So many more books: John le Carre is an author I greatly enjoy, particularly the Karla set - The Honourable Schoolboy stands out. Farenheit 451. I once read War and Peace and at the risk of sounding pretentious, bits of it left a lasting effect on me. Others have reminded me of the likes of Animal Farm, Vulcan 607...I used to have a soft spot for Andy McNab’s early novels as well as an easy read by the pool. There are more that will come to me. Someone mentioned The Warriors which is a film I do love, and also one that provided the greatest fancy dress costume I’ve ever made (walking down a street in Newcastle dressed as the Baseball Furies with my mates, accompanied by shouts of “Warriors! Come out to plaaaaaaay!”) When it comes to TV, big fan of Spooks back in the day, loved the first season of True Detective but haven’t returned for 2 and 3, enjoyed Game of Thrones (also read all the books). Luther was great. Mindhunter was excellent. Twin Peaks is also a favourite. Currently working through Money Heist/Casa de Papel. I also managed to get through all of this without mentioning Harry Potter, which I basically grew up reading and watching the films of. Not my first choice compared to some of the aforementioned work but rereading/watching it does twig something sentimental in me.
10 More 'sitcoms' all of which could have been in the top 10! Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads Friday Night Dinner My Hero Goodnight Sweetheart Shelley Cradle To The Grave (based on Danny Bakers brilliant memoirs all 3 of which could have been amongst my books) Police Squad Sykes Dinnerladies Allo Allo And how I missed Dave Allen out of both sketch shows and comedians I really don't know
10 Commentators (sport) Richie Benaud Brian Moore Barry Davies David Coleman Jonathan Agnew Hugh Johns Rob Hawthorne Henry Blofeld Murray Walker Brendan Foster
More than anything else, Blackadder Goes Fourth really needs to be called out for recycling half the plots from Blackadder II and thinking nobody would notice
10 favourite players (not best) Gazza, Sheringham, Ginola, King, Lennon, Berbatov, Bale, Modric, Van Der Vaart & Son
Top Ten Favourite places N17 White Hart Lane London West wittering as the sun is going down and cooking fish on a bbq with lots of cool beers in the box with my family and dog Bali Sea fishing in ilfracombe La Rochelle New York in winter Santorini watching the sun set with Mrs Conn The boozer 4pm on a Friday when you're meant to knock off at 5.00 Sunrise on the peak of helvellyn early summer Cycling down the coastal path of Northumberland Long weekends in Brugge , Beer,mussles and chips Winning away at the library , any time,anyhow ,any score Fantasy time , watching a young Joni Mitchell backed by CSN&Y sitting round a fire in the desert
Top 10 signings I thought would be the bollocks, but ended up just being bollocks 1. Gilberto 2. Helder Postiga 3. Paulinho 4. Dean Richards 5. Giovani Dos Santos 6. Ben Thatcher 7. Nicola Berti 8. Vincent Janssen 9. Lewis Holtby 10. Etienne Capoue
Ten small things that please me Opening a fresh packet of coffee or popping the foil on a coffee jar Top deck front seat of the bus Impromptu phone calls from the grand kids The dog knowing when you've had a crap day at work, they just know Finding a kit Kat that is all chocolate, no wafers Warm summer evenings The smell is fresh mown grass Unplanned session in the pub with mates Sissoko hitting the back of the net and not the Roof of the stand The smell of a pair of new shoes
=====TRUE FACT ALERT======= Dave Allen was my mate Yid Andy's godfather. Whilst they were all working as a Butlin's Redcoats, he introduced Andy's mum and dad. He was in bits when he died. =====TRUE FACT ALERT ENDS===== A true genius........Dave Allen, in case there's any confusion.
My Ten Songs This Week Long December. Counting Crows Hurt. Johnny Cash Iris. The Goo Goo Dolls , just this one track , cant abide anything else they do Electioneering. Morgan Heritage Redemption song. Marley or Strummer Fishermen's Blues. Water Boys The Poacher. Ronnie Lane Downtown Train. Tom Waits So What. Miles Davis Love supreme. John Coltrane This is just for this week , I am always looking for my next favourite band or song
One of my Dads favourite comedians , just him a chair,drink and a fag and a mutual dislike for organised religions
Favourite stand ups Max Miller Greg Davies Sara Pascoe Jon Richardson John Robbins Frank Skinner Rob Newman Stuart Francis Jeremy Hardy Mark Steel
To be that exposed on stage, you have to be unbelievably good, as there's nowhere to hide. It seemed effortless and natural for him...which means that it was anything but. He was very hard working and honed his material to perfect precision.
So used to look forward to people like Dave Allen on Saturday nights Parkinson show , Billy Connolly, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Peter O'Toole, Peter Cooke, they could all hold an audience captive with just the one joke and the telling of it . Parkinson would just let them hold court but it would not be allowed today because the chat shows are all about the hosts ego, just imagine the likes of Oliver Reed or Keith Moon let loose on TV after a session the MSM would be in meltdown I watched the last leg last week and Miriam margolyes made a joke about Boris and these so called " edgy comedians " absolutely **** themselves Well done Miriam
Ahhh....the days when MOTD showed 2 games in sufficient depth to be worthwhile and a 1 hour chat show had a maximum of 3 guests and usually no more than two. Proper legends got the whole hour to themselves. I miss that level of detail and intelligence in what passes for television these days...and when someone like Billy Connolly made his first appearance EVERYBODY was talking about it. It was a shared experience that was the talk of Monday mornings.