Tag Archives: dentist

That’s Life

April 24, 2015 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Mine have been on the whole brilliant with lots going on. A few weekends ago I was up in Liverpool for the Grand National Weekend. I had a fantastic weekend. I always enjoy myself up there and needless to say owing to the rather large event happening, the place was buzzing. I stayed with my mate Jeff Nolan. I travelled up on the Thursday. He met me off the train and we went for a catch up in his local pub. He lives near Aintree, so the place was packed with very smartly dressed people. Who had been enjoying the first day of racing.

Now we had obviously had this conversation previously but I had forgotten somehow. I was staying with Jeff from the Thursday night through to the Sunday. So as we are talking I say, it must be your first Wedding Anniversary soon? To which he replies yes it is this Saturday. What sort of mate am I? I had pretty much invited myself to stay and in the process managed to gatecrash my friend’s first year marriage celebrations. Not ideal but at least I was there to wish them both a very happy anniversary on the day itself in person. And I did buy them both a drink.

We actually went to Aintree for Ladies Day on the Friday. All dressed up in our suits and looking pretty smart and dapper, if I do say so myself. We did pop to the pub for a few pre racing drinks. But don’t judge us, we were not the only ones, pretty much everyone had the same idea. And the place was packed. I have to say I did spot some of the women wearing some pretty eye catching outfits. As you would expect for Ladies Day of course. I enjoyed the afternoon. Slightly helped by the fact, we had a couple of winners between us. Which always aids the enjoyment I find.

To beat the rush we headed in to the centre of Liverpool just before the last race to continue the party. We visited a few different venues including a couple with a Beatles theme. We went to the Hard Day’s Night Hotel and popped in to The Cavern Pub for a quick Fab Four sing-song. It was a great day out with good mates. I would recommend a day at Ladies Day to anyone. The atmosphere is great and the fun continues long after the racing has finished for the day.

On Grand National Day itself we went round to Jeff’s parent’s place to watch the Swansea against Everton game. He is an Everton season ticket holder so there was no way he was missing the match. Then when it had finished we headed to the pub the watch the big race. After visiting the bookmakers on route to place our bets. I thought it was an enjoyable and exciting race and thankfully all the horses were fine at the end of it.

None of the selections I made on the day were successful but I did manage to win the Wembley Sweepstake. So thank you to Many Clouds and jockey Leighton Aspell for making that possible for me. I also managed to pick the winner of the Scottish Grand National the week after. So again thanks to Wayward Prince and the jockey Robbie Dunne. It is a shame I did not pick the winner of the Irish National to complete the treble. In Liverpool on Grand National Day it is fair to say the celebrations continued well in to the evening. It was a great weekend, so much fun. Thanks to Jeff Nolan and his family for putting up with me. And apologies for spoiling their celebrations. I am already looking forward to my next visit up there at the end of May. To witness the end of the Premier League football season.

On the train journey home from Liverpool I managed to do something that I have not done for years. As I was getting on my second train of the day I was putting my luggage in the rack above the seats. When I caught my funny bone on the top of one of them. I had forgotten what a totally odd feeling that is. There is that quick shot of pain that only lasts for about a second or so. Then your whole arm goes instantly numb and feels really weird for the next few hours. Hopefully it will be a while before I hit it again. But it has confirmed to me that it is called your funny bone because it is different not because it will make you laugh when you hit it.

For the last couple of Summers I have had a brilliant time working with Regatta Radio in Henley. To bring full coverage of the Henley Royal Regatta to the airwaves. Sadly I have been advised that Regatta Radio will be taking a break this year and will not be broadcasting at the event. They do plan to return next year though. Hopefully working more closely with the event’s organisers to provide even better coverage.

There is still a chance I could be involved when they do return. I am really going to miss working with the extremely hard working and enthusiastic team there this year. I have learnt so much about rowing over the last couple years, thanks to mainly the very talented commentators we had working with us there. Although as I am not going to be working there this year. I may have to spend a day there actually just enjoying the rowing. If I can get myself a ticket of course.

"Gloriana" looking very regal at Henley Regatta — “Gloriana” looking very regal at Henley Regatta

You will hopefully be pleased to hear that my crown fitting is complete and went well. And that I am now the proud owner of my very first crown. The first of many I suspect. I was surprised by how quick the final part of this procedure was. I got to the dentist, sat in the chair. She then fiddled about with my mouth for around a minute. Yanked the temporary one out and then literally banged in the new one. Then she just did a bit of filing and the job was done. I was in and out in five minutes. Despite being told that I could eat or drink with it straight away. I still waited two hours to do this so I felt safe with it. Old habits die hard I guess.

It was all happening this week. As well as the dentist’s I had my annual eye test at the opticians. Now as a glasses and contact lens wearer I do always like these regular appointments to make sure my prescriptions are up to date and that my eyes are in good health. So after all the normal and obvious tests. With the whole better with, better without questions, with the different lenses held up to your eyes. Where most of the time I find I can’t see any difference between them at all. Anyway after those tests, they do a few other checks including a field of vision test.

Now this is probably just me but it reminds me of the sort of test that Yoda would have set Luke Skywalker at the swamp in Star Wars. You do one eye at a time. By sticking your head in to this machine and focusing on a single red light. Then you have to press a button to show how many green lights you see flashing, every time the red light moves. It is a game I weirdly really enjoy. I am a very competitive person and I like winning. So I was really trying my at it best. In my excitement I did inform the optician that I was very competitive. So when she gave me my score at the end. She said that I got one hundred percent. Now I am not totally sure if I did or if she was just telling me that so I would feel pleased with myself. But I did walk out with quite a spring in my step.

Talking of Star Wars I did see the second teaser for the new film last week. It looks absolutely brilliant and I loved the the fact we got to see some little snippets of the original stars including a shot right near the end of it featuring Hans Solo and Chewbacca. It is fair to say one of them does appear to have aged better than the other. I really can’t wait for it to come out. But I will have to be a little bit patient, as it is not due to be released until the 18th December. I now wish that I did not sell all my original Star Wars figures a couple of years ago. It is going to be an extra special Star Wars Day on May the Fourth this year, I think.

As with everybody’s lives there is light and shade and good and bad days. Last Wednesday I attended the funeral of my Uncle. The last time I had seen him was New Years Eve. I gave him a lift home after a party. He was happy, had enjoyed a good evening. And was ready for the start of the brand new year. He died after a short illness in hospital. The last memory I have of him, is how I intend to remember him. My thoughts at this time are with my aunty and my two cousins. The day itself was a celebration of his life, which is what I believe these things should be. RIP Uncle Kevin.

You may or may not have heard about a new web streaming app that has recently been launched called Periscope. Basically it can give you the ability to broadcast live to the internet through your mobile phone or tablet. So you can do short video broadcasts, which will go live to a web page and then will stay stored on your Periscope account as videos. I have just started using it as have Philip Schofield, Tony Blackburn and Chris Moyles to mention but a few. So if you have the app or follow me on twitter. Do keep an eye out, as I will be producing more and more live webcasts and videos on there over the coming months.

I went along to Windsor Races with my parents recently. I am partial to a bit of horse racing and Windsor offers great Monday evening race events all the way through the summer. Normally with some great post-racing entertainment. Windsor is a lovely little, friendly course right next to the Thames. So it is a great place to spend the evening, in my opinion. The parking there is great, the portions of the fish and chips are quite unbelievable and they do get a lot of the top jockeys and trainers there. I had a good night with two winners and a place bet coming in. Which does all add to the enjoyment, if you can correctly select a few horses. Watching the races certainly gets the heart rate up and gives the vocal cords a good work out. Or it does for me at least. I suspect I will be back there a few more times over the coming months.

Over the next week or so I am going to be seeing a few different television shows being recorded. Which I am looking forward to. As it is always fun in the studio watching these programmes being put together. The first of these will be The Last Leg with Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker at the Fountain Studios in Wembley. I am then also returning to the same studio just a few days later to watch an episode of Play To The Whistle being filmed with Holly Willoughby, Bradley Walsh and Sean Walsh.

Then finally a couple of days later I am off to the Elstree Studios to see Celebrity Juice being filmed. I am slightly concerned that Holly will think I am stalking her. When I keep turning up at every single place that she is working. They all feature top comedians. And are mostly light hearted shows. Who do not take themselves too seriously. So they should all be a right good laugh. Which is always a very important part of my world.

Neil Quigley TV Radio & Live — Neil Quigley TV, Radio & Live

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

Fools and Horses

April 9, 2015 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Mine have been great with quite a bit going on. I managed a celebrity spot on the train in to London the other day. Now to be fair I already knew that this particular person lived in this certain location, so I was always keeping an eye out for them every time I stopped at their station. So statistically it was bound to happen eventually and it did on that morning. I was just sat in my seat minding my own business when the unmistakable figure of Robert Lindsay walked past and took a seat slightly further down the carriage and facing me.

I was close enough to hear the full conversation he was having with his friend, with that wonderful and very distinctive voice that he has. So I am well up to date on his latest projects and immediate plans. He is a truly great all round performer. He can do it all act, sing, dance the lot. Most recently he has been starring in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in the West End. In the eighties he was starring in the musical Me and My Girl. When it was in London and then he went with it when it transferred to Broadway. In that show he does an amazing version of the Lambeth Walk. He seemed like a really nice friendly and approachable gentleman. So hopefully it will not be long before he is back on our television screens again.

A few Saturday’s ago I went and saw my mate Andy Holmes perform in the Harold Pinter play Betrayal at the Queens Park Arts Centre in Aylesbury. If you are already familiar with it. You will know that it has three main roles. One of which, he was playing. It is always slightly odd I find seeing a friend performing on stage. You want to enjoy the show but you are also just rooting for it to go well for them at the same time. I have seen him in a couple of things before but this was possibly the most dramatic piece that I have personally witnessed him in. I really enjoyed it. I thought the whole cast were great. And I know from speaking to Andy the time and effort that they had all put in to it, to make it work. Which I think showed in the performance.

He did have a couple of kissing scenes in it. In the fairly busy bar afterwards he made the mistake of asking me what I had thought of his love scenes, to which I replied well that is the most action you have had in ages. He did tell me later that the actress who he had to kiss actually had her husband in watching that night. Now I am no actor but that has to be a little bit awkward surely. It was a lovely fun way to spend the evening and congratulations to everyone involved with the production.

After seeing the play I then went to a pub in Aylesbury for a quick fortieth birthday drink with someone I have known for about twenty years now. His name is Colin Morton. We met when I joined Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio. This is how and why I decided to join. It was while I was in my final year of a Leisure and Tourism course at Aylesbury College that I really developed an interest in radio. Mix 96 had recently launched in Aylesbury, so I wrote to them and managed to get a week’s work experience there. It was while I was there during that week that someone suggested that I joined the local Hospital Radio, so I did.

Neil Quigley back at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio with Martin Kinch

Colin was already there and had his own show. You start out as a producer gathering requests from the wards. Then you get trained on the equipment and hopefully get your own show. All of which I did. Colin then got a job at Mix 96 hosting the evening show and the Saturday Sports Show. I have to thank him really for getting me involved in the Sports Show. As I think he suggested me, when they needed someone to come in and ring up all the local football clubs to get the scores. And then to read out the half time and full time scores from these games. Which I then did. And the rest as they say is history. That is what really gave me my break in radio, if you like. So it was great to see Colin and Andrew Duthie, who was also there for a nice catch up and to talk about old times.

I am still doing quite a bit of work at Wembley Stadium. I was there taking some people around on behalf of the Football Association before the FA Trophy Final between North Ferriby United and Wrexham. I was taking a select group of North Ferriby fans round. It is always great to be there on a match day. Walking through the Mixed Zone, being in the players tunnel and then going pitch side. You can really feel the excitement of the occasion building up. It was a cracking game as well with the underdogs winning five-four on penalties after a three all draw in extra time.

So well done North Ferriby United. I like to think my tour was a lucky charm for them. I think some special praise needs to go to the Wembley ground staff to. On the Friday Night England played Lithuania there. Then on the Saturday a Rugby Union game between Saracens and Harlequins took place. And then the FA Trophy Final was there on the Sunday. The pitch looked perfect and there was not even any trace of the rugby pitch markings from the day before.

It is always good to do new things in life and experience things for the first time. So last week I went for my first ever crown fitting at the Dentists. This was required because I have had a root canal treatment. And apparently to protect the tooth you need a crown on it. So to make sure that the finished crown fits they have to take impressions of your teeth. I have to confess I didn’t find that process much fun and it does not leave a very pleasant taste in your mouth at the end. It seemed like she took an impression of all my teeth not just the one required. So I am now slightly concerned she may be worried that all my teeth may be falling apart, and that she will need to replace them all. I have a temporary one on at the minute with the proper one due to be fitted in a week or so. Wish me luck.

On Good Friday I went with my mum to see Wycombe Wanderers play Oxford United in League Two. Now as a teenager I was for a couple of years a season ticket holder at Wycombe. I also briefly played for their under sixteen side and I did have a trial game for their youth team. However I did not get selected. I instead went and played for two years in the Aylesbury United Youth Team. Funnily enough my first game for them was in a one-nil win against the Wycombe Wanderers Youth Team in Beaconsfield. The Wycombe/Oxford game was pretty poor for the home side specially in the first half but they did battle back and make a fight of it in the second half. Although ultimately it was in the end a very disappointing result for the team who are currently chasing promotion. Plus let’s face it no one likes losing to their local rivals.

Before the game I managed to catch up with a couple of people I know. Firstly Daniel Freeman, who was there to report on the game for Sky Sports and my good friend Nathan Cooper, who was there covering the match for BBC Radio Oxford. Strangely the three of us have all previously worked on a game together before. When I was working at Ivel Fm in Somerset, Yeovil Town then managed by Russell Slade got to the League One Play Off Final at the then newly built Wembley Stadium in 2007 against Blackpool.

We managed to get full commentary rights to broadcast the whole game live on the radio. To do that we needed two excellent commentators to help us. I already knew Daniel and Nathan and luckily they were up for getting involved. So the three of us produced a full show from the National Stadium with Daniel and Nathan as the two commentators and me operating as the co-commentator for both of them. While presenting the show before and after the game. It was a busy but fun day out and I thought we did a brilliant job covering the occasion. It was great to see them both at Wycombe and good to see them still doing at excellent job reporting on football matches and bringing them to life on the radio and television.

Last Saturday it was the final show in the current series of the brilliant Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Once again there was nothing missing from the programme or the series. In my opinion it has taken all the best bits from about twenty different big Saturday night television shows from the past and put them all into one show. In handy bite size sections. But it all works so well and is great family entertainment. This weekend we will still be able to see the Geordie boys on our screens. As the new series of Britain’s Got Talent starts on Saturday. And if the first instalment is anything like the London audition show I went to see. We will be in for a crazy time.

There will be acts that will take your breath away and leave you feeling like that is the best thing you have ever seen. And then on the other side of the scale there will performances that will make you cringe and even cause you to cover your eyes and ears, so you do not have to witness it. I don’t know if it was just the session I was at but Simon Cowell seemed a lot nicer and more compassionate in his critique. So I am not totally sure if he was just in a really good mood that day or if becoming a father has seen him mellow a bit. I reckon we will know for sure if this the case or not by the final at least. The audition shows are always bonkers and give Ant & Dec plenty of comical moments to enjoy. Good luck to all involved with it and let us hope for a worthy winner this year.

I had a really nice Easter weekend which did involve eating quite a bit of chocolate. But life is all about balance and give and take, so I did actually go for a morning run on Good Friday and Easter Monday. To be fair that was not only to work off the sweets I had consumed. I did manage to have a few drinks with mates to, so these calories had to be dealt with and burned off. I met one of my friends in Marlow. Which is always a place I enjoy going to, specially in the summer. Normally for a nice walk along the river there. It really is a nice and relaxed place to meet people and have a good chat and a catch up. And it does boast The Hand and Flowers Pub, which has two Michelin Stars and is run by top chef Tom Kerridge.

I am up in Liverpool this weekend enjoying being there for the Grand National Race meeting weekend. I love the city and always really enjoy spending time there. I came up for this festival about five years ago and had a brilliant day out at Aintree for Ladies Day. It is an amazing experience everybody really dresses up and has a top time. This time I am just up there and enjoying the partying after racing rather than being at the track itself. The place is packed out in the evenings, with either people celebrating wins or drowning their sorrows, if they have lost. For sheer atmosphere alone watching the Grand National in a packed pub in the centre of Liverpool is only second to actually being stood there on the course at Aintree itself. I will tell you more about my time in Liverpool next time we speak.

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

Shows and Tells

November 8, 2014 Neil

Hi there, how are you doing? I hope you have had a good couple of weeks. Mine have as ever been very busy with lots going on.I mentioned last time that I went up to see a mate of mine in Liverpool for the weekend and that he had a two year old daughter. Well apparently since I left she has been randomly asking after me quite a bit at various points during the days. Including when she was at Nursery. So much so that one of the staff there actually asked my mate’s mum who Neil was when she collected her one day. She said she didn’t know so unfortunately for my mate and his wife it now looks like everyone at the nursery thinks his wife is having an affair with some bloke called Neil. I have apologised several times to my friend but it is still happening. He actually sent me a text last night saying she was found in a room by herself shouting for me earlier in the day. His daughter not his wife that is. I’m very surprised by the impression I seem to have made and yet at the same time I am thinking about employing her as my agent.

A few Saturday’s ago I went to the Cadogan Hall just off Sloane Square in London to see my mate Mike Sterling performing in Stars of the West End. It was the first time I had been to the venue. Which has recently been refurbished. It is a fantastic building to watch shows in with really nice and helpful staff. For somewhere that is right in the heart of London the place weirdly has a really lovely community feel to it. The show itself was absolutely fantastic. It featured Mike alongside fellow West End Stars Shona Lindsay, Tom Soloman and Jayne O’Mahony performing songs from many great musicals backed superbly by the West End Sinfonia led by the brilliant Toby Cruse. Mike who has played the lead roles in both Les Miserables and the Phantom Of The Opera heroically sang the big anthems from both of these great shows in the breathtaking finale’s to each section of the performance. The whole cast were great and it was a really enjoyable night out being entertained by some truly talented people. I happily did manage to catch up with Mike Sterling for a very quick drink after the show. I am so showbiz! It was really good to see him in action on stage, chat to him and hear what he has been up to. It is always nice to see people you know doing well.

I was once again lucky enough to be working behind the scenes at the last NFL International Series Game between the Detroit Lions and the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley Stadium. The game was yet again played in front of a sell out crowd. Who were treated to an on stage performance by Little Mix as part of the pre game show. It was a fun day. There is always a great buzz about the place when the American’s are in town. My roles included escorting various VIP’s to the Field area to watch the players warm up before the game then showing them back to their seats before the action got under way. After the match I was helping to direct the Detroit Lions back to the team bus. They were all very friendly and really nice. Mind you they had won the game with a last second field goal, which I am sure helped their mood some what. I ended up watching the exciting finale to the game on a television in the players tunnel. That had about a five second delay on it. So we heard the cheer then had to wait to see the pictures on the screen before we could be totally sure exactly what had happened.

There is always quite a good celebrity turn out at these NFL events. Guests at this one included Tim Lovejoy, Joey Barton, Alexandra Burke and of course Mr American Football himself Vernon Kay was there. Vernon plays for the London Warriors American Football team. I did happen to have a conversation with one of his team mates. The training regime and food intake required for players of the sport is pretty impressive. A fact highlighted by the way the NFL players leave the stadium with giant pizza’s all to themselves to eat.

Due to the fact there were a few very slight complications the sequel to my Root Canal treatment at the dentists has now been turned into a trilogy. As all the best movie franchises are. I went back for the second phase and discovered there was actually still a slight issue and outside risk of infection relating to one of the three roots of the troublesome tooth in question. So my dentist had to dig out a little more of the root. Which was about as much fun as it sounds. But once again fair play to her it did not hurt at all and I suffered no after effects. It just means I have to wait another week before the procedure will be finished. As part of the visit I saw my first ever x-ray of a tooth, as she explained to me the situation. Strangely I quite enjoyed looking at it and it gave me a good understanding of what was going on. Plus as I am not a parent that was as close I have ever come to seeing a personal scan relating to me.

Last Monday I went for the first time to the ITV London Studios on the South bank. Some of the television shows that are broadcast from this location include Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Take Away, Good Morning Britain and The Jonathan Ross Show. I was there to see the latest It’ll Be Alright on the Night being filmed. Outside the building there is a wall of hand prints of lots of the stars who have presented shows from there. Including Lorraine Kelly, who according to this display does have ridiculously small hands. Then as you walk in to the studio itself there are lots of great pictures on the walls showing stills from many of the different shows that are produced there. I have always been a big fan of the out takes clip show, for just about as long as I can remember. From back when it was hosted by Denis Norden and his clipboard. The current host is now of course Griff Rhys Jones who has fronted the programme since 2008.

Once everybody was sat down and in position. The first thing that happens when they are ready to get going is that the warm up man comes out to tell the audience any information that they need to know about the recording, check audience levels for the sound department and get the crowd ready for a night of laughing, cheering and clapping. The man charged with this role for the evening was a bit of a legend himself. It was none other than Ted Robbins. Who as well as being a hugely experienced comedian and warm up man, also appeared in both series of Peter Kay’s comedy Phoenix Nights. So as you would expect there were several big screens up so we could see the clips and then react accordingly to them. I quite liked the idea of being one of the first people to see all these brand new bloopers before anybody else.

Before we got started Griff came out and had a bit of a chat to the audience. He was really good from start to finish, he’s very good at what he does. Then it was time to get the recording started. Ironically there was a slight technical fault at the start of the show so they had to re-shoot the opening twice in the end. It was great fun to watch. And there are as ever some very funny moments during it, featuring the great and the good from the world of television. There is no confirmed date for this latest episode to be broadcast as yet but it is expected it will be on our screens either during December this year or January next. Either way keep an eye out for it so you can see some more examples of when television goes wrong. And to see if you can hear my unnaturally loud clap or even catch a brief glimpse of me on the screen.

Last week I spent the day in London doing a couple of different tours. That were both taken by friends of mine. The first one was called The City Square Mile Walking Tour. Which as you would expect from the title involved walking around a section of the city. That was historically the original centre of the capital. It was truly fascinating learning about which businesses were originally based there. How lots of the streets got their names. Plus all the information about the old and new buildings on view. And discovering how many Roman remains can be seen right in the heart of London, if you know where you are looking. Towards the end of the tour the guide took us to a new shopping centre. Which seemed a bit odd at first until he took us up in a lift to a viewing area at the top, which gave us a great view over London.

The second tour I did on the same day was at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Now I have to confess I did not study the great Bard at school, so I do not know much about him. But in my defence it seems that nobody really knows that much about him and a lot of what we believe is calculated guess work. The Globe opened in 1997 and it is an exact replica of what it is believed the theatre looked like that the Chamberlain Players and The King’s Men performed Shakespeare’s play’s in during the 1600s. It is a brilliant place. I really like the way they try to put the performance on there in the manner and style that they would have been performed it in. Back when these plays were new and being shown for the first time. It was a very interesting tour, during which we got to try out several of the different seating areas for size and learned lots about the theatre. Plus the customs and behaviours of the people during that period in history. Having been there I now really do want to go and see a Shakespeare play performed there. I think that would be amazing. It is on my to do list for next summer when their new season of plays start.

My mate Ben Langley’s play Ha Ha Hood makes another appearance in Buckinghamshire this month at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury this coming Wednesday 12th November. I saw it in High Wycombe earlier in its UK Tour and I have to say it is brilliant. It is just a good old fashioned variety comedy show with plenty of big belly laughs guaranteed from an amazing cast. It stars Tommy Cannon, Bobby Ball, Su Pollard, Andy Pickering and the man who also wrote it, the man himself Ben Langley. The show tells the story of Robin Hood twenty years after where we all left the original story. And it is fair to say things have not necessarily worked out how we would have expected them to. If you saw the latest episode of the new BBC Four Comedy Detectorists you would have seen Ben make a brilliant cameo appearance as a deliver driver towards the end of it. I am very much looking forward to seeing the show in Aylesbury for the second time. And hopefully I will get the chance to catch up with Mr Langley while he is in town. If you fancy a fun and crazy night out then go and see it. You can find more details about the show here http://www.hahahood.com/

I can finally tell you a little bit more about the new quiz show that I was helping to do a little bit of research and development with earlier in the year. For starters I can now reveal the name of it. It is called Smart Ask and twists the conventional quiz format on its head. As the contestants are the ones who write and compile the questions in the hope of baffling a team of experts in to giving the wrong answers. The more questions they get wrong the more money the players can win. A pilot was shot in London last weekend hosted by Robert Webb. They are hoping to film the first series of it at the start of next year. Which is still something I might be involved in. You will see quite a bit of publicity about it when it is launched, as it will offer a top prize of half a million pounds.

I am again very much looking forward to working at Wembley this weekend behind the scenes at the final NFL International Series Game for this season between Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars. It is as ever bound to be a star studded affair. And being the last one of the year I believe there are some pretty spectacular things being lined up before and after the match to mark the occasion. Normally it is only the home team who bring their cheerleaders over for the game but I have heard some rumours that both team’s troops will be coming to England for this game. Which for the record I am perfectly fine with and have to say this seems like an excellent idea. I will let you know how it all went next time we speak.

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

The Route To Funny

October 25, 2014 Neil

Hello again, I hope all is well with you. And that you have had a very good couple of weeks.I have had yet again another busy fortnight. The last time we spoke I was off to Liverpool for the weekend to catch up with a very good friend of mine. It is a City I love and I do always have a great time there. I took the train up and have to say it is not a bad run up there. My mate happens to live near Aintree Racecourse, which is the train station he met me at. Just being there reminded me of when we all went along to Ladies Day of the Grand National Meeting a few years ago. That is a wonderful day out and I would definitely recommend it to anybody. As we had a bit of catching up to do we headed straight down the pub for an hour. Which ended up being about three hours in the end. Before going back to his for pizza and to spend the rest of the night watching great music and comedy on television.

As he has a two year old daughter, we were up bright and early the next morning watching children’s cartoons including Fireman Sam. Now it has been quite a while since I have seen it but I will say I think Sam may have had some cosmetic work done and has started really hitting the gym. He seems to have had some kind of make over and looks a bit more like a male model than I remember. We started the day the perfect way with a nice fry up before heading out to meet up with some more people we knew. Then visited lots of very familiar haunts that I have enjoyed on previous trips. Which just happened to all be pubs. I do like drinking in Liverpool, the place and people are just great. It is always a right good laugh with a nice soundtrack everywhere you go. They know their music up there. Needless to say I had a totally brilliant time. And we even found some time before I headed home to have a good look around the Albert Docks area. Which is where This Morning came from until it moved to London. Sadly the floating weather map that used to be there has long since gone. I am already looking forward to my next trip to Liverpool, which will probably be next year now.

Neil Quigley and Jeff Nolan in Liverpool

I am very lucky in that my teeth are generally in pretty good shape. I actually have only a couple of fillings. Which I am rightly quite proud of. Obviously or I wouldn’t have mentioned it here. But recently I noticed one of my teeth was becoming really sensitive, specially to the heat. Which is not something I had ever really experienced before. So I thought I probably needed a filling and went to the dentist to get it looked at. Where I discovered that it was actually already a tooth that had been filled years ago with an old metal filling. And there was now more decay around it. Then after some more investigation my dentist discovered I would actually need to have root canal treatment on it. This is something I had not had before but had heard people saying how horrible and painful it was. I had part one of the treatment last week. It lasted no more than forty-five minutes. And although I could not say it was a pleasant experience. It did not hurt that much during or even after. So thanks very much to my dentist for her great work there. It did not really feel any worse than just having a filling. Although I have still got part two of the procedure to go in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed that also feels the same and does not hurt too much.

I was lucky enough to go along and see some of Channel 4’s recent charity fundraising night “Stand Up To Cancer”. It was broadcast from a big Methodist Church Hall in the shadow of Westminster Abbey. The atmosphere in the audience was excellent. They were all given tablet’s to hold up to flash during certain performances and also to show the running total on. As the presenters revealed it at certain points during the evening. It was good to see the brilliant Andy Collins in his showbiz jacket working his magic warming up the venue and keeping us entertained between all the breaks in the action. Davina McCall looked stunning in a lovely red dress but she did have some killer black heels on which she kept removing between appearances and to walk around the set. Tom Daley came on and did his little piece really nicely bearing in mind it was a subject so close to his heart. With his dad losing his battle with Cancer just a few years ago.

Everyone who appeared on the night I thought was brilliant. I am a fan of the Last Leg, so it was great to see Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker there doing their thing. Although fortunately I had left well before they got naked. Joking aside fair play to them for doing that for the cause. Above and beyond the call of duty. Seeing some of the heartbreaking stories on video was very emotional but knowing that we are working towards finding a cure and once again seeing the generosity of the great British public in raising over fourteen million pounds. Made it such a brilliant and worthwhile night. My highlights were the Andy Murray “the film” casting clips. They were very funny with some great cameos. And the celebrity special episode of Googlebox was pretty amusing. I mean who would not want to sit in a room and watch television with Noel Gallagher, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss. I know I would. Well done to Channel 4 and everyone involved. It really was a great achievement all round.

Last Monday I took part in a New Comedian of 2014 competition at the Leicester Square Theatre in London’s West End. To give you a rough idea of just how many people had entered it. All the heats contained twelve acts and I was taking part in heat twenty three out of twenty four. We each had five minutes to perform our own material. And then the top three as selected by two comedy industry judges and an audience vote would progress through to the quarter finals. I arrived as ever a little bit early so had a nice walk around Leicester Square before heading to the venue. The event was taking place downstairs in the Lounge. Which was a lovely little room for comedy where a lot of top name comics often come to try out new material.On entering the room, after introducing myself to the organiser and deciding where I would be appearing on the bill. I started talking to the other comedians taking part.

I know I have said this before but everybody thinks comedy is a cut throat business where everybody is just out for themselves, while hoping everybody else fails. This could not be further from the truth. All the comedians I have met are lovely, great to talk to and very supportive of each other. We want the whole line up to go down great and get lots of laughs. As it creates a better atmosphere and we all enjoy ourselves more. This was very much the case for this competition. I was on second, so got up and did my five minute set. It went pretty well, I got a few laughs and nobody threw anything. Which I always count as being a successful gig. It was a strong line up with some good acts on and most importantly, great fun. I really enjoyed it. Well done to the three acts that progressed through to the next stage. Very well deserved and I wish them all the best. This competition was actually won in 2009 by a certain Rob Beckett. Who I believe will once again be involved with one of my favourite television shows I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, which is back next month. It was great to get up and do some stand up again and it has motivated me to get out and do some more of it. So watch this space for more details of appearances.

I am really looking forward to catching up with my mate Mike Sterling tonight. We met when I was working at a radio station in Yeovil. He came in for an interview on my radio show one morning. And from there we ended up doing a few gigs together and also were on a couple of talent show judging panels with each other. Mike first came to prominence in 1987 when he reached the New Faces final that year, finishing just behind Joe Pasquale. He then went on to play the lead roles in both The Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. He is a sensational performer and a top bloke to. Therefore I am really looking forward to seeing his latest show Stars of the West End at the Cadogan Hall in London. And meeting up with him after. He is joined by other talented West End Stars and they will be performing songs from big smash hit musicals. For more details about the show click here – https://www.facebook.com/events/267373066796664/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

It is a busy weekend for me as once again tomorrow I am working at Wembley Stadium behind the scenes at the latest NFL American Football International Series match between Detroit Lions and the Atlanta Falcons. I am really looking forward to it, being involved with helping out when and where I am required throughout the day.The atmosphere will be amazing. They always put on a spectacular show when they visit London do the NFL. The pre game show for this game will include a performance from the 2011 X Factor winners Little Mix. One of the girls in the band like me is from Buckinghamshire. And when they got to the final to show support at the radio station I was working at we changed our name to Little Mix 96 for the day. So I will be expecting a thank you from them for that on Sunday afternoon. I will of course tell you how the day went and which celebrities I spotted there the next time we speak.

On the plus side despite the action packed weekend I do still gain an extra hour in bed as the clocks go back and British Winter Time officially begins. Remember to adjust your time pieces correctly. Do not be the person from your group of friends who turns up an hour early for a meeting with them and accuses them of being late. When they are actually on time and the error is all yours. The modern pitfall is this nowadays remember that most mobile phones auto adjust the time themselves. So if you forget this and put the time back on your phone an hour before you go to bed. When you wake up the time will be wrong and you will be out of kilter. Some free advice for you there. I will not give any names out but I do know someone who did that and no it was not me.

Still in life sometimes there is nothing funnier than when things go wrong on television. This is of course best captured in the programme “It’ll Be Alright on The Night” This is a show I have watched since I was a kid and always find it to be very funny. Which is good news as I will be going along to the ITV studios in London on a week Monday to watch the latest instalment of this iconic creation being recorded. I am looking forward to enjoying Griff Rhys Jones witty remarks and seeing our favourite stars getting it wrong in a room full of people, all hopefully laughing. It should be a good night out.

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

Neil Quigley Presenter