banner

86 and Still Counting

 

I'm 86, and life continues to be one great adventure.

I'm a jazz musician, webmaster, web project developer, writer, journalist, audio and video content creator, bibliophile, cook, fitness enthusiast, and lifelong learner. Whether I'm making music, developing websites, writing stories, producing digital content, experimenting with a new recipe, or staying active at the gym, I believe every day is an opportunity to learn, create, and connect.

This website brings together my passions—music, conversation, creativity, technology, worldwide friendships, and the simple pleasures of everyday life. It's a place to share ideas, experiences, and discoveries with people from around the globe who believe that curiosity and creativity have no expiration date.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you'll enjoy exploring, join the conversation, and come back often—because at 86, the adventure is still unfolding.

Welcome • Bienvenue • Willkommen • Bienvenido • Benvenuto • 欢迎 • ようこそ

New and Recent

James Joyce’s The Dead — John Huston’s Final Film   The Dead is a 1987 film directed by John Huston, based on the final story in Dubliners by James Joyce. It was Huston’s last completed film,...

Arthur Marshall - Call My Bluff   Was an English writer, raconteur, teacher and broadcaster, best remembered by television viewers as a captain on the BBC panel show Call My Bluff. Before...

Tolkien Christmas   Prior to Christmas the demand for Tolkien's books by the bookshops was enormous. Each year from the start of December to Christmas Eve, I became a part of a rapid 'to your...

Come To The Party - Intuition Said No   A small town set with the Derbyshire hills. Haven for musician, artists, and suchlike. Socialrelations ships abounded, not exactly the complexity of...

Cooking Since I Was 11 — A Passion for Life   My grandparents were very elderly and I found quicker to prepare food for myself when I came home from school. This I think caused my grandmother...

John Alvaro Caldas: Artist Without Ego   John Alvaro Caldas was born in Rusholme, Manchester in 1934. He showed an early talent for painting and drawing but chose to become a dancer, moving...

Show comment form

86 And Still Counting

Nunc Dimittis. The Setting Was Awful   I was a diffident and mentally unengaged choir boy. I did enjoy singing decants. But most hymns, musically, bored me. The exception was the Nunc...

Leeds A Town Like New Orleans   During a meeting at the BBC I suggest the possibility of a pro grame about the Leeds jazz scene. Leeds opened the first dedicated United Kingdom jazz school,...

The Designer Kitchen Business   I had a gap between a switch over between employment activities. I saw an advertisement looking for people to work in the domestic kitchen business. "Why not"...

The Real Bill Tarmey I Knew – Beyond Jack Duckworth   Bill Tarmey the individual who played Jack Duckworth was a friend and we had a professional collaboration. I first got to know him in a...

Peter Cook, Nigel Rees, Cabbages and Kings   Nigel Rees devised the programme format, Peter Cook was a panel member for the pilot screening. Unfortunately, there was something of a gap...

James Joyce's Women   The 1985 film James Joyce’s Women, the screenplay was written and adapted by Fionnula Flanagan, based on her own stage play and on the life and works of James Joyce....

James Joyce Ulysses   I bought my copy of James Joyce Ulysses, the 1958 Reprint of The Bodley Head edition at Willshaw's Bookshop in Manchester. It was a 'Getting out of the RAF' gift to...

The Northern Run | Blues For JC   BBC London and BBC Regional offices were open to unsolicited submissions. They were read and the writer would receive a personal response. Now unimaginable....

Band Mobbed on Stage - My First and Only Time   The gig was at a Northern Variety Club with the Victor Brox Blues Train and Dougie James. Sometime into the performance waves of young, and not...

A Martyr To Citroëns   My prolonged passion for Citroën car was great fun, but there was a price to be paid, not the least the difficulty of finding main dealers who possessed a degree of...

Sam Widges, Soho, London   Sam Widges was a famous 1950s and 1960s coffee bar and beatnik hangout located on the corner of Berwick Street and D'Arblay Street in Soho, London. It was here I...

Why Jackie Turner Never Became A World Champion   Sports day was an eagerly anticipated annual event, even for myself, whose puny frame was never going to develop into any semblance of the...