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Cliff Richard and The Shadows, “The Final Reunion” – O2 Arena, 26 September 2009
We understand that you’ll never be cool. But we love you, Cliff.
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Odontophobia
…I put this down to a generation of dentists who seemed to come from a military background, recruited in the days when physical strength was required for the job.
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The bubble car picture
And now, perhaps fifty years later, I was looking once more upon the bubble-car picture.
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Lockdown Diary: part 2
Every case of Coronavirus is a game of Russian roulette – and the older you are, the more bullets there are in the cylinder.
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Lockdown Diary: part 1
This is going to be a long haul. Debbie has a rare personality disorder which results in her sometimes finding me extremely annoying.
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The Laboratory in Chestnut Avenue
I learned, perhaps, that the smartest business plan will fail if it upsets customers.
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The Secret Genius of Charles III
Who really wrote the Beatles’ songs? (Or Shakespeare’s plays, come to that.)
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Taid
Taid seems to have preferred the schoolroom to the farm, and perhaps the effort he made to learn English as a child led his part of the family away from the land and into more comfortable (if less beautiful) workplaces.
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Nine Handy Trouble-saving Opera Hacks
Do you ever think there’s a little too much drama in opera? Here I offer a few suggestions as to how the participants could save themselves a bit of trouble.
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Passing Back the Wisdom
“Knowing what you know now, write a letter using exactly 100 words to yourself at the age of sixteen.” That might be fun, thought Nick. Surely it was only fair to give the boy the benefit of his experience?
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The Rolling Stones, O2 Arena, 25 November 2012
Ah, the Stones. Unquestionably the greatest rock’n’roll band of all time. No-one else can match them for authenticity, for appetite, for longevity, most of all for excitement.
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Basil Murray Savage 1910-1994
You don’t usually remember much about the kids in the year above you at school: any interaction tends to be fleeting, unless, for example, you’re good enough to play in the school football team a year early. But I remember Andrew Skinner, or should I say, Skinner! because that was…
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Paddington Bear and the Cholesterol Bath
Come back in a couple of months and you’ll find me sporting whiskers and a white napkin while a rosy-cheeked maid serves me my kippers, eggs and tomatoes under a silver cloche, as my butler hands me a freshly ironed copy of The Times, from which I emerge occasionally to…
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Teacher’s Pet
I had already embarked on a lifetime journey of pedantry, and sensed that an injustice had been done. But I didn’t get involved: I was Mr Savage’s favourite, and there was no reason to put that at risk.
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David Bowie, Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, 24 December 1972
Bowie prowled the stage screaming “Gimme your hands…cause you’re wonderful” – written for this very purpose – reaching out his healing hands to fans like the god he had become that night.
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Ramblings 