Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

On the contrary. I think he was a genius and one of the most important cultural figures the world has ever known. But what I liked best about John Lennon was just a fantastic rock ‘n’ roll singer. It was his raw, rasping vocals that made The Beatles such a brilliant live band in the […]

Me too. Maybe because London has been spared the worst of the current freak weather, we can’t fully appreciate how bad it’s been elsewhere. It has, however, been extremely windy. Well actually, it hasn’t. Not compared with other parts of the country. Nonetheless, this track seems very appropriate this morning. It’s an aural antidote to […]

As the DJ at countless weddings, this is what I had to say as the bride and groom took to the floor for their first dance as man and wife. It was usually something awful and predictable like Unchained Melody or Lady in Red. Another old chestnut was It Must be Love. Not only predictable […]

Many, many reasons. Paul was the better songwriter, the more accomplished musician, the one who frequented avant-garde clubs, constantly seeking inspiration while John decamped to a Surrey mansion in a multi-coloured Rolls-Royce. Sgt Pepper, the most famous and influential album ever made, was Paul’s idea. He wrote and recorded Yesterday with just a guitar and […]

I knew I’d (sort of) grown up when I realised that Songs for Swingin’ Lovers was one of the greatest albums ever made. It was the first LP to feature a suite of songs with a common theme rather than just a random selection of tracks. And that theme, of course is love. In 1956, […]

Sounds just like her, doesn’t it? And as we approach Valentine’s Day, its lyrics are suitably romantic and sung by a woman too. This is good because, contrary to popular belief, women are apparently far less romantic than men. On Friday, for example, who’ll be expected to buy the champagne and roses and book the […]

Those joyless souls who regard it as tacky, naff and horribly commercial. They have a point but aren’t they missing a much bigger one? Its good outweighs its bad – impulsive acts of love and kindness are carried out, relationships started, children conceived. People all over the world owe their very existence to Valentine’s Day, […]

….. as you prepare to emulate a true rock legend. Cozy Powell was the 1970s drummer from central casting. He looked the part because he was the part. He lived it and he died it. How’s this for a proper rock ‘n’ roll death? Aged 50, he was racing down the M4 at 110 mph, […]

Horrible place on the Essex coast and only about an hour up the A12, but people would take their caravans and stay for a fortnight. One of my many uncles had a caravan up there and when I was very young, we went to stay in it. One morning, a small caravan two along from […]

That’s what we were told by careers teachers at school but they turned to be so, so wrong. Traditional branches were ruthlessly replaced by distant call centres, including the first two to hold my constantly overdrawn account. Barclays Bank in Piccadilly is now a famous restaurant called The Wolseley. Barclays in Camden Town is now […]