An Insight

So, a bit of background on me for anyone remotely interested! I was born in Portsmouth. My family and friends typically call me ‘Ade’.

I like most sports, in particular rugby and football. Unfortunately, I had to retire from playing rugby when I  turned 35 with a persistent hamstring injury and other things starting to fall apart! A couple of years later, I managed to get the hamstring sorted and sometimes my brain tells me I could still manage a game…

I still play 5-a-side football and regret the fact I missed playing so much in my twenties and I foolishly decided I couldn’t play both football and rugby at the same time.

My favourite band is Depeche Mode. I first saw them in 1982, age 14 at the Portsmouth Guildhall and have followed their career ever since. It’s good to see that now they’re ‘getting on’ a bit, it’s quite fashionable to like them.

I saw them more recently in London at the O2 (Dec ’09 & Feb ’10) and again at the Concert for Teenager Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall on the 17th February 2010. My wife and sons also joined me for this concert which was a really special evening. ex-band member, Alan Wilder, joining Martin Gore on stage for ‘Somebody’ was a great moment.

My biggest Depeche Mode cock-up was when I missed “Touring the Angel” at Wembley Arena due to a schoolboy error when I somehow managed to have the tickets for about 10 months but entered the wrong date in Outlook – We should have been there on the Saturday but having just set-off on the journey (on the Sunday) with my brother-in-law for his first ever DM concert, I decided then to check my tickets… Unforgivable!

I also like The Killers, The Jam and INXS. I’ve seen U2, REM and Madness in concert and regret not being able to have seen The Jam.

My comedy tastes were influenced from an early age by my Dad letting me watch Monty Python, Dave Allen, The Goodies, Fawlty Towers and others. I remember him getting me into a cinema aged 12 to watch the Life of Brian when it was a 14 screening. It’s just a shame we don’t seem to have as much top quality comedy now as then ‘though I realise that could just be a biased view.

Likes:

• Seeing my sons develop
• Our national heritage
• Depeche Mode
• British sports people who still compete to win, not just for money
• Knowing that I delivered a good piece of work
• The feeling when England won the Rugby World Cup in 2003
• Top Gear
• Ricky Gervais
• Jack Dee
• Derren Brown
• Mock the Week
• Dara O Briain
• Have I Got News For You?
• The sound of rain on canvas
• Freddie Flintoff post Ashes victory – no pretensions!
• Irony
• Genuine teamwork

England - Rugby World Cup Winners 2003

Dislikes:

• MP’s who abuse their position
  (should I just say MPs?)
• Lack of competitive sport in schools
• Do as I say, not do as I do
• Those limp, soggy handshakes that leave you wishing you carried anti-sceptic hand cleanser
• Our country’s soft touch approach to immigration
• Big Brother
  (the program, not CCTV)
• Most ITV programs
• Pretentious twa individuals

Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney - An Interesting Character

• Fast food chains sponsoring sport
• The number of foreign players in the Premiership
• The inflated salaries in The Premiership
• Footballers not caring about representing England
• The inflated salaries in banking
  (I know, I know… not counter staff)
• Squeezing houses into the South
• Dog owners who don’t clear up their dog’s mess
• Falseness ‘mate’
  (particularly when combined with a back-slap…)
• Shallowness (see above)
• Adrian “erh, um” Chiles
• Inconsiderate drivers
  (I just hope BMW never start making vans…)
• Blaggers, bluffers and bullshitters
• The thought that Steve McClaren may one day manage Pompey
• Able bodied drivers parking in disabled spots
  

  Royal Mail Van in Disabled Parking Bay