The Pall Bearer’s Revue was the Jerry Sadowitz show, wasn’t it? I’ve heard speculation that the BBC might have been influenced by Savile to drop it after one series due to Sadowitz airing his strong beliefs about […]

My first thought was Bilko aka the Phil Silvers Show. It was so consistent and, with Fawlty Towers, was one of the few programmes my father, brother and I used to watch and laugh through together.

I’ll add my […]

Some personal favourites not mentioned above…
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Fear of a Black Hat
Monkey Business (Cary Grant)
The Commitments
The Sure Thing
The Producers
Raising Arizona
Midnight Run

Thanks for your kind offer. I’ll take you up on it. CDs will go in tomorrow’s post from Ireland (obviously). I’ve sent you a message with my address.

In all this discussion around Chris Frantz’s book, the unmentioned truth is that the original four members produced their best work when augmented by better musicians. Stop Making Sense is proof but album 2 of the […]

I’ve two long weekends coming up. Hope to longlist this weekend and finalise next weekend. Looking forward to the finished products, mine and yours already!

I’d be up for it. Some of the themes have seemed very restrictive but ultimately pulling together a worthwhile set feels all the more satisfying. Bring it on!

She’s that rare thing, a modest artist. I’ve seen her a few times back in my London days and again in Dublin where she was eclipsed by her support act Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan playing the intense songs from […]

Yes. The Undertones. Paul McLoone is a great frontman. Feargal Sharkey was unique, McLoone is different but you never wish for Sharkey back when watching them live. They’re still a brilliant live band.

He has many to choose from in terms of misanthropy and sarcasm but this was the first Momus song to spring to mind…

Parthenogenesis – Nemesis by Shriekback

I’ve long held the view that it’s much easier to “get” Jonathan Richman if you’ve seen him live. As he doesn’t fly any more (apparently) that seems unlikely to happen again for us European Afterworders. I first […]

A quick Google search tells me that he did the sleeve notes for the Beserkley – the Home of the Hits, an odd best of from his early career released in a two disc set; one featuring Modern Lovers tunes and the […]

Jonathan Richman is the one who springs to mind. Lots of his stuff, including some of his best work, is impossible to get in any format and live he was very disinclined to visit his most popular stuff apart from […]

Brian Robertson probably held the dubious title of best looking member of Motorhead having moved on from Thin Lizzy where he was up against Scott “Timotei” Gorham.

As I mentioned above Housekeeping is a brilliant film from his later works with a great sense of place and time. I’d rate it as second only to Gregory’s Girl of his films, with Being Human as the clear worst, […]

Yes. I expected a better showing for Kieslowski and very nearly voted for his lesser known A Short Film About 10 Minutes Long.

Having reflected on this for 24 hours, the best answer I could come up with (apart from the best answer so far – the Undertones) is World Party.

Egyptology, Bang, Goodbye Jumbo, Private Revolution.

Arguably […]

Applause due @pawsforthought for including Fear of a Black Hat. I love that film. Perfect post pub viewing with so many classic moments and still relatively unknown. I work with offenders and still use the term […]

Sean Bean (pronounced Shan Ban) is the Irish for Old Woman. He should be told if he doesn’t know already.