Author Archives: Paul

I’m a devoted fan of Radio 4 comedy. Especially the shows on the prime 6.30pm slot. The News Quiz, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Clare in the Community, Ed Reardon’s Week, works of genius all. But the one that leaves me cold is Just a Minute. For 48 years, Nicholas Parsons has invited panellists […]

But I certainly felt like one of the Famous Five yesterday as I cycled down to St. Pancras to board the big train to the seaside. Especially when I put my bike on first then sat down and uncapped a nice bottle of Fentiman’s ginger beer. I went to Broadstairs to visit one of my […]

Gary Kemp has a fabulous house on Fitzroy Square, paid for largely by the royalties he still receives for writing “Gold”. It’s been played hundreds of times across the BBC and across the world at every Olympics since 1984. It will be no doubt be played countless times again over the next two weeks. But […]

I’m talking about Tony Bennett, who celebrates his 90th birthday today. I was at a recording of Danny Baker’s BBC chat show about twenty years ago and Tony Bennett was a guest, promoting his Unplugged album. Great singers from Frank Sinatra to Amy Winehouse have proclaimed Tony Bennett the greatest of them all. And that […]

It was No.5. Yet whenever England’s 1966 World Cup triumph is celebrated, this song is said to have been top of the charts. Its status as a British pop classic seems to match this nation’s greatest sporting achievement. Another myth about 1966 is that England were the best team in the world. Apparently not. Unimpressive […]

When I started in the despatch department of an ad agency, I never thought I could become a copywriter because I wasn’t sufficiently well-read. At school, I’d found Dickens tediously over-written, Shakespeare “of its time” and Chaucer just a 14th century Benny Hill. But one day, Richard Foster, one of advertising’s greatest copywriters, told me […]

He was hoping to become Prime Minister by first challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership. But with one crass remark yesterday, he blew it. He urged Labour to “smash Theresa May back on her heels”. What a weird and disturbing thing to say. It might be (just about) acceptable to the sexist, male-dominated trade […]

This is what they wanted, wasn’t it? A bit of anarchy in the UK? Sticking it to the establishment, two fingers to the governing elite. Surely Brexit is the most punk thing to have happened since, well, punk. Except that punk wasn’t very “punk” at all. It was a relatively small, principally middle-class phenomenon, and […]

Well, what a surprise. Despite strong and plausible allegations about state-sponsored doping affecting the whole squad, the IOC has decided not to ban them. Which suggests that the Russians may be as adept at bribery as they are at doping. Though I’m all in favour of allowing athletes to ingest unlimited quantities of performance-enhancing drugs. […]

…is a truly joyous sound. Though maybe not at 7.30 in the morning, seven days a week. But courtesy of the Weird Kids Next Door, that’s what we endure. They leap on to their trampoline every morning, squealing and yelping. You’d think the novelty might have worn off but no, their delight remains volubly undiminished. […]