Steve Pafford

In Devon, Bucks and Barcelona: A tourist’s guide to Fawlty Towers

Forty-seven years ago this week the very final episode of Fawlty Towers was broadcast on the BBC. And — get this — for a programme so utterly woven into the fabric of a nation this comedy…

October 27, 2026

bySteve Pafford

New York City boys: Soft Cell’s Danceteria reviewed

Music

October 24, 2026

You can take the boy out of Bletchley: Pet Shop Boys revisit A Man From The Future

Ensconced as a not always sweet 16 year-old in the Buckinghamshire green belt (though actually born amid the theatreland of London’s Strand, making me a bona-fide WEG), my trusty Letts diary…

October 18, 2026

bySteven Vil

National Album Day No. 9: Bryan Ferry’s Boys And Girls

October 17, 2026

Random Jukebox: Mark Morriss’ Love Comes Quickly

October 16, 2026

Shout To The Top: Neil Tennant’s Spandau Ballet interview for Smash Hits

October 15, 2026

Eva Marie Saint, 4 July 1924 – 6 October 2026

October 6, 2026

Highlights

Perfect 10: Sting has chosen some of his favourite songs

Music

October 2, 2026

Perfect 10: Trevor Horn beyond the 80s

Music

September 25, 2026

Fabulous Fourths: Chastity Belt unlock more than their sound on self-titled album

Music

September 20, 2026

Corrie Classic: Why Pat Phoenix will always be Queen of the Street

Screen

September 17, 2026

Random Jukebox: Neneh Cherry’s Manchild

September 6, 2026

Perfect 10: the Bee Gees

Music

September 1, 2026

Düsseldorf, London, Paris, Tunbridge Wells: station to station with the Bowie-Kraftwerk connection

August 20, 2026

Turn around, Tyler: Bonnie’s Total Eclipse Of The Heart and one outrageously homoerotic video

August 17, 2026

Random Jukebox

Random Jukebox: Jack White & Alicia Keys find Another Way To Die

July 12, 2026

Random Jukebox: Gil Scott-Heron’s Home Is Where The Hatred Is

May 27, 2026

Random Jukebox: U2’s Miss Sarajevo, One New Year’s Day

May 10, 2026

Random Jukebox: The Hotrats’ Turn Ons

October 3, 2025

Random Jukebox: Garbage say The World Is Not Enough

August 25, 2025

Random Jukebox: Cyndi Lauper’s Into The Nightlife

June 22, 2025

Random Jukebox: Duran Duran’s A View To A Kill + how they took over Bond from Bowie

May 12, 2025

Random Jukebox: The Belle Stars’ Sign Of The Times

April 30, 2025

Kiss in the mix: Prince in ’86

Or, the time when the Purple One did Parade and Under The Cherry Moon “You don’t have to watch Dynasty to have an attitude.” Or Shanghai Surprise, come to that. Let’s not beat around the…

August 14, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Bauhaus

August 9, 2026

byAntoine Poncelet

Neil Finn selects David Bowie’s Hunky Dory as one of his favourite albums

August 6, 2026

Put on the blue light: having a cryo facial at Purexpert

August 1, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Record Collector Presents… Rolling Stones in the 70s: Some Girls and soul sisters, out now

July 22, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Record Collector Presents… Rolling Stones in the 70s: Exile On Main St. at Nellcote, out now

Music

July 14, 2026

Every night is Friday night: Obscure Pet Shop Boys fifth night review

July 10, 2026

It’s Thursday night: Obscure Pet Shop Boys fourth night review

July 9, 2026

It was a Wednesday night: Obscure Pet Shop Boys third night review

July 8, 2026

Late on Tuesday evening: Obscure Pet Shop Boys second night review

July 7, 2026

Music

Someone told me Monday: Obscure Pet Shop Boys first night review

Previewing Obskur Pet Shop Boys — PSB’s imminent Berlin two-nighter, what follows is a five-by eyewitness account detailing what happened back amid the temperate backdrop of April in London.…

July 6, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Trending Now

From London to Berlin: the Obscure Pet Shop Boys (p)review

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will resume their unique Obscure non-singles shows with a pair of performances in Berlin this month. The two-night stand — officially Obskur Pet Shop Boys — will…

July 5, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Spawn In The USA: 250 reasons why I’m afraid of Americans

News

July 4, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Record Collector Presents… Stevie Wonder: out now

Music

July 3, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Say No Go: The surprise rehabilitation of Daryl Hall & John Oates (No Can Do)

July 2, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Record Collector Presents… Blondie: out now

Debbie Harry: 81 eh? Feeling a pathological need to expand her oeuvre away from the band collective of Blondie, rock’s greatest goddess kicked off her solo career in, appropriately enough,…

July 1, 2026

bySteve Pafford

You can stop the music: The trouble with the Village People

Music

June 30, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Assessing the Girl Power of the Spice Girls — 90s nostalgia or a lasting legacy?

June 27, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Spice Girls

June 26, 2026

byQuentin Harrison

Trending Now

Random Jukebox: Robert Wyatt’s Shipbuilding

“Is it worth it? A new winter coat and shoes for the wife And a bicycle on the boy’s birthday” Mournful and moving, Shipbuilding is one of Elvis Costello’s most touching compositions and was…

January 27, 2025

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox: Dinah Washington’s Mad About The Boy

August 28, 2024

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox: Goldfrapp’s Human

July 31, 2024

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox: Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name, from Casino Royale

July 19, 2024

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox

David Bowie’s Underground + the merry Magic Dance of Labyrinth at 40

Love it or hate it, Labyrinth was not only a movie which went from cult classic to perennial favourite, but it launched Jennifer Connelly’s career, and bolstered Bowie’s bulging bank balance…

June 23, 2026

bySteve Pafford

More PMs than realities: why Britain is always going up the hill backwards

News

June 22, 2026

bySteve Pafford

What did you expect to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Devon, perhaps?

News

June 4, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Talking ’bout Marilyn Monroe in song

June 1, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Random Jukebox: Pondering Patti LaBelle’s big-haired Bond theme If You Asked Me To

Sometimes you just have to roll with the randomness of the storied jukebox, and today it picked a James Bond theme. But this ain’t no ordinary Bond theme, this is one of the secondary songs…

May 24, 2026

bySteve Pafford

We shall overcome? Why Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is more relevant than ever

May 21, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Age to the rhythm: Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Grace Jones (and why she’s younger than you think)

Music

May 19, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Perfect 10: Produced by Brian Eno

Music

May 15, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Events

The day Frank Sinatra met Manic Street Preachers in Golders Green

I remember Frankie. I remember where and when I read that Frank Sinatra, Ol’ Blue Eyes, The Voice, the Chairman of the Board, had shuffled off to deploy his music and mayhem on a higher…

Music

May 14, 2026

bySteve Pafford

Alive at 45: The fabulous Father John Misty

Random serendipitous moment coming up. I happened to be Netflixing one evening and chanced upon a straggly but striking looking gentleman having his photo taken in Barnaby Clay’s incredibly…

May 3, 2026

bySteve Pafford