Shortly after my 10th birthday, my mum passed her driving test. She had bought a car earlier that year, planning for the time when the three of us (my older brother, younger sister and I) were going further afield than the school around the corner and the church down the road. Before she bought, and… Continue reading A game involving pub names
The concept of “Stuck at 2” (songs that almost made it to #1 in the UK chart but missed out by one place) continues to preoccupy me. This piece from last week looked at the whole of the 1970s, with a link to this list on the Trivia Menu. Today’s piece looks at the whole… Continue reading Stuck at 2: the whole of the 1980s
In many words beginning with “un” the first two letters mean “not”, as in the words unhappy, unwell and unambitious. The “un” part rhymes with “fun”. In other cases, the first two letters are part of the longer prefix “uni”, meaning “one”, as in universe, uniform and unicycle. The “un” part rhymes with “June”. You… Continue reading Word of the week: unanimous
Another little milestone. Over the last month our daughter and son have celebrated, respectively, their 12th and 14th birthdays. I recall a birthday party, soon after our daughter was born, at which a friend kept saying “6 and 8, 6 and 8”, like a mantra. She was looking ahead a few years, to the day… Continue reading 12 and 14
Since posting a couple of “Stuck at 2” pieces last month (about songs that almost made it to #1 in the UK chart but missed out by one place) I have got rather carried away. After this piece (about the songs that were stuck at 2 in 1967 and 1983), and this follow-up (covering the… Continue reading Stuck at 2: the whole of the 1970s
At the end of last month punk-poet John Cooper Clarke gave this interview to Tim Adams of the Observer, and answered questions from “readers and famous fans”, as the article says. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time. My own experiences following Dr Clarke for over 40 years can be found in this… Continue reading Word of the week: jodhpurs
For most of us who follow football here in the UK, the Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday changed the way that we keep up with the action on a Saturday afternoon. The rule about screening league and cup football on a Saturday is very clear and has been in place for my entire life: no… Continue reading “No action as far as goals are concerned”
May 1987, the Cannes Film Festival, an event that I attended most years back then because of my involvement with a Film Festival here in the UK. As usual, this celebration of cinema on the Riviera coincided with the FA Cup Final back home. I watched the game at the British Pavilion, an occasion that… Continue reading The £30 bottle of Evian
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
