
My favourite places in London
I grew up in the outskirts of London, and have been visiting central London regularly for nearly 20 years. While I don’t know my way...

The end of the Gladstone?
The relentless gentrification of London is something that makes me really angry: the way in which property prices are becoming completely...

Favourite art/photography: William Eggleston
A few years ago I saw a brilliant exhibition at the Barbican called Everything Was Moving. It was a photography show, highlighting the...

Favourite albums - Tom Waits
“Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.” Tom Waits...

Favourite albums: Bob Dylan
My top 5 songs by Bob Dylan, in no particular order: Obviously 5 Believers, Most of the Time, Simple Twist of Fate, Moonlight, and Cold...

Learning to play clarinet
The other day my parents found a short essay I’d written in primary school about how excited I was about learning to play clarinet. I...

Learning to play guitar
I started playing guitar when I was about 15 years old. My first teacher, Ms Kidd, taught me how to play basic things like Greensleeves....

Elvis appreciation
In September 2012, I went on a train journey across the US with my friend Louise. We started in New York, and travelled to San Francisco,...

Favourite songs: Sam Cooke
Many of my favourite songs were released in the 1960s. Nina Simone’s I Put A Spell On You. Beach Boys’ God Only Knows. Dusty...

The impact of arts and music on health and wellbeing
I spend quite a lot of time outside work playing music: singing, writing songs, recordings songs, playing gigs. When I'm at home, I...