Career trashing moments

There are times when celebrities have done their careers a lot of harm by doing something really stupid. Here are a couple of those.


Hughie Green

From when ITV started in the 1950s, Green was a behemoth of a figure hosting numerous shows. The mos famous of these was  the talent show Opportunity Knocks which gave big breaks to the likes of Les Dawson, Pam Ayres, Tom O'Connor, Little & Large and Lena Zavroni to name a few. But behind the scenes Green was making enemies with his behaviour. Things came to head in 1978 when Green used Opportunity Knocks as a vehicle for him to air his right wing political views. Despite Opportunity Knocks popularity it was axed and Green suffered exile from British TV screens save for the odd chat show appearance. Green hit the news after his death in in 1997 when it was revealed he was the biological Father of Paula Yates


Kenny Everett

Everett made his name on the pirate radio station Radio London and was one of the group of DJs who worked for BBC Radio One that included Terry Wogan, John Peel and Tony Blackburn.. In what would be one of many occasions Everett would have with the powers that be he was sacked after making comments about the then Transport Ministers wife paying a bribe to pass her driving test.  In 1978 Everett made the move to TV with the Kenny Everett Video Show which saw him bring the characters that he played on his radio show like Sid Snot along guest appearances by the likes of Kate Bush, Freddide Mercurary, Rod Stewart and Cliff Richard. Just before the 1983 General Election Everett appeared at a Young Conservatives even where he enthused the crowd by saying Russia should be bombed and that then Labour Leaders Michael Foot's walking stick should be kicked away from. him. Everett's anti establishment reputation was in tatter. This led to a very tense interview with Sinead O'Connoer on Irish TV. Before his death in 1995 Everett focused mainly on his radio career.

True crime, purposeful or exploitation?

This week both BBC and ITV are screening dramas about notorious murderers. The BBC are showing Rillington Place about John Christie whose crimes led to one man Timothy Evans being wrongly hanged for Christie's crimes. While ITV are showing In Plain Sight about notorious Scottish killer Peter Manuel. There has been a long history of the public being fascinated with horrible crimes. Do programmes like the ones above just feed that hunger or serve a greater purpose? The Christie crimes were already the subject of a film 10 Rillington Place starring Richard Attenbourgh and John Hurt as Christie and Evans, the film was based on a book by Ludovic Kennedy who wrote it as a anti death penalty piece in response to a Conservative MP's trying to pass a bill to bring back the death penalty. The death penalty in the UK is still no longer used because of such miscarriages such as those that happened to Timothy Evans. Drama about real crimes continue to be a staple of the TV schedules. whether their withstand the charge of exploitation may be depend  on what the programme is seeking to do.

Suggestions for songs for the X Factor winner(s)

It is that time of year where the winning act make their assault on the Xmas charts. Here are some out of the box suggestions.


Big Log by Robert Plant

If we must have a ballad then lets have one by one of the giants of popular music


Everybody Have Fun Tonight by Wang Chung

Up tempo number by British duo who are more well known in the US than their home country.


Street of Dreams by Rainbow

A piece of Rock Pop by Ritchie Blackmore's outfit


Heat of the Moment by Asia

Band made up of Prog Rock legends went for a more pop direction and found massive success in the US

The power of Fawlty Towers

The sad news of the death of Andrew Sachs brought much fulsome and deserved tributes to the actor. Sachs as Manuel  was one of the many components that made Fawlty Towers the classic that it is. Manuel with his eager to please approach and happy go lucky attitude to life gave us someone to root for. Ballard Berkly as the Major gave us one of the most delightful  eccentrics in UK sit com history, a buffoon he may be but he was a lovable buffoon. The plots may resemble those of standard British farces but their focus of British attitudes to class. foreigners etc. Prunella Scales as Sybil with her laugh and business sense tying to make the best of the hotel despite Basil's penny pinching. And then of course John Clesse, as co-writer with then wife Connie Booth came up with many memorable situations in which he as Basil showed both verbal comic skills in his dealings with other people like the many poor guest who suffer his ire and physical ones such famous scenes like the one where hits the broken down car with a tree branch while giving it a verbal reproach, Cleese recently revisited it for a commercial for an optician chain. To Andrew Sachs we give many thanks for bringing such joy to us.

BBC Sports Personality 2016

This years list of candidates for the prize of BBC Sports Personality has been revealed. I will go in to it in more detail closer to the event but I can say that the majority of the 16 strong field are gold medallists from both this years Olympics and Paralympics. However as it is all awards there debate about who is not on the list, Chris Froome who won his thrid Tour de France, Alistair Cook the Circket  who made a number of Test scoring records this year and no member of the England Rugby Union Grand Slam . As for who will win? Again I will leave that closer to the event to talk about but given it is a phone in vote surprises can happen. Jensen Button announcing his retirement last week brings to mind one such example,  at the start of 2009 Button at one point found himself without a team however a last minute buy out of his  previous helped to give a drive for the season and from then on he went on to win the F1 Drivers World Championship. Most times this would give Button the SPOTY prize but thanks to bloc voting from Manchester United fans Ryan Gggs won for a  average season in which they only The Premier League title.

Things you can find on Youtube: Part 3

A March 1992 edition of Points of View presented by Anne Robinson. A large number being about the treatment of Salman Rushdie during an interview. The interview and programme where this happened? Not Jeremy Paxman or Kristy Wark on Newsnight but Gloria Hunnerford on a stand in stint on Wogan. The clip shows Hunnerford accusing the author of mistreating Islam through the publication of The Satanic Verses. With viewers complaining that Hunnerford being no better than Iranian Government.

Jamie Oliver why do people hate him?

The office I used to work was run like a personal fiefdom by the management. However there came an attempt by higher management to bring in a much uniformed system with local offices no longer doing their own thing now having to work in unison with each other. To get everyone in the office to understand what was happening a video was shown called Accepting Change, an edited highlights package of Jamie Oliver's school food programme. Did people accept change? In short NO!!! Now ever since Mr Oliver appeared on the scene I can not stand him for many reasons these include.

His self-righteous zealot like social crusades. It is is one thing to try promote healthy eating but it is an other to ram it down people's throats.

The whole Mockney geezer routine.. Enough to set your teeth on edge./

His adverts for a supermarket chain which are usually sound tracked to a one album wonder.