Friday, 29 May 2026
Fun Fact Friday #8: Bird Brains
Sunday, 12 October 2025
Snapshots #417: Songs You Can Live In
15. Big gigs at Butlins.
Butlins run a series of big gigs called Weekenders.
The Weekenders - Inelegantly Wasted In Papa's Penthouse Pad In Belgravia
14. Now in interstellar space.
NASA's Voyager probes have now passed beyond our galaxy...
13. Fooled Ulric into thinking they were someone else.
"Fooled Ulric" was an anagram.
The Colourfield - Castles In The Air
12. She could have been part of last week's quiz. They mix Astbury and Weller with maximum effort.
Last week's quiz involved songs with repeated names - like Lisa Lisa. If Ian Astbury and Paul Weller got together, they could form a supergroup called Cult Jam. Maximum effort = full force.
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force - I Wonder If I Take You Home
11. Half of Ernie the Explorer!
Ernie the Explorer was Ernest Shackleton. Half of his surname is...
10. New man and old Sherlock in a good stuffing.
Paul Newman joins former Sherlock Jeremy Brett to create a key ingredient in stuffing...
Paul Brett's Sage - Cottage Made For Two
9. Les Verts.
Nickname of the famous French football club...
8. Stratofortress.
It's full name is the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress...
7. Mayall, Dodd, two thousand, two hundred and forty pounds.
Rik Mayall, Ken Dodd and a ton (in UK measurements).
6. The first red reshuffle.
"First red" was an anagram...
The Drifters - Come On Over To My Place
5. A good reason to pull onto the hard shoulder.
Puncture - You Can't Rock And Roll (In A Council Flat)
Extra marks if you got that one.
4. Between red and white.
ROSÉ (featuring Bruno Mars) - APT.
3. Goes after a spider, leads a Mystery gang, wrote songs with Cynthia.
Spider-Man. Fred leads Mystery Inc. and drives the Mystery Machine. Cynthia Weil wrote songs with her husband Barry Mann.
Manfred Mann - Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James
2. Brain tissue.
Apparently, the softest cells in your body are in your mushy brain tissue.
1. Can Sam send a cryptic clue?
"Sam send" was an anagram.
Take your pick between...
Wednesday, 13 September 2023
Product Placement #21: Maxwell House
Sunday, 29 January 2023
Snapshots #276: A Top Ten Doo Doo Songs
All hails Michael McDonald, King of Doo! Well, Doobie. Because he's from the Doobie Brothers. You see? Have I explained that enough?
Here's ten songs with some Doo in them...
10. Filthy.
The Police - De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Some of Sting's very best lyrics, right there.
9. When Henry Met Serena.
Lenny Henry meets Serena Williams.
Lenny Williams - Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ooh
(Top 40 hit in 1977, pop pickers.)
8. Laverne's Street Blues.
Lauren Laverne from Kenickie & 6Music sings on the Hill.
Lauryn Hill - Doo-Wop (That Thing)
7. He can always sell any dream to me... and may be related to #8.
Joshua Kadison sang "Jesse, you can always sell any dream to me". And this is another Hill.
6. Interdit aux moins de 21 ans.
That's the warning label that appeared on copies of Serge & Jane's infamous 1969 Number 1 hit. And I'm sure nobody under 21 bought a copy.
5. White lies from a Glasvegas social worker.
Glasvegas sang about their social worker, Geraldine.
White lies are fibs.
The Geraldine Fibbers - You Doo Right
4. Played keyboards in the band.
That's Manfred Mann (born Manfred Sepse Lubowitz), who played keyboards in the band that took his name. Paul Jones sang the songs.
Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy Diddy
3. The Longer Tonsils.
A rather fitting anagram.
The Rolling Stones - Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
2. Ask Ethan.
Anyone who watched GLOW will recognise the subject of today's second anagram, the wonderful...
1. Charley's Chandeliers.
Charley Pride sang about Crystal Chandeliers.
An obvious Number One...
Sunday, 11 December 2022
Snapshots #270: A Top Ten Suburban Songs
Here's what the internet suggested when I typed "suburban camera" into my search engine.
Slow down. Here are this week's suburban answers...
10. The Offspring?
The Descendents - Suburban Home
Who doesn't want to be stereotyped?
9. Zealots.
The Fanatics - Suburban Love Songs
The Fanatics were Simon Fowler's band prior to Ocean Colour Scene.
8. Sulphuric Children.
The chemical symbol for sulphur is S. So these are the S-Kids.
7. Euphemistic initialism used to express frustration.
FFS!
That's an amalgamation of Franz Ferdinand & Sparks, in case you were unaware.
FFS - Little Guy From The Suburbs
6. US Quiz Rota found to be all messed up
"US Quiz Rota" was an angram.
Suzi Quatro - Official Suburban Superman
5. Wogan’s entrance room.
That would be a Terry Hall.
Terry Hall - Suburban Cemetery
4. Bassett, between two blokes.
Fred Bassett. Remember him?
Manfred Mann - Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James
3. Prisoner remembers the good times inside.
Prisoner reMEMBERS the good times inside.
The Members - The Sound of the Suburbs
2. Where you can buy a Geordie term of endearment, lads.
In the "pet" shop, boys.
1. What Spider-Man’s Uncle does with his sheets.
Uncle Ben always folds his sheets. With great bed linen comes great responsibility.
Sunday, 17 November 2019
Saturday Snapshots #110 - The Answers
10. Repetitive male title can't get Minogue right.
You spell it Kylie, not...
Mr. Mister - Kyrie
9. Double Tutu for holy people.
Double Decker + Desmond Tutu.
Desmond Dekker - The Israelites
Still hard to hear that without thinking of Vitalite.
8. Sounds like a pink loft... or what happens to Neil Diamond after he stops talking and starts getting emotional.
Pink!'s real name is Alecia Moore.
Neil Diamond sang I Am I Said.
Alisha's Attic - I Am I Feel
7. Wedlock between two fellas creates powerful medicine woman.
Two men with Fred (Wedlock) in between.
Dr. Quinn was a Medicine Woman.
Manfred Mann - The Mighty Quinn
6. Unlikely weather forecast threatens us all with death.
I'm amazed that Brian got this by recognising the artist from the photo.
Another Sunny Day - You Should All Be Murdered
5. Dustin Hoffman meets girl with axe, by muddled, rackety aunt.
"Rackety aunt" is Tanya Tucker muddled up.
Dustin Hoffman was the Rain Man.
Lizzie Borden had an axe.
Tanya Tucker - Lizzie & The Rain Man
4. Bumbled horses cross the line every time.
Bumble Bees + Gee Gees...
Bee Gees - You Win Again
3. Sovereign & subject together promise a brighter future.
Tough one this. But Brian saved the day!
Citizen King - Better Days
2. Most babies are: it's the amniotic fluid. The hell, you say!
Hell is The Underworld.
Babies are born slippy.
Underworld - Born Slippy
1. Flawless relation found beneath pitch.
Pitch = tone.
Is there are more perfect pop song? I know Teenage Kicks takes the Peel plaudits, but it doesn't contain this line...
His mother bought him a synthesizer
Got the Human League into advise her
...which is surely one of the best rhymes ever written into a chart hit.
Why aren't teenage lads making noises like this anymore?
Live Fast, Die Young... but not before coming back next week for more of the same.
















































