The world is broken. It is broken in so many ways. There are inexcusable wars; there is unconscionable famine. Schoolchildren have to go on strike to tell the politicians that they are not doing enough to combat climate change. Gunmen kill our brothers and sisters just because they follow a different religion. And even the…Read more Everything Is Broken
1980s
Running In The Family
As a schoolboy, Crotchety Man hated the term after Christmas. He never liked the cold winter months and, worse, that was the term we had to go on cross-country runs. The Crotchety lungs couldn't deliver enough oxygen to the blood to sustain even a gentle jog for more than a few hundred yards, so distances…Read more Running In The Family
Desperate for Your Love
There is no divide - no ditch, no fence, no wall separates the classical from the contemporary - and no band illustrates this better than Sky. All the members of Sky were classically trained musicians who chose to make pop/rock/classical cross-over music. The most high-profile member of the band was John Williams, who was already…Read more Desperate for Your Love
The Riddle
As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St. Ives?ยน For 62 weeks during 1984 and 1985 songs by Nik Kershaw peppered the…Read more The Riddle
Ghost Town
There was nothing terribly exciting on my Release Radar this sweep so for this Track of the Week I've decided to go back in time to visit 1981. The UK was in the grip of a recession as the '70s ended and the '80s rolled in. There were 1.5 million unemployed in the Spring…Read more Ghost Town
Blondon Fair
In the Middle Ages, Edward IV made it compulsory for all yeomen in England to learn archery. An archery butts was set up on the land in front of the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin. It was used by the adult males of Reading to practice on Sundays. Some of the archers who…Read more Blondon Fair
Days of Pearly Spencer
Sometimes I feel I'm losing the will to live. It's usually when I'm ironing - shirts are so darn fiddly, aren't they? So I do my ironing weekday afternoons between 1 and 4 pm so that I can listen to the Radcliffe and Maconie show on the radio. They play some good music and…Read more Days of Pearly Spencer
