This has been a long time in the making. My new radio play, ‘The Goblin King and Me’ goes out on Radio 4 on Thursday 8th January. I’ve just seen this wonderful preview in the new Radio Times! I’m so pleased they like it and I hope everyone else will. Please do listen! What a brilliant team!

I'll do this, too. 1 like = 1 plan for 2026

I've updated my blog post on Amazon's new Ask This Book feature. Possibly in response to concerns from the Authors Guild (not to mention widespread media coverage), Amazon has tweaked the feature to be less expansive writerbeware.blog/2025/12/12/k...

Hitchcock double-bill on BBC2 from 2:30pm (Dial M For Murder and Rear Window). Will stick that on in the background while I work.

Did a quick comparison of last year and this year's blog views. 2024 was 28 views. This year, 493. Hoping the latter wasn't mostly bots.

Doddie Weir once held the door open for me in a shop while he continued chatting to the shopkeeper. With him being a giant, and me being very much not a giant, I didn't have to duck under his outstretched arm at all.

A hearty cheers to you if you listened to today's show. If you missed it or have a strange hankering to hear it again, it'll be available on Mixcloud imminently! www.mixcloud.com/NoiseboxRadio/

A month to go until the first Listening Party! Tell your friends! #XTCmusic

Making a final appearance on @noiseboxradio.com today at 5pm 👇

The Embassy staff of Germany, France and the United Kingdom sing Schedryk in the Kyiv underground. Wonderful!

Happy Christmas to those that do. 🎄 Happy Thursday to everyone else. 😀

Tonight at midnight I bring you a ghost story via mum on @noiseboxradio.com dare you listen?

I make a very brief appearance (twice) in tonight's adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' on @noiseboxradio.com at 8:30pm. Which gives me an excuse to post this fella, who looks positively Dickensian and seems to have dropped a pizza slice from his pocket.

Surprise of the Day: My eldest sister, who isn't fussed about The Beatles in the slightest, confessed she didn't know why, but she used to enjoy watching A Hard Day's Night when we had a copy on VHS as kids. If she'd mentioned it sooner, I could have bought it on DVD for her Christmas.

I've written and produced a radio play (and with only minimal help from Charles Dickens)! "A Noisebox Christmas Carol" gets its premiere on Christmas Eve at 8:30pm and I'm very proud of it. The @noiseboxradio.com team have really stepped up and its all very silly indeed. A proper Christmas special.

Yay, new episode of #TwoDoorsDown on TV tonight, though looks like it's available on iPlayer now. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

In case you missed it… there was a seasonal miracle and HARK! THE 87th PRECINCT PODCAST was reborn, after a mere three and a half years in the wilderness. plinkhq.com/i/1179080344... #crimefiction #books #edmcbain #spikelee #kurosawa

Sad news at the passing of Ken White - muralist, painter, illustrator, and creator of XTC's Black Sea album.

I make a very brief appearance (twice) in tonight's adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' on @noiseboxradio.com at 8:30pm. Which gives me an excuse to post this fella, who looks positively Dickensian and seems to have dropped a pizza slice from his pocket.

I'll be popping up here at the weekend (Sunday 28th at 5pm) for a couple of hours with some damn fine tunes I've heard for the first time this past year. Listen if you're at a loose end, or even a tight one. 📻🎶

Just passing through the Pennines (namely Royston Vasey) as I head back to Manchester. The shops offer some rather questionable Christmas card options.

Watching final episode of #TheWarBetween. Really liked the first couple of episodes but not so much last two. Hope the ending lands well.

Hark! If you're an Ed McBain fan, you may be interested in this podcast!

Ooh, I think my daughter took heed of the hints I was dropping and bought me some XTC goodies for christmas from @burningshed.com!

Hark! If you're an Ed McBain fan, you may be interested in this podcast!

HARK! It’s an #87thPrecinct podcast. Yes for the first time in 42 months, we’re back behind the microphones to discuss Spike Lee’s adaptation of High and Low. Has he got an eye on the #EdMcBain source material as well? Find out in our new episode. Share, please! www.podchaser.com/podcasts/har...

One of those promos the BBC used to be so good at making. A raft of comedy talent on display here

What? One week til Christmas? Well then, time for a yuletide bop! youtu.be/Xtvp1u0lgGw?...

Yuletide felicitations! The 1975 Christmas 'Radio TV Times' magazine is now available! 🎁 Explore 10 days of December 1975’s TV listings across both BBC and ITV. Open the PDF, click on a programme title and start streaming from various platforms. 🤶 visualmutterings.com/1975-christm...

Your 20 minute warning - tonight, only on @noiseboxradio.com, an hour long Bandwidth focusing on the tunes from cinema and telly that have grabbed me this year. And the last show before Christmas, and the first anniversary of the show! Do join me :)

Penultimate blog post of the year. 'Mitch Benn - A Christmas Carol'. www.gayleramage.co.uk/post/theatre...

From ten years ago: I did a drawing of my crismis outfit. #crismis #outfit #idiot #bunpods?

Your annual reminder to be careful when choosing your fonts.

All the lovely folk following me solely for the 2026 XTC Listening Parties, I've created @xtclisteningparty.bsky.social which I'll be using for the parties (happy to have you still follow me, too 😀).

Excellent performance of A Christmas Carol, by @mitchbenn.bsky.social this evening!

Out at my last event of the year. Hopefully I'll be able to applaud properly at the end, this time

All the lovely folk following me solely for the 2026 XTC Listening Parties, I've created @xtclisteningparty.bsky.social which I'll be using for the parties (happy to have you still follow me, too 😀).

Morning! Well, we like to be thorough, so today we're looking at the 1960s Number 1s exclusive to Melody Maker! A dash through eleven records that only made the top spot in their pages. Listen, share, enjoy. Thanks! plinkhq.com/i/1531129636...

Arsenic: to steal a bum.

A round-up of all my first-time album listens of 2025! #MusicSky www.gayleramage.co.uk/post/new-to-...

Alex Horne sings 'How long has this been going on?' for 24 hours

Arsenic: to steal a bum.

Treat yourself to some linguistic excellence today lads, you won't regret it <3 www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Lk...

If you haven't read Stanley Baxter's authorised biography, I highly recommend that you do. May have to give it a re-read, myself.

My hero of 2025

Me, interacting with people at work from now until the Christmas holidays:

Was just made aware of this. 👀 www.kickstarter.com/projects/idi...

Was just made aware of this. 👀 www.kickstarter.com/projects/idi...

Once you advertise you're committed! So here we go. George Harris: A Retrospective - Paintings from 1979 to 2025 St John’s Hall, Princes Street Friday 23rd January 4.00-8.00 - Saturday 24th 9.00 -5.00 - Sunday 25th 9.00 – 4.00 (Refreshments available)

HOW DO? This week - taking a break from 60s Number One sorting - we're having a casual chat about the remastered Anthology series and other bits of Beatle news. We'll be back with more Sixties Sounds Soon! plinkhq.com/i/1531129636...