When Mr. Jolly Lived Next Door

When people of a certain age think of Nicholas Parsons, they probably think of Sale of the Century. The phrase “live from Norwich, it’s the quiz of the week!” was made all the more special if you lived from Norwich, even though we found out years later that the show wasn’t actually live. Although to be honest with you the sight of Nicholas Parsons trying to convince people to buy mink coats, rickety-looking caravans and brown and beige family saloon cars for knockdown prices didn’t exactly appeal to me at the time.

Mr. Parsons’ appeal to me changed a great deal on the night of March 5th, 1988, when we found out that a certain Mr. Jolly lived next door.

New Fiction Addition: The New Age *Updated January 25th*

Those of you who follow me on social media may have seen that I've been adding a few old chapters to the blog in recent times. The New

Age was by far the biggest Anglo-Force story I'd written at the time,coming in at over 25 chapters. Hopefully you've already read the prequel, set during World War II, and there will also be a sequel of sorts, set during the time of The Valkyrie Chronicles.

The first few chapters have already been posted, and you can read them by clicking on the links below. More links will be added when the chapters go online. Enjoy!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven 
Chapter Eight 
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven   
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen  
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen 
Chapter Sixteen  
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One 

Taylor Swift is Better Than You....and the Baby Jesus

I was browsing through Twitter the other day, as you do, when I came across this little gem, posted on Christmas Day. Here’s the screenshot:

Songs That Are 50 Years Old In 2020

Here's something that may make some of you feel old, a selection of songs that reach the ripe old age of 50 in 2020, songs that were either originally released or hit the UK charts in 1970.

Only 28 at the moment. More will be added later. Enjoy!

Bye Bye WWE!

Today is a big day for those who watch professional wrestling on television here in the United Kingdom, because today, December 31st, 2019, after over thirty years, Sky’s contract with World Wrestling Entertainment comes to an end. From tomorrow all WWE programming will be available on BT Sports. I don’t subscribe to BT Sports, or the WWE Network for that matter, so for the first time since the summer of 1989 I won’t have access to any new WWE material.

And you know what? I’m really not that bothered about it.

Wouldn't You Rather Wait For Good Service?

Having just come from the pharmarcy at the surgery, where everyone who joined the que behind me moaned about not being served quickly, I now have the urge to ask this kind of question again.

Would you rather wait to be served properly be a medical professional, or would you prefer to be rushed through the system in the way some supermarkets rush through their customers?

It's Been Almost Twenty Years.....

So it occured to me the other day next year will be the 20th anniversary of The Two Sheds Review. From the proverbial humble beginnings in a long-forgotten e-mail newsletter it grew to the point where it was syndicated to twenty-plus website and news sources at one point, with a monthly combined readership of over half a million people.

It helped local wrestling promotions gain the type of worldwide promotion they'd never experienced before. It helped the careers of both veterans and rookies. It continued through both personal and professional heartache, and ran almost constantly until events took my life in a different direction in 2016.

So I'm Having Another Heart Operation.....

So yesterday was my long-awaited trip to the hospital for two more tests and a consultation with the cardiologist.The outcome is that I'll be undergoing a procedure called a Cardioversion early next year.

World Mental Health Day: A Question For You

Here's a question for you on World Mental Health Day:

Is it okay for a mental health "advocate" to accuse others of faking their mental illness?

I'm not going to name this person, all I will say is that this person has suffered from mental health problems themselves but has taken to social media on a number of occasions to accuse people of faking things like depression.

Screw It. If My Ex-Boss Wants To Call Me A Liar.....

Screw it. If my ex-boss wants to call me a liar then so be it. The people that matter, the important people in my life, know exactly why her business closed down, and if she wants to tell people otherwise then that's her choice. If she wants to continue to score points at my expense because it makes her feel better, and makes her look better in the eyes of her friends and family, then that's her choice as well.