Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

Grammy-winning country artist Shelby Lynne is 44 today. And she deserves our recognition for this morose but magnificent track from her album I am Shelby Lynne. Even if she doesn’t sound like the sort of girl who’ll be celebrating with a nice, big party tonight. \

…all examples of “swearing” without actually swearing. For years I thought that, instead of “Dadgummit”, Bill was saying “That guy I met” which, in the context of this song, would make sense. But “dadgummit” is a phrase employed by people who regard “God damn it” as blasphemous and want to express the sentiment without saying […]

It makes sense to convert a dusty old attic into an extra bedroom. We did it. And on a clear day from the top of my house, you can see Canary Wharf. But it’s not a clear day, is it? And the bit they never tell you about sleeping in a loft is that, when […]

Tony Blackburn announced this from the stage and I thought it was a rather sick joke. We were at the Radio London Soul Night Out at the National Ballroom in Kilburn. A bloke was led on to the stage – dark glasses, braids in his hair – and seated down at a keyboard. That’s when […]

A recent report claims that Britons are falling behind the rest of the world in basic numeracy skills and Brian has discovered why. Kids, he says, no longer have dartboards on their bedroom doors and that’s why their maths homework is suffering. Darts, he claims, is the quickest route to arithmetical proficiency – requiring lightning-fast […]

But when I arrived to DJ at this rough old pub just off Latimer Road, I could see that this particular bash had little to do with debutantes or homosexuals. It was a firm of low-rent villains and their molls celebrating “a pal” coming out of prison. Still, it was all going well until about […]

Roger Hodgson is a great songwriter and a huge star. Everyone knows his songs, everyone knows his band, Supertramp, yet far fewer people know his name. Until relatively recently, the same was true of the other R. Hodgson. Roy had enjoyed a stellar career in football, managing teams all over the world and yet in […]

And a law passed to ensure they retain their original features and that other artists are forbidden to tamper with them? I’ve often thought that Ronan Keating should have faced prosecution for his hideous cover of “Fairytale of New York” and I felt the same way about “Family Affair” – Sly Stone and nobody else. […]

I’ve known Vanessa Feltz for years. She has a First in English from Cambridge and is one of the brightest people I have ever met – so much sharper and more articulate than Jeremy Vine whenever she sits in for him on Radio 2. Perhaps she should be presenting Newsnight or Panorama and not prancing […]

….when it claims the lives of so many addicts? Obviously rock stars are often immensely rich and can check in for the very best treatment but it’s more than that. In Eric Clapton’s case, it’s the ferocious determination that made him a star in the first place. The will and tenacity that made him practise […]