Tom Sutcliffe
@tds153.bsky.social
Presenter, Radio Four’s Front Row and Start the Week.
Tonight’s Front Row Quiz
1/ Who endangered Bowie’s singing voice on the coach down to Glastonbury.
2/ Who made Bashu, The Little Stranger?
3/ Wass ail?
Join us just after 7:15 for answers.
1/ Who endangered Bowie’s singing voice on the coach down to Glastonbury.
2/ Who made Bashu, The Little Stranger?
3/ Wass ail?
Join us just after 7:15 for answers.
January 5, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Tonight’s Front Row Quiz
1/ Who endangered Bowie’s singing voice on the coach down to Glastonbury.
2/ Who made Bashu, The Little Stranger?
3/ Wass ail?
Join us just after 7:15 for answers.
1/ Who endangered Bowie’s singing voice on the coach down to Glastonbury.
2/ Who made Bashu, The Little Stranger?
3/ Wass ail?
Join us just after 7:15 for answers.
The world’s policeman…
January 4, 2026 at 10:45 PM
The world’s policeman…
Suddenly taken by the cherry tree out back, gleaming like a racehorse.
January 4, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Suddenly taken by the cherry tree out back, gleaming like a racehorse.
I’ve decided to boycott Venezuelan oil. Cancelled my January order.
January 4, 2026 at 11:10 AM
I’ve decided to boycott Venezuelan oil. Cancelled my January order.
For those who’ve made literary resolutions this year: a friend drew my attention to this the other day, from Jules Renard’s journal.
Run out of ink, use up all the paper.
Run out of ink, use up all the paper.
January 3, 2026 at 12:29 PM
For those who’ve made literary resolutions this year: a friend drew my attention to this the other day, from Jules Renard’s journal.
Run out of ink, use up all the paper.
Run out of ink, use up all the paper.
I guess the one way to guarantee that you can end a war is to start one. Obviously you need to pick a small country that offers no conceivable military threat to you.
January 3, 2026 at 8:37 AM
I guess the one way to guarantee that you can end a war is to start one. Obviously you need to pick a small country that offers no conceivable military threat to you.
Watched Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat tonight (available on YouTube). Terrific performance from Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat and from the young Benicio del Toro as his friend. And David Bowie plays Warhol. Fortunately Bowie had a day job.
January 2, 2026 at 10:20 PM
Watched Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat tonight (available on YouTube). Terrific performance from Jeffrey Wright as Basquiat and from the young Benicio del Toro as his friend. And David Bowie plays Warhol. Fortunately Bowie had a day job.
Reposted by Tom Sutcliffe
Mayor Zohran Mandami’s crime reduction strategy notches early win.
January 2, 2026 at 6:47 AM
Mayor Zohran Mandami’s crime reduction strategy notches early win.
The David Bowie/Brian Eno collab wallpaper for Laura Ashley. Bought to my attention by Alexander Larman’s book Lazarus. Presumably there were fans who actually chose to live with this…
January 2, 2026 at 3:27 PM
The David Bowie/Brian Eno collab wallpaper for Laura Ashley. Bought to my attention by Alexander Larman’s book Lazarus. Presumably there were fans who actually chose to live with this…
Best post of 2026
In Agadoo did Kubla Khan
Push pineapples, shake the tree
Push pineapples, shake the tree
January 1, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Best post of 2026
Yes, I am one of those people optimistically checking into the gym on New Year’s Day. With my levels of will-power I really can’t afford to pass up the windfall top-ups.
January 1, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Yes, I am one of those people optimistically checking into the gym on New Year’s Day. With my levels of will-power I really can’t afford to pass up the windfall top-ups.
Today’s Connections depends on a homophone which could more accurately be described as a heterophone. Exploring the possibility of a class action suit.
December 29, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Today’s Connections depends on a homophone which could more accurately be described as a heterophone. Exploring the possibility of a class action suit.
Reposted by Tom Sutcliffe
Using an inflation index understates the value of that amount. If you think of £200 relative to the size of the economy in 1846 it’s more than £200,000 in current terms: www.measuringworth.com/calculators/...
Measuring Worth - Purchase Power of the Pound
www.measuringworth.com
December 29, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Using an inflation index understates the value of that amount. If you think of £200 relative to the size of the economy in 1846 it’s more than £200,000 in current terms: www.measuringworth.com/calculators/...
Arts sponsorship, 1846. Tennyson’s friend Monckton Miles leans on Robert Peel to grant T a Civil List Pension. (£200 p.a., which is roughly £20,000 now, according to the BoE Inflation Calculator.)
December 29, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Arts sponsorship, 1846. Tennyson’s friend Monckton Miles leans on Robert Peel to grant T a Civil List Pension. (£200 p.a., which is roughly £20,000 now, according to the BoE Inflation Calculator.)
Me: “We should have watched The Battle of the Bulge.”
Middle child: “Oh, not another of your gay porn movies Dad!”
Middle child: “Oh, not another of your gay porn movies Dad!”
December 27, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Me: “We should have watched The Battle of the Bulge.”
Middle child: “Oh, not another of your gay porn movies Dad!”
Middle child: “Oh, not another of your gay porn movies Dad!”
In Skipton Santa comes on a tractor and Rudolph has to run alongside.
December 27, 2025 at 1:13 PM
In Skipton Santa comes on a tractor and Rudolph has to run alongside.
Reposted by Tom Sutcliffe
Watching THE GREEN KNIGHT again
April 22, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Watching THE GREEN KNIGHT again
This one needs further corroboration.
I once saw Michael Rosen carry an adult cow up the escalator at Pimlico underground station.
December 26, 2025 at 12:08 PM
This one needs further corroboration.
Reposted by Tom Sutcliffe
Wild Thing by Sue Prideaux taught me that Gauguin helped build the Panama Canal…
December 26, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Wild Thing by Sue Prideaux taught me that Gauguin helped build the Panama Canal…
More cultural feats of strength.
One of my tutors at art school liked to tell us about how, in preparation for his anatomy dissections and illustrations, George Stubbs could pick up a dead horse and carry it upstairs on his shoulders.
December 26, 2025 at 12:06 PM
More cultural feats of strength.
This morning I learned that Tennyson, when young, once bodily picked up a troublesome donkey and set it aside. Which of our contemporary poets could do as much?
December 26, 2025 at 10:42 AM
This morning I learned that Tennyson, when young, once bodily picked up a troublesome donkey and set it aside. Which of our contemporary poets could do as much?
If you can hear a group of people shouting “No. NO! Do. Not. Go. Down. There!!” it’s because we’re watching Barbarian and we’re all wimps.
December 25, 2025 at 9:59 PM
If you can hear a group of people shouting “No. NO! Do. Not. Go. Down. There!!” it’s because we’re watching Barbarian and we’re all wimps.
Happy Christmas to all who celebrate it. And would somebody turn the oven on?
December 25, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Happy Christmas to all who celebrate it. And would somebody turn the oven on?
Watched Weapons as a Christmas Eve spooker. Don’t much care for horror films usually but this was great fun.
December 24, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Watched Weapons as a Christmas Eve spooker. Don’t much care for horror films usually but this was great fun.
Just watched Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man. Unexpectedly theological. In fact downright parsonical. But nicely done. (For God’s sake though: if you cut another twenty minutes the film will almost certainly be stronger. Yes I mean you. And you. And them.)
December 22, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Just watched Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man. Unexpectedly theological. In fact downright parsonical. But nicely done. (For God’s sake though: if you cut another twenty minutes the film will almost certainly be stronger. Yes I mean you. And you. And them.)