Jeremys #4: Healy

Fourth in a “series” of short tributes to well-known people called Jeremy There was a short period of time when Jeremy Healy was a hero of mine. Back in 1982, before I really knew what clothes were for, I was smitten by a pair of musical designer tramps called Haysi Fantayzee, featuring Jeremy ‘Jeremiah’ Healy […]

Conspicuous Consumers: Sue Lawley

You know how record shop staff are: bored, indifferent, clockwatching, hate dealing with enquiries or, indeed, any member of the general public. Well, having celebrities stroll into your shop is easily the highlight of any day/week/ month/ year. Incredibly famous people have to go to the shops too! And so it was one day in late 1994 when I was […]

Hail Mary

This blog has already warmly welcomed the Green Party’s proposal to introduce tax incentives for vegan converts but not even the most militant plant-eaters among us could have predicted it would receive the support of Mary Harney TD. While I and many others are still more than a little worried about the content of her forthcoming statement on the issue, word […]

Conspicuous Consumers: Chris Rea

The Road To Hell is paved with mistaken identities, unseen stars and close brushes with celebrity you’d never know you’d had. And to think I almost missed the man who did his best to put the “miserable” in Middlesborough. One late, thoroughly horrid, Thursday night at the old Our Price store in Neal Street, Covent Garden in […]

Conspicuous Consumers: (Sir) George Martin

It was a sticky, early-summer’s morning in 1992, in the air-con-free Our Price, Selfridges concession; as usual, there was only a mother and child browsing the racks, the place was spotless and well-ordered, and my manager was making the soporific staff rearrange the dust around the till area. It was just then that this tall, upright, elegant and highly distinguished man […]

Conspicuous Consumers: Robert Smith

During my 57-year career slaving working in record shops, I met, and served, a fair number of famous people. Each and every time I did so, I proved how unsuited I am to journalism; I was constantly tripping over my words, employing undeserved platitudes and making all of my well-known punters feel entirely ill at ease while they […]