Arise...

l-r: Dame Helen Mirren CH, Cerys Matthews OBE, Dame Julia Donaldson, Anneka Rice MBE

...Sir Kevin Sinfield [rugby league star who fundraised millions for Motor Neurone Disease awareness in honour of his fellow player Rob Burrows who eventually died of the condition], Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton [founders of Aardman Animations studio, that gave the world Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run], Dame Malorie Blackman [former Children's Laureate] and Dame Julia Donaldson [children's author who created The Gruffalo]. The divine Dame Helen Mirren and photojournalist Sir Don McCullin are made Companions of Honour, of which there are only 65 at any one time.

Among thousands of other names from the worlds of sport, entertainment, fundraising, politics and public service, also honoured are:

• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE): beauty products entrepreneur Charlotte Tilbury;
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE): Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews, film director and actor Dexter Fletcher, film score composer Patrick Doyle;
• Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE): broadcaster and TV personality Anneka Rice, DJ Judge Jules, soprano Louise Alder, founder-member of Black Sabbath Tony Iommi, multiple Chelsea Flower Show gold medal-winning garden designer Sarah Eberle, fashion designer of Princess Diana's wedding dress David Emanuel, sport radio presenter Garry Richardson, Emmerdale actress and TV personality Lisa Riley, Judge Dread comic character co-creator John Wagner.

Congratulations, one and all!

HM The King's Birthday Honours 2026

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Our "Tete-a-Tete" daffodils are holding court at the moment

It's Saint David's Day again, cariads!

Traditionally, this is the day when we (former) inhabitants take pride in the Principality of Wales that gave us male voice choirs, Welsh cakes, Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Tom Jones, W. H. Davies, Christian Bale, Ivor Novello, Terry Jones, leeks, Taron Egerton, Roald Dahl, Sir Richard Burton, Mary Quant, Dame Siân Phillips, Dorothy Squires, Charlotte Church, Julian Cope, Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Ball, Ray Milland, Ruth Jones, Desmond Llewelyn, John Cale, Dylan Thomas, Rhys Ifans, Catherine Zeta Jones, Manic Street Preachers, cawl, Sir Bryn Terfel, David Lloyd George, Tessie O'Shea, Rugby Union, Gethin Jones, daffodils, Laura Ashley, Steve Strange, Russell T Davies, Jonathan Pryce, Timothy Dalton, Michael Sheen, Ruth Madoc, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Tommy Cooper, Molly Parkin, Stanley Baker, Roger Rees, Sir Harry Secombe, Katherine Jenkins, Bonnie Tyler...

...and Cerys Matthews (of course)!

Space featuring Cerys Matthews - The Ballad of Tom Jones

What did I do wrong?
Oh you nearly drove me cuckoo
Am I really all that bad?
You're worse than Hannibal Lecter, Charlie Manson, Freddie Krueger
Why are we still together?
Oh I can't leave until you're dead
You mean till death do us part?
I mean like cyanide, strangulation or an axe to your head
It was lucky for us I turned the radio on
They say that music soothes the savage beast
There was something in that voice that stopped us seeing red
The two of us would surely have ended up dead

You stopped us from killing each other
Tom Jones, Tom Jones
You'll never know but you saved our lives
Tom Jones, Tom Jones
I could never throw my knickers at you
And I don't come from Wales

So haven't solved our problems
You mean we hate each other's guts
I still wanna poison your pizza
And I still wanna cut off your nuts
I phoned the marriage guidance
I tied the phone line round your neck
I'm sick of all this hatred
Well that will be the arsenic making you sick
You were about to drive me over the edge of a cliff
As I tried to jump out I knocked the stereo on
You changed your mind and then slammed on the brakes
It was lucky for us we bought his greatest hits

You stopped us from killing each other
Tom Jones, Tom Jones
You'll never know but you saved our lives
Tom Jones, Tom Jones
I could never throw my knickers at you
And I don't come from Wales

And now the war is over
I've lost the urge to break your neck
I owe my life to What's New Pussycat
Delilah stopped me hating you and wishing you dead
Oh I used to call you Satan
And you were Cruella De'Ville
And now you call me your Delilah
And I am not your Lucifer
And I am just your pussycat
But just a word of warning now
Just in case we ever get tired of his voice
I know the Mafia, Godzilla, King Kong
And I know an atom bomb that's going for a song

You stopped us from killing each other
Tom Jones, Tom Jones
You'll never know but you saved our lives
Tom Jones, Tom Jones
I could never throw my knickers at you
And I don't come from Wales

A - ahem - lovely ballad, indeed.

We have never referred to (Sir) Tom Jones in the singular ever since...

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

Daffodil Tête à Tête putting on a great show in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers.

It's Saint David's Day, dears - a day to celebrate all things Welsh, including cawl, daffs, leeks, male voice choirs, Welsh cakes, rugby, Dame Shirley Bassey, Christian Bale, Ivor Novello, Terry Jones, Taron Egerton, Roald Dahl, Ray Milland, Dylan Thomas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Sir Bryn Terfel, David Lloyd George, Dame Siân Phillips, Mary Quant, Dorothy Squires, Sir Richard Burton, Laura Ashley, Steve Strange, Russell T Davies, Jonathan Pryce, Timothy Dalton, Michael Sheen, Ruth Madoc, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Tommy Cooper, Molly Parkin, Sir Harry Secombe, Katherine Jenkins, Bonnie Tyler, and...

...Cerys Matthews and Sir Tom Jones!

Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews - Baby, It's Cold Outside

"Bloody freezing, innit?!"

It certainly is this morning.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

It's Saint David's Day, cariads - the day when all things Welsh are supposed to be celebrated, apparently. As it happens, all anyone across the UK has been thinking about today is the dreadful weather [it was -5C during the day today here in London, but thankfully the thermometer is slowly starting to rise; there are still blizzards and ice everywhere North of here, however], so there has been little chance of waving one's leek around!

Dim ots, on with the music, methinks - here are a few of our fave Welsh artists, doing what they do best! First up, help yourself to a bit of Sir Tom...

Tom Jones- Help Yourself

...one of Dame Shirl's shining moments:

Shirley Bassey - Something

...Miss Jenkins, her amazing tonsils, and a plethora of safety gays:

Katherine Jenkins - Bring Me to Life

...some Cerys Matthews:

Catatonia - Mulder and Scully

...and to finish (a bit of a surprising one, this), how about one of Wales' grandest, Dame Siân Phillips - singing?!

Siân Phillips - Liaisons (from A Little Night Music)

And, in case you feel the need to use any Welsh phrases on this special day - try this handy guide!

Yesterday, when we were young(ish)

Madam Arcati and I celebrate fifteen years together this month! [We don't mark a single date, that much detail is forgotten by both of us...]

When we first met in May 1998, we were both (through complicated circumstances) residents of his home town Plymouth, and both were desperate to get out (he to return to London, me to leave a city whose original novelty when I moved there two years earlier had faded to boredom) - which we did, of course. The world back then was very different - Tony Blair was still "the golden boy" Prime Minister, President Clinton faced shame and scandal, Diana's death was still causing ripples and accusations of conspiracy (mainly from Mohammed Al-Fayed), the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland was signed (yet atrocities still went on), and Posh and Becks were merely engaged.

To mark this significant achievement, here is a selection of the music that was around at that time when everything was new and uncertain (both of us were wary of commitment at the time, and neither expected this to amount to a "relationship"), and our life in Plymouth was a whorl of nights out, pubbing and clubbing...

At Number 1 in the charts this week in May '98 was the "bouncing song" (for that is exactly how our then friend Billy used to dance to it) - Run DMC vs Jason Nevins - It's Like That:

Run-DMC vs. Jason Nevins - It's Like That

The Spice Girls - Stop had gone straight in at Number 2:

Spice Girls - Stop

Our Glorious Leader Madonna had just dropped from the Top 3 with Frozen:

Madonna - Frozen

Still holding on in the Top 10 was Cornershop and the brilliant Brimful of Asha:

Cornershop - Brimful of Asha

The Ballad of Tom Jones by Space featuring Cerys from Catatonia was just dropping down the charts - a song that remains high on our playlist, even today:

Space - Ballad of Tom Jones

And, finally... just arrived in the charts, but one we'd been dancing to for a while - Kylie and Breathe (Sash! Club Mix):

Kylie Minogue - Breathe

Happy Anniversary, darling!

A Welsh gay icon who isn't Shirley Bassey

That iconic Welsh superstar of stage, screen and music Ivor Novello is finally recognised with the unveiling of a statue to him in his native Cardiff.

He has a blue plaque already (on the house of his birth, not far from where I used to live, in Canton and across the road from the long-demolished cottage where (allegedly) a Bishop of Llandaff was once caught in flagrante delicto).

But now the gay genius (who died in 1951) finally has a statue smack-bang in the middle of Cardiff Bay - an area which in his day was notoriously known as "Tiger Bay", the haunt of whores of all sexes. Given his reputation for seduction and sexual proclivity (this is the man who supposedly bedded dozens of famous actors, members of the nobility and politicians - including Winston Churchill), I suppose that's quite fitting really...

Read the whole article on the BBC

Some other Welsh artistes have also done tributes to their fellow countryman by singing some of his classic compositions...

Cerys Matthews - Keep The Home Fires Burning

Dorothy Squires - We'll Gather Lilacs [skip to 4:10]

Ivor Novello Appreciation Bureau

Pleidiol Wyf i’m Gwlad

Having spent the day in Cardiff, courtesy of work (despite just having been put at risk of redundancy), I thought I'd post this as a little reminder of that not everything about my homeland is so bad after all...

Shirley Bassey & Bryn Terfel:

Shirley Bassey & Bryn Terfel - We'll Keep a Welcome in the Hillside

Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews:

Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews - Baby, It's Cold Outside

A little bit of Road Rage:

Catatonia - Road Rage

And Tom again, with the gorgeous Kelly Jones (no relation):

Streophonics feat. Tom Jones - Mama Told Me Not To Come

Makes ya proud...

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus! Happy St David's Day!

To celebrate this day of all things Welsh, I just had to post a couple of classics by the wonderful Cerys Matthews:

Space featuring Cerys Matthews - The Ballad of Tom Jones

Catatonia - Road Rage:


And in a brilliantly camp move by the BBC, they have posted Cerys's own recipe for Welsh Cakes on their site today...

Cerys's Welsh Cakes