The 100th Edition

August 8, 2015 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Mine have been great with lots of fun things going on. Firstly a very warm welcome to the 100th edition of this fortnightly update. Thanks for reading and in some cases being involved with them. I hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. The very first one was published back on the 24th September 2011. So as you can imagine a lot has happened during this time.

I feel that we have shared some exciting and fun moments together. Including my stand up comedy debut, some brilliant nights out at the theatre plus I think I have been lucky enough to meet some interesting people along the way. And I have been able to do some pretty cool things to. It was back in September 2011 when I got to meet and interview the lovely Victoria Pendleton.

So here’s to the next one hundred updates with hopefully plenty more fun times on the way. As ever I am working on a few different and interesting projects at the moment. So I am hoping that the rest of this year will be just as entertaining.

I had a wonderful time at the Irish Race Night with my parents at Windsor Races the other Monday. They have a meeting there every Monday during the summer. And they tend to have lots of different themed nights. Which normally end with a live performance of some kind. Firstly let us start with the nights racing. Which went very well for me.

I had two decent winners including the aptly named Shakerattleandroll, who I had a couple of pounds on at odds of 14-1. So it is fair to say that put a big smile on my face and led to me treating myself to a nice pint of Guinness to celebrate my victory and of course get into the spirit of the evening.

Once the racing was fully over and after all the horses had been safely put away the entertainment then started. It was the Irish Race Night, so live on the stage, on the green area near the parade ring were the Dublin Legends. They feature two of the original members of The Dubliners. The band kind of formed, when the iconic group decided to stop touring after two of its members sadly passed away. So they got a couple of new members and called themselves The Dublin Legends. They were just fantastic, effortlessly playing classic Irish song after classic Irish song. Every one sounded perfect. The band were totally brilliant. And created a great party atmosphere.

Each one of them a master musician with an exceptional voice and clearly a love of the music they were performing. It was impossible not to join in and sing along and have a good time. They were taking audience requests and pretty much just deciding what to play next, only after they had finished the previous number. While still making it a very slick and professional all round performance. If you are a fan of your Irish music I would definitely recommend that you catch The Dublin Legends live. So basically, it was a great night. With horse racing and music the big winners.

I enjoyed an overnight stay in London recently due to a couple of long days, that I was doing in the capital. In the evening I went out for a nice meal at a well known restaurant chain. That has an Italian/American theme. And that is named after two men. There are two things that I like most about that place. Firstly the menu is quite varied, so you do have a nice selection of dishes on offer. And secondly it is the music they play. Anywhere that you can hear Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley, while you eat, definitely gets it my vote as a great place to dine.

Neil Quigley and Elvis Presley hanging out in the 70's #crazydays — Neil Quigley and Elvis Presley hanging out in the 70’s #crazydays

The food was lovely but most importantly the waitress and the service was top quality. She was happy, funny, helpful and efficient. So we had a laugh, and were fed and watered in a timely manor. Leaving the place full and content. And of course then in turn leaving the member of staff in question a sign of our appreciation. It is great to see good customer service, I think it makes a huge difference to your night out.

I am pretty sure most employers and some customers do not always reward this. But without your front of house staff, you have no business. To be fair though my opinion may have been slightly skewed, as I was drinking bottles of Coors Light. That was my drink when I was in Las Vegas and whenever I have it, it brings back great memories of my week there.

The following morning I needed to grab a quick breakfast on the way to my meeting. And as I try to have a reasonably healthy breakfast I declined the hotel’s full English offering and popped in to a shop that’s French to English translation is “ready to eat”. Which as I was in a hurry seemed the perfect place to grab something from. I thought I would try their porridge in a pot with some added honey. I have to say there was deceptively more than I thought in the container, it had very much a Dr Who’s Tardis feel to it. It was actually very tasty, which surprised me a little. It was also quite nice to have creamy and soft porridge. Normally when I make it myself at home in the microwave. It comes out basically just like a big bowl of flapjack.

Neil Quigley TV Radio & Live — Neil Quigley TV, Radio & Live

Last Saturday I was at Wembley Stadium for the Women’s FA Cup Final. It was the very first time that the final of that competition had been played at the home of English Football. I took a group of guests around the venue first. Before settling down to watch the match myself. It was great fun as ever to be pitch side before the game. Just as the players were having a walk around prior to the match. Being that close you can really feel the excitement and atmosphere building from that area.

I was cheering on Notts County for two reasons. Because as a Spurs fan I hate to see Chelsea win anything and also because I have met and sort of know the England striker Ellen White. Who plays for the Nottingham based club. We were actually both born in the same town. Although one of us was born quite a few years before the other.

It was an entertaining game with some nice football played by both sides. But despite a very good and positive start from the Midland’s team you did always feel like Chelsea had slightly the upper hand. They got their winner towards the end of the first half through their lively number ten Ji So-Yun.

Player of the match was the Chelsea and England star Eni Aluko, who did look dangerous and a real threat every time she received the ball. It was not the result I was hoping for but it was a fun afternoon. Which saw a new record attendance of over thirty thousand for the big show piece cup final of the Women’s game. Well done to all involved.

Wembley Stadium are actually giving people the chance presently to take a Zip Wire ride above and across the pitch. So you can have a tour around the venue. Which then ends with you whizzing across it for a once in a life time view of the home of English football. It is only on offer for a few weeks. I have been offered the chance to do it, but I have declined the opportunity.

I am not really a fan of thrill seeking experiences or any roller coasters. So there is no way you would get me up there to do it. Although all the people I have seen do it looked like they were enjoying themselves and having fun. Good for them but I am still not doing it. Even though part of me thinks it would be a fairly cool thing to say you have done. But not a big enough part to make me want to do it.

Last week I had an audition to be a contestant on the second series of a game show hosted by Vernon Kay called 1000 Heartbeats. Now I rate myself as quite a relaxed and laid back person, so I thought I would be good at it. So I applied to be on it and then got invited in to meet the producers. This involved a fun afternoon at an arts studio in central London. I had to pose for some photos, take part in a general knowledge quiz and then I actually got the chance to pretend to play the game itself with one of the producers.

I was pretty impressed with how well I did. I also thought that I remained fairly cool, calm and collective. So therefore kept the heart rate down to give myself more time to answer the teasers. And hopefully ultimately if I do get on the show, win the jackpot. Lastly I just had to answer a few questions about myself on their camera. They are filming the new series next month. I will know by the end of August if I am going to be on it and going face to face with Vernon Kay or not. Either way, it was a fun afternoon just doing the audition itself.

This weekend see’s the start of the new football season. I am hoping as ever that my team Tottenham Hotspur can have a decent year. We have quite a young team. So it is going to be exciting to see them develop and hopefully improve together. A few weeks ago now the club announced the plans for its new stadium. Which look amazing. I am really looking forward to getting the chance to see a game in there, when it opens. As hopefully it will give me more chance of actually getting a ticket, as it will hold more fans than White Hart Lane does.

I am not convinced we can win the league but I would like to think that we might have a chance of winning a cup competition or two. As ever I am sure there will be plenty of twists and turns and ups and downs as ever. Which is one of the beautiful things about being a Spurs fan. Good luck to Mauricio Pochettino and the rest of the squad. Just give your all in every game. And we will support you all the way. That is all you can do. It would be great to get the chance to watch Spurs at Wembley again this season. And this time may be see them win.

I am a huge fan of the social networking site Twitter. There are a couple of things that I have enjoyed getting some behind the scenes information from via this medium recently. I follow Ant & Dec and also a lot of the Geordie’s Duo’s friends. So therefore I got to see some great photos and comments about Declan Donnelly’s Wedding. Which by the way looked amazing. Plus I thought it was a really nice touch that his brother, who is a fully qualified priest was the vicar that conducted the ceremony.

I also follow a few of the professional dancers from Strictly Come Dancing. And last week they met up to start rehearsing their show dances for the up coming series of the BBC One Show. They were posting some behind the scenes pictures of their training room. Which were already getting me excited about this year’s offering. It will start filming at the end of September. When we will find out the full list of the celebrities that will be on it this term. I went and saw the opening show recorded a couple of years ago now. It was a fantastic evening out. It was great seeing the dancers all doing their thing and also seeing both Jessie J and Rod Steward perform live at such close quarters.

At the moment there are a few interesting and exciting possible radio based opportunities that I am currently looking in to. It would be brilliant if may be one or more of them came off. Fingers crossed, something will happen in this area. So watch this space is all I can say. One of these is with the BBC. I have a meeting with them next week, which I am really looking forward to. It would be nice if I can share some news on this with you in the not too distant future.

One thing I can confirm though is that I have not made the short list for this years BBC New Comedy Award. The standard as ever was very high again this year. Best of luck to all those who have made it through to the live heats. Go out there and make them laugh. At some point soon, when I do get the chance to I do plan on putting myself back out there and doing some more stand up gigs, as I do really enjoy doing them. Best of luck to all comics up in Edinburgh for the festival at the minute.

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

Radio Ga Ga

July 25, 2015 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Mine have been brilliant with lots of fun things going on. In fact they have flown by so quickly. Although the seasons and timings of things in England do not help with time I find, they just cause confusion. For example July is considered to be the start of the Summer. Even though we have already had the longest day and so the day’s are now getting slowly shorter again.

The children are just breaking up for their long school summer holidays (which I used to love as a kid). At the same time that we are getting ready for the start of the football season, which kicks off in August. All this while the England cricket team are battling the Australian’s for the Ashes in cricket. All the seasons just seem to blend in to one another. I think we could do with may be re-classifying them. To set out new months where the seasons start and finish throughout the year.

I headed off to the Wycombe Swan Theatre the other week to see a new touring music show called Ladies Rock. It is the brainchild of and fronted by Australian singer Nicki Gillis. Who backed by a four piece band and a backing singer takes us through a musical journey of women in music from the sixties right through to the early noughties. Or to put it another way from Connie Francis through to Pink. As she performs these amazing songs from these iconic women pictures of them are projected on to the back of the stage behind her. To add to the sense of occasion.

It is not a tribute show. So it is their interpretation of these ace numbers rather than an impression of these great singers. Nicki has a fantastic voice. Which is required to be able to perform the classic songs that the show contains. The selection of singers and songs covered is like a whose who in the world of female musical super stars. You will know and love all of the hits you will hear.

The band are also top quality and they do compliment the lead singer perfectly. The overall performance has a very relaxed and all inclusive feel to it. If you fancy a great night out reliving many great tunes. I would recommend you keep an eye out for Ladies Rock. When it comes to a venue near you.

I was back at one of my favourite places a few Thursday’s ago. When I went to the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House to see a recording of the excellent Radio 4 Topical Comedy The Now Show. I arrived a little bit early, so I went and had a cup of tea in the Coffee Shop right opposite the One Show studio. I was pretty pleased when the person serving me asked if I worked for the BBC. I believe they may get a slight discount there. I told the truth and said no. But a little part of me was quite pleased that the bloke behind the counter thought that I could have worked there.

Before I went in to theatre a managed to grab a quick cup of tea with my mate Danny Cox. Who had managed to pop downstairs briefly for a quick catch up before he had to head back to his studio for his next show. It was great to see him and have a good old natter about the world of radio and television.

On the way to BBC New Broadcasting House

The Now Show itself was as ever brilliant. Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are such good comedy writers and performers. Especially when it comes to satire and clever topical gags. Which is why this radio show is such a brilliant vehicle for them. They were of course ably assisted by the regulars Mitch Benn and Jon Holmes. Whose introduction’s diminishing his height are becoming more and more obscure. Coming to see things like this made at the radio theatre is the closest I will ever get. To being able to get a flavour of what it must have been like to see things like The Goon Show being made, I guess.

The Now Show was created by the legendary Bill Dare. Who has had a hand in so many great radio comedy formats over the years. Pick your favourite Radio 4 show and there is a good chance that he was involved in it. I do like the atmosphere during the recordings. A few of the cast have a beer on the go and seem to be enjoying just sharing all the material that they have spent the last couple of days writing and rehearsing.

Some of the funniest parts of this process are during the re-takes at the end. This is mainly due to the cast making fun of the ones who have to re-do stuff. While still it is fair to say remaining professional and getting the job done. As quickly as possible. It is always a good fun night out.

I was once again delighted to be asked to take part in another Quiz Show run through last week. They are always great fun and it is quite exciting when you get to try out new games and formats. That have not yet made it on to our television screens. It meant another visit to the ITV London Studios on the South Bank. I was watching This Morning doing a segment of their show from outside by the Thames the other week. When live on air they saw the Prime Minister go past them on a training fitness run. This annoyed me quite a bit, as I can’t stand people who try to run round that area. Surely they must know that it will be jammed full of people and that they will spend more time walking than running. Can’t they just find a nice field or park somewhere to run around. Anyway sorry, back to the quiz run through.

It took place in a room on the 14th floor, that I am guessing may also be used as the Saturday Night Takeaway production office. As it had lots of great pictures on the walls from the show. Including a brilliant one of Ant & Dec with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. The run through was in front of some executives from ITV. Who will hopefully be interested in making the programme and putting it on the television.

Obviously I can’t give anything away due to the confidentiality agreement that I had to sign. But I think I can say that it was a fun and exciting game to play. And that it is a very clever and completely new concept for a game show. A French television company have already filmed a pilot episode of it. Which we got to see a few little clips of. It looked great. If it does ever make it on to the television. I will then be able to tell you more about my input and the game itself. It is a really good laugh doing these test runs. So hopefully I can squeeze in another one soon.

The great thing about Radio 4 is that it is always on the look out for new comedy programmes by new or established writers. Last week I went along to The Shaw Theatre in London to see two episodes of a brand new radio sitcom called “Shush” being recorded. Set in a library. It is written by and stars two actors that I am sure you will recognise. They are Morwenna Banks and Rebecca Front. They play two librarian’s from very different backgrounds and with very different outlooks on life.

It is very cleverly written with lots of great quick fire jokes. It does get slightly surreal in parts but it is radio and therefore theatre of the mind, so just go along with it and you will enjoy it. The cast is completed by Horrible Histories’ Ben Willmond and velvet voiced actor Michael Fenton Stevens. The writing is brilliant and it is a fun and feel good comedy in a fairly traditional way with a nice modern edge to it. The cast are so talented and performed it brilliantly. Do listen out for it when it airs sometime later this year.

It was great to be back in the Mix 96 Studios for a couple of days the other week. I was there helping to produce a small part of the very successful Mix 96 Summer Tour. It was good to see some old friends and familiar faces, while I was at the Friars Square Studios. I actually felt very at home being sat back in the hot seat there. It was nice to work with Wes Venn and Chris Gilvear for the first time to. The good news is that everything came back to me pretty quickly and it was fantastic to be involved with some live radio again.

I am always looking for new opportunities in this area. I still remember doing my work experience when I was at Aylesbury College for a week at Mix 96. And I also was at the Mix 96 First Birthday Party at Stoke Mandeville Stadium with the now Managing Director of the radio station Max Hailey. I really do enjoy it, when I do get to do a bit from time to time. Great fun.

I have yet again been spending quite a bit of time working at Wembley Stadium recently. I have to say congratulations to Ed Sheeran for playing three sold out shows at the venue the other weekend. The reviews for them were off the scale. As it is pretty much just him and his guitar up there. The fact he keeps the crowd so engaged is a huge tribute to the man’s talents. Two hundred and forty thousand people saw him play those three London gigs. Well done sir!

I have to admit I do not envy the groundsman at the minute. The pitch being covered for concerts does not exactly do it much good. So now it has to be ready and in perfect Wembley condition for Saturday 1st August for the Women’s FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Notts County. And for the day after for the official curtain raiser to the new Premier League Season the Community Shield between Chelsea and Arsenal. I am looking forward to monitoring its progress over the next couple of weeks. It is mazing how quickly they can get in back to top class condition. I am enjoying showing lots of people around our national stadium. It does look great in the sunshine.

Had a really fun night at a friend’s fortieth Birthday Party last weekend. It was held at a lovely little venue in Thame. A back room to a pub that I have not been to for about five years. Nice to catch up with a few old school friends and have a good giggle and a bit of a dance. Then the day after I was at a leaving do for a couple I know who are moving to France. So again that was a decent laugh seeing friends that I had not seen for a while. I do like to be busy but it is also good to find time to chill out and relax with people you like.

So just for a laugh I have entered the BBC New Comedy Award for 2015. Which if nothing else seems to me like a good reason to get involved with it. If you look at its title. I had some jokes lying around and the means to record them in my home studio. So in my head it made sense to give it a go. I remember listening to the final of last year’s competition live on the Steve Wright Show on Radio 2.

It came live from The Comedy Store in London and was hosted by the great Patrick Kielty. The comedians in the final were all great and the standard was clearly very high. But at the end of the day you have got to be in it to win it. And you never know funnier things have happened. Last week Mr Kielty favourited a joke of mine on Twitter, which I am hoping might be an omen. Fingers crossed.

This is actually the 99th edition of my blog. So therefore the next one will be the landmark 100th edition. So make sure you do not miss out on that one! Have fun and we will catch up again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.

Having A Laugh

July 11, 2015 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Mine have been great with lots of fun things going on. They have mostly, as ever it seems nowadays revolved around television and comedy. Which is always fine with me. My holiday now just seems like a distant memory. It is weird how soon you just settle back in to your normal routine and normal life after a nice break away. Luckily the weather here has been pretty good. So that has made the transition from being away in a hot country to being back at home in England a lot easier to deal with.

I was back at the ITV London Studios on the South Bank the other Monday to watch an episode of the new series of Mr & Mrs being filmed there. I am a big fan of the show. As it always makes me laugh and because sometimes you are more likely to find out a lot more about certain celebrities than you would on a chat show. Specially if their partners reveal something that may be they shouldn’t. Which does seem to happen quite a lot, I have noticed. I was delighted to finally get to see Phillip Schofield in person, working his magic in the studio. He is such a hugely talented presenter.

During the whole recording he did not stumble or trip over any words, while reading off the auto cue, the question cards or even just when talking to the contestants. At one point an old lady in the audience dropped her walking stick, while he was talking. He just paused, politely asked if she was all right. Then repeated the line perfectly just as he had the first time around. He is the ultimate professional and so good at what he does. He makes it look so easy and so effortless. And let us not forget that by this point in the day. He had already done two and an half hours of live TV on This Morning and also recorded another episode of Mr & Mrs earlier in the afternoon. The man is a legend.

The celebrities on the show I was watching were Carl Fogarty, Alex Brooker and Vernie Bennett from the band Eternal. I was supporting Carl Fogarty and his wife. As I have met him and interviewed him before and because he is a top bloke. Plus I know he is hugely competitive, so I figured he would be very keen to do well. I obviously can’t tell you what happened. You will have to wait until the show has been on television to find who won and how all the couples got on.

I will say it was very entertaining and you will certainly learn things about all of them. I guarantee that you will not have known before. It was all good fun and it was of course played in very good spirits. And remember that all the couples are playing for money for their respected charities. So we can enjoy watching it, while knowing some worthwhile causes are benefiting from our entertainment.

A couple of Sunday’s ago I went to the Family Fun Day at Windsor Race Course with my friends and their children. Before the day’s racing got started we went and visited the fairground area, so the kids could play on some of the rides and have a bit of fun. Although one of my mate’s, three year old son was actually a lot more interested in the racing itself rather than any of the rides or amusements on offer. I think he may take after his dad a little bit there. I just hope he grows up to be a better gambler.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon not least because I did manage to pick a couple of winners. In fact all of our party had at least one winner each. So we all came away happy. I am looking forward to going back there for the Irish Music Night on Monday 27th July. It is a lovely little course and always a good day or evening out.

The other Wednesday I was back at the Museum of Comedy seeing a couple of top shows. The first one was a preview of the brilliant James Acaster’s new Edinburgh Festival Show, which will also be the same one he will be touring later this year. He has been short listed for the best comedy show at the Fringe for his previous shows in 2012 and 2013. And having seen this year’s offering. I think he has to be in with a shout of achieving that status again this year.

It is very funny, very clever and extremely well put together. He is still at the stage where he is putting the finishing touches to it. So he was still trying out some new bits and playing with some of the material to see if he could get any more out of it at certain parts. He was great. And we are, I reckon going to continue to see more of him on our television screens over the next couple of years.

The Museum of Comedy has a small performance room called the Tommy Cooper Room. Which holds round about sixty people. A lot of comedians use it as a place to do quite low key gigs to try out new jokes or hone material for tours. In front of a fairly small and cosy audience. The second show that I saw I only found out about the day before. It was quite a last minute thing. And I was delighted to be able to get in and see it. In this small room. I got to witness the comedy giant that is Michael McIntyre do an hour’s work in progress gig. He is getting ready for the massive arena tour that he will be doing later in the year.

But there are still jokes that he has written. That he thinks might still be good enough to include in the tour. He has some new stuff he has written that he might want to add in. And also parts of the existing show, that he might like to expand by adding some more funny bits or lines to them. This was the aim of the show that I was watching.

If this was sixty minutes of the material that he was not totally sure about. The actual Arena shows will be amazing. As I do not think I stopped laughing the whole time that he was on stage. He was very honest and upfront about what he was doing. He was not wearing his now trademark very smart suit and bright shirt. In fact he was even wearing his glasses. Which made for a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere in the room.

Apart from that though he was everything you would expect him to be. Firstly very very funny. He just has that instant rapport with the audience. And was giving us, kind of directors notes as he was writing things down and telling us what he was doing and even what he was adding. I found watching this process totally fascinating. Seeing how a true professional does this and how hard he works to make sure everything is perfect and the best it can possibly be. If you have tickets to see his tour, trust me you are in for a brilliant time.

It is clear he is doing pretty well for himself though. I have seen a lot of comedians play at the Museum of Comedy. You normally see them come in the front door on the way in and leave the same way as the audience to get the tube on the way out. Michael McIntyre used the stage door behind the stage to get in and out. And he even had his own chauffeur driven car with blacked out back and side passenger windows waiting outside to take him home.

Another reason I really like him is because he like me is a Tottenham Hotspur fan. So I wish him all the best with the upcoming tour. Although he will not need it. It is going to be hilarious. He is just a machine for coming up with new and very clever day to day observational comedy.

While we are talking about comedy. The Tringe Festival is still on at the moment. With lots of brilliant performers coming down to Hertfordshire to play The Court Theatre in Tring. Most of these gigs will be previews for upcoming Edinburgh Festival or future Tour shows. But they will all be good fun and if you have never been to one of these shows. Do go along. The organisers and audiences are all great. Comedian’s who will be playing before the Tringe ends on Saturday 25th July include Josh Widdicome, Ed Byrne, Arthur Smith, Sara Pascoe and Patrick Kielty.

To find out more about this year’s gigs click the link here Tringe Festival. I made my comedy debut at the Roving Comedy Night at the Tringe three years ago. If you want to see my very first set recorded live at the Black Horse in Tring. You will find it on the videos page on here.

I went to the Pinewood Studios for the first time the other week. Not to appear in a new Star Wars film or to play a spy in a James Bond movie but to a recording of the Sky One programme Duck Quacks Don’t Echo. I have done some filming as part of an experiment for this series but it was not one of the ones used at the show I was at. So I still have not seen what that looks like yet. Lee Mack is the host and he was great, very funny and entertaining. Just as I had expected and hoped he would be. As I am a big fan of his work.

The panel for this episode included John Humphrys and Ed Byrne. Both were very amusing in their own ways. John seems to have an unexpected relationship with and view on animals. While Ed is just funny with his jokes and his observations. It was good fun. And while I was there I learned a few facts that I didn’t know. And also confirmed some that I did.

One thing I did find out through a test that they did in the studio. Is that I have the hearing range of a twenty four year old. Which as someone who has spent a lot of time wearing headphones usually with the volume up quite high. I was pretty surprised about, to be honest. The series should go out sometime in the autumn. So keep an eye out for it and of course for my small cameo appearance in it.

I did manage to get outside and enjoy the weather and enjoy a bit of sunshine last Thursday. Normally around this time of year I am working with the great team at Regatta Radio to bring the Henley Royal Regatta to the airwaves for the race goers and people unable to get to the riverbank to enjoy it. But this year the station has taken a year off.

It is fully expected to return next year and hopefully I will once again be involved with it. I am generally based in the studio, so do not get to see any of the action. But as I was not working this year when I attended Henley. I did for the very first time get to see some of the racing. I met up with some of the Regatta Radio team there.

Firstly for a couple drinks at one of the many bar areas along the side of the course. In doing this I managed to support a local brewery. One who I am shall we say familiar with their work. So I enjoyed a couple of pints of beer supplied by the Rebellion Brewery from Marlow. Then the evening got even better. As we then had a nice boat ride for about two hours up and down the side of the famous Thames rowing course.

So we got to see all the rowing action from the last session of the day from on the river. The sun was out, the sky was blue, Henley looked lovely and we were enjoying a picnic while watching the racing. I have certainly had worse ends to the day. It was really nice to catch up with everyone. I look forward to hopefully working with them again next year. I am so lucky sometimes with the things I get to do and enjoy.

Last Saturday at the ITV Studios in London I had an audition to be a contestant on a brand new ITV Game Show. That is going to be recorded shortly. I do not know if I will be selected to be on the show or not at the moment. Also I can’t say any more about it at this stage. What I can say is that I had a fun afternoon and it was nice meeting some of the producers behind it. I think I might be able to let you know if I do get on the show but even if I do I will not be able to say anything else about it until it has been shown on the television. But I will tell you when it will be on, I promise.

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

Grand Holiday

June 27, 2015 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a really good couple of weeks. Mine have been fantastic and included a top week spent on holiday in Gran Canaria. I stayed in Playa Del Ingles with a mate of mine for seven days chilling and relaxing in the brilliant sunshine. That is the Canary Islands trade mark. During their last winter the lowest temperature they had was twenty degrees celsius. The trip it is fair to say, did not get off to the greatest of starts though.

We were waiting outside my friends house for the taxi to take us to the airport at around three thirty in the morning. When I got a phone call from the driver informing me that he was waiting at Luton Airport. And he was wondering where we were. He had misread his instructions and got the journey the wrong way round. Fair play to the Taxi company though. When they realised the mistake. The owner got up raced over to us and still got us to the airport in plenty of time for our flight. But it was a bit more stress than I was hoping for, right at the start of proceedings. Specially at that time in the morning.

Thankfully the rest of the journey went very smoothly, great flight and ride from the airport to the hotel. And by one o’clock that day. We were sitting looking out at the sea having a drink. It was the second time I had been to Gran Canaria. And once again I can have no complaints about the weather. While we were there the average temperature during the day was around twenty eight degrees celsius. Which makes a rather nice change from being here at home in England. So therefore I have returned tanned and relaxed from from my time away.

Playa Del Ingles roughly translates as the English Beach. Now do not get me wrong I do love England. But it is like no beach I have ever been on in Britain. We have lots of great beaches but the weather, sea and atmosphere are never that hot back home. That said the sea there is a little lively at times. It made paddling in the sea quite a challenge with an occasional battle to stay on your feet and in your costume. Depending on if the tide was coming in or not.

Then right next door are the Maspalomas Dunes. Which are amazing. We went for a very long walk through them and it is like being stranded right out in the middle of a desert. If you do ever go there they are definitely worth a visit. But just be aware that they do actually back on to a nudist beach. So you may see some more sights that you actually bargained for.

There are lots of Irish Bars around. You could hardly move for them. But as a Quigley this was fine with me and I always made sure I went to at least one or two of them every night, we were there. All the people we met in the resort were really friendly and helpful. We also found this nice beach bar called Sahara. Which during the afternoon had a guy with a guitar playing and singing a variety of cover songs. He was really good. It was great to sit there listening to him.

Although I think he was Spanish and just kind of learnt the English lyrics to each one. Which did lead to a couple of shall we say interesting pronunciation’s of certain words. Our particular favourite was just one word during his version of Matthew Wilder’s Break My Stride. Each time I hear that song in the future it will remind me of this holiday. “I’ve got to keep on mooing”

This weekend it is the Glastonbury Festival from that world famous farm in Pilton, Somerset. While I was working in Yeovil I was lucky enough to be able to go along and experience this magical event for myself. The first time I went it was for the whole weekend from Thursday to Sunday. It was with Robbie Lane a colleague and friend of mine from the radio station. We had backstage passes and got to pitch our tent in the backstage camp site. This is behind the two main stages the Pyramid Stage and the Other Stage.

There was a bar and cafe there. Plus a special path to get to each of the two big stages. Which meant it was possible to move between them in about ten minutes. Which if you have ever been to the Festival, you know will take normally at least forty minutes. If you are going the public access way there. I had an amazing time and saw so many great performances from lots of different acts and bands including The Waterboys, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Kaiser Chiefs, Artic Monkeys, Killer’s, Paul Weller, The Who, Shirley Bassey, Iggy Pop, Manic Street Preachers, Arcade Fire and Kasabian to mention but a few. Great times. Even if it did mean sleeping in a tent.

While we were living back stage for the weekend. As you can imagine we rubbed shoulders with quite a lot of celebrity’s who were there. Just to give a little flavour of what it was like. Here are just some of them Will Young, Mark Owen, Stephen Merchant, Kate Moss, Keith Allen, Harry Enfield, Dara O’Briain, Jo Whiley, Marc Ratcliffe, Phil Jupitus and many many more. It was awesome to be there soaking it all in. The site it is held on is huge and there is so much going on. You are always going to miss more than you will ever get to see there. Brilliant fun, though.

The second time I literally just popped along for the Sunday to see Mark Ronson, Neil Diamond, Scouting For Girls and The Verve. I did again have backstage access. So I did make sure I visited the bar area. So I once again got the full VIP Glastonbury experience. I am enjoying this years coverage and watching and listening to as much of it as I can.

I am missing not being there, but not necessarily sleeping in a tent and wading through all that mud. If you have never been and one day get the chance to go. Even if you are not sure if it is your thing or not. Just do it and trust me you will have a great time. I still plan to go to it again at some point in the future.

As ever I have got a busy week coming up with lots of fun things to do. On Monday I am once again back at the London Studios in Waterloo to see the legend that is Phillip Schofield record a new episode of Mr & Mrs. I am looking forward to it. I really like the awkwardness of that show sometimes. It will be interesting to see which couples are on. And also if there are any answers to the questions that can’t possibly be broadcast so have to be re-done to make them television friendly. I have long admired Mr Schofield, since I grew up watching him present children’s TV from the broom cupboard. So I am very excited about seeing him in action live for the first time. It should be lots of fun and a good evening out.

Being a massive fan of live comedy. I do like to get to as many gigs as possible. So I am off back to the Museum of Comedy to see the excellent James Acaster on Wednesday. He is doing a work in progress show in preparation for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Talking of great live comedy this year’s Tringe Festival kicks off tomorrow night with The Roving Comedy Night. Good luck to the latest batch of trainees. You will all be great and will really enjoy the experience to. I am sure you will all make the teacher the lovely Logan Murray very proud.

I still have such fantastic memories of being part of this myself. It is great that you on your first gig get to perform with a professional comic. Which helps so much and really adds to the excitement. To find out more about this year’s Tringe Festival, just click on the link. Tringe Festival

If you remember a couple of weeks ago I did some filming for the new series of the Sky One show hosted by Lee Mack called Duck Quacks Don’t Echo. Well this coming Friday I am going to the Pinewood Studios to see an episode of the programme being recorded. They have a panel of celebrity’s who argue the case for certain myths or beliefs. Before they then show an experiment that they have carried out to try to prove or disprove the theory. And see if that person is right or not.

I have no idea currently who we be on when I am there. But I am a fan of Lee Mack, so I will be happy just seeing him. However the guest list for the first series of the show was pretty impressive, so I am expecting this one to be just the same. You never know it might be the one that features the experiment that I was involved in. Which would be brilliant and very funny.

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

General Knowledge

June 13, 2015 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good week. I know this is a quicker update than normal but I am off on my Summer holiday in a couple of days. I am having a complete break from everything. So I will not be taking my computer or even my mobile phone with me. And I have to admit I am really looking forward to that experience. I am going to Gran Canaria to basically lie by the pool or on the beach and just to catch a little bit of sun and relax.

I have to confess that I have already looked at the long range weather forecast for where I am staying and I am pleased to say that the predicted temperatures are very acceptable. So as I am disappearing for a bit I thought I would do a brief write up now. Just to keep you in the loop of what is going on.

The other week I went to a production company based just around the corner from Marble Arch to take part in a run through of a brand new daytime quiz show idea. So what happens is the production company comes up with the idea and format of a potential new show. Then they have to pitch it to a television channel. Who they hope will buy the show, put it on television and of course pay them for the privilege.

This run through was being attended by the head of daytime programming for a major UK channel. So as you can imagine the production company felt under quite a bit of pressure to make sure everything was perfect. Unfortunately I can not give you any details about the show. As it is still at the idea stage and has not been made yet. To be involved with the project I had to sign a disclosure form stating that I could not talk about the format and the unique selling point of the quiz to anyone.

What I can say though is that it was great fun. I thought the concept and the influence of the show was very interesting. With lots of decision making and tactics required from the players to try and be successful and to ultimately become the winner. It will be very interesting to see the proper studio version if it does get picked up, as we only did it in a small room in an office block.

It is a general knowledge quiz with a few twists and turns involved. There is still a good chance I could be involved later on again in the shows development. Which will be great if that is the case. The day was made even better for me because while I was waiting in the reception area to be called in. I saw the brilliant comedian Katherine Ryan walk past on her way to the lifts.

I did watch and really enjoyed the Channel 4 Comedy Gala in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital. It is great that so many top comedians get together and perform at the O2 Arena for such a great cause. I am very lucky to have already seen many of them perform live and in person at some point in the past. For a lover of comedy it was brilliant viewing for a Sunday evening, to set me up nicely for the week. We are so lucky to have so many great acts at the top of their games in this country at the moment.

Last Tuesday I returned to the London Studios in Waterloo to watch the final episode in the new series of the excellent QI being recorded. There was definitely an end of term feel to the proceedings. Which will possibly mean some extra editing for the production team before the show goes out. Once again the legend that is Stephen Fry was exceptional. He had his husband in the audience watching him do his thing. Once again playing the cheeky and intelligent ring master.

Joining Alan Davies on the panel were Sarah Millican, Noel Fielding and Eddy Kadi. I do like seeing this show live, it is just like watching it at home except they talk for longer, tell more jokes and answer more questions. Then of course it is scaled down for television to meet the specific time requirements of its slot.

I have seen Sarah Millican before, she was as brilliant as ever. Noel Fielding is great to, it is the way his mind works which means he goes off in these incredible and very funny tangents. It was the first time I had seen Eddy Kadi in action and he was fantastic to. Just to prove what a true professional Mr Fry is. At the end of television recordings they have to do what they call pick up’s. Which is basically re-doing bits that did not go well for a number of different reasons, sometimes technical and sometimes human error. But at the end of the QI recording Stephen Fry only had to do one quick piece again. Which he did first time. So that was it and we were all done. I can’t wait for the series to start later on in the year on the BBC.

So I am now looking ahead and forward to my summer holiday. No more worries for a week of two. Just to confirm I will not be taking a bus there and it is also unlikely that The Shadows will spring out of the bushes to help me with songs while I am away. It has been a few years since I have been away I hope I can still remember how to do it.

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

Neil Quigley Presenter