A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
FOR almost a century Marmite, which I first wrote about here, has been a byword for clever marketing. The first significant advertising campaign began in the 1930s with the emphasis on the … Continue readingMy mate Marmite Part 2
A FEW days ago a front-page puff in the Times yelled: ‘My drinking problem – how I solved it’ accompanied by a picture of a seriously glammed-up Esther Walker, also known as Mrs … Continue readingConfessions of Mrs Coren, problem drinker
BETWEEN 1960 and 1962, my Saturday mornings followed an unchanging pattern. My father’s mother would arrive on the bus and we would walk a mile or so to the Regent … Continue readingSaturday Morning Fever
IT WAS in 1939 that Nigel Molesworth, the ‘goriller of 3B’ and the ‘Curse of St Custard’s’, first saw the light of day in Punch magazine. He cast a jaundiced eye over … Continue readingThe Molesworth Cronickles
IN a previous column I waxed lyrical about the joy of anchovies, expecting a deluge of opprobrium. It never arrived, with most readers sharing my enthusiasm for the little salty fish and its by-products. … Continue readingMy mate Marmite
AN abiding memory of primary school days is desperately needing a number two but holding it in until home time. One reason was the disgusting state of the bogs; out … Continue readingIzal, a proper pain in the derrière
IN previous columns here, here, here and here I wrote about Homage to PG Wodehouse, a 1973 tribute edited by Thelma Cazalet-Keir, sister-in-law of Wodehouse’s beloved stepdaughter Leonora. My final extracts begin with an account by the … Continue readingA final homage to Wodehouse
FOLLOWING my series of comedy gems, which you can revisit here, here, here and here, it’s time to present a selection of readers’ favourites which escaped my gaze. The first, the Arthur Haynes Show, was suggested by … Continue readingComic gems from you, the readers
I AM no great fan of Nigella Lawson’s TV cookery programmes, where she simpers her way through a recipe, licking her fingers in a culinary version of soft porn. Likewise, … Continue readingA toast to the anchovy
IN previous columns (here, here and here) I wrote about Homage to PG Wodehouse, a 1973 tribute compiled by Thelma Cazalet-Keir, sister-in-law of Wodehouse’s beloved stepdaughter Leonora. Here is part of the contribution by journalist … Continue readingMugg meets the Master