Last month our washing machine broke down. It wasn’t worth having it repaired so it had to be replaced. While we were waiting for our new machine, we had a few days without one. The last time this happened was in 2006, just after our daughter was born, around the time of our son’s second… Continue reading Word of the week: Laundrette
For the last six Wednesdays I have been posting “Album of the week” pieces, for reasons explained in the first of them, here. This time last week I was thinking of having a sabbatical (six weeks on, one week off), partly because I couldn’t think of a new album that I wanted to explore. I… Continue reading Album of the week: postponed, in favour of live news
Yesterday was Mother’s Day here in the UK. As usual it was celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, also known as Laetare Sunday in the Catholic church. Back in 1997 it fell on 9 March, and it was the last time my own mother was able to celebrate it. A week ago (in this piece… Continue reading Mother’s Day 1997, and where we are now
Last weekend, on his BBC Radio 2 show “Pick of the Pops”, Paul Gambaccini played the UK chart from 1968, 52 years ago. “The Legend of Xanadu” by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich was at #1, having just replaced “Cinderella Rockafella” by Esther and Abi Ofarim. “Lady Madonna” by The Beatles was the… Continue reading This week in 1968: a chart full of girls’ names
Last week’s Album of the week was “The Wheat Album” by The Rutles. It prompted memories of “The White Album”, as the Beatles’ self-titled 1968 release is usually called. I planned to make Jay-Z’s similarly-named 2003 release “The Black Album” my latest Album of the week, having bought a copy from a local charity shop… Continue reading Album of the week: #6 “Shadows in the Night” (Bob Dylan), not “The Black Album” (Jay-Z)
Earlier this month I attended a very enjoyable Reunion Lunch at my old school. It was the first time I have been back for such an event. I have attended all four of my old college reunions – I wouldn’t miss one of those – but since leaving school at the age of 18 I… Continue reading Word of the week: journal
During the life of this Blog I have referred many times to Pop Master, the mid-morning quiz on Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 show, broadcast on weekdays. I have mentioned, more than once, that it is the most listened-to slot on UK radio, apart from breakfast shows. For nearly three years (since April 2017) I… Continue reading Pop Master analysed, again, and the death of a quizzer
As mentioned in this post from earlier today about “The Wheat Album” by the Rutles, here is a piece from “1000 Memories” containing brief childhood recollections of a BBC drama (“The Brothers”) and the LP released by the Beatles in 1968, usually known as “The White Album”. The Brothers There was a new programme on… Continue reading Memories of “The Brothers” and “The White Album”
The Rutles might have passed you by. They never had a hit single or album and they rarely performed live. They were a spoof band with origins in a mid-1970s TV comedy show here in the UK, “Rutland Weekend Television”, hence the first part of their name. As their nickname “The Prefab Four” suggests, they… Continue reading Album of the Week: #5 “The Wheat Album” (The Rutles) [And memories of Neil Innes RIP]
Here, for the eighth month in a row on this Blog, is a screenshot taken from the BBC website showing Leeds United leading the way in the Championship, the second tier of English football. As noted almost every month throughout the last two football seasons, I have followed Leeds since childhood. I did not expect… Continue reading 2 points per game revisited (March 2020)
The Compartments 