We recently asked all the members of our Boomers’ Money Club to share what it was they most recently did for the first time, and what’s next on the list. There were lots of great ideas on there so we thought we’d share them with you…
News comes that Britain cleans up in the first ever litter picking World Cup. A UK team were crowned champions in Japan after collecting 83 kilos of rubbish in just 45 minutes…
It is only a few years ago now that the cash till in our local was nothing more than a wooden drawer slung under the rear counter. No one paid by card. John, the tenant landlord, would work out his cellar order with notebook and pencil and phone it in…
Everyone, it seems, has a point of view about the latest and last Beatles release.
The Guardian put it this way: “A moody, reflective piano ballad, it’s clearly never going to supplant Strawberry Fields Forever or A Day in the Life in the affections of Beatles fans, but it’s a better song than Free as a Bird or Real Love…”
‘Coloured cottons hang in the air. Charming cobras in the square. Striped djellabas we can wear…’ A description of Marrakesh by Crosby, Stills and Nash written in 1969 and just as true today.
Depending on which research you read, dyslexia affects between 10 and 20% of people. The spread is wide because of the number of people who remain undiagnosed. I can relate to this because, until my son was diagnosed, I had no idea I was so cursed…or blessed too.
Born in the wake of WW2, baby boomers are the first generation of Britons since the act of union 300 years ago not conscripted to fight. The history of conflict, of course, goes back way beyond then. The Crusades, or Holy Wars started in 1096…
“Live to 100. Secrets of the Blue Zones” is Dan Buettner’s Netflix series which explores communities which have significant populations of people who age gracefully and reach their century. The Blue Zones regions are where a higher than usual number of people live much longer than the average…
My first experience of going to a professional football match was on a cold afternoon at Boothferry Park, home to Hull City, to see a dismal, nil, nil draw. My dad and I cycled there and after chaining our bikes to a lamppost, joined my uncle and cousin on the terraces. No seating, just a rail to lean on, or swing from. This was…
What ever happened to the Blackberry? I have a friend, a banker who runs the IT team, and who still has one in daily use. Swears by it. Mind you, he has a vintage Jaguar also in daily use, which says something about him. Launched in 1999, it…
Piers, it seems, are making something of a comeback with today’s younger generation enjoying them as much as we did as children. As a child I was occasionally taken to Blackpool. If it was summer then it was buckets and spades, donkey rides and ice cream, whilst in the winter it was the…
Guinness is Good for You, was the advertising slogan made famous by the firm from the 1920’s until it was banned in the 1960’s, no longer considered a healthy option. Guinness also claimed to Give You Strength, and according to The Royal College of Physicians Museum, Guinness wrote to…
Wine drinking was a habit only for the elite in Britain, but an everyday necessity for our French and European cousins.
In the sixties, cheap, semi-sweet drinks such as ‘Babycham’ and ‘Cherry B’ took over from sherry and eventually Portuguese ‘Mateus Rose’. So exotic was this wine considered that…
The Beatles song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) was about an extramarital affair that John Lennon was involved in. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he said:
"I was trying to write about an affair without letting my wife know I was having one…
Eighteen months ago, I posted a piece called The Great De-Cluttering Dilemma, as we moved out of our house following an underfloor leak. This week we are moving back in to the house, complete with all our goods and chattels…
My dad’s first job was as a projectionist at The Picture House Cinema in the market town of Beverly in East Yorkshire. There was no TV at the time and so news and entertainment were to be found there and he saw it all though the tiny square window of his projection booth. Then he went off to war.
Once upon a time and by a fortuitous chain of events, I was very lucky to have a 1-2-1 tennis lesson with Rod Laver at Wimbledon. He was such a gent he even said I could tell my kids I won. More recently I’ve tried out tennis’ rival sport, Pickleball - billed as “a game for all ages”. And then there’s the other rival Padel.
In the 1970’s there were 132 listed British sitcoms. From the 1980’s to the 2010’s it increased from 143 to 172 sitcoms. But this decade so far there have only been 54. An academic writing in a new book is claiming that some of those sitcoms make sense of the political attitudes that prompted Brexit…
Billy No-Mates is the poignant title of Max Dickins new book in which he explores the problems men can have with maintaining friendships. Women it seems, are much better at it. When Max proposed to his girlfriend, he realised…
A rumbling of concern about electric cars came from an unlikely source earlier this month in the form of a piece in Mail Online by Rowan Atkinson. Unlikely, that is, until you are acquainted with his credentials.
I won’t be seeing any of my four offspring on Father’s Day, and I don’t mind a bit. I have a similar attitude to birthdays. I won’t see any of them on Christmas Day either. Of course, I love spending time with my kids but…
Rod Liddle’s Sunday Times article headlined, “We slurped up loads more sugar and salt in the Seventies. So why are we fatter now?” He went on to bemoan Tony Blair’s government for bullying food manufacturers into reducing sugar and salt and in the process ruining the flavour of teatime favourites like Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup and Spaghetti Hoops, to the point where “nobody eats that stuff anymore.” Maybe he’s right?
As the sun begins to make a more frequent appearance and the temperature rises, ice cream sales are also on the up. News so important that it featured in Radio 4’s bulletins, that Cadbury flakes, now made in Egypt, are too crumbly! Then there’s the matter of Percy Pig ice cream and Golden Gaytime…
I have known my colleague and friend for about twenty years. He trained as an accountant, has a neat haircut, smart appearance, and lives in the home counties. Having spent a great deal of time in his company I thought I knew him pretty well, but it seems he was hiding a dark secret.
My 26-year-old daughter recently encouraged me to watch a film called “End to End” about singer songwriter George Ezra's charming Cross-Britain hike. Have you seen it?
Growing up in Yorkshire, it seems there was a chippy on every street corner. Less so now, but there are still some brilliant exponents of The Noble Art, complete with awards. However there was a rather dramatic turn of events at two of my locals recently…
I can barely remember my early visits to Greek Islands, lost as they were to late nights, Raki, Ouzo and Retsina. Art director Terry, who is responsible for much of our graphic content, got marooned in his Cretian holiday home during Covid and never came back. I went to stay recently and had a very different sort of experience this time around.
According to McKinsey the wellness industry is a staggering $1.5 trillion market worldwide, but is it good for us, or just making us sick? I admit to feeling a little queasy listening to Radio 4’s programme The New Gurus over breakfast this week. The episode was titled Taking the Urine, inspired by one guru, Will Blunderfield’s habit of drinking his. And from there it got more bizarre, explicit and rather sad.
