Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

  YOU’VE probably heard tell that what you imagine sometimes comes true. That’s definitely the case for Carmarthen and District Youth Opera as they prepare to stage Charlie and the Chocolate Factory next month. The musical will be staged at The Lyric Theatre in Carmarthen from February 26 to March 1 (7.30pm), with matinee shows at 2.30pm on Thursday, February 27, and Saturday, March 1. Tickets, price £20 (concessions £15), are now on sale and available online via  https://www.theatrausirgar.co.uk , at The Lyric Box office, or by ringing 0345 2263510.  They’ve got some imagination at Carmarthen and District Youth Opera, so you can expect the spectacular from the cast and production crew. A spokesman for the Youth Opera said: “This year will be a first for us to be using a full-scale digital screen as part of the scenery on stage. “We are confident that everyone will enjoy our performances and interpretation while also appreciating the huge input by our young cast and our s...

HE’S got a name that sounds like a cheap after-shave, but his aroma is starting to seep into the atmosphere of our shores. Which begs the question: should we be worried about Elon Musk? It appears to be hard to ignore the richest man in the world. Someone with a net worth of $400 billion, a place in USA President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and control of one of the world’s busiest social media platforms will probably also have the biggest megaphone in the room. I can’t quite understand how someone who runs SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company and other hi-tech businesses can find the time to express his views on the X platform (Twitter, to old fogeys like me). If you tune in to X, then there’s barely a minute that goes by without Mr Musk chipping in his views on a wide variety of topics. Plainly, there is not enough going on his side of the pond, as Mr Musk has now decided to interfere in UK matters – younger members of the family inform me this is a ‘classic disruption technique beloved of t...

  HERE’S a question guaranteed to divide all sports fans out there: who are the ‘toughest’ competitors in the world? Rugby Union players? Rugby League stars? Tour de France cyclists? Olympic rowers? Marathon runners? Boxers? In nearly 50 years of watching and reporting on different sports, I’ve met and interviewed people from all the above sports. In terms of being the ‘toughest’, none of them come close to National Hunt jockeys. Evidence that they are as tough as teak is provided daily on racecourses around the UK – with the latest example happening at our local Ffos Las track last Saturday. Pembrokeshire’s James Bowen, who comes from a family of fearless horsemen, was the latest jockey to reflect that one second you can be sailing over a hurdle or fence at 35mph, and the next you can be face down in the mud wondering how you’ve narrowly escaped death. Bowen is part of a long line of Welsh jockeys who have diced with death while competing at the highest level in racing. When I was...