- Jul 30, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: GET A HAT
So, if you want to get ahead, get a hat. The imagery and sentiments in that newspaper ad from 1949 may be very much of their time but there is another message that can be drawn from it. And I don’t mean ‘ask your girlfriend’. UK hat manufacturers might have latched onto that slogan in a post-war attempt to revive the male habit of sporting one, yet underlying it is the notion that if you want to stand out, you need to get yourself a talking point. Anyway it’s a better look th
- Jul 23, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: NEVER FORGET
On Wednesday, we went to see the elephants in London’s Green Park; yes, just round the corner from the tube station, down by the side of The Ritz. It was almost a case of if not today then never as the herd is preparing to make a retreat as I write this column on Friday. These particular elephants – 100 of them – have been beautifully crafted from an invasive plant species, Lantana camara, by communities in the Nilgiri Hills of Southern India where the real thing coexists in
- Jul 16, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: SELECTIVE VOWEL REDUCTION SYNDROME
Having had a career of sorts in marketing, at times I fret about the ethics of trying to convince folk that they need something they can really do without. Marketing might also stand accused of creating so much choice that consumers simply get confused and ironically bypass your finely chosen words and strategies. Then you get the couldn’t-make-it-up branding stories; the countless research and design hours spent on a project that ultimately ends with the current logo being r
- Jul 9, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS
Small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Rush goalie. Two at the back, three in the middle, four at the front, one's gone home for his tea. Beans on toast? Possibly, don't quote me on that. Marvellous. Today’s introduction is courtesy of that great sage of soccer, the Fast Show’s Ron Manager. Forgive me for feeling nostalgic but those 30 years of hurt have grown to 55 since “Three Lions” was unleased for Euro 96 and the venerable (surely soon to be Sir) Gareth Southgate
- Jul 2, 2021
FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: A CORNISH TALE OR TWO
The daughter of a Sudanese astrophysicist and a Scottish diplomat, Eliza Shaddad, has a cosmopolitan background having honed her language skills across no less than seven different countries. She studied Jazz at London’s Guildhall before self-producing her first EP in 2012 and went on to add a further two EPs and an album. Now the record collection is set to grow with a new album, The Woman You Want, recorded at home in Cornwall with her producer husband B J Jackson, and due