1.  Measure It. Nothing excites me more than when the end of year mountain height measurements are released. Is Everest still 8848 metres tall? Is Ben Nevis still the biggest in Britain? So many questions answered in one PDF. Obviously these figures aren’t just made up. Someone has to use a tape measure and a long stick. 2.  Picnics. Nothing beats a picnic with a spectacular view. Of clouds. I know you can get this type of view atop a...

    1.  Women.  Unusually for baseball films, the central character is a woman.  This shouldn’t be unusual – some of the most passionate and knowledgeable sport fans I know are women – but it is.  The use of a female narrator and the fact that the baseball isn’t the only story in the movie – the journey that Susan Sarandon’s character goes on isn’t really about baseball at all – gives it a totally...

1.  “There are practical little things in housekeeping which no man really understands.” For use when your wife returns home from a bit of shopping, to see that you have tried to do the dusting as she asked, but you have just dusted around all the objects on the mantel piece. She doesn’t think this is a good enough effort. 2.  “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavour.” For use when your friends...

The January transfer window closed yesterday after a month of fevered speculation and very little in the way of big deals.  Here are 7 Reasons that it was a major disappointment.   1.  Where’s Waldo? Despite strong rumours in December, Chilean defender Waldo Ponce was not signed by Wigan in the January transfer window.  I can’t begin to express how disappointing this was.  I wasn’t even consoled by their signing of Moses.  Waldo...

1.  It’s A Moot Point. Comparing Asterix and Tintin is like comparing Superman and Spiderman. Or Batwoman and Catwoman. Each has their own talents and each has their own flaws. And to be honest, no one cares. Not even me. And I’ve spent the last week indulging in the subject. 2.  Two Brains, One Brain. Asterix was invented by two people – illustrator, Albert Uderzo, and writer, Réne Goscinny – while Tintin was created by just...

1.  The Hair. Yes, so it is mustardy bordering on bright yellow, but at least when Asterix removes his helmet it reveals an uncontrollable mess. It doesn’t seem seem to matter what time of the day it is or where Tintin has been, he always has a Cameron Diaz hairstyle. There is just no product on the market that can hold a style for that long. 2.  Travel. Asterix actually goes to real places. Britain and Corsica and Spain and Belgium....