Nige resurrects a comic monster... The other day I found my mind turning to the Lancastrian comedian Frank Randle. I've been uneasily fascinated with this monster of comedy ever since reading King Twist: A Portrait of Frank Randle by - of all people - Jeff Nuttall, whose Bomb Culture was on ... Read More...

Does The Lone Star State want to go it alone? As you may have noticed, following the recent re-election of Barack Obama, many Americans got a bit upset. Indeed, they were so upset that they did what people do nowadays whenever they are outraged: they went on the Internet and grumbled ... Read More...

Steve, the Fire Training Officer, had tattooed arms, a sovereign ring and beautiful long eyelashes. My fellow trainee Fire Marshall whispered that she was jealous of the lashes. Looking closer, I could see what she meant; he had the eyes of Audrey Hepburn. In all other respects Steve was impeccably ... Read More...

Did Beethoven and Tchaikovsky write any bad music? Yes, says Mahlerman, but he loves it anyway. Here are his guilty pleasures... I'm on thin ice this week; I don't think I really know what I'm talking about.  A painting or a book is a physical object that we 'read' with interest, ... Read More...

You may have read the excoriating email that retired naval officer, Nick Crews, sent to his three children, complaining of his “bitter disappointment” with their “copulation driven” self-indulgence? Reading this made me want to have a rant of my own on the issue of modern manners – or rather, lack of ... Read More...

There’s a new self-help book out, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking. The nub of the thesis appears to be as follows: ...saying positive affirmations to yourself in the mirror can make you feel worse and … visualizing the future can make you less likely to achieve ... Read More...

Frank is away this week, but here's a craft project from the archives to keep you busy... This week’s exciting activity project is to spruce up your mud idol. It is probably languishing, neglected, matted with dust and cobwebs and harried by bats, up in your attic, so before reading on ... Read More...

From the Big Apple to a 'Bob Marley and the Wailers' (a BMW), Jonathon looks at man's mania for nicknaming... Nicknames, eh? You gotta laugh. ‘Ali’ Barber, ‘Blanco’ White, ‘Shiner’ Bright, ‘Lackery’ Wood, ‘Queeny’ King, ‘Bodger’ Lees, ‘Ned’ Kelly, ‘Dusty’ Miller, ‘Bogey’ Harris, ‘Happy’ Day, ‘Hooky’ Walker, ‘Tug’ Wilson, ‘Wiggy’ Bennett ... Read More...

Elberry enjoys a new addition to the pantheon of great surrealists... In an age of drably realistic novels about middle class London fools and their tedious midlife crises, it's refreshing to read a book narrated by the Principal Composer to the Imperial Court of Greater Fallowfields. Alas for Greater Fallowfields, the Emperor ... Read More...

Mark Cosgrove (pictured above) has the talent to be a great Australian cricketer, but he can't get in the side because he refuses to lose weight. But are we missing the upsides of being a fat sportsman, asks Jon Hotten... One of the marks of cricket's ineffable genius is its scale. ... Read More...