Alone Again Or - Love

Yeah, said it's all right
I won't forget
All the times I've waited patiently for you
And you'll do just what you choose to do
And I will be alone again tonight my dear

Yeah, I heard a funny thing
Somebody said to me
You know that I could be in love with almost everyone
I think that people are
The greatest fun
And I will be alone again tonight my dear

The Double Deckers

This programme may mean nothing to you. But if you were around in the early seventies, and aged anything from 6 to about 14 at the time, it could well have left its mark. The Double Deckers was a vibrant children's show, screened in 1971 in the UK. The energy factor of its content was huge, demonstrated perfectly in the above clip. And the thing I have carried around all these years was the very last piece of each show - ''See you next weeeeeeeeeeeek !! '' It was a catchphrase that I have not forgotten ever since. DD was, simply, a great show.


Alas, it has not become a legend of children's TV culture, in part due to the fact that it consisted of just 17 episodes. It was however a much repeated show, especially during school holidays. Originally broadcast on Fridays, in the Crackerjack spot around 5 o'clock, I actually remember it more from Saturday mornings, which were presumably repeats. The Double Deckers stories were highly inventive, adventurous, funny, happy and cheerful. They contained lots of slapstick. But above all it was the camaraderie of it's characters that made it a winner. Set in a junk yard, the programme follows the exploits of seven children,whose den is a London double deck bus. There was plenty of resource from within the yard for them to use and the fast moving plots involved robots, goblins, ghosts and martians, as well as go-karts and a hovercraft on one occasion. The children were all shapes and sizes with varying talents and it was very easy to be envious of them. We all wanted to be a double decker and join them in their scrapes and tangles.

The characters were as follows : Scooper ( leader of the gang and played by Peter Firth), Brains ( Michael Audreson), Billie ( Gillian Bailey), Sticks (Bruce Clark), Doughnut ( Douglas Simmonds), Tiger ( the youngest child who also had a cuddly toy Tiger and was played by Debbie Russ ), and Spring ( Brinsley Forde). The only regular adult was Albert, a street cleaner ( Melvyn Hayes). I will not attempt to go into detail as to the part they each played. If you do not remember the show it will mean little to you. Watch the clip though and it could trigger happy memories. I must say there is a fantastic Double Deckers web site at http://www.thedoubledeckers.com/ which is an absolute credit to the people behind it.

One other great part of the show was it's music and dance pieces, which were crucial to the overall sunshine feeling of the programme. And many of the seventeen episodes featured some great comedy players of the day : Julian Orchard, Norman Vaughan, Bob Todd, Clive Dunn, Pat Coombs, Hugh Paddick, Frank Thornton, Sam Kydd and Jack Haig. Pretty impressive I should say. One episode also featured a very young Jane Seymour.

It is always interesting with child stars to see where they finished up. Peter Firth went on to be a film and stage actor (Pearl Harbor, Shadowlands, The Hunt For Red October, Letter To Brezhnev). Michael Audreson was in Young Winston playing the great Briton himself aged 13. Brinsley Forde is of course Brinsley Forde, lead singer of Aswad. And the lovely Gillian Bailey was in Follyfoot and the dramatic masterpiece Poldark (where she played the devoted and hard working Jinny Carter). Melvyn Hayes was the marvellous Bombardier 'Gloria' Beaumont in It Aint Half Hot Mum.

The Double Deckers was a fantastic little programme. It enjoyed success both here and in America. Although essentially British in spirit and filmed in and around Borehamwood, it was in fact a co production between the BBC and ABC (in America it had the slightly different title of Here Come The Double Deckers) and so is as much loved over the Atlantic as it is here. The gang also featured in a comic strip in Whizzer and Chips in 1971-1972 and an album of music from the series was also released. Blogging about The Double Deckers and researching for it has been a joy.

I can end in only one way : '' See you next weeeeeeeeeeeek''.

The Truth About Biggles

A sketch from the mid nineties sit-com The Thin Blue Line. Inspector Fowler (Rowan Atkinson) is a big fan of Biggles. But again his old fashioned views are cruelly exposed by one of his officers - on this occasion WPC Maggie Habib (Minar Anwar).




A longer article on The Thin Blue Line can be found on the post dated 16 June 2007.

Why Are Rain Macs Yellow ?

Any More Questions ?

Two Pilgrims

Sometimes I am impressed by pieces of useless information. Like this............

Whilst doing some research for my football blog 'Sing Up The River End!', I had to look up some things about Plymouth Argyle. I discovered they have two famous people listed as supporters.

Michael Foot, the Labour politician who recently passed away, was a lifelong fan of the Pilgrims. The scrap of UI relating to this was the fact that as a present to him for his 90th birthday, the club registered Foot as a player with the Football League and issued him with the number 90 shirt. This made him officially the oldest registered professional player in the history of football. Nice story that.

Slightly more bizarre but equally impressive involves American World Heavyweight Champion boxer Evander Holyfield. In March 2008, on the British TV show Soccer AM, Holyfield was asked to pick one team from a hat (containing all 92 Premiership and Football League clubs) to determine which team he would support for the remainder of his life (as he didn't already follow a team). He picked out 'Plymouth Argyle', thereby making him a fan of the club!

Gillette Soccer Saturday

Gillette Soccer Saturday is a marvelous football programme that covers all the action 'as it happens'. It is a frantic show, with a team of studio based ex players, and reporters at most grounds, bringing instant news of events around the country. It makes for a fine afternoons viewing.


There are many funnies. This is one from yesterday, as presenter Jeff Stelling goes over to Chris Kamara at Fratton Park for news of a sending off................

Grandstand - Fight, Fight, Fight

Today Is Paloma Faith Day

I have decided to make today Paloma Faith Day. I cannot recall the last time the music of a new artist has left me quite as exhilarated. Thinking about it, probably my schoolboy days in the early seventies, as favourite acts released new singles and I waited for them expectedly. But Paloma is all about now as far as my music taste is concerned. It is too easy for anyone, and especially someone of my ripening years, to totally overlook current work. And far too many people quickly decide it 'all sounds the same'. Paloma is always being compared with her contemporaries. Which is altogether ridiculous. Because she is far far better than any other female performer for a long time. I have posted videos of all her singles to date. Watch them a few times. Listen to the lyrics. Enjoy the melancholy and the passion, mop up the mood. This lady is good.

Paloma Faith was born in Hackney, London in 1985. She co-writes most of her work. She is also an accomplished actress, having appeared on TV and the movie re-make of St. Trinians. If her early career is anything to go by she is going to be a superstar - and I have a feeling this girl is so talented she may even have a few choices to make as to where she concentrates her efforts. If her musical output can be maintained I say keep it coming kid.................it's absolutely brilliant.

Paloma Faith - Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful ?

Paloma Faith - New York