MALDWYN POPE

I got to go to an FA Cup Final once. It was back in 1977, Manchester United versus Liverpool. Just like so many amazing things that happened to me in the 1970’s the ticket was down to Elton John.

Last weekend Mumbles had a brand new tourist attraction. With the Mumbles Railway, the seaside and ice cream, chips and oysters the village has always been the place to go on a summer’s day. Then last weekend the news started going around that we had to get down to the front to see the big digger. The question on everyone’s lips seemed to be, ‘how could this have happened?’.

2 big stories in the news sewage in the water and Artificial Intelligence. How would I link them for this blog? Then I had a brainwave, I would ask Google’s AI system ‘Bard’ to write my article for me.

It was late last year that I got an email from the office of the Bishop of Swansea & Brecon. 2023 was going to be their Centenary. Could I write them a new Anthem to be performed at a special event in September to be held at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells?

There will be much talk this weekend of Coronations, Kings and Queens and how people will react to being in the presence of royalty. I’ve had some practice over the past ten days at not one but two special dinners.

Every time you face rejection you can tell yourself its nothing to do with you. But when what you do is so intrinsically linked with who you are then its really difficult not to take professional setbacks personally.

I know Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny are Hollywood royalty and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and wants to be their best friends…but I should say I have always had a soft spot for Wrexham FC!

When I was young one of the most exciting times during the whole week was sitting in front of the radio on Tuesday Lunchtimes waiting for Johnnie Walker to announce the new pop charts on Radio One. Tomorrow I will be glued to my radio waiting to hear if my latest single ‘Looking for love’ has gone up or down in the Mike Read Heritage Chart.

If we won every game without a struggle, without a drama how boring would it all be. If we take the easy option to ‘hoof the ball upfield’ rather than trust our talent and team to reach our goal, our way, we might end up always with just another average draw.

Last night I attended an Awards Ceremony at St David’s Hall in Cardiff. Black Tie, Red Carpet, Gin reception…the lot. I was there with my podcast co-host Johnny Tudor and we were both presenting awards. It was a night of music, networking, seeing old friends and awards.
The official title of the event was ‘It’s My Shout’ Awards Night 2023 and all of the recipients were in their teens or early 20’s.