12 May 2018
16 Dec 2017
12 Nov 2017
25 Aug 2017
What does 'Tatts Out' mean?
So I tested it on my long-standing, but often sitting adverts focus group. Here's the transcript:
Leader: what do you make of this advert?
- The sun's not out, they've got that wrong.
- They must've thought August would be sunny.
- If they thought it would be sunny, why is he getting rained on?
- Is that rain?
- He might be in a shower.
- That's a nasty burn he's got on his chest. Maybe the shower is helping.
Leader (sigh): let's move on.
- He looks like he wants a fight. I often feel like punching, in the shower.
- Is he on the phone, though?
- Don't be stupid, that's a fist, ready to hit someone.
- Is he that boxer?
- Is it about gang violence?
- That's how he got the burn, isn't it. No wonder he's angry.
Leader (prompting): What do you think 'Tatts' means?
- No idea.
- Tattinger. He's just won a fight, if he's that boxer.
- Taters - potatoes, I mean. That's what we call them in Yorkshire.
- Is it a mistake - did they mean twats?
Leader (forcibly): Can you see the L'Oreal products?
- L'Oreal? That's for women, isn't it? Creams and all that.
- Must be to help his burn.
- Is it saying if you feel angry about your burns, don't go punching anyone, jump in the shower and put some cream on?
The group is hurridly closed.
28 Jul 2017
Do not chain activists
Here's a classic historical sign that can still be seen in a London square. It dates back to the Edwardian period, a time when a wide range of protest groups proliferated.
19 Jun 2017
Prehistoric bird in London
It unmistakeably charts the progress of a prehistoric bird across the London clay that dates from the Jurastic period, and was used to pave the medieval streets. What a find!
PS. this photo does not appear in my book 'How Not To Be a Tourist In London' (Waiting for the third edition).
9 May 2017
2 Apr 2017
19 Mar 2017
Trump 'liked' a tweet that satirised him
This is nonsense of course - like shouting 'FIRE' in a theatre, then claiming you were just quoting the hit song by Arthur Brown. So I replied to the chap and his pals this weekend, to make that point:
Shortly afterwards I was stnned to get this email message:
Crikey. What was that about? One interpretation is that he could have a well-hidden self-deprecating sense of humour. Or is too busy to read beyond 'Yes'.
3 Oct 2016
19 Aug 2016
25 Jun 2016
9 Apr 2016
Why haven't these company names been taken?
1. If you were planning to start a medical practice in the windy city USA, what would you call it?
2. If you were setting up as a hairdresser in Las Vegas, what would you call your salon?
3. You and your French partner are starting a hairdressing shop. Find a striking name for it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Answers:
1. Doctor Chicago
2. Scissors Palace
3. Beau Locks
22 Jan 2016
The must-have self-help book for urban living
24 Dec 2015
National Nuisance List 2015
Related
to the 'National Treasure' list, these people are awarded 'National Nuisance'
status for having irritated us beyond what is reasonable.
1.
Brian Blessed
2.
Bernie Ecclestone
3.
Diane Abbott
4.
Lulu
5.
Gary Lineker
6.
Tarby (still)
7.
Tony Blair
8.
Lenny Henry
9.
Dec not Ant (or is it the other way round?)
10.
Claire Baldy
11.
Andy Murray's mum
12.
Mo Farrah
13.
Mary Berry
14.
Princess Charlotte
15.
Sue not Mel (or is it the other way round?)
16.
Evan Davis
17.
Sara Cox
18.
Grayson Perry
19.
Dawn French
20.
Michael Portillo
18 Dec 2015
21 Nov 2015
13 Nov 2015
Why whistling is unpopular in London
Watch any English movie made before 1940 and set in London, and at some point one of the male characters will start whistling a tune. It could be the milkman on his rounds, the delivery boy on his bicycle, or the shady character loitering on a street corner; but you can guarantee that before long, someone will start to whistle.
Yet now nobody
whistles in London. The habit has entirely died out here, although it remains
more popular in the English regions. Why should this be? A group of sociologists
noticed this phenomenon in the 1970s and decided to investigate. Their theory
was that whistling can be seen as an expression of individual public
confidence, and its absence showed that Londoners were now more fearful in
public places, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.
Whistling campaign
The newspapers took this up and filled pages with the
opinions of commentators and politicians, deploring the lack of social
confidence. A ‘bring back whistling’ campaign was started, with famous Londoners,
including the writers Will Self and Julian Barnes, deliberately whistling around
town in the hope that it would catch on.
However the discovery of a diary kept by a milkman in the
East End of London during the second world war threw a quite different light on
the matter. During the blitz, when London was bombed every night for three
months, he wrote of the ‘nasty whine and whistle’ of the bombs, and of being
told to ‘shut up that whistling’ by neighbours as he delivered the milk in the
morning. ‘You’ll bring them on’, he was scolded.
So the latest academic theory is that whistling is absent from
London for the same superstitious reason that it’s discouraged on board ship:
it brings bad luck. It seems that three months of wartime bombing did away with
whistling for Londoners, and the habit has never returned.
Visitors of a humorous disposition might like to whistle a
tune in public to see what happens. Be ready to receive some strange looks and
muttered comments from locals, especially those from the East End, who still
carry the folk memory of high explosive bombs whistling down from the night
skies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Extract from my book 'How Not to Be a Tourist in London'
7 Oct 2015
3 Oct 2015
Smash the smarphones
Fed up with trying to walk past people who dawdle along, absorbed in their so-called smartphones? Join the revolution!
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