Few folk in the British Isles could reminisce about the comedy gems of the 1990s without mentioning ‘Father Ted’. Running for four years until the untimely and very sad death of its principal star, it covered the hilarious antics of three priests and their tea lady in a remote parochial house on the west coast…
It was July 1995. I landed at Belfast City Airport and made my way to a small B & B just off the Beersbridge Road for a five-day break, which included the annual Twelfth parades through the city. I was already familiar with Belfast, having been on several occasions to watch the Loyal Orders on…
Driving over Saddleworth Moor towards Manchester yesterday, I couldn’t help to be impressed as to what a beautiful country the United Kingdom is. Those moors, carpeted in purple heather under an azure summer sky, were something to behold. It reminded me of how much I love my country – the entirety of it. I’ve sat…
There is an hilarious 1973 episode of the sitcom ‘Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em’ called ‘Have a Break, Take a Husband’. Frank and Betty Spencer, having decided to take a second honeymoon, book into a guest house in Herne Bay. Discovering they have been given a room with two single beds, Frank decides to push…
A few days ago, I was reminiscing about a trip my family and I took to Austria in the summer of 1987. We travelled overnight by coach from London to Innsbruck (due to my late Nan’s almost pathological fear of flying), and spent 10 memorable days in villages on the southern slopes of the magnificent…
It was just before 3pm on December 11th last year when I received the telephone call informing me that the man I had looked after for almost 18 years had finally succumbed to his cancer. Despite a torrid year, I had kept my promise that I would visit him until the end, so that he…
In the summertime when the weather is high, you can invade the UK on the very first try. When the weather’s fine you got pillage, you got pillage on your mind. Take a boat with 55, go out and see what you can find. I’m not sure those lyrics would have propelled Mungo Jerry to…
My mate and I were in India when news came through that Boris Johnson had succeeded in persuading Parliament to agree to a General Election to sort out the laborious Brexit process once and for all. By the time we returned from Delhi in late November 2019, the election campaign was well underway. Despite having…
One of the funniest scenes in ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’ is the one they shot in the impressive Roman amphitheatre in Carthage. It features members of the usurpatory People’s Front of Judea plotting to overthrow the Roman Empire. Suddenly, one of the more disgruntled members of the group (Stan) reveals he wants to become…
Last Monday afternoon, I decided to make the most of the unseasonably warm spring sunshine by taking a walk along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal from Cottingley Bar to Saltaire on the outskirts of Bradford. As I approached the end of my journey, close to the famous UNESCO village, a keen late 20-something amateur photographer was taking…
Have you ever sat in a beer garden on a hot summer’s day enjoying a drink? Suddenly, a wasp begins flying around your glass, clearly attracted to the sugar content of your beverage. You sit there very still, desperately hoping not to annoy it in the hope it’ll fly away. But no! It keeps hovering…
President Trump met with the U.K. Prime Minister Starmer. The American and British people are one family separated by a common language and an ocean. We are also separated by an ocean of beliefs when it comes to Political Philosophy, and how our governments treat our citizens. The following is the joint press conference, nothing…
Do you know which international airport serves more world destinations than any other? It isn’t Dubai; it isn’t JFK; and it certainly isn’t London’s tired Heathrow. No, the airport serving the biggest number of global destinations is Amsterdam’s impressive Schiphol Airport – no less than 273 in total! If there ever comes a time when…
Dear Reader, I would like you to close your eyes, concentrate your mind and picture the following analogy: You rent an apartment where all the rooms are painted a hideous bright red. On the day you move in, you ask the landlord whether you can get rid of the red and have the walls painted…
I’ve just finished reading a book about Captain James Cook. En route across the Pacific in 1777 on his boat called Resolution, Cook spent a short while on the island of Tahiti. One day in early September Cook, with two of his crew (the ship’s surgeon Dr William Anderson, and a Mr John Webber), travelled…