Author Archives: Paul

I’m a big fan of Soul Music on Radio 4 where people explain their emotional connection to a particular piece of music. It can be fascinating but now and again, it descends into mawkishness. This week’s piece of music was Mr. Blue Sky. But as soon as a forlorn and dignified woman mentioned her husband […]

I went to see it last night. At the Camden Town Odeon obviously because it’s round the corner from Alan Bennett’s house where The Lady parked her van from around 1975 till about 1990. I worked round there in the 80s and often used to see her in Fine Fare in Camden High Street, behaving […]

All right, maybe not scared but slightly in awe. Ever since I was little, I’ve felt they possess almost magical sensory powers that compensate for blindness and allow them to navigate life and its many obstacles. And that’s slightly scary. Lennie Peters, seen here singing his biggest hit, was an associate of the Krays. When […]

I bump into him now and again because and we both like to hide in Lantana, a little Australian cafe off Goodge Street. Paul Whitehouse is a proper comedy genius who, because of his casual and unaffected nature, didn’t always get the credit he deserved. Take this track and the Loadsamoney character. Paul co-wrote both […]

I have nothing to add to the horror and revulsion felt all over the world at the terrorist atrocities in Paris. But perhaps the strangest thing about my childhood is that I used to go there all the time. My eldest sister lived in Paris and the rest of us took full advantage of this […]

It’s Halloween but my kids are now too old to go trick or treating. Mind you, there was a time when they loved it. My wife and a couple of other mums would take their ghoulishly attired offspring around Muswell Hill, tricking and treating. I never went. My job was to stay at home with […]

I went to see Spectre last night and thought about all the James Bonds. Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Despite the hundreds of dastardly attempts to kill them, they’re all alive and well. Perhaps there is a magic about playing 007. Roger Moore, who was still doing […]

Which obviously means kids will be off school. But now it increasingly means that adults will be off work too. “I’m not in next week”, I’ve heard quite a few grown-ups say, “It’s half-term”. “How old are you?” I’m tempted to reply “Twelve?” I’ve no problem with a work/life balance and you’d be hard pushed […]

Mine would have to be Phil Fearon’s 30th birthday party on a riverboat down the Thames. It was around 1986 and Phil Fearon was a big star. I didn’t know him but he was local, I used to see him around, so that was good enough. My mate Joe knew which boat it was and […]

This is a man wearing black tie. Black tuxedo, white shirt, bow tie. That’s what “Black Tie” means. This is what people always wore to advertising awards ceremonies when Black Tie was stipulated. Not any more. Apparently younger attendees were so thick that they thought Black Tie meant wearing a black tie. So more and […]