Back in 2018 I reflected on the price of a pint of beer throughout my lifetime, in this piece. It included various milestones (50p, £1, £5 …) and concluded, “Clearly, the next barrier to be breached will be the £6 pint”. For the record, the £6 barrier has now been breached, many times. If you… Continue reading The £6 Pint
How visual are you? Can you picture things in the correct order, like colours of the rainbow, or Olympic rings? If so, congratulations. The rest of us have to make do with mnemonics and acronyms for this sort of information. For colours of the rainbow, I have always favoured the simple 7-letter word ROYGBIV (Red… Continue reading Word of the week: BRYBGR
This Blog is not a place for up-to-the-minute news analysis. There is a category called “In the news” and browsing through articles that have been categorized that way you will find more mentions of recently deceased sportsmen and pop stars than, say, current political developments. When this Blog began, in late 2015, the UK prime… Continue reading What the Daily Record said
Following on from this earlier piece (“Stuck at 3, the 1970s”) here is a list of all the artists that made it to #3 in the UK, but no higher, during the 1980s. These are releases that entered the chart between January 1980 and December 1989. Unlike my “Stuck at 2” lists (which you can… Continue reading Stuck at 3, the 1980s
As a teenager I spent some of my holidays working on building sites. I never worked in offices, in hospitality, or in retail, unlike many of my contemporaries. The money was good. University friends in particular were surprised at the daily rates my brother and I could command. He usually earned more, being three years… Continue reading Ickenham and Fassbinder, Summer 1982
Another week another quiz show. Last Friday Channel 4 launched “One Question” hosted by Claudia Winkelman. As its name suggests, this is a show in which contestants can win money (in this case up to 100,000 pounds) if they know, or guess, the answer to just one question. In total there were two questions on… Continue reading Word of the week: rumbledethumps
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
As a family, we have started to do the daily Wordle puzzle most days. My wife and our 15-year-old daughter have been doing it for a few months. Our 17-year-old son has been doing it in form time at school from time to time. I have only started in the last fortnight, long after most people.… Continue reading Word of the week: bayou
Regular readers of this Blog will know that Trivia and Quiz Questions feature heavily on these pages. Although these topics take up much of my time, I am an occasional rather than a regular quizzer. I do not have many friends who are into this sort of thing, and have not taken part in a… Continue reading 193 countries, and a challenge
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
The Compartments 