Author Archives: Paul

And he said that if anyone was going to be a huge star, it was……….Andrew Ridgeley. No one, apparently, ever thought that George Michael would be famous. And without Andrew, he almost certainly wouldn’t have been. According to Tom, it was Ridgeley who was the driving force behind Wham – extrovert and charismatic in a […]

No, no, you’re missing the point. Christmas isn’t supposed to “little”, it supposed to be huge. For me, it’s not commercial enough. I love everything about it. We make contact with people we haven’t seen for ages, we have big parties, we do kind things for each other, we decorate and illuminate both our homes […]

Or is it the BBC’s insidious anti-London bias? Whatever the reason,”The People’s Songs”, Radio 2’s otherwise excellent series, which finished last night, has had a distinct lack of Southern accents. The series documents post-war British history with popular songs and the attendant memories of ordinary Britons. Considering London and the South East has the UK’s […]

Office party, balloons, poppers, paper hats at jaunty angles, too much Asti Spumante and the store cupboard with Chloe from accounts. Home at 3am. No phone. One shoe. Pretending the following morning that you can’t remember a thing. And it all starts with this record. So go on, join the drunken conga. It’s what the […]

He’s a seriously good art director, always on the look out for ideas to make his work even better. It was at Phil’s suggestion that I found myself yesterday on the 3rd floor of the NCP car park in Brewer Street at a Steve McQueen exhibition. Fascinating unseen photographs but best of all, the original […]

And Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmas Time. You’ve heard them both far too many times, so why don’t we play this instead? The Butties are a Beatles tribute band who’ve had a far longer career than the original Fab Four. So it’s no wonder they sound more like The Beatles than The Beatles. If John, Paul, […]

Shocking pink – and I mean truly shocking – and made even worse by a lurid floral pattern. I’ve worn it to practically all my children’s school concerts. In a sea of sensibly dressed parents, I stood out like a (very) sore thumb but at least my kids knew I was there. My 15 year […]

Mine would be the one I had a few years ago at Pizza Express in Dean Street. I can’t even remember what it was – a margherita, I think – but it was served with a side order of Gregory Porter. This little Soho pizzeria is one of London’s oddities because it is also one […]

And by all accounts, Dean Martin truly didn’t. He never claimed to be a great singer, only someone who could “carry a tune”. He wasn’t in the same league as Frank Sinatra. Yet Sinatra worshipped him because Dino’s good looks, quick wit and insouciant charm made him the epitome of cool. That relaxed, half-cut style […]

Christmas isn’t Christmas without Lindisfarne. Tony grew up on Tyneside and every year the Lindisfarne Christmas Concert at Newcastle City Hall was a yuletide tradition. The last one was in 1993 but with the City Hall threatened with closure, Lindisfarne have got back together to help save it. This Christmas, their sell-out show will return. […]