Novelist J. G. Farrell, who drowned at 44 – he would have been a giant in literature had he lived longer.

Tempted to put Patrick O’Brian on there so I could have more Aubrey/Maturin novels, but as he was well […]

Yes, it seemed a copy of “To the Devil a Daughter” was mandatory in every house, alongside “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone. I chiefly remember the latter (which was a great read) for the knots in which […]

Living in Portland, all of Portlandia, obviously. Also Grimm, not sure if that made it to the UK, but it was kind of OK for the first season.

Portlandia caused an interesting “art mirroring life” spat- the […]

Cock of the North was an ugly pub, looks like it’s still there, but renamed and refurbed. Couldn’t really see the Young Ones being able to afford a place in leafy Henleaze

…The little dog in the picture does look a little like Lovejoy-era McShane, funnily enough.

The Seekers! Dad definitely had some New Seekers. Not sure about the “old” seekers, though. I didn’t have any concept of cool at this point in life, and by the time I’d figured out what was “hip” I had means to […]

Ah! That makes sense why the fourth side was largely ignored by my dad. Cracking album! I’m going to recreate it as a Google Play(list) right now.

Where in Clifton? I used to live by the baths (which seem to be something called “Lido” now), and The Victoria pub. I did get yelled at by none other than Tony Robinson when attempting to leave my office in Park […]

I popped over to Wikipedia to see how old he was (77) and my eye was caught by the the following:-

“He has also developed a keen interest in the music of jazz guitar legend Django Reinhardt and performs […]

I found the track listing for the Ronco compilation. I had no idea my dad had left a bunch of track off it. I’ve marked those so you can see what I was dealing with

Everly Brothers Bye Bye Love
Johnny […]

Bingo! Thanks – did you happen to see her? Is my memory maligning her art?

Given the preponderance of celebrity OBEs and MBEs these days, it’s fun to remember that this was not always the norm. Prior to the Beatles getting their MBE’s in 1965, honours weren’t awarded to Entertainers and […]

Career-wise, after leaving Teesside Poly with a mediocre degree in Business and Marketing, which had firmly established that I was woefully inadequate for a career in either, I took a temp job entering data into a […]

Pacific North West reporting in. Newcastle Brown and Samuel Smiths are easy to get, usually Bass as well. I have a local shop with well over 500 different beers from around the world available, and the UK section […]

Also Hot Fuzz, I grew up in Wells, and nearly fell of my chair to see it being the main location used. The alleyways we used to run down as kids, the graveyard where we snuck a bottle of wine, but no opener […]

Hmm.

Tori Amos in a tiny venue above a club in Middlesbrough. Just her and a piano. Spellbinding and intimate. This would have been in 1989, I guess? I bumped into her on the stairs as she was leaving […]

Some dreadful lady (Sandi somthing?) who opened for Richard Thompson at the Colston Hall many moons back. She played a dulcimer at non-dulcimer levels to produce feedback and yelled and screamed at us brave souls […]

I saw Pink Floyd at Wembley Stadium (don’t look for it, it’s not there anymore) and they sounded fantastic – and we were deliberately sat at the very back to catch the light show…I have it in my mind that the PA […]

This, this is all wrong. From the mawkish, anaemic backing, hideous instrumental break, heavenly choir and 2307 styles of vocal tried before settling on “drunken uncle in pub”.