1957: Who wouldn't want to be a teenage pop star? The Mello-Kings juggled high school, touring, recording and TV appearances to become of the best loved modern harmony vocal groups at the peak of the rock and roll explosion. Tonite, Tonite, the first of a string of fan favourites, would later be covered by superstars Frankie Valli, Dion and many others. It still regularly appears in lists of the greatest doo wop songs of all time.

https://www.amazon.com/Tonite-Story-Original-Mello-Kings/dp/1739083199/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1670329746&sr=8-2

ISBN 978 1739083199

I’m delighted to have been involved with producing this beautiful new book. Go beyond the glitz, glamour and bustle of one of the most populated cities on the planet and discover the real heartbeat and soul of Shanghai—its people.

https://www.amazon.com/Faces-We-Love-Shanghai-ebook/dp/B0996BYGSR

Forget Tom Peters, Charles Handy and Stephen Covey. Those hungry for ideas on how to manoeuvre their way carefully up the greasy corporate ladder might consider ditching the management books and looking no further than TV’s Love Island, which has just ended its latest eight-week run on UK screens.

VERY often, less is more. It’s certainly true when using the spoken or written word effectively. Verbosity is a big turn-off and one person’s notion of ‘chatty’ is another’s idea of someone who just can’t shut up.

THE attraction was, at first, purely physical. Let me explain: Tommy Hearns looked different. Sometimes, as fans who also dabble in the sports we love watching, we find ourselves drawn to athletes who might be shaped a bit like us.

BOXING has a proud history of supporting great causes. So it’s no surprise that the sport has got right behind a remarkable man whose amazing story is eclipsed only by his ambition to help others.

Pound-for-pound, Britain has been flush with boxing world champions since the beginning of the Nineties, notably in the middleweight divisions, but still right across the board. That broad based success continues, with many exciting prospects, but who would make the Top Five of the last 30 years?

Is it not ultimately the arts that are helping us get through lockdown? The content we are bingeing on Netflix, both films and programmes; the music we are streaming; the vinyl collections were are revisiting; National Theatre productions and others on YouTube?

PARKER, Fury, Buffer and Hearn may be having fun doing the Time Warp all over Twitter, but while boxing’s big beasts dance safe in the knowledge that bumper paydays will eventually return, others on the outskirts of the sport face a tougher fight to get back to business after lockdown.

UNINTENDED consequences are not necessarily bad. The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted several hitherto grubby people to improve their personal hygiene and I, for one, am hoping their newfound cleanliness is here to stay.

I once entered a local newspaper competition to win tickets to a Blondie concert in London and, it was promised, to meet Debbie Harry backstage. There was no better prize for a 14 year old in the late 1970s.

IF I had a pound for every middle aged, middle class, overweight man I know who “used to play rugby at quite a high level” then I wouldn’t be wasting my time typing this. I’d be spending my millions having adventures all over the globe, perhaps even watching the next Lions tour or Rugby World Cup on my travels.

The UK government insists there is all to play for post-Brexit. Cool Britannia 2.0 looms as we redefine our position on the world stage.

OPTIMISM, unity and getting into the best shape possible for the awesome challenge ahead: sounds like Boris Johnson’s mantra for a possible No Deal Brexit. Staying positive is great - as long as you can deliver in the end.  

AMIR KHAN refuses to quit boxing just yet, despite a recent comprehensive beating at the hands of 1/10 priced American Terence Crawford.

Magpies are among the world’s most intelligent animals. Prone to opportunistic theft from other nests, they enjoy a surprising degree of protection.

BRADLEY Cooper’s latest version of A Star is Born - the movie’s third remake - is already tipped to win Oscars in his directorial debut and co-star Lady Gaga’s first outing as a film star. In Hollywood speak, Cooper ‘reimagined’ the 1976 version starring Barbara Streisand, which was itself a new version of previous films of the same title in 1954 and 1937.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT once made an important distinction between a leader and a boss: a leader leads, while a boss drives. It’s a conundrum often seen in business, politics and indeed sport.

Lessons for the world of business don't necessarily spring to mind with the sad passing at 74 of Chas Hodges, the British entertainer who was half of the much-loved pop-rock duo Chas and Dave.

IT WOULDN’T be August without the usual hand-wringing about exams getting easier and too few students taking science subjects.