Last weekend, in this piece, I returned to the idea of “Stuck at 2”, singles that reached #2 in the UK charts but didn’t make it all the way to the top. It listed the songs from 1967 and 1983 that just missed out on a #1 place, and those that kept them off the… Continue reading Stuck at 2: 1970, 1971, 1972
Last Friday’s edition of BBC2 quiz show “Mastermind” included the following question: “The name of what form of aerial transport comes from the Greek for spiral and wing?” It was during the final general knowledge round, which you can see at 24:44 on this BBC iPlayer link for the next 26 days. The answer is… Continue reading Word of the week: helicopter
Paul Gambaccini’s “Pick of the Pops” show earlier today on BBC Radio 2 featured a couple of charts that are well worth a listen. That’s true most weeks, but occasionally there’s a horror-show from the 1990s or some year earlier in this century that I do not need to revisit. You can hear today’s programme… Continue reading Stuck at 2: 1967, 1983
The October half-term holiday, a welcome break for the children after a tiring few weeks back at school. Yesterday, soon after my son woke at 11am, I offered him a few options for how we could spend the afternoon: Kew Gardens maybe, or one of the museums, or how about a trip to Tate Modern… Continue reading The price of a pint: a few milestones
Starting with this piece in early September I have been posting weekly updates about the latest series of the ITV quiz show “Tenable”. It ran from Monday 3 September to Friday 12 October. As I noted in the first of these weekly updates, “I have beCheen meaning to do something like this for a while,… Continue reading Raw “Tenable” data, April-May 2018
Last weekend my daughter (who celebrated her 12th birthday earlier this month) asked me what a philanthropist was. Before answering the question I asked her where she’d come across the word. It was on a web page about Katie Piper who, sadly, was voted off “Strictly Come Dancing” that evening. We were rooting for her… Continue reading Word of the week: philanthropist
A wet mid-October day here in West London. The weather has prompted numerous pieces on this Blog in recent months, including observations about the snow in early March and the summer’s heatwave. Here’s another one. Three weeks ago, in late September, we had a mini-heatwave, with temperatures hitting 27 degrees centigrade (80 Fahrenheit). One weekday… Continue reading Soaking up the sun
This piece from last week, by Sirena Bergman in The Independent, begins, “Ten years ago I’d never heard the term ‘gaslighting’.” She discusses it in the context of a recent news story regarding two contestants on the most-watched show on UK television, “Strictly Come Dancing”, as you can see by following the link above. The… Continue reading Word of the week: gaslighting
For the sixth weekend running I have made a note of the questions and answers from the previous week’s episodes of ITV quiz show “Tenable”. For weeks 1 to 5 click on any of the following links: Week 1 questions (3-7 September) Week 2 questions (10-14 September) Week 3 questions (17-21 September) Week 4 questions… Continue reading “Tenable” questions, week ending 12 October 2018
According to this piece in yesterday’s Guardian, “The stricken cakes and café chain Patisserie Valerie is teetering close to collapse after admitting it needed ‘an immediate injection of capital’ to survive.” My immediate thought was that, at the prices they charge, any customer buying half-a-dozen pastries and a couple of large hot chocolates would inject… Continue reading Patisserie Valerie
The Compartments 