Phil Norman
@mrphilnorman.bsky.social
The Year of Listing Dangerously: https://historyoftv.substack.com
Radio just played the once ubiquitous, now totally forgotten, I Love You Always Forever by Donna Lewis, and it's basically just a New Age cover of the theme from Pebble Mill.
December 7, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Radio just played the once ubiquitous, now totally forgotten, I Love You Always Forever by Donna Lewis, and it's basically just a New Age cover of the theme from Pebble Mill.
The most unChristmassy Christmas objects of all: those grey funnels used to wrap Christmas trees.
December 6, 2025 at 3:36 PM
The most unChristmassy Christmas objects of all: those grey funnels used to wrap Christmas trees.
Nancy Banks-Smith on the joy, or otherwise, of live TV.
December 4, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Nancy Banks-Smith on the joy, or otherwise, of live TV.
I'm not sure an instrumental cover of Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl in the style of a coke-addled Paganini makes for the ideal lift repair report hold music.
December 3, 2025 at 9:15 AM
I'm not sure an instrumental cover of Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl in the style of a coke-addled Paganini makes for the ideal lift repair report hold music.
Hands up who's looking forward to next year's Fifty Years of Paaaahnk celebrations.
December 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Hands up who's looking forward to next year's Fifty Years of Paaaahnk celebrations.
Not to give the impression that me watching Say Nothing is a case of pearls before swine, but I couldn't help thinking how the bloke who plays the young Gerry Adams would make a cracking Ernie Bishop.
December 1, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Not to give the impression that me watching Say Nothing is a case of pearls before swine, but I couldn't help thinking how the bloke who plays the young Gerry Adams would make a cracking Ernie Bishop.
While looking for something else entirely I came across a book I strangely don't remember buying, a German coffee-table book of Matta paintings. It's the most beautiful thing.
December 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
While looking for something else entirely I came across a book I strangely don't remember buying, a German coffee-table book of Matta paintings. It's the most beautiful thing.
I'd never have had Tom Stoppard down as a Zardoz fan.
December 1, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I'd never have had Tom Stoppard down as a Zardoz fan.
I remember making jokes about The Point being listed in the early nineties. Always a fan of their staff's obligingly lax attitude to age restriction.
December 1, 2025 at 9:56 AM
I remember making jokes about The Point being listed in the early nineties. Always a fan of their staff's obligingly lax attitude to age restriction.
The new De La Soul album's a bit good, isn't it?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxK7...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxK7...
De La Soul - Just How It Is (Sometimes) featuring Jay Pharoah & Gareth Donkin (Official Audio)
YouTube video by WeAreDeLaSoul
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:05 AM
The new De La Soul album's a bit good, isn't it?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxK7...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxK7...
That "introduce yourself with the first five gigs you saw" thing is just an excuse for people to show off how recently they became old enough to go to gigs, isn't it?
November 29, 2025 at 12:35 PM
That "introduce yourself with the first five gigs you saw" thing is just an excuse for people to show off how recently they became old enough to go to gigs, isn't it?
El vino collapso,
Getting out of the darkness,
My light shines on,
My light shines on,
My light shines on.
Getting out of the darkness,
My light shines on,
My light shines on,
My light shines on.
November 29, 2025 at 9:46 AM
El vino collapso,
Getting out of the darkness,
My light shines on,
My light shines on,
My light shines on.
Getting out of the darkness,
My light shines on,
My light shines on,
My light shines on.
Jack Shepherd. Utterly magnificent in some of the best TV plays ever made. And, for that matter, pretty damn good in some of the very worst.
November 26, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Jack Shepherd. Utterly magnificent in some of the best TV plays ever made. And, for that matter, pretty damn good in some of the very worst.
Sudden memory of a Benny Hill Show where a lone audience member pissed themselves when Yaketty Sax got to the bit where it quotes Entrance of the Gladiators. Is that the lowbrow equivalent of slapping your thigh at a gag in As You Like It?
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Sudden memory of a Benny Hill Show where a lone audience member pissed themselves when Yaketty Sax got to the bit where it quotes Entrance of the Gladiators. Is that the lowbrow equivalent of slapping your thigh at a gag in As You Like It?
If we're to have more of these dramatisations of Great Moments in Rock, there should be one of the weekend when Captain Sensible was radicalised in the Crass commune.
November 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
If we're to have more of these dramatisations of Great Moments in Rock, there should be one of the weekend when Captain Sensible was radicalised in the Crass commune.
The Galloping Gourmet - Graham Kerr triangulates a path between cosmopolitan sophisticate, down to earth bloke and "muggins here" culinary bluffer as he whips up full-fat continental treats and leaps over random bits of G-Plan.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
November 24, 2025 at 7:36 PM
The Galloping Gourmet - Graham Kerr triangulates a path between cosmopolitan sophisticate, down to earth bloke and "muggins here" culinary bluffer as he whips up full-fat continental treats and leaps over random bits of G-Plan.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
Separated at birth: Peter Sellers' I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me (But We Know it Just the Same) and Bankrobber by The Clash.
November 23, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Separated at birth: Peter Sellers' I Haven't Told Her, She Hasn't Told Me (But We Know it Just the Same) and Bankrobber by The Clash.
I'm mildly obsessed with Venus Observed by Christopher Fry. Fry was the biggest name in British drama just after WWII, until John Osborne & the Royal Court tore theatre a new arsehole. So this is the Tales from Topographic Oceans to Osborne's Anarchy in the UK, to make a totally spurious comparison.
November 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
I'm mildly obsessed with Venus Observed by Christopher Fry. Fry was the biggest name in British drama just after WWII, until John Osborne & the Royal Court tore theatre a new arsehole. So this is the Tales from Topographic Oceans to Osborne's Anarchy in the UK, to make a totally spurious comparison.
It's farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish Blakeys for Week 55 of Listing Dangerously. Also, Bill Maynard's on a bus, Pete Postlethwaite's in a caravan, Anthony Valentine's in Sydney, Orson Welles is in Norwich, and Simon Callow's in the pub, beating up squaddies.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
Week 55: 22nd – 28th November, 1975
“Another fast-moving, action-packed programme, including yoga and prize leeks.”
open.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:15 AM
It's farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish Blakeys for Week 55 of Listing Dangerously. Also, Bill Maynard's on a bus, Pete Postlethwaite's in a caravan, Anthony Valentine's in Sydney, Orson Welles is in Norwich, and Simon Callow's in the pub, beating up squaddies.
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
open.substack.com/pub/historyo...
I was reminded today of Varoomshka, the Guardian's 1970s satirical newspaper comic strip in monumentally dubious taste.
November 20, 2025 at 7:25 PM
I was reminded today of Varoomshka, the Guardian's 1970s satirical newspaper comic strip in monumentally dubious taste.
The most sublime and awe-inspiring dish on the Chinese takeaway menu is Caspar David Friedrice.
November 19, 2025 at 10:11 PM
The most sublime and awe-inspiring dish on the Chinese takeaway menu is Caspar David Friedrice.
Jon Pertwee could have seen Man O Man.
November 19, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Jon Pertwee could have seen Man O Man.
Seems like the appropriate time for this - a compendium of arcane Glaswegian slang from Roddy McMillan's 1974 Play for Today, The Bevellers.
November 18, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Seems like the appropriate time for this - a compendium of arcane Glaswegian slang from Roddy McMillan's 1974 Play for Today, The Bevellers.
I remember when one Sugarcube was enough to kill, cook and eat a puffin.
November 17, 2025 at 9:51 PM
I remember when one Sugarcube was enough to kill, cook and eat a puffin.
Pompidou Centre, Hackney branch.
November 17, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Pompidou Centre, Hackney branch.