Alex “Hurricane” Higgins 1949 – 2010

R.I.P. Alex “Hurricane” Higgins. No matter what happens in world snooker, we will never see your like again. There will be many tributes paid to the most entertaining player snooker has ever known and most of them will speak of a great, if wayward, man who tore up the rule book, transgressed the written laws, […]

Jeremys #1: Paxman

First in a series of short tributes to well-known people called Jeremy Why do I love Jeremy Paxman? Let me count the ways. He’s fiercely intelligent. He’s fiercely articulate. He’s fiercely bad tempered at times. He presents two of my favourite programmes, Newsnight and University Challenge. On the former, he’s the scourge of most politicians […]

It’s the demon drink talking, again

Three pieces in the morning papers got a rise out of me today. First and foremost, an excellent opinion piece in the Irish Times by Brian O’Connell about the appalling situation regarding cut-price or below-cost alcohol sales; then, a shocking (to my eyes) report on how the Irish are apparently at odds with the rest […]

Gallows humour

“It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name –and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared –it was now, I say, the image of a hideous–of a ghastly thing –of the GALLOWS!–oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror […]

The Miserable Rich

I am absolutely smitten by Of Flight & Fury, the second album by Brighton band The Miserable Rich. It may have been Stornoway’s year in the folk-pop stakes, but I think this record easily eclipses the Oxford band’s debut. Described as ‘chamber pop’, largely on account of their gorgeous cello and violin players, The Miserable Rich are more of a quirky bowtie combo […]

No ID? Ah…

Oh, what to make of ITV1’s new six-part crime drama, Identity? It’s got the gloss, the piped-in atmosphere, the glass offices, the inner conflict, and a stellar assembly of attractive professionals who get the job done. But what’s it for? According to the press release, its premise concerns “murderers who literally take other people’s lives… impostors […]

Local investment

Lots of arms were brought to bare at the Cahirmee Horse Fair in Buttevant, Co. Cork (the oldest horse fair in Europe) last week, as stallions and mares of all shapes and sizes travelled from far and wide to attend.

Heart failure and time warp

Good riddance to Ashfordly – where it’s been the 1960s for 18 years The end of an error is upon us. One of Britain’s cosiest Sunday night habits has, as they say, been “axed”. This coming Sunday sees the beginning of the final series of Heartbeat, a programme described variously as a ‘1960s rural police […]

Tom’s the Big Boss Man

Heartfelt congratulations to our very own Tom Gilson,who got in touch to say that he came 3rd in the Elvis World Cup in Cardiff on July 4th (won by Scotland’s Johnny Lee Memphis). Tom told IHGN: “I haven’t reached the burger years yet just trying to do my best as an E.T.A and pay respect to […]

There will always be an England… tat merchant

So there I was, working behind the counter in the Selfridges, Oxford Street branch of Our Price in the summer of 1990, filing away titles from our large selection of VHS tapes, when a well-to-do middle-aged lady gingerly approached the counter. “I say,” she announced, by way of introduction. “Do you have any Gezza videos?” Being Scottish, and […]