Archive for the ‘Best of’ Category
Best of 2022

Film:
Elvis
Last year: –
Foreign-Language Film:
Hit the Road
Last year: –
Documentary:
Nothing Compares
This Much I Know to be True
TS Eliot: Into ‘The Waste Land’
Last year: –
Male Lead:
Austin Butler – Elvis
Tom Hanks – A Man Called Otto
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Bill Nighy – Living
Last year: –
Female Lead:
Carey Mulligan – She Said
Olivia Coleman – Empire of Light
Last year: –
Male Support:
Brendan Gleason – The Banshees of Inisherin
Anthony Hopkins – Armageddon Time
Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans
Last year: –
Female Support:
Mariana Trevino – A Man Called Otto
Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans
Last year: –
Director:
Baz Luhrmann – Elvis
Last year: –
Writer:
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Last year: –
Editing:
Jonathan Redmond & Matt Villa – Elvis
Last year: –
Cinematography:
Jamie Ramsay – Living
Roger Deakins – Empire of Light
Charlotte Bruus Christensen – All the Old Knives
Last year: –
Film Music:
Elvis
Last year: –
Single/Song:
Grace – Kae Tempest
Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
Last year: –
Album:
Black Acid Soul – Lady Blackbird
The Line is a Curve – Kae Tempest
Last year: –
Gig:
Lady Blackbird – Barbican
Kae Tempest – Brighton Dome
La Voix Humaine & Les Mamelles de Tirésias – Glyndebourne
Last year: –
Play:
Jerusalem (Apollo, Shaftesbury Ave)
Last year: –
Art Exhibition:
Post-War Modern: new art in Britain 1945-65 (Barbican)
Last year: –
Book:
Good Pop Bad Pop – Jarvis Cocker
Four Thousand Weeks – Oliver Burkemann
The Big Goodbye – Sam Wasson
The Promise – Damon Galgut
Last year: –
TV:
SAS Rogue Heroes (BBC)
The Offer (Paramount)
Last year: –
Podcast:
Soul Music (BBC)
Last Year: –
Sport:
England at World Cup in Qatar
Last Year: –
Dance:
–
Last Year: –
Event:
The Queen’s Jubilee video with Paddington
The wreck of Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance being found on the sea floor, in a remarkably good state of preservation
…contrasted by sinking of the warship Moskva in the Black Sea and the immortal “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!”
The abject failure of Liz Truss and her rapid sinking, beaten even by a lettuce
[professional] Sharing a screen credit with Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
Dearly departed:
Terry Hall, Keith Levine, Pharoah Sanders, Jean-Luc Godard, Lamont Dozier, David Warner, Claes Oldenburg, Monty Norman, James Caan, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Paula Rego, Jack Higgins, William Hurt, Shane Warne, Ivan Reitman, Gorbachev, Monica Vitti, Norma Waterson, Michael Lang, Sidney Poitier, Maxi Jazz, Pele, Vivienne Westwood & Jordan.
Best of 2020 and links to earlier Bests Of [there is no Best of 2021 …yet]

Best of 2020

Film:
Lovers Rock
Babyteeth
Nomadland
The White Tiger
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Another Round
Queen & Slim
Le Corbeau, Vertigo
Last year: Joker, Mid90s
Foreign-Language Film:
The White Tiger
Another Round
Les Miserables (2019)
Last year: Parasite
Documentary:
Crip Camp
Dick Johnson is Dead
Last year: Rolling Thunder Review
Male Lead:
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Adarsh Gourav – The White Tiger
Tom Hanks – News of the World
Ralph Fiennes – The Dig
Mads Mikkelsen – Another Round
Last year: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
Female Lead:
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Michelle Pfeiffer – French Exit
Eliza Scanlen – Babyteeth
Kate Winslet – Ammonite
Jodie Turner-Smith – Queen & Slim
Last year: Elizabeth Debicki (Virginia, Vita & Virginia)
Male Support:
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Mauritanian
Mark Rylance – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Last year: Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin in Joker
Female Support:
Helena Zengel – News of the World
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Saoirse Ronan – Ammonite
Olivia Coleman – The Father
Last year: Kaitlyn Dever as Amy in Booksmart
Director:
Steve McQueen – Lovers Rock
Shannon Murphy – Babyteeth
Thomas Vinterberg – Another Round
Ramin Bahrani – The White Tiger
Last year: Todd Phillips (Joker), Jonah Hill (Mid 90s)
Writer:
Ramin Bahrani – The White Tiger
News of the World – Paul Greengrass & Luke Davies
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Aaron Sorkin (though I don’t generally like him as a writer, too many words)
Rita Kalnejais – Babyteeth
Last year: Jonah Hill (Mid 90s)
Editing:
?
Last year: ?
Cinematography:
Andrew Commis – Babyteeth
Paolo Carnera – The White Tiger
Dariusz Wolski – News of the World
Hoyte van Hoytema – Tenet
Last year: Roger Deakins – 1917
Film Music:
Lovers Rock
Last year: Rolling Thunder Review
Single/Song:
Long Tailed Winter Bird – Paul McCartney
Reborn a Queen – Naughty Alice
Kunta Kinte Dub – The Revolutionaries
Last year: Lately – Celeste
Album:
McCartney III – Paul McCartney
Letter to You – Bruce Springsteen
Last year: Ghosteen – Nick Cave
Gig:
Sarah Jane Morris – Ronnie Scott’s
ROE – The Waiting Room
A Bowie Celebration – Empire, Shepherd’s Bush
Last year: Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets (Roundhouse)
Play:
0
Last year: A Taste of Honey (Trafalgar Studios)
Art Exhibition:
London Calling (Museum of London) – the only one I got to this year 😦
A Surge of Power by Marc Quinn going up on the base of the deposed Colston statue, Bristol
Boy & Bear – Brandon Hill, Bristol (thanks to Dylan on my birthday)
Last year: Van Gogh in Britain (Tate B)
Book:
Now We Shall Be Entirely Free – Andrew Miller
The Plague – Albert Camus
Summer – Ali Smith
Last year: A Woman of No Importance – Sonia Purnell; The Quiet American
TV:
Lovers Rock (BBC)
The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
The Crown – S4 (Amazon)
The Romantics and Us (BBC2)
The Bridge S1
Last year: After Life (Netflix)
Podcast:
Heavyweight
Adam Buxton
The Happiness Lab
Last Year: 13 Minutes to the Moon
Sport:
Spurs 2 – Arsenal 1 (11.7.20)
Dance:
Mam (Sadlers Wells)
Last Year: The Red Shoes (Sadlers Wells)
Event:
Statue of Edward Colston being chucked in Bristol harbour
The Winter Solstice at Newgrange, Ireland
Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties
Dearly departed:
- Andy Taylor (with whom I worked at Little Dot and Channel 4)
- Albert Uderzo
- Jimmy Cobb
- Alan Parker
- Terry Jones
- Carl Reiner
- Kirk Douglas
- Sean Connery
- John Hume
- Ruth Bader Ginsberg
- Terence Conran
- JJ Williams
- Nobby Stiles
- Nicholas Parsons
- Tim Brooke Taylor

Best of 2019 and links to earlier Bests Of
Best of 2019

The scene of the year
Film:
Joker
Mid90s
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Rolling Thunder Review
Booksmart
Last year: Vice, Cold War
Foreign-Language Film:
Parasite
Last year: The Square
Documentary:
Rolling Thunder Review
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love; Knock Down the House; Apollo 11
Male Lead:
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
Sunny Suljic (Mid 90s)
Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell)
Taron Egerton as Reggie Dwight/Elton John in Rocketman; Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Michael B. Jordan (Just Mercy)
Last year: Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody
Female Lead:
Elizabeth Debicki (Virginia, Vita & Virginia)
Beanie Feldstein (Molly, Booksmart)
Gemma Arterton (Vita, Vita & Virginia)
Last year: Joanna Kulig – Cold War
Male Support:
Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin in Joker
Al Pacino – The Irishman
Olan Prenatt as Fuckshit in Mid90s; Lucas Hedges as Ian in Mid90s; Stephen Merchant as Deertz in Jojo Rabbit; Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Na-Kel Smith as Ray in Mid90s
Last year: Terry Notary (The Square)
Female Support:
Kaitlyn Dever as Amy in Booksmart
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Laura Rose in Motherless Brooklyn; Scarlett Johansson as Rosie in Jojo Rabbit
Last year: Amy Adams(Vice)
Director:
Todd Phillips (Joker)
Jonah Hill (Mid 90s)
Last year: Adam McKay (Vice)
Writer:
Todd Phillips & Scott Silver – Joker
Jonah Hill (Mid 90s)
Taika Waititi – Jo Jo Rabbit
Last year: Adam McKay (Vice)
Editing:
tbc
Last year: Vice
Cinematography:
Roger Deakins – 1917
Last year: Lukasz Zal (Cold War)
Film Music:
Rolling Thunder Review
Last year: Bohemian Rhapsody / Cold War
Single/Song:
Lately – Celeste
Last year: I Want You (Sam Reid & Claudia Jolly – The Girl from the North Country)
Album:
Ghosteen – Nick Cave
Kiwanuka – Michael Kiwanuka; Western Stars – Bruce Springsteen
Last year: The Girl from the North Country (London cast)
Gig:
Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets (Roundhouse)
Kamasi Washington (Brixton Academy)
Patti Smith (Westminster Central Hall)
The Midnight Special – Abbey Road anniversary (Jazz Cafe)
Abdullah Ibrahim (Cadogan Hall)
Proms: Jonny Greenwood (Albert Hall)
Last year: David Byrne – Hammersmith Odeon
Play:
A Taste of Honey (Trafalgar Studios)
Last year: Girl from the North Country [2nd viewing]
Art Exhibition:
Van Gogh in Britain (Tate B)
Preraphaelite Sisters (NPG)
Tate St Ives
Last year: Picasso: 1932 (Tate Modern)
Book:
A Woman of No Importance – Sonia Purnell
The Order of the Day – Eric Vuillard
The Cut-out Girl – Bart Van Es
The Quiet American, To Have & Have Not, The Catcher in the Rye, The Drowning Pool
Last year: The Leithen Stories – John Buchan
TV:
After Life (Netflix)
The Boys (Amazon), The Crown – S3 (Amazon)
Last year: Mrs Wilson
Podcast:
13 Minutes to the Moon
The Tip-Off
Sport:
England beating the All-Blacks at the Rugby World Cup, Japan
Dance:
The Red Shoes (Sadlers Wells)
Event:
150th anniversary of Girton College (including event at Trinity, Dublin)
50th anniversary of Moon Landing/Apollo 11
Mythos: The Gods – Stephen Fry
Dearly departed:
- Emily Hartridge (who I made Oh Shit I’m 30! with)
- Judith Kerr (with whom I was on Woman’s Hour)
- Leon Kossoff
- D.A. Pennebaker
- Clive James
- Jonathan Miller (who I walk with in Aldeburgh while he was having a cheeky fag)
- Albert Finney
- Gordon Banks (his Esso medal hangs on my wall along with his 1970 World Cup team mates)
- Peter Fonda
- Ginger Baker
- Doris Day
- Dr John
- Mark Hollis (who I have a vague memory of meeting briefly at Solus, my first job)
- Agnès Varda
- Mary Warnock (Mistress of Girton in my era)
- Jeremy Hardy (he contributed to my Omagh project at Channel 4)
- Terry O’Neill

Performance of the year
Best of 2018

Cold War
Film:
Vice
Cold War
Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody
Last year: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Florida Project
Foreign-Language Film:
The Square
Cold War
Last year: The Square (Sweden)
Documentary:
Faces Places
Three Identical Strangers, RBG, Bombshell, The Ballymurphy Precedent
Male Lead:
Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody
Christian Bale – Vice
Viggo Mortensen – Green Book, Robert Redford – The Old Man & The Gun, Steve Coogan – Stan & Ollie
Last year: Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread, Steve Carell – Battle of the Sexes
Female Lead:
Olivia Coleman – The Favourite
Joanna Kulig – Cold War
Last year: Frances McDormand – Three Billboards
Male Support:
Terry Notary – The Square
Steve Carell – Vice, Sam Rockwell – Vice
Last year: Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards, Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards
Female Support:
Amy Adams – Vice
Sissy Spacek – The Old Man & The Gun, Rachel Weisz – The Favourite, Emma Stone – The Favourite, Nina Arianda – Stan & Ollie
Last year: Brooklyn Prince – Florida Project, Mary J Blige – Mudbound
Director:
Adam McKay – Vice
Last year: Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards
Writer:
Adam McKay – Vice
Last year: Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards
Editing:
Vice
Last year: Dunkirk
Cinematography:
Lukasz Zal – Cold War
Last year: Roger Deakins – Blade Runner 2049 (went on to pick up his 1st Oscar for this, after numerous nominations)
Film Music:
Bohemian Rhapsody
Cold War
Last year: Three Billboards
Single/Song:
I Want You (Sam Reid & Claudia Jolly – The Girl from the North Country)
Last year: Willie Nelson – God’s Problem Child
Album:
The Girl from the North Country (London cast)
The Prophet Speaks (Van)
Last year: undecided
Gig:
David Byrne – Hammersmith Odeon
The Midnight Special – White Album anniversary; Tom Robinson – Shepherds Bush Empire; Hothouse Flowers/Hot Press anniversary – Nells; Donal Lunny & Andy Irvine – Barbican
Last year: Hothouse Flowers – Electric Ballroom, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Millennium Dome, Avishai Cohen – Barbican
Play:
Girl from the North Country [2nd viewing]
Last year: Girl from the North Country, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Art Exhibition:
Picasso: 1932 (Tate Modern)
Collections Privees (Musee Marmottan)
Last year: Basquiat (Barbican)
Book:
The Leithen Stories – John Buchan
Last year: Everybody Lies – Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
TV:
Mrs Wilson (BBC)
13 Reasons Why (Netflix), Maltese (More 4)
Last year: Stranger Things S1
Sport:
Ireland beating the All-Blacks
The demeanour of the England team at the World Cup in Russia
Event:
50th anniversary of The Beatles’ White Album
Dearly departed:
- Amos Oz
- Philip Roth
- Aretha Franklin
- William Goldman
- Chas (Hodges)
- Burt Reynolds
- Eric Bristow
- Stephen Hawking
- Ken Dodd
- Roger Bannister
- Dennis Edwards
- Peter Wyngarde
- Dolores O’Riordan
![[Nov] Ireland beat world champions New Zealand for the first time ever on home soil - Jacob Stockdale scores the only try](https://aarkangel.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/ire-all-blacks.jpeg)
[Nov] Ireland beat world champions New Zealand for the first time ever on home soil – Jacob Stockdale scores the only try of the match
Best of 2017

The Florida Project
Film:
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
The Florida Project
Lady Bird
Last Flag Flying
Last year: Manchester by the Sea, American Honey
Male Lead:
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread
Steve Carell – Battle of the Sexes
Last year: Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Female Lead:
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards
Bria Vinaite – The Florida Project
Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird
Last year: Sasha Lane – American Honey
Male Support:
Woody Harrelson – Three Billboards
Sam Rockwell – Three Billboards
Last year: Jack Reynor – Sing Street
Female Support:
Brooklyn Prince – Florida Project
Mary J Blige – Mudbound
Last year: Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
Director:
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards
Last year: Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Writer:
Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards
Last year: Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Editing:
Dunkirk
Cinematography:
Roger Deakins (my old boss, in my first job) – Blade Runner 2049
Last year: Vittorio Storaro – Cafe Society
Film Music:
Three Billboards
Last year: Sing Street
International Film:
The Square (Sweden)
Single/Song:
Willie Nelson – God’s Problem Child
Last year: In Tiburon – Van Morrison
Album:
Kamasi Washington – Harmony of Difference
Bjork – Utopia
Avishai Cohen – 1970
Last year: Blackstar – David Bowie, Keep Me Singing – Van Morrison
Gig:
Hothouse Flowers – Electric Ballroom
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Millennium Dome
Avishai Cohen – Barbican
U2 – Joshua Tree – Twickenham
Hollie Cook – Borderline
Last year: Imagining Ireland – Friday 29 April 2016 at Festival Hall
Play:
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Girl from the North Country
St Joan (Donmar)
The Ferryman
Last year: Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park)
Art Exhibition:
Basquiat – Barbican
Last year: You Say You Want a Revolution? (V&A)
Book:
Everybody Lies – Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
M Train – Patti Smith
My Promised Land – Ari Shavit
Last year: The Sellout – Paul Beatty, Judas – Amos Oz
TV:
Stranger Things S1
Last year: Ambulance
Sport:
Lions beating & drawing with All-Blacks
Harry Kane scores his 8th hattrick of the year becoming top European goal-scorer and taking record for most Premiership goals in a year
Event:
?
Dearly departed:
- Roger Moore
- John Hurt
- Martin Landau
- Sean Hughes
- Brian Kant
- Jerry Lewis
- Christine Keeler
- Walter Becker
Best of 2016 – with links to all previous years
Best of 2016
Updated 1.1.17 & 7.1.17 – put to bed 10.1.17

American Honey
Film:
Manchester by the Sea
American Honey
Sing Street
American Pastoral
The Accountant
Allied
The Nice Guys
Male Lead:
Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Ben Affleck – The Accountant
Tom Hanks – Sully
Shia LaBeouf – American Honey
Chris Pine – Hell or High Water
Brad Pitt – Allied
Ryan Gosling – The Nice Guys
Female Lead:
Sasha Lane – American Honey
Rebecca Hall – Christine
Marion Cotillard – Allied
Dakota Fanning – American Pastoral
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins
Amy Adams – Arrival
Male Support:
Jack Reynor – Sing Street
Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins
Aaron Taylor-Johnson – Nocturnal Animals
Tom Wilkinson – Denial
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Female Support:
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
Hayley Squires – I, Daniel Blake
Jennifer Connelly – American Pastoral
Riley Keough – American Honey
Margot Robbie – Suicide Squad
Director:
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Ewan McGregor – American Pastoral
John Carney – Sing Street
Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
Woody Allen – Cafe Society
Writer:
Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
John Carney – Sing Street
Andrea Arnold – American Honey
Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals
Eric Heisserer – Arrival
Editing:
Joe Walker – Arrival
Jennifer Lame – Manchester by the Sea
Cinematography:
Vittorio Storaro – Cafe Society
Rodrigo Prieto – Silence
Film Music:
Sing Street
Single/Song:
In Tiburon – Van Morrison
Album:
Blackstar – David Bowie
Keep Me Singing – Van Morrison
Gig:
Imagining Ireland – Friday 29 April 2016 at Festival Hall
Bruce Springsteen – Wembley stadium
Fela Kuti tribute – Bukky Leo & Black Egypt (Jazz Cafe)
Carole King – Tapestry (Hyde Park)
Play:
Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park)
Things I Know to be True – Andrew Bovell (Lyric, Hammersmith)
How the Other Half Loves – Alan Aykborn (Haymarket)
Art Exhibition:
You Say You Want a Revolution? (V&A)
Georgia O’Keeffe (Tate Modern)
opening day of the Design Museum, Kensington
Russell-Cotes gallery, Bournemouth
Graves gallery, Sheffield
Neue Pinakothek, Munich
Book:
The Sellout – Paul Beatty
Judas – Amos Oz
Read This Year:
All Fall Down – James Leo Herlihy
TV:
Ambulance
Humans 2.0
The Night Manager
Long Lost Family
Sport:
Ireland beating New Zealand at rugby in Chicago
Jack Laugher and Chris Mears winning diving gold at Rio Olympics
Event:
Commemorating the Easter Rising at the GPO in Dublin (100 years to the minute after, right on the spot)
David Bowie trip to Berlin with Noah
Dearly departed:
- David Bowie
- Muhammad Ali
- Gene Wilder
- Leonard Cohen
- George Michael
- Bobby Wellins
- Terry Wogan
- Ronnie Corbett
- Johan Cruyff
- Robert Vaughn
- Peter Vaughan
- Maurice White
-
Frank Finlay
-
George Martin
-
Sylvia Anderson
-
Arnold Wesker
Best of 2015

The Big Short: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling
Film:
The Big Short
Grandma
Me & Earl & The Dying Girl
The Hateful Eight
Chappie
Ex-machina
Amy
Male Lead:
Steve Carell – The Big Short
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Samuel Jackson – The Hateful Eight
Oscar Isaac – Ex-machina
Female Lead:
Lily Tomlin – Grandma
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Anne Dorval – Mommy
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Greta Gerwig – Mistress America
Male Support:
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Ryan Gosling – The Big Short
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Female Support:
Jennifer Jason Lee – The Hateful Eight
Cara Delevingne – Paper Towns
Rooney Mara – Carol
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
Julie Walters – Brooklyn
Director:
Adam McKay –The Big Short
Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight
Paul Weitz – Grandma
Xavier Dolan – Mommy
Asif Kapadia – Amy
Writer:
Adam McKay –The Big Short
Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight
Paul Weitz – Grandma
Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach – Mistress America
Editing:
Hank Corwin – The Big Short
Film Music:
Ennio Morricone – The Hateful Eight
Single/Song:
Long Strange Golden Road – The Waterboys
Listened to this year:
Where Did You Sleep Last Night – Nirvana
Album:
Modern Blues – The Waterboys
Van Morrison – Duets
Covered – Robert Glasper Trio
The Epic – Kamasi Washington
Gig:
The Waterboys – Roundhouse
The Waterboys – Colosseum, Watford
Van Morrison (No. 3) – Nell’s Jazz & Blues Club
Van & Tom Jones – Blues Fest – Millennium Dome
Marc Almond – Empire Shepherds Bush
Play:
Beautiful – Aldwych
Death of a Salesman – Noel Coward Theatre (Anthony Sher)
Guys & Dolls – The Savoy
Art Exhibition:
Peter Lanyon: Soaring Flight – Courtauld
Barbara Hepworth – Tate Britain
Frank Auerbach – Tate Britain
Book:
Purity – Jonathan Franzen
Read This Year:
The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Then Again – Diane Keaton
TV:
Humans
Walking the Nile
House of Cards S3
The Murder Detectives
And Then There Were None
Sport:
All Blacks in Rugby World Cup Final at Twickenham
Event:
Paris climate change agreement
Dearly departed:
- BB King
- Warren Mitchell (Alf Garnett)
- Leonard Nimoy (Spock)
- Ron Moody (Fagin)
- George Cole (Arthur Daley)
- Anita Ekberg (Sylvia, La Dolce Vita)

Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett
Best of 2014
Film:
20,000 Days on Earth
Selma
Boyhood
The Theory of Everything
Male Lead:
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
David Oyelowo – Selma
Nicholas Cage – Joe
Tom Hardy – Locke
Benedict Cumberbtach – The Imitation Game
Ralph Fiennes – Grand Hotel Budapest
Female Lead:
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Male Support:
Tim Roth – Selma
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Tom Wilkinson – Selma
Female Support:
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Sienna Miller – American Sniper
Director:
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard – 20,000 Days on Earth
Christopher Nolan – Interstellar
Pawel Pawlikoski – Ida
Paul King – Paddington
Yann Demange- ’71
Writer:
Paul Webb – Selma
Paul King – Paddington
Wes Anderson – Grand Hotel Budapest
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Production Design:
Grand Hotel Budapest
Visual FX:
Interstellar
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Single:
(John Newman – Love Me Again)
Album:
Morning Phase – Beck
Tribute – John Newman
With The Artists – Rhythm & Sound
Liquid Spirit – Gregory Porter
(WomanChild -Cecile McLorin Salvant)
Gig:
Van Morrison on launch night of Nell’s Jazz & Blues Club
Michael Franti & Spearhead – Islington Assembly Hall (with D)
John Newman – Empire Shepherd’s Bush
ABC – Lexicon of Love – Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Peter Gabriel – So – Wembley Arena
Play:
A Taste of Honey – Shelagh Delaney – National Theatre, Lyttleton
Fiesta – adapted & directed by Alex Helfrecht – Trafalgar Studios
Oh What a Lovely War – Joan Littlewood & the Theatre Workshop – Theatre Royal Stratford East (Joan Littlewood centenary – with D)
Fings Ain’t Wot They Used to Be – Frank Norman – Theatre Royal Stratford East
Art Exhibition:
Egon Schiele drawings: The Radical Nude – Courtauld
John Craxton – Fitzwilliam, Cambridge
Richard Hamilton – Tate Modern
Abram Games: designing the 20th Century – Jewish Museum, Camden Town
MALBA – Buenos Aires
Museum der bildenden Kunste – Leipzig (with N)
Book: (that I read this year)
Rabbit at Rest – John Updike
Sport:
Germany crushing Brazil at the World Cup (7-1 semi-final)
Jonny May’s try for England against the All Blacks at Twickenham
Event:
Philae probe from European spacecraft Rosetta landing on a comet
Dearly departed:
Joe Cocker
Jack Bruce
Tommy Ramone
Best of 2013
[work in progress]
Film:
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Way Way Back
Gravity
Male Lead:
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Female Lead:
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Judy Dench – Philomena
Male Support:
Matthew McConaughy – The Wolf of Wall Street
Female Support:
(Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine)
(Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle)
Director:
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Writer:
Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – The Way Way Back
Single:
Love Me Again – John Newman
Down the Road – C2C
Children Go Where I Send Thee – Nick Lowe
Where Are We Now – David Bowie
Get Lucky – Daft Punk
Nothing’s Changed – Tricky (with Francesca Belmonte)
Hang Me, Oh Hang Me – Oscar Isaac
Album:
Quality Street – Nick Lowe
Cecile McLorin Salvant – WomanChild
Big Inner – Matthew E White
False Idols – Tricky
(Lee Perry presents – Candy McKenzie (1977 reissue))
Gig:
Van Morrison at Ronnie Scott’s
Bruce Springsteen at Wembley Stadium (Darkness on the Edge of Town)
The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park
Dexys – One Day I’m Going To Soar – Duke Of York’s Theatre
Play:
Othello at Olivier Theatre
Art Exhibition:
All that is Solid Melts into Air (Jeremy Deller), Manchester
Sport:
Andy Murray winning Wimbledon
Event:
My birthday party – incorporating The Box