Recently I have written a few obituaries or tributes to men who have had a large bearing on my life. And so it is this week with the passing of Michael Apted, the director of P’Tang Yang Kipperbang, a TV film that I starred in. Well, starred in? What I mean is, appeared in. I…
The Holland family are back to full strength over Christmas with Tom and Harry back from the States and Sam back from Gleneagles. And due to various circumstances, all back to their parents’ house. The Old Folks Home as they might call it. Like an old school Christmas then and great fun but for the…
There is a romantic notion of being a writer. Something magical. Only an imagination required and how bountiful it can be. The sales and acclaim. Book tours and readings. Adaptations, premieres… And the process of writing itself; so noble and dignified. A room with a view for the creative juices. A house by the ocean…
Doing numerous radio interviews for Takes on Life, presenters off-air have been careful to enquire if it’s agreeable to make mention of my progeny and in particular my first born. I am approving of their etiquette and manners and I quickly assure them that is absolutely fine. Hell, had ‘Tom’ not happened, it is unlikely…
Finally, an upside of Covid 19 with Sam returning home because the world famous Gleneagles resort has been shut until February 2021. Waiting for him at Gatwick airport this week I felt ambivalent. Excited of course to see my Sam but saddened to experience a once bustling airport now so deserted and desolate; a metaphor…
A chap came to our house this week and a very nice chap he was too. I say this because it happens to be true but also because he was delivering a swanky new printer for Nikki. And for free by the way, courtesy of a YouTube clip that Paddy made when we were launching…
People prefer absolutes in life, of course. Binary decisions and outcomes. But life is often more complex than this and becoming ever more so. Who crossed the finishing line first? This is fine when measuring the fastest sprinter on earth but less satisfactory when the finishing line happens to be in an election as we…
How many kids grow up to do for a living what they dreamt of? Not many, I’d say. Certainly not the ones who planned on being astronauts. Like most little boys, I had fleeting aspirations of being a football player and to play for En-ger-land. I wasn’t a very clever child and yet I quickly…
I owe a great deal to Des O’Connor who died last week, as anyone who has read Eclipsed can attest. It might even be that Des had a greater impact on my life and my career than anyone else. He was a rare thing in show-biz. Like the late, great Bob Monkhouse he was happy…
With three Holland boys away, our house has never been bigger and I suppose this is a good thing. People often cite space as a life goal. There are other upsides too… like chargers being more available. Less likely to go missing for one reason because it is easier to finger the culprit. This makes…
