jankel’s love of pre-war machinery in its unashamedly retro design, but combined it with modern, proprietary running gear for greatly improved durability and efficiency. Given that the J72 had more than a passing resemblance to the SS Jaguar 100 of 1936, it was only appropriate that the then-British-Leyland-owned Jaguar Cars provided much of the mechanical and suspension hardware. Jankel’s son, Andrew, recalls that one of his father’s greatest skills was with people: “He once said that you achieve much more by listening and talking with people than being in opposition to them. Through these skills he built up good contacts with Jaguar over parts for the J72… He never understood the word ‘no’; he was very much a can-do kind of person.” However, while the J72 firmly established Panther as a maker of bespoke, hand-built cars, it was the DeVille that garnered the most fanfare for the fledgling company. Jankel had been a long-time admirer of Ettore Bugatti’s work – and the DeVille, with its immense body and inverted-horseshoe radiator grille, was his homage to the Type 41 Royale, one of the largest and most imposing pre-war cars. Weighing nearly two tons and measuring 17ft between its US-homologated, impact-absorbing chrome bumpers, the DeVille couldn’t quite match the displacement of the Royale’s 12,760cc engine, but Jaguar’s 5.3-litre V12 was a credible substitute. The DeVille employed a bespoke ladder-frame chassis, onto which was mounted a hand-formed aluminium body, with Austin 1800 doors for the Saloon and those from a Jaguar XJ-C for the two-door Convertible. Independent suspension all round was a step forward compared with the J72’s more primitive arrangement, while also mirroring the much-admired Jaguar XJ’s set-up. No item of equipment was too lavish for a DeVille, each of which took about nine months to emerge from Panther’s works. Full leather trim and air conditioning were de rigueur, as were wool carpets and burr walnut facings. But options extended to a telephone, cocktail cabinet, television and VCR – not forgetting the obligatory whitewall tyres for anyone resident in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Peter Ward has owned his pristine 1981 DeVille Saloon for nine years, and reckons that people are far more familiar with the model now than ever before, thanks to its starring role as Cruella de Vil’s wheels in the 101 and 102 Dalmatian films in 1996 and 2000, respectively, as well as more recently in the 2021 film Cruella. While the screen cars were highly modified, Ward’s retains its original specification and is one of only 48 Saloons built by Panther. Even rarer, though, is Ray Bridges’ DeVille Convertible, only nine of which were produced to order. This earlier 1976 car was first displayed on Panther’s stand at the Earls Court Motor Show, before being exported to Beverly Hills Carriage House, the company’s US west coast distributor. It remained in the United States for 12 years, before Bridges purchased the car in 1988. “I love its styling, extravagance, quirkiness and eccentricity,” he declares – although he doesn’t consider himself eccentric at all. But how can you not be eccentric to own a DeVille? I took a brief drive in Ward’s Saloon to find out. Its interior is quite narrow, with no space between the overstuffed front chairs, which provide a commanding view over the long, elegant bonnet. As you’d expect from having a lengthy 12ft wheelbase, this DeVille is far from wieldy on our twisty, rural test route, but it remains composed at 60mph, despite its old-fashioned body-on-frame structure. Its ride is sublime, too; proving what an excellent choice Jankel made to use Jaguar XJ underpinnings. The performance is also brisk if you want it to be, with the murmurings from one of the world’s best V12 engines always kept in check. You would never say that the DeVille was a “drivers’ car”, but as a boulevardier it’s surprisingly capable. Vulgar and polarising, these DeVilles may be in today’s sanitised and politically correct times. But they also stand out as a perfect tribute to Bob Jankel’s skill and craftsmanship – as well as a remarkable insight into the tastes of the rich and infamous of 50 years ago. Ray Bridges’ 1976 DeVille Convertible is 1 of only 9 that were ever produced to order Peter Ward with his 1981 DeVille Saloon, one of only 48 built by Panther Writer Simon Hucknall takes the 1976 Panther DeVille convertible for a spin

ALREADY POSTED FOUR DAYS AGO It was! And now the second coming of the story has been united with the first.

I think @marylander1940 was the first in his to have a sundial and make fire.