Pressure and how it impacts on performance is an impossible thing to accurately quantify or control although there is no lack of trying and well paid ‘professionals’ on hand to assist. With Andy Murray, who I would argue is the greatest British sportsman of the last 50 years, our tennis appetite has been adequately provided…
My latest venture to arrest the career oblivion visited on me by lockdown is to create an audio version of my book, Eclipsed. The story of how my eldest son out-gunned my best efforts in show-business before his teenage years. He is Tom Holland, the actor best known nowadays as the latest incarnation of Spider-Man….
Us human beings – we like to big ourselves up. We embellish our roles in life and exaggerate our achievements to curry influence and gain respect. But very few people have genuinely important jobs. I mean jobs that really matter. When Nikki had an ectopic pregnancy, she was rushed in to an emergency procedure. When…
Like a lot of little boys growing up I was fairly obsessed by cars but my interest has waned considerably now that I am a little man. Not totally, but it has certainly dwindled as my priorities have shifted. Walking to school each morning, I would pass two parked cars which completely captured my heart….
Two officials letters arrive this week. One is a first but the other is all too familiar and depressing. The former being a summons for Jury Service duty, at the Old Bailey no less. Completing the summons (online) I felt a sense of civic duty, upstanding tax paying member (although not this year) of the…
Sometimes the stars align. Certainly this week, circumstances conspired for us Hollands. Harry’s short film completed and it appears, very successfully. Tom’s birthday. Being allowed to fly and visit Scotland. The British weather finally breaking and providing some much needed sunshine. Gleneagles is a rather special place anyway. Voted the best hotel in the UK,…
Having completed the retakes on the audio version of Eclipsed – and based on this, now revising the print edition for stray typos and making some edits also, I am adding a few further anecdotes which are appropriate and in-keeping with the story. This is a good example… I have since returned to New…
So we emerge from lockdown and I expect with mixed emotions depending on our circumstances and outlook. Good riddance for many people but for not for all. For some people, it has been a truly wonderful experience. So convenient for those of us relieved of some burdensome duties like visiting our elderly relatives. And let’s…
In the news this week is Kloe Kardashian – a ‘celebrity’ who grates on me alone for the spelling of her name and before I even learn of why she is making headlines. The Kardashians are in my mind of late because having just read and recorded Eclipsed as an audio book, there is a…
This week the planets really did align… On Monday in England, we were finally allowed by our masters to play sports again – the clocks went forward, thereby extending our evenings and daylight hours – and then the sun (which thankfully is not controlled by our masters and politicians) decided to play ball also by…
