Author Archives: Paul

21st October 2015 was the date, 30 years into the future, that Marty McFly and Doc Brown found themselves in the much-loved 1985 movie. Much has been made of the how different the reality of 2015 is from the way the film envisaged it. And it is very different. For instance back in the mid […]

The first new grammar school for more than 40 years is set to open in Kent. And it will surely pave the way for many more. I’m always surprised that those who lean to the left aren’t vociferous supporters of grammar schools. They were set up to give poorer kids the chance to compete on […]

Back in the 80s, my “creative partner” was an art director called Dave Bell and he was a huge Everton fan. So if QPR were playing away (my devotion to my team seldom stretched up a motorway) and Everton were playing in London, I’d go with Dave and sit among the Scallies in the away […]

Cliches are usually cliches because they’re true. And it would seem that the old stereotype about Scots’ parsimony has basis in fact. In a survey of 120 UK areas to find which residents are most careful with money, the Orkneys and the Shetlands came first and second. “We have a save, save, mentality here” boasted […]

By which I mean a family outing to the Adelphi Theatre last night to see my old friend Michael Hobbs camping it up in the musical version of Kinky Boots. Despite it being a noble British tradition embodied by Danny La Rue, Lily Savage and Mrs. Brown’s Boys, men dressed as women has never been […]

Was a free ticket last night to see “Listen to me, Marlon” at the BFI. It’s a fantastically involving documentary about Marlon Brando, narrated by the legend (for once this epithet is entirely justified) himself. It’s brilliantly pieced together from hundreds of cassette and video tapes discovered at his house after his death. Yes, he […]

Scottish singer-songwriter Jim Diamond passed away yesterday. Much mourned, he was apparently an exceptionally decent man. He’d struggled for years and finally topped the charts in 1984 with this. The week it went to No.1 was the week Bob Geldof had gathered a galaxy of stars to record the first Band Aid single. When interviewed, […]

Wouldn’t you prefer them to get back behind their desks? They they looked more credible, conveyed more authority and put that vital bit of distance between us and them. I thought of this when I heard about the death this week of Gordon Honeycombe, one of the great newscasters who were household names in their […]

The Brunswick Estate was built in the early 70s and was once regarded as one of the worst council estates in London. Hundreds of flats encased in an ugly concrete brutalist structure surrounding a horrible shopping precinct where most of the shops were boarded up. Then a few years ago, someone had the (literally) bright […]

I’ve seen three in the past week. The Morris Minor, old-fashioned even when it was new, was bound to become the vehicle of choice for retro beardyman. I had one very briefly when I was about 20 – £200 from an old lady in East Acton. But before I’d got it home, I knew I […]