The debonair Basil Marigold's

Slightly tongue in cheek title but I had to pass on the most bizarre example of my life as a 'civic dignitary'. It was another plain day in Theakerville, my ego was feeling good. When a letter dropped through my letterbox, addressed to me. Wow, this one smells posh, thought I. And swiftly tore open said letter. Well, blow my little, now rather large ego down, It was letterheaded, Who's Who Publications. Telling little old me that I am to be mentioned in the 2009 Young Business leaders Edition of Whos who of Britains business elite and giving me until the 22nd Dec to amend my entry! Me! My entry! into the world of Glamour and fashion, well I might exagerate the last two. I thought I had arrived and so did my ego, which now filled both downstairs rooms, and purred like a kitten have its ears rubbed. No more, Tesco and Sekonda for me, I thought. Next stop fortnum and masons for lunchtime snacks and then straight down to get the omega seamaster, to befit a man of such renown. I

The joy is that, regardless, the woman in question will naturally become larger. My wife is, so much so that we had to buy some maternity jeans, off ebay, about a £5, a real bargain. Sadly though, or not depending on your view, they also fit me. Sadly they are still a tad short in leg length. Though I do feel a little like a pirate.

But, the following headline Irish Republic recalls all pork just brings to mind, from the politican within, the good old days when Ambassador were the only things recalled, from anywhere. I now have this mental image of packs of Irish Piggies packing up sticks, putting and apple in a bag and heading back to the nearest ports and getting passage home to Dublin, arriving in some Vietnamesque public shame. I know, this is how my mind work, and yes, I know they are called Psychiatrists, but really, have you seen how much they charge?!

...They float there, within their floatation containment pods (Pasta sauces to those who do not do, Sci-fi). They float there, teasing me and all the while they are soaking up the pickling vinegar and becoming more flavoursome by the hour. But I am more patient, I can wait too and I will eat every single one of them for the way in which they mock, knowing I cannot tocuh them for a few weeks! I did have a sniff of the vinegar before I poured it in, and 5 minutes later I finally came back around. I am not sure if I have created a vinegar or a new strain of chemcial weapon, I guess if I get a phonecall from Porton down.

I created my brine today and the onions are now in soak, as I type. I decided to try a more modest beginning for my pickling and a slightly more radical type as an addition. So I have two types of pickling vinegar out the back, outside getting cold. The first is a malt vinegar with pickling spices, with a little added chilli powder, to add that oomph, hopefully. The second, I experimented by using a cider Vinegar, and added to this the pickling spices. It is a lot lighter than the malt vinegar. Tomorrow I can remove the onions from the brine and settle them into the pickling jars and then leave them for a fortnight and see how they have come out. All I can say at present is, Vinegar really does stink when it's being boiled!

Bed, Theaker, Bed...Writing job applications while talking to friends on facebook at 2 in the morning, is not good. Especially as one is in new zealand and is 12 hours ahead so he's as fresh as a daisy and we're catching up on 10years of life!

I never had to tolerate this crazy white stuff living in Devon, where if it got to 10 degrees we gritted the roads. Though it is still gorgeous to look at from behind a window. Makes me feel all victorian, for some reason I have come to associate winter snow with the victorians, I think Dickens 'Christmas Carol' has an awful lot to answer for. The temptation to lean out of the window and shout at a young urchin for a turkey was almost unbearable. Though, in Kirkby the repsonse may not have been repeatable, once they had grasped what a Turkey, perhaps was. I think I may have more success if I was to tell them to bring me back 'the finest donor kebab you can find, young urchin, with plenty of chilli sauce and put some gravy on it' (a truly northern delicacy, gravy on everything, probably even cereal I imagine, if they were allowed). And yes, the midlands is the north. And as my old friend from Devon, now NZ says. 'anything north of Exeter is up north, and also there b

I plan to make my brine tomorrow. This is the first stage of my pickled onions experiment. I believe this process, once the onions are submerged will last for 4 days.

...I love being married, it is very nice. There is though a darker side to it, which is never mentioned prior to marriage. It is the subversion of your gadget head, especially important from a male perspective, as although I am not suggesting women cannot be geeky tech heads, this is not true, some females I know are very much into this delightful area. It is inherently a male dominated fetish. For example, my previous post about my new phone, the rather sexy, Samsung Omnia, proves I like gadgets. Now, with being married I am being pushed towards looking more at household gadgets. They just arent as sexy, but they can be quite nice. I spent 2 hours of my life, which I will never get back looking last night at Irons. Ours has died. I bought one from amazon, here it is. I rather liked it, it was %50 off, so a real baragin to boot. Yet, the truth is, there are, and I know I spent 2 hours looking, some pretty sexy Irons out there, they are the household equivalents of sexy Italian supercar

There is perhaps no finer food than the humble pickled, "Allium cepa". And with the time of Christmas approaching, this is the pinnacle of the Onion's life. To any discerning 'foodie' the pickled onion is the Boxing day classic. In the last week I bought myself a large jar of Pickled onions from the shops, as a little trial run for the boxing day onion. Now I have to say that I was hugely disappointed in them. They were perhaps the most tasteless, uncrunchy pickled onions I have tasted. My disappointment was made worse was because it was a good onion selling company and I will name and shame. That company was called HAYWARDS, purveyors of, usually, very good Pickled Onions, but no, this jar, my jar, was awful! So Haywards, you have lost yourself a customer, because I now plan to make my own Pickled Onions! Yes, I have scoured the internet to discover the secret to pickling and I plan to create my own pickled onions. It is too important to tolerate poor pickled oni

I spent a rather enjoyable evening meal opposite a pretty attractive female tonight. This is good in many ways. It proves that I still have the remarkable power to attract women that I possessed as a six month baby. I was a pretty gorgeous baby, I have to say, I have the photo to prove it. Anyway, Chatting to this vision of loveliness the conversation went to christmas music and I did mention my top three and I thought I'd drop them here too. Number 1. (Now, although, as the good lady pointed out, this isn't a christmas song. It was in fact a christmas number 1 in 1979/80, and thereofore qualifies as a christmas song. animation by the genius, that is, Gerald Scarfe. Number 2. Always I think of Christmas when I hear this song. Number 3. Still a classic.

Number 1. Do not lose the To Do Notepad. Oh my mind is going. Where is it!?

Leader of the British BNP. An extremist party of the right, who believe in governance through discrimination on Colour, Race and religion. Stands up and declares that England is for the English and we need to reclaim our country, practices what he preaches...by Living in Wales, a country whose history, whose very culture is not english, but celt. The leader of the BNP is, essentially, an immigrant. And speaking of all things hideous and BNP. I even recieved a letter from them explaining to me how I am letting down my residents by not being concerned by the huge amount of 'on white racism' Now being lectured in written form (as all councillors were, as they mailed the letter and racism report to us all, I believe), by the BNP reporting on racism, is to my mind a little like the Nazi party mailing out their leaflet on why the weimer republic is not being inclusive with differing faiths. We are not going to solve the ills of society by being led by a government that deliberately

Number 1. 5ft 7in Wife's medium sized running T-shirt. Oh Yes, I arrive at Gym with a gym bag, having packed just before. I needed a gym shirt so I opened my drawer and took out one of my many Grey T shirts, I have at least 5, and just tossed it in and merrily skipped to the gym. Got all clothes out and then, at this point, I take out the grey shirt and see on the back the Mansfield Chad logo. Now, almost immediately I know I don't have a grey shirt with this on, though my wife does, from one of the mansfield Half Marathons she ran. I am now in the position whereby I need two tshirts, one for the gym and one to wear home and have just the one I am wearing, XL and a grey one, M. I took the only Option I had, which meant training in the T-shirt I had worn all day, which was fine, I wasn't going to smell any cleaner, so hey-ho. It was after my shower that I realised that I really couldn't bear to walk home wearing my sweaty T shirt, so I bit the bullet and poured myself i

As part of my other life I attend quite a few conferences, ranging from almost home made efforts to some in fairly plush venues. Last week we had a half day consultation event. Now I am going to post a photo of the venue room we used as the main base for the day. Now you decide, was it a conference or a wedding, I was attending. My vote was for wedding venue!

In the words of David Bowie. Now I have a friend who does a fashion blog, Rosiepop I don't, but I am and have been known as a rather fashionable man myself, some would say, debonair in that sense. I honestly believe my taste is okay, within the limits of spending. I particularly like charity shop bargains. It must be said that since I got married I have been embargoed from actually being able to go out and buy clothes on my own, without my wife being present as this would lead to me buying what she loosely describes as unfashionable or horrible grot clothing. So due to a mis-communication in a mobile conversation, I actually thought the rules had been relaxed so I was therefore okay to go and buy 2 £3 shirts from a samaritans shop, down the road. So off I merrily went clutching my money intent on the shirts that I had eyed up (see fashion term, there. With the exchange complete I awaited the return of my wife too admire my rather astute and pretty sexy new shirts, which I may not

Since the Late 70's to the mid 80's there was a style of music that swept the world. That music was called, 'Synthesiser'. It became the dominating sound, and there where some exponents who became megastars, some, in fact, still are. Below is a selection of some of my favourite tracks and Artists. I have to say that my 2 personal favourites are Jean Michel Jarre, and Vangelis (Full Name: Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou). From about the age of 11 ish I bcame a huge fan of this kind of music it was at secondary school that I bought my first Jean Michel Jarre Tape, Revolutions. It changed my life. Soon I was introduced to the work of Vangelis, perhaps most famous for Chariots of fire, which I have not included as it's more a piano piece than Synth. My favourite album, released by Vangelis was the 1992, Conquest of Paradise 1492, when a rash of columbus films were released to tie in with the 500th Anniversary of his discovery (No one accepted the Viking theory back th

Tony's synthesiser treat..............

I nerdishly have a great love of cheesy Euro pop. I mainly keep this under control as I've not heard any great stuff of late but in the early ninties, euro pop was at its height in power and style, here's a little taster of what you may have come across/ Yello, the race. Almost my earliest introduction to the wonderful world of europop and to a certain extent began my love of synthesiser music of the mid 80's as there was a synth version on a synthesiser album I had, but this is the original, showing that most europeans do almost look like comedy french policemen, or very scary men who would now be on some form of register. scorpions, winds of change Truly, great political oratory wrapped up in a gem of a track. I love this song, still do. I am particularly drawn in by the initial whistling. I don't want to under sell this song but it ended 80 years of communism in the east of europe, now that is impact. 2 Unlimited, No limits I do remember having a crush on the girl s

I think I mentiond a Cruise/conference I went on. There were a couple of you tube videos and this was one of them. You can continue to get dressed in your normal, boring way. Or, you could try it with a little bit more razzmatazz

...because I present two pieces of Music, which I am particularly fond of that, arguably, have become more associated with a TV programme than the actual original artists. The first is a truly classic piece by Fleetwood mac (the plastic version, not the proper FM who were led by Peter Green!) It is a great song, but for those who are interested fast forward and listen from 3.10secs and tell me, that although you may not recognise the name or band, you know the sound. and the second one, I have to say is perhaps, one of my all time favourite Instrumental Tracks, played by the Eagles and called Journey to the sourcerer; For those who do not almost instantly recognise the association then they really haven't lived, literarilly! Indeed, the majestic theme tune to the Hitch Hikers guide to the Galaxy! was in fact taken from the 1975 eagles album, one of these nights. And if you haven't ever heard it, go and enter a new world of proper american rock. It's great.

wants me to apologise for the last post. I am blowing a raspberry at that idea. I thought it was hilarious! and it's MY blog!

As I made my wife a beautiful pair of rolls for a little snackeroona on Saturday afternoon. I took the nice rolls on a nice plate and led them into the frontroom and gave the plate to my lovely wife, who proceeded to ask why one gammon roll was pink and the other was brown. It was at this point that I felt I had a duty, nay a requirement to educate and That the brown gammon roll was in fact a beef roll. Which does explain that variation in colour, i felt.

...Which, oftenly, can be mildly amusing or scary depending on where you are travelling. Heading back from Manchester and a conference put on by the Health and Safety Executive, hence I was surrounded by a huge amount of health and safety officers, which did make me ponder what the collective noun for H&S officers would be...I quite liked the idea of 'a risk assessment' of H&S officers, or a ' a clipboard' of H&S officers. I think I preferred my first description. Yet, after an interesting day at conference I began the epic journey, and there is no underestimation here, home. It involved three trains and the first one from Manchester to Sheffield I found myself sat on my own behind the table seats, where 2 young, female, university students (In theory therefore, sharp and knowledgeable) were sat, so I couldn't not hear most of their conversion, and they really had some good ones. The first I will relate here; Girl 1: Where is the Dutch from? I know of th

Of which I plead guilty to both, having had a great bushy beard many years ago and am a huge fan of Real Ale. The music, if this is your life, has to be English Folk music! It's great, it's for anoraks, it's English History and is traced back hundreds of years. America is rightly pround of its blues tradition stretching back in history, the Irish also have adistinct folk sound, and so do we!. Yet we english seem ashamed of our folk scene, It isn't trendy and seems the preserve of Weirdos, hippies, guardian readers and real ale drinkers (Arrggghh...Good job I am not weird otherwise I'd tick all 4). Yet we are producing some fine folk musicians, who are bringing English Folk to the masses and making it popular, well, they get some tracks played on BBC radio 2. Here's a couple. The great thing about Seth Lakeman is that he comes from Gods own County of Devon, Dartmoor in fact and as, any fule no, those born and raised in south Devon turn out with some form of uniqu

You could have, until today counted the number of Olympians I have met on one hand. The number being 0. But today, I met my first ever Olympian, in fact a double Gold Medal winning Olympian, no less. Dame Kelly Holmes, in fact. Winner of the 800 & 1500 meters at the 2004 Athens Games. Not just an Olympian, but an actual Gold Medalist winning Athlete. And to be honest, It was great fun and I did feel a little star struck as I am sure she did too, meeting me. She cannot be more than about 5ft 7in and looks to weigh about 8stone, very petit, but has the look, obviously, of being supremely fit. Now, just having a quick chat with her makes you realise just how great she must be at motivating people to achieve. She is so down to earth and friendly, but ultimately a great role model I would say, from my impressions, as to why you can, through total dedication achieve whatever goal you set yourself. And if you do aim and work hard you can get one of these... ...a real solid Gold Medal. Whi

I go to the kitchen to make a cup of tea at 2am, I come back into the front room, it's 1am! messes with my head.

I had such good intentions of going to bed, yet I find on the Television Bill Bailey's Part Troll Tour, which I went to watch live many years ago at the Nottingham Concert Hall. It finishes at 1.50am, Which is pretty late, but man, oh man, is he so funny...in a very, very strange way.

At last the migration of my phone number has completed and I can now recieve and send texts from my phone. I receive texts to the sound of a rather natty mexican party band!

My new phone arrived today and boy, as a lover of all things gadgety, it's pretty, pretty sexy! It is the Samsung Omnia, often labelled the iphone killer and it's jam packed with nifty kit. It's got bags of Storage, 8gb with the ability to add an additional 16 through a memory card. Tocuh screen which alters orientation when the phone is turned, which I still just love! It carries a 5mp Camera with some very cool effects. It runs 3G connectivity and has built in GPS/SAT NAV also. It runs Windows mobile 6.1 so can use Microsoft windows, excel and one note. All in all it's a phone of great beauty, it looks rather sexy too. However there are two drawbacks, one minor and one major 1 - The Input. It carries the usual formats, keyboard, keypad and Transcriber. It does not have letter recogniser which is the format I tend to use the most. Having said that, the Transcriber wich is on my old phone, a Tmobile Vario, was pants as it was so unresponsive. Yet using this transcriber

...I tend to prefer the Adverts to the actual programmes on Television. When done well they are far more artistic, I think. And often there is an advert that comes along whose soundtrack is stunning. I have come across one of these recently and the music backing it, is quite frankly so well sung that I am unable to decide whether the original version by Cyndi Lauper is the poorer version. It is sung by Ane Brun, a norwegian singer/songwriter, proving again, in my mind that the nordic countries, when they produce female singers do it exeptionally well, Bjork, Nina Persson from the cardigans. You could really lose yourself in her voice and its gentle warbling undertone gives it such a vulnerable sound which impacts with the lyrics. I just can't decide so below is the Ane Brun version.

The last post kind of put me in the mood to do what I really don't believe in, but it's my blog and I can do what I want, It made me hark back to a forgotten age, the 1920's. Yes, I now there are no such things as Golden Ages, everything looks better in the past, when in the present, otherwise what would the Tory party campaign on? Yet I will play this game because I am in the mood. To me the 1920's symbolise the height of Travel, in a romantic sense. The Great steam powered ocean liners reached new heights of Luxury as they circumnavigated the great oceans and Trains were transcrossing Continents. Out of the Great War came the Fine Art Deco movement that bought a new style to the world and the fashions,(mainly picked up from fancying Louise Lombard and hence, watching the House of Elliot). I know less than nothing about Fashion, but I will say through shear ignorance that to me the 1920's witnessed the birth of what we perceieve to be the modern fashion industry wh

Last weekend, I found myself on a cruise liner. It was a relatively small one as cruise liners go. It seemed big to me until we pulled in (note my technical nautical term here) to Dublin, next to to a huge boat/ship/vessel delete as appropriate or if you care which ones right. It was fun, though it didn't really float my boat (ha,ha - I just though of that) and I doubt I'll cruise for a holiday...Unless I am on this Boat and in this cabin! The cunard Queen Mary 2 and the balmoral duplex Grand cabin! I shall go to bed tonight, just contemplating what on earth would happen if I ever had access to the Pillow Concierge! Who offers, count them kids, nine pillow options! I am so excited by this and I don't even know what the flip it means, but it just sounds great! 9 pillow options! I have at present 1, I put my head on it! What could I do with another 8?! I can't even think what even another 5 could be without getting rude, really, try it (I am, therefore not even commenting

Not only have I somehow picked up a ridiculous leg injury that only flairs up when I do impact stuff, like running. But I have now caught a cold and feel rubbish too.

essentially I often worry about my sanity because my thoughts occassionally, though there are those who would replace this with 'often', wander to bizarre places and strangely I was thinking about the below show last night, prior to becoming a celebrity cook. For the life of me I don't know why. I think now it was because I had listened to Led Zeppelins 'whole lotta love' and had absolutely convinced myself that it was also used as the tune to cheggars plays pop. So I had to find out, who cares about food, hygene, etc when something this vital pops up! As you can see, it was almost like it; if you listen from very far away with an ear trumpet, that is perhaps blocked by a racoon with a cold having chased a lemming into the trumpet who has stolen his cake, then maybe it does sound a little like a whole lotta love. Or not.

I actually had the toy bicycle at one point. It was one of the coolest things in the world. Also had the helmet and handcuffs from the series, I believe. I have lost the helmet!

Which is no better than my wife, again, mocking me for when I was asleep, apparently, she tells me as I was single handedly organising a Conference in my sleep or so I kept saying out loud.

It's a quarter to eight in the evening and it's pitch black outside my window, how depressing. Not, though, as depressing as my dream last night when I found myself entered into a TV cookery programme and found myself and a female partner, spanish, for interest sake having to cook a meal with ingredients bought from a London wholesalers. I believe I was going to make mussels on a bed of flavoured cous cous. I have squarely blamed my dear wife for making this dream happen because of her watching Gordon Ramsay's many different programmes, celebrity Masterchief, et al. What has surprised me is that I havent dreamt I am a property developer as she watches even more of these. I fondly remember the time when she was ill and spent one saturday, for about 8 hours continually, watching episodes of Homes under the hammer. I'll probably get into trouble for this post, but it will take at least 2 days for her to check her emails! Mind you I am not much better having one day spent m

I am, this week, feeling rather pleased with myself and when this happens I tend to feel rather musical too. I must say that I do have a musical dark secret, I am unable to resist female singer songwriters! I guess I have had this addiction since I heard Kate Bush and then gravitated towards Tori Amos and Joan Osbourne in the 1990's, in the later 1990's I was passionate about Aimee Mann. Now all three of these woman started to, in my opinion decline in their songwriting powers, Tori having peaked for me on the 'little Earthquakes' and 'Under the Pink' albums. So, I had to find new females to keep my addiction alive and to deliver great music. And I still of the opinion that when a woman makes great music it is the finest music around as music to me is very much an emotional experience, and to my mind woman excel at being able to deliver multi-layed emotional music that can range from essentially very happy to very melancholy and everything in between. That's

One of Leonard Cohens most famous songs, is one, which in fact, is famous through it being covered by a young, gifted, american singer/songwriter called Jeff Buckley. Who recorded only one album, before tragically dying in a drowning accident in the late nineties at a young age. The album called, Grace, is now widely seen in top albums of all time charts, as is quite frankly a gem of a piece and one I was quite late discovering for myself and now cannot even remember what initially highlighted him. On this album is his cover of the Leonard Cohen, Hallelujah. This song has eclipsed the original recorded version and has appeared many times in many different tv programs/films. It seems a great combination of a great songwriter who can just express delicate beauty and a young man, who was blessed with a delicately beautiful voice, which soars above this song and brings such wonderful emotion to it, he really does bring this song to life. It is rightly seen as an all time classic and arguab

...who has never heard of Leonard Cohen! The canadian, musical Genius, whom I used to listen to a lot, many years ago, but rarely am in the mood for his stuff nowadays, although I still possess a couple of albums. I have enjoyed looking for this and dipping into some fondly remembered old tunes. I believe the conversation came from my love of melancholy music and I stated one band we were talking about was quite depressing, when I may have said not as depressing as Leonard Cohen, who I believe used to go by the nickname of, Mr Suicide. However I always appreciated his great abilities and he is widely acknowledged as one of the best songwriters of the age. His style is especially unique in music and, I find, very powerful. I definitely recommend some diving into the old back catalogue. But here is one of his later classics to enjoy.

I believe that I have said I am one of the many, Bond, anoraks. And I am sooooo looking forward to the release of Bond 22 The quantum of Solace. Yet, to wet the appetitie is the official Theme. Okay. I have to say I was a huge fan of Alicia Keys first album and indeed, I have had the pleasure of seeing her Live in concert. I am also a massive, massive fan of the White Stripes and would say that Jack White, is arguably, the finest rock musician out there at the moment. That said, I don't think this is a great tune. Bond themes have a certain sound, I know this may appear ridiculous but there is that certain element that makes it stand out and gives it an epic quality and this doesnt have it. Which is a shame, because I so wanted to like it.

The year 2000 was famous for many things, the Y2K bug not destroying the world being one. It was also the year I fell in love with the irish accent, when it said my name. When I realised that my life was in a downwards spiral after years of abuse and suffering with, the phrase which I prefer, and nicked from the smashing pumpkins, 'melancholy and infinite sadness'. Depression is a horrible world and I always felt that it didn't mean anything; whereas 'infinite sadness' seemed more apt and a better descriptive, it appealed to my literary florid nature. I also experienced death up close, for the first time. I heard on Valentines day that my Grandfather died. I don't think you ever get used to that kind of news. I remember coming home from work and seeing my mum heartbroken. When she told me, I did not think I could ever feel such pain, having 'arrogantly' believed I could control my emotions to feel all the walls ripped away from your heart is disconcer

There's £10 to the first person to explain, why? and how do you discover this talent? hands up who, like me, thought he was just going to throw the ball from the trampoline? which in itself would have been pretty impressive!

There are days you never expect and today was one of them. The death of a real artist always upsets me, as it's a piece of colour taken from the world. But, when someone dies who in their own way inputted into the development of your life as a teenager, whose musical band changed the way you viewed the world, it really can shake you. Yesterday, one of the founder members of, arguably, by me, the greatest bands in the world, Pink Floyd, Rick Wright died of a short lived battle against an unnamed form of cancer. Pink Floyd almost blew up my world as a fifteen year old when, late on evening I was up just watching some crazy television, when I came across a film which intrigued me because it documented the life of a pop musician, whose father died in the war and then descended into madness. The film was called the Wall, a film by Pink Floyd of the eponymous album and I was hooked as it was a masterpiece of sound and the story was so thoughtful. It was this film that caused me to searc

You had spock and then along came Captain Kirk, aka william shatner, who bizarrely like the last post reduced a great song to utter sixties nonsense. Strangely shatner has had a relatively strong recording career and he did a great version of Pulps Common People, which I am looking for now! But here is his tribute to the mighty beatles! and Elton Johns classic Rocket man.

I remember thinking when I first saw this, many years ago. That the 60's and the drug culture did have a downside. The lord of the rings is arguably, one of the best books written, sadly this is not one of the greatest songs written, perhaps the most bizarre. Only on class A drugs could a human mind imagine that Captain Spock singing about bilbo baggins could be a good idea.

There was much rejoicing after Tony Theakers genetically modified cake experiment proved highly successful. Now for the life size jelly baby!!!!! Yes please I'll have one of those Mr Kipling French fancies, but I'd like the Fat bloke special, please!

I am often accused of being miserable, old, grumpy and having been born middle aged. This doesn't worry me as I probably am all four, really. But to prove that I have alwys been a serious minded fellow I am pasting in two you tube videos that are of the first two Vinyl records I ever bought, music I ever bought, with my own pocket money. I have wikipedia'd the release dates of the songs, it was 1989, when I was 13 years old and my wife would have been 18! (which is so wrong) but now it works okay. I am not sure how many 13 year olds would go out and buy these but I leave it to you to think it shows a normal 13 year old, or a child who was born middle aged! Record 1 Follow the link here Record 2

When I was a young boy and the world seemed vast and my imagination was perhaps wider than it is now. I absolutely adored this long, long running cartoon. It did seem to go on for years but that's another story. I remember having to wake up at 5.30 or 6am every weekday just to watch this, I was an addict and no doubt you can see why. It is ironic that I became a classicist and it perhaps was in no small part to this cartoon. It is an adaptation of the Homeric Odyssey (Ulysses being the latin translated of Odysseus, one of the heroes of the trojan war), in outer space who offends the Gods and must search for his him, like the Ancient Greek story. The idea of putting Ulysses in space apealed to my absolute love of all things space and tied on to my love of all things ancient I guess I had no chance, but to love this cartoon as I grew up and in fact it probably did guide my thoughts towards wanting to understand the 'real' story and then the 'geek' was truly born.

When I was young I usually watched these kind of Childrens shows, as they made me the well rounded adult I am now.

I think I have the humour of a 2 year, but these are hilarious!