Just before getting out of bed this morning I heard a song called "Look to the Future" (words which seemed meant for me!).  And the singer was .... Paul McCartney.

Last few days ...

Thursday, 20th November: "Ringo Starr (Thomas the Tank Engine). The most unlikely post-Beatles career turn of any of the Fab Four came with Starr's contribution to the mid-1980s TV incarnation of the rail icons".  This came from the Top Ten Children's TV Voices list in added to the end of a review of the new Paddington film (T2, p9)

Saturday, 22nd November: "Paul McCartney earns 60K per day".  Overheard conversation at Whitemoors Antique Centre - a group of unit holders were discussing an article in a tabloid newspaper.

Monday, 24th November: "Pete Best, original drummer for the Beatles, 73" from The Times "Birthday's Today" (p30).

I was doing a bit of tidying up in the Library and saw some discarded papers near the printer.  I picked up them to put in the "lost work tray" and saw they were lyrics for "She Loves You" - some budding musician must have printed them off ... aargh.

And as I type this Johnny Walker is telling me about his new radio show which will follow Paul McCartney's career after he left the Beatles and formed Wings.

Sunday, 16th November

I sometimes read the little reviews in the What's On section of the Saturday Review.  A critique of Shirley Bassey's new album included the following: "to hear her turn Hey Jude into a camp anthem is quite something. I don't think that's a complement.

Saturday, 15th November

I don't often read the business pages but flicking through an iconic picture caught my eye and I read on: "The set of six images from the Abbey Road sessions, including the zebra crossing image used on the front cover and the street sign used on the back are expected to fetch between £50,000 and £70,000 ..." Cheap! (The Times, p55).

Friday, 14th November

Children in Need took over R2 today.  It was All Request Friday.  On Simon Mayo's show you could pay a little extra to get Dr Mosh to introduce your choice - providing it was heavy rock, of course.  Simon helpfully explained that "Dr Mosh will not be introducing the likes of ... Paul McCartney, but Slayer - yes"

In an article in today's Times2 (p4) Emeli Sande talks about her life - the journalist lists her recent achievements including "capping off the BBC's coverage of London 2012 with her rendition of Imagine ..." 

Sunday, 9th November

Always takes me a couple of days to read Saturday's Times.  Today I read the Magazine and on p15: Paul, Linda and Stella on location in the desert. The family were in California with Wings recording their fourth album, Venus and Mars.

I caught a bit of Tom Odell's cover today on Graham Norton's R2 show - if I hadn't read the news earlier in the week I wouldn't have recognised it as a John Lennon song.  I'm looking forward to seeing the advert. I listened to the radio for most of the day - too wet to venture out.  No Beatles number in Tony Blackburn's chart show but he did introduce his first countdown as "long before the Beatles ... 1958".

Of course I also watched "Strictly".  And very glad I did.  Pixie Lott danced to When I'm 64. Tess Daly couldn't resist the temptation to say that she hoped the routine would get them A Ticket to Ride to Blackpool - next week's venue.

According to Rachel Campbell-Johnston "Warhol's ideas were more stimulating than his work, at least going by what's on show in Liverpool".  But at least she illustrated her article (T2, p12) with a big picture of the Prefab Four - Warhol's screenprint.

Thursday, 6th November

"John Lewis propels Beatles tune towards Christmas No 1" So starts a little article in The Times (p20).  It goes on to explain "One of the Beatles last songs could be catapulted to the top of the Christmas charts after being chosen as the soundtrack for John Lewis's festive television commercial".  And the song is .. Real Love written by John Lennon. But its to be sung by Tom Odell.

I caught a little bit of Sweet Sixteen by Ringo this afternoon on Johnny Walker's show.  This week's guest was Captain Sensible who spoke about his early days touring explaining it was a "Magical Mystery Tour-like the Beatles film".

But my favourite reference was in The Times Saturday Review (p9).  In a review of a new book, "A history of the 20th century in 100 maps" I read the following sentence: "And the childhood haunts of John, Paul, George and Ringo are meticulously plotted on a 1974 map catering for the millions of Beatles fans making the pilgrimage to Liverpool". Great, eh!

Saturday, 1st November

"You know what was more thrilling to me than meeting Sir Paul McCartney?" writes Caitlin Moran in The Times Magazine about her love of "civic infrastructure".  The answer - finding a wifi network called geysers in a very remote part of Iceland.

Monday, 27th October-

I've had a few days in Yorkshire. Quite a few Beatles references: LP covers in shop window display (Whitby) and more of the same in a York music store; a young girl wearing a John Lennon New York T-shirt (Selby); a reference to Strawberry Fields forever on the news because this warm autumn may gives us  us strawberries for Xmas; a clip on "Have I got news of you" of a UKIP rep supporting Mike Reid's recent calypso debacle - by saying white men, including The Beatles, have always stolen music from the black man.