Tag Archives: BBC

author, independent film, writing

The Appeal of Clarkson.

6 Comments

I’ve had a few people contact me this morning asking me to explain the appeal of Jeremy Clarkson.

Now it is indeed true that Jezza is something of a Marmite figure and to be honest, I’m not exactly his greatest fan. Indeed, a few years ago, in a glossary for my book, The Geezers Guide to Football, I wrote:

Clarkson (Jeremy): Motoring journalist and television presenter from the BBC show Top Gear. Likes to think he is a geezer but is merely a mouthy public-school twat. Doesn’t like football either, which also makes him a bit of a wanker as far as I’m concerned.

However, it is fair to say that since I wrote that, I’ve softened somewhat. Not because I particularly like Top Gear -as TV shows go, it’s as hit-and-miss as it gets- or because he makes brilliant documentaries about our forces (which he really does), but for one simple reason.

For the truth is that as a character who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks when he thinks it and who has the confidence to stand by (almost) every word he says, Clarkson has been the one presenter who has stood firm against the takeover of our national broadcaster by the Liberal Left.

That’s why they hate him with a passion because to them, he is the manifestation of the enemy. Right-wing, outspoken, vehement in his condemnation of political correctness and as patriotic as it gets, he is everything they despise. That’s why they’ve gone after him at every opportunity.

Their problem thus far of course, is that he’s also hugely popular and much of that has to do with the fact that he strikes a chord with people. And the chord he strikes is anarchy.

What Clarkson does isn’t simply to give voice to the kind of opinion that we, as a society, are supposed to keep suppressed. It’s the fact that he speaks, writes and behaves in a manner which refuses to conform. It’s a tactic Katy Hopkins and even Nigel Farage have adopted and look what’s happened there!

Sadly, it now appears that Jezza has finally handed them his head on a plate and no doubt publicly funded taxi’s are thrashing through the Manchester traffic toward BBC towers full of people desperate to hammer the final nail into the coffin of what remained of the non-politically correct BBC.

For those of us who recognise the damage this will do, the only saving grace is that the BBC’s loss will be another broadcasters gain.

.

manchester united, david moyes, liverpool, british film, ryan giggs, old traffordJust a reminder that Top Dog has been nominated in the ‘Best Action’ category at the National Film Awards 2015. This is decided by the public and time is running out so please, click on the link and vote for us.

Could I also remind you that We Still Kill The Old Way is nominated for numerous awards at the Action Elite Awards Again, this is a public vote so please, click on the link and do it!

 

top gear, clarkson, football, independent film, author, screenwriting, bbc

 

 

acting, actor, writing, script, scriptwriting, screenpl

England, football, soccer, writing

The two main reasons why Brazil 2014 went so horribly wrong for the English.

Leave a comment

brazil, germany, football, writing, author, sex, goal

So that’s that then. Another world cup done and dusted.

Thankfully, as it should be, the best team won. Talented, efficient and deadly when the chips were down, Germany were a joy to watch. Everything in fact, that England were not. Nor I fear, ever will be.

But for me, as someone who for all kinds of reasons took an age to get into the tournament, Brazil 2014 wasn’t actually about the football at all, it was about the TV coverage. Because let’s face it, it was pretty dire and ultimately, for me at least, that was entirely down to two men.

For the BBC, the name which caused my heart to sink wasn’t Phil Neville or even Robbie Savage, it was Mark Lawrenson. A man who is so far past his sell by date, he’d look out of place in an episode of Lovejoy.

Now I admit, I don’t often watch Match of the Day and when I do it’s usually recorded so I can zip through the boring bits (or as I call it, most of it) so my recent experience of ‘Lawro’ is generally limited to views of him at three times normal speed. Yet even then he’s dull, at normal speed, he’s simply painful.

I know he was a great player once but it was at a time when most of the players he talks ‘knowingly’ about weren’t even born so does he really have any relevance now? Especially with that irritating voice and his endless stream of inane drivel.

Which brings us nicely to ITV. I mean, where do you start with Adrian Childs? Personally, I didn’t. Or rather, I couldn’t.

I’m hardly best placed to talk about looks, and I’m quite fond of midlanders so I’m seemingly in a minority when I say that his accent doesn’t bother me that much. But the fact is that watching Childs is like watching a 90 minute long YouTube compilation of Russian dash cam footage. You know something bad is going to happen, you just don’t know what or when.

So my verdict on Brazil? Like the FA and our illustrious national team manager, our television broadcasters must be doing much better by the time Russia 2018 hoves into view. Although hopefully, all three teams will be altogether different by then. And by different I mean competent and entertaining.

Much like the Germans in fact.

wings-of-a-sparrow-final.png

 

My latest novel, Wings of a Sparrow is now available in both eBook and paperback format.

 

 

 

 

writing, author, screenwriting, greenstreet, top dog, elijah wood, brazil 2014, germany, argentina, sex. porn, BBC, ITV, Talksport, veterans, football, soccer, USA

 

 

Amazon, author, bloke, books, kindle, moaning, money, soccer, Uncategorized, writing

The rise and rise of Udinese B (better known as Watford FC)

8 Comments

pozzo. zola, watford. udinese, granada, football, soccer, elton john, chelsea, England, championship, premier league,

I am a Watford fan. That’s not an admission of guilt, it’s a fact. One of which I am especially proud and always have been.

Now as some of you will have noticed, after a slightly shaky start, the Golden Boys have gone on something of a run. Indeed, as I write this we sit in second in the championship after beating Derby 2-1 yesterday albeit with a somewhat dodgy performance.

However, despite our success this season we are, as a club, currently facing something that we have rarely faced before. You see in the past we have always been regarded as ‘the family club’ and as such, have been thought of in many circles as being either neutral or even bland. That is not the case at the moment for everyone seems to hate us.

The reason for this change stems from the takeover of the club by the Pozzo family who also own both Udinese and Granada. For with amazing foresight, when they took over they decided to bolster our squad by sending some of the fringe players from their other teams to Vicarage Road on loan. And by some, I mean quite a few.

This was apparently fine whilst we were losing 5-1 at Derby early on in the season, but when the side began to gel together people began to take notice. When we started winning (and scoring for fun) it began to wind people up. Big time.

Things came to a head when Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway ranted on Sky Sports about our loanee’s prior to our live game a few weeks back and seemingly within hours, various journalists at TalkSport had jumped on the bandwagon. By the middle of the following week, Watford had taken on the mantle of everything that was wrong with the English game and my fellow Hornets, many of whom had jumped to the stout defence of their club, were bordering on scum because they could not, or would not, listen to ‘reason’ (sic).

I won’t go into the hypocrisy of the statements made by Holloway whose own team is full of loanees including one he only sold on the proviso that Palace could borrow him back for the rest of the season, nor the ridiculous statements made on the terminally ill station that is TalkSport, most of which were only made to chase listeners. Nor will I provide a breakdown of the actual Watford team to disprove much of what has been alleged or even talk about the phenomenal youth academy at Vicarage Road which is already churning out a steady stream of quality young players. All of whom have benefited markedly from working with world class players. I won’t do that, because it would amount to my appearing to defend my club, and the reality is that there is nothing to defend.

What I will do however, is make three simple points on this issue;

  1.  Neither Watford as a club nor the Pozzo’s as our owners, have done anything wrong.
  2. Almost every single club in the English game (including Palace and Peterborough) would welcome a ‘Pozzo’ to their club and would not hesitate to do so.
  3. We don’t care. In fact, we are loving it.

And that about sums it up.

football, self publishing, soccer, money, inheritance, sex, orgy, oral, vibrator, penguin, monkey, giraffe, racism, green, pennant, royalMy latest novel, Wings of a Sparrow, continues its climb up the fiction charts and continues to attract excellent reviews so could I say a huge thanks to all those who have so far purchased a copy. 

And for those who have asked, yes, it was originally written with Watford and L*t*n in mind but our near neighbours wouldn’t give me permission to use their name in the text and so to avoid any potential legal issues, I had to switch to two more generic clubs.

If you would like a copy, please click on the cover to the left and it’ll take you to Amazon. It is however, also available from all online retailers including iTunes.

Finally, work on the movie adaptation of Top Dog continues apace. Watch this space.