For most of us, the start of lockdown in March 2020 began a run of 500 nights when we were unable to see live performances of any kind here in the UK. Comedy nights, gigs of all kinds, musical theatre, legit theatre, opera: all closed down. Since July 2021 most live venues have reopened. I… Continue reading “On the road again”
Along with at least 8 million other people I continue to follow Pop Master, the mid-morning quiz on BBC Radio 2. It has been the subject of many pieces on this Blog, most recently this summary from week ending 8 April 2022. Currently I make a note of the following: my score, the bonus questions,… Continue reading Pop Master Summary w/e Fri 15 April 2022
Along with at least 8 million other people I continue to follow Pop Master, the mid-morning quiz on BBC Radio 2. It has been the subject of many pieces on this Blog, most recently this piece from January. Currently I make a note of the following: my score, the bonus questions, any questions I have… Continue reading Pop Master Summary w/e Fri 8 April 2022
Regular readers will know that I post from time to time about music trivia, including songs that were “Stuck at 2”. These are the songs that almost made it to #1 in the UK chart but were kept off by another release. There are full listings, right up to the current year, on the Trivia… Continue reading Stuck at 2: Elvis and the Beatles
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]
In this earlier piece, about the UK’s best-selling singles by year, I noted that three of the best-selling songs in the 1980s began with the word “Don’t”. We had “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (Police, 1980) “Don’t You Want Me” (Human League, 1981) and “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (Communards, 1986). Including these titles,… Continue reading UK #1s containing the word “Don’t”
A few reflections on the UK’s best-selling singles by year. Recently I have been reading up on the best-selling records of each year in the UK, beginning with these two links: a list on Wikipedia and a gallery or slideshow (one year at a time) from the Official Chart Company. The latter goes up to… Continue reading The UK’s best-selling singles by year
Pop Master, BBC Radio 2’s mid-morning quiz, is the most listened-to slot on UK radio. I have mentioned that fact before on this Blog, many times, but always qualified it with the phrase “outside of breakfast shows”. The generally-quoted number of daily listeners up till now has been 7.5m but according to Scott Mills, when… Continue reading Pop Master: Let down by Question 10 (20 examples)
Here’s a question from Radio 2’s mid-morning quiz Pop Master from last week: In 1984 the song Feels Like Heaven became the only Top 40 hit for which group? The answer didn’t come to me in time, though I’m sure that there have been times when it would have, not least in 1984 itself. You… Continue reading A Confusion of 80s Bands
I return to the subject of pronouns, something I wrote about in this post back in 2016. In case you need a reminder of what pronouns are, there are explanations in that earlier piece. You might receive emails these days from people who specify their preferred use of pronouns, typically he/him, she/her or they/their. I… Continue reading UK #1s that contain multiple pronouns in their titles
The Compartments 