I know, nothing for nearly three weeks and then two posts in one day, but...
...if, by chance, you didn't watch Inside No. 9 Live on BBC2 last night, you must remedy that with iPlayer. MUST. It won't have quite the same effect, not being live, but even so... Go watch.
...to the silver-haired lady in the blue Audi who tried to park her car next to mine. Who tried and failed, putting a crease in my bumper and leaving a nice line of blue paint to highlight it. Who got out of her car to inspect the damage to my car. And who got back in her car and just drove away, leaving no details.
Up yours, lady.
I've been a miserable old sod lately. I know, even more than usual, which takes some doing. And with no good reason, not really. I've been thinking, you see, about possibly undertaking a huge physical and mental challenge in eleven months time. It's an exciting prospect, and it really ought to fill me with excitement and optimism.
And, in part, it does. Because, without going into the specifics (see how non-committal I'm being, even here), if I were to undertake and achieve this challenge, well, it would be quite something. Something that most people never do. Something to look back on when I'm old(er) and grey(er). Something for my child to remember, with pride and maybe even amazement, when I am gone. I don't know if it would qualify as a life-changing experience, but I can see how it might be in that neighbourhood, a tiny bit.
So why haven't I signed up already?
There are so many reasons, nearly all of them things that wouldn't have crossed my mind twenty years ago. Time is one. From March onwards, I would have to give up a lot of time to train: whole mornings at first, then whole days, then whole weekends. Oh, and evenings too. That's a lot of time, especially when my time is not all my own these days. Time is the biggest overhead I have at this stage of my life - I am, as the saying goes, time poor. Cash poor too, of course, and that's another problem - there is a financial cost to this challenge. More accurately, there are a number of financial costs to this challenge. Without doing the maths in detail, I would probably spend somewhere between two and a half to three grand on this, more if I couldn't raise the associated sponsorship target and had to make up the shortfall myself. And again, my money is not all my own these days, especially when I've got half an eye on the fact that I'll probably need to buy a new car in four years time.
The biggest reason though, bigger than these two massive considerations, is the fact that I am not the man I was twenty years ago. I know, I know, who is, right? But I have genuine concerns about my ability to complete the challenge, however much I train and however much I invest in fancy kit to help me. And here's the thing, the real nub, the fly in the ointment, the biggest issue: if I sign up, and invest so much into the effort, only to break down partway through the challenge, to fail, I am not at all sure how well I'd handle that. I fear it might be not very well at all.
And no, this isn't just me being a pessimist, and thinking the worst - there's a real chance I couldn't complete the challenge, that my arthritic knee would rebel, that my glass hip would flare up, or simply that my late-forties body just couldn't keep going. Again, who is, but I am not as physically strong, flexible or durable as I was. Mentally, I'm stronger. But for this challenge, I think you'd need both kinds of strength, especially if the weather's inclement.
So at the moment I'm vacillating, oscillating wildly, making lists of pro's and con's. And am still undecided.
If you're wondering where the title for this post comes from, it's this entirely appropriate slice of Kiwi brilliance:
Britain's first (legal) commercial radio station, LBC, went on air on this day in 1973, breaking the BBC's 50-year radio monopoly.
This excellence came along six years later.
Vladimir Putin was born on October 7th. Christ. So was Simon Cowell. Double Christ!
Luckily for us all, so was Thom Yorke.
Life is all about roles, isn't it? Sometimes you're Peter, sometimes you're Lois and sometimes you're Giant Chicken.
Family Guy is sometimes derided as crass, offensive, Simpsons-lite nonsense. But there's real pathos here, I think.
Since it was first broadcast on this day 49 years ago, I was a bit too young for Monty Python first time around. My brother though, a crucial four years older than me, had their Contractual Obligation Album. That's what I remember.
It's all here. Knock yourselves out. My favourites? Sit On My Face, Finland, I'm So Worried and the bookshop sketch. Your mileage may vary.
Coincidentally, contractually obliged is how I feel about blogging about the moment, hence these "on this day" posts. Sorry.
No blogging mojo at all so, in honour of the fact that Sputnik became the first man-made object in space on this day 61 years ago, here's a song by the artist formerly known* as Morrissey.
* Now mostly known by a series of unpleasant names as a result of opening his mouth without engaging his brain, once, twice, a dozen times too often. Oh Moz, please come back.
Last week, I posted a music crossword: 152 (count 'em!) clues of varying difficulty - some cryptic, some anagrams, some straightforward. I hoped it might be a fun test, albeit a test that would be easier if you knew my taste in music and/or were a regular reader of the blog.
Anyway, a week is quite long enough to mull over a crossword, so here's the solution. There are no prizes but hey, by all means have a kudos point for every answer you got right.
| The clue | The answer | |
|---|---|---|
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | Political writings, sort of (7,7) | Scritti Politti is pretty close to scritti politici, Italian for political writings. |
| 3 | They loved different lengths of tape (3,3,3) | C30, C60, C90, Go was a hit for Bow Wow Wow. |
| 5 | He was in a NY state of mind (5,4) | Billy Joel sang New York State Of Mind. |
| 12 | Eternal funk now, from singer (6,8) | A straight anagram for Newton Faulkner. |
| 13 | Had an eye to the telescope (1,1,8) | Eye To The Telescope was the debut album for K T Tunstall. |
| 15 | They should have reformed to cover Candy Girl (5) | ...because candy is a type of Sweet. |
| 19 | Cuddly brothers and their band (7) | The McNamara brothers fronted Embrace. |
| 23 | Not big from the neck up (3,5,5) | The Small Faces, obviously |
| 26 | Doing us all a favour on the radio (6,7,12) | How else would you describe Public Service Broadcasting? |
| 29 | They promised that things could only get better (1,4) | D-Ream sang this, and were memorably hijacked by New Labour in the process. |
| 33 | Strange ____, bitches' ____ (4) | Brew completes these titles, for a Cream song and Miles Davis album respectively. |
| 35 | She was torn (7,9) | Torn remains the lovely Natalie Imbruglia's biggest hit. |
| 36 | Shortened tune (3,10) | Appropriate anagram for The Undertones. |
| 37 | Danté’s favourite band (3,6,6) | He wrote The Divine Comedy. |
| 39 | Lawrence’s soft material (4) | Lawrence was the frontman of indie nearly-men Felt. |
| 40 | Not a dick (4) | I.e. Moby, without the Dick. |
| 42 | Unicycles the lot (3,5,7) | Another anagram, this time for The Style Council. |
| 45 | Play cricket for a beating (3,3,6) | If you play cricket, you may bat. A beating may be lashes. So Bat For Lashes. |
| 46 | Extra dinosaur loses indefinite article (1,3) | Extra - the indefinite article a = extr, easily re-arranged as dinosaur (and band) T-Rex. |
| 47 | Left waterhole to fly high (4,9) | An oasis might be a waterhole. Who left them and formed the High-Flying Birds? Noel Gallagher. |
| 48 | The girl kept dry (7) | Rihanna had an Umbrella. Ella. Ella. |
| 49 | “I like ___ ____,” she said, sticking her tongue in my ear (3,4) | From a Pixies lyric (I've Been Tired), this is Lou Reed. |
| 52 | All points west (5) | A not-very-good clue for Mr West himself, Kanye. |
| 56 | They went from Guildford to Japan (3,6) | The Vapors came from Guildford and sang Turning Japanese. |
| 57 | A wild rose grew from his bad seeds (4,4) | A hit and the backing band for Nick Cave. |
| 58 | They asked Johnny Dee (3,13) | Ask Johnny Dee was a minor indie hit for The Chesterfields. |
| 61 | Empty stomach? (9) | If you had an empty stomach, maybe your belly would echo; you'd be an Echobelly. |
| 66 | Guitarist urinates (5) | Former G'n'R axeman Slash. |
| 67 | Crikey, it’s the rozzer! (6,8) | Rozzer being an under-used Nineties nickname for Gene frontman Martin Rossiter. |
| 69 | Palindromic root vegetables (4) | A root vegetable might be a swede. The only palindromic Swedes I could think of were Abba. |
| 71 | Requires antihistamine (5) | A wasp Sting might require some cream. |
| 72 | _____ Washington (5) | A straightforward clue for Dinah Washington. |
| 74 | Tree feeders (5) | Belly had a hit with Feed The Tree. |
| 75 | Richard _____, one-time drummer with 105D (5) | Richard Ploog was the drummer with 105 Down, that being The Church. |
| 76 | Norfolk girls show no respect for their elders (4,3,7) | They can't do, given their name of Let's Eat Grandma. |
| 78 | When Bernard met Brett … again (3,5) | Bernard Butler and Brett Anderson reunited, post-Suede, to form The Tears. |
| 79 | Trap dry owl? (5,5) | An anagram of World Party. |
| 80 | Definite, definite article (3,3) | The definite article is the, so definite, definite suggests The The. |
| 81 | A confrontation (3,5) | I was running out of inspiration at this point. Hopefully confrontation suggested The Clash. |
| 84 | Lettuce and tomato (5) | ...are components of a Salad. |
| 86 | They made no criminal records (3,6) | A cringeworthy pun about The Police. |
| 87 | Ordains as a singer? (5,4) | Ordains as being an anagram for Diana Ross. |
| 89 | Took a tumble (3,4) | Obviously, The Fall. |
| 92 | Sweetest trip for half a zebra (5,7) | Half a zebra would be just the White Stripes, which happens to also be an anagram of sweetest trip. |
| 94 | Milkshake vendor (5) | Kelis' milkshake brought all the boys to the yard. |
| 97 | First man and a killer yoghurt? (7) | Adam was the first man, allegedly. Ski make nice yoghurt. Killer was a hit for Adamski. |
| 98 | Left Deptford by the underground (5,7) | Squeeze came from Deptford. After leaving them, Jools Holland emerged to front The Tube, another name for the underground. |
| 99 | Always correcting their own lyrics (7) | Because that's what Editors do! |
| 100 | His dad has a new suitcase (5,5) | Papa's got a brand new bag, sang James Brown. |
| 101 | Not a hard amoeba (4,4) | Instead, a Soft Cell. |
| 103 | Oye Esteban, indeed (10) | If not (Steven) Morrissey, then perhaps (Esteban) Mexrrissey? |
| 104 | Stretchy first letter (8) | This would be an elastic A. Or Elastica. |
| 106 | I get caught up in her hair (7) | He hair might be blonde; mix in an I and you get Blondie. |
| 107 | The males gave birth in this band (3,9) | Name an animal where the males give birth? Did you just name The Seahorses? |
| 109 | Sang 'Between John and Yoko' (4) | Between John and Yoko was a song by obscure Swedish indie nearly-men Easy. |
| 111 | Angry Billy (4) | Not just angry but furious, was Billy Fury. |
| 112 | Others have moves like him (4,6) | Maroon 5 sang about having moves like Mick Jagger. |
| 115 | Half audible (9) | Half implies semi. Audible implies sound which implies sonic. So Semisonic. |
| 117 | Rubbish music (7) | Rubbish might be Garbage. |
| 122 | Sang about matches (3,7) | Matches start fires. The Prodigy had a hit with Firestarter. |
| 123 | Sounds like roe and muntjac (3,5) | Roe and muntjac are deer(s), which sounds like The Dears. |
| 126 | Twin research facilities (9) | Twin implies stereo, research facility implies lab. Hence Stereolab. |
| 127 | With rabbit breeders, on this beach? (4) | Martha and the Muffins sang about Echo Beach, hopefully also suggested by rabbit breeding Bunnymen. |
| 128 | He felt safe, stuck in traffic (4,5) | Here in my car, I feel safest of all, sang Gary Numan. |
| 130 | A definite sphere (3,3) | The is the definite article. A sphere is an orb. See how my brain works yet? This is The Orb. |
| 131 | This band are walked all over (8) | If you're British, you walk on the Pavement. |
| 133 | Two beards and a beard (1,1,3) | Two thirds of Z Z Top had beards, and the other third's surname was Beard. |
| 136 | He liked his OJ… (5,7) | Who would like Orange Juice more than Edwyn Collins? |
| 137 | …but Shaun preferred a darker drink (5,5) | That's Shaun Ryder, who clearly preferred Black Grape. |
| 138 | English prog rockers, sound Eastern (4) | How far east? Asia! |
| 139 | They had the first base for la renard (2,7) | La renard is French for the fox. First might be alpha. All leading to Fox Base Alpha, by St Etienne. |
| 140 | Model heathens? (3,10) | Haven't had an anagram for a while. Here's one for The Lemonheads. |
| 141 | Ancient Mexican Leica (5,6) | Could only be an Aztec Camera, right? |
| 142 | Michael Fish and Billy Giles (3,7,8) | Weather forecasters or, if you prefer, The Weather Prophets. |
| 143 | ___ A, Real Gone ___ (3) | Kid completes the Radiohead album title and Deacon Blue single. |
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | Trains rely on it (7) | Trains lie on Sleepers. |
| 2 | Little dog goes from Oz to Africa (4) | The dog in the Wizard of Oz was Toto, who sang about Africa. |
| 4 | Lupine, down the rabbit hole (4,5) | Lupine suggests wolf, down the rabbit hole suggests Alice. Hence Wolf Alice. |
| 6 | Arthur Lee’s 60s band (4) | A straight clue, for Arthur's band Love. |
| 7 | Composer Philip _____ (5) | Another straight clue, for Mr Glass. |
| 8 | Blue _____, _____ Jam (5) | Pearl completes the names of these two acts. |
| 9 | Everything but the girl (3,4) | Ben Watt was everything but the girl in EBTG. |
| 10 | They had a cardiac groove (4,4) | Who said groove was in the heart? Deee-Lite! |
| 11 | High powered song by 34D (3) | With 34 Down being Wings, this would be Jet. |
| 14 | Lots of TIAs (3,7) | A TIA, or transient ischemic attack, is a mini stroke. So lots of them might be The Strokes. |
| 16 | The bookmakers? (3,5) | Not, not Ladbrokes. This is The Coral. |
| 17 | Wide screen film format (8) | Cinerama was a widescreen process that used three synchronized 35 mm projectors. It's also Gedge's other band. |
| 18 | Sounds like they record in a shed (5) | This would be Shack, which sounds like a shed, of course. |
| 20 | Rosy Keith? (4,5) | Rosy suggests pink. Keith might be Keith Floyd. So Pink Floyd. |
| 21 | Home to Mick before he joined the council (3,6,6) | Before Mick Talbot was a member of The Style Council, he was in Mod revivalists The Merton Parkas. |
| 22 | Plain rude (3,7) | How else would you describe Bad Manners? |
| 24 | Luxuriant 4AD band (4) | Luxuriant-sounding Lush were signed to 4AD. |
| 25 | Had to get the best out of them (3,7) | It wasn't until Pete Best had been kicked out that The Beatles really took off. |
| 26 | Debuted with equines (5,5) | Horses was the debut album from Patti Smith. |
| 27 | Family business for alchemists (8,8) | Alchemists would use lots of chemicals, so the family business might be Chemical Brothers. |
| 28 | Late queen (6,8) | The late Aretha Franklin was the Queen of Soul. |
| 30 | Just playing at being a band (3,10) | Playing at might be pretending, hence The Pretenders. |
| 31 | Just playing at video games (4,3,3) | Video Games being the breakout hit for Lana Del Rey. |
| 32 | A certain Mr Yorke’s quartet (5,3,5) | A Thom's four-piece. Or Atoms For Peace. |
| 34 | The band The Beatles could have been (5) | ...is how Alan Partridge described Wings. |
| 38 | All About ___ (3) | Eve completes this band name. |
| 41 | To the end… the focused bit (9,5) | Francoise Hardy guested on To The End by unfocused-sounding Blur. |
| 43 | Not us (4) | If not us, then Them. |
| 44 | They were out of their brilliant mind (9) | Brilliant Mind was the biggest hit for the criminally under-rated band Furniture |
| 47 | She wanted to kiss the pope … of mope (5,7) | Nancy Sinatra covered the Morrissey track Let Me Kiss You. |
| 50 | Positively prog! (3) | Yes would be both positive and a prog band. |
| 51 | Total blockhead (3,4) | Ian Dury fronted The Blockheads. |
| 53 | Loudon or Martha (10) | They're a musical lot, the Wainwrights. |
| 54 | A good source of vitamin C and anti-oxidants (3,11) | Yes, The Cranberries were pretty good for you. |
| 55 | Chris, guitarist in 106A (5) | With 106 Across being Blondie, guitarist Chris must be Stein. |
| 59 | Nothing ever happened for them (3,6) | Nothing ever happens, sang Del Amitri. |
| 60 | The pretenders (10) | Not The Pretenders, but another bunch of Charlatans. |
| 62 | Beloved of cannibals (8) | Apparently some cannibal tribes called human meat longpig. Hence Longpigs. |
| 63 | They were upstairs at Eric’s (5) | ...that being the title of an album by Yazoo. |
| 64 | He sold the heat (6,6) | Buster, he sold the heat, sang Madness, the Buster in question being the fabulous Prince Buster. |
| 65 | _____ Basie (5) | An easy gap to fill, with Count. |
| 67 | No nut allergies for these boys (7) | Madness were sometimes known as The Nutty Boys. |
| 68 | Easy as 1-2-3 for Sheffield band (1,1,1) | What was easy as 1-2-3? A-B-C, of course! |
| 70 | Main enema for singer? (5,4) | Slightly unpleasant anagram for Aimee Mann. |
| 73 | Cold relations of 114D (6,7) | With 114 Down being Gorillaz, their cold relations must be Arctic Monkeys. |
| 74 | They scratched in a spiral motion (9) | The debut EP from Buzzcocks was called Spiral Scratch. |
| 76 | Indie rockers from Duluth (3) | A straightforward description of Low. |
| 77 | Not gone up in smoke (3) | After the fire, what hasn't gone up in smoke is the Ash. |
| 82 | A bashful, manic filth (4,3,4,7) | Straight anagram for Half Man Half Biscuit. |
| 83 | Stylish dance act (4) | Stylish and dance act hopefully both suggest Chic. |
| 85 | Did she lament for Stan? (4) | Dido's Lament is an aria by Purcell, and Eminem sampled Dido for Stan. |
| 88 | Amusements up in smoke? (6,4) | You find amusements in an arcade and there's no smoke without fire, so Arcade Fire. |
| 90 | Not the 80's TV alien (6,5) | Alf was the 80's TV alien, and also a nickname for Alison Moyet. |
| 91 | Jenny was a friend of theirs (3,7) | So sang The Killers. |
| 93 | You might expect this band to grow in number (3,8) | Because they're called The Breeders, you see? I don't just throw this together, you know. |
| 95 | ___ Vicious (3) | Although I did throw this fill-in-the-gap clue together. Sid Vicious, obviously. |
| 96 | Full-on vocals (8) | Full-on suggests ultra, vocals suggest vox. Ultravox, in other words. |
| 102 | Relatives of 114D? (3,7) | More relatives of Gorillaz? This time it's The Monkees. |
| 105 | Take a pew to listen to this band (3,6) | Where do you take a pew? In The Church. |
| 107 | Test version of a group (3,4,4) | In software, a test release is called a beta version. Hence, The Beta Band. |
| 108 | Former president on Viagra? (6,1,1,1) | Jimmy Carter made priapic would be Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, or Carter USM. |
| 110 | They were on my radio (8) | On my radio, sang Selecter. |
| 113 | Ropey Norfolk indie also-rans (4) | Props if you got this. Hopefully ropey suggested Cord to you. |
| 114 | Monkey men (8) | Gorillaz, of course. |
| 115 | They would write crossword cluze (5) | Slade were famed for such mis-spelling. |
| 116 | Label for early Suede releases (4) | Their early records were on Nude. |
| 117 | Stick a bottle in the face of casino town (9) | You might glass Vegas? Terrible clue for Glasvegas. |
| 118 | He had a satanic hairstyle (4) | Beck sang about a devil's haircut. |
| 119 | Dangerous, their drab light (6) | The debut album by Mansun was Attack Of The Grey Lantern. |
| 120 | He played a wicked game (5,5) | Wicked Game was the biggest hit for Chris Isaak. |
| 121 | Chilly theatre? (8) | Chilly = cold. Theatre = play. Coldplay. |
| 124 | Spanish archer? (5) | El Bow? No, Elbow. |
| 125 | A band with oomph, with energy (3,5) | Oomph and energy both suggesting The Verve. |
| 129 | From deadly comedy to in-demand producer (5) | Producer Youth used to be in Killing Joke. |
| 132 | Go to Oxford by bike (4) | Ride were from Oxford, you see. |
| 134 | Metal but thin, not heavy (4) | Wire is a thin strip of metal. |
| 135 | Sadly spliced in 2004 (4) | Because that's when Gene sadly disbanded. |
And that's it? How did you do?
Here's a picture, for those that like pictures.
Same time next year? Maybe...?