Back in the 1980s, I was an avid reader of the music press, and my favourite weekly was ‘Melody Maker’. Within a few months of purchasing my first issue, I became familiar with the different writers on

John Leslie, one-time ‘Blue Peter’ presenter and 1990s mainstream TV mainstay, has recently spoken of the accusation that effectively ended his high-profile, £350,000-a-year career. The story that emerged into the public domain in 2002 appeared in

Thus spoke Arwen, the “Evenstar” as she was also referred to

When Tony Benn died last year, the obituaries tended to focus on the radical old uncle of the elder statesman years rather than the belligerent troublemaker of the turbulent early 80s. Benn successfully reshaped his public perception

Excuse me while I light up. I smoke a lot of cigarettes and drink a lot of black coffee whilst writing; my teeth bear the scars, but it could be worse, I suppose. At least I’m not

It might not be everybody’s idea of entertaining television – and, to be frank, it’s not necessarily mine; but the party conference season is with us again, and at one time this strange, ritualistic Eurovision-for-politicians spectacle used

Beyond the endless TV mags, titillating rags and metrosexual men’s handbooks, I spied a tiny handful of what used to be called comics on the newsstand the other day. All bar one notable exception appeared to be movie merchandise, just

Sometimes a face gatecrashes the public consciousness with such force that the imprint of the image acquires an immortal permanence; the owner of the iconic countenance in question remains fixed as that face way beyond the point

Whatever part competence, judgement and vision play in a premiership, the factors of timing and luck should never be underestimated. Robert Walpole emerged from the chaos of the South Sea Bubble and sold himself as the only

I read in my Sunday broadsheets that Angela Merkel is starting to get a bit of stick in Germany. For example “Mutter Angela” is featured on the front page of Der Spiegel in full Mother Theresa

Members of staff at the Raccoon Arms are not solely engaged in serving the customers, pulling pints, changing barrels, preventing patrons from buying too many packets of peanuts merely to see if the model on the board

September 1955, exactly sixty years ago – a momentous month for popular culture that drew a line in the sand, signalling the division between the old world and the new; in the case of the latter, it

On Saturday morning I listened with great interest to the announcements of the results of the Labour leadership contest. I raised an eyebrow at the announcement of Mr.