rigorousintuition.ca

Queen throws party for children<br><br>A cast of classic children's characters has appeared at "the ultimate children's party" at Buckingham Palace for 2,000 youngsters. <br><br>The palace garden was made into a "fantasy land" including characters from the Famous Five and Harry Potter. <br><br>As well as a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, an all-star show about the Queen losing her handbag - broadcast on BBC One - was performed. <br><br>The event was the latest to mark the Queen's 80th birthday. <br><br>The youngsters, together with 1,000 adults, were selected by ballot to be part of the event. <br><br>Julie Gusman, 33, brought her nieces Amy, 7, and Lauren Cudd, 4, from Hadleigh, near Ipswich, to the children's party. <br><br>"They're loving it. They are so excited. Once they saw all the children's characters they were off," she said. <br><br>"I think the whole thing is fantastic and I'm overwhelmed, never mind about the kids." <br><br>Handbag found <br><br>The show, directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, saw baddies, including Captain Hook and Cruella de Vil, steal the Queen's handbag which contained a speech. <br><br>The Famous Five and Harry Potter came to the monarch's rescue. <br><br>The show culminated with the Queen appearing on stage to read out the recovered speech.<br><br>The show, entitled The Queen's Handbag, is an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The BFG. <br><br>Model Sophie Dahl, the author's granddaughter and the inspiration for the book, played herself. <br><br>She joined other celebrity performers including Harry Hill, Ronnie Corbett and Martin Clunes. <br><br>"I've done pantomime really for about 30 years, so I'm not frightened of being in front of children," Corbett told BBC News. <br><br>"They're spirited and they're lovely and with you and they're shouting and they're screaming." <br><br>Sir Trevor said it had been a challenge to organise "huge numbers of personalities and famous people" for the event. <br><br>"The kids will recognise characters from every kind of story and the adults will recognise who is playing them," he said.<br><br>The palace fantasy land included Toad of Toad Hall rowing on the lake and Thomas the Tank Engine in his own railway station. <br><br>Other characters at the party included Bob the Builder, Winnie the Pooh and Peter Rabbit. <br><br>Guests enjoyed food hampers made by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver who the Queen met before strolling around the garden, accompanied by groups of children trying to take her picture. <br><br>Her first stop was at an author's reading tent, where she met several writers including Harry Potter author JK Rowling. <br><br>The Queen also stopped at the Thomas the Tank Engine station. <br><br>"I told her more than one million people come to see him at historic steam stations every year. She said she was delighted to see him up close," said Bruce Steinberg of Hit Entertainment, which produces the TV show. <br><br>Event producer Robbie Williams said: "The whole theme of this is to encourage the promotion of British children's literature but we hope it will also be the ultimate children's party." <p></p><i></i>

Here's a bit of a connection, the Queen and MJ are both major investors in the "Atlantis" resort/casino in the Bahamas. <p></p><i></i>

thanx thurn, I was just making a tenuous link but if you have proof of something more substantial I'm sure there'll be a lot more interest.. ? <p></p><i></i>

Yeah, I can't find any actual documentation on their investments. But I was tangentially involved with both construction at the casino site and<br>the private opening gala several years ago. It was common shop talk that the two were in some type of business arrangement regarding the casino. I'm sure others with more investigative skills than I could suss<br>something interesting out of this. I'm just pointing to a possible lead.<br><br>The Bahamas are a notorious "tax haven" and the massive laundry services of casino enterprises certainly speak for themselves.<br><br>Here's some confirmation of Jackson's involvement:<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.dunway.com/html/forming_company.html">www.dunway.com/html/forming_company.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Michael Jackson reportedly invested $70,000,000 in the new Atlantis Hotel and Casino here in the Bahamas. The opening of the Atlantis complex was celebrated with a $2 million dollar bash. Celebrities from all over the world attended. If Mr. Jackson used a foreign Bahamian company to own his partnership interest in Atlantis, he wouldn't have a U.S. tax liability.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Nailing the Royal connection may prove more elusive.<br><br>The Queen WAS at the opening party however. <p></p><i></i>

thanks again thurn, I'll look it up later, gotta crash now..<br>Anyone else have anyting on this? <p></p><i></i>