Tag Archives: I’m a Celebrity
Upstart Flow
A Right Spectacle
The clocks went back last Saturday which always seems to leave me a bit disorientated for a week or so even though I did take advantage of the extra hours’ sleep. I think that when you reach November the year just seems to disappear before your very eyes. I am preparing myself the best I can for winter being an Asthmatic and Coeliac I am having my Flu Jab today and my Covid booster injection in ten days. I have so much booked in for the next three months I have no time to be ill so I am happy to take every precaution available. Plus I do have two older parents so I need to do what I can to help protect them.
I have been wearing glasses since I was five and contact lenses since I was twelve, as I have terrible eyesight. If I can I prefer wearing the contacts not because I dislike the look of my glasses it is more, that I do not like the feel of them on my head. I like to be frameless when I am out and about ideally. That said I very much require both of them to function and see during the day. I left Lynda’s place the other night wearing my lenses. As I have spent the last twenty odd years in radio and I am often in studios my phone is mostly always on silent.
When I arrived at my place and parked up I picked up my phone and noticed four missed calls and a message from her. The message was a picture of my glasses with the text “Did you forget something?” At one time I had several pairs of glasses but one by one I managed to break all of them and I now have only one pair. I literally cannot see anything without assistance and there was no way that I could keep the lenses in all night. Lynda lives about forty minutes away from me but I had no choice other than to jump straight back into the motor and go and pick them up.
That meant I got to enjoy an extra eighty minute round trip that of course ended with me doing the very same journey that I had done earlier. I was starting to understand what it was like for Bill Murray when he was filming “Ground Hog Day” Although he did at least get to correct his mistakes in affect in real time. This incident has made me decide to order a new pair of glasses as a back-up. As to be fair if my current ones broke I would be in a bit of trouble and before you suggest it no I am definitely not getting one of those chains to keep them around my neck, not yet anyway.
The other Saturday another fairly rare event took place I watched a new film. Lynda is a big fan of Denzel Washington and she had for a while wanted to see his latest movie. I had managed to put this off for a bit but eventually I ran out of excuses and agreed to see it. This decision was helped by the offer of a gluten free pizza from Pizza Express, which we had delivered before we settled down to watch the film. It was really nice and already with my limited amount of experience of being Coeliac I have discovered decent pizza bases that I can eat are hard to come by. This one was good so I will be using them for a take away again in the future.
The film is called The Little Things it also stars Rami Malek and Jared Leto. It is kind of a murder mystery come cop thriller with a former detective demoted to an officer and shipped out of town finding himself accidentally back at his old station assisting a younger cop with a case against the wishes of his bosses. I am sure you can guess who is playing what role but just in case Denzel is the old guy and Rami the younger bloke with Jared playing the prime suspect. It is good but quite intense and at the same time it is a little odd in places. At the end of it you are left to make your own mind up about what happened you do not really get any definitive answers.
I enjoyed it and it kept my attention all the way through despite some accusations that I talked too much during it. I thought I was enhancing it with my own sort of director’s commentary but that was not the case apparently. You cannot really go wrong with the quality of actors that were in it. Any police movie put together in this way does feel a bit like Lethal Weapon to me, although the dynamic of that was actually reversed with the younger guy being a bit more stable than the more experienced man. There was a bit of blood and gore but it was not too bad, I think I only had to cover my face and look away from the screen a couple of times.
We went to the theatre last Sunday afternoon to see The Mirror and the Light. It is the third and final part of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy. It is playing at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. At school I was really into History I did it as one of my GSCE options and got a B in it as it happens. One of my favourite periods of history was that of The Tudors. That is where the play is set as it tells the story of the demise and ultimately the death of Thomas Cromwell. Who had worked his way up from the gutter to being Henry the Eighth’s right hand man, much to the annoyance of many of the nobility at the time!
The whole thing is very cleverly put together, it is basically the story of his trial but you see how he ended up where he did due to the things he did and the decisions he made, as the play times shifts between events and the questioning at his hearing. The cast as you would expect for a Royal Shakespeare Company production are fantastic. The brilliant Ben Miles is Cromwell and Nathaniel Parker is Henry VIII. I thoroughly enjoyed the show it is brilliantly written and performed. It is fast paced and they get through a lot of action and dialogue. It is certainly worth seeing if you get the chance. In case you were wondering the wine there was very good and only £5 a glass, which is not that bad for London theatre land.
After the show we went to a place that offered gluten free fish and chips. It is called the Mayfair Chippy. Relax it also does regular fish and chips to, they cater for everyone. We had booked a table there at a time that meant we could have a very leisurely walk from the theatre. The food was really good. The piece of cod that I had was excellent and it came with chips and mushy peas. I also had a gluten free battered wally which if you are wondering what that is as I was it is a pickle. We had a lovely meal in there and a nice glass of Rioja. It was the perfect end to an entertaining afternoon in the West End.
I have a very small amount of shares in a few race horses through an excellent company called Owners Group. They are brilliant in that they send you weekly updates on your horses, lots of videos of them and they give you the chance to visit them at their stables. And when your horse is running you can enter a ballot to get an Owners Badge and be with your horse before and after its race. I have one horse trained by Dan Skelton called Rock Legend who finished third in his last race a few weeks ago. It was his first run of this season so we are hoping he will be better for having it and hopefully will be a bit more competitive in his next outing.
I also have one with the ace Julia Camacho called Proclaimer. After returning from a wind operation he has had a very good last couple of months winning his last three races in a row. He is a wonderful horse. The day after his last win we got sent a lovely video of him back at his stable enjoying a couple of well deserved Polo mints. I am very much looking forward to seeing him run again soon. Four in a row would be a massive ask but it does seem that he is improving all the time. And he is still relatively young so hopefully we can have some fun with him during the next couple of years.
Lastly I have a horse with the Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls OBE in Somerset called Stage Star. He was the first horse I got shares in and I have been to the stable to meet him. He made his debut last season and managed to win, come second and then third. A couple of weeks ago he had his first race this season his first over hurdles and won very comfortably. He looks like a very exciting prospect who we are hoping that if he keeps progressing could find himself featuring in some big races. He has already had runs at Ascot and Aintree. I am really looking forward to seeing him get back out on the track again soon.
One of my favourite television programmes is back on this month. They have not announced exactly when yet which does seem a bit odd. As if you want people to watch something it does help to tell them when it is on. I am talking about I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. They are back in the Welsh castle again this year instead of in the Australian Jungle. However that does not alter the thing I enjoy most about it which is Ant & Dec. This programme gives them the perfect vehicle to just mess about and have fun at the celebrities’ expense. I have purposely avoided seeing who is rumoured to be going in as I liked to be surprised during the first episode.
I have met countless former camp mates over the years and they all say it is the best experience ever, even though from the outside it can look pretty miserable at times. I am such a fan of the show when I went to Australia the other year I spent three nights at the hotel that they go to when they get kicked out of the jungle. It is an amazing hotel and it was fun seeing all the areas that I recognised from many years of watching the show. Weirdly one of the Bell Boys there does look a little bit like Dec. Maybe it is his Australian cousin or something. I must say I prefer it when they all get on and have a laugh together rather than when they are arguing and falling out. That is what I want to see this year.
I was at the Tottenham Hotspur game against Manchester United last Saturday evening. We played well for the first ten minutes then totally disappeared from the game. It was an awful performance and the longer it went on the worse we got. The confidence just seemed to drain from all the players and they started making errors.
During the second half I think that was the worst atmosphere I have seen at the new stadium. There were boos at half time and full time. People are entitled to their opinions but there we no boos from me as I will not turn on the players and would rather support and encourage no matter how bad things are.
Since that game of course we have sacked Nuno Espirito Santo and replaced him with Antonio Conte. The question is if he was the man we wanted and we were linked to him in the summer why did we go for Nuno, surely it would have been better for Conte to be in from the start. How we look a more interesting proposition now when we are possibly in a worse position I do not know. Like many things that happen at Spurs it does not make much sense. I will support the club whoever is at the helm and whoever is out on the pitch wearing the shirt. All I ask for in return is 100% effort and commitment, playing badly is not a crime but not trying your best is.
I still think we have a better squad of players than they have proved themselves to be during the last three years. But I do not know why they are not performing and bonding. Something has clearly been wrong with the culture of the team for some time and I think the new boss’s biggest challenge is sorting that out. We lost a lot more creativity then many people think when Christian Eriksen went. He was the conductor for me when we were at our best under Mauricio Pochettino. One thing is for sure there is never a dull moment being a fan of this team. Come on you Spurs!
A quick reminder that you can listen to me every Saturday afternoon between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/
Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.
Online and Doing Fine
The second national lockdown in England has ended. We now find ourselves in a selection of different tiers. It is almost as if they have based the latest policies on a sketch from The Frost Report in 1966 featuring John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett. I am in a Tier Two area. It will not change what I have been doing since March. I am still working on the policy the less people you come into contact with the less chance you have of catching or passing on the virus.
I will admit I am being extra cautious but as an Asthma sufferer I feel this is a sensible approach to take. I do not really have the desire to return to a pub or even the theatre until they are more like how they used to be. When you could order a beer stood at the bar or sit next to other people. Plus the whole point of going to the pub was to have a break from the people you live with. Dragging them there with you just defies the reason for going in the first place.
I hope whatever situation, you find yourself in you are coping with it all currently. There is some light at the end of the tunnel. We will get through this and at some point things will return to normal. And we will be able to go back to doing the things we love. We just need to be a bit sensible still and to respect each other. Like everybody else I have lost pretty much a whole year’s worth of events. My diary is the emptiest it has been for years. But on the plus side I have seen many more films this year than in the last ten!
I took part in my first ever online Zoom Games Night recently. It was organised by a friend and former radio colleague of mine. He got in touch with everyone using the new way to liaise about every event now by setting up a “WhatsApp” group for it. He did oversubscribe it a little as there were only eight places available on the night. These were allocated on a first come first serve basis and I made the cut for the inaugural edition.
The way it worked was we had a Zoom Meeting that we all signed in to using the secret ID of course. Therefore we could all see and chat to each other. Once we had finished catching up we got down to the business in hand. For the games the person hosting had set us up on an American website that offered online games. We could see the screen on the Zoom Call. Then we also had to log into the website Jackbox Games on our own mobile phones.
At the start of each game we got given a special code to enter which connected us all to the same one. The way it worked was we could put our answers into our phone and then when the time was right these would be displayed on the main screen for everybody else to see. We played three different games, although they were all along the same lines. We had to fill in missing words or give joke meanings for phrases. Then two of us were randomly pitted against each other with the rest of the players voting on who had given the funniest or best suggestion.
It was a bit weird at first and took a little getting used to but when we got the hang of it, it was a good laugh! The games we played were quite silly and simple. Light hearted fun and the chance to have some interaction with other people. I am ultra-competitive so I was a bit disappointed that I did not win any of the games. That said they were not quizzes with exact answers more like parlour games designed for a laugh. I would definitely do it again. Plus it gave me the chance to use my green screen and put up some different backgrounds, simply to amuse myself really.
I watched yet another film last weekend making this year a record breaking one for me on that front. I normally average at best five of them in any twelve month period. I am definitely into double figures now, as ever though I am still a bit behind the times with my movie selections. They do also have to fall into a certain category to make me want to put them on and commit to them. This latest one was written by Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle. As I have in the past enjoyed both of their work this convinced me to at least give it a try.
The film was “Yesterday” which was released last year. That for me is like watching something almost brand new. The premise of it is that a strange synchronised event happens at the same time worldwide. Kind of like the year 2k bug that never materialised. The outcome of this is that nobody remembers The Beatles and there is no record of them existing. The star of the piece somehow avoids the meltdown of the planet and he still remembers them. He is a musician so then starts releasing their music pretending that they are all his songs.
This leads to him supporting Ed Sheeran on tour. Ed appears in it as himself. It is a Richard Curtis film so obviously ultimately there is a massive love story at the centre of it. The best thing about it for me was all The Beatles’ songs that it features. It does have a great cast to. I appreciate when you put the plot down in writing it does sound a bit odd but it all kind of makes some sense when you are watching it. Apart from one bit towards the end which seems to put a massive whole in the concept of it. I will not spoil that here though, you will have to work that out for yourself.
I would say it is an easy film to watch and enjoy. You do not really have to concentrate too much. It does you could argue have a fairly predictable ending. But then you could make that argument about a lot of movies. I did find that when it had ended that I had to listen to all the other Beatles songs that it did not include. It really put me in the mood to hear their music and that is never a bad thing.
Owing to the fact that I am so rock and roll nowadays I have been playing a few games of Scrabble during the last couple of weeks. It has now turned into a bit of a Sunday afternoon pastime. I had not played for years until a few of weeks ago I challenged my girlfriend to a game. It was all going very well by which I mean I was winning and managing to use up lots of my letters. Then she put down the word “Phoenix” on a triple word square and then in that one move I basically lost the game. I did keep playing until the bitter end but it was all in vein. I was defeated!
After that I was not overly keen to play again but the following week we found ourselves going head to head once again. This time it was a timed game as I made it very clear that we had to be finished before the Chelsea v Tottenham game started. It is important to have your priorities right in life. This time the letters and the board worked in my favour. I managed to make two decent words including a Z both on extra points squares. I went on to win and level things up in the series doing so five minutes before kick off. I suspect we may have to play the decider this weekend as we are both very competitive. We may struggle to leave it as a draw.
I have enjoyed this year’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. It has been different with it being at the castle but they have kept the key elements the same the best they could. Ant and Dec have been on top form throughout it. They are more relaxed at the trials so are laughing at the camp mates a lot more, may be because they are in Wales and not being bitten by bugs in the jungle. I was pleased that they all got on with each other. They have all supported and helped each other when they have been struggling. That has been great to see.
I never had a favourite this year so was not bothered about who won the crown. It has just been a bit of fun and a nice distraction every night. Just like catching up with old friends or more accurately eaves dropping other people’s conversations. Having now worked in radio myself for over twenty years I have got a fair few showbiz stories to tell. I am not sure if I should hold on until I can get into the jungle to spill them or maybe I will just write my autobiography. I have already got two titles standing by for it either “The Real Neil” or “Power On Basically” If you want to know why “Power On Basically” is one you will have to read the book that technically does not exist yet.
I finished a run of four brand new episodes of my online Pop Quiz last Tuesday. I did them weekly during the last national lockdown. I also did sixteen of them during lockdown one. They are all still free and available to watch on my Facebook page. Each one is about half an hour. It is just me having a bit of fun and asking some music based questions. Here is a link to the latest edition, if you fancy checking it out. https://www.facebook.com/796795590/videos/10164325111415591/
As things stand at the minute Tottenham Hotspur are still top of the Premier League. It has been a long time since that has been the case at the beginning of December. I am not getting carried away or too excited as there is still a long way to go. But as someone who likes to live in the moment I am enjoying it right now.
We have another huge game tomorrow with the North London Derby against Arsenal. It is a match that could go either way. I am looking forward to it and hope we can take maximum points from it but it will be tough. COYS!
It is my birthday this coming Thursday 10th December. I do like to try to take the day off for it when I can. That will seemingly not be a problem this year. I am somebody who embraces and enjoys my big day. Every year you complete in this game called life is always worth celebrating. Although events this year mean it will be pretty low key. I think I might just stay in cook myself a nice meal and may be have some drinks.
Staying in is the new going out. Plus Tottenham are playing at home in the Europa League that night so I can watch that on the television and pretend I am there. That is where I would have been if the world was normal. Just to clarify for the 19th year in a row my showbiz age will remain at twenty-five!
You can listen to me still on Saturday afternoon’s between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/
Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.
Strictly I’m A Celebrity
Hopefully we are now over half way through the second National Lockdown in England, if it does end on the originally planned date of the second of December. Personally it has not affected me too much. I am mostly working from home as I have been lucky enough to do since the first one. I am able to exercise outside at a park near to where I live. It is nice to get out in the fresh air for a bit although I have not yet bumped into my Morgan Freeman type character.
There have been some encouraging developments with potential vaccines, which does appear to be good news. However it still may be quite a while before life returns to anything like it was before this all started sadly. It is just not going to suddenly stop and disappear and it is presenting the country with its biggest logistical challenge since the Second World War. Something I am sure we will all come through if we work together and for each other.
Luckily for me one of my favourite television shows is back on our screens nightly for around the next three weeks. I do not watch a huge amount of TV but I always closely follow “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. I am a fan of Ant & Dec this show gives them the perfect platform to do what they do best, mess around and have some fun at their own and the campmates expense.
I have met a lot of the former stars of the show many of whom actually won it! These include Christopher Biggins, Kerry Katona, Carl Fogarty, Pat Sharp, Timmy Mallet, Tony Hadley, Katie Price and Tommy Cannon.
This series is of course going to be a little bit different as due to the current global situation. They are not in the jungle in Australia but at a castle in Wales. I am particularly gutted about this as at the start of this year I went to Australia and being such a huge fan of the show I stayed at the Versace Palazzo on the Gold Coast.
That is the Five Star Hotel were the celebrities stay after they get voted out of the show. I was looking forward to posting pictures of me in the same locations that they showed the ex-campmates in. I am going have to wait until next year to do that providing of course they use all the same places when they presumably go back to the Jungle again.
They seem to have a really good and interesting selection of people taking part this year. It is a very strong line up, possibly helped by the fact a lot of their dairies would have been quite empty and that they were not required to be on a plane for twenty four hours. I liked the way they adapted the opening challenge to the new surroundings using the cliff. That was really clever and I think set the scene for what was to come nicely. It will basically be the same but different, as simple as that.
I was thinking after I had seen the new living arrangements that they might be going easy on them this year. But then I changed my mind when they covered everybody in bugs within the first five seconds of the first team trial. They are a very competitive bunch on the whole and of course include a man who has four Olympic Gold Medals, so he knows a thing or two about mind set and motivation. Plus the man is clearly a winner, not to mention a Knight. That works well with the Castle setting of course.
There is not anybody who I desperately want to win at the moment. I do prefer it when all the campmates get on well and have a good old laugh with each other rather than start arguing. But I am also aware that a big falling out does make for good television. I think this year though for the good of the world it would be nice if they were a tight unit.
It is a show that I do not think I could ever do but everybody I have spoken to who has been on it says it is a once in a lifetime amazing experience, so never say never I guess. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. I think it is going to be a funny one!
Another television programme I enjoy at this time of the year is Strictly Come Dancing. Like everything in the world it is a little bit different. However the main thing about it that appeals to me is the joy and enthusiasm the celebrities get from dancing itself. Alongside the brilliant bond that forms between them and their professional partner.
Happily these two things still remain the same this year. I tried one two hour Salsa class around fifteen years ago, struggled with the basic steps and never returned. Despite that I still reckon that these amazing dancers could teach me to do a passable routine, mainly down to my work ethic and their patience I suspect. But I still feel it is achievable.
Last weekend there was said to be a shock exit but when you get two half decent people in the dance off one of them has to leave. All the judges can do is decide from the bottom two which the viewers vote for. I enjoyed Anton being a guest judge, he was supportive, positive but also I thought fair. Surely when his time as a dancer on the show comes to an end this move would be the natural progression for him.
Even though at one point there was talk of him hosting it, if I am honest I think he would make a better judge. I do not really have a favourite this year, which is good as that means I can enjoy each of the performances with no interest or concern about the outcome. It is a fun, happy and lively show perfect for Saturday night.
My girlfriend and I are trying to have as many different weekend meals as possible. In a way we are pretending that we are going to a certain style of restaurant every Saturday night. Except she always ends up doing the cooking. For the record she is fine with that! Most recently we went with a home-made burger. Believe it or not that is something I had not had for ages. I tend to avoid fast food places, which has been very easy for me during most of this year.
“We” made the actual burgers ourselves. By that I mean that Lynda mixed up the meat with the spices and created the headline part of it if you like. Then I got to construct my own creation within the bun. If you have not had them at home for a while I would recommend it. The best bit is that you can decide on the ingredients and the ratios. None of this one Gherkin or one slice of Cheese rubbish. You can put as much of those in it as you like. I built my own perfect hamburger. Another bonus is you do not feel hungry again ten minutes after you have eaten it. I enjoyed it more than a man of my age should have.
I watched the new Michael McIntyre Netflix Special. I used to have a stand up show on DVD for Christmas every year. These do not exist anymore as the digital platform shows seem to be the replacement. I have been lucky enough to see him do a small warm up gig once and he was very funny. What I think he is really good at is finding things that we all do and can relate to and making them funny and amusing. I appreciate that sounds really easy but try it and you will find out it is not at all. It takes a lot of skill to achieve what he does.
I am not sure if he felt more freedom within this medium but he did swear a bit more than I expected although to be fair nowhere near as much as Frankie Boyle. It is a very well put together piece of comedy. Each story or anecdote builds on the previous one and then leads to the big pay off at the end. It is clever, amusing and relatable. I think that sums his stuff up nicely. It is worth a watch and easy to absorb.
During the first Lockdown I did a weekly pop quiz on my Facebook page for about sixteen weeks. People seemed to enjoy taking part and I had fun doing it. Therefore I decided to bring it back for this latest one. There have been two new episodes in series two so far with two more currently expected in this run. Each one lasts about half an hour. It consists of six rounds each containing five questions.
I have called it “Quigger’s Plays Pop” in honour of a pop quiz that I used to watch on television as a child. Using that title made it quite easy for me to create a theme tune for it. I host it on a Tuesday night at 8.30pm. If you are free and fancy having a bit of music based fun then why not join me? You can play on your own or in teams it does not matter. https://www.facebook.com/neil.quigley
A couple of horses from my small stable raced in the last fortnight. “Rock Legend” made his debut at Aintree. He was ridden by Harry Skelton and is trained by his brother Dan Skelton. He did alright for his first time on the track but was a bit weak, so will be held back for a while as he needs more time to grow into himself.
“Force Ten” had an outing at Taunton over the hurdles. He came in sixth out of seven. It was another bit of much needed racing experience for this young horse. Who is under the guidance of the great trainer Paul Nicholls. We may see him race again sometime next month.
Tottenham Hotspur for about an hour were top of the Premier League a couple of weeks ago. It did not last long but it felt good while it lasted. We have since had the International Break with the domestic season back this weekend Spurs face Manchester City today in what will be a massive game for us. It gives us a chance to put down a bit of a marker to the teams around us. I am excited and nervous about the match in equal measure.
As ever from England performances there were plusses and minuses in the results from the three games the national team played. Harry Kane passed the fifty cap mark and in doing so he becomes the most capped Tottenham player ever. If he does stay at White Hart Lane for his whole career, I can see him beating practically every record for the club and possibly for England to. Congratulations Harry he is one of our own!
You can listen to me still on Saturday afternoon’s between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/
Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.