The Thoughts of Captain Autumn

• The X Factor From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (23 days old)

  The time when it occurred to me to write about The X Factor is now long past - it was in the audition stage, the early weeks of the series. So take that into account when you read the below. There … more

• Hot Fuzz From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (27 days old)

  Hot Fuzz then. Sigh. Where to start? About a month ago someone in my household suggested that I watch the film Hot Fuzz. She'd watched it a couple of weeks previously and said although it wasn't gr… more

• Dying my hair From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (36 days old)

  So I dyed my hair. This may not be an extravagant gesture for most people, but it was decidedly out of character for someone who last gave a damn about how they looked over 25 years ago. I can actu… more

• Gateshead From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (42 days old)

  One of the curiosities about supporting a football team is the misplaced sense it gives you of the prestige of a particular town or city. So it is with Gateshead, whose team is relatively minor (it ha… more

• Saint Therese From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (44 days old)

  As I get older, I find religion increasingly odd. I'm a bit bemused that people don't, as they experience life and all the arbitrariness and misery it has to offer, conclude that surely it can't all b… more

• An end to aestivation From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (46 days old)

  I notice from my statistics that it is a whopping 56 days since I wrote anything. This is a long time for the as many as two people who sporadically read this weblog to wait, so here is a list of subj… more

• Bebo Be Bad From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (102 days old)

  I had a friend request from Bebo this morning, from someone called Victoria Thomson. I don't know Victoria Thomson, and I have no wish to be her friend. In fact I have no wish to be on Bebo, which I o… more

• Alcohol From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (105 days old)

  Most of us, I suspect, have aspects of our character which we feel mark us out as different from the majority. Individual traits which, while perhaps not defining us as people, nevertheless distinguis… more

• The BNP - don't panic! From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (162 days old)

  I was reading about the BNP yesterday. Unlike most woolly liberals of my type, I'm not unduly disturbed by the election of a couple of BNP MEPs. It's not like they're going to have any real power, and… more

• We're all on spam and alcohol From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (189 days old)

  What has happened to spammers these days? They're just not putting the work in. Look at these two efforts that have arrived in my inbox in the last few days. Pathetic, aren't they? They don't even b… more

• Slip out the trackback, Jack From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (205 days old)

  Imagine my surprise to receive e-mail notification that my moribund weblog had been the subject of a trackback. Once I researched a little and found out what a trackback was, I was intrigued as to who… more

• The George Benson story From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (253 days old)

  Many years ago I went to see George Benson at Wembley Arena. I was not a big Benson fan and had only picked up the tickets on the morning of the gig from an agency that was desperate to get shot of th… more

• Cowley Road tale From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (265 days old)

  I had a strange, unsettling encounter yesterday. I took the afternoon off and went down Cowley Road. For those of you not familiar with Oxford, Cowley Road is one of the main thoroughfares into the ci… more

• Oliver Cheatham, the notorious fascist From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (277 days old)

  "I like to party" sang Oliver Cheatham in his relentlessly played illiterate hit Make Luv a few years back, which I still hear with aggravating frequency. "I like to party" he began, "everybody does".… more

• Kids and their stupid names From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (294 days old)

  I was reading an article recently about the popularity of certain names, which in turn took me to the website of the Office for National Statistics. It intrigues me how some names drift into and out o… more

• The Atheists On The Bus Go Round And Round From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (302 days old)

  I cycled past one of those atheist buses the other day. I expect you know the ones I mean - they've got an advert on the side which says "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your lif… more

• Happy New Year From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (317 days old)

  I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions, but I figure one entry a week here won't kill me, so that's my aim. And here's the first one. I am, broadly speaking, enthusiastic about television. A… more

• They have four wheels and go vroom vroom From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (360 days old)

  A little while ago I mentioned the occasional e-mails I get from the FHM Panel asking me about various aspects of modern life. Generally these involve facets of recreational society - downloading rock… more

• Gavin Strachan v Marcel Desailly From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (373 days old)

  I've been keeping half an eye on the Gavin Strachan weblog on the BBC Sport website. Gavin Strachan is what's known as - in fact he disarmingly uses the term of himself - a journeyman footballer, plyi… more

• Level 42, New Theatre Oxford, 11 October 2008 From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (403 days old)

  Twenty five years after we first made the trip, a bepaunched gathering of the grey and balding descended on Oxford's New Theatre on Saturday night to see the latest incarnation of Level 42. Would they… more

• Ashley Cole - an explanation From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (403 days old)

  Am I the only person to understand the reality of why the crowd started booing Ashley Cole on Saturday? It can be explained in four simple words. Everybody hates Ashley Cole. OK, so it's possibl… more

• Rod or God - the debate rages From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (442 days old)

  I'm currently engaged in the long overdue process of trying to replace all my old vinyl singles with CD or mp3 equivalents. Some have been very easy to find, others less so. One of the most tricky one… more

• It's political correctness gone mad! From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (448 days old)

  I was just served in my workplace cafe by a new black guy who's started working here recently. Unfamiliar with the prices, he was checking the list to see how much to charge me. Seeing this, the white… more

• Michael Phelps can swim From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (463 days old)

  I may be alone in this, but I don't want Michael Phelps to win his eight gold medals. And here's why. I've got issues with swimming. I've always had issues with swimming, ever since I had to be dra… more

• Lies, damned lies and FHM surveys From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (464 days old)

  A while back I joined the FHM mailing list in order to enter some contest they were running. A few weeks ago I filled in a survey - you got entry into a draw for Amazon vouchers for doing it - and the… more

• Bingham is back! From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (465 days old)

  How marvellous to hear from a bona fide, genuine Steve Bingham. Not Steve .... Bingham you understand - don't get too excited - just plain old Steve Bingham. The one who, according to his website, The… more

• Roll Out The Barrow From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (470 days old)

  Just 24 hours to go then, to the biggest sporting event of the year. You have to feel for the Chinese - years of work and billions of yuan poured into the Olympics, only to have the attention of the w… more

• I am not a free man, I am a number. Plate. Obsessive. From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (478 days old)

  I imagine the 20 or so daily visitors that blog.co.uk invents for this page must be anxious to know how the land lies in the world of number plates. I have exciting news. Like Hillary and Tenzin… more

• Tempted From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (485 days old)

  I was watching an interview with Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook last night, an hour long programme called Songbook: Squeeze where they sat and talked about the songwriting process. I was quite surpr… more

• Ten degrees of Wikipedia From Captain_Autumn in The Thoughts of Captain Autumn (508 days old)

  Here's an interesting diversion, if you're sad, or bored, or both. As you're probably aware, almost everything on Wikipedia links to something else on Wikipedia. Just to see where it took me I decided… more

| Next page>>