London Tentatively Scheduled to Become a 'World-Class City.'

Fresh on the high generated by the recent concert by Bon Jovi and his rock band, Bon Jovi - comes news that London is on the verge of officially being recognized as a 'major player' when it comes to being on the international stage.

This morning on a London radio talk-show, the announcement was made that BOTH Adam ('Bruce Wayne') West and Burt ('Dick Grayson') Ward will be coming to this area next summer for a personal appearance/autograph signing at multi-millionaire Steve Plunkett's annual Classic Car Show. The classy car show is held each June at stately Plunkett Manor on his vast country estate to the west of London.

True, some nay-sayers might rightly point out that the site is indeed past the London city limits and thereby not actually in London per se. However, Mayor Tom Gosnell reports that plans are now being put in place to ensure the limosine service delivering West and Ward passes at least one highway sign mentioning London by name.

But it is also entirely possible that West and Ward - who in addition to their roles as millionaire 'Bruce Wayne' and his youthful ward 'Dick Grayson' also played the pair's alter egos - 'Batman' and 'Robin' (sometimes referred to as the "Dynamic Duo,") on the 1960s TV-show, Batman - just might arrive at the car show courtesy of another Hollywood celebrity making an appearance at the event. Yes, I am talking about the infamous 'Bat-Copter.'

The 'Bat-Copter' is a flying vehicular means of transportation somewhat reminiscent of a helicopter. It made its motion-picture debut to great fan-fare and excitement in the 1967 feature-film, 'Batman' which was based on the TV-series and starred West and Ward in their original roles. Remember the scene set out over the ocean when Batman climbed down the labelled 'Bat-ladder' from the Bat-Copter and ended up with a giant shark attached to his entire left leg? And as he hung onto ladder with one hand and pounded on the hollow-sounding shark with the other and yelled up, "Robin, hand me down the Bat-spray Anti-Shark-Repellant!" And sure enough, there was a spray-bottle labelled as such in the BatGlove-Compartment.

Well, that's the same Bat-Copter coming to town - AND RIDES WILL BE OFFERED!

The Bat-Copter was created by custom-car guy George Barris, who was the featured guest at Plunkett's car show two years ago. Barris is also the master-mind behind the Batmobile, Bat-Cycle, Bat-boat, the Monkeemobile, the Munster's Coach and Grampa Munster's 'Drag-ula', the Dukes of Hazzard car, the car from 'Knight Rider' and James Bond's original Astin-Martin from 'Goldfinger' - and he brought all those vehicles along.

When the 'Batman' TV series debuted in 1966, Adam West and Burt Ward were credited by comic-book fans everywhere for returning the 'Caped Crusader' and the 'Teen in Tights' to the comic's original dark, grim and violent roots as written and drawn by creator Bob Kane in 1939. Previously, the Batman comic book was on the verge of cancellation after its dwindling readership of prepubescent boys tired of the characters flying to other planets and travelling through time just to fight crime.

According to ISO, the self-appointed authorities on standards for everything, if London can indeed pull off having household-name celebrities such as West and Ward appearing at a nearby farm, then London will indeed be on the way to being recognized as a 'World-Class City.' They caution, however, that until Neil Diamond makes a concert appearance at the downtown John Labatt Centre, then ISO has no choice but to wait before declaring London to be on the international map.

*** NOTE *** The photos appearing at the top of this blog entry appear courtesy of the Sonny Drysdale Archives and document the occassion over twenty years ago when Sonny took his then three-year-old first-born child to the Toronto Auto Show - just to meet Adam West and Burt Ward, or - as it was explained to her, "the REAL Batman and Robin."

Please note, from that day on, it was universally accepted that Toronto was now a First-Rate city.