Author Archives: Paul

I’m saddened this morning to hear of the death of Anne Kirkbride, better known as Deirdre Barlow from Coronation Street. She was only 60 but for one so relatively young, she’d been part of British life for as long as most of us can remember. She played Deirdre for 42 years – 18 to 60, […]

Thousands of Crystal Palace fans were chanting this yesterday to the tune of the Outhere Brothers’ 90s anthem. And no wonder. Their team came from 2-0 down to beat Burnley 3-2, thanks to two goals from home-grown hero Dwight Gayle. The loudest section of any football ground in Britain is the Holmesdale Road stand at […]

My sister Susan, the first person in my huge extended family to go to university. How delighted was my mum? Not particularly. “You’re 18, my girl, time you went out to work”. How she got her O and A levels, I will never know. Our house was not conducive to studying, especially when my raucous […]

Mike and Bernie Winters, “comedy’ double-act hugely popular in the 60s and 70s. Mike, like David, was the more serious of the two. Bernie, like Ed, was the one people took less seriously. In their early days, Mike was on stage at the Glasgow Empire doing his schtick and Bernie appeared from behind the curtain. […]

It was set in 1964 and released in 1979, a mere fifteen years later. Yet when audiences watched it, it was like watching a costume drama from a different world. In those fifteen years, music and fashion changed beyond recognition. Not once but several times. Between ’64 and ’79, Britain went from mods & rockers […]

My daughter is doing this for a school play. I may be no use with the Shakespeare but have proved invaluable with the soundtrack. I’ve compiled her a Mod playlist and a Rocker playlist, introduced her to dozens of fifties and sixties gems and of course, made her watch Quadrophenia. “Were you a Mod or […]

Better known as Suggs – 54 today. I’ve known him for years. I saw him just before Christmas when he and famous tailor Mark Powell (Clang, clang! How’s that for a double name-drop?) kidnapped me and took me to a Soho drinking club. Suggs is not the mad, zany nutty boy you might expect him […]

Obviously I’m not going. Not because I loathe Lloyd Webber musicals. Nor because I have anything against Nicole Scherzinger or a bad memory of the ghastly Elaine Page singing a song with that title. It’s not Cats that I despise, it’s cats. Horrible, sly, vicious creatures – the very sight of one gives me the […]

But last night, through the magic of Netflix, I watched Twenty Feet From Stardom, that superb documentary about the lives of backing singers. These – I was going to say “unsung” – heroes and heroines have added their magnificent talents to countless famous artists’ hits and live performances but very few people had ever heard […]

One was a young TV producer called Steve Binder, the other was Elvis Presley. Pinder had been asked to produce a TV special in which Elvis was to croon Christmas carols, wearing a tuxedo. Binder declined, telling Elvis that thanks to years of making bad records and even worse films, he was a washed-up has-been. […]