EDIT: Welcome to everyone dropping in from www.unofficialdarrenhayes.com Also, someone has dugg this story, so please head on by and vote for it.

An article in today’s Sunday Mail, owned by Mr Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd, attacked former Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes for saying that Brisbane is ’self-consciously butch’.

Unfortunately for Ms Lucy Carne, the author of the article, Mr Hayes never actually said that. Mr Hayes released an ‘open letter’ to the Sunday Mail on his myspace page, which begins:

In response to the article in your news paper that suggests I ‘dissed’ the town I grew up in I have to say I’m appalled. The story is completely false and you didn’t even get my Father’s name right. You just printed a lie.

The opinions you expressed as mine are not even my words. They have been lifted from press release written by a U.K journalist.

For the record, Peter is my brother. Not my father. So much for getting basic facts straight.

Hat Tip: Livejournal user tuberuse in the brisneyland LJ community

However, the damage has been done. The article in the Sunday Mail has many comments hostile to Mr Hayes.

Another News Ltd employee, Brett Debritz, has altered a story on his Sunday Mail blog, apparently after having the Hayes letter brought to his attention by tuberuse . There is no acknowledgement of the fact that the original story was incorrect - it has just disappeared down the ‘memory hole’.

The story now has two unrelated YouTube clips, but the URL of the story still contains the words ‘get_real_darren’.

Mr Debritz also submitted his own story to Digg. He also entitled the Digg submission ‘Get Real Darren’.

Just another reason to take Brisbane’s monopoly media company with a pinch of salt.

It’s opening night tonight for ‘Allo ‘Allo at the Twelfth Night Theatre on Cintra Rd, Bowen Hills - click here for a Google Map showing the exact location.

‘Allo ‘Allo is a classic farce set in World War II - Rene, the owner of a small cafe in Occupied France, tries to carry on affairs with his waitresses while not getting caught by his wife, and also not getting shot by either the Germans (because he is hiding some very stupid British airmen in the cafe) or the Resistance (who distrust him because he lets Germans eat and drink in his cafe).

For a better idea of the plot, click here for the Wikipedia article (not really suitable for young children, but older teens will probably think the “naughty bits” are actually a bit tame compared to the latest Top 40 clip).

The characters of Rene, Mimi and Leutnant Gruber are being played by the actors who made the roles famous in the original TV show - Gorden Kaye, Sue Hodge and Guy Siner.

Private Helga Geerhart is played by Australian actor Chole Dallimore, who also played Ulla in the local version of The Producers - I saw this production, and I can verify that Ms Dallimore can lie with her back on the floor, kick behind her head and touch the floor with her toe.

Contact the Twelfth Night theatre to book your tickets for ‘Allo ‘Allo.

Dinner at Mspiggy’s, originally uploaded by David.

David says if I want to post anything to his blog I have to introduce myself. Hi I am David’s friend MsPiggy and I may post about Brisbane too occasionally. *waves*

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports about the Queenslanders recognised in today’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

Justice Margaret McMurdo, who is the President of the Queensland Court of Appeal, was awarded the highest rank - she is now a Companion of the Order of Australia.

A nurse at the Bundaberg Hospital, Toni Hoffman, has been appointed a Member of the Order. Ms Hoffman was the ‘whistleblower’ who exposed the scandal surrounding Dr Jayant Patel.

The Order of Australia was started in 1975, to replace the old British Imperial honours system.

For ten years (1976 - 1986) people could be appointed a Knight or a Dame of the Order of Australia, but not any more. Prime Minister Mr John Howard, leader of the conservative coalition government for the last eleven years, has never looked like bringing back Australian knighthoods. Only twleve knights (including Prince Charles) and two Dames were ever appointed, and only five of them are still alive.

Even though the Order of Australia is, in theory, awarded by the Governor-General, who represents the Queen of Australia, Elizabeth II (who is also the Queen of the UK). In reality the awards are decided by the Council for the Order of Australia, which has representatives from State and Territory Governments, the Federal Government, some public officials and the community.

You can see the list of all Australians honoured today if you click here. If you’d like to nominate someone for an award in the Order of Australia, click here.

Congratulations to all the new appointees to the Order Of Australia!

Darren Rowse at Problogger has started a new ‘Group Writing’ contest - you have to write a new post about a ‘Top 5′. I found out about it on Tuesday night, and there are already hundreds of entries here and here. Have a browse - you’re bound to find something you like.

I thought I should get my camera out and think of 5 photos that really show you a Brisbane flavour, so here they are, all taken on Wednesday, May 9th (in my lunch hour, in fact).

This is one of the River Queen paddle steamers, seen from the big picture windows of the building I work in. The Brisbane River is a huge part of city life - you are either ‘Northside’ or ‘Southside’, and if a bridge over the river gets blocked or closed, it affects traffic all over the inner city.

This is the Milton Brewery, where the famous XXXX (Four-ex) beer is brewed. (Wikipedia) This photo is from the walkway connecting Milton train station to the Lang Park football stadium - which you’ll see in a just a second.

You can see Mr Fourex raising his glass to the people driving south along Milton Road.

Here you can see Christ Church, Milton, snuggled underneath the Lang Park football stadium. Lang Park is the home of 3 football teams - the Brisbane Broncos (rugby league), the Queensland Reds (rugby union) and the Queensland Roar (soccer).

Each year Lang Park hosts at least one of the State of Origin rugby league matches between Queensland and New South Wales - it’s a huge event here, and people get very depressed if Queensland loses. The first match this year is coming up on Wednesday, May 23rd.

This is one of Brisbane’s painted Traffic Signal Boxes, on the corner of Herschel St and North Quay in the city. You can find out about how you can paint a box here, and there is a group on flickr devoted to the TSBs - just click here to visit it.

And this is a photo from 75 metres high - the observation deck of the Brisbane City Hall clock tower. You can see the massive roadworks that are going on in the middle of the city - the Queen Street bus station is being linked to the Roma St train station by a tunnel. This will be a very important link in the public transport system, but you can see a bit about how much is being ripped up.

On the right hand side of the photo you can see the Albert St Uniting Church (previously a Methodist church before the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches of Australia united in 1977).

I hope you like my Top 5 photos. Don’t forget to have a look at all the other entries in the competition - there are hundreds of Top 5s to choose from.