Weather: Cloudy turning to heavy showers later. 23 C.

Travel: Clear runs both ways, though got the 1642 at Longbridge, running 7 late and stopping at Northfield and King's Norton though it's not scheduled to. Odd.

Track of the day: Tender - Blur (13, 1999). The best gospel track of last year.

Terry Wogan's back on R2 breakfast, after another three week holiday. It's the last week for Hannah Cox and Stephen Bumfrey on Heart FM - they're leaving the station's breakfast show after four years. They joined from BFBS, and will move in tandem to a station in the north-east of England. On the one hand, they've become a familiar voice; on the other, they've never quite come over as great broadcasters.

Speaking of great broadcasters, it's thank you and goodnight to Sir Robin Day, who has passed away aged 76. Sir Robin Day joined ITN at its foundation in 1955, moving to the BBC four years later, contributing incisive questioning and fine bow ties to Panorama for thirty years. He presented the BBC's "Question Time" from 1979 until his retirement ten years later.

Also deceased is actor Sir Alec Guinness, aged 86. Sir Alec had a career spanning more than 60 years. He played roles from spymasters to Hitler, from Hamlet to a suffragette. In Kind Hearts and Coronets, the versatile actor played no less than eight roles. George Lucas gave Sir Alec a new lease of fame when he cast him as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, described him as "a great artist". Film maker Ronald Neame, who produced the versions of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations starring Guinness, said he was "shattered" by the news. "He was one of the all time greats of both stage and screen. Professionally and personally he was one of my greatest friends and I am shattered."

Weather: A light drizzle for most of the day, but clearing to sun by 4. 22 degrees, but very humid when the sun came out.

Travel: Going out was fine. Coming back was *interesting*. XCity is off - they claim lineside problems to the north, which (for no adequately explored reason) screws up the South totally. Not good enough.
Just about manage to catch the 1737 at New Street, but only because it's running 4 late. The fares collector has a heated exchange with a lady who got her ticket stamped on a Vermin train (he's probably wrong, but won't admit it.) Then claims that he can't sell child fares on the train. While the two passengers are clearly lying that there wasn't time - they got a double seat while I was standing - and may be over 16 and not entitled to cheap fares, there's no place for falsehoods from the fares collector. Again, not good enough. Central Trains is formally challenged to issue a response - mail me with your official statement.
To conclude the narrative: 4 minutes late into Wolverhampton, then we get loaded up with all the people for Telford and places beyond who were dumped off the 1742 when it flunked in town. *Almost* everyone fitted on, but there were about half a dozen PIXIEs. (Passengers in excess of capacity: there wasn't enough room for them.)

Twenty-eight US states begin legal proceedings against large record labels. They're being accused of fixing CD prices. They're about 30% cheaper than in the UK, where a 1993 enquiry somehow found CDs weren't overpriced. In which case, how come it's cheaper for me to import discs from the US already, never mind after this case comes to fruition.

Claire Danes got a mention-in-passing in Sunday's Observer. She's cited between Jodie Foster and Natalie Portman as stars who took time out of their career to go to college.

The mention comes in an article about Anna Paquin. Thinking about all this, I'm struck by the similarities between Paquin and Danes' careers. A breath-taking debut leading to a major award. (Academy award for "The Piano"; Golden Globe for "My So-Called Life.) Then a titular role in an adaptation of a literary classic ("Jane Eyre" and "Romeo + Juliet".) One major role and a few cameos. ("Fly Away Home" and "Brokendown Place".) And a romp through pop culture. ("The Mod Squad" and "X-Men".)

But that's only a part of the story. We all know Danes has a sublime talent, and there are those who argue that her talents have yet to be shown in their greatest lights since. Equally, looking over her career, I reckon Paquin could also claim some frustration in her slow progress to the Hollywood firmament.

But *then* I read about Macaulay Culkin. Divorced at twenty. At this rate, he's going to have as strong a marriage record as Ross Geller. Is this the fate that I'd wish on Danes, Paquin, other massive talents? To blaze brightly for one or two roles, or to be slightly lesser lights, glowing in the corner for the decades to come. No contest. At all.

From the mail file... Allan
OK - chances are we probably came from monkeys! Indeed there's at least 2 living in Downing Street now! Thats [sic] Mr Blair and Mr Gordon (Tax Em Till They Bleed) Brown!
Hey, you lot voted these blighters in, you live with the results. I have a great alibi. Eating cheesecake with Manda, then heading to the top of Signal Hill in the middle of a light snow flurry *easily* beats watching Election 97. Even the bit where Portillo loses. Though I think I'll have to see that once more, just to make *entirely* sure (:

What was the first record to be played on Radio One and who was the Group and the Lead singer?
Easy peasy. Being the national speech network, Radio One has *never* played records. They would interrupt the flow of "Morningside," "As It Happens," and "The World This Weekend."

Oh, sorry, you meant *BBC* Radio 1, not *CBC* Radio One. Well, let me fire up the MP3 of that moment. It's just coming up to 7am, Saturday 30 September 1967.

That's Robin Scott, kissing Paul Hollingdale on R2 off to zero listeners. (The Sara Cox of his day.) That's Tony Blackburn, and *that* would be the first record. Blackburn's Theme, with vocals by Arnold The Dog and Tony Brain himself. Then the #3 record on the "Plum Thirty," a record that will wake people up if nothing will. It's "Flowers In The Rain" by top Brummie band The Move, Carl Wayne on the vocals, though popular myth credits them to Roy Wood, latterly of Wizzard.

Blackburn's career lasted longer than "Plum Thirty," though not by much.

Weather: Fog early, drizzle on and off for much of the day, with a little sun mid-afternoon. 22 does me.

Travel: No real problems. That'll be tomorrow.

Track Of The Day: What About Now - Lonestar (Lonely Grill, 2000). See four for today.

William Hague claims he regularly drunk fourteen pints of beer in his teens. The strapping baldie was employed by his father, a brewery driver, and got a pint at every stop. The rest of the world cannot contain its giggles at the implausibility of the claim.

Weather: Cloudy, with some sunny spells. 22, but feeling less humid than lately.

Travel: Work begins at Proof House, south of New Street. This is expected, it's been on the cards for a couple of years. What's not expected is some useless excuse for a workman cutting the signalling cable at Aston. Not once, not twice, but three times. The services to London are routed through Stafford and Lichfield, with coaches from Birmingham to Tamworth. It also knocks out the Cross City South, as that relies on Aston's signals south of Selly Oak.
Through it all, though, the Wolverhampton line keeps up a reasonable service. With honest announcements at New Street (thanks, Central Trains) I elect to take the bus in.
It was always going to be the bus back into town, and the London services are back on track by 1725. Hurrah!

Track Of The Day: My Baby Just Cares For Me - Nina Simone (Best Of, 1987). We only need to say total classic.

Chiltern Trains has the franchise renewed until 2024. They can now press on with the much-needed doubling between Anyho and Bicester, then launch some cracking trains. I used them for a couple of months last year, and they're really doing some great things already. Double the line, shave twenty minutes off the journey time (2h30 to 2h10 against 1h50 on Virgin's Euston line) and they're really away. I wish them very well.

National-pretending-to-be-local free rag Metro has been having a letters column rant about mobile phones lately. Tim Payne of South Woodford contributed this gem...

I am the drummer in a heavy metal rock band and like to take my drum kit on the train in the morning in order to practice. However, I find I am constantly distracted by other passengers who insist on trying to talk into their mobile phones. Have these people no consideration for others?

Weather: Cloudy start, sunny by lunchtime, 24. Some nice sea breezes in Brighton.

Travel: From home to Brighton. Getting to International station takes 105 minutes, the XC is diverted into and out of New Street, and takes forever to get anywhere. Then onto the London train, which arrives just about on time. No problems transferring to Victoria, and the Brighton flyer does its work like clockwork.

So, to Brighton and a weekend with top mates Mark and Shim. (This picture from March 99 in Toronto, but you get the drift.) They are fun, they are funky, and they are so suited to each other. They're also big fans of Countdown, so we download the freeware game.

And another excuse to watch Doppelgangland, the greatest episode of Buffy ever. It's got lots and lots and *lots* of Willow, which just cannot be bad.

Weather: Sunny, 26. Kinda hot.

Mark's school friend Cubitt (another Mark, but we all know him as Cubitt) turns up at 130 in the morning. An excuse to order pizza for lunch, throw boomerangs in the park, and walk up and down the pier. It's full of slow-moving tourists, which is kinda annoying, but we'll live.

Pop into a used record and book store on the way back, and pick up the single of Sky's Love Song - I don't recall seeing that anywhere, and 50p is a bargain. Also the Hooters' album with "Satellite" and "Karla With a K." Been looking for that for a good ten years, ever since "Karla" popped up in a beer commercial. Why did it not get a re-release then?

We combine on some questions from US-Millionaire, using the official CD of sounds and stings. Cubitt gets as high as $32,000, and gets The Free Shot wrong. Shim makes it to $64,000, but blows the Diamond Dozen question and slips back to $32K. Mark, though, tears his nerves to shreds and burns two lifelines on the Million Dollar Question - which range of mountains is Mount St Helens' in? Eventually, after a good five minutes, he gets the right answer. And we get to play the Million Pound Track. Yay Mark!

Top off a great evening with some of shim's potato, onion and cheese soup. It's, like, the greatest.

Weather: Some brightness early, but clouding over with some spots of rain later.

Into Brighton centre again, to pick up some much-needed groceries. Then into Starbucks, for a cappuccino and brownie cake. Gods, it's wonderful stuff. Also in the town centre, notch up some blank tapes - I'm getting through these like a knife through butter - and a copy of XY magazine. Turns out they've had a hard 99, real financial problems, but have come through and moved on.

First episode of The People Versus. Kirsty Young, the ITN newscaster turned B-list celeb, gets her own quiz show. Contestants submit their specialised subjects, the general public asks questions. If the contestant gets the question wrong, the member of the public who asked the question appears on the show. It's made by Celador, the people who developed Millionaire, has a similar set and lighting arrangement, and sounds by the same people. The show does lack a certain something, such as tension. As it develops, though, I think we'll get contestants at various stages of the process, heightening the tension.

Reruns of Fawlty Towers: The Germans. This is classic comedy. More so than Del Boy falling through the bar, voted #1 comedy clip in a poll today.