TV Choice Awards - please vote!

Pointless has been shortlisted in the Best Daytime Show category of the TV Choice Awards.

Please vote even if you already voted a few weeks back! That was on the longlist, to decide which shows appeared on this shortlist. Pointless needs your vote if they're to compete against shows like This Morning which can ask for votes every day. Please give it your support.

Upon A Different Shore

Exciting news! Xander and Richard were on Good Morning Britain the other day. That in itself isn't the most exciting bit, though. Watch for yourself and see if you can spot it.

Yes, of course, it's Xander starting work on a new album, titled Upon A Different Shore. He started on Friday 24th June, and will finish at the end of July. The album's due for release in November. How exciting!

I also can't resist sharing this picture with you. Xander and Richard were doing some book signings, and this little boy Did Not Want To Be There.

Pointless Celebrities, 3rd July

There's an unthemed repeat on 3rd July at 5.15 (except Northern Ireland), with Louise Wener and Kate Humble, Mary Peters and Jayne Torvill, Tony Hawks and Henry Kelly, and Gareth Hale and Norman Pace as guests.

I seem to remember Hale and Pace being funny, and Mary Peters is always good value. Other than that, I don't remember much about this one. Sure it's fun though.

Sunday Night at the Palladium

The episode of Sunday Night at the Palladium hosted by Xander was repeated on 19th June. Apologies - this kind of sneaked up on me, so I didn't know about it in advance and couldn't let you know. Luckily. however, it's available to view online till 17th July.

Xander's guests are singers Josh Groban and Meghan Trainor, the cast of The Commitments, violinist Andre Rieu and US dance crew AAC Boys. It was  an enjoyable show. Definitely recommended.

Business Pointless Celebrities

Pointless Celebrities Business Special is being repeated on Sunday 26th June at 5.05. The guests are Jacqueline Gold and Richard Farleigh, Tim Campbell and Saira Khan, Michelle Mone and Declan Curry, and Peter Ratcliffe and Jeff Salmon.

This episode is a blank. Complete mystery. I'm sure, though, that it was informative, educational, and entertaining.

History Pointless Celebrities

History Pointless Celebrities is being repeated on Saturday 25th June at 7.30/ The guests are Kate Williams and Adam Hart-Davis, Janina Ramirez and Andrew Graham-Dixon, Ben Willbond and Laurence Rickard, and Lars Tharp and Tim Wonnacott.

 I remember this edition quite well, and very good it was too. Definitely worth a rewatch.

A-Z of Pointless tour

June 22nd is a momentous day. It's both the middle of Independent Bookshop Week and publication day for the paperback of the A-Z of Pointless, the most recent Pointless tie-in book.

To mark the occasion, Xander and Richard are going on a whistle-stop tour, starting in the Cotswolds and gradually homing in on London. Their programme is below. Do try to catch up with them if you can.

Jaffe & Neale, Chipping Norton: 11am-noon - Signing
Hungerford Bookshop 1.30-2.30pm - Signing
Chapter One Bookshop, Woodley 3.30-4.30pm - Signing
Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London: 7-8.30pn  - Interview, Q&A, signing

New Danger Mouse!

Crikey chief! There are new adventures on the way for Danger Mouse, starting on Monday 27th June when clowns invade. Can DM (as played by Xander) stop the Earth being twisted into a novelty balloon shape? Find out at 6.45pm on CBBC.

Children's Hour with Armstrong & Miller

The fabulous Children's Hour with Armstrong & Miller, originally broadcast in 1998, is being repeated on Radio 4 Extra on Tuesday nights. Xander and Ben star as Martin Bain-Jones and Craig Children, presenting the station's "show for young folk".

Episode 1 is currently available on iPlayer, with the other three episodes to follow. Very funny and highly recommended.

Virtually real Rome

The BBC has unveiled its first ventures into virtual reality. Included along with a virtual space-walk and a Queen's-eye view of Trooping The Colour is a tour of Rome's Pantheon, using footage from Xander's documentary Rome's Invisible City.

The VR experience, which includes both the Pantheon itself and a trip underground to discover the source of the stone from which it was built, is compatible with standard desktop computers and with Google Cardboard. Definitely worth a look!

Pointless withdrawal

Bad news, Pointless fans! There's a megadose of sports coming up on the BBC this summer, what with the Euros, Wimbledon, the Olympics... As a result, there's no Pointless Celebrities for at least the next two Saturdays (the schedules beyond then haven't been announced yet). The weekday show is on repeats this week and next, and I suspect after then too. It's also cancelled on the days there's football on the Beeb, and I assume will be off for the whole of Wimbledon, as normal.

Oh no!

If (like me) you absolutely can't manage without your daily dose of Pointlessness, don't panic. You can still catch up on classic episodes on ChallengeTV (Freeview 46, Sky 145, Freesat 146, Virgin 139). It's currently on at 7 and 8pm on weeknights, and various odd hours of the early morning.

Concert for Capability Brown's tercentenary

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is probably England's greatest landscape architect of all time. An exciting programme of events is being organised to celebrate this year's 300th anniversary of his birth, culminating in a Capability Brown Festival over August Bank Holiday Weekend at his birthplace of Kirkharle in Northumbria.

Xander will take part in a concert in St Wildred's Church Kirkharle as part of the Festival, on the evening of Friday 26th August. Tickets cost £40 each, and are available via email.

Here's a little more about Capability Brown to be going on with.

A Pointless evening with Xander and Richard

Foyle's Bookshop, in Charing Cross Road, London, is hosting A Pointless Evening with Richard Osman and Alexander Armstrong on Wednesday 22nd June, to mark both Independent Bookshops Week and the most recent Pointless book, The A-Z of Pointless, coming out in paperback.

Following an in-depth chat about the show, Xander and Richard will answer questions posed both live and via Twitter. The event will be followed by a book signing.

Tickets are £5 each, or £10 including a copy of the book, and can be pre-booked.here.