I thought Reggie Perrin was still funny, but I think the last few episodes dropped off. I’d forgotten that he decided to go back to his wife almost straight away, I thought it came in a later series. It undercut […]

I used to work with someone who had been on 3 or 4 different afternoon quiz shows as a contestant. He said it was easier to get on them than you might think, as not that many people apply, and quite a few get […]

Well, Pete Wishart is one of a number of people pointing out that it should be pronounced “Al-a-buh” because it’s Gaelic.

It was two years, one module in each year. I’ve just had a quick look, and I can’t see the same courses. Their new courses seem to take more account of new technologies, and a broader range of music, reasonably […]

I’ve done a couple of courses with them but not degrees. The first was a diploma in music, which I did just out of interest. It was worth it, but there wasn’t much direct interaction with the tutors, apart fro […]

As a few people have pointed out, it’s like the old Jewish joke.

Two women at a Bar Mitzvah

First woman : This food is awful.
Second woman: I know, and such small portions!

On your point about rating your pain, I found the question on today’s UK census form “How is your health in general” a bit odd. The answer’s going to be subjective. One person with high blood pressure might answer […]

Steve Martin, although he had stopped touring by the time I heard of him, and that was through his early films with Carl Reiner. It was a strange act using old-time vaudeville turns like balloon animals and […]

I wonder what it’s like for politicians? The local MP lives a few streets away, and he seems to walk to most places locally. I must go past him about once a week or so in the local high street, which is quite […]

I think it’s a variant on Fire Prevention Officer.

Incidentally my father was a Chief Petty Officer, Aircraft Artificer, who joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1941 and served for forty years. I thought he had done s […]

And this is why the monarchy’s position is secure. They bring the country together. Loyalist who fears change and wants tradition? Virtue signaller who believes they are superior to hoi polloi (This country!)? G […]

There is another side to the Royal Family and constiutional change. Some commentators, who would call themselves progressive, like Polly Toynbee, assume that the Royal Family are a block to change. But among the […]

There have been some stories in the news about a biography of Hitchens that is being written. His widow and agent don’t approve of it and have written to his friends and acquaintances asking them not to c […]

It’s quite rare that writing about popular music of all kinds talks about how much musicians know about music. The ability to read notation is only one part of it, there is also all of the other knowledge of […]

It’s not just worth watching to spot Victor Maddern or David Lodge in supporting roles, and how bombed out London still was in 1957, interesting though that is undoubtedly is. At about 1.00 on Tuesday m […]

A lot of people seem to think it was aimed at Trump voters, but if he’s saying move to the middle, that would apply to others as well. Or that’s how I read – it was quite vague, which in a couple of minutes y […]

If I read the reports correctly, his mother is Alessandra Mussolini. So his grandfather was Romano Mussolini, who was a pretty good jazz pianist, and his grandmother was Sophia Loren’s sister. Talented family – […]

I am disappointed, not just by the smutty innuendo, but the use of “partner” in any other than its correct sense of a creative or business collaborator. I for one, refuse to “move with the times” and go along with […]

Roy Boulting, the director and producer of mild fifties and sixties British satires, was the father of Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker, and his brother and partner John was the grandfather of Jordan Stephens of Rizzle Kicks.

Hard to see this the same as an email you couldn’t be bothered to proof read before you go home for the weekend. The EU has misrepresented, to put it kindly, their agreement with Astra Zeneca, and Macron is making […]