That music’s lost its taste, so try another flavour: Chart Music

This blog has always been behind the times. It doesn’t wear this as a badge of honour, partly because it can’t be bothered to go out and find one. The tragedy of it is that I Have Grave News took a six year hiatus (and no one noticed because they were all getting on with […]

Weebles wobbly wonders

This is a silly anecdote about plastic toy eggs – not much craic here, I assure you. Some years ago, in Dublin, I was reminiscing about Weebles, that society of egg-shaped characters with the slogan, “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down”. I never actually owned any Weebles but my cousins did, and these toys […]

Old rope on a soap

Oh dear. Slippers: check. Cardie: check. Pipe: definitely on its way. Today I wrote an email to the editor of venerable Irish weekly Woman’s Way to correct, in as nerdy a manner as one could possibly achieve, one of their little trivia boxes on their soap pages. Titled ‘The Rules of Soapland’, it stated that, […]

Working class heroes?

A wafer, God’s sake. For some obscure reason, the shockingly awful song “Blue Riband Blues” is stuck in my head today. This song, sung by Mike Berry in the 1980s’ commercial, advertised Blue Riband biscuits – lightweight chocolate-covered wafers that were “the very thing”, as my late Granny used to say, to have with a […]

Memories of Bob Holness, 1928 – 2012

Like anyone of an age, I’m very sorry to hear of the passing of former Blockbusters host, Bob Holness. His show was essential tea-time viewing for me in the mid 1980s, being a quiz with questions I had a reasonable chance of answering correctly. Not that I was ever brave enough to apply to take […]

Mastermind – more exciting than you think

Good to read the great John Humphrys happily acknowledging just how sexy his presentation style is on BBC’s Mastermind. In an interview for The Guardian about celebrity breakfasts, Humphrys says he has two breakfasts per day. His first (“a large bowl of fruit, muesli and yoghurt, and a banana”) before Radio 4’s Today programme and then […]

Roger? I still would…

Sir Roger Moore turned 83 today. They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes but I always hold out a little hope I’ll meet him one day. He was my first pin-up hero, the first ‘person I wanted to be’. I’m not sure who bought me the giant Roger Moore poster on my wall when I […]

Time to call in pest control

I’m sure Irish News Of The World readers are a discerning bunch but surely even the most apathetic of them have their limits. The new ad for the paper is little short of astonishing, even in a country which has experienced its fair share of shocks lately. ‘Typical’ rheumy-eyed NOTW readers open their fridge and […]

Tony Curtis 1925-2010

Very sad to hear of the death of one of my childhood heroes, Tony Curtis, at the age of 85. A handsome, rugged and stylish man, he was a surprisingly versatile actor in his younger days. He received an Oscar nomination for his performance as John ‘Joker’ Jackson in 1959’s The Defiant Ones, starring alongside Sidney […]

Moonbase Alpha, we miss you

I forgot this last year, a happy anniversary to the crew of Moonbase Alpha, who, along with the moon, disappeared from the earth’s orbit due to a ‘massive nuclear explosion’ on this day 11 years ago. Obviously, we here on Earth have no idea where you are these days but we sincerely hope you’re all right. […]