Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

…..talking about how I always hated dogs but now quite like them. As I walked into the studio, they placed this rare rockabilly tune from 1956. I no longer wanted to talk about dogs, I wanted to talk about the huge rockabilly revival of the late 70s which, trust me, was much bigger than punk. […]

So I will. Sort of. If you’ve never heard this before, it’s unbelievable. How on earth did Yvonne Gage get away with it? Released a couple of years after the Michael Jackson meisterwork, the resemblance to it is spooky. More a trick than treat. It’s a wonder Jacko’s lawyers didn’t drive a stake through her […]

It’s a tradition that seems to have gone. Your parents’ friends and neighbours were your “Aunties” and “Uncles”. We had loads, including Auntie Bet whose son Mick was standing in our kitchen one night in the mid-70s with his flatmate Terry. When Terry went to the loo, I said to Mick “He looks just like […]

Just saying.

Heavy rain, severe gales and RIP Lou Reed. I was a big fan. Not just of his music but also of his roles in a pair of charmingly odd films from mid-90s called Smoke and Blue In The Face. A couple of years later, he was at No.1 with this version of “Perfect Day” recorded […]

But this morning, I think it does. Just. It is indeed a beautiful sunday. Lovely and sunny – clear blue skies – trees shimmering with autumnal reds and golds. And there’s something rather sweet about its upbeat melody and joyful lyrics. So let’s smile, sing along and enjoy it. And maybe not mention that, later […]

Let me tell you this, then I promise I’ll shut up about Spandau Ballet. I was working on a commercial with Gary Kemp and asked him why he didn’t get Spandau Ballet back together again. “I’d love to”, he said, “So would my brother but since the court case, Tony won’t speak to us”. Tony […]

One appearance in one hit movie. When I say “appearance”, you can’t actually see me. I’m one of about 100 choirboys in a David Essex film called “Stardust”. He plays a rock star whose mother’s funeral is a very grand affair, hence a hundred of us bussed out to St Bernard’s Church in Northolt. At […]

Which reminded me of my friend Nick Gill whose childhood was also spent there. He and I grew up at the same time though hundreds of miles apart, obsessed with music albeit with quite different tastes. I’ve always loathed The Smiths and he scorns my love for Spandau Ballet. Yet there are still vast areas […]

I always think of the blue-haired matriarch when I hear Macy Gray but God, I love this record. “I try to say goodbye and I choke. Try to walk away and I stumble”. If Homer Simpson is worthy of such passion and poignancy, surely there’s hope for us all.