Happy Christmas 2015

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Mine have been busy and very entertaining. A couple of weeks ago I went to my cousin’s 40th Birthday Party at a local pub. It was a fantastic night catching up with family and friends. The main man really seemed to enjoy it. I think he was on the dance floor for the whole of the last hour. Throwing out a lot of shapes that actually looked quite dangerous for a man of his age.

I do know lots of DJ’s having worked in the industry for many years. So predictably I of course knew the one that my cousin had hired for the evening. In fact I used to also play in the same football team as him about eighteen years ago. It really is a small world and as you get older it really does seem like everyone really does know everyone.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

I appreciate I do not look it but it is actually my fortieth next year. So having been to this one I am now already starting to think about what to do for mine. Due to next year being a leap year it means my actual birthday will be on a Saturday. Which means I can throw a big bash on the actual day. I already have quite a few ideas about what I want to do and will be planning it all early next year. I am already getting a bit excited about it. It will be a celebration suitable to mark such a special occasion, I hope.

I was completely organised for Christmas this year before the 20th December. Which I think must be a record for me. I once again used my tried and tested Christmas Shopping routine. This involves making a list of exactly what I want to buy for all the people I am buying a present for. After this is complete I then set aside a whole afternoon to go to a big shopping centre and proceed to buy all my presents, wrapping paper and even cards in one session. Not leaving until everything on my list is ticked off and in my bag.

Neil Quigley in Car
Neil Quigley in Car

For the first time ever this year I managed to come straight home and wrap all the presents and write all the cards. So I got everything sorted for my Christmas in just one afternoon and evening. Which I have to admit made me feel very smug. A few days before Christmas I spent the day on a mini festive tour dropping in to catch up with some friends and to drop off some cards and presents.

I felt very “chrismassy” as I headed off in the car with a bag full of gifts on the back seat. It meant I ended up spending the time doing three of my favourite things. Which are catching up with mates, drinking tea and chatting. It was great to see everyone and as all of them have children it was nice to see them all starting to get a little bit excited about the big day. Thanks to all my friends who fed and watered me as I popped in to see them all on a quiet Sunday before Christmas.

Neil enjoying a Mince Pie
Neil enjoying a Mince Pie

I have always been a massive Star Wars fan. I grew up with the first three films in the trilogy which I absolutely loved. In fact I had all of the character figures and many of the vehicles including a toy Millennium Falcon. I also did go and see all the prequels that came out to. But once the details were announced about this new one The Force Awakens. I got really excited for several reasons. Firstly the original cast were going to be involved, secondly it continued the story from after Return of The Jedi and lastly I had heard great things about how JJ Abrams had respected the roots and traditions of the original Star Trek films in the new ones that he had produced.

On average I only go to the cinema about once every three years. There are not many movies that make me want to go. So The Force Awakens had its European Premiere in London on Wednesday 16th December, despite trying to play it cool and pretend that I was not bothered about it. I was then sat in the cinema by myself on the Friday afternoon watching it. I have to say I was not disappointed. I thought it was brilliant. It had the feel of watching those original Star Wars films that I grew up with. I actually felt like a child again watching it with a big smile on my face.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

Those first three films had a great humour to them, which I think this new one perfectly captures. It just feels like a proper Star Wars film. If you have even a slight interest in the franchise I would strongly advise that you do go and see it, it is brilliant. I already can’t wait for the next one to be released. Lastly on this subject I would like to say thank you to JJ Abrams for giving us our Star Wars back, great work.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

I was one of the twelve million people who watched the Strictly Come Dancing Final last weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I have the whole series. I thought the dancing was of an exceptionally high standard and any one of the final three could have easily have won it. Congratulation to the winning couple of Jay McGuinness and Aliona Vilani. He is an amazing dancer as is she. They were never in the dance off this series, which means the public were voting for them all the way through and this seemed to be the case in the final.

It was wonderful to see them lift the Glitter Ball Trophy. It was a historic win, as Aliona has now become the only professional to win the show more than once, breaking the curse that seemed to be there. Personally I thought on performances alone on the night Kellie Bright and Kevin Clifton were the best. Their show dance was breath-taking. I think that the randomly selected order that they performed in could have cost them.

As the dance they had chosen to do again was their Star Wars inspired Charleston. Which was exactly the same style of dance that the previous couple of Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice had danced just before them. So I think this may have taken a little of the wow factor away from it. Overall though it was simply a great variety entertainment show and shows the BBC at its best. I am already looking forward to the competition next year. Well done to all who were involved this year, you all did a great job.

Neil Quigley Presenter
Neil Quigley Presenter

I did not have too many festive nights out this year but a few days ago I had a small Christmas do with some of the people I work with at Wembley. We met for drinks in the Hilton Hotel and took over a section of their Icons Bar. Which was good fun and very sociable in pretty cool surroundings. Then we went on to a pub we know that also has an Indian Restaurant attached to it.

So we sat down and enjoyed a nice curry complete with poppadom’s, starters and plenty of rice and naan bread to share. It was all very amicable and relaxed, so everybody tried a little bit of everyone’s main course. So I enjoyed a wide and varied meal which did include a little bit of everything. It was a fun night out partying with people I normally only see when I am working. I really enjoyed it even if it did seem a bit strange to me going out for a Christmas curry. More of a traditional Roast Turkey Dinner and disco man myself.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

It was a very standard Christmas Day in the Quigley household. As always I started the day with a full fry up with my parents. This was then followed by the present giving. Which I must admit although we are all fully grown adults, we still really manage to string this out and make the most of it.

I did really well and got some great stuff including plenty of January reading of some ace autobiographies. I then met a few of the family at the local pub for a few festive lunch time drinks. Before heading back to the house to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner. The afternoon was then spent playing fun games and eating chocolates.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

I did watch Mrs Brown’s Boy and The Michael McIntyre Christmas show that I saw being filmed at the Theatre Royal in London. I did managed to spot myself in the audience a couple of times but I did have the added advantage of knowing exactly where I was sat. It was a great hour of television but the recording itself lasted over three hours so obviously they had to cut quite a lot out.

I felt a bit sorry for comedian Russell Kane as he performed a very funny set on the night but did not feature in the show at all when it was shown. As a Strictly fan it was lovely to see Aljaz and Janette appear as part of a surprise on an unsuspecting couple. I have to say that close up his is an annoyingly attractive guy.Then the day ended as it often does with me falling asleep in front of the television. I hope you to had a fantastic Christmas. Mine was brilliant as ever.

Neil Quigley Happy Christmas
Neil Quigley Happy Christmas

I have had a truly  wonderful year in which I have got to see a lot of my favourite comedians perform live. I have seen Sir Paul McCartney play live and enjoyed the Grand National Meeting in Liverpool. I have seen lots of great West End Shows, seen Spurs play in a Cup final at Wembley and played a game of football at the stadium myself. I have attended some great party’s and met some interesting and fun people along the way. Here’s to lots of fun, new and exciting things happening in 2016. I am really looking forward to the next twelve months. To misquote Han Solo “I have a good feeling about this” Bring it on!

Neil Quigley & Jeff Nolan
Neil Quigley & Jeff Nolan

Hope you are having a brilliant festive period and best wishes for next year. Have fun and we will catch up again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.

Celebrate Good Times

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a really good couple of weeks. Mine have been busy with some fun things going on. For starters last Saturday we had an early pre-Christmas family get together at my Uncle’s. He has hosted this event in the run up to the festive season for at least the previous five years. So we now employ a tried and tested formula. That we all know works perfectly well. We arrive, have a few drinks while chatting to and catching up with everyone.

Then the food is served. This year it was a tasty chilli with rice or pizza. Just for quality control reasons I sampled both. And I can confirm they were both excellent. Then after the food the Christmas Songs come on. And it turns in to one big family sing-a-long with everyone joining in and getting involved.

It is always filmed but thankfully so far none of this footage has ever leaked outside of the family circle. And on to You Tube. It was another fun afternoon/evening. Which kick started this year’s Christmas Celebrations very nicely. It is always great seeing the family at this time of year. And finding out what everyone has been up to.

Neil Quigley Presenter
Neil Quigley Presenter

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the recording of Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show. Which will be shown on BBC One before the main evening news on Christmas Day. It was filmed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, right in the heart of London’s Theatre land.

I obviously made a day out of it. So after stopping by the venue to pick up my ticket for the evening. I treated myself to a leisurely three course meal at an Italian restaurant in Covent Garden. The food was great and the staff were lovely and helpful, so it made for a relaxing and enjoyable afternoon.

Covent Garden
Covent Garden

After dinner I still had a bit of time before I had to be at the theatre. So I went and enjoyed a drink in one of my favourite bars in that area. I went and spent an hour or so in the ace Radio Rooftop Bar at the ME Hotel on The Strand. It is such a cool and trendy bar with a great chilled vibe to it. The two things I like best about it are the views over London and if I am honest also the fact that it has radio in its name.

View from Radio Rooftop Bar
View from Radio Rooftop Bar

I then left there and headed to the Theatre Royal in time for the TV recording to start. They looked after me very well and actually gave me a cracking seat right in the second row. So keep your eyes open on Christmas Day, when you are watching it go out. As you never know, you might just spot my smiling face staring back at you. The show itself as you would expect was brilliant.

Michael McIntyre was on top form from start to finish. He was very funny in the actual show and also between takes. When there were any breaks in proceedings. The whole affair felt very “Christmassy” and the start of the programme sets the tone for that very nicely, as you will see when you watch it.

Neil Quigley Happy Christmas
Neil Quigley Happy Christmas

The guests included comedian’s Dara O’Briain and Russell Kane. The latest winner of America’s Got Talent. Who is English and is the truly amazing
ventriloquist Paul Zerdin. He was excellent. The musical guests were the wonderful Ellie Goulding and the legend that is Sir Tom Jones. There were a few other surprise appearances on the night to but I will let you discover them for yourself when you watch it. Needless to say it was a extremely funny and enjoyable night out at the theatre.

Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal

It was also good to see Holly Willoughby there on a night out with some of her mates having some fun. The recording did go on quite late and led to me having to dash across London to make my last train home. Which I did with about a minute to spare. It was like how “the King” Elvis Presley used to disappear at the end of his gigs. As by the time the curtain was down I was already half way to the station. If you are in when it is on, it is definitely worth a watch. It will really add to the Christmas Day celebrations.

Neil Quigley and Elvis Presley hanging out in the 70's #crazydays
Neil Quigley and Elvis Presley hanging out in the 70’s #crazydays

Recently one of the Car Parks at Wembley played host to a fairly unusual event. It was an Anti-Drink Drive Campaign Race Car Demonstration Day. It was organised by Johnnie Walker as part of their “Join The Pact” promotion. Here is what happened. They turned the Car Park in to a mini race track. They got some high powered McLaren Sports Cars and had amongst others Mika Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso and Jensen Button there to take people on laps of the circuit.

Wembley Racing Event
Wembley Racing Event

It was hosted by Chris Moyles, who interviewed all the drivers on stage before they took it in turns to jump in the cars and show off. I was lucky enough to be able to watch a little bit of the action from the VIP paddock. I saw Fernando Alsonso take several members of the public for a spin in a McLaren S650. Now I have to be honest I am not a massive fan of Formula One Motor Racing but seeing the control, speed and skill of the Spaniard in that vehicle put a big smile on my face. He was really going for it and was leaving a lot of rubber from the tyres on the tarmac.

Chris Moyles
Chris Moyles

At one point he was doing doughnuts with one hand on the steering wheel and the other out of the window waving at the crowd. Truly brilliant. While I was there both Mika Hakkinen and Jenson Button walked past me both looking very cool and relaxed. It was certainly a fun event to see and also one that does of course promote a very safety conscious and important message.

Jenson Button
Jenson Button

I have once again really enjoyed the latest series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Ant & Dec were on fire and so funny. The gags, the links and the set pieces they do, all so good. Plus it is such an interactive show now with Twitter. As not only can fans of the show swap views and jokes in real time, while watching. But the two Geordie’s get involved and tweet along during the show, when they can to. Which really adds to it all for me.

Ant & Dec
Ant & Dec

If I am totally honest the one camp mate I did not really enjoy all the time was Lady C. Although I will admit some of the things she did and said did make for great TV. She constantly annoyed me and I thought killed a lot of the fun and spirit in there too often. Which is a shame because at the start and in her first Bush Tucker Trial I quite liked her and thought she would be amusing and quirky.

Neil Quigley with The Beatles
Neil Quigley with The Beatles

Despite the shall we say issues he had with her I thought Tony Hadley was great in there. I have met him a couple of times. He is such a nice, generous and friendly person. Who is happy to talk to anyone and who just loves singing. As I said previously I would have liked him to win it but I thought he did very well in there. I also got the impression he was ready to go when he did and hang out in the hotel with his family.

I have no complaints about this year’s winner though. I thought Vicky Pattison deserved to win. From the second she entered she attacked everything full on, with good grace and a wicked sense of humour. She was probably the camp mate who made me laugh out loud the most this year.

I had never heard of her or Ferne McCann before but I thought both of them came across well and seem like really nice genuine people. Which I think deep down is what the public like and are looking for in their jungle King and Queen’s. Another great series and I am already looking forward to next year’s. Well done again to Vicky. I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more of her over the next twelve months.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

I did watch this year’s Royal Variety Performance when it was shown on television recently. I thought it was actually the best one I had seen for a long time. Jack Whitehall did a great job hosting it. The comedians were all good with Romesh Ranganathan just shading it for me as the best on the night. The music guests were very strong to. Any show in which Kylie Minogue appears only improves it in my opinion.

There was a nice contrast of variety acts and the whole show flowed really well. They also had some great exerts from some West End shows including a snippet of the fantastic “The Play That Goes Wrong” I saw it earlier in the year and it is arguably one of the funniest things you will ever see. I would certainly recommend it. Well done everybody who was part of it I thought you all did an excellent job.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

So we are heading to the business end of the series for Strictly Come Dancing. The standard of the celebrity’s on this year have been amazing. Their performances have been so entertaining. It is hard to try and predict a winner. Tonight it is the semi-finals with the glitter ball trophy being presented next week. So far in the programme’s history none of the professional dancers have ever won the show more than once.

The only dancer this currently applies to is Aliona Vilani. So if this fact stands that would mean Jay McGuinness would miss out. It is really nice to see that Anton Du BeKe actually has a partner who can dance this year. And although possibly technically not the best dancer I think it would be great to see Katie get there for him. I do like Kellie Bright and Kevin Clifton as a pairing. They have been in the bottom two a few times along the way but I think they have been unlucky to end up there based on their dances.

Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios

I think if it goes to the best dancer Georgia May Foote and Giovanni Pernice will win but if it goes to the most improved it should go to Anita Rani and Gleb Savchenko. Whatever happens I am sure they will all put on a good display. And it will be a fitting end to the series. If I could be on one television show I think Strictly is the one I would like to do most.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

It was my birthday last Thursday. I had the day off. So I just spent it relaxing at home drinking cups of tea. Someone gave me the new Steve Coogan autobiography “Easily Pleased” which I am really looking forward to reading. I did treat myself to a nice rib eye steak for dinner. Which I have to say I cooked perfectly. I then watched my Peter Kay “The Show That Doesn’t Tour, tour” DVD before heading out to my local pub for a few birthday drinks with some mates. All in all a very enjoyable birthday.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

I am off to my cousin’s 40th Birthday party tonight. Me and his twin sister all share the same birthday but they are exactly one year older than me. So I have my next big landmark birthday next year. I can tell you now there will definitely be a party. The do later is slightly awkward because although they are twins. His sister did not want to have a joint party.

So it has been solely organised by him as his do, but his sister is coming along as well. So do we still sing them both happy birthday or not. I guess that I will find this out later. Whatever happens it will be a fun night and I am looking forward to it. I am not going to tell him I am just using it as a warm up for mine next year though.

Neil Quigley having a go at conducting the Orchestra
Neil Quigley having a go at conducting the Orchestra

Have fun and we will catch up again in a couple of weeks. Cheers Neil.