Author Archives: Paul
If only.
Yesterday was a glorious day so I went up to visit my daughter in Cambridge. Pedalling through the cobbled streets, pretending that I too was an undergraduate, I fondly imagined what might have been. But my education was destroyed when my old grammar school went comprehensive in our final year. Half way through our A […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Halloween.
I’m all set. I’ve got this track lined up. I’ve got the face paint, the flowing robe and flaming crown. So I’m confident that any annoying kids who come to the door tonight tricking or treating will be beating a fairly hasty retreat.

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Make plans to watch this.
I’m not a fan of Nigel Farage and I certainly don’t share his views, but only a fool would deny that he is an extraordinary politician. Without even being an MP, he has altered the course of British politics forever. A charismatic speaker (aren’t they all?), he employed astonishing levels of hard graft and immense […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Upsetting the Status Quo.
The term “rock legend” is an over-used epithet, but how else to describe Rick Parfitt? For almost 50 years, he’s been rocking all over the world, ingesting industrial quantities of drink and drugs. But my friend Brian Jones tells me that he’s finally calling it a day. Parfitt and Francis Rossi are now bona fide […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Bye-de-bye.
The great Jimmy Perry died this week, aged 93. He co-wrote some of Britain’s favourite sitcoms including Hi-de-Hi, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and Dad’s Army. It was It Ain’t Half Hot Mum that caused him a little consternation. Immensely popular in the mid-70s, it then fell out of favour because Michael Bates had “browned […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Goodbye, Sipson.
My school and the Sacred Heart Girls’ school across the road had enormous catchment areas. Pupils came from as far apart as Maida Vale in the south and Kings Langley in the north. The net also stretched right out to Heathrow to the west, and it was from this area that Coral Giddings journeyed on […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
The one Tom Cruise film you really ought to see.
….is Louis Theroux’s new film about Scientology. After seeing it, you’ll find it very hard to look at Tom Cruise again. The film doesn’t tell you much that you didn’t suspect already. Just more evidence that the primary purpose this “church” is to take vast sums of money from crazy, gullible fools. And boy are […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
RIP Dave Cash.
Former pirate, Radio 1 and Capital Radio DJ. This natural and quite sublime broadcaster died suddenly yesterday. A few years ago, when plugging a book, I was put into a booth at Broadcasting House to record an interview for BBC Radio Kent. The producer just said, “The bloke interviewing you is called Dave…” And a […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Reginald.
When my friend Danny Kelly was about sixteen, his school was ruled by a terrifying, hard-as-nails fifth-former called Chet. And because Chet came from a family of vicious thugs, there wasn’t much anyone could do about it. One day a kid called Reginald arrived from Nigeria. He was big like Chet but a gentle giant. […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Beyond parody.
We’ve watched rock stars like Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey and Paul McCartney continuing to record and perform well into their seventies. And we’ve watched with a combination of admiration and despair. How long can these “youth” icons carry on? Whatever next? Chuck Berry announcing on his 90th birthday that he’s releasing a new album? But […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next