Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a really good couple of weeks. Mine have been busy with some fun things going on. For starters last Saturday we had an early pre-Christmas family get together at my Uncle’s. He has hosted this event in the run up to the festive season for at least the previous five years. So we now employ a tried and tested formula. That we all know works perfectly well. We arrive, have a few drinks while chatting to and catching up with everyone.

Then the food is served. This year it was a tasty chilli with rice or pizza. Just for quality control reasons I sampled both. And I can confirm they were both excellent. Then after the food the Christmas Songs come on. And it turns in to one big family sing-a-long with everyone joining in and getting involved.

It is always filmed but thankfully so far none of this footage has ever leaked outside of the family circle. And on to You Tube. It was another fun afternoon/evening. Which kick started this year’s Christmas Celebrations very nicely. It is always great seeing the family at this time of year. And finding out what everyone has been up to.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the recording of Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show. Which will be shown on BBC One before the main evening news on Christmas Day. It was filmed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, right in the heart of London’s Theatre land.

I obviously made a day out of it. So after stopping by the venue to pick up my ticket for the evening. I treated myself to a leisurely three course meal at an Italian restaurant in Covent Garden. The food was great and the staff were lovely and helpful, so it made for a relaxing and enjoyable afternoon.

After dinner I still had a bit of time before I had to be at the theatre. So I went and enjoyed a drink in one of my favourite bars in that area. I went and spent an hour or so in the ace Radio Rooftop Bar at the ME Hotel on The Strand. It is such a cool and trendy bar with a great chilled vibe to it. The two things I like best about it are the views over London and if I am honest also the fact that it has radio in its name.

I then left there and headed to the Theatre Royal in time for the TV recording to start. They looked after me very well and actually gave me a cracking seat right in the second row. So keep your eyes open on Christmas Day, when you are watching it go out. As you never know, you might just spot my smiling face staring back at you. The show itself as you would expect was brilliant.

Michael McIntyre was on top form from start to finish. He was very funny in the actual show and also between takes. When there were any breaks in proceedings. The whole affair felt very “Christmassy” and the start of the programme sets the tone for that very nicely, as you will see when you watch it.

The guests included comedian’s Dara O’Briain and Russell Kane. The latest winner of America’s Got Talent. Who is English and is the truly amazing
ventriloquist Paul Zerdin. He was excellent. The musical guests were the wonderful Ellie Goulding and the legend that is Sir Tom Jones. There were a few other surprise appearances on the night to but I will let you discover them for yourself when you watch it. Needless to say it was a extremely funny and enjoyable night out at the theatre.

It was also good to see Holly Willoughby there on a night out with some of her mates having some fun. The recording did go on quite late and led to me having to dash across London to make my last train home. Which I did with about a minute to spare. It was like how “the King” Elvis Presley used to disappear at the end of his gigs. As by the time the curtain was down I was already half way to the station. If you are in when it is on, it is definitely worth a watch. It will really add to the Christmas Day celebrations.

Recently one of the Car Parks at Wembley played host to a fairly unusual event. It was an Anti-Drink Drive Campaign Race Car Demonstration Day. It was organised by Johnnie Walker as part of their “Join The Pact” promotion. Here is what happened. They turned the Car Park in to a mini race track. They got some high powered McLaren Sports Cars and had amongst others Mika Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso and Jensen Button there to take people on laps of the circuit.

It was hosted by Chris Moyles, who interviewed all the drivers on stage before they took it in turns to jump in the cars and show off. I was lucky enough to be able to watch a little bit of the action from the VIP paddock. I saw Fernando Alsonso take several members of the public for a spin in a McLaren S650. Now I have to be honest I am not a massive fan of Formula One Motor Racing but seeing the control, speed and skill of the Spaniard in that vehicle put a big smile on my face. He was really going for it and was leaving a lot of rubber from the tyres on the tarmac.

At one point he was doing doughnuts with one hand on the steering wheel and the other out of the window waving at the crowd. Truly brilliant. While I was there both Mika Hakkinen and Jenson Button walked past me both looking very cool and relaxed. It was certainly a fun event to see and also one that does of course promote a very safety conscious and important message.

I have once again really enjoyed the latest series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Ant & Dec were on fire and so funny. The gags, the links and the set pieces they do, all so good. Plus it is such an interactive show now with Twitter. As not only can fans of the show swap views and jokes in real time, while watching. But the two Geordie’s get involved and tweet along during the show, when they can to. Which really adds to it all for me.

If I am totally honest the one camp mate I did not really enjoy all the time was Lady C. Although I will admit some of the things she did and said did make for great TV. She constantly annoyed me and I thought killed a lot of the fun and spirit in there too often. Which is a shame because at the start and in her first Bush Tucker Trial I quite liked her and thought she would be amusing and quirky.

Despite the shall we say issues he had with her I thought Tony Hadley was great in there. I have met him a couple of times. He is such a nice, generous and friendly person. Who is happy to talk to anyone and who just loves singing. As I said previously I would have liked him to win it but I thought he did very well in there. I also got the impression he was ready to go when he did and hang out in the hotel with his family.

I have no complaints about this year’s winner though. I thought Vicky Pattison deserved to win. From the second she entered she attacked everything full on, with good grace and a wicked sense of humour. She was probably the camp mate who made me laugh out loud the most this year.

I had never heard of her or Ferne McCann before but I thought both of them came across well and seem like really nice genuine people. Which I think deep down is what the public like and are looking for in their jungle King and Queen’s. Another great series and I am already looking forward to next year’s. Well done again to Vicky. I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more of her over the next twelve months.

I did watch this year’s Royal Variety Performance when it was shown on television recently. I thought it was actually the best one I had seen for a long time. Jack Whitehall did a great job hosting it. The comedians were all good with Romesh Ranganathan just shading it for me as the best on the night. The music guests were very strong to. Any show in which Kylie Minogue appears only improves it in my opinion.

There was a nice contrast of variety acts and the whole show flowed really well. They also had some great exerts from some West End shows including a snippet of the fantastic “The Play That Goes Wrong” I saw it earlier in the year and it is arguably one of the funniest things you will ever see. I would certainly recommend it. Well done everybody who was part of it I thought you all did an excellent job.

So we are heading to the business end of the series for Strictly Come Dancing. The standard of the celebrity’s on this year have been amazing. Their performances have been so entertaining. It is hard to try and predict a winner. Tonight it is the semi-finals with the glitter ball trophy being presented next week. So far in the programme’s history none of the professional dancers have ever won the show more than once.

The only dancer this currently applies to is Aliona Vilani. So if this fact stands that would mean Jay McGuinness would miss out. It is really nice to see that Anton Du BeKe actually has a partner who can dance this year. And although possibly technically not the best dancer I think it would be great to see Katie get there for him. I do like Kellie Bright and Kevin Clifton as a pairing. They have been in the bottom two a few times along the way but I think they have been unlucky to end up there based on their dances.

I think if it goes to the best dancer Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice will win but if it goes to the most improved it should go to Anita Rani and Gleb Savchenko. Whatever happens I am sure they will all put on a good display. And it will be a fitting end to the series. If I could be on one television show I think Strictly is the one I would like to do most.

It was my birthday last Thursday. I had the day off. So I just spent it relaxing at home drinking cups of tea. Someone gave me the new Steve Coogan autobiography “Easily Pleased” which I am really looking forward to reading. I did treat myself to a nice rib eye steak for dinner. Which I have to say I cooked perfectly. I then watched my Peter Kay “The Show That Doesn’t Tour, tour” DVD before heading out to my local pub for a few birthday drinks with some mates. All in all a very enjoyable birthday.

I am off to my cousin’s 40th Birthday party tonight. Me and his twin sister all share the same birthday but they are exactly one year older than me. So I have my next big landmark birthday next year. I can tell you now there will definitely be a party. The do later is slightly awkward because although they are twins. His sister did not want to have a joint party.

So it has been solely organised by him as his do, but his sister is coming along as well. So do we still sing them both happy birthday or not. I guess that I will find this out later. Whatever happens it will be a fun night and I am looking forward to it. I am not going to tell him I am just using it as a warm up for mine next year though.

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