I was given the excellent Beatles Anthology set of DVDs for Christmas & have enjoyed the first couple of programmes very much. One detail, however, has struck and puzzled me. Paul keeps saying that the age difference between him & George was a year and a half, which, he emphasises, was a lot then, i.e., when they first met. George, meanwhile, says, more accurately, that the age difference between them was nine months ("He was nine months older than me then - and he's STILL nine months older than me!").

In fact, the difference between them is a mere eight months; Paul was born in June 1942, George in February '43.What puzzles me is how Paul could possibly imagine that he was a year and a half older than George, given that he was born in the summer and they went to the same school, so, presumably, he knew that he was not two school years ahead of George?

It's a small detail, I know, but it bugs me.

and discovered two things:

1. Kirsty Young is the sexiest woman on TV

2. She gets sexier as she gets older.

That's all.

Just bought a pair of these headphones:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jivo-Technology-JI-1144-Elements-Headphones/dp/B...

and have been blown away by them. Not only do they cancel out noise very effectively, they also have an incredibly detailed & clear sound with lots of bass.

I use them in the gym & reckon they're the best in-ear headphones I have ever used. I don't know if the fact that they are made of wood has anything to do with it, but they do have a kind of old-fashioned, natural sound.

If this is too like an advert, please delete. I have nothing to do with Jivo, I just wanted to share my view that, at 20 quid, these are a brilliant buy & to pass on the tip to anyone else who is looking for a decent pair of headphones to use in the gym.

Just bought tickets for me & my daughter, so we'll be there.

Does anyone know whether there will be any musicians playing other than C.W.Stoneking?

I hope the weather isn't too bad...

Last night I finally caught up with "No Direction Home" on the iplayer, and it reminded me of my strong reaction against Joan Baez that I have never quite understood.

I can see that, in a more or less objective sense, she has a "good" voice, and yet I cannot stand to listen to it. To me, it's like nails on a blackboard, and whenever I hear Bob and Joan singing together, I just want her to stop so that I can hear Bob properly. I think possibly it's all that vibrato she puts on.

In a similar way, though I can see that she is in many ways a nice, intelligent, admirable person, concerned to help people & improve the world, I cannot bear her.

Does anybody else have this perverse and paradoxical reaction to this person who is, after all, a fine singer and a food citizen?

According to Johann Hari it is. His analysis can be found here:

http://johannhari.com/2011/03/29/the-biggest-lie-in-british-politics

According to him: "As a proportion of GDP, Britain’s national debt has been higher than it is now for 200 of the past 250 years."

Is he right? If he is, why does everyone seem to accept the need for drastic cuts in public expenditure?

There's an awful lot of rubbish on the radio, but there is also a handful of really good DJs who have an obvious love of the music they play & a genuine desire to share good stuff. Most of the ones I know are on BBC, either 2 or 6, but maybe I should broaden my listening a bit. My very favorite DJ is Guy Garvey, whose "Finest Hour" programme (Radio 6) is superb. Of the others I like Paul Jones is a little too narrowly focused, Jarvis Cocker a little too eccentric, and Don Letts a little too keen to prove that he is cutting-edge. They all produce good shows, though. But Guy Garvey is to my mind the most dependable; if he plays a piece of music, I am reasonably confident that I will like it.

Like Word magazine itself, Guy Garvey has introduced me to a lot of great music that I would not otherwise have discovered. My guess is that he doesn't need to do it, but I hope very much that he continues to do it anyway.

Has anyone got one? Are they as good as they look? I've ordered one for my daughter & I'm very tempted to get one for myself. I like the look of the print, the small size, the long battery life, the wi-fi - and the price. It looks to me like a real winner. But maybe I'm missing something? Would love to hear the views of the massive.

Has anybody been listening to any of these? I've been a regular listener of: Alan Davies's Armchair World Cup, Baddiel & Skinner's Absolute Radio Podcast, and the daily ones from the BBC & the Guardian.

The biggest disappointment has been the Baddiel & Skinner one. Like Jonathan Ross, John Cleese & many others, they illustrate what happens when comedians - even clever, talented, witty comedians - start earning too much: they become lazy, self-satisfied & unfunny. I had to stop listening to the latest podcast when B & S were heaping abuse on referees (they had no friends when they were little apparently, they come from provincial parts of England & dream of being strong & important, etc., etc.) Talk about an easy target!

In contrast to the witless B & S, Alan Davies is superb. In fact, he is everything they are not: funny, well-informed, observant. Unfortunately, his podcast is only broadcast once a week. The best of the dailies in my opinion has been the Guardian's, with the likeable & articulate James Richardson in charge.

Have there been any good ones that I've missed?

This morning at breakfast, I had a Proustian moment when the above skipping chant came suddenly into my head, bringing with it a flood of memories of my school playground in the mid-1960s.

Does anyone else remember it? Did it mean anything?

Can one hear skipping rhymes in playgrounds these days or are they a thing of the past?

Anyone else have a skipping rhyme that has stayed with them?

If that isn't the best opening line of a song ever written, I'd like to know what is.

David Hepworth has mentioned a few times that what women need to know about men is that, whenever they look thoughtful, they are actually playing sport in their heads, imagining themselves bowling for England or whatever.

I used to do that, but these days I find I'm far more often doing a more cerebral version of it. Instead of imagining myself scoring a goal or hitting a six, I drift off to a parallel world in which I am, say, being interviewed on the Today programme or appearing on Question Time or taking part in one of those panel shows like Have I Got News for You. And I am being terribly clever, articulate and witty, earning myself the admiration of everyone around me.

Am I alone in this?

I know it's not their best song, but has a band ever looked like it's having more fun than these lads? It cheers me up every time I watch it: the rapport between Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan's exaggerated twisting & Kenney Jones's endearing awkwardness. It's four talented young lads at the very top of their game having a great laugh. And, to cap it all, there's some of Stanely Unwin's inspired nonsense.

If there's a clip more guaranteed to put a smile on your face, I'd love to see it.

The best/worst list in this month's mag has got it badly wrong. If anything could be described as "smaltzy, drippy and feeble" it is Don McLean's mawkish "tribute" to Van Gough, a song that misses the mark dreadfully, forsaking geniune appreciation of Van Gough's paintings in favour of embarrassing, sentimental tosh about how he "tried to set them free" but "they" did not listen so he took his life, but now McLean makes it all right because "I think I know what you tried to say to me". Horrible, really horrible.