TOWARDS A BRIGHTER FUTURE

This unusual view of the River Swale in Richmond, North Yorkshire, was taken by framing the river through the window of an old building under renovation.

TTXGP - HOW I WAS LEFT SPEECHLESS

The DVD of the world's first zero-emissions motorbike race is on sale now. Well, it's not quite zero emissions because the producers hired me to do the commentary so that accounted for quite a few emissions.
This is the story of the TTXGP which was raced around the Mountain Course on the Isle of Man in June. Check it out at www.egrandprix.com
Recording the commentary was, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the hardest piece of broadcasting I have ever done. I'd already done one version in August which went reasonably well, but the producers wanted an updated version. So it was back into the studio to do it again. Unfortunately by this time I was really unwell with a cold and a badly inflamed throat. Production deadlines meant there was no chance of a delay so I doped myself up and got on with it. But that process whereby words travel from the brain to the lips via the voicebox was suffering a significant malfunction. I kept stumbling over the simplest of words. The recording kept having to stop, sections were erased, the pictures would be lined up again, and off I'd go once more. It took two and a half hours to lay down commentary for 40 minutes of video. All the time the vocal chords were getting more and more mangled, while mentally I felt like a dead parrot.
By the time I stumbled out of the studio the entire building had been locked down for the night. As soon as I reached the corridor the intruder alarms began to go off. Next thing a security guard arrives and I'm making my apologies and wishing I'd never got out of bed that morning. The video editor was desperate for my voiceover to be emailed to him that night but with security on my case I had no choice but to leave the building right away.
Next day I woke up with a raging toothache to add to everything else. An emergency appointment at the dentist's ended with the tooth being extracted and an anaesthetic that wore off as soon as the tooth left the cavity, aaaagh, not good. No chance of getting that voiceover away that day. Next day things began to improve and at last I was able to fire the audio file away (useful website for sending large media files by the way: www.yousendit.com)
So I am very pleased that the DVD is out there and I only hope my contribution has not done more harm than good.

LEEDS UTD OUT OF THE PICTURE

Media relations at Leeds Utd are going from bad to worse. The Press Association has been banned from taking photographs at Elland Road for some time. Now PA is hitting back. In a statement released today PA say they will scale down their coverage of Leeds and photographs taken at away games will not major on Leeds players.

TURNING UP HEAT ON CHESTER OWNER

The wolves are beginning to circle around the owner of Chester City, Stephen Vaughan. Mr Vaughan has now been banned from holding a directorship of any company for 11 years as a result of an alleged VAT scam when he was in charge of Widnes RLFC. This involved an illegal claim for just over £500,000.

He remains as owner of Chester but one wonders for how long. I am sure that HM Revenue and Customs, encouraged by their findings at Widnes, are even now scrutinising the books (such as they are) at the Deva.

MIRROR LOSES TO RONALDO

The Daily Mirror has lost a libel case brought by Cristiano Ronaldo. I am pleased about this. Not that I wish misfortune on the Mirror, but they admit that a story they published in 2008 about Ronaldo being on the lash in Los Angeles when he was meant to be recovering from injury was untrue.

It is difficult teaching young people the values of journalism when they see national newspapers printing false stories on a regular basis. Any reminder that we are all accountable in the end is good news.

D DAY AT THE VILLA

The first woolly-hat day of the football season. It was cold at Villa Park and at half-time the thinsulate beanie emerged from my reporter's bag for the first time since last winter. The match was a good one - though not for Bolton Wanderers who lost 5-1.

The press box at Villa Park doesn't provide a good view of the whole of the pitch but today four of the game's six goals were scored at "our" end and we got a good eyeful.

I don't think this game did a lot for two men hoping to go to the World Cup with England. Bolton centre-back Gary Cahill did not impress, whereas John Carew of Villa did - and Carew's form means Emile Heskey will find it even harder to get the games he needs to cement his place in Capello's squad.

Today I came across the name Amisco for the first time. Amisco is not Bolton's latest signing, it's the name of a sports analysis system which competes with Pro Zone. Most football fans know about Pro Zone, the system that uses video and data-processing to inform coaches' analysis of each individual players performance in every match. I thought Pro Zone had the market to itself but Amisco is clearly a lively competitor, having Villa as one of its clients. It has just signed up its first Championship client, Swansea. I chatted to Amisco's UK manager Chris Bradley who told me that Swansea regularly complete over a hundred more passes per game than their Championship opponents. Interesting info, and it gave added pertinence to the Swans' 3-2 win over Cardiff which was playing on the TV in the Villa Park press lounge.

A minute's silence for Remembrance Day was impeccably observed. My mind flicked to a visit I made to the Normandy beaches a couple of years ago. Looking over Gold beach, where the British landed on D Day in 1944 (pictured top), I thought of my late father-in-law Tom, who came ashore that day in a tank, splashing off a landing craft and facing the worst of the German artillery. As I scanned the empty, peaceful sand it hit me like a hammer in the stomach that if he hadn't survived that day I would not have my daughter today, or my two lovely granddaughters.

IN THE HOT SEAT

Meeting of the committee of the Chester City Former Players Association tonight in what is becoming our favourite pub on the outskirts of the city. It was time to grasp the nettle of who does what. Gary Talbot, our legendary goalscorer from the 1960s is our president. Grenville Millington - goalkeeper in our most successful team of the 1970s - is our chairman. Alan Tarbuck, another superb goalgetter for Chester in the late 60s, is treasurer. My pal Chas Sumner, Chester City statto and historian, is secretary and I am (guess what) media officer.

Gary and Gren went to Chester's home game with AFC Wimbledon on Saturday. They were guests of the club which was a very nice gesture. The invitation followed on from the FPA's approach to the club back in September to inform them that the association was being set up and to ask permission to incorporate the club's badge in the logo. Bob Gray, managing director, has been very supportive.

There was a bit of a problem on Saturday when the FPA was wrongly announced as being match sponsors. Some fans understandably concluded that the FPA was putting money into the club and wondered why that was the case. In fact, Gary and Gren were asked to select the Man of the Match, which is usually the role of the sponsors, and the mistake seems to have taken off from there.

The FPA did not sponsor the game and paid out no money.