Tracks 53-55

53.“Love Don’t Need A Reason” (Malamet/Allen/Callen ) BARBARA COOK
If I didn’t manage to sneak a Barbara Cook track into this project then something would definitely be very wrong with the world! Of all the performers I love (and there are many) there is nobody I have seen perform live as often as Barbara Cook. It must be at least a dozen times, maybe even more. So many of her songs have touched me , and the lyric of this one is very much something I believe in…so it is rightly included here. I thing I will dedicate it to the civil partnership ceremony that my uncle and his partner of many years, Chris, had – as they both love her too. It was a lovely day shared with many of the cast of “The Woman In White”, the friends and their kids. We went on the train from Richmond registery office to a Joe Allen lunch in Covent Garden. Then those of us remaining headed to the Thames to try and spot the whale. Yes it was the day of the Whale in the Thames. The day , at least for me, ended with my first “flight” on the London Eye – by dark!

54.“Theme From Doctor Who”(Grainer)
As a very small child I watched the end of Jon Pertwee’s era of the television show, but then I lost interest when Tom Baker took over. 1981 saw a BBC2 season of stories called “The Five Faces Of Doctor Who”. For some reason I have often become drawn into things just because they are long running, and this was enough to get me watching. For the next three years – throughout Peter Davison’s tenure – I was an avid viewer, and it was only the advent of Saturday jobs and proper jobs that saw my viewing tail off again. I went through a period of getting the odd video in the nieties but then I got UKGOld – a new vintage story each week and it was only a matter of time before I was well and truly who’d out. Then the series returned to our screens a couple of years ago and since then I have become a bit of a Who anorak! I buy the vintage DVDs, the occasional novelisation and even (horror of horrors!) the magazine! Anyway when it came back it was amazing – I find the series takes me on a real emotional journey…and when the cybermen (my favourite villains) were announced as returning I couldn’t believe – only one more thing could top that , Elisabeth Sladen reprising her role as Sarah Jane Smith – then not only did it happen but she was given her own spin off series. True Who Heaven!!!!!

55.“Song For Ten” (Gold) Neil Hannon
I make no apologies for choosing this song from the Who soundtrack (yes I bought that too!) Ostensibly about what it was like for the Doctor on the first day of his regeneration it’s a song that speaks to me of many days I have had. “I Wish today could be just like any other day” now you would think that was because it had been a crap day, but no! “Today has been the best day!” Sometimes we have such amazingly wonderful days, almost always because the people we spend them with, that we want to hold on to them for ever. Lisa and Jon’s wedding, as well as Joe and Nicks and Simon and Chris’s – all great days. My Joe Allen’s birthday brunches of the last few years, holidays in Paris with my mum….even holidays alone in Paris. All times I cherish!