So, why is he called Annie?
.
Waaaaay back in the dim and distant past (otherwise known as the 80's) my brother and I were big fans of Top of the Pops. Every Thursday night we'd be sat in front of the telly, which had a whole EIGHT channel buttons I'll have you know, waiting for that week's selection of cool tunes.

Mum would be pottering about, or reading, or whatever and generally not paying much attention.

She happened to wander into the room one particular night as the Eurythmics were giving it big licks - can't remember which song, but never mind, that's not important right now.

Mum double-takes at the telly and asks,

"Is that a man or a woman?" as Annie Lennox, with her incredibly short hair, wearing trousers and nothing but a bra on top, belted it out. My brother couldn't resist.

"Well, Mum, a bit of both really. She used to be a man, but has only got so far with the surgery. Still has boy bits down below."

All delivered with a perfectly straight face. Bear in mind the fact that this was the 80's and long before the LadyBoys rose to fame. I don't think my mother had ever "seen" a transsexual. I don't think any of us had.

She looked at me for confirmation and I merely nodded, being unable to speak without giving the game away. Poor Mum didn't know what to say on the subject. She wandered off, a little shocked and possibly even mentally preparing a stiff letter of complaint to the BBC.

Later that night, she was telling Dad about this "person", and you could see the inverted commas around that word, who'd been allowed on the telly to pollute her innocent childrens' young minds. Dad, bless him, was a little more aware of the music scene, but for reasons of his own decided to play along.

"Ah yes, Annie Lennox. Used to be Alan I believe, but got some *gestures in front of chest with cupped hands* and changed his name to Annie."

The subject was brought up regularly for a while, but after about three weeks Dad gave in and told her the truth. Annie Lennox is, and always has been, female. No boy bits. At all. Mum didn't find it as funny as we did, and showed her disapproval in the way only Mums can. We ate a lot of casserole for a while. And we all hated casserole.
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Fri 22 Aug 2008, 20:23, 2 replies)

Eight!
channels?

You lucky barsteward. We only had three until CH4 came along.
(dchurch bah, Sat 23 Aug 2008, 3:59, closed)

No, it had 8 buttons
not 8 channels. It may have had four channels at that point, I seem to recall. Eight channels? In Scotland? In the 80's?

You're having a giraffe!
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Sat 23 Aug 2008, 11:54, closed)