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Articles by Martin Roberts

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About Martin Roberts

A former motoring journalist, Martin lists amongst his greatest achievements giving up smoking. Three times. He holds to the view that growing old is not for the faint-hearted. More Posts

What triumph is this?

So The Sun has quietly dropped its Page 3 topless model shots and I spent much of my yesterday being presented with female MPs, campaigners and celebrities on television and radio meowing in triumph at the demise of this iconic symbol of male chauvinism and tendency to treat women as objects, not [...]

January 21, 2015 // 0 Comments

A trip to the Midlands

For reasons of mutual interest which need not concern my readers, yesterday I collected my brother in Putney in south-west London at 9.00am and drove to Rugby School in Warwickshire in order to watch a school rugby match between Rugby and Sedbergh. Within less than a minute of setting off from my [...]

January 12, 2015 // 0 Comments

You just never know, do you?

Yesterday, out of the blue, I received a telephone call from someone who would definitely qualify as (in my terms) as a ‘blast from the past’ – and I don’t mean romantically. Over the course of perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, we caught up on our respective family and other news. I’m [...]

January 7, 2015 // 0 Comments

A memorable day

Earlier this year my father, who still ranks ‘Eric & Ernie’ alongside Laurel and Hardy as the two greatest comedy partnerships of all-time, took delight in reminding us that Eric Morecambe died exactly thirty years ago. Since I was working in ITV – to where Eric and Ernie had latterly [...]

December 6, 2014 // 0 Comments

I know what I’d rather have

This week we have learned from new research conducted by the University of Rochester that males are hard-wired to prefer sex to food. According to a piece on the website of The Independent, assistant professor David Portman of the team carrying out research into a sample of a species of microscopic [...]

October 18, 2014 // 0 Comments

A visit to the Rolls Royce factory

Yesterday I was invited to a guided tour of Rolls Royce. Rolls Royce is owned by BMW who acquired the name when Volkswagen bought the company as well as Bentley. After a dispute BMW were allowed to manufacture and built a plant on the Goodwood Estate in Sussex. On visiting it, I was immediately [...]

September 17, 2014 // 0 Comments

Building a head of steam

Deep down I am a stubborn individual with a high pain tolerance and low self-esteem who does not care what people think, which makes me a difficult man to cross. Within my family I have an unjustified reputation as a good boxer. In fact I hated boxing as a participation sport and in my explosive [...]

September 3, 2014 // 0 Comments

The impossibility of making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

No doubt like many others beyond – shall we say – the first flush of youth, yesterday evening I tuned in to watch Jo Pavey’s progress and eventual triumph in the European Athletics Championships women’s 10,000 metres final. The mother-of-two, who will be celebrating her 41st birthday in a [...]

August 13, 2014 // 0 Comments

The inevitabilty of pain

I don’t know about you, but I am comfortable with my slightly insular approach to life. I hate being bothered by people, largely because it is not my nature to bother others (so why do they do it to me?) … It’s also a major frustration when either things that ought to happen, don’t [...]

July 1, 2014 // 0 Comments

Welcoming back an old friend

I awoke this morning ruminating upon the vicissitudes of growing old. Partly this was the result of spending another six hours of fun out upon the water yesterday, watching keel boats racing in a regatta, at times having to ‘manage’ my own mobility issues caused by an arthritic hip. As my three [...]

June 21, 2014 // 0 Comments

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