Strictly I’m A Celebrity

Hopefully we are now over half way through the second National Lockdown in England, if it does end on the originally planned date of the second of December. Personally it has not affected me too much. I am mostly working from home as I have been lucky enough to do since the first one. I am able to exercise outside at a park near to where I live. It is nice to get out in the fresh air for a bit although I have not yet bumped into my Morgan Freeman type character.

There have been some encouraging developments with potential vaccines, which does appear to be good news. However it still may be quite a while before life returns to anything like it was before this all started sadly. It is just not going to suddenly stop and disappear and it is presenting the country with its biggest logistical challenge since the Second World War. Something I am sure we will all come through if we work together and for each other.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

Luckily for me one of my favourite television shows is back on our screens nightly for around the next three weeks. I do not watch a huge amount of TV but I always closely follow “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. I am a fan of Ant & Dec this show gives them the perfect platform to do what they do best, mess around and have some fun at their own and the campmates expense.

I have met a lot of the former stars of the show many of whom actually won it! These include Christopher Biggins, Kerry Katona, Carl Fogarty, Pat Sharp, Timmy Mallet, Tony Hadley, Katie Price and Tommy Cannon.

Neil Quigley with Christopher Biggins
Neil Quigley with Christopher Biggins

This series is of course going to be a little bit different as due to the current global situation. They are not in the jungle in Australia but at a castle in Wales. I am particularly gutted about this as at the start of this year I went to Australia and being such a huge fan of the show I stayed at the Versace Palazzo on the Gold Coast.

That is the Five Star Hotel were the celebrities stay after they get voted out of the show. I was looking forward to posting pictures of me in the same locations that they showed the ex-campmates in. I am going have to wait until next year to do that providing of course they use all the same places when they presumably go back to the Jungle again.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

They seem to have a really good and interesting selection of people taking part this year. It is a very strong line up, possibly helped by the fact a lot of their dairies would have been quite empty and that they were not required to be on a plane for twenty four hours. I liked the way they adapted the opening challenge to the new surroundings using the cliff. That was really clever and I think set the scene for what was to come nicely. It will basically be the same but different, as simple as that.

I was thinking after I had seen the new living arrangements that they might be going easy on them this year. But then I changed my mind when they covered everybody in bugs within the first five seconds of the first team trial. They are a very competitive bunch on the whole and of course include a man who has four Olympic Gold Medals, so he knows a thing or two about mind set and motivation. Plus the man is clearly a winner, not to mention a Knight. That works well with the Castle setting of course.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

There is not anybody who I desperately want to win at the moment. I do prefer it when all the campmates get on well and have a good old laugh with each other rather than start arguing. But I am also aware that a big falling out does make for good television. I think this year though for the good of the world it would be nice if they were a tight unit.

It is a show that I do not think I could ever do but everybody I have spoken to who has been on it says it is a once in a lifetime amazing experience, so never say never I guess. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. I think it is going to be a funny one!

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

Another television programme I enjoy at this time of the year is Strictly Come Dancing. Like everything in the world it is a little bit different. However the main thing about it that appeals to me is the joy and enthusiasm the celebrities get from dancing itself. Alongside the brilliant bond that forms between them and their professional partner.

Happily these two things still remain the same this year. I tried one two hour Salsa class around fifteen years ago, struggled with the basic steps and never returned. Despite that I still reckon that these amazing dancers could teach me to do a passable routine, mainly down to my work ethic and their patience I suspect. But I still feel it is achievable.

Last weekend there was said to be a shock exit but when you get two half decent people in the dance off one of them has to leave. All the judges can do is decide from the bottom two which the viewers vote for. I enjoyed Anton being a guest judge, he was supportive, positive but also I thought fair. Surely when his time as a dancer on the show comes to an end this move would be the natural progression for him.

Even though at one point there was talk of him hosting it, if I am honest I think he would make a better judge. I do not really have a favourite this year, which is good as that means I can enjoy each of the performances with no interest or concern about the outcome. It is a fun, happy and lively show perfect for Saturday night.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

My girlfriend and I are trying to have as many different weekend meals as possible. In a way we are pretending that we are going to a certain style of restaurant every Saturday night. Except she always ends up doing the cooking. For the record she is fine with that! Most recently we went with a home-made burger. Believe it or not that is something I had not had for ages. I tend to avoid fast food places, which has been very easy for me during most of this year.

“We” made the actual burgers ourselves. By that I mean that Lynda mixed up the meat with the spices and created the headline part of it if you like. Then I got to construct my own creation within the bun. If you have not had them at home for a while I would recommend it. The best bit is that you can decide on the ingredients and the ratios. None of this one Gherkin or one slice of Cheese rubbish. You can put as much of those in it as you like. I built my own perfect hamburger. Another bonus is you do not feel hungry again ten minutes after you have eaten it. I enjoyed it more than a man of my age should have.

Home-Made Burger

I watched the new Michael McIntyre Netflix Special. I used to have a stand up show on DVD for Christmas every year. These do not exist anymore as the digital platform shows seem to be the replacement. I have been lucky enough to see him do a small warm up gig once and he was very funny. What I think he is really good at is finding things that we all do and can relate to and making them funny and amusing. I appreciate that sounds really easy but try it and you will find out it is not at all. It takes a lot of skill to achieve what he does.

I am not sure if he felt more freedom within this medium but he did swear a bit more than I expected although to be fair nowhere near as much as Frankie Boyle. It is a very well put together piece of comedy. Each story or anecdote builds on the previous one and then leads to the big pay off at the end. It is clever, amusing and relatable. I think that sums his stuff up nicely. It is worth a watch and easy to absorb.

Michael McIntyre
Michael McIntyre

During the first Lockdown I did a weekly pop quiz on my Facebook page for about sixteen weeks. People seemed to enjoy taking part and I had fun doing it. Therefore I decided to bring it back for this latest one. There have been two new episodes in series two so far with two more currently expected in this run. Each one lasts about half an hour. It consists of six rounds each containing five questions.

I have called it “Quigger’s Plays Pop” in honour of a pop quiz that I used to watch on television as a child. Using that title made it quite easy for me to create a theme tune for it. I host it on a Tuesday night at 8.30pm. If you are free and fancy having a bit of music based fun then why not join me? You can play on your own or in teams it does not matter. https://www.facebook.com/neil.quigley

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

A couple of horses from my small stable raced in the last fortnight. “Rock Legend” made his debut at Aintree. He was ridden by Harry Skelton and is trained by his brother Dan Skelton. He did alright for his first time on the track but was a bit weak, so will be held back for a while as he needs more time to grow into himself.

“Force Ten” had an outing at Taunton over the hurdles. He came in sixth out of seven. It was another bit of much needed racing experience for this young horse. Who is under the guidance of the great trainer Paul Nicholls. We may see him race again sometime next month.

Force Ten

Tottenham Hotspur for about an hour were top of the Premier League a couple of weeks ago. It did not last long but it felt good while it lasted. We have since had the International Break with the domestic season back this weekend Spurs face Manchester City today in what will be a massive game for us. It gives us a chance to put down a bit of a marker to the teams around us. I am excited and nervous about the match in equal measure.

As ever from England performances there were plusses and minuses in the results from the three games the national team played. Harry Kane passed the fifty cap mark and in doing so he becomes the most capped Tottenham player ever. If he does stay at White Hart Lane for his whole career, I can see him beating practically every record for the club and possibly for England to. Congratulations Harry he is one of our own!

Neil Quigley

You can listen to me still on Saturday afternoon’s between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.

Walk The Line

We are back in a National Lockdown in England once again then. Although this one is slightly different with places of education remaining open. The second wave of this virus due to the timing of it was always going to potentially be worse than the first one sadly as was the case with the Spanish Flu of 1918. It is quite interesting the parallels between these two events just over one hundred years apart. Samuel Pepys Diary extracts about the Plague in London also make interesting reading and are strangely relatable to the situation we find ourselves in.

It is not an easy thing to cope with and it is something none of us wanted to happen. As far as I can see the major factor in the decision is not overwhelming the NHS. I think we can all agree we would like there to be enough beds and staff available if we require any urgent medical attention. I certainly would anyway. A very high number of people have sadly died due to the virus (far too many), happily many people do recover from it but a percentage of these require hospital treatment which is where the capacity issue might occur.

I am naturally a very positive person and I will look for the best in every situation. I appreciate that I am lucky in this respect and lots of people will find this enforced lockdown tough. What I would suggest though is find a daily routine you can stick to, it will give the day a bit of structure and give you some focus. If you are able to a little bit of exercise is good for the body and mind. Talk to people on the phone, video chat and email just keep engaging regularly with family and friends. Nobody is in this alone. We are all in this together going through more or less the same thing.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

I know it may seem a little difficult at the minute but with a bit of luck and a social conscience approach from everyone we will get through it. Then we can once again meet mates down the pub, go to the football, a night at the theatre, a day at the races and do all the things I am missing. But unless you and your associates are healthy and well, you cannot do any of those things anyway. Therefore let us stay safe, be sensible and look after ourselves and each other. Please spare a thought for me as this weekend though, I should be relaxing at a wooden lodge with a hot tub and a wood burner for company. But obviously I am not. However that is fine I will do what I need to then enjoy that when I can as my reward.

Right then that is all the serious stuff out the way! For legal reasons I would like to state that everything else I mention took place before lockdown. Although I have not really ventured out much since the original version of it, so having to do it all again will not affect my week that much to be fair. I am actually getting quite used to having to socially distance from people and possibly I am now enjoying it way more than I should be. Plus wearing a mask means it is easier to avoid talking to people I do not want to. See always looking for the positives!

Neil Quigley

I have talked before about my slightly competitive nature. Recently my girlfriend purchased the game Jenga. I could not remember if I had ever played it before or not. I definitely used to play and was if I do say so myself quite good at Ker-Plunk as a kid. I figured that was a game with similar principals to this one. Therefore I thought I would be pretty good taming those wooden blocks. She challenged me to a game filled with confidence about my ability for this task I accepted.

I lost the first game after about three moves causing the whole of the tower to come crashing to the ground. To say I was annoyed is possibly an understatement. I cannot stress how much I do not like losing. Obviously I could not leave this battle here, so we rebuilt the blocks for another game. I was taking this second one much more seriously. In fact so much so that it was taking me up to five minutes to make one move, so great was my desire not to pick the wrong brick to remove.

Suddenly in my head this had turned into a game of Chess. It was also at this point that a bit of Cricket style sledging crept in with both sides giving as good as they got. It got quite tense and slightly brutal for a time. I did not consult The Guinness Book of World Records but I think this could have been the longest game of Jenga ever. I won it and was so happy and delighted that I broke into the Carlton victory dance from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which I will concede was not the coolest or most grown up way to react to my victory.

I should have quit when I was ahead or to be totally accurate when I was level. However against my better judgement we kept on playing. It was a disaster! I only won two out of the next five games. This crushing defeat means that I will never play Jenga again. She wants to buy the giant garden version. I am now worried that she is trying to bury me under a barrage of big wooden blocks. I have never been any good at DIY, which is why I am rubbish at this game I think. It is all construction and common sense. Those are very much not my department.

Neil Quigley

Once again I am massively behind the times when it comes to films. The other weekend I finally got around to watching “Walk the Line”. Only a mere fifteen years after it was originally released. I am a big fan of Country Music and like the music of Johnny Cash. Therefore you would have thought I would have caught it sooner but it shows how great my reluctance to see movies is, even when they are on subjects that I am interested in. Add to that the fact that its two main stars Joaquin Phoenix and Reece Witherspoon won Oscar’s for their performances in it. It is not as if I was not aware of it when it came out.

The Million Dollar Quartet

After waiting so long to see it I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did not know Johnny’s story that well so I found it very interesting. I kind of knew the main points but it filled in a lot of gaps for me. Joaquin and Reece were fantastic. I can see why they got their Academy Awards for their performances.

I have been to the historic Sun Studio’s in Memphis where Johnny Cash recorded a lot of his early hits. Up on the Studio wall they have a picture of him with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley under the heading the Million Dollar Quartet. They were the four biggest stars under the guidance of Sam Phillips at his studios at that moment. I am pleased that I got round to watching it in the end.

Sun Studio
Sun Studio

I did manage to get my Contact Lens Annual Check Up and Eye Test in before the country shut back down. I have been going to the same Optician since I was five. I have been wearing glasses since then and have used contacts since I was thirteen years old. I think I might have been one of the youngest wearers of them back then. After begging people to have them so I could see properly to play football. Anyway I have to have my eyes and lenses looked at every year to make sure they are alright.

It was all done in a safe and as socially distanced way as possible. I was required to wear a mask which was fine with me. It was the contacts check first. That all went fine, my eyes and lenses were all good. I could see at an acceptable level. Although my long distance vision in them could have been slightly improved by upping my prescription but that would mean my short sighted vision would not be as good. As I do a lot of work on the computer I opted to keep them as they were. Therefore apologies if I do not spot you across the road from me but on the plus side I will still be able to read your social media comments clearly.

The eye test in the mask was slightly more challenging. It is hard enough sometimes to read those little letters on the chart as it is without having to do it through a fog, when your glasses steam up. The Staff there were all lovely and I did not need a new prescription for my eyes. Therefore I did not have to go through the stress of choosing new glasses. Especially at the moment as you have to thoroughly clean all the pairs before and after you try them on. It is bad enough picking ones that suit you when you cannot actually see without this distraction as well. When Covid is under control I might treat myself to a new pair of glasses to celebrate!

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley

It was Fireworks Night, November 5th on Thursday. Obviously this year there were no big displays in the conventional way anyway. I used to be terrified of them as a child so I used to hate going to see them. But as I got older I began to really enjoy a nice display.

During my association with Mix 96 I went to their event at the Aylesbury Rugby Club lots of times. It was set to music and always fantastic. I have many memories from it over the years including carrying Kym Mazelle across the mud to the stage. Then one year having to stop the countdown midway through and then fill for ten minutes until they were actually ready to start it.

Neil Quigley
Neil Quigley point’s the way on stage at the Mix 96 Fireworks.

When I was at the BBC one year I ended up watching the New Year’s Eve Fireworks from the top of Broadcasting House, which was cool. Like most things that have not happened this year I am sure that Fireworks Night as we know it will return next year.

It is the only night during the winter months that I tend to stand outside for a couple of hours in a field while drinking beer out of plastic glasses. Well I say that but the way things are going that could be how I am celebrating Christmas this year I guess.

New Years Eve
New Years Eve

It has been quite a good couple of weeks for the “Quigley Stable”. I own a small amount of shares in a few race horses. I was delighted when one of them “Stage Star” won on his debut at Chepstow the other week. He performed perfectly bearing in mind it was his first ever race. Thanks to Paul Nicholls for getting him ready and Lorcan Williams for riding him to victory. He will have a well-earned rest for a bit then continue his training and education at Ditcheat.

Neil Quigley and Stage Star
Neil Quigley and Stage Star

Last Monday “Force Ten” had his first run over hurdles at Plumpton. It was his first outing this season after he made his racing debut last year. I have been luckily enough to visit and see both of these horses at their stables. It is great to see both of these young horses doing so well. Another one of my horses “Rock Legend” is due to start his race career tomorrow. As ever I hope he runs well and returns home safe.

Force Ten
Force Ten

Once again it has been a rollercoaster ride being a Spurs fan. We beat Burnley away in a tough game in the Premier League on the Monday night. Then three days later we were beaten away in the Europa League by Royal Antwerp. That was a disappointing defeat. Then in the next league game the following Sunday we just about managed to get the better of Brighton at home. Thanks to the first goal since his return from Gareth Bale.

Owing to the way the other results had gone somehow that win moved us up to second place in the Premier League despite giving away three points in the last minute of games against Newcastle United and West Ham United. This season will have many more twists and turns. However you cannot beat the feeling of your team sitting near the top of the table, so I am going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts, which will probably be until the end of this weekend if I am lucky. Come On You Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur

You can listen to me still on Saturday afternoon’s between 2pm – 4pm on Radio Ninesprings https://www.radioninesprings.co.uk/

Neil Quigley Presenter
Neil Quigley Presenter

Have fun and we will catch up again soon. Stay safe! Cheers Neil.