I graduated from my university of choice just over 40 years ago, on Friday 29 June 1984. The following weekend my brother got married, in Spain. You can find a few details about the latter event, with a mention of my graduation, in this piece (“The best hour’s sleep I ever had”). My university of… Continue reading “The happiest day of my life”
Here’s a list of the songs that I performed in public for the first time during June 2024. Each month I aim to play at least one new song from each of the following repertoires: Songs that reached #1 in the UK. Songs that reached #1 somewhere else. Songs that have not reached #1 anywhere.… Continue reading Repertoire: Songs debuted in June 2024
I have finally acquired a pair of reading glasses. I should probably have got them at least a decade ago. I have been using magnifying glasses since 2008. I bought them initially for the only things that I had difficulty reading: “sell by” and “best before” dates on food packets. I always kept at least… Continue reading Reading glasses
A few months ago a friend invited me to a show at the Albert Hall. He and I worked together on a project over 25 years ago and have stayed in touch, but have not worked together since 1999. His current employers have a box at the venue. He doesn’t entertain corporate clients in the… Continue reading A box at the Albert Hall, 2024
I return to the subject of money and football. I outlined some milestones in this piece from 2022. It was mainly about Kylian Mbappé, a player you will probably have heard of even if you do not follow football closely. He won the World Cup with France in 2018 and is about to join Real… Continue reading £40m for 48 minutes of football
If you follow tennis at all you will know that Carlos Alcaraz is a 21-year-old professional tennis player from Spain. You might have seen him win the French Open yesterday, beating Alexander Zverev over five sets to become the first player to win his first three Grand Slam tournaments on different surfaces. The French Open… Continue reading Word of the week: Alcaraz
I have been meaning to follow up on earlier pieces about the price of beer. In 2018, in this piece, I recorded a few milestones from over 40 years of drinking in pubs here in London. The price of a pint had not yet reached £6. In this 2022 Post I noted that we had… Continue reading The £7 Pint
I have been poorly recently. In May, for the first time in many years, I was laid low with a chest infection. Long ago, starting in 1998, I had chest infections fairly regularly, half a dozen or so over a 10-year period. The first one, in the summer of 1998, really knocked me back. I… Continue reading “We can call it pneumonia if you like”
Here’s a list of the songs that I performed in public for the first time during May 2024. Each month I aim to play at least one new song from each of the following repertoires: Songs that reached #1 in the UK. Songs that reached #1 somewhere else. Songs that have not reached #1 anywhere.… Continue reading Repertoire: Songs debuted in May 2024
I return to the theme of acts who have spent one week, and one week only, at the top of the UK charts. This earlier piece lists 40 acts that spent a single week at the top of the album charts. The list below is for every act, up to May 2024, that has spent… Continue reading Every act that has spent a single week at the top of the UK singles charts
The Compartments 