Hi there, how are things with you? I hope you have been enjoying the glorious weather we have been experiencing. I was surprised to hear on the news this has been the longest spell of continuous warm weather we have had since 2006. It doesn’t seem like that long ago to me I must have a very selective memory or I always just think it is sunny. Not bad at all though is it considering the experts from the Met Office were warning us not to expect too much of a summer this year. They are about as good at predicting the weather as I am at predicting the winning lotto numbers.

I have now recovered from working at the Henley Regatta with Regatta Radio. It was the first time I had ever been to the event and I definitely would recommend it to anyone. The atmosphere, the people you meet, the athleticism and determination of the rowers and the overall excitement makes it such a fun occasion to be at . I was very busy mainly producing highlight packages of the hugely exciting races that were regularly powering down the Thames. While also helping to produce live programmes from backstage at the event during any breaks from the action. During these were heard from Olympic champions and fashion experts alike. I have to say there were certainly some very interesting looks on display. Rowers tend to wear colourful blazers and colourful trousers when they are not on the water.  They also had on moored outside the boat houses the special rowing boat that was built especially for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations last year.  Which led the procession down the Thames in London the “Gloriana” which just looked stunning. If you would like to check out some of the race highlights and relive some of the excitement from this year follow this link  http://www.regattaradio.co.uk/audio_year/2012/

I have also been doing quite a bit of work on my comedy stuff recently including with my sitcom pilot. I have been holding some more interesting conversations with a couple of production companies about moving the project forward. And I have also been doing a bit of writing for a new project that I am just starting working on. But that is in the very early planning stages.  I am still doing a bit of stand up comedy when I can. The other Friday I performed at a Charity Comedy Night at the Essendon Country Club with some of the other comedians who I met through the Tringe Comedy Course I did last summer. It was a really fun evening catching up with everyone, getting some nice food (including the most up market sausage rolls I had ever seen) and more importantly raising lots of money for some excellent causes. I am currently in the process of booking up a few more gigs towards the end of this year, which I will announce in the next month or so.

Now I was still at the Henley Regatta working during the Wimbledon Men’s final this year but I did keep up to date with events from Centre Court and watched the highlights when I got in. I  would like to congratulate Andy Murray on being the first British Wimbledon men’s Singles Champion since Fred Perry in 1936. I have to be honest that at one point during his career I was sometimes a little critical of the Scottish youngster on more than a few occasions.  Although not of his undoubted tennis ability but the way he sounded in interviews. It used to be impossible to tell if he had won or lost by the tone of his voice. He never sounded excited or like he had any emotions at all about the game. Which I did not find very inspiring or motivating. I do think now that he does have a very good dry sense of humour. Which at that early stage of his career nobody really knew about back then. So some things that he said may have been taken the wrong way or out of context. In the last couple of years he has really opened himself up to the media and we have had the chance to witness this great sense of humour that all of his friends kept telling us he had. After losing last year in the final the tears and emotion that he showed finally let us see that he did want to win it badly and was not just a robot. Then couple that with the Olympic Gold last year. Which I think gained him even more support across the UK and finally made be really want him to win it and made me think that he actually could. We know now he has given up so much, he works so hard every day. And has that he has had to deal with the weight and expectation of the whole country on his shoulders since he was a teenager. So that is why I was delighted to see him do it. I was genuinely really happy for him and hope he goes on to dominate the tournament and tennis for the next couple of years. Plus the amount of earnings he has donated to the Cancer Centre that is treating one of his best mate’s deserves a place on the honours list itself. Let alone for his sporting achievements. Well done Andy!

I use to play a bit of tennis as a teenager normally around the time Wimbledon was on. I still have the racket I bought but it does age me slightly, I have an Andre Agassi one. The last time I played was a couple of years ago, but the mate who I kept beating decided that he could not play anymore because he had a bad back. I just think it was because who knew he could never beat me.

It really is an amazing summer of sport this year already. Last weekend saw the exciting climax of the first Ashes test against Australia at Trent Bridge. It all rested on the final day and with England needing just one wicket and Australia needing around thirty runs to win the umpires called for the lunch break. This situation then helped to remind me what I love about Twitter and why I so enjoy using it. Having just posted some light hearted joke tweets about giving the Australian’s a big and stodgy dinner. This then led to me having a bit of fun banter with a guy in Australia about Stuart Broad’s involvement in the game and the match in general. We did not know each other yet we were supporting our countries, while having a bit of a laugh from opposite sides of the world. For me that is exactly what the social networking site should be. Friendly and fun!

Other Twitter highlights from the last fortnight include getting some personal health and fitness advice from the former Olympic swimmer Sharon Davies about how to balance enjoying yourself at the weekend with staying fit and healthy. I also managed to grab a quick chat with England Women’s International Striker Ellen White, as she was trying to fire the Lionesses to victory in the Euro 2013 Championships in Sweden. Unfortunately that did not quite go to plan. But I wish Ellen and the team all the best for this season.

I am really looking forward to working with my old mate Dez Kay at the Radio Rocks concert in aid of Stoke Mandeville Hospital on Sunday 11th August at the Westcott Sports and Social Club. I am going to be doing a bit of hosting and a little bit of comedy. There is a whole host of great local bands and singers performing including Frowser, Paul Adams, Nickita, El Bronson and the Sonny Waters band. The headline act is Brian “Nasher” Nash from Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Tickets are available now. So if you are about why not come along and have some fun with us.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151463390646780&set=a.10151136456641780.431936.557116779&type=1&theater

For the next few weeks at least I am pleased to reveal that I will be working with the FA at Wembley Stadium assisting with their Tours Organisation. It is going to be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to being at the home of English Football for a time.

Have fun and we will catch up in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.

Hello again, I hope all is good and that you had an enjoyable couple of weeks. Mine have been as ever busy and pretty varied. I was due to meet up for a cup of tea with a mate of mine the other week. When I received a phone call from him apologising for the fact that he would not be round to see me as he had in his words “just done something really stupid”. When I pressed him on this matter I found out that he had put unleaded petrol in his diesel vehicle. A vehicle he has had for over six months I would like to add at this stage. Initially he was told his breakdown service provider would send their mobile fuel removal unit. Which for them to actually have one of these suggests this sort of thing happens more often than I realised. But he would have had to wait over two hours for that to arrive. So instead he got towed to a local garage, who managed to deal with the issue shall we say. An annoying mistake that cost him time and money he wasn’t expecting to lose and most importantly lost him the chance to share a cup of tea or two with me. His loss. I phoned another mate of ours with the intention of making fun of my friends predicament, until he pointed out very early on he couldn’t really make fun of him because he had done the same thing once! I am now wondering if I am one of the few people in the country who has not put the wrong fuel in a car.

There was so much going on last weekend event wise it was insane with Robbie Williams playing Wembley Stadium, Bruce Springsteen playing the Olympic Park, Wimbledon continuing, the British Grand Prix and of course Glastonbury. I watched quite a bit of it on television really wishing I was there up to the point where the music finished and I could just go upstairs to my comfy bed rather than sleeping in a tent. Having been before it is an amazing event and still worth a few days roughing it in a sleeping bag to be part of the fun and the madness. Highlights for me included Nile Rogers and Chic, Primal Scream and the Artic Monkey’s, who I saw last timed they headlined at Glastonbury. I did enjoy seeing Kenny Rogers performance in the Sunday afternoon slot that during my times at the festival I have seen Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond play in. It is just the perfect sort of thing for that time in the weekend. No exception this year with thousands of people singing along with and swaying to the seventy-five year old Country & Western Star. Where else in the world would you get that other that Glastonbury. I thought the Rolling Stones were excellent and showed why they are arguably the best and coolest rock and roll band in the world. A great set full of hits, led by the worryingly energetic Mick Jagger and backed up by the coolest and most laid back guitarists in Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards. I know some people were less than complementary about them, but they are wrong and to slightly clean up and use a quote from the legend that is Danny Baker “I would like to see anyone who had a pop at The Stones still be that good at their jobs when they are seventy!

I mentioned this briefly earlier on but Bruce Springsteen was back playing Hard Rock Calling at the Olympic Park last Saturday. He and the E-Street Band played the whole of the Born in The USA album as well as many more of “The Boss’s” Hits. I was lucky enough to be in Hyde Park for last year’s Hard Rock event. When after playing for over three hours Bruce suddenly decides to bring Sir Paul McCartney out for the encore. Which has to be my greatest live concert moment ever. Even the fact that the concert was famously cut short when someone was actually brave enough to pull the plug while they were still playing it was still brilliant. It was a truly amazing evening and one that will live on in my memory for ever. Mainly for the shock, excitement and delight when the former Beatle appeared. Class.

Last Sunday it was the Tringe Festival Roving Comedy Night 2013 the event that now traditionally kicks off the three week comedy festival in Tring. And the arena where I made my stand up comedy debut last year. So this year I went along to support and enjoy this year’s trainees as they performed for the first time in public. It bought back so many great memories for me from my time doing it, the nerves, the excitement, the thrill and the buzz I got from completing those first four gigs and then the joy meeting up with all my fellow comedians at the end of the night to talk about our experiences of the evening. It was a lot more relaxing watching it rather then being involved in it if I am honest and despite being in it last year it was the first time I had actually been to it as an audience member. It was a great night. All the first time comedians did really well and it was brilliant to see Dominic Holland, Duncan Oakley, Silky and Tony Law play such intimate gigs. Basically it was just a very funny night. It was also good to catch up with some people who did the night with me last year including Tony Law who was the professional comedian I went round with and Silky who I gave a lift back to his hotel last year. He was on excellent form all night. Another person I was really pleased to be able to grab a chat with was the comedy guru himself Logan Murray who takes the eight week course that leads up to the Roving Comedy Night performance. He trains all of the comedians and as someone who did his course last year I would recommend it to anyone, great teacher and a very funny man. Well done to Ben Moorhouse who runs the Tringe Festival. Once again the line up for this year’s event is brilliant it is like a who’s who of comedy.

At the moment I am in the middle of working with the team at Regatta Radio helping them to cover the Henley Regatta in all it’s glory. We have a great team of commentators bringing the action to life. I am having a wonderful time being involved and working with everyone there. It is final’s day tomorrow, which I am really looking forward to. I think I am slowly becoming an expert on rowing you know. With the main thing I have learnt being that compared to these athletes I am really unfit. They have a love of early mornings and exercising well beyond the means of normal human beings to achieve their goals. Not only that but I have also discovered that I am to tall and to heavy to be a cox, so I can not even be the one who just sits there shouting instructions.

And finally just another quick reminder that I will be making an appearance at Radio Rocks on Sunday 11th August, which is an event raising money for Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio, where I started my broadcasting career. It will feature Brian “Nasher” Nash from Frankie Goes To Hollywood plus lots of fantastic bands and a bit of comedy to. If you fancy coming along for some good music and a good laugh then follow the link below for ticket details.
http://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/8971/chk/5dfb

Have fun and we will speak again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.