Snow, Ice and Volcanoes.
22nd May, 2011. I ache, and it’s all my own fault. I’ve been back on the snowboard this week! It’s great fun and great exercise, but in all honesty, my coccyx could really do without a relentless battering these days… I’d fully intended to write a blog about that; my passion for ‘unseasonal winter sport’ [...]
Rule Britannia!
2nd May, 2011. So, Will and Kate got hitched. By now, you’re either beaming with National pride or you’re sick to death of all the coverage. Did you watch the Beeb or did you watch Phil & Julie? Did you have a street party? Was Beatrice’s hat just about the worst thing you’ve ever seen? [...]
Farewell Liz.
19th April, 2011. If we’re doing our jobs well, Continuity Announcers generally go un-noticed. I suppose it’s like any job really, something only normally stands out when it goes horribly wrong. Last week, I happened to make a personal reference on the end of Coronation Street; nothing out of the ordinary, just something I wanted [...]
For once in my life…
25th March, 2011. Picture the scene; a darkened, open-air arena with an eager crowd of thousands, crammed in, craning to see the stage, aching legs and backs, everyone fighting for a view of the stage, yet nothing but some ambient dance music to keep us going. The best part of three hours we’ve been waiting [...]
Striking the right balance in a crisis.
14th March, 2011. I watched a film last week called Tokyo Sonata, a strange little flick from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa that depicts the complete disintegration of a modern Japanese family in trying economic times. It’s difficult to relate to at first, but I learnt a fair bit about the difference in culture, this family’s day [...]
My week by iPhone…
4th March, 2011. I’ve had one of those weeks that, with work and a bit of play too, has taken me all over London. Now what you have to understand here is that travel for most Londoners is all about getting from A to B as quickly as possible, staying dry and generally ignoring everyone [...]
A funny old week…
4th February, 2011. When it comes to meeting celebrities in the flesh, you know what they say; ‘Always prepare to be disappointed’. I’ve shamelessly met a fair few famous folk in my time and by and large, it’s pretty true. Not so of Mr Robin Cousins. In fact, a nicer man, you couldn’t wish to [...]
The ‘Axis of banality’
17th January, 2011. I usually try and steer clear of discussions about TV programmes, especially those on ITV1. ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ and all that. Ironically, that saying’s quite appropriate in this case as The Biggest Loser is back. A show full of morbidly obese couples fighting the flab and each other [...]
A good old East End ‘knees-up’.
26th December, 2010. Now, who’s got a bad word to say about Barbara Windsor? No one, that’s who. A ‘National Treasure’, that’s how she’s always described. Small, bubbly and with that laugh of hers, instantly infectious. I’ve always loved ‘Our Babs’, ever since I was a young boy watching Carry On movies in the school [...]
“Would you like another glass of Champagne, Mr Manchester?”
12th October, 2010. I’m sat, well sort of slumped really in one of those flat beds at 35,000ft on the upper deck of a 747 bound for Los Angeles. Club World, they call it, and for the first time ever it’s legit; bought, paid for and no need for a flash of the pearly whites [...]
Why Ann Widdecombe is good for the soul…
9th October, 2010. Being employed by ‘the other side’, I feel slightly naughty spending my Saturday night ensconced in BBC TV Centre, but hey-ho, there’s a ticket to Strictly in my pocket and they’re like gold dust these days. So donning the suit and a big grin, off we go to Studio One. Reality TV [...]
