Mucho Macho

Umbrellas were originally used by Greek women in the 5th century BC to shade their skin from the sun. Greek men didn't however, as they were not considered to be manly enough. More than a few centuries later we still hear the same twaddle from our blokes who would rather get wet behind the ears, and everywhere else, than admit that umbrellas can be cool.

To prove it, take a look at these bad boys;

Admittedly these are extreme cases of macho, but now we've caught your attention check this out.

Can you honestly tell us that it’s not up there with Daniel Craig’s ‘Layer Cake’ leather jacket as a wardrobe essential?

Click here

So think twice lads before you pooh-pooh the idea of owning one these testosterone friendly trappings. Don’t be a Greek.

Umbrellas in films

Well we held off as long as possible.

When we think of umbrellas one of the images that always comes to mind is the image of Julie Andrews floating to earth in the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins.  There can’t be anyone that hasn’t enjoyed this film. 

However, after a quick scan of the news this morning while waiting for the kettle to boil, I noticed that “extreme athlete” Erik Roner free fell for 10 seconds under an umbrella over California before deploying his parachute and floating safely back to earth.   There can’t be many people that haven’t given a little thought to doing this whilst deploying their brolly.  It must be the kid within all of us.

Another feature of the film (apart from a very dodgy cockney accent of course) is the horse race sequence…topical given the forthcoming Grand National.

The image of Mary Poppins got me to thinking of other films where an umbrella plays a leading role and another sprung to mind…Singing in the Rain.

Is there anyone that hasn’t pretended to be Gene Kelly when no one is around, swinging the brolly round, hoping on and off kerbs and generally splashing around?  I think it’s one of those guilty pleasures we have all done, but wouldn’t admit to!!  Especially after the popular TV programme, Glee, with Gwyneth Paltroe took a starring part. Also, Morecombe and Wise made a fantastic parody of this wonderful scene too.

Don’t forget we have a virtual sweepstake for all our twitter followers.

For a chance of winning a folding umbrella, just follow us on twitter (@umbrellashops) and retweet our message dated 2^nd April for your chance to be included in our sweepstake for the Grand National 2013..

Good luck to all