Author Archives: Paul

Though he’s best remembered for What Becomes of the Brokenhearted. That song has been officially recognised as a “Bona Fide Motown Classic” and has therefore been overplayed for the last 30 years on every oldies radio station in the world. Great as it is, I couldn’t care less if I never heard it again. But […]

Very feminist, very feisty, very funny. But as someone brought up by a strong mother and with four forthright sisters, I’m always slightly baffled by feminists. Like so many men who don’t have a sexist or misogynist bone in their bodies (with my upbringing, how could I have?) I often feel I’m being harangued for […]

All those who said “The Beatles’, go to the bottom of the class. The band in question was Ferry Aid, assembled for a one-off charity single to raise money for victims of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster in 1987. Somehow, it’s been forgotten but it deserves to be remembered because it’s a fantastic piece of music. […]

I say “apparently” because I had no idea who she was. I saw a gaggle of paparazzi and TV news crews gathered outside Basing Street Studios to catch the stars of Band Aid 30 on the way in to cut a new version of an old chestnut. “Rita! Rita!” they yelled. I had to google […]

…which depicts the famous Christmas Day truce between British and German soldiers during the First World War in which they ceased fire, exchanged gifts and played football. On the one hand, it’s been beautifully made in conjunction with the Royal British Legion. Its central message – that Christmas is a time for sharing and for […]

A big TV and radio star in the early 80s, but always a bit of a pillock. He famously refused to play Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax” on the Radio 1 breakfast show, denouncing it as “obscene”, so it should come as no surprise that, thirty years later, he’d be a very vocal supporter of […]

As millions of us do every year on Remembrance Sunday as a mark of respect to those who gave their lives to protect the freedoms we are fortunate enough to take for granted. When I do, my wife will no doubt be berating me for having neither aptitude for, nor interest in, domestic chores of […]

It’s my friend Karen’s birthday today and I’m sure she will have been, as we all are once a year, asked this question by seemingly incredulous people. As if it’s an achievement to have a birthday. As though it’s somehow unusual to have been born. Nonetheless, it’s still cause for celebration. So for the estimated […]

……who you gonna call?” My mate Dave and I didn’t know who to call about this – perhaps the strangest thing that’s ever happened to either of us. One half-term, when we were about fifteen, we were getting the 52 bus to Kensington High St. We saw it approaching along Roe Green and ran round […]

I have many sisters and by the time I was a toddler, my sister Anita was already a teenager and when she went out on a date, apparently I often went along too. I don’t remember it but something about this song, which must have been a hit at the time, stirs a vague and […]