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I still miss this car
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So lovely that the blossoms are out
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Happy St Pat’s
The top brass at Guinness were obsessed with these pin badges. We made
them for all kinds of occasions.
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A drop of experience
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Country cottage
And real milk bottles
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Better than diamonds
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Burning love
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The Shard looking amazing
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May the lols be with you
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Barcelona v Real Madrid 1997
Found this old ticket that I’d been using as a bookmark and it brought back memories.
I’d been visiting friends Steve and Liz in Spain and Steve & I tried to get tickets for the match. I remember Bobby Robson saying that he’d seen all the big derbies – Glasgow/Celtic, Tottenham/Arsenal and Boca Juniors/River Plate but that none compared to Barcelona v Real Madrid. We paid a whopping £100 per ticket to a tout (Steve – I’m finally shopping you to Liz) and headed in. And it was truly mad. People were in our seats, but no-one sat anyway and once they heard I’d come from England for this match, I was hugged like a long lost brother. The capacity of the Nou Camp was about 120,000 and only 500 fearless Madrid fans made it in. They were barracked mercilessly throughout. The experience was indeed extraordinary – flares, thrown coins and real animation. The game itself was decided by a Barcelona penalty. Not the most exciting goal, but it was scored by Ronaldo.
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As someone said about Bob Dylan
An acquired taste, but what a taste
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Laid-back Kiwi cricket
I went to watch this test match in New Zealand in March 1997. They were playing Sri Lanka and my lasting memory is how casual the whole thing was. I’d been to Lord’s and the Oval several times by then and this was so laid back by contrast. I remember some guys carrying in a full-size leather sofa to plonk on the grass, but in particular I enjoyed the easy acceptance that kids could carry on their own parallel game of cricket right next to the boundary. Once or twice the ball went onto the playing area, only for the test cricketer to happily toss it back.
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My favourite albums of all time
Ok, so it’s classic nerdy bloke territory to write lists like this, but why fight it?
I’ll no doubt change my mind tomorrow, but right now these are my favourite ever albums – their qualifying characteristic being that I never get tired of hearing them.
- Pixies – Surfer Rosa/C’mon Pilgrim
- Stone Roses – Stone Roses
- Lloyd Cole and the Commotions –Rattlesnakes
- Human League – Dare
- Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92
- The Pogues – Red Roses for Me
- The Specials – The Specials
- New Order – Substance 1987
- Soft Cell – non-stop erotic cabaret
- The Smiths – The World Won’t Listen
- Bob Dylan – John Wesley Harding
- Neil Young – Weld
- Beatles – White album
- Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
- Talking Heads – Little Creatures
- REM – Life’s Rich Pageant
- Kraftwerk – Man Machine
- Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit for rotting vegetables
- Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Barafundle
- Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
- Kate Bush – Hounds of love
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I remember that football
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Five years on from Radio Aid
Tomorrow is five years since UK Radio Aid – when all the country’s commercial stations came together to broadcast the same output and raise £3m in aid of the Asian tsunami appeal.
I was in charge of fundraising tactics. As you can see, Prince Andrew was fascinated.
