Worth a Minute

Mike’s best ever foreign saying is the Polish expression “Nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy”, meaning “This is not my circus, and these are not my monkeys”.

As well as making it clear that the speaker is not going to be trapped into taking on someone else’s problems, it creates a brilliant visual image of the chaos that will ensue if he or she weakens in their resolve and is in fact persuaded to become ringmaster of a circus full of rampant monkeys!

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Mike’s best ever walk-on part during a thoroughly undistinguished acting career was undoubtedly his appearance – on separate evenings – as both the front and rear end of the bovine star of ‘The Mortgage on the Cow’, a surreal comedy sketch that can best be described as ‘Hi-de-Hi!’ meets ‘Waiting for Godot’!

On the plus side, it took neither great effort nor much time to commit to memory his only, but much repeated, line for the role: “Moo, moo! Moo, moo, moo!”

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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And if you are interested in receiving news and updates about this podcast, please enter your details in the brief form to which you will be taken when you click on this link.

Despite being strongly tempted by ‘A Man, a Plan, a Canal - Panama!’, Mike reverts to Latin for his best ever palindrome, opting for the beautifully symmetrical, ‘sum summus mus’.

The following palindromes were ultimately found wanting but were given a brief moment in the limelight: ‘Do geese see God?’; ‘Borrow or rob’; ‘Too hot to hoot’; ‘A Toyota’s a Toyota’ and ‘Able was I ere I saw Elba’.

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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Fending off stiff competition from ‘All the President’s Men’, ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’, ‘The Post, ‘She Said’ and ‘The Killing Fields’, Mike’s best ever film with a journalism theme is ‘Spotlight’.

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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Mike’s best ever folk-rock historical song is ‘Roads to Moscow’ by Al Stewart because of its human interest, epic scope and continuing relevance.

Al Stewart's extensive catalogue of interesting and thought-provoking historical songs also includes 'Warren Harding', 'Lord Grenville' and 'A League of Notions'.

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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Despite the strong claims of ‘Ticket to Ride’ and ‘Settlers of Catan’ to be Mike’s best ever strategy board game, his vote ultimately goes to ‘Sagrada’, the aim of which is to become the Master Artisan by creating the most beautiful stained glass window for the Sagrada Familia.

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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Having mentioned some well-known mnemonics (such as ‘Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain’, SOHCAHTOA and BODMAS), and having dismissed the claims of a mnemonic rhyme to aid snake identification, Mike reckons that his best ever mnemonic becomes self-selecting!

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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Mike explains why he reckons that the red-necked phalarope pips the Arctic tern to the accolade of ‘best ever migratory bird’.

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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Mike’s best ever multi-role film performance is the memorable portrayal by Sir Alec Guinness of eight doomed members of an aristocratic family in the 1949 Ealing comedy, ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’.

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

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Mike’s best ever piles of stones walk is the Balmoral Cairns Trail in the royal estate of Balmoral in Deeside, Aberdeenshire. The final memorial of stones on the walk was erected in 1862 by Queen Victoria following the death of her husband, Prince Albert, and is actually a pyramid!

This show has been brought to you by Free Range Podcasting.

Please listen to Trailer 3 and visit this page on our website if you would like to submit an episode of your own to be considered for publication as part of our ‘Best Evers’ season.

Any queries or feedback can be sent to [email protected]