I didn’t know this existed but I want to read it

One of my favourite comics has written a memoir about following my favourite team

⚽📖 #ChelseaFC

Good luck, America 🤞🤞

Paul Merton on Have I Got News For You

No one is irreplaceable in show business. But we’ll keep going until the sun explodes and consumes the Earth, which will be the top story the following week.

‘I was a stuffed shirt, he was an oik’ – Ian Hislop and Paul Merton on making Have I Got News for You

The hashtag for Man United Vs Chelsea always reminds me of …..

⚽ #MunChe

(annual-ish toot / tweet / post)

I like it when people use the word ‘weblog’ but I often read it as something like’wedding-blog'

I’m enjoying the #Powershell tips module. I’ve already learnt a couple of things….and I’ve been using Powershell for about 103 years

GitHub - deadlydog/PowerShell.tiPS: PowerShell tips delivered straight to your terminal 💻

There’s a video about contributing here:

PowerShell tiPS module - How to add your PowerShell tips to share them with the world

It was some while before MGM was off to see a profit from the wonderful Wizard of Oz – specifically, until it was reissued in 1949. Over the Rainbow was nearly cut pre-release, because executives felt the Kansas sequence was too long.

This list has some of my very favourite films on it

‘It’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen’: 10 film flops that became classics – ranked! - The Guardian

I was half-listening to Graham Norton the other night but I missed this

In a development that absolutely must not catch on, something interesting has happened on a TV chatshow....

Redmayne’s revelation that he was shown how to use a phone as a weapon if attacked proves quite the hoot, with Mescal riffing on the absurdity – “Who’s actually going to do that, though?” – Norton chiming in, and Denzel laughing along. Ronan is trying to say something but she gets honked over, before managing to cut through with a line for the ages: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time”.

Opinion - I don’t expect stone-cold truths from a chatshow, but Saoirse Ronan delivered one - Marina Hyde - The Guardian]

Not sure how, all of a sudden, I’m quite so old….but I’m lucky to have lasted so long

“The British constitution is puzzling, and always will be” - Queen Elizabeth, on a visit to a new college building, to a politics seminar

Desert Island Discs - Peter Hennessy

It seems to have got dreadful reviews and I’ve not seen any of the other films but I enjoyed Venom 3

Not sure if this’ll work…but this is my Halloween playlist

Halloween playlist on Spotify

I don’t think I’ve posted this before. A sketch note/map that i did a few years ago of the walk from Salisbury to Stonehenge

I saw these today, near Canary Wharf. I imagine they come to life at night, when everyone’s asleep

I can’t wait

Oh no I can’t…

#Panto

If I ever meet Daniel Ek who, I believe, is “Mr Spotify” I’m obviously going to tell him off for how little he’s paying the artists.

But when I’ve finished doing that, I shall ask him if he can tweak the app so that you can click on the song title to get all the cover versions of that song

I enjoyed Play On at Salisbury Playhouse last night

It’s a jazz musical based on Twelfth Night

I should probably have looked up Twelfth Night beforehand, as I’m not great at Shakespeare, but it was good fun nevertheless

It’s on tour after it finishes at the Playhouse

I can sometimes get a few answers in a cryptic crossword, but I’m not very good at them

I can do these though

Quick cryptic - The Guardian

There’s a bit about them:

Helping you to build up a toolbox of tricks to solve clues, our new Saturday puzzle is a gentle way in for those starting out on cryptic crosswords

A new Guardian crossword: the Quick Cryptic

And a recent intro:

The first thing to know about cryptic crosswords …… is that there’s no such thing as cheating. Use the dictionary. Look up a solvers’ blog. Phone a friend. It’s your puzzle. In any event, most of our online puzzles offer a “reveal this” option. How to solve cryptic crosswords – the ultimate beginner’s guide

I’m enjoying the second series of D.I. Ray

I thought this was very interesting

Does the Irish Republic Want Reunification? BBC Seriously podcast

Personally, I think the short answer is ‘yes’…but as the podcast explains, it won’t be straightforward for anyone

““Fifa always shout that they want the game to be inclusive, and they want the game to lead by example. Well, if so, then make sure that you align with sponsorships that are leading by example.”

Women footballers urge Fifa to end Saudi oil deal

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about the appointment of an England manager as I am about Thomas Tuchel

He got Chelsea punching above our weight, he was very popular with fans and players, and if his nationality upsets the knuckle-dragging sections of England’s media and fanbase then so much the better ⚽

In France, it is described as “a delicious little thing that only British television knows how to produce”.

I’m not sure about that…but this is a nice article about the Detectorists

‘Something special’: Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones on bucolic comedy beauty Detectorists, 10 years on - The Guardian

This is worth a listen if you have an interest in UK politics - Matt Forde interviewing Rob Burley about political interviewing.

The Political Party Show 317 - Rob Burley - Tuesday, May 30, 2023

It’s particularly good on the friendship between Brian Walden, an ex-Labour MP who became a TV interviewer, and Margaret Thatcher. The friendship came to an end with a bruising hour long interview

Steve Coogan is making a film about it

Want to read: Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me? by Rob Burley 📚

You would think that Spotify, with all its money and its smarts and its AI, would be able to distinguish between:

• the Showmen who were “a New Orleans–based American doo-wop and R&B group formed in 1961.”

and

• the Showmen who were “an Italian soul/pop/R&B group from Naples.”