Just as a side note – I had forgotten that the GB team came 2nd in the 2016 games, behind the United States. That’s amazing isn’t it?

The well-connected Pia Zadora had a tilt at the big time in the late 80s. Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Shep Pettibone were commissioned to make her a star. This was one of the songs, Dance Out of My Head featuring […]

I saw him in action in parliament when I found out at about the age of 15 that you can just turn up to the House of Commons and watch from the Public Gallery. I did that quite a few times in the early 80s and […]

Oops – the second one was meant to be Jive Bunny’s “High on Lou Reed and the Velvets”.

I like quite a lot of Enya’s stuff:

I like this too

I saw them in the mid-90s and pre-Three Lions. The one the crowd was waiting for was Life of Riley (thanks to Match of the Day).

The boy bands are back in town…

Backstreet Boys – I want it that way

Blue – All Rise

I love that one.

I went for a walks around my childhood environment when I was last in England 5 years ago. If you quizzed me now about street names I’d be terrible, but walking around there in person and at that time, the m […]

Only if Anton Corbijn is nearby. If Boris Johnson had Anton in tow, he’d look less like a shaved Honey Monster (c. Marina Hyde) and have the tousle-haired, troubled-genius academic philosopher image he craves.

Yes – as if that could ever happen! Andy Fletcher does attend the recording sessions though and vetoes things that aren’t right. I imagine that this may have been a contributory factor to the eventual exit of […]

Yes that’s the answer. Allow yourself a bit of time when they’re in bed to grasp the basics and slowly but surely you’ll be better than them – which is what it’s all about.

A really affectionate piece of writing @dave-amitri – I loved the way you gathered in stories from others to help paint the picture of someone who is not only very talented but also by all accounts a thoroughly […]

@jaygee

Arf!

In a good-natured conversation about 80s pop, I mentioned to a family friend that I still quite like Depeche Mode. This was about 4 years ago. He really, really laughed. A few minutes later he came back into […]

I was at a small gathering a few years ago and it was one of those situations where there is a core group of people who have known each other since school and their social life is 99% each other. They were in […]

She has a food science degree so I do believe her on these issues and I comply. But if she’s away for a couple of days, I might cut loose and go crazy by leaving them in the can overnight. Toilet seat up, h […]

I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people who think they can use the above information to raid my chocolate stash. I will […]

Park life!