"Go Pontin." OR ELSE.

'Look-In', May 1974 - Richard Todd*, Hildegard Neil, Brian Blessed, poor-quality Dutch rockers Golden Earring AND Duncan McKenzie! *In prototype 'Adam Ant' gear.

UK Top 20 Charts January 1979 I'm still unsure of my own notation/hieroglyphics...

It's our fourth birthday tomorrow! All welcome! @theexcelsior.bsky.social

January 2018 Legendary Viz 1. 'Hermit the Frog':

"𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗲; 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗶-𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗻. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲, 𝗖𝗼𝘀 𝗜'𝗺 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗬𝗢𝗨; 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗜'𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵 - 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜'𝗺 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼." '𝗚(𝗜-𝗝𝗼)𝗲𝗻𝗼' - 𝗗𝗲𝘅𝘆'𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗻-𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗥𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀

"Well, that's a matter of opinion!" 1. Mick Jones, Leeds United. (The aptly-named 'Shoot!' magazine, March 1970.) One of the great straplines of the 20th century. Pic courtesy of @TheSkyStrikers

Tommy Wright (1944 - 2026) One of the first footballers I ever remember. League Championship winner with Everton and played right back for England in that epic game against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup. One of the most unassuming men you could ever hope to meet. RIP Tommy.

Only ten pee!

I used to take Rover to the park and throw prog albums for him to retrieve. He had no problem with Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator or King Crimson, but he nearly choked on a second hand copy of 'Man of Miracles'. It was my own fault: I should have remembered that it's dangerous for dogs to fetch Styx.

Bob Latchford scores two against his old club on his 25th birthday; Archie Styles scores for his old club whilst playing for his new club; elsewhere, goals for future/past Toffees Duncan McKenzie and Henry Newton. "Everton, Everton - top of the league! (Wirh thanks to X's 'The Year is 1975')

An Ali McGraw/Ryan O'Neal mock-porcelain 'Love Story' music box. $4.98! (add 65c postage) Boss!

Well, that cheered me up. Well done, Thierno.

Great photographs of the twentieth century. From left to right: Spencer Tracy ('Captains Courageous'); Deborah Kerr ('The Gypsy Moths'); Clark Gable ('The Misfits').

Fabulous Photographs... Vanessa Redgrave campaigning in Williamson Square, 1983:

Looking forward to this one!

Most people think The Sun has always been a repulsive, dangerous, right-wing propaganda mesmerist for the mean-hearted, uneducated proletariat, but at one stage it was capable of educating and enlightening the masses, rather than stoking the fires of their fury. This lovely art-print of Scotland

If you need to vomit in an emegency, fifteen seconds of 'Good Morning Britain' should do the trick.

Film of the Day 'Le Quai des Brumes' (France 1938) www.saintvespaluus.co.uk/film-25-36/l...

David Bowie January 8th 1947 to January 10th 2016. Ten years today. Not a day goes by without... And after ten years, I've finally lit the candle at the Bowie shrine. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧.

'My' Everton 1970s FA Cup 3rd Rounds 1. 1970 - I was only little. Frank took me round see his mate in some tower block (anywhere from Everton to Bootle). Frank went on the afternoon ale with his mate, and I was 'minded' by his mate's nine year old son. We played Bobby Charlton's Casdon Soccer all

Badly-Drawn, Class-Hatred Comics Present: 'The Four Marys'!

𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧! (𝟯𝟴) 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘄𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝘂𝗽! 𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 The Excelsior! @theexcelsior.bsky.social

Pick of the Pops 7.1.79 Rod! Olivia! Chaka! Paul!* *Evans www.saintvespaluus.co.uk/music/pick-o...

𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱. 𝟳𝟵 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆. #DavidBowie

Viz 6.1.21 The trials and tribulations of Dominic Calvert-Lewin!

Off to give blood today - haven't donated in years; do they s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ give you some magazines and a cup?

44p off in vouchers in 1977! Replace the jelly (gelatin based) and the liquorice allsorts (just ****ing horrible) - and substitute a bag of Space Raiders and some cans of Badger bitter for the Plumrose Bacon Grill - and that's pretty much my 'big shop' when I started out a few years later as an NQT!

Viz January 5th 2016 'Captain Morgan and His Hammond Organ' Its's the 'Woo-ahhh! Bodyform!' that gets me every time!

4.1.18 Germany, early yesterday morning. THE classic train destination for Liverpool's tonsorially-different feral youth - and/or Tom Davies:

January 1986 Classic Viz 'Budgie remark':

Viz, January 2017 A letter from 'Nuts 'N' May' - "Britain's best-loved nut forum with animal rights guitarist out of Queen Brian May":

Scariest away mobs I ever encountered: Millwall 1988 West Ham 1980 Chelsea 1979 Manchester United 1976 Eagle Annual 1970

Sal. Cologne. 2.1.18 I love this pic - absolutely freezing, but not as cold as Shropshire this morning!

𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 Jeanette Winterson is a genius who dwells amongst us. The Young Marble Giants book is work of dedication, devotion and love. I loved Jon Spurling's detailed analysis of 70s history and culture (as seen through the prism of football) - so much better than Dominic

2.1.14 The late, great Frank Worthington on Eggheads.

2.1.16 Remember those old tabloid stories of images of Jesus turning up in the most unlikely of settings such as naan bread or toast? Well, my last night's vegetable fajita looked like a symbolic/graphic representation of David Bowie's vastly-underrated 1995 album '1. Outside'. Scary or what?

Favourite Books (Fiction) of 2025 'Permafrost' is superb, and a Catalan LGBTQ classic of the future. Barbara Pym is borderline genius, and Lolly Willowes is my favourite book of 1926! The two Booker novels at best OK - and I'll definitely read more Michèle Roberts in 2026. Non-fiction to follow.

1.1.79 Burden Park Supporting EFC away was such an adventure. Go away with the Toffs - come back days later on many occasions. Not sure if part-time bingo/pub work to bolster my student impecunity would (in any way)cover the cost of tickets, travel and ale of 2026, but I'm sure I'd have found a way.

A cryptic (and not-so-cryptic) guide to the first nine pubs on a late 70s/early 80s Townsend Lane/Breck Road pub crawl. Starting from the rail bridge and going up hill (and they're not in order). Your marks out of ten (your own criteria) for any of the pubs would be appreciated ...

Classic Viz February 1988 'Jelly Head - The Girl With No Brain' A fairly atypical Viz story (it's strangely borderline charming), but I've always loved this strip! Viz has helped me through some dark times over the past forty years. God bless them, one and all!

2025 marked thirty eight years as a vegetarian; in reality, it should have kicked in soooner - based on the 'meat' choices available at my "some proficiency in hand-to-hand combat is both desirable and necessary, young man", bully-boy school in the 1970s If you found yourself on 'fourth dinners'*,

December 28th 1994 Our first Christmas/New Year together in my little city centre flat. I've pieced together this pic from an old Kodak '24 shot' cartridge set. Sal will always be the love ❤️ of my life. Just beautiful!

Favourite Merseyside-based artist 'Jesus' album cover? Askey for me.

New 𝘝𝘪𝘻. Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' - a letter from '𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙜'𝙨 𝙎𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲'𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺' - hosted by Emperor Ming the Merciless:

I'm selling books, literary-themed jewellery and occasionally reading Dominique Barbéris's brilliant 'A Sunday in Ville d'Avray' this afternoon at The Reader Bookshop this afternoon. If you fancy an afternoon of books, coffee and mellow German electronica, why not pop in and say 'hello'?

𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗙𝗼𝘅𝘅. 𝘽𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙖𝙧. 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 Single of the Week. July 12th 198𝟢. 𝖨 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝖩𝗈𝗁𝗇, 𝗆𝖾.

Indie 45s from 1979/1980. Some awesome records - but you'd need to pull a gun on me to play the And The Native Hipsters single again.... #weekendsingles

John 'St Elmo's Fire' Parr wrote the 'Gillette: The Best A Man Can Get' song/jingle. Somewhere, an electric chair is waiting.

I don't remember what we talked about, but, I reckon these got a mention: Feyenoord being Number 85 in Subbuteo; Ann Way; Quincy M.D.; seeing Johnny Depp in the Salutation; Young Marble Giants; the 5-1 away defeats of Leicester and QPR in 77/78 - AND Rosemary Leach in 'Sadie It's Cold Outside'.