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Countries, Food, UK

Packet in and hands off our Smoky Bacon crisps

5th November 2026 funtime65

We’d instinctively be internationalists and Europhiles, but we say here packet in and hands off our Smoky Bacon crisps.

Scots can rightly claim the Golden Wonder Smoky Bacon crisp as their own, surprisingly only as recently as the Sixties.

At the same time as barbecue crisps (or chips) were all the rage in America.

Spud we like

Spud work: Spyd with his flavoured Tayto crisps

The first flavoured crisp, and the game changer as readers here all know, was invented by Joe ‘Spud’ Murphy in 1954.

The Cheese & Onion tayter or Tayto.

Now if crisps matter to you, and think of a world where you’re nibbling carrots instead, then we should say…

Mais non Pierre or nein Hans to trying to stop us branding Smoky Bacon crisps.

The logic is it puts ‘meaty’ names on veggie food supposedly deceiving the shopper.

Tayto flying the Irish flags

Now the best way to test the arguments is to sample the product for ourselves where they’re actually made.

Disappointingly, unlike say chocolate, there is a shortage of such crisp experiences.

With Tayto flying the flag in the homeland of flavoured crisps in Ireland.

With the Famous Tayto Castle Tour in Tandragee in the North of Ireland.

Tayto is all-go

While charmingly as is so often the case in Ireland there is a schism between Northern Protestant Taytos and Southern Free Staytos.

With, in this instance, the South turning its back on its Tayto heritage.

By discontinuing its Tayto Factory Tour and crisp giveaway.

When its Co. Meath theme park switched name and sponsorship from Tayto to Emerald Park in 2023.

The Wonder of Scotland

For us here in Britain, and remember that Scotland played its part with Golden Wonder.

With baker William Alexander founding the company in 1962 in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

The closest we get to a tourist experience is Golden Wonder pop-ups in the Waverley Centre in Edinburgh and St Enoch Centre, Glasgow.

Where The World of Wonder helps you make your own flavours… and remember this is the home of haggis.

And brought Britons their first Cheese & Onion crisp.

A crisp reply

Is this a tayter I see before me: Pop-up

Bringing it all round again, which the best crisps are, Tayto Group Ltd, the Northern Irish version, took over Golden Wonder.

So there’s politics in everything which British prime minister Andy Burnham and his European pals would do well to remember.

Because as any Scot will tell you… you can take our land but you can never take away our Smoky Bacon crisps.

Countries, UK

Bonfire Night where the Guy is safe

4th November 20264th November 2026 funtime65

I know you come here for fireworks, only this is the one place in Britain around Bonfire Night where the Guy is safe.

We’ve come to old York for Halloween and mingled with the Living Dead on the Shambles.

But they’re not the only restless souls in ye olde towne though where it’s hard to distinguish this world from the next,

And the goodies from the baddies.

For Fawkes’ sake

Yorkshire people we’ve discovered, and probably should have known anyway from the Father-in-Law, like to go their own way.

So that when the rest of Britain opts to remember, remember the Fifth of November.

Guy Fawkes Inn prefers to forget it.

The first thing that strikes you about the Guy Fawkes Inn, the old fire starter’s birthplace, is that there is nothing to strike.

Close to the bone: Guy Fawkes in the Gents

With the fireplace adorned instead with lights.

Visitors are invited to rest their weary bones for the night in any of the 27 bedrooms, called after the conspirators.

Though maybe tread carefully on any creaky floorboards and be prepared for things going bump in the night.

We eat, drink and get merry on Guy Fawkes Steak and Ale Pie and Guy Fawkes Bitter.

Because tomorrow he’ll die… or at least be caught.

The Evil Eye

There is a reminder everywhere in this old town of our mortality.

With us choosing to end our evening staring into Old Nick’s eyes opposite the upstairs of the Evil Eye cocktail lounge.

Where your head would certainly come off if you drank the Seven Sheds rum cocktail.

We plump instead for Cherry Sours, Chocolate Salty Balls and Nóiníns (or daisy cocktails), an Irish take on Margaritas.

And leave the Yorkie kids lying on the four-poster bed next to us.

To play Snakes and Ladders shots from the drinks on the bar menu.

Last requests

I’ve a hunch: Richard of York at The Old White Swan

Now had we been heading for the scaffold the next day like Guy Fawkes or Dick Turpin.

Or to our death on the battlefield like Richard of York.

Stand and deliver: Dick Turpin’s last resting place

Then we’d want to spend our last day on Earth here with the encyclopaedic Grace serving us cocktails.

Before we’d come back to haunt the tourists for the rest of time.

For getting in our way along Stonegate and The Shambles.

Countries, UK

Let them eat chocolate, the Irish, Rowntree and York

3rd November 20263rd November 2026 funtime65

Let them eat chocolate, the Irish, Rowntree and York… on our Jorvik journey.

The clue is in the name (Yorkies anyone?) that York is one of the world’s great chocolate centres.

Fits the Bill: With Bill by the Old Walls

Where the Irish enter our story (and don’t they always?) is because of the philanthropy of Joseph Rowntree.

The grocer having holidayed in Ireland and seen first hand the suffering of the Potato Famine population.

Movers and Quakers

Now being the charitable Quaker that he was Joseph arranged for passage for the Irish to York.

Where we hear their story from Friend of York Bill in a tower at the start of our walk around the York Walls.

And even find my Dear Old Mum’s people, the McNultys on the Census.

A trip down Quality Street

Well, this ‘Son of a Daughter of Donegal’ has found himself in York’s Chocolate Story.

Learning about Joseph Rowntree, Mary Tuke, Joseph Terry and Mary Ann Craven.

On an Aztec to Kit-Kat journey through time.

Taking in that Old Black Magic and a trip down Quality Street, Mum’s favourite.

With samples of chocolate water, the original bitter Aztec magical concoction, the grinds and nuts that go to make chocolate.

The actual bars themselves and demonstrations of the chocolate moulding before making your own lollies with sprinkles.

Keeping abreast of chocolate

Of course there’s always One and that One is for once not your Bandanaman but the Scary One.

Who puts her jelly tots, Rowntree’s of course, side by side to invent a new confectionary, the Tit-Kat!

York’s Chocolate Story on King’s Square in the centre of Jorvik, cost us £50 for two.

With two luxury hot chocolates and two boxes of six individually selected chocolates.

And all of the above… but do clean your teeth afterwards back at your Holiday Inn.

Countries, UK

Horny subject with Jorvik Norse warriors

2nd November 20262nd November 2026 funtime65

It’s a horny subject with Jorvic Norse warriors and Ulf wouldn’t be seen dead in a horned helmet which he would be on a battlefield.

All of which and more we learned at the excellent JORVIK Vikings Centre.

On the site of the great excavation site on York’s Coppergate along from our billet at the Holiday Inn, booked out when the Vikings came.

That it was the Victorians mythologising about Norse settlers which was behind all this.

Because precious horns were found in Viking burial sites.

You see going into battle with horned helmets gives your Anglo-Saxon foe the advantage.

Of pulling you down by your horns.

Those berserk Vikings

What Ulf, or Joe to give him his modern name, doesn’t know about York Vikings.

You could put on the back of a rune.

He’ll teach you how to mould a Viking sword and how they were such successful pillagers.

Probably because they were berserk much of the time.

On account of wearing bear shirts into battle, the scratching from which makes you berserker.

And author Sir Walter Scott, who gave us Illustrations.

Of Northern Antiquities and The Pirate of berserk Vikings, says we’re welcome.

Off his trolley

Norseophiles, and OK we made that up, will immerse themselves here in Jorvik.

A beloved tourist spot for Norsemen and their clans.

Through the interactive trolly carts that bring you up close and personal.

With ordinary people around their trades and pastimes.

Some, of course, get into character more than others.

And Beardie Boy ahead of me in the queue for a magnet, ordered an axe.

Although you’ll be reassured to learn that they did ask him his age first.

Countries, UK

The only living boy in York

1st November 20261st November 2026 funtime65

And with apologies to Simon & Garfunkel here, I am the only living boy in York.

We are plodding through the streets of Old York and ducking the Mummies, slashers, vampires and undead.

But I have my best ghoul by my side and I have someone to give me the skinny on this Medieval town’s Halloween’s history.

Student Joe runs one of the myriad ghost tours York’s Haunted Heart around the old town £15 each).

And inevitably he carries a Monster energy drink.

It works too as he talks us through two hours and 2,000 years.

Of spirits, poltergeists and things that go bump in the night.

Me and my ghoul

From the Roman legion that walk through a drayhouse to the screaming girl locked away in her bedroom in the Black Death.

There’s a dead old man who is reincarnated as a ghostly cat who sits in a pub and claws your arse.

All of which reminds me of the Mother-in-law and her devil’s mouser.

Both of whom will be a-haunting this Halloween in North Berwickety.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Watch out for who’s in the loo

Cats have the run of York with tours putting them up hanging out of buildings although to look in their eyes brings a curse.

Much like the devil gargoyle on the wall outside the old printing press.

Opposite the Evil Eye cocktail bar with its six-shot rum concoction which Joe tells us leaves you not seeing anything.

Heads you lose

There are all manner of terrifying sights at Halloween around York.

Such as the ghost of a wee boy throwing the severed head of the traitor Percy or Butcher Joe who comes back to rearrange his store.

To One-eyed Jack, a hopeless soldier who bothers you in the loo.

Though missshooting sounds the least of his vices.

While more gratifying is martyr St Margaret Clitheroe, crushed to death.

For harbouring Jesuit priests, who strides the River Ouse.

And carrying on the Catholic theme a good nun turned bad known as the Grey Lady.

The scariest of all

Inn for a fright: The scariest pub in York, the Golden Fleece

The worst of all though is my own Scary One falling out with me.

And Siri as we make our way back to the Holiday Inn.

No wonder with these street names, Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, Godramgate, Micklegate, Spurriergate, Skeldergate.

And a street Siri and the locals know as the Pavement but which is not signposted.

It really is a Shambles.

Countries, Culture, UK

Traitor nice on a Scottish Castles tour

28th October 202628th October 2026 funtime65

And if your ever-faithful has been cooing over Ardross Castle then why not Traitor nice on a Scottish Castles tour.

With a four-day 381-mile driving tour across the Highlands.

Your Caledonoddyssey will begin on the shores of Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle.

Where you can channel your 15th-century laird and do a bit of Nessie spotting too.

Is this a castle I see before me?

Before you go in for some cosplay at Cawdor Castle which you’ll know through the Thane of Cawdor himself.

And lose yourself in elegant rooms, beautiful gardens and the old kitchen.

Where original features including a roasting spit, ice box and butter churn from centuries ago.

While Brodie Castle is where the Scottish King (its theatrical superstition not to mention him) is also wrapped up in Shakespeare.

Located near where he is said to have encountered the Three Witches.

Ye Jacobites by name

Continuing the historic theme you can follow in the footsteps of Outlander at Fort George, built to quell the Jacobites.

While your next stop Dunrobin looks more like a French château than a Highland fortress.

Step inside to discover its lavish 189 rooms filled with fine furnishings and treasures.

Then stroll through manicured gardens that stretch towards the coastline.

Speed bonnie boat

Now thankfully the Highlands are a less hazardous to traverse now compared to 1746.

So you won’t have to dress as your maid servant like Bonnie Prince Charlie, unless you have one and really want to.

That’s right, Day 3 takes you to Eilean Donan, one of Scotland’s most recognisable and photographed sights.

Where you can cross its stone bridge and step inside to uncover period furnishings with Jacobite Charlie left behind.

Meeting of the clans

Take in Portree before catching a boat trip on your fourth day across the loch and enjoy a seal’s-eye view of Dungevan Castle.

The ancestral home of the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod for 800 years, making it the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland.

While if you’re a Donald or any derivation thereof then you should take in the ruins of Armadale Castle.

And learn the story of the powerful Clan Donald, once known as the Lords of the Isles.

Africa, America, Countries, Culture, Europe, UK

Oor Wullie and other comic strip heroes on pedestals

15th October 202615th October 2026 funtime65

And a happy 90th birthday to the best-loved Scots boy who never grows old Oor Wullie and other comic strip heroes on pedestals.

The spiky-haired blond laddie in dungarees sits proudly on his bucket in Dundee laughing at his latest jape.

To celebrate his connections with the city’s Sunday Post where he first appeared in 1936.

Dan’s the man: Desperate Dan in Dundee

And near to other child’s comic strip characters Desperate Dan, Dennis the Menace & Gnasher and Minnie the Minx.

Boys will be boys: With Wullie in Dundee

All of whom lift Dundonians’ spirits every day as they pass through the city centre.

Which should be the way of it rather than be reminded how we are subjugated by warmongers and titans of empire.

Hang on Snoopy, hang on

Lend a hand: With Charlie and Snoopy at Knott’s Berry Farm

Dundee should act as a template to the rest of the world although we shouldn’t altogether despair.

As there are towns and cities where our favourite cartoon strip heroes are celebrated.

Step forward Charles Schulz’s birthplace, Saint Paul where Charlie Brown and his pals are immortalised.

So that’s Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and Snoopy again with Woodstock.

While America’s favourite trier is also put on a pedestal across the land and naturally at the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

Aye, aye, it’s Popeye

Muscling in: Popeye in Illinois

Now what we all look for in a statue is a strong structure that will resist any forces which we think you’d agree is Popeye.

The 6ft Sailor Man flexes his muscles in Segar Memorial Park to honour hometown creator Elzie Crisler Segar in Chester, Illinois.

Now everyone has their own favourite comic strip character.

Blistering Belgium, Tintin

Muscling in: Popeye in Brussels

And I would think the War Room bookshelf particularly bare without Tintin looking over me.

While Belgium’s most famous boy reporter is rightly celebrated across the land.

And touchingly is commemorated with his faithful companion Snowy at the Centre Culturel d’Uccle in Brussels.

While, and perhaps we shouldn’t look too closely at the reasons why.

Outside Hotel Memling in the former Belgian colony of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

There are, of course, those of our favourites who we have come to know many miles from their home.

And from Darkest Peru

Step up Paddington

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who we all know came from Darkest Peru.

Of course, no immigrant, has been so taken to the hearts of British people as the duffel-coated bear.

And Paddington Bear statues can be found across London and in 23 towns, cities and beauty spots throughout the UK and Ireland.

As part of the Paddington Visits trail.

As well as back home in Peru, in the capital Lima and in Machu Picchu.

Now we don’t know for certain if Oor Wullie and Paddington have ever met but if we had our way…

Countries, UK

One eye on the new 1066 Country Walk

13th October 202613th October 2026 funtime65

And a chance to escape battling the crowds as we cast one eye on the new 1066 Country Walk.

With tomorrow, October 14, the 950th anniversary of William of Normandy getting one in the eye of King Harold.

Or did he, with revisionists, with the now London-based Bayeux Tapestry as evidence, questioning that narrative?

And suggesting that Harold was the subject of a political kill, a regicide, and something we frowned upon then.

1066 and all that

Well, we can make up our minds up.

As we walk in the footsteps of the Great Norman on a five-night Walkers Britain & Europe trek.

Where we follow his 1066 journey from Pevensey for 31 miles (easy for us long-trail hikers) on foot.

Cross the wildlife-rich wetlands of the Pevensey Levels

And stand and channel where William conquered England at the Battle of Hastings at the village of Battle.

You’ll step back in time at Pevensey and Herstmonceaux Castles.

Quaff a pint of real ale in ancient villages Icklesham, Winchelsea and Rye.

Discover medieval Winchelsea, its gateways, church and historic cellars.

Post-Battle

The fixtures and fittings: And have some fun on the way

From Battle, continue through the High Weald National Landscape.

The journey leads through Icklesham and medieval Winchelsea before finishing among the historic streets of Rye.

Your self-guided Sussex walk, with five-nights hotels and B&Bs and six breakfasts costs £790.

America, Countries, Sport, UK

Paws for thought… let’s have a British mascot hall of fame

27th September 202627th September 2026 funtime65

And on the back of a night at the ice hockey, here’s a paws for thought… let’s have a British mascot hall of fame.

Paws, as I ought to have known, but do now is Edinburgh Capitals’ lion mascot.

In a pride of big cats, the symbols of sporting teams the length and breadth of this island of Britain.

With Edinburgh’s two football teams, Hearts and Hibs adopting Tynie Tiger and Sunshine the Leith Lynx.

And Scotland represented by Roary the Lion.

Whisper it, we probably owe our southern neighbours for kicking it all off.

With their World Cup Willie for their World Cup in 1966.

Cats and mouse game

And yes, behind many of the mascots’ name is a giggling overgrown school kid, although sometimes it’s accidental.

Or because we are separated by a common language.

As we discovered as an Irish party visiting the Los Angeles Angels baseball team in Anaheim.

And our Angels guide proudly announced they like nothing better than getting their Mickeys out.

Which a man will be arrested for in Ireland.

Hall of Famers

All good fun and banter which, of course, drives fans everywhere.

And which our American friends recognise and mark in their Mascot Hall of Fame.

Wild World: With Anaheim Ducks’ Wild Wing

All the brainchild of Philly Phanatic, David Redmond, who held the position and costume from 1978-1993.

Now the Hall of Fame, like much else these days, is an online site.

After a spell between 2018-24 as an interactive children’s’ museum in Indiana.

Now should you or your mascot feel they belong in the Hall of Fame then you need to persuade the committee.

That you have been going for a minimum of ten years.

And that you have impacted your sport and community.

Inspired fans, and consistently given memorable and groundbreaking performances.

Meet the Mascots

You’ll only join a magical mascots membership.

That includes Cosmo, Miles, Goldy, Mrs Met and in the best tradition of these things, yes, Cocky.

We reckon Paws would be a worthy addition.

Not least because we can reveal that’s where Ed Sheeran has been hiding these past few days.

America, Countries, UK

Saturday Night Live… from Chicago

17th September 202617th September 2026 funtime65

As the UK laps up another dose of US improv, here’s why it was really Saturday Night Live… from Chicago.

Comedy fans have long greeted the holler after the opening sketch announcing Saturday Night Live… from New York.

And while the weekly anarchic tilt at the week is shot now in New York, and its UK version in London.

It is Chicago where improv is rooted, and in particular The Second City comedy club.

Which spawned Belushi and Aykroyd, Murray and Gardner, Fey and Poehler and Louis-Dreyfus and Carrell.

The original and best

John Boy: John Belushi, middle back, Second City

The Windy City is rightly proud of its hallowed place in the comedy firmament.

And it is not by accident with Chicagoans showing all the spontaneity and inventiveness.

Which led them to the Mid-West in the first place.

Viola Spolin is credited with being the Godmother of Modern Improv.

And that surely is a stage name given to gags.

And she passed on the funny gene to son Paul Sills who founded the Compass Players which led to the formation of the Second City.

Now what happens in Chicago soon gets taken up in the Big Apple and beyond… think skyscrapers.

And Second City has expanded since its inception in the 50s to spread the word to NY and Toronto and to the virtual ether.

Of course there is nothing quite like the original.

And if you want to discover the next SNL superstars then The Second City Chicago always put on the best show.

Sheer Pandemonium

As a sample Chicago is putting on Pandemonium, Please Hold through Friday.

Which they call The Second City’s 114th MainStage Revue Pandemonium.

A loud fast and gloriously unhinged night of comedic mayhem.

With the six-person cast cranking the amps and stage dives headfirst into the chaos with blistering sketches.

With tickets from $40-$80… and with a card and your own joke to go, In conjunction with The National Comedy Center New York.

And now the punchline

And because you’re you we’re sharing ours with you here for nothing.

Why didn’t the toilet paper cross the road?

Because it got stuck in a crack.