Favourite music
Eclectic to say the least (it’s a loooong list, but I couldn’t leave anyone out)
Queen
Frank Sinatra
Michael Bublé
Kylie
Erasure
ABBA
The Darkness
Amy Winehouse
Scissor Sisters
Eva Cassidy
Katie Melua
Yazoo
Elvis
OMD
Karl Jenkins (in fact my favourite piece of music ever would have to be his beautiful work Adiemus – YouTube it, I bet you’ll have heard it, even if you don’t recognise the name!)
Enya
Pet Shop Boys
Will Young
Madness
Robbie Williams
Steps
Shania Twain
Aerosmith
Extreme
Bon Jovi
Bryan Adams
Dean Martin
Sammy Davis Junior
The Beatles
Dusty Springfield
Nat King Cole
Ella Fitzgerald
Marc Almond
Midge Ure
Tony Hadley
Depeche Mode (pre-1991)
Alison Moyet
Eurythmics
Pink Floyd
Hayley Westenra
Iron Maiden
Any 80s cheese
Songs from the shows (espesh any Andrew Lloyd Webber or Cole Porter ones)
I am currently also getting into classical music as I have this sudden urge to become cultured – amazing how many pieces I know now whose names once didn’t mean anything to me but were familiar from adverts and film soundtracks (“Oh, that’s Cavalleria Rusticana,” I can now namedrop if I wish to impress)!!
Favourite TV progs (both past and present)
Strictly Come Dancing
Little Britain
Phoenix Nights
Fawlty Towers
Gavin & Stacey
Watching
The Fast Show
The Office
Rising Damp
Steptoe & Son
Duty Free
Dad’s Army
Bullseye
Rainbow
The Sooty Show
Sooty & Co
Mr Bean
Victoria Wood – As Seen On TV
Creature Comforts
The Thin Blue Line
Blackadder (all series)
The Royle Family
The Catherine Tate Show
X Factor
Dancing on Ice
The Muppet Show
Hotel Babylon
Surgical Spirit
Dear John
Hi-de-Hi
The Chart Show
Allo Allo
The Hotel Inspector
Only Fools and Horses
Extras
The Simpsons
Keeping up Appearances
Hole in the Wall (I’m owning up to my guilty pleasure – the show is so naff it’s wonderful)
The Young Ones
Comedy Connections
…and my all-time fave would have to be The Rock ’n’ Roll Years – which the Beeb will no doubt never repeat due to copyright issues
(Now this probably sounds bad, as though I spend my life in front of the box, but I wanted to compile as exhaustive a list as possible and of course these programmes are not all on at the same time – or even still on at all in many cases!)
Favourite Films
The Commitments
Anita & Me
The Blues Brothers
Singin’ in the Rain
Mamma Mia
High Society
The Wedding Date
Titanic
Slumdog Millionaire
The Life of Brian
Mr Bean’s Holiday
Chicken Run
St Trinian’s (the new one)
Airplane
When Harry Met Sally
The School of Rock
Dirty Dancing
Confetti
Love Actually
Four Weddings and a Funeral
The Naked Gun series
This Is Spinal Tap
Any Wallace & Gromit ones
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Any Carry Ons
Essential reading matter
Anita & Me by Meera Syal
‘Shopaholic’ series by Sophie Kinsella
Most chick-lit really
Anything by Judith Cutler
Any of the Adrian Mole ones by Sue Townsend
Anything by Paul McDonald
Walking books
Short stories with a killer twist
Biographies
Anal trivia books
Cookery books
The Harry Potter series
Radio Times
Magazines of the OK/Heat ilk (but only in the hairdressers when such a lust for gossip can be excused)
The occasional wander into dark and seedy crime novels
