Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

My friend Steve Williams lives in New York and recently drew my attention to UK words and phrases that mean nothing in the US. Things like “Skint”, “Knackered” and “Bob’s Your Uncle”. However, this is probably the best example of Britain and America attaching very different meanings to exactly the same word. Great old sixties […]

No they don’t. And here’s the proof. This grizzled old hippy is Paul Rodgers, one of the greatest rock vocalists this country has ever produced. Front man of Free and then Bad Company but incredibly, in this clip, he was just 20. It’s not just the beard that makes him seem so much older, it’s […]

……this is true – and she says, “Can I just say, you’ve got a really good look”. Note the careful choice of words. “You’ve got a good look” – very different from “You’re good looking”. I was looking particularly unkempt. Battered leather jacket from a charity shop, torn jeans and a pair of very old […]

James Blunt has recently been transformed into a cool, cult hero because of his brilliant ripostes to vicious Internet trolls. My favourite was to a tweet that said “I wish James Blunt was dead”. “I was”, our hero replied, “But on the third day, you’ll never guess what happened”. But there was always something of […]

God, I do. Round our way, we all knew Hi-Tension. They were local boys – the drummer went out with my mate’s sister. So when they appeared on Top of the Pops, we were all very proud in a “Well, who’d have thought it?” sort of way. Years later, I realised just how influential they […]

…..is that they grow up. My friend Micky Treasure and I were bemoaning this only the other night. We agreed that one life’s greatest joys is dancing with your daughter when she’s tiny. And one of its great sadnesses is they don’t stay tiny for long. When my daughter was a toddler, I’d get out […]

Four Top Ten hits from 1985: Who were the artists? One Vision? Easy, that was Queen. Love and Pride? Bit more difficult but it was King. 1999? Well, Prince obviously. And this one: Say I’m Your Number One? Princess. So that’s King, Queen, Prince and Princess all in the Top Ten, all in the same […]

I love Vic Reeves but am I the only one who’s always found Bob Mortimer slightly surplus to requirements? Vic is a true original, a flawed comedy genius. But Bob? He just does what Vic does. Beneath the anarchic veneer, Bob seems very shrewd, sensible and ambitious. He trained as a lawyer and was in […]

My old friend Tom Upstone is coming over. Before he emigrated to Australia many years ago, I used to hang out with him a lot. Real music buff, Tom embraced every genre and I remember him raving about this obscure 1950s Nina Simone track – “You’ve got to hear it”. Back then, that was easier […]

Aretha Franklin’s version is far more famous but this is the original. Aretha took the song and re-did it from the standpoint of a strong, independent woman demanding R-E-S-P-E-C-T from her man. But in Otis Redding’s version, “Respect” is just a euphemism for sex. That’s what he’s pleading for when he gets home. I do […]