LET'S DO THE TWISTER: It's quite the image -- The Right Honourable Tony Blair, former prime minister of Great Britain, together with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, scrambling for a hidey-hole as tornado warning sirens blared. Welcome to Arkansas, indeed.
That's exactly what happened Thursday evening during an event at Little Rock Central High School where the three spoke shortly before winds, estimated at 70-80 mph, damaged the historic school.
So how did Blair begin Friday's speech at the Clinton Center?
"Here in Little Rock, I saw history," Blair said, pausing to add: "Your weather is ... interesting."
"The weather last night was so unexpected," Nancy Rousseau, Central High principal, told Paper Trails on Friday. "I am sure that Prime Minister Blair thought that he was suddenly dropped into The Twilight Zone. We all heard the deafening noise that turned out to be the part of the roof that was flying around outside."
It quickly became obvious that everyone had to vacate the auditorium immediately.
"Imagine 250-plus people on the lower floors seeking shelter from windows. Of course, Central is a fortress," she said of the 1927 building. "It can withstand a whole lot."
She adds that thankfully no one was hurt.
"Prime Minister Blair mentioned that he had been to Israel 147 times," Rousseau said. "But I know that his one trip to Little Rock will never be forgotten."
SIGNING OFF: Former Miss Arkansas 2010 and Miss America First Runner Up Alyse Eady, who has most recently worked as an anchor at KTHV-TV, Channel 11, will grace the station's anchor desk for the last time July 29. She has accepted an anchor position in Atlanta, she recently announced via Facebook. "Thank you for inviting me into your home and for trusting me to do the job I've loved so much," the 28-year-old wrote on her page. "You can take the girl out of Arkansas, but you can NEVER take Arkansas out of the girl!"
BY THE BOOK: Former U.S. Rep. Ed Bethune, R-Ark., recently published his third book, A Pearl for Kizzy: a World War II Novel. Bethune will hold a book-signing from 1-3 p.m. July 30 at WordsWorth Books in Little Rock. He'll be a featured speaker at the Clinton School of Public Service on Aug. 22.
ANDREW AND POLLY: Los Angeles-based, award-winning children's musicians Andrew & Polly (Andrew Barkan and Polly Hall), best known for their songs "Grapes" and "Dancing Pants," are to perform at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Little Rock's Pulaski Academy in a fundraiser for Agudath Achim synagogue. Hall graduated from Central High in 2000.
Tickets at the door are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 3-12. Children under 3 can enter free of charge.
TUNING IN: TLC's documentary Tallest Teens, airing at 9 p.m. Monday, will feature Dr. Bradley Schaefer, chief of genetics at Arkansas Children's Hospital, who consulted on the case of Broc Brown, a teen with a rare genetic disorder who is more than 7 feet tall.
SundayMonday on 07/17/2016