Author Archives: Paul

…..and the eldest was quite bohemian. When I was a child, she moved out to share a flat with about eight hippies in Belsize Park. Although only a bus ride away, this was a different world. A world of floor cushions, joss sticks, beads and kaftans. It was more like a commune and I loved […]

Enough time has elapsed between the dreaded flash-flash of the speed camera and the non-arrival of a summons. We have to remember that life is a balance. We can all rightly rage about the time we were fined by a hateful traffic warden for staying a minute too long on a meter. Yet we tend […]

Because a song like this needs to be sung in Portuguese. This melodic language then becomes an additional musical instrument which complements all the others. Understanding the words would somehow spoil it. That’s why opera sounds so majestic in Italian but slightly ridiculous in English. For all I know this song could be all about […]

Truly dreadful – dated, syrupy and redolent of Serge Gainsbourg on a (very) bad day. On the other hand, just go with it. We’re having an Indian summer. September and still 27 degrees. Close your eyes and let it wash over you. Yes, it’s corny but on a day like today, it sounds strangely wonderful.

I was a late convert to his Sunday night show on Radio 2 but made sure I caught the last one a few weeks ago because I had a feeling we would never hear him broadcast again. He played the standards – Frank, Dean, Nat, Ella and complemented the songs with gentle anecdotes about those […]

……I didn’t drive. I didn’t go on the train. I cycled, as part of a big London-Brighton ride in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. Did I do it for charity or for personal vanity? Probably a bit of both. When I finally pedalled, leaden-legged, on to the seafront, this is the track that came […]

What? You didn’t realise this was all about God? So when he says “I’m right here on my knees”, what did you think he was talking about? Actually, don’t answer that.

I’m sure, like me, you loved “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince which made Will a pop star before he became a movie star. But wouldn’t you just like the classic backing track over which he rapped? Then you can make up your own words. Or not. Just find a sunlounger, lie […]

And my suave teenage son is taking his girlfriend there. He tells me they’ve even got a DJ so I immediately shout “Boom, boom acka lacka lacka boom!” He sighs heavily and looks at me with a mixture of contempt and pity so I explain: “When I was a club DJ in the 80s….” This […]

Trev is probably the last of the “famous admen”, whose renown spread way beyond the advertising industry. Despite founding a very successful agency and making a fortune, he’s always been quite indifferent to money. Even when he had very little, I remember him spending it on experiences rather than on conventional possessions. In his opinion, […]