July 30 2011
Biobes of Note
LEIGH SALES is a LEADING HOST AT LEAST, and a biobe to boot. That’s a verbal gewgaw where the person’s name is dispersed left to right in the person’s caption, just as ALI G is ADDLING (Nib), or a TENOR WITH MOJO – THROW PANTIES (SB) just has to be TOM JONES.
To pick the prime biobes, I ruled out those that carried one too many letters, like Peta’s AL GORE (FALLS TO GEORGE (from Peta) or duplicated words, like the PRS epiphany for THE BEATLES: THE BEAUT MELODIES. Fidelity was the other touchstone, since ANDY LEE is not a RANDY SLEAZE (one on my drawing board), though IVAN MILAT could say I’VE AN ABOMINABLE PAST (LR). Such rules of thumb opened the way to some brilliant biobes, with the best kept till last:
IAN BOTHAM – Giant bottom hams [RV leads the charge from the rear, if you follow my drift]
INDIRA GANDHI – Indian outrage at needless hit [Sobering and succinct work from SK]
WALT DISNEY – Was glaciated, insanely [Nib applies an ice-cool hand to history]
HEATH LEDGER – He’s a methylated goner [Vale, Heath, and kudos, One Wheel]
BANJO PATERSON – Bard enjoyed poetaster songs [A fine biobe, with a tricky J no less. Nib can be consoled to hear he went close to the podium with this guy.]
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Swilling malmsey, he makes up theatre [Impressive hit-out from RK, who dared to dream with a name of 18 letters….]
BING CROSBY: Being croons ably […and then made shorter work of the Bing.]
LARA BINGLE – Dollar-grabbing celeb [Speaking of Bada-Bings, please admire the Nibster at work once more.]
MARGARET OLLEY – Ms Art Great’s retro’s at the Gallery [Criseyde deserves a bronze medal alone for discovering that naughty mix of Margaret Olley: art gallery moll]
CHARLIE SHEEN – Charm, lies…the end [Exquisite work from SK that tells a tale from limelight to afterlife. He shares the silver…]
PHIL ANDERSON – Uphill land person […RV, who found a minor miracle in a Tour’s earlier Australian tourist.]
But I couldn’t ignore the technical genius, the topicality and the ha-ha cachet of LR’s SHANE WARNE [Shags new partner]. An obvious target, you may argue, but this biobe is brill and this week’s gold medal snagger. I’d even glanced at Warney in the early phases, and couldn’t see what LR found. It’s a tabloid knockout.
Thanks for the homages, the muck-raking, the punchlines: a dazzling biobic debut. New Tempest next week, after Trincolo’s final Tempest tonight.
Comments
SK — 30 July at 09:49AM
Thanks DA, but you have credited me with SB's Tom Jones in the opening.
Nice one LR. Like DA, I also had an early look at Warney, even got to the "shags new" step, but couldn't see the final solution. Beautifully done.
Chris Little — 30 July at 11:42AM
I know it's off-topic from the main Biobe theme but I see four L's in ART GALLERY MOLL, and only two in MARGARET OLLEY. Am I missing the point?
DA — 30 July at 11:52AM
Criseyde and I are the one missing something. You're quite right, CL. Thanks for the probity.
MARGARET OLLEY is ART GALLERY + OME [love me], or MARGARET OLLEY'S SOME ART GALLERY model!
But get this - if the Oll last another 12 years, she would have received her own anagram, that is a ROYAL TELEGRAM!
Criseyde — 30 July at 01:02PM
Thanks for the gong for the biobic clue .. shame about the myopic anagram to spoil my first and maybe only 15 secs in the sun.
Lovey pic, DA... and a spectacular anagram.
Enjoyed RV's peak performance with Phil Anderson.
CL — 30 July at 10:59PM
ROYAL TELEGRAM qualifies as a magnificent save.
LR — 01 August at 05:15PM
I was rapt to get gold with my Shane Warne fluke! After I'd spent about 8 hours wrangling with the unbecoming dectet of Ringo Starr, the Warne biobe appeared to me out of nowhere.
Nib — 05 August at 01:12AM
This was a fun one, plenty of sparklers amidst the grains.