I once saw Thea Gilmore emerge for an encore to a variety of requests from the audience. ‘Those are all excellent suggestions, but we’re going to play something we’ve rehearsed if that’s all right with you.’

I’ll happily put my hand up for that description. Other gripes include standing ovations for decent but not exceptional shows, patronising laughter for weak/ ancient jokes told on stage, and the expectation of […]

The very book I have in my bag in the bus I’m currently riding, the sort of detail Calvino might have put in one of the linking chapters.

To Tame a Land on Piece of Mind, but Frank Herbert refused to let them use the title. I saw them on that tour and Bruce Dickinson said something to the effect of Herbert not liking rock, long hair, having a good […]

Iron Maiden are repeat Offenders – Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Dune to name but two, and I’m sure bigger fans than me could nominate more.

Craig Fletcher of the Guilty Men said that at a gig in Wales last week the band left the stage expecting to come on for an encore, but the house lights were switched on and everyone left.

I saw Norma Waterson towards the end of her performing career explain that she wasn’t going to go through the pretence of the encore because there were steps to the stage and ‘me arthritis is bad’.

I completely agree on both points.

I sometimes say half seriously that the anti smoking campaign was as disastrous as it was successful. Smoking used to lead to far more (pretty awful) earlier deaths, and now people are living longer as a result […]

I sold him a book once at Waterstone’s on Taunton, not long after he lost his seat in Parliament. He was pleasant enough but his wife was terrifying. Oh, and I quite like Ipswich.

They do have some decent programmes but are particularly guilty of spinning 20 minutes of content over an hour once the intro, the ads, the sections telling you what’s coming up and the sections telling you what y […]

It’s actually a really good pub for beer, my main criterion for choosing a pub. I dare say they have an excellent whisky selection too but that’s not my drink. I could recommend several more in Edinburgh but tha […]

I would make an exception for The Jolly Judge, a terrific little pub down a close on the Royal Mile next to Glsdstones Land.

The cameos aren’t a good sign. The good news is that Reiner is back on board and I think he was the ingredient which made Tap so much better than Guest’s other (still very good sometimes) films.

The clapping crap infuriated my other half.

The point about sudden enforced company is a good one. This week I’ve been wfh as usual and The Light has been using up leave doing stuff around the house. It’s been … challenging, and I really don’t know how we […]

My partner’s daughter is a teacher at a Manchester secondary. She was a NQT when kids were allowed back into schools. Her experience was that the kids who were already at secondary hadn’t gone as feral (my […]

I find myself forgetting how long the state of crisis went on, albeit not in permanent lockdown. My birthday falls in mid-March (this Sunday if you were thinking of sending fine wines and luxurious socks) and […]