Ding… t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t… bu bu bu buuuu… bu bu bu buuuu… bu-bu bu buuuu. Sure it’s a terrible way to start off an article but hum those simple sounds to yourself and you’ll only ever come out with one result, the world famous theme song from the Blake Edwards’ picture The Pink Panther.

It’s easy to focus on the incredible performances in the Pink Panther films… well… some of them… well… two of them. Fine. The first two Pink Panther films. However, it’s not always as easy to appreciate the incredible work that goes into scoring a film.

How many of us really remember the soundtrack to most big Hollywood blockbusters these days? Very few, we’d wager. 90% of the time, they’re terrible and the end credit score is done by Nickelback or Linkin Park. What a crying shame.

The question is though, what makes a really good film score? Is it one that is dramatic or one that tells you what the film is going to be about? Go back to your big Hollywood blockbusters and consider what it might be like if the woeful Transformers films had a light, breezy surfer soundtrack. Probably better admittedly…

Memorable film scores are few and far between but the work done by Henry Mancini and his Orchestra can be heard hummed and whistled the world over. After all, very few scores can start a full-on ‘hum-along’ in a post office queue like The Pink Panther can. Next time you’re in a busy post office at lunchtime, give it a go.

Part of the reason for the success of these openings is the artwork and feel of the titles themselves. The cartoon shorts, produced by DFE films, are matched perfectly in tone by the modern jazz tones of the song. Are the openings to the first two Pink Panther films the best film openings ever made? Yes. Probably. What’s more, it is the score that makes them so wonderful.

A Shot In The Dark was the film that really brought the character of Inspector Clouseau into the spotlight, with the previous film having focussed more on ‘The Phantom’, played by David Niven. Would the bumbling antics of Inspector Clouseau and the furious rage of Chief Inspector Dreyfus have worked nearly as well with the work of another composer backing it up? Would it hell.

Of course, The Pink Panther isn’t the only thing that the wonderful Mr Mancini should be remembered for. Some of the most notable theme songs of all time have been his handiwork. He soundtracked the wonderful Peter Gunn series, also the work of Blake Edwards, in the early sixties and- although the show itself has been lost to the winds of history- the theme song lives on and has spawned numerous cover versions by the likes of the Blues Brothers Band and- tragically- The Art of Noise.

Mancini is responsible too for the soundtrack to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the iconic Audrey Hepburn film as well as having six films nominated to make the list of the greatest ever film scores. Henry Mancini’s Orchestra gave a start to some of the greats such as John Williams, one of the most well-known film composers of the last 40 years. Film music owes the great Mr Mancini a debt of gratitude. A debt that, with an interminable reliance on the same core of composers and artists, Hollywood may never pay back.

Need proof? Here’s Henry on the piano with Andy Williams singing ‘Moon River’ from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

It was never going to be a surprise when Andy Williams – the dim-looking nondescript Welsh boy who couldn’t carry a tune in a tune-sized rucksack – was knocked out of X Factor, which is why we’re not exactly surprised right now.

Because, in an X Factor career so dull that we half-expected his ‘best bits’ package to be one millisecond long, Andy Williams’ performance of Chasing Cars on Saturday stood out as especially weak. Out of time, out of tune, dead-eyed and sung with a face that looked like it was being operated by the animatronic team from Jurassic Park, it seemed a lot like Andy Williams was just forming noises with his mouth without understanding that he was saying actual words. Andy’s X Factor elimination seemed more like a mercy killing, especially since his T-shirt had the word ‘ROCK’ embroidered on it. We’re guessing Primark was out of ‘Insipid’ shirts.

But now Andy Williams has been put out of his misery, who’s going to win X Factor? Here are the X Factor betting odds to win for Alisha Bennett and Beverley Trottman, with help from Paddy Power…

Alisha Bennett – What we like best about Alisha Bennett is the incredibly low standard she sets for herself – case in point, on Saturday’s X Factor Alisha was over the moon simply because she wasn’t utterly dreadful for once. That’s not to say that Alisha was good – that’s too big a step – but her rendition of Girl Put Your Records On was sort of OK in a pedestrian way, like a cheese sandwich or a plastic cup of warm water. Still, though, Alisha lives to sing another round, and we’re pinning that mostly on the way she burst into tears as soon as it was over. Maybe Alisha wept because girls putting records on has a deep emotional resonance with her, or maybe it was the way someone made her wear a sparkly beret and a weightlifting belt for the performance, but she’s through to next week’s X Factor because of it, and that’s all the opinion we can muster on the matter. Current X Factor betting odds – 25/1

Beverley Trottman - We knew it. It’s clear to the whole wide world that Beverley Trottman has a fine set of pipes on her, but she’s as likely to win X Factor as Simon Cowell is of ever working out that the top half of his shirts have buttons. On Saturday’s X Factor our point was proved when Beverley found herself in the final two sing-off. Although her performance was technically very good, it happened to be to You’re Beautiful – and so strong are the negative implications of singing a James Blunt song that she may as well have picked a song called I’ll Stomp On All Your Pets If You Vote For Me. Also, if the rest of the X Factor audience is like us, the only way Beverley Trottman would have got votes after Saturday’s wince-inducing tearful “Why didn’t mummy want me?” VT package is if there was a voting option to duck her like a witch. Current X Factor betting odds – 14/1

Tomorrow – the X Factor betting odds for Leon Jackson, Same Difference and Hope. But if that’s too long to wait – or you feel like making more money than you know what to do with – head right over to the Paddy Power X Factor betting odds page to see the latest, and best, betting odds.

So Simon Cowell’s big X Factor ruse of putting together manufactured groups and telling the world how they’ll probably win X Factor has backfired – on Saturday his boyband Futureproof were eliminated from the show.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Simon Cowell had to choose whether to eliminate Futureproof or his girlband Hope, because they were both placed in X Factor‘s bottom two. We’ll deal with Hope in the days to come, but nobody can really be surprised that Futureproof were knocked out of X Factor – their dull, weedy rendition of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You was hopelessly overpowered by the live band accompanying them and their much-discussed dance routine was a joke. But at least now they’re out of X Factor, Futureproof can return to what they look like they do best – hanging out on the top deck of buses throwing open cans of cider at terrified pensioners.

But now that Futureproof are no longer a part of X Factor, who’s going to win? Here’s the first part of this week’s X Factor betting odds – for Alisha Bennett, Andy Williams and Same Difference – with help as ever from Paddy Power…

Alisha Bennett - Thanks to young Emily Nakanda coming over all Macho Man Randy Savage on the internet and getting kicked off X Factor, Alisha Bennett finds herself as the only 14-24 girl left on the show, and since she was in X Factor‘s final two for the first two weeks running, the pressure on her to sing Valerie well enough to stay on the show must have been huge. You suspect that if he was in the same position, Leon may well have actually soiled himself onstage. And yet Alisha did a surprisingly decent job of it, looking like a popstar for the first time and sailing through the elimination process unharmed. We’re pleased for Alisha – not because we want her to do well but because it means that Alisha’s X Factor VT next week won’t just feature her crying a lot because nobody likes her. The following week once she’s been in the bottom two again, sure, but let’s just be thankful for next week’s breather. Current X Factor betting odds – 33/1

Andy Williams – Once again, we’re stunned that Andy Williams wasn’t even in the X Factor bottom two on Saturday, because his rendition of This Guy’s In Love With You tanked so badly we can hardly describe it. Poor old Andy – a man so dim-looking that we wouldn’t be surprised if McDonalds started writing ‘Contents Hot’ on their drinks just to stop him dipping his penis into cups of coffee all the time – started performing the song alone at a table for one, possibly because it didn’t take long for the girl to work out that this guy’s probably only in love with himself. Also, Andy’s X Factor performance taught us that whenever he’s backed by a live 27-piece orchestra, whatever he sings will sound like the insane mutterings of a drunkard at 4am. Please just get rid of him next week. Current X Factor betting odds – 25/1

Same Difference – The X Factor Big Band night is a chance for the performers to pay homage to some of the most effortlessly cool songs from a time when music was more pure, so that’s why on Saturday Same Difference decided to sing that old standard from Frank Sinatra‘s seminal In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning album, Reach For The Stars by S Club 7. And, if the song had been performed by a buck-toothed six year old girl in pigtails, chances are it would have been the most adorable spectacle of the night. But since it was actually performed by two slightly incesty adult siblings who model themselves on Ned Flanders, the result was so creepy that we found ourselves clawing at our own skin by the second verse. The only thing we can attribute to Same Difference scraping through the X Factor elimination process was because of their sobbing “I’m a victim of bullying” VT package, despite the fact that even the most pitiful victim of bullying could probably find something to bully Same Difference about. Current X Factor betting odds – 14/1

Tomorrow – the X Factor betting odds for Beverley Trottman, Leon Jackson and Hope. But if that’s too long to wait – or you feel like making more money than you know what to do with – head right over to the Paddy Power X Factor betting odds page to see the latest, and best, betting odds.

One of the main reasons we’re so happy that X Factor is back is because the hokey unconvincing X Factor theme nights are back, which meant that on Saturday everyone had to sing a song from the movies.

This is because Celine Dion was the special X Factor guest on Saturday and, since she sang the song from Titanic, Songs From The Movies was probably a slightly politer X Factor theme than Really Crap Songs That Only Wankers Like Which Are Sung By People Who Deserve To Be Drowned, the only other theme that Celine Dion fits into. Not that it matters, though – with a couple of exceptions, the X Factor contestants’ songs only managed to be Song From The Movies so long as you can count ‘second song played in the end credits after everyone has gone home’ as a song from the movie. OK, we’ll admit that we’re just bitter because Rhydian didn’t sing the overdose theme from Requiem For A Dream.

Who’ll win X Factor? Here are the X Factor betting odds for Beverley Trottman, Andy Williams, Leon Jackson and Futureproof, with betting odds from Paddy Power…

Beverley Trottman – Now that ITV seems to have decided that each episode of X Factor should be a million hours long, it’s inevitable that some singers won’t stick in the memory as well as others, and that’s the case with Beverley Trottman. Memorable last week for the silly wig she wore during I Will Survive, this week saw Beverley ditch the wig and continue her quest to perform all the divorcee karaoke classics in the world with a rendition of I Have Nothing that was too boring to even mention here. Beverley, remember, is a teacher by vocation, and we’re not surprised she’s so desperate to leave the profession if her children’s ‘I Love U Mummy’ T-shirts are anything to go by. How could she possibly be a decent teacher if she can’t teach her own bloody children to spell the word ‘you’? Current X Factor betting odds – 14/1

Andy Williams – Andy Williams has that rare mix of character traits that makes him vastly smug and impossibly anonymous at the same time. And this manifested itself on Saturday’s X Factor in his performance of Stayin’ Alive. Andy – a man who looks like he’d need a six-week training course to teach him what cutlery is for – for some reason decided to not just try singing the most iconic song from a 15-times platinum album, but to sing it in a series of mid-level mumbles and listless grunts. A few self-conscious dance moves aside, Andy’s Stayin’ Alive was so personality-free that it may as well have been sung by a photograph of some grey wallpaper and we’re genuinely surprised that Andy wasn’t shortlisted for X Factor elimination. Current X Factor betting odds – 12/1

Leon Jackson – Leon’s first X Factor performance was so mind-bogglingly awful that we’re not even sure it was music – so, in grand X Factor tradition, Saturday’s show saw Leon ‘stripping it back’ for his performance of Home. No gimmicks, no lurching time signatures, no skronk – just Leon Jackson meekly stumbling around a stage singing a dreary ballad like he’d just wet himself. To be fair, though, Leon’s X Factor performance this week was better than last week, but that’s partly because he’d set the bar so low that a three-minute atonal shriek would have probably been better. Worrying, though, X Factor viewers seem to be warming to Leon’s brand of irritating vulnerability already, which means that we could be in for a few months of this awfulness. Current X Factor betting odds – 10/1

Futureproof – Futureproof’s X Factor debut was a passable attempt at She’s The One that got praise from the judges and pushed them up to second-favourites to win as far as these X Factor betting odds go. But that wasn’t enough for Simon Cowell, who wanted to reboot Futureproof and work them hard and make them better than ever. In short, he wanted to turn Futureproof into Robson And Jerome. And, if that was his mission, he succeeded. After wafting out out a leaden version of If You Don’t Know Me By Now, Futureproof are now fourth-favourites to win X Factor and damn near almost put us into a coma. Nice work Mr Cowell. Current X Factor betting odds – 4/1

Tomorrow – X Factor betting odds for Hope, Rhydian Roberts and Niki Evans. But if that’s too long to wait – or you feel like making more money than you know what to do with – head right over to the Paddy Power X Factor betting odds page to see the latest, and best, betting odds.