Category: 10th Anniversary

Olly Murs singing “Dance With Me Tonight” with The Muppets is the greatest X Factor guest performance of all time: discuss.

~ Alex the Pensmith ~ Leave a comment

Olly Murs in rehearsals for The X Factor with The Muppets, November 2011. Image credit: Idil Sukan / Draw HQ With The X Factor finally given its official resting by ITV earlier on this year after 18 series, the dust has largely settled on the obituaries that said it should have happened sooner being delivered, … Continue reading Olly Murs singing “Dance With Me Tonight” with The Muppets is the greatest X Factor guest performance of all time: discuss.

JLS: Eyes Wide Open – the 10th anniversary of an intimate 21st century pop film

~ Alex the Pensmith ~ Leave a comment

When pop bands get to a certain level of success - hit singles and albums, stacks of awards and sellout tours, it's safe to say they've reached national ubiquity and adoration. It is therefore not out the question, then, to mark this transition into absolute phenomenon via their first big screen outing. But it's a … Continue reading JLS: Eyes Wide Open – the 10th anniversary of an intimate 21st century pop film

Celebrating 10 years of supporting Marie Curie with my Virtual Quiz Night

~ Alex the Pensmith ~ Leave a comment

2021 is a special year for me in many ways. One of them marking an important milestone for me. Regular readers may know that one of the organisations I support and give my time to is Marie Curie UK. I've now been supporting, fundraising and collecting for them in one form or another for 10 … Continue reading Celebrating 10 years of supporting Marie Curie with my Virtual Quiz Night

JLS: a retrospective piece on the 10th anniversary of their debut album

~ Alex the Pensmith ~ Leave a comment

It's funny how much has changed in ten years. Not least of all The X Factor. Once the cornerstone and an unmissable powerhouse of Saturday night entertainment on ITV, pulling in 16m viewers at its peak, it actually once did what it said on the tin and produced stars. Nowadays, it's a pitiful and irrelevant … Continue reading JLS: a retrospective piece on the 10th anniversary of their debut album

Hello to you and thanks for joining: the top 10 ‘such fun’ episodes of Miranda

~ Alex the Pensmith ~ Leave a comment

Well, a hearty good evening to you my dear blog reading chums. Now come along please, settle. That's it. And let us get you up to speed. Previously in our lives, 10 years ago, in 2009, the news was full of economic doom and gloom, dark intense crime dramas were becoming all the rage, and … Continue reading Hello to you and thanks for joining: the top 10 ‘such fun’ episodes of Miranda

Rachel Stevens’ “Come & Get It” at 10: celebrating a great lost pop classic.

~ Alex the Pensmith ~ 1 Comment

All the acts from 2008-12's great British pop renaissance either suddenly flopping hard in the charts and/or launching solo careers of varying degrees of amazingness this year, has led me back to reminiscing on the last time that happened. And when I sat down to work it out this week, I reasoned it must have … Continue reading Rachel Stevens’ “Come & Get It” at 10: celebrating a great lost pop classic.