King William’s College Kwizz 2019. FT Round 5 6 Jan 2020 1 what was Best and Goes Farthest? 2 which product held the fifth Golden Ticket? 3 what did Vianne open in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes? 4 which Gammel Strand grøntsager put marzipan to good use? 5 Desperation, Pacification, Expectation, Acclamation…
King William’s College Kwizz 2019. FT Round 4 3 Jan 2020 1 who was Ashie, the leader of Juventus?2 which Veronese nobleman was rejected by a tallow-faced baggage?3 which regicide was represented as Samuel in a Boston operatic setting?4 which diplomat received an 11-gun salute…
Normal Service Will Resume Shortly (UPDATE Has Resumed!) 6 Aug 2014 We're just trying to shake out some gremlins on the FT server. The beautiful FT appearance will be restored as soon as possible UPDATE 10:20pm: The FT appearance will be back…
The Great Cheddar Cheese Off 2015 : Part one 19 Dec 2015 Which country makes the best cheddar? This question has plagued us for millennia (possibly). But no longer, thanks to the brave and fearless scientists who gathered on a rainy afternoon to undertake…
Wiki-illiams Quizz 2018. Round 3 2 Jan 2019 1 Whence the Diehards? 2 Which Park witnessed disasters costing 25 and 66 lives? 3 Where, after 150 years, do they continue “to play for the sake of playing”? 4…
Pop World Cup 2018 Group F Match 1 4 Jul 2018 An intriguing group for this third Pop World Cup match, with two of the sleeping giants of pop football - Sweden and South Korea - lined up against the always…
3 Oct 2004
In search of Squirrel – Part two (warning, contains graphic images) Some of you may remember this article I wrote some time ago about my “failure” as a vegetarian and my quest for the different. Well, I’ve done it. Squirrel had become a bit of an obsession, I’d chased up all sorts of alleys (Julian […]
17 Jun 2010
Finally, the moment of ABSOLUTE POP TRUTH is upon us! And my goodness, what a nail-biter of a contest this has been. Halfway through the voting, two decades broke decisively ahead of the pack, establishing a lead that proved impossible to catch up with. Although one of them looked to have the edge, its rival […]
15 Aug 2007
On my eleventh birthday I received a copy of a tape called “Rave ’92” through the post from my sister Grace, who was away at university. It was the second tape she had made for me whilst she was away, (the first being a random mix of grebo, soul, indie and ‘Love Shack’ by the […]
24 Nov 2006
Tarmac? What kind of a brand is that, its just the pavement, right? Wrong my friends. Tarmac is a brand and an awe-inspiring dominant one at that. I love brands whose names are synonymous with their main product, it shows an awesome degree of brand dominance when the brand name becomes subsumed into language. But […]
23 Apr 2000
My first encounter with the exotic was on the Magic Mill at Thorpe Park, a South-East England theme park which from appearances had originally been based around a cramped zoo or city-farm set-up. At some point in the late 70s it had seemingly panicked, though, and parked itself up in order to survive. With its […]
18 May 2009
#516, 5th March 1983 Michael Jackson came to the title “King of Pop” in the style of a medieval ruler, carving out his realm piece by piece across a hard year of campaigning. He won some of his new subjects when he performed this song as part of a Motown anniversary special: others when he […]
21 Nov 2013
So here we are. The 32 qualifiers for the football World Cup have been decided, which means it’s time, once again, to get ready for the POP WORLD CUP. The point of this post is very simple. If you want to be a manager in the Pop World Cup, put your name in the comments […]
29 Oct 2010
#641, 3rd February 1990 Sinead O’Connor is one of the finest song interpreters not just because she thinks hard about the material and the feelings locked in it, but because she’s so good at placing songs into a situation. A great example of this is her version of “Chiquitita”, warm and homely where ABBA’s is […]