Hello again, I hope all is well with you. And that you have had a very good couple of weeks. During this period we have of course had Stars Wars Day on May 4th. “May the fourth be with you” I have to confess I am a huge Star Wars fan. I loved the first three films and very much enjoyed the three prequels that were made much later on. As a child I actually owned lots of Star Wars toys and figures including several different versions of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Hans Solo. I even had a model of the Millennium Falcon. All of which I used to play with quite often as a young child until the age of about eleven. I am not sure why but Hans was definitely my favourite character. As I was so fond of the collection I kept it up in the loft for years. Only selling it at a car boot sale a couple of years ago. If I knew they were planning on making more films I have to be honest I probably would have kept hold of them. Not to play with any more just to still be able to look at them from time to time of course. Nothing makes me smile more than just seeing random people dressed as Storm Troopers wondering about in seemingly ordinary situations. Recently it has been announced that they are making an episode seven which will be written, produced and directed by JJ Abrams. It will also feature most of the original cast. Which I think is genius. It is being filmed at PInewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. I would love to be an extra in that movie. As that is fairly unlikely to happen I think the next party I throw will be a Star Wars themed fancy dress party. I wonder if I can book that band from the Star Bar in the first film. Mind you they only seem to know one song. So may be not!

Two years ago now I made my stand up comedy debut at the Tringe Festival supporting Tony Law at four gigs at four different venues around Tring on the same night. As part of the Roving Comedy Night. In the lead up to the big night itself I had a fantastic eight weeks being trained in the art of comedy by the master that is Logan Murray. Once a week we turned up at a church hall spent all night messing around and laughing. Then at the end of the course all twelve of us had five minutes of our own material to be able to unleash on the unsuspecting public. It was such an amazing experience and the night of the performances left me with a smile on my face and a great feeling of euphoria for the next week. This year’s Tringe Festival once again kicks off with the Roving Comedy Night on Saturday 29th June. It runs through until Saturday 19th July. Comedians who are performing their shows include Phill Jupitus, Josh Widdicombe, Mark Watson, Shappi Khorshandi, Sean Walsh, Milton Jones and Arthur Smith. It is always a great event and one which the comics really enjoy coming to and performing at. Which I think comes across in their shows. Generally the shows are work in progress previews for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which takes place in the summer. Which makes them even better if you are serious comedy fan as you get to see how these people at the top of their game evolve and progress their work. I am currently working on something which may mean I will be spending a couple of weeks in Edinburgh during the Festival which if it comes off will be amazing. I would urge you to check out the Tringe this year if you can. And try and get along to a few gigs. For more details click on the link below.
http://www.get-stuffed.biz/tringe/

Have you tried getting an appointment with your doctor recently. I have had a little bit of a sore throat and was slightly losing my voice which in my profession is not very good for business. So I thought I would phone the Surgery and make an appointment. This was at about ten in the morning. I was told their was no chance of seeing a doctor today and to try calling back tomorrow morning from eight. By the time I had managed to get through all the appointments for that day had gone. The same thing happened for the next two days. So on the third day when it happened again I asked if I could make an appointment in advance for the future and they said the earliest was in two weeks time. At that point I was starting to think by the time I got anything I would either be better or dead. Which ever one it was I would of course no longer require a medical professional. I did manage to get one in the end just after my voice had returned. But I thought it best to get it checked out. For the record the doctor himself was great and very helpful. Although I have now already booked up one appointment every three months through the rest of the year. Just in case anything comes up that I may need to get looked at.

So with the domestic football season coming to an end this weekend that means the World Cup is just around the corner. It will be here and under way before we know it. As a fan of Tottenham Hotspur this season has ended with a bit of a whimper for my team. Not only that but it has cost me some money thanks to a bet I had with two Everton supporting friend’s of mine. As to which of our clubs would finish highest in the Premier League. I am looking forward to going to White Hart Lane with my Dad on Monday night to see Ledley King’s Testimonial. He was a great player and ambassador for the club. If he had better knee’s he would have been a England regular throughout his whole career. Also on Monday the England manager will name his England World Cup Squad ahead of the final home friendly of the season on Friday 30th May at Wembley Stadium against Peru. Even though we have a tough group and conditions in Brazil will be difficult for the European sides I know once the squad is announced I will be getting excited and still hoping we can perform well. I have never entered anything I didn’t think I could not win. So they need to be positive give it the best shot they can. And give us a few things to cheer about while we are staying up ridiculously late to watch all the matches and feeling constantly shattered for the duration of the tournament. Come on England!

Talking of football I made a brief appearance in a Charity Match at Risborough Rangers last night. It is an annual event in memory of a young footballer from the town Jason Travers who sadly died six years ago of cancer. His old managers and team mates get together and play a match and in doing so also raise some money for the Everyman charity. It was good fun and nice to see some old faces. Some of which I had not seen for nearly twenty years. It was also nice to be on the same football pitch as my uncle for the first time in many years. To be fair we did both seem a bit slower than I remembered. The team I was playing for “the Veterans” did get well beaten by the younger players on the other side. I really do need to get back into training and play football more often if I want to try and return to the glory days of my youth I think. On the plus side I do not ache today. I had a great time and most importantly we raised some money for a very good cause.

On Monday 12th May it is also the Radio Academy Awards at London’s Grosvenor House hosted by none other than the broadcasting genius that is Chris Evans. Good luck to all my friends and former colleagues who are nominated for awards. I hope you have a wonderful evening. And also that you win. It is the biggest night of the year for the radio industry in the UK. There will be some fantastic live entertainment provided. It will be an entertaining and fun night with lots of very talented people getting the recognition they deserve. I look forward to seeing the pictures from it.

It was my sister’s birthday in the week, so to celebrate me and her went to Crocodile World. No I had never heard of it either but she is a big fan of the animal, had heard about the place and decided that is where she wanted to spend her special day. It is not far from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Although without the wonders of Sat Nav I am not totally sure we would have found it. I have to say it was absolutely brilliant. The staff there were really welcoming, friendly and so enthusiastic about their work. Once you were in they just left you to wonder around and look at the exhibits. Which there were about one hundred of. Including a huge Alligator who must have been at least nine foot in length I reckon. For every species they have lots of easy to read and understand information about the animals so I learnt loads and have to say they are pretty amazing creatures with all the things they can do with their nature designed features. While we were there a film crew was around filming bits and pieces for an upcoming BBC 2 programme on animals. So watch out for that and you may see me casually walking around in the background. The staff also put on various little shows during the day. While we were there me and my sister witnessed feeding time for around forty young crocodiles. Which I have to say was quite an amazing sight. As they feed them by encouraging them to leap out of the water to grab the food held above them. And while this was happening the keeper was giving us a talk on the animals to. Which was very interesting. It was a good day out and if you fancy doing something a bit different and seeing some awesome animals close up. I would very much recommend it.

I have recently been speaking to a production company who are making a new television show for ITV 2. It will be hosted by fairly well known comedian and presenter. It will also feature a selection of guests every week talking about certain elements regarding what it’s main focus is and what it is based around. Sorry to be so vague but I can’t say too much at this stage, I am hoping to have some involvement in this project. So as ever as soon as I know any more I will of course let you know. It sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

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

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. I have had a fantastic fortnight. That has been full of fun, extremely busy and which included a special weekend in one of my favourite places in the United Kingdom, Liverpool. I will tell you all about that trip very shortly. But first I would like to wish you a slightly belated happy St George’s Day for last Wednesday. I always feel that we in England never really properly celebrate our Saint’s Day. Well not like the Scottish, the Welsh and in particular the Irish do anyway. May be this is because in the modern world we have issues relating to a Knight slaying a Dragon. Which could still happen if Alan Sugar ever really laid into or had a go at Peter Jones or Duncan Bannatyne. Although whenever I think of St George now it makes me think of Shrek when he rescues Princess Fiona from the Dragon in the castle. It is a day I personally think we should really get behind more and make more of it. Perhaps when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s son becomes King in the future. He will want to make a bigger deal out of it. This year I celebrated St George’s Day by going out for a Chinese meal with a friend and former colleague of mine. So combining our English qualities with a culture in which Dragons play a big part. Therefore killing two birds with one stone or to put it another way slaying two dragons with one huge sword.

So the other weekend I went to Liverpool for a few days to attend a Wedding of a good friend of mine. Who I actually met through working in the radio industry over thirteen years ago now. I love Liverpool and as far as I am concerned it is one of the best nights out in the country. The Wedding was on the Friday but as I wanted to settle in and spend some time in the North West. I took the train up on the Thursday. Although the journey did take a little bit longer than I had planned. It is never a great start when your first train of three is late, meaning you miss your other two connections. But I eventually arrived and then checked in to my hotel room above the Parr Street Recording Studios. Where bands such as Coldplay. Beautiful South, Stereophonics and the Spice Girls have recorded alongside solo artists including Barry Manilow and Diana Ross. It is still a well used place, with lots of bands seemingly heading in and out of the place all through the period I was there. I did manage to stick my head in one of the studios. And it is far to say they have a very impressive set up there. As you would expect looking at the people who have worked in there in the past . As soon as I arrived I headed out to meet the Groom to be and his Best Man and we went to a couple of fantastic bars for a few drinks including the iconic Cavern. Which is just a truly magical place decorated with pictures and memorabilia from many of the great musicians who have played there over the years. On stage there was a brilliant acoustic guitarist playing Beatles songs. Which the whole bar were singing along to. I always like to pop in there when I visit.

The next day it was the Wedding Day. We met the Groom and his Best Man in his favourite pub right in the centre of Liverpool for a pre wedding drink to calm any last minute nerves. Of which there did not seem to be any to be honest. We then all jumped in taxis to head to the Wedding Venue. Which was actually the home of the team the Groom supports Goodison Park. This was the first wedding I had ever been to at a football ground, so I was really looking forward to it. We pulled up outside Everton Football Club and walked straight in the main entrance. Which is where the players arrive on a match day. Soon we were heading upstairs to the Dixie Dean Suite which is where the actual Wedding Ceremony took place. It was a very nice service with some great readings including a poem by Pam Ayres on relationships. Which I thought was a different but a very nice touch. Then we went and had all the usual Wedding style photos taken but in the main stand. We then came back inside and headed to the room where the reception was being held. While the Wedding Party headed down to have some more pictures in the tunnel and at the side of the pitch. Which the groom really enjoyed. The evening itself was perfect. The speeches were all great, the food was lovely and the whole night went with a bang. I got to catch up with lots of people I had not seen for a while. As well as having a good old dance. It is a bit hazy but I think I may have been having a small dance off to Steps and Tragedy with the person who will be shortly taking over the Radio City Breakfast Show. Now despite the fact that I did once win a competition doing this routine in Magaluf many years ago, she is a trained actress and dancer so was easily doing it a lot better than me. But it was good fun. It was a very special, funny and memorable day. And I would like to say huge congratulations to Jeff and Diane and thank them for inviting me to be a part of their big day.

Now the groom Jeff is not only a massive Everton fan but is also a king of rock n roll and can party with the best of them. The day after the wedding his beloved team were playing. So we all met up in Liverpool again to watch the game and continue the party. After the match we did a tour of quite a few of the amazing pubs that the city has to offer. All of which I have to confess I had been in many times before. My two favourites from the night were Lennon’s Bar where Jeff got up and did a brilliant version of the Madness song It Must Be Love on Karaoke. Before we all ended up stood around the bar singing along to Beatles songs that the DJ was playing. And the Tube which is an 80’s bar complete with music from that decade and a flashing colour squares dance floor like in Saturday Night Fever. It is such a fun place to pop into. The next morning I then met another mate who is a Liverpool fan for a cup of tea at Lime Street Station. He was up to watch the Liverpool versus Manchester City game taking place at Anfield. While we were at the train station we spotted former footballer Nigel Spackman in a coffee shop and Noel Gallagher from Oasis arriving off the train and looking like the definition of cool, as he walked across the platform to his waiting car. I then left my mate to go to the match and had a walk round the Albert Docks. Which is actually where This Morning used to come from until they moved it to London. At the Dock there was a Radio Caroline boat which is broadcasting for a short time in the area. Of course with my love of radio it would have been rude not to go on board and have a quick look round. Which is exactly what I did. The studios they had were actually set up a lot like they would have been on the original Radio Caroline pirate ship. In fact some of the equipment they were using was actually used on the film loosely based on the radio station by Richard Curtis The Boat That Rocked.

I was at Wembley Stadium recently again doing a little bit of work there with the Football Association. I was standing with a group of people in the players tunnel area just at the side of the pitch. Up in the stands I saw someone I recognised doing a few television interviews. I then returned to the talking to the people with me. Then a couple of minutes later the person I had spotted actually appeared in the tunnel area stopping briefly to talk to the group assembled before posing for a few photographs and shaking a few people’s hands. Then just before he headed off I wished him good luck for the World Cup and thanked him for stopping to see us. He then had a very brief chat to me before shaking my hand and then patting me warmly on the shoulder. I sure you have guessed who it was by now. It was the England manager Roy Hodgson. Who was fantastic for stopping and chatting to us. He is not only a top manager but a top bloke to. That is one of the things I like about working at Wembley the people you see. As well as the England manager I have also seen Sir Trevor Brooking, Clive Allen, Kyle Walker, Martin Peters and Gareth Southgate all walking around the place recently.

The last television show that I went to see being recorded at Elstree Studios “All About Two” was on Easter Sunday Night on BBC 2. It was good to see it again and see which bits actually made it on to the TV because as with all shows it is fair to say there were a lot more items recorded than were actually shown in the programme. It is so clever how they edit it all together to make sense. I knew of several parts where things went wrong and they had to re-take bits of it but watching it from the comfort of your home you would have no idea. Dara O’Briain is really great at hosting those sort of things. But my personal highlight of the night was being in the same room as Sir David Attenborough. What a remarkable man. He is clever, creative and also very funny. Strangely when I was watching it in the studio I had got some mini eggs and was eating them between takes. Then when I watched it at home on Easter Sunday weirdly I was also eating a packet of mini eggs once again. The odd thing about BBC 2’s fiftieth anniversary is the rather embarrassing fact that none of the programmes it was due to launch with actually went out. Due to a massive power cut in London that night. So the first transmission was from the BBC news room and was a pretty dismal short report on why this new big shiny channel was not actually available on it’s first night. That said when you think of all the great programmes that have started life on BBC 2 since. I think they have more than made up for it. If you did see it I hope you managed to hear my unnaturally loud clap. I could easily pick it out and on a few occasions I have to confess that I was that annoying person who puts in just that one clap too many.

I friend of mine was in hospital last week having an operation on his elbow that he damaged playing football. I went in to visit him, to see how he was doing and hopefully to cheer him up and have a bit of a laugh. Great though the staff are few people actually enjoy being in Hospital. He had been given a big bag of muffins from an earlier visitor, so as he didn’t think he could eat them all he very kindly gave me one. It never occurred to me when I took it but you should have seen the looks I was getting from people as I was holding a muffin that they must have thought I had stolen from a patient possibly because they had fallen asleep due to the pain killers they were on. It was an awkward feeling but I got through it and enjoyed eating the cake when I got home.

Finally most of the line up has now been announced for the Comedy Festival that I made my Stand Up Comedy debut at nearly two years ago now The Tringe. The event based in Tring is where many top comedians preview their shows for the summer’s Edinburgh Festival. I am hoping to get along to watch a few of the shows myself if I can. If you want to find out more about it and I would strongly urge you do. Please see the link.  http://www.get-stuffed.biz/ 

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

Hello again, I hope all is well with you. And that you have had a very good couple of weeks.Once again this past fortnight seems to have has flown by. I am already very much liking the fact that the evening’s are getting lighter. And that we are getting a bit more sun and a bit less rain. Which let’s face does improve everyone’s outlook on the world quite a bit. Since the Chancellor announced the latest budget. I am very pleased that so far I have managed not to fall into his clever trap. And therefore have not played any bingo or drunk too much beer. Despite him reducing the duty by about a penny of both of those products. To make them both I guess, slightly more tempting to people. But who is really deciding on what they want to do purely based on it saving them possibly about five pence a night. That said I have to confess there is a slight gambling and drinking theme running through this latest edition.

Last Saturday it was the Grand National Horse Race from Aintree. I guess this event is when a lot of people might experience gambling for the first time in their lives. Or it is certainly the day a lot of people make their annual pilgrimage to their local bookmakers. Or at the very least they probably end up doing the work sweepstake. So will therefore have a slight interest in proceedings. Personally I am someone who enjoys horse racing. And the National is always an important day in my sporting calendar. About ten years ago now I did a Wedding Disco with my mate Dez Kay for two jockeys who had ridden in the race Gee Armytage and Mark Bradburne. It was a great occasion in a Marquee in a friend of theirs field. Pretty much the who’s, who of horse racing were there including Clare Balding, John Francome, Carl Llewellyn and the champion jockey himself AP McCoy to mention but a few. I will tell you what though. They have a very tough, hard and dangerous job but when the time allows they really know how to let their hair down and have a good time. It was some party. A few years ago now I actually went along to Aintree for Ladies Day. Which is the day before the main event. I had a brilliant time. The whole place was buzzing with a great atmosphere there. Then the day after I found myself watching the National in a pub in the centre of Liverpool. Which was also a fantastic experience. I enjoyed this year’s race and was pleased that all the jockeys and horses were all fine at the end of what I thought was a very exciting race. I didn’t manage to pick the winner this year. Well done to you if you did. I always back every horse I choose each way and so did manage to have the third and forth placed horses this time round. So I did at least see a little return in money for my efforts.

Staying with Liverpool I am actually up there this weekend for a mate of mines wedding. Which I am really looking forward to. As I am convinced it will be a fitting and fun celebration for the happy couple. I love the City. It is actually one of my favourite places in the country. I have had some great times up there in the past. To make the most of it I have booked myself into a hotel for a few days. So I can spend some time catching up with people before and after the big day. I am going to be staying in a room above a recording studio. Where Coldplay produced their first three albums. It has also been used by Beautiful South, Elbow, Lightning Seeds, Shed Seven and Stereophonics to mention just a few of the big names. Who have worked their magic in there. Please be assured though that I will only be sleeping there and have no immediate plans to inflict my singing on an unsuspecting public. Not as yet anyway. I will report back to you about my Liverpool adventures next time we speak. My favourite previous memory of the place, I think. Is getting the night bus from the City Centre to the suburb where my mate was living. With the whole bus singing at the top of our voices the entire Beatles back catalogue. And then whenever it stopped and someone got off. We would pause the singing and give them a standing ovation. It was a great end to a wonderful night. And I am hoping for more of the same this weekend.

I do like going out and eating at new places. And trying new things as often as I can. Now I am probably a bit behind the times with this one. But recently I went out to a Jimmy’s restaurant for the very first time. I understand they are a chain. And there are a few of them dotted all around the country. They are basically as much as you can eat buffet places. With a slight exception to the norm. They offer a selection of world food from many different countries. Which then you can then choose as little or as much of as you want. So they had Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Italian, American, British, Japanese and Spanish food selections at various stations. You just pay a set price. And take yourself around these as many times as you like. With a fresh plate supplied every time. The food was really nice and very varied. There was loads of it on offer. So predictably I ended up eating way too much and feeling uncomfortably full at the end. Not helped by the fact that after I had been on a food tour of the globe. I then also visited the dessert section to. I really did enjoy it though. It made a nice change. I also got to try something new. I am a big fan of fish but I had never tried any Sushi. Because if I am honest the thought of raw fish really put me off it. And I thought it would be horrible. But in the Japanese section there was a few different types of Sushi. So as I did not have to order it specially. And because also if I did not like it I could just go and grab something else to eat to take the taste away. I gave it a try. And I have to confess I thought it was really good. So it is now something I would certainly consider having again. From time to time at least. See you are never too old to try new things.

I was out for a few drinks with a mate of mine the other weekend. We ended up in a pub in High Wycombe. We were at the bar enjoying a drink when I nipped off to visit the facilities. When I came back I found my friend chatting to a random magician at the bar. Who was doing a few different card tricks for him. He then did one for me. When he had finished he introduced himself and told me he was also a furniture Upholsterer before handing me his business card. He then turned back to my pal to do yet another card trick with him. Just as his finished that last trick I attracted his attention before reaching into my back pocket and bringing back out the business card he had gave me earlier. I then proceeded to hold it right up in front of his face before saying the classic line “Is this your card” Which I thought was hilarious and which led to him leaving the pub very shortly afterwards. I have always wanted to have the chance to say that to a magician for a change. And in doing so I actually made him disappear. There was also a covers band performing in the pub, providing some musical entertainment. They were a decent enough band. However I really like trying to recognise a song from the intro and name it before the vocals come in. Seriously I am brilliant fun to be with on a night out. The band in question made that game quite hard that night. As some of the songs could have been five or six different tunes based solely on the intro’s. But that made it more entertaining and at times more difficult to get it right. It was a quality night rounded off with a KFC. Which always does seem to be the case whenever I venture out with this particular friend. That said it tasted great!

I was back doing some work at Mix 96 in Aylesbury last week. Which was great fun. They took a couple of their shows out and about. So I went in to produce them from the main studio. The Breakfast Show visited Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Haddenham. Which is the station’s charity of the year. So while the two presenters were there meeting the staff and some of the patients. I was making sure everything was broadcast correctly from the studio. Making sure the show sounded as close to normal as usual. Even though it was coming from an unusual location. Then the day after I was producing Nathan Cooper’s Morning Show. Which came from the Kings Head Pub in Aylesbury. Where the brand new Mix 96 twentieth Birthday Beer brewed by The Chiltern Brewery was being launched. It was great to work with the team there once again. I had a very enjoyable couple of days. And after the second show I did actually get to pop over to the pub. Where I sampled an half of the new Mix 96 Birthday Beer. Which is called Bucks Best. I have to say it tasted lovely. Watch out for it on sale around Buckinghamshire. It is a nice drop and five pence from every pint goes to Tiggywinkles. I can’t believe that Mix 96 is twenty years old this year. I remember when it launched and being very excited about my home town having a radio station. During that first year while still at Aylesbury College I actually did a week’s work experience there. I also went to the stations first birthday party which was held at Stoke Mandeville Stadium. Funnily enough I went to that party with Mix 96’s very first evening presenter Jon Earley and the man who is now the MD Max Hailey. I can’t believe it is that long ago. And I wish Mix 96 a very Happy Birthday for 15th April. Which was the date in 1994 that it launched.

I do enjoy getting out to see live comedy and music as much as I can. I went to a gig night at a local pub last week because a friend of a friend was launching a new album. And doing a little acoustic set. I was really impressed. The guy had a good voice and had written some nice catchy and melodic songs. It was just him and his guitar on stage playing a thirty minute set. Which did include two very good and diverse cover versions. One was the Jessie J song Domino, while the other was the Phil Collins classic In the Air Tonight. Both very different and both sounded great. So I am marking that down as yet another successful night out on the town enjoying live entertainment. You really can’t beat it. Much better than sitting in and just watching the television any day. Unless that day is Saturday Night and you are watching Ant & Dec’s Takeaway. A great finale to the what has been a cracking series. Good to see Robbie Williams make his annual appearance with the boys. I am already looking forward to next year’s series. And I am wishing that may be I had booked some tickets for the upcoming live tour. Which I predict is going to be a right laugh. Which I think is something we should try to do as much as possible in life.

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

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Once again I have had a lot of fun over the last fortnight filling my time by doing lots of very different things. Tonight then of course sees the clocks go forward by one hour and the change to British Summer Time. Which sounds like a Mc Hammer parody song just waiting to happen to me. “Stop British Summertime”! The bad news is that we do lose an hour’s sleep but the good news is that day’s then start to get longer and the evening’s get lighter. Which I personally think is a reasonable trade off. It is also a good opportunity to just double check how intelligent your mates are. If anyone you have arranged to meet up with this Sunday happens to be there about one hour earlier than the time your agreed to see them. You know they are not capable of carrying out the very simple task of moving their watches and all their clocks one hour forward. The other mistake I have heard made during this period is people not realising that most mobile phones automatically update themselves to the correct time. So before they go to bed they move it one hour forward. Then when they wake up the next morning they will then be an hour ahead of the rest of the country. And will be extremely confused as to why that has occurred. I am sure you will be fine though and manage this simple task effortlessly. Do remember to try and catch up with the extra hour’s sleep you will lose on Sunday. Never start the week tired that is my advice.

Well done to everyone involved in this year’s Sports Relief. From the presenters to the performers and from anybody who did any challenges to anyone who donated to the charity. An amazing amount of money was raised. Which just goes to show what a fair, decent and nice nation we really are. Something to be very proud of that I think. The actual night’s entertainment was very good I thought. I sat down and pretty much watched it all from start to finish. I liked the sporting battle that ran through the evening between the two teams led by Lord Coe and John Bishop. And it was great to see the Olympic venues being used and full once again, I thought that was a great idea which captured the spirit of the event brilliantly. My personal highlight just because I am such a huge fan of the show was the special Only Fools and Horses sketch. You can do nothing but admire how well David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst can just slip back into the roles of Del and Rodney Trotter. Two fantastic actors with clinical comedy timing. Also credit where it is due to. I thought David Beckham was very good in it. It is quite tricky to play yourself like that. As it is a version of you as perceived by the writer. You could clearly tell he was a massive fan of the sitcom. And the fall at the end was perfectly executed. Also the live music line up was very good anything that features two performances from Kylie Minogue can only be a good thing as far as I am concerned. Bearing in mind that it is a live show and always subject to constant changes and alterations on the whole it seemed to run pretty smoothly. So full credit to the production team and all of the presenters for that.

I was at Wembley once again last week during a promotion and publicity event for this year’s World Cup featuring three England players from the 1966 World Cup Winning Squad. Jimmy Greaves, Gordon Banks and the three goal hero himself Geoff Hurst were all there answering questions and posing for photographs with the actual World Cup. I have been lucky enough to interview and meet Jimmy Greaves before. He is a top bloke. Who is very funny and entertaining to talk to. And who has some great stories from his playing days. Plus being a Tottenham Hotspur fan myself it was an honour to meet one of the club’s legends. In the past I have also had the delight of talking to the other goal scorer in the famous final against West Germany Martin Peters, who was a joy. And I once met the man who was so happy at the end of the game. That he invented his own dance craze on the Wembley pitch. Nobby Styles at a book signing he was doing in Somerset. He was also fantastic to chat to. So far no-one has come close to achieving what they managed to do in England forty-eight years ago. But with the summer approaching I am starting to get excited and optimistic about this year’s finals in Brazil. Even though the odds are stacked against us. When the footballers had finished and gone. The World Cup was left there for a bit afterwards. So I thought it would be rude not to get a picture with it. I hope Steven Gerrard gets as close to the trophy as I did in the picture below during the summer. Come on England!

I had a strange and surreal moment when I was out for a few drinks with some mates last weekend. We had been to a couple of pubs before ending up in a place that had some live music. Supplied by a local band. It was quite a popular venue and as we were leaving there was a big queue outside waiting to get in. At the front of this line was somebody I used to work with about fifteen years ago, She probably had not seen me since I left that company I don’t think. It was a Saturday night so we may be shouldn’t rule out the fact that she could have been drinking. So as I walked past her she shouted out it’s Neil Quigley at the top of her voice, I recognised her and said hello stopping for a very quick chat. But I wonder what the other fifty people in the queue were thinking.  Well I probably can guess. It would have been who the hell is he. It was a kind of weird, odd, amusing and slightly accidental showbiz moment of sorts. I might start hiring a person to come drinking with me wearing a dark suit with a fake earpiece in. So it looks like I have a minder with me at all times. It made me smile, which is the main thing I think.

I was at the Elstree Studio’s last Tuesday watching the recording of a special one off television show celebrating fifty years of BBC 2. I am not totally sure when it will be aired but I would strongly recommend you keep an eye out for it. And try to catch it when it is on. As it was very funny and actually pretty educational to. It is a quiz all about the BBC television channel hosted by the brilliant Dara O’briain. Who did an exceptional job, keeping it all together. You could clearly see he was a man on the top of his game. And very comfortable in his surroundings. He was excellently assisted by the giant that is Richard Osman. The teams were Hugh Dennis, Debra Meaden and Gareth Malone against Professor Brian Cox, Dave Myers and Meera Syal. There were some great archive clips and some amazing surprise guests, which I am not going to reveal. As I do not want to spoil it. So you will have to watch it to find out. I will say some of the rounds did appear to me like they may have thought up the name of the challenge first and then tried to find a game to fit it afterwards. See if you can spot which one in particular I am thinking of when you see it go out. Basically it was a right good laugh and a lovely way to spend an evening smiling clapping and generally messing about. The finale of the show was complete madness and total confusion. So I am looking forward to seeing how they manage to edit that for the broadcast. Good luck to the production team with that one. The studio we we in was just next to the Eastender’s set. So I have to confess I was slightly tempted to see if I could sneak off and maybe grab a cheeky pint in the Queen Vic with Danny Dyer. Needless to say I didn’t.

If you remember my mate’s play that I made a cameo appearance on stage in last year. The one called Ha Ha Holmes. Well he has just finished writing his latest story in the series called Ha Ha Hood. And this week it was announced that It will star the man himself Ben Langley and Su Pollard. It will be on tour across the UK later this year. Do look out for it coming to your area and go and see it. You will have a great night out.

Last Wednesday I went to the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House to watch the latest episode of the BBC Radio 4 Extra topical comedy show Newsjack being recorded. As this is a show I do some writing for. It was very interesting for me to see the cast perform it live for the first time. The Radio Theatre is a excellent venue, tailor made for radio. With surprisingly comfortable seats. And is where Radio 2 host most of their special one off gigs with the best singers and bands in the business. Gary Barlow, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Robbie Williams and The Stereophonics have all performed in there and the night after I was there Elbow were appearing there. Watching Newsjack was great. The new host of this series Romesh Ranganathan did a great job carrying the show with Lewis Macleod, Margaret Cabourn-Smith and Ellie White sensational supplying all the other characters and accents for the sketches. I do not think I have ever seen three people do as many completely different accents in the space of forty-five minutes. And the amazing thing is they record the whole show pretty much as you would a live show. Moving between the jokes and sketches seamlessly. So it was extremely slick and very funny. If you want to try and hear my laughing and clapping. It is currently on the BBC I-player. Even before the show started it was quite exciting. As I had a quick cup of tea in the BBC Cafe before the recording. And ended up sitting on a table opposite Dan Snow. You may or may not know this but the One Show studio is now based at Broadcasting House. So I have to confess I was more than half tempted to just nip round to the glass window behind Matt Baker and Alex Jones. To see if I could sneak into shot. But I can confirm I didn’t in the end. May be next time.

I am still waiting to hear the final details about a charity football match I will be playing in soon. But I understand the venue has been booked and the team line ups are being finalised. So I look forward to being able to share that information with you soon. It will be a fun day and I am already in training for it. Last one I played it I scored in so I will be looking for more goals again this time.

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

Hello again, I hope all is well with you. And that you have had a very good couple of weeks. I have as ever had a pretty hectic fortnight packed full of lots of enjoyable and entertaining moments. Not only that but the rain has actually stopped. And we have had a few nice sunny days to. Add that to the fact the days are getting longer, with more daylight. This means 2014 is just getting better and better.

So since we spoke last the Oscar Ceremony has taken place in America with “12 Year’s a Slave” winning Best Picture. Cate Blanchett winning best actress for her role in “Blue Jasmine”. And Matthew McConaughey winning Best Actor for his performance in “Dallas Buyers Club”. There is a very good chance that I will never get round to watching any of those three films. Which is no slight on them at all. It just highlights how few films I tend to watch in a year. Well done to all the victors at the awards. Although the real winner’s on the night were the event sponsors Samsung. Who somehow managed to get a selfie photo. That was taken on their brand new range of phone by the host Ellen Degeneres retweeted over three and a half million times on Twitter alone. That is some piece of additional and free marketing globally for the company. It was helped some what by the fact that the picture featured the host, Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Agelina Jolie as well as several other well known actors and actresses. And the strangest thing about it is. For a selfie they all look great in it. Whenever I try and take one it looks like I have a treble chin and a very pug like face. How on earth do they all look so stunning in it. I guess that is what they mean when they talk about the magic of Hollywood.

A couple of Sunday’s ago it was the Capital One Cup Final between Manchester City and Sunderland at Wembley Stadium. I was there working on behalf of the Football League taking some competition winners around during the morning of the game. It felt quite amazing walking out of the tunnel just a few hours before the team’s would do just that. Then it was time to show the group the actual cup itself and get them a nice picture standing with it. As a nice momento. Then we went for a walk round the outside of the pitch. Which in itself was pretty eventful. As Sky were the main broadcaster for the game they had a very strong presence there. So on the way round we saw Ben Shepherd and Kris Kamara doing Goals On Sunday. We walked past Gary Neville rehearsing his team line ups and tactics board ready for the match preview. Then we had to wait, while the Sky Sports News reporter Nick Collins did a live link back to the studio. Before finally bumping into Peter Reid, Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn. Who happily posed for photos for everyone. Before we had to head back inside. I did stay to watch the game. Which as a neutral I thought was very entertaining. I was in the end sitting near the Sunderland fans who were absolutely brilliant throughout and rightly delighted to be in the lead at half time. The atmosphere inside the ground was fantastic from start to finish. City came back well in the second half.With two sensational goals in very quick succession that really knocked the stuffing out of the team from the North East. It was a good game to see and a nice fun day out at the home of English football.

Just a few days later I was back at Wembley Stadium again. This time I was working on behalf of the Football Association doing some behind the scenes tours for the England team’s main sponsor. These took place during the afternoon of the England versus Denmark match. During this one I had the pleasure of taking a group of people inside the England Changing Room on a match day. With the kit men in there busily working away getting everything put out and ready for the players when they arrived. It felt great being in there and seeing the shirts hung up knowing that in just a few hours time the squad would be in there preparing for the game. On a match day the England players arrive 90 minutes before a qualifier and 75 minutes before a friendly. While the kit men get there six hours before them to make sure everything is waiting for them, when they enter the room. Already in that room you could feel the excitement building up ready for the game. Even though the players themselves would still actually have been in their hotel at that point. Again I did stay and watch the game from some very decent seats. It always impresses me when this happens. They had laid out some red and white card flags all over the stadium. That when lifted above heads during the national anthem formed the St George’s Flag right around the arena. Which I imagine would have looked great on television. In case you missed it England won one nil with a goal from Daniel Sturridge after some great work from the substitute Adam Lallana. Another enjoyable evening and always good to see the national team win. Bring on the World Cup!

On the 3rd March my friend Andy Holmes released his second novel “Everything But the DJ” this is available as an e-book and as an actual old fashioned traditional book via Amazon. It is the follow up to his first book “Always the DJ” the cartoon promo for which I lent my voice to and you can see just below. Also just a reminder that I will be making a small cameo appearance in the short film version of the book. Which is being filmed this summer. For an autumn release.

Earlier this week I went in and had a good meeting with a BBC Radio Station. Which hopefully will lead to me doing some work for them in the near future, It was a very productive and interesting discussion. And nice to get in a room and talk about radio with some very knowledgeable people. I will also be doing a little bit of work at Mix 96 once again next month. Helping out on one of their normal daily shows. Which I am really looking forward to. As ever I will give you more details about these things when I am able to.

Last Wednesday night I went and saw one of this year’s Berkhamsted Comedy Festival gigs. The venue for this show was the Greene Room at the King’s Arms Pub in Berkhamsted. I saw Phil Wang and Matt Forde perform. Both of whom were very very good. The festival is run by Ben Moorhouse who also runs the hugely popular and successful Tringe Festival in Tring. Both of these comedy events are used by comedians to hone their Edinburgh Festival Fringe Shows. So they often involve notes, recordings on mobile phones and new jokes and routines sometimes being tried out for the very first time. So they are generally more work in progress type of shows. Which as a huge comedy fan I find totally fascinating. And for me this always makes for a good atmosphere. As the audience is always very supportive and helpful for the performer, urging them on to do well. Both Phil and Matt were excellent and extremely funny and amusing. Which is even more amazing I think when you consider that both of the shows they performed are still being worked on and expanded to form. What I am already sure will be must see show’s when they are then on in Scotland. The Berkhamsted Comedy Festival runs until the 20th of March. To find out more about it, just click on this link. http://www.get-stuffed.biz/berkomedy/

The Radio 4 Extra topical news show, which I sometimes do some writing for Newsjack has made a welcome return to the airwaves. With the first two episodes of this series having been broadcast so far. I am actually going to a recording of the show myself on Wednesday 26th March. Which I am already really looking forward to. Last night I went to the Shaw Theatre in Euston to watch two recording’s of the Radio 4 Comedy panel Show The Unbelievable Truth hosted by the excellent David Mitchell. Who I have to say was on fantastic form. The panel for both the editions I saw were Alex Horne, Lucy Beaumont, John Finnemore and Jack Dee. If you have never heard it before each comedian has to read a statement about a given subject. Which will be completely made up apart from five truths that they have to include. The other panellist’s score points by working out what the true facts are. It is a very funny and entertaining show and allows the comedians chance to crack plenty of jokes, often at each others expense. Jack Dee was excellent throughout so sharp and quick witted. It was a very pleasant evening and my seat was right in the middle of the front row. So I got a perfect view of the proceedings. The series starts on the 7th April. Make sure you listen out for my laugh and stupidly loud clapping during that first edition.

This week at Wembley Stadium there has been a big Sport Relief challenge taking place between Alan Shearer and Robbie Savage. In what has been dubbed the Battle of the Backsides. They have been racing against each other to see who can sit on 45,000 seats inside the stadium the quickest. I was there cheering them on for a little bit on Wednesday and Friday. And I have to say when they both walked past me on Wednesday they looked totally shattered on the way to enjoy their nice relaxing ice baths. Yesterday Alan Shearer won finishing his half of the stadium just before Robbie Savage. When they finished there was a reception laid on for them to celebrate their very impressive achievement. I am telling you those guys will definitely be aching this weekend. Keep an eye out for this challenge as it will be shown on TV next week in the run up to Sport Relief Day. Which is next Friday 21st March.

I am looking forward to Monday. As I have Irish heritage in my family I have always enjoyed celebrating St Patrick’s Day. So there is a high chance I might just treat myself to a couple pints of Guinness. So finally I wish you an early Happy St Patrick’s Day. Enjoy.

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