Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

Spain scored twice in the last two minutes of the friendly at Wembley last night to grab a 2-2 draw when England had looked certain to win 2-0. “Well”, I said referring to England’s 3-0 victory over Scotland on Friday, “At least we beat the Jocks”. Jocks? My son is 21 and has obviously been […]

Robert Vaughn died this week. He was best known for playing Napoleon Solo in The Man from UNCLE in the 1960s but even I don’t remember that. Though I do remember him in the 1970s playing Harry Rule in The Protectors. No idea what it was about but it all seemed seductively glamorous. Probably rubbish […]

The great man died on Thursday and my bohemian elder sister was a big fan. When I was still at primary school, she lived with about eight other people who wore beads and kaftans in a big shabby flat in Belsize Park. And that’s where I first heard Leonard Cohen. I was intrigued by the […]

Donald Trump is to be President of the United States. Who’d have thought it? Well – and I’m not just saying this – I did. Not because I like him. I loathe him. I think he’s horrible, boorish and unfit for office. But I just knew Hillary Clinton would never win. How useless a candidate […]

Hilarious, eh? The sneering glee with which “liberal” people will set fire to everything Donald Trump represents. We’ve been here before. When Boris Johnson stood as London Mayor, he was dismissed as a “buffoon”. In the General Election, those not voting Labour were denounced as “Tory Scum”. This year, people wanting to leave the EU […]

Though she’d prefer to be known as London’s “Night Czar” for obvious reasons. Congratulations to Amy Lame for being the first person appointed to this role. This honey-voiced American who’s lived here more than half her life is a very welcome appointment. Amy is a funny, fabulous luxuriantly lipsticked lesbian, who founded the riotous Duckie […]

I’ve always loved the Brummies. To me, they’re the most English of English people – situated, as they are in the heart of this sceptred isle. I was up there today and I loved it. A thriving, diverse and vibrant city – a million miles from the much-maligned Birmingham of old: the Bullring, British Leyland […]

Literally. There’s a rather grim stretch of the Harrow Road, not far from where I grew up, that was always known as “Prince of Wales”. Like Swiss Cottage and the Elephant & Castle, it was a neighbourhood named after a pub. And quite a horrible pub. This is where the rough end of Maida Vale […]

Yesterday was a glorious day so I went up to visit my daughter in Cambridge. Pedalling through the cobbled streets, pretending that I too was an undergraduate, I fondly imagined what might have been. But my education was destroyed when my old grammar school went comprehensive in our final year. Half way through our A […]

I’m all set. I’ve got this track lined up. I’ve got the face paint, the flowing robe and flaming crown. So I’m confident that any annoying kids who come to the door tonight tricking or treating will be beating a fairly hasty retreat.