There was something surreal about the recent appearance of Katarina Witt, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic figure-skating gold medalist and erstwhile "beautiful face of socialism".
As a result, many erstwhile revolutionaries now face a Hobson's choice.
About half of America's state governments have now forced their erstwhile electricity monopolies to face competition.
The erstwhile Silicon Valley stalwarts will face their Democratic counterparts in November Jerry Brown for governor and Barbara Boxer for senator.
And while the Dowager is rattled to come face-to-face with the erstwhile (and extremely unpleasant) Princess Curagin and finally puts the Prince in his place as regards his feelings towards her, she does so with no small enjoyment.
Ulster are captained by Lions forward Jeremy Davidson, and their coach Alan Solomons speaks ominously of the task facing his erstwhile champions in a group that includes French champions Biarritz and Welsh aristocrats Cardiff.
Facing his erstwhile boyfriend's wedding to another man, his 50th birthday, and his publisher's rejection of his latest manuscript, a miserable midlist novelist heads for the airport.
Parklife-era Albarn was in his imperial phase as chronicler of modern Britain; Welsh was, in the words of my erstwhile employer, 'style bible' The Face, the "poet laureate of the chemical generation".
His scorched hands are too damaged for his erstwhile trade, and his burned face and head, too easily remembered.
Mr. West, for his part, offers up the verbal bravura afresh on a day of reckoning that results in face-offs with his estranged wife (Amanda Drew, excellent), erstwhile lover (the sweet-faced Martin Hutson), and Byron-fixated colleague (a beaky Penny Downie, in the only strained performance of the night).
