Tickets are now selling fast for my new show “That’s Life” at the Pheasantry in Kings Road, Chelsea on Saturday 4th September. After the sad demise of one of London’s great cabaret venues Pizza on the Park, the Pheasantry is taking over the mantle with Clare Martin, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and my mate Harry the Piano all appearing in the opening season. I’ll be joined by my wonderful trio directed by Barry Robinson. Click here for more information. The number for tickets is 08456 027 017. It’s a small venue, so please book early! (more…)

Much of this edition of Berkhamsted Living celebrates the artistic side of the town. There are other artists, though, for whom Berkhamsted is a retreat from the demands of performance and a place to rest and recharge.

One such is singer and actor Gary Williams. Gary starred as Frank Sinatra in The Rot Pack in the West End and he’s been compared to Michael Buble. A regular with big bands and orchestras, he has performed all over the world – on land and sea. Whatever the world has to offer, Gary gives the clear impression that having time to spend and enjoy in Berkhamsted has become his yardstick of success. (more…)

Take a quick glance over any performer’s website and you’ll find that they are the “most exciting”, “most talented” and generally “the most remarkable” talent that ever walked this earth. Every click of the mouse reveals yet another page of reviews and testimonials bursting with superlatives. Mine certainly does.

No sooner has anyone in earshot uttered three words of faint praise about me, it’s on the website for all to see. The Internet’s capacity knows no bounds – safely containing the egos and self-obsessed musings of every singer, actor, dancer, after dinner speaker and comedian on the planet. Including me. (more…)

The beginnings of Alcoholics Anonymous and post-modern a cappella before lunch followed by Shakespeare, a one-man Greek tragedy, and sword swallowers in the afternoon. A typical day at the treasure chest of the performing arts: the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. (more…)

Click here to read The Mail on Sunday’s story on gay sons and their mothers featuring me and my mum.

Click here to read the new reviews of both CDs from Journal Into Melody and here for the Sinatra Society review.

Years ago I picked up a copy of Desmond Morris’ groundbreaking book on human behaviour “Manwatching”. The whole thing was and still is brilliant. One chapter in particular struck a chord with me – his essay on religion and his theories on its influence on individuals, especially his ideas relating to “neoteny“. I had the whole thing transcribed for my own reference and I’ve just posted it here. I don’t sit in judgement of anyone and I respect everyone’s right to worship however they so wish – I am just fascinated by the things we humans do, and why. (more…)

A man sits deep in thought fishing for whatever he can find in the River Neva. Two kids run by laughing, their harassed mother in tow laden with shopping. A few feet away by the water’s edge lays the body of a man, about 40, face bloodied, hands bound, murdered. Welcome to St Petersburg.

Russia is in the middle of a heat wave and while villages in the south are being burnt to the ground in forest fires no one knows how to stop, the people in the north are living it up Mediterranean style in more manageable temperatures. An hour earlier two teenagers were cooling-off, having fun in the river when they made their gruesome discovery: the body of a man floating under a pontoon. (more…)