Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show
Best double album ever?
There have been quite a few shouts lately for Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti which was released 40 years ago this week. But for me, it would have to be the double album that will celebrate that milestone towards the end of next year. The word “genius” is now bandied around far too easily but when […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
I’ve never seen star trek.
Never. I’ve always loathed science fiction, so I was happy to let the Starship Enterprise boldly go on its endless voyage without me. Obviously I knew who Mr. Spock was and Leonard Nimoy, the man who played him, died today aged 83. Despite the universal phenomenon of Star Trek, I remember Leonard Nimoy best for […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Are you a triple noer?
My son is. So is my friend Sara. They never say “No”. They always say “No, no, no”. Now I’ve pointed this out you’ll suddenly notice that a surprising number of your family and friends are triple noers too. Which brings us to the this fabulous version of a famous hit. Dawn Penn, Bounty Killer, […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Loz Newton on Radio 4.
There’s a sentence I never thought I’d write. I was at school with Loz and still see him now and again. I enjoy his company but – or maybe because – he was always a bit of a handful. Loz came from a a big Irish family, hardly unusual at my school. He had a […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
I once had a serious addiction.
To the Motoring section of the Exchange & Mart. I just had to see it and, within seconds, I’d be be scouring those classifieds for an automotive gem. Nothing classic – though they would be now – and never more than about £600, I bought all sorts of cars from a Morris Minor to an […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Eddie Redmayne wins the oscar for Best Actor.
And rightly so. His portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything was…I was going to say incredible but it was actually the opposite: completely credible. You felt you were watching the professor himself, not an actor pretending. So unlike, say, Michael Caine where you feel you’re watching Michael Caine first and whatever character […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
新年快樂
Or if you’re Chinese, Happy New Year. Apparently, it’s the Year of the Sheep. Or is it the Year the Ram? Or the Year of the Goat? Nobody seems quite sure. So just to enjoy this old 70s classic, let’s declare 2015 the Year of the Cat.

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Any excuse for a party.
I do love Vanessa Feltz. Highly intelligent, hugely exuberant and boy does she love a party. Some of the most lavish bashes I’ve ever been to have been at her house in St. John’s Wood and I’m going to another one tonight. Vanessa is celebrating her recent induction into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
Would it happen now?
I bumped into my old friend Sean Doyle the other day. Always a joy because we have much in common. Similar age, similar backgrounds, similar occupations and similar tastes in music. Except that Sean is a huge Northern Soul fan – well, he’s from Manchester – and I’m not. Northern Soul records were revered simply […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next
30 years of EastEnders.
First broadcast on 19th February 1985. There are many reasons to loathe this programme but, as a famous black actor once explained to me, the worst thing is its inherent racism. He couldn’t bear EastEnders because of its apparent refusal to portray black characters in a bad light. But it was the baddie roles, he […]

- John Cooper-C...26th Jul 2019
- I should have...24th Jul 2019
- Fifty years s...18th Jul 2019
- Normally, I'd...16th Jul 2019
- If only I had...15th Jul 2019
- I've run out ...10th Jul 2019
- Rock'n'Roll b...7th Jul 2019
- Cockles and w...6th Jul 2019
- Another lovel...3rd Jul 2019
- The perfect a...30th Jun 2019
- I couldn't be...28th Jun 2019
- Shame about R...24th Jun 2019
- Music on your...23rd Jun 2019
- ITV bans all-...21st Jun 2019
- Rocketman and...17th Jun 2019 next