Category Archives: Worlds Shortest Radio Show

Will this spawn a new generation of playground bores who can recite every word of the Parrot Sketch? Oh, I do hope not. It’s often assumed that John Cleese went from the glory of Python straight to further adulation in Fawlty Towers but he didn’t. He laboured for a while in between as Les Dawson’s […]

A kid, no more than about twelve, standing alone at the bus stop in school uniform, having a fag. Smoking schoolboys were once a very common sight. An enterprising newsagent near our school knew his market very well and used to sell single cigarettes for 5p each. This boy looked like he was on day […]

This is always regarded as a summer song but with that opening line, it’s very obviously about winter. Looking out at brown leaves and a grey sky, this is the ideal day to play it. Michelle Phillips, the co-writer, was expressing her desire to be back in the warmth of her native California while enduring […]

It was my friend Pete O’Riordan who introduced me to Arthur Alexander, a largely unknown soul singer whose work was covered by some very famous artists. The Beatles covered this one on their first album but Arthur’s original is much better. I love the way he says “Give back my ring to me and you’ll […]

….but one particular portrait gave me the creeps. It was of Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s father. There is no deeper tragedy than the loss of a child but something about this man has always made me feel uneasy. When Amy was alive, he was accused of cashing in on her success, especially when he made a […]

Oh, I think so. We’ve had West End musicals based on the songs of Queen, Abba and The Spice Girls, so I’d have thought the bearded Brummie’s work was ideal for genre. The man is a genius. He formed The Move, ELO and Wizzard. He wrote and produced a solo album called Boulders on which […]

Same as Prince Charles so he liked to joke that he always got a 21-gun salute on the day. His musical tastes were much as you’d expect – Matt Monro, Jim Reeves (obviously) and anything Irish. But he also had a curious penchant for reggae which, he said, had a “good beat”. This track was […]

…… in a poignant, pared-down arrangement. This is now the standard soundtrack of too many TV commercials. Including the latest John Lewis Christmas ad. And all its predecessors. We’re getting a bit tired of this particular gimmick, aren’t we, though I do quite like this young singer/old song combo. I don’t think it’s been used […]

Not for The Beatles, Jimmy Tarbuck or Stevie Gerrard. And certainly not for Cilla Black. But for being the first city in Britain to abolish its bus lanes. The first city to stand up to the invidious forces of capitalism in this way. They’d had enough. The roads they’d paid for had been sliced in […]

Just before 11.00, shoppers were asked over the Tannoy to observe the two-minute silence. Everyone duly did and it was a very strange sight. People just standing stock-still and silent with their trolleys in the aisles. However, quite a few people arrived during the hiatus. Some were chatting happily in foreign tongues but suddenly stopped, […]