Great British Rock and Blues Festival

The start of the new year is always a quiet time around the coast of Britain so the Butlin’s resort at Skegness in Lincolnshire is livening things up with its Great British Rock and Blues Festival. The festival runs from 18-21 January and features some of the biggest and best stars of the rock and…

Bognor ready to rock

It’s not long into the new year before the festivals kick-off again and next weekend there’s the Rockaway Beach Festival to look forward to at the Butlin’s resort in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Now in its fourth installment the festival takes place from 11-13 January 2019 and features Gary Numan, Maximo Park, Barry Adamson, Laetitia…

Sir Malcolm Campbell

Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of the death of one of Britain’s greatest racing pioneers, Sir Malcolm Campbell. Born in Chislehurst, Kent, Campbell passed away on 31 December 1948 at the age of 63, having held the world speed records on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s, a feat…

Cesar Romero

The Tinseltown rumour mill is rife with stories about Warner Bros’ upcoming Batman movie starting production later this year, with the Penguin being heavily touted as the main villain of director Matt Reeves’ upcoming movie. But, who knows? Perhaps The Joker will return as the Caped Crusader’s nemesis in the one-off production… after all it…

Rivelino

The 2018 World Cup in Russia was a marvelous festival of football won by a wonderful team from France but in 48 years’ time how many of that great side will be remembered in the way the iconic Brazilian team that lifted the trophy in 1970 is. Carlos Alberto captained Brazil to glory in 1970…

Manny Pacquiao

He was renowned as being boxing’s only eight-division world champion when he retired in 2016 after beating Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand to reclaim his WBO welterweight crown, but when you’ve won 58 fights it must be hard not to go for 60… which could explain why Philippines legend Manny Pacquiao returned to the…

Australian Open

The first of the great sporting institutions of the year, the Australian Open tennis championships celebrate their 114th anniversary in 2019… with prize money at Melbourne Park up 10 per cent on 2018 to A$60.5 million and a brand new ‘player pod’, part of ongoing redevelopment work that offers players the best training and treatment…

Pabst survives to party on

Remember Hofmeister, Harp, Carling, Skol, Kestrel and McEwans… just some of the formerly popular lager brands that flew off British shelves never to return, well another once-famous name on both sides of the pond almost went the same way last month. American lager Pabst Blue Ribbon, known for its economical price, was locked in a…

Woody flavour to Manchester festival

Alongside the mass of modern breweries and beer styles, a wall of wooden casks will greet traditionalists at Manchester Central in January when the north’s biggest beer festival comes to town. For more than 50 years breweries have been moving progressively to racking beer into metal casks and today these dominate the market but a…

Exeter in festive spirit

Exeter and East Devon CAMRA are holding their Festival of Winter Ales from 18-19 January 2019 at St James’ Park, home of Exeter City FC. Organisers have assembled more than 76 real ales, plus cider and perry, for the 30th instalment of the festival, which also has live music from Go Tell Alice on Friday…