Author Archives: Paul

……..Dickensian urchins on Kilburn High Road demanding a “Penny for the Guy”. And woe betide anyone who actually gave them a penny. Impromptu and unsupervised firework displays everywhere, rockets tied to cats’ tails and children on the news the following day having lost the tops of three fingers or the sight of one eye. Doesn’t […]

Neil is a builder and very “clever with his hands”. Which makes me educationally sub-normal. I’m comedically clumsy and quite unable to do anything practical. No idea why since I fulfil all the other criteria. Thick set, half Irish, slightly common and brought up among manual labourers. But no, the last part of the genetic […]

Yes, really. I went with my son because that’s where he wants to go and that’s what he wants to do next year. It was fascinating but every time the learned academics mentioned “The Greeks”, I kept thinking of all the North London Cypriots at whose weddings and parties I often DJ’d. Lovely people who […]

I met Noel Gallagher at Shoreditch House last night (one). I don’t know him but we’re both friends with Craig Cash (two). Before The Royle Family, Craig was a DJ on KFM in Stockport and was the first person to play Oasis on the radio. I used to work a lot with Craig and Caroline […]

…..talking about how I always hated dogs but now quite like them. As I walked into the studio, they placed this rare rockabilly tune from 1956. I no longer wanted to talk about dogs, I wanted to talk about the huge rockabilly revival of the late 70s which, trust me, was much bigger than punk. […]

So I will. Sort of. If you’ve never heard this before, it’s unbelievable. How on earth did Yvonne Gage get away with it? Released a couple of years after the Michael Jackson meisterwork, the resemblance to it is spooky. More a trick than treat. It’s a wonder Jacko’s lawyers didn’t drive a stake through her […]

It’s a tradition that seems to have gone. Your parents’ friends and neighbours were your “Aunties” and “Uncles”. We had loads, including Auntie Bet whose son Mick was standing in our kitchen one night in the mid-70s with his flatmate Terry. When Terry went to the loo, I said to Mick “He looks just like […]

Just saying.

Heavy rain, severe gales and RIP Lou Reed. I was a big fan. Not just of his music but also of his roles in a pair of charmingly odd films from mid-90s called Smoke and Blue In The Face. A couple of years later, he was at No.1 with this version of “Perfect Day” recorded […]

But this morning, I think it does. Just. It is indeed a beautiful sunday. Lovely and sunny – clear blue skies – trees shimmering with autumnal reds and golds. And there’s something rather sweet about its upbeat melody and joyful lyrics. So let’s smile, sing along and enjoy it. And maybe not mention that, later […]