Flashback Friday 21 November 2025

Today’s WordPress Daily Prompt asks us to answer the ten standard questions that James Lipton asks his guests on ‘Inside The Actor’s Studio’. For those unfamiliar with the programme, it was an American talk show that ran from 1994 to 2019. It’s basic format was that James Lipton, the host, would interview a single guest…

Song Lyric Sunday: Best Of – ‘In My Own Time’

This week, we’ve been asked to feature a song that’s appeared on a ‘Greatest Hits’ or ‘Best Of’ compilation album. Given that any artiste(s) worth their salt will have had at least one of these released at some point, the pool of potential choices is certainly both wide and deep. Rather than plump for something…

Fibbing Friday: Saturday Edition

The wrong voices: who ‘really’ sang these songs… I Am The One And Only Napoleon Solo These Boots Were Made For Walking Jimmy Choo Help Yourself Have you visited a Harvester before? Make Me An Island The Wren Kitchens Choral Ensemble I Want To Know What Love Is Serena Williams Penny Lane Cheap Trick I…

Flashback Friday 14 November 2025

From ten years ago, and inspired – for want of a better word – by a prompt included in WordPress’ Writing 101 course that invited us to ‘reinvent the letter format’. This is as close as it’s going to get. An Open Letter To My Passport Photo Dear self, Well, I wouldn’t go so far as…

Song Lyric Sunday: Bejewelled – ‘Diamond Dogs’

This week our task, should we choose to accept it, is to feature a song about jewelry. I’m almost ashamed to say that the first song that came into my head was a now problematic ballad called ‘She wears my ring’ by an American crooner called Solomon King. Why problematic, you may ask? Well, the…

Fibbing Friday: Saturday Edition

I don’t belieeeeve it… What is an heirloom? That thing you spin heirs on. What is the ‘Big Dipper’? A larger-than-life pickpocket. What is a titfer? Not just for Christmas, hopefully. What is a mud flap? The state of panic when your car gets stuck in a ditch. What is a barrel roll? An egregiously…

Song Lyric Sunday: Caffeinated – ‘Tea For One’

This week we’ve been given the task of featuring a song that mentions tea or coffee in its title or lyrics. It’s not too difficult to think of quite a few although, at least in my experience, many of them hark back quite a long way (think ‘You’re The Cream In My Coffee’ or ‘Tea…

Fibbing Friday: Saturday Edition

Scary… Why does garlic repel vampires? Why wouldn’t it? What do you need to kill a werewolf? An overactive imagination. What is the purpose of a Jack-o-lantern? It was a prop used in the making of the ‘Thriller’ video. What exactly is a ghoul? The benighted offspring of a ghost and another lost soul. Why…

Fandango’s Flashback Friday 31 October

This is what happened when I rocked up for my first day in a new job in a new country – and a new culture. It happened in September 2002 and I made sure I was well away when I wrote this from a safe distance in October 2013. Brave New World My instructions were…