May252013

The Heptones - Country Boy

I think you’ll agree that this current run of the Saturday Morning Skank Spot has been an outstanding one. Sadly, it comes to an end with this 1974 track. The feature will return at an unspecified point in the future. (54 plays)

Saturday Morning Skank Spot The Heptones 

May222013

This Hungarian film from a few years ago was part of a campaign to encourage people to cycle to work. While other campaigns go on earnestly about the health benefits of cycling, this one takes a different angle by suggesting that if you cycle, you will have better sex.

Hungary cycling 

5PM
Bollard (at Avenue Primary School)

Bollard (at Avenue Primary School)
May202013

Was Richard III my great great^20 uncle?

‘You may have heard in the news that the body of King Richard III was recently found buried under a car park in Leicester. Now it emerges that 15 of his “descendants” have gone to court demanding that, as family, they be consulted about his place of burial - they want his remains to go to his home city of York.
I was struck by this story because, after 500 years, I’d expect there to be rather more than 15 descendants interested in this case. So I dived into Google, investigated Richard’s family, grabbed the back of an envelope and did some calculations.’

Richard III Leicester York 

May192013

Reconstruction of Richard III's head on display for first time

‘Zoe Jarman, of Groby, was at the exhibition with her two sons Jay, eight, and Roan, five, and her sister Holly.

Zoe, 42, said: “This whole Richard III thing is great for Leicester. This exhibition shows just how fascinating it all is.”

Holly, also of Groby, said: “I think it is quite a modern looking face and I am surprised by that.”

Jay said: “I don’t think he had a nice face at all.”

Roan said: “He looks like a bad man.”’



Richard III Leicester 

10AM
You’ll be relieved to learn that the vandalised creepy bollards have now been replaced (at Avenue Primary School)

You’ll be relieved to learn that the vandalised creepy bollards have now been replaced (at Avenue Primary School)
May182013
My Tumblr friend Ed has very kindly sent me some jars of his home-made jellies (they’d probably be called ‘jams’ in the UK) made from produce from his own garden. Ed suggested that his garlic jelly would go well with Marmite, so I tried the two toppings together on a red onion and chive bagel. I am not exaggerating when I say that the result was a taste sensation. The garlic jelly has a mellow flavour redolent of roast garlic rather than the pungency of the raw stuff and it complements the Marmite perfectly. Many thanks, Ed.

My Tumblr friend Ed has very kindly sent me some jars of his home-made jellies (they’d probably be called ‘jams’ in the UK) made from produce from his own garden. Ed suggested that his garlic jelly would go well with Marmite, so I tried the two toppings together on a red onion and chive bagel. I am not exaggerating when I say that the result was a taste sensation. The garlic jelly has a mellow flavour redolent of roast garlic rather than the pungency of the raw stuff and it complements the Marmite perfectly. Many thanks, Ed.
12PM

McKay - Take Me Over

I have recently discovered Don Letts’ Culture Clash Radio on BBC 6Music. It’s broadcast at an ungodly hour so I listen to it on the record facility on my DAB radio or on the iPlayer. It always features an enticing mix of musical genres, which you’d expect from the DJ who came to prominence by playing dub reggae sets at the earliest punk gigs.

On last week’s show I particularly enjoyed this track from Stephanie McKay, a singer-songwriter from the Bronx, and so decided to feature it on the Saturday Morning Skank Spot. It’s built around an extensive sample of Dave & Ansel Collins’ Double Barrel, so it can’t possibly fail to get you jigging around the kitchen.

(9 plays)

Saturday Morning Skank Spot McKay Dave & Ansel Collins Don Letts 

May162013

Diary: It's the Wars of the Roses again. And this time it's on Facebook

‘Incidentally, bad news for the 15 extant descendants of Richard III who claim their human rights have been abused because they have not been consulted about his reburial. The statistical whizzes of BBC Radio 4’s More or Less series have done a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation and reckon there’s now between one and 15 million people descended from his line. There’s a little bit of the divinity that doth hedge a king in quite a few of us, it seems. Not sure that Richard was too concerned about human rights in his day.’

The only mistake here is to describe the deluded 15 as ‘descendents’, when Richard III has no living descendents. Still, it shows just what a pathetic bunch of fantasists the members of the Plantagenet Alliance really are. 


Leicester Richard III York 

May142013

Great Lives: John Cooper Clarke on Salvador Dali

John Cooper Clarke is all over the BBC at the moment. In this Radio 4 programme from earlier today, he talks about his admiration for Dali and gets to say rather more than he did on his recent appearance on Have I Got News For You. It’s worth listening to this even if (like me) you have little interest in Dali’s work, as Cooper Clarke speaks engagingly and with much enthusiasm about his subject. Follow the link to listen, or download the podcast.

John Cooper Clarke Salvador Dali Great Lives Radio 4 

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