Gigging this week and in order… Vienna, Budapest, Brighton and tonight, to top it all… no not Vegas, but Sevenoaks of course! And what a small world it is. After the gig in Budapest a man approaches me. He looks a little sheepish and anxious. He is good looking and in suspiciously good shape for…
I have never been woke or trendy. I don’t even remember being down with the kids, when I was a kid and so last week, I felt very current and modern when I was required to wear a dress for a commercial casting. Comics of a certain age who happen to be pale, male and…
Not easy making a living in the arts. Certainly, the odds are firmly stacked against with millions taking aim and so few hitting the target let alone the bullseye. We are familiar with statistics about how many actors are unemployed. Variously 90-95%. And I can attest to the reality that most authors can only dream…
This week on BBC R4’s The Today Programme, was a lovely tribute to Seamus Heaney – with the presenters speaking in hushed and suitably referential tones about the great writer. And it struck me how fortunate I am to have met the revered poet. (The Hay Literature festival, back in the day when my books…
Over the weekend, Sam and Harry shared with us some anecdotes of their world trip that they took together earlier this year – organised by Harry and paid for by mum and dad – and with ample spending money for them to have fun, remain fed and watered and see them both safely home. On…
Having been born and lived in London all of my life, I have many memories of this world city which has been transformed in the last decade or so and continues to changing so much before our eyes. And no better example of such a dramatic transformation than Shepherds Bush? All Londoners will have a…
Having a son like my eldest is definitely odd – especially so, given what happened to him yesterday evening. And as you can imagine, I am constantly asked a number of questions; Am I going to retire now? No Did Tom go to a drama school? No In fact, until Tom played Billy in Billy…
Traffic is normally a bad thing and why we have apps to avoid it. Unless we have a blog of course, whereupon traffic is the Holy Grail. On-line – traffic is success and means sales and income. And as the owner of a website and blog, I find myself with a unique opportunity being the…
I have written on this blog before about the various issues I have with celebrity golf days. Namely the humiliation that comes with being a ‘celebrity’ of dubious calibre and especially so to my playing partners who have paid top dollar in the hope of playing golf with Alan Shearer, Harry Rednapp, Mike Tindall… An…
On my way in to London last week to appear on The Wright Stuff – someone very eminent on the radio – a social scientist explained that young girls should be given Lego and Meccano as presents and I tutted. What a load of tosh – social engineering nonsense I’m afraid. Give girls Lego and…
