Bill Bailey sells out arenas, but prefers to play theatres. Lucky for us. This sold-out show at the Royal Concert Hall might be on the last leg of a long tour (the DVD comes out in November) but still feels fresh. There’s no arrogance about Bailey, who introduces himself as being from the West Country. “I didn’t keep the accent because I wanted to get on in life.” He’s very clever, but never makes his audience feel stupid. His running gags work whether or not you know who Alberti or Chantelle is. The latter provided some of his best running jokes, like the question about the name of the upper part of the foot. I wonder if the guy who immediately shouts out the answer was at the…
We’ve just had a full two weeks away in Croatia. I took a pile of books plus a Kindle with me, planning to leave several of the books behind. How many could I bring myself to dump? Wait and see. On the plane, I read Loren D Estleman’s nine year old Amos Walker novel Retro. This was the first Estleman I’d read in twenty years, picked up for 20p in my local library, and I don’t know why I’ve been denying myself the pleasure of his hard boiled, tightly plotted, satisfying novels. I’ll be back for more. On our first full day in Babin Kuk, I donated it to the hotel library, where I couldn’t resist picking up a much fatter volume, the much discussed…