Here’s a photo of my vinyl copy of the current UK #1, and the picture sleeve that it came in. As you can see, it’s “Running up That Hill” by Kate Bush, an old-fashioned 7” single. The picture shows her using a bow and arrow. The song first entered the UK charts in August 1985… Continue reading The current UK #1, on vinyl
A few months ago I wrote this piece about Southend-on-Sea, the UK’s 70th city (the 52nd in England). Since then a further 8 places have been granted city status, taking the total to 78 (55 in England). For the first time, there is a city that is part of a British Overseas Territory, not within… Continue reading 8 more UK cities
You might have heard the old joke about a man walking into a chip shop and ordering two portions of cod and chips in the usual way: “Cod and chips twice, please”. The man behind the counter says, “All right mate, I heard you the first time”. This joke came to mind recently while taking… Continue reading Battersea Power Station Station
Last autumn I wrote about the Scottish musician Colin Tully, whose death was reported in the Guardian’s “Other Lives” pages. I quoted the online description of this section of the paper: “Obituaries pages traditionally describe and celebrate the lives of the great and good, the famous and infamous. There is another type of life that… Continue reading “A drugs bust ended his career as the furry Wellington” [Robin Le Mesurier RIP]
Most of the time this Blog does not deal with the leading stories of the day. You have many thousands of other places to read about them. For the last 19 days there has only been one significant news story in Europe: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There, I’ve said it. If I were living… Continue reading Word of the week: Kyiv
Rest in peace Shane Warne, one of the great cricketers, and one of the great commentators. Along with a handful of other retired bowlers, like Richie Benaud and Michael Holding, he caused me to watch far more cricket on TV than I would have if certain former England batsmen had been commentating instead. News of… Continue reading Dead at 52, and a list
If you follow European football, or the Premier League here in the UK, you will regularly come across stories about fees and wages. These stories confirm that football finances are very different from the financial realities that most of us deal with. Earlier this month I read a news story about French side PSG which… Continue reading £157m for one player for one year
20 November 2021 is Joe Biden’s 79th birthday. As noted in this piece from January (“Presidential calculations: dates and ages”), he is the oldest person to hold the office of US President. During my research for that piece, I spent rather a lot of time looking at other information related to holders of the office including the Chinese Years that they were born in,… Continue reading A Scorpio Horse in the White House
The phrase “panic buying” has been back in the news in recent weeks. During the first lockdown, in the spring of 2020, the phrase was used often to describe the amount of toilet roll people were buying. Supermarket shelves across the globe were emptied of the stuff. Eventually some of the shops here in the… Continue reading Panic Buying
Most weeks there are news stories about the chronic health problems and deaths of sporting legends. This week we learnt that former England cricket captain Ted Dexter had died, and that former Middlesbrough, Leeds and England footballer Alan Peacock was diagnosed with dementia in 2018. Like Denis Law, who announced his dementia diagnosis earlier this month, he wanted to raise awareness of the issue. I have supported Leeds United since childhood, and the roll call of former… Continue reading Football in the afterlife, and a Leeds United starting XI
The Compartments 