Josie Long

One of my favourite comedians/human beings, Josie Long, was at the Epstein Theatre in Liverpool tonight on her 'Something Better' tour and she was on cracking form.

I'm a long-term admirer of her comedy, her politics, her love of books and her attitude to life in general. Not to mention her style! Her hair was looking particularly cool tonight, I thought.

I'm a fan of the 'Book Shambles' podcast which she co-hosts with Robin Ince http://cosmicshambles.com/bookshambles and also of Arts Emergency, the charity which she co-founded 6 years ago to act as "an alternative Old Boys Network", providing professional mentors for young people who want to make a career in the Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences but who lack the necessary social capital, financial capital or privilege to find ways in.

Let's face it, Josie Long rocks!

You can get a flavour of her personality here as she talks about what Charles Darwin described as 'the chaos of delight', www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW0K3C4FYYI

After the show [which focuses on her determination not to capitulate to the "luxury of despair" in the wake of the Brexit vote, whilst also - amongst many other things - extolling the virtues of necklaces, teasing us with a series of fabricated quotes from 'To Kill a Mockingbird' before giving us the genuine quote (the man on my left was doubled over with mirth at this point!) and treating us to her hilarious line-by-line critique of Rupert Holmes' deathless classic, 'Escape (The Pina Colada Song)'] she was not only good enough to let me take her picture but she also invited me up onto the stage to take it while she was clearing her stuff up. So, I got to make use of the stage lighting, which was a bonus!

I'm sure she'd want me to mention, as she did tonight, that a book to help us through these troubled, and troubling, times is 'Hope in the Dark' by Rebecca Solnit www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/15/rebecca-solnit-hope-in-the-dark-new-essay-embrace-unknown I'm actually reading it at the moment and I can also recommend it!

Josie is a great advocate of wild swimming, so today's song choice could only be 'Let's Go Swimming Wild' by the wonderful Sweet Baboo... www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMQ8h42HOJU I absolutely love this video!

(And, as a special bonus, yes... it's Rupert Holmes!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WkR2Tv4dq4 Health Warning: Watch/listen at your own risk. You may find yourself singing this for the rest of the day, quite against your better judgement!)