Author Archives: Paul

I’ve never really drunk alcohol. I have no objection to it, just never liked it. Even I’m surprised by this, given that I’m common, half-Irish and have always worked in advertising. Mine should have been a life awash with booze but somehow the taste for it continues to elude me. Years ago, it was easier […]

It’s Valentine’s Day and you have two choices. Either voice your curmudgeonly little objections to schmaltzy commercialism. Or use 14th February as an excuse to demonstrate your love to its lucky recipient. It doesn’t have to take the form of a giant card with a red satin heart. Or a “romantic” meal in a naff […]

The papers yesterday were full of stories about the colourful life and sad death of Tara Palmer-Tompkinson – socialite and archetypal “It Girl”. Her problems and addictions were well-documented, especially her septum-destroying coke habit. But some correspondents were still amazed that this privileged, pampered party girl adapted so well to life in the jungle in […]

A PR disaster for Brand Beckham as leaked emails exposed him as greedy and unpleasant in his ruthless quest for a knighthood. This made me recall why I loathed New Labour only a year after voting for them: In 1966 Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick for England in the World Cup Final. Hurst was never […]

RIP Alan Simpson. With Ray Galton, he wrote Steptoe & Son, the first and arguably the best sitcom ever written. It was about two rag & bone men, a father and son. The naive, pretentious son yearns to escape his sly, conniving father and Harry H Corbett, who played the son, eventually became uncannily like […]

I finally saw Lion last night, for which Dev Patel has been Oscar nominated. Having made his name in Slumdog Millionaire, he’s matured into a Hollywood A-lister. This is astonishing, given his background. Not that it was poor or disadvantaged but Dev Patel grew up in Harrow. I know that area very well and people […]

…..were the words with which Desmond Carrington would sign off from his wonderful show on Radio 2. This was the track with which he closed his final show last year when ill-health forced him to retire last year aged 90. He had a huge cult following and I was an unabashed Desmond devotee. Most of […]

I’ve just walked past George Michael’s house in Highgate and, several weeks after his death, people are still arriving with flowers. His magnificence as a singer was never in doubt but his munificence as a human being has only recently come to light. He gave millions to charity on the strict proviso that his donations […]

Probably goes back to recording my first ever radio commercial. The script wasn’t brilliant but the actor who delivered it was. I could hardly contain my excitement when John Hurt walked into the studio. He was the actor’s actor – big hat, flowing scarf, colourful personal life and that wonderful, gravelly RADA trained voice. Actors […]

I’m sure you saw this ad for Heathrow Airport over Christmas. But at a David Reviews talk by the people who made it, I discovered something about the music. They’d originally wanted to use The Beatles’ “Two of Us” but knew this would be impossible, so they began to search for an alternative. The creative […]