Keith Chegwin & some of his “best” jokes
I cannot claim to have known Keith Chegwin very well, but I worked with him quite a few times during my days in TV. I reconnected with him more recently through Twitter. Yet, when asked “who was the nicest presenter you ever worked with?” my answer was, invariably, “Cheggers”. I was sad to learn of […]
Likely Lads locations
The death of Rodney Bewes, who played Bob in the 1970s BBC sitcom Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, reminded me of how, as a child, I’d watch the programme hoping to recognise a local location. I often did. The two-handers between Bob and Terry still crack along despite the passage of the years (although […]
Me and the world’s greatest magician (and Keith Chegwin)
Uri Geller is at it again, and proving once more that our appetite for his particular brand of film-flam remains remains unsated. Check this out: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/uri-geller-cia-wanted-turn-weapon/ Yes, this is Uri is on the front page of the UK’s Daily Telegraph today with a story picked up by most of the other newspapers. He is claiming (yet again!) that, back in his […]
World Book Day and the nicest school I have ever visited
I have now done two World Book Days as an author, and I always think back to the ones when my own two children (now 14) would dress up for school as a favourite book character. We did, among others, Angelina Ballerina (a fairly easy costume, that one, largely achieved with face-paint and a […]
Lost ‘Two Ronnies’ sketch
Well, by “lost” I mean “not on Youtube” which, I realise, is a different thing altogether, but I’d love to see it again. It’s one of their wonderful songs: they are street sweepers and that’s about all I can remember, other than it was hilarious. Every now and then I check to see if someone […]
“Blue Peter” and me
From the age of about six to twelve, one thing marked the passing days as surely as swimming with Dad on Saturday, church on Sunday, scouts on Friday, and that was – every Monday and Thursday on BBC-1 at 5.00pm – Blue Peter. Even the Blue Peter year had its own internal calendar: the lighting of […]
Accent mystery solved!
In my last post, I queried the accent given to the late Duke of Windsor by the actor Alex Jennings in the Netflix series “The Crown.’ A reader, Mr RT of New York, emailed an explanation for the apparent failure of the actor to reproduce faithfully the “received pronunciation” of the time, and to pronounce words […]
“The Crine” and an accent mystery
Mrs W and I are thee episodes into Netflix’s mega-budget offering “The Crown,” and are loving it. (Though I am developing a slight obsession over one character’s accent.) It’s not just that every shot is beautifully-composed, or that the costumes are gorgeous, and that even the CGI’d locations and sets are indistinguishable from – probably […]
Whistling: top 5 songs
I learnt to whistle over the summer, and accomplishment of which I’m much prouder than it really merits. I don’t mean whistling a tune. I’ve been able to do that since I was very little. (My Gran would say, “Oh, it’s Whistling Rufus again!” which I assumed to be some performer but I’ve just looked […]
Game of Thrones spoilers: I give up!
I was watching the news the other night and the newsreader said something like: “Coming up next, news of the opening game of the Euros as England faced Russia earlier today. So if you don’t want to know the result, time to leave the room.” It’s familiar enough stuff; we hear it all the time. Then […]
