The Boisdale Music Awards

Nominations for the 2017 Boisdale Music Awards have been announced; Alexander Armstrong has been nominated as Best Male Singer.

 

The ceremony, hosted by Jools Holland, will take place on Wednesday September 13th at Boisdale of Canary Wharf. Other nominees include blues legend and veteran broadcaster Paul Jones (lifetime achievement award) Ginger Baker (Best Jazz Instrumentalist) Rebecca Ferguson (Best Jazz Singer) Imelda May (Best Female Singer), and Mike Batt (Outstanding Contribution to British Music).

Congratulations, Xander!

Reality TV Pointless Celebrities

Pointless Celebrities on Saturday 9th September, at 6.10pm, is a Reality TV special.

The duos competing are former Apprentice contestants Ruth Badger and Solomon Akhtar, I'm A Celebrity 2014 survivors Carl Fogarty and Jimmy Bullard, Big Brother's first-ever winner Craig Phillips and series seven housemate Nikki Grahame, and Made in Chelsea stars Jamie Laing and Alex Mytton.

Classic FM's Ultimate Chart

This year the radio station Classic FM is 25 years old. As part of their celebrations, they have published their Ultimate Chart of the 300 best-selling classical albums since 1992.

A Year Of Songs, Alexander Armstrong's debut solo album, reached number 57 in the chart. This is particularly impressive given that it was only released in 2015, and was up against albums released many years if not decades ago. Congratulations, Xander!

The Full Works

Alexander Armstrong regularly presents shows on Classic FM at the weekend. In week beginning 11th September, he will additionally be at the helm of three shows in The Full Works strand, nightly at 8pm.

• On Monday 11th September the theme is Autumn in the Air, with composers including Vaughan Williams,  Elgar and Holst. 
• Tuesday the 12th has the theme of Alexander's A-Listers, and features Richard Strauss,  Beethoven, and Mozart.
• And finally Wednesday 13th's show, themed around Durham, is centred on Jon Lord's epic Durham Concerto Also included is contemporary choral composer Will Todd.

Classic FM is on digital, on 100-102FM, or you can listen online.

Comedy Pointless Celebrities, 2nd September

There's a repeated Comedy special of Pointless Celebrities on 2nd September, at 7pm.

The teams are Simon Day and Paul Chowdhry, Emily Atack and Ian Lavender, Kerry Godliman and Graeme Garden, and Steve Pemberton and Bob Mortimer.

Happy birthday to you

So, 2009. Did anything interesting happen?

• Matt Smith was named as the new Doctor in Doctor Who, taking over from David Tennant
• Captain Chesley Sullenberger crash-landed his airliner in the Hudson River after birds disabled the engines. All passengers and crew survived
• Peter Andre and Katie Price separated
• There was an epidemic of swine flu
• The funniest joke of this year's Edinburgh Fringe, as voted by viewers of TV channel Dave. came from comedian Dan Antopolski: "Hedgehogs. Why can't they just share the hedge?" 

Oh... and a TV quiz, name of Pointless, was broadcast. for the first time.

 

Today, 24th August 2017, is the eighth anniversary of that first show's broadcast, in a quiet little BBC2 daytime backwater. More than 1200 editions later, it's one of BBC1's top shows, complete with celebrity specials shown in prime time Saturday night slots.

And with another long recording block about to start, it looks like Pointless will be with us for a long time yet. Roll on the next anniversary!

Series 2 of Danger Mouse? Crumbs, DM!

Series 2 of the rebooted Danger Mouse (starring the voices of Alexander Armstrong as Danger Mouse himself, and Kevin Eldon as Penfold) will start on Monday 4th September, at 6pm on CBBC.

In the first episode, Colonel K goes on holiday, leaving DM in charge of the secret service and allowing Baron Greenback to strike chaos across the planet. How will Colonel D save the day this time?

It must be autumn...

Season of mists, mellow fruitfulness... and new Pointless shows!

Series 17 continues from Monday 4th September at the usual time of 5.15pm. With another couple of hundred about to be recorded, we've plenty more to come!

Health & Fitness Pointless Celebrities

On Saturday 26th August at 7.20pm, BBC1 has a repeated Health & Fitness edition of Pointless Celebrities.

The contestants are 1980s TV fitness instructor Lizzie Webb and This Morning's resident doctor Chris Steele, Dancing on Ice judge Robin Cousins and former contestant Rosemary Conley, Welsh sprinter Iwan Thomas and former Olympic athlete Katharine Merry, and Embarrassing Bodies consultants Dr Dawn Harper and Dr Pixie McKenna.

Danger Mouse: From Duck Till Dawn

Danger Mouse: From Duck Till Dawn, starring Alexander Armstrong as Danger Mouse and Kevin Eldon as Penfold, is the latest Danger Mouse DVD to be released.

The DVD, to be released on Monday 18th September, will contain 8 spooky Hallowe'en episodes of the hit show, including the reappearance of Count Duckula. Crikey, DM!

Peter and the Wolf, and other animals

The release date for Alexander Armstrong's album of animal-themed classical pieces for children with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra has now been confirmed.

Xander said:

It’s very exciting to be moving onto a narration project after having done quite a lot of narration in my role as an actor and as presenter. But also using my experience as a solo singer; I’ve had a musical side and an acting side, and I see them both as using the same sort of discipline. A sort of musicality is involved in narration, it seems like a very logical thing for me to be doing.

 To be released on Friday September 29th, the album will include Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Ogden Nash's poems for Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals, and Rawsthorne's Practical Cats. It can be ordered at Amazon or all usual sources, or downloaded on iTunes. Alternatively you can listen to it on Spotify.

Formula One Pointless Celebrities

There's a repeated Formula One Pointless Celebrities, on Saturday 19th August at 7.20pm.

The competitors are retired F1 racer David Coulthard and Australian motorsports star Mark Webber, former driver Allan McNish and Williams F1 deputy team principal Claire Williams, veteran commentator Murray Walker and ex-champion Nigel Mansell, and Red Bull Principal Christian Horner and ex-MotoGP presenter Suzi Perry. 

There are only a few sporting questions, so to make them feel at home Xander challenges Nigel Mansell to a Scalextric race – with Murray Walker commentating. 

Test Match Pointless Celebrities, 12th August

Pointless Celebrities on 12th August at 5.40pm is a repeated Test Match special.

Taking part are Graeme Swann and Alison Mitchell, Michael Vaughan and Phil Tufnell, Melinda Farrell and Jonathan Agnew, and Ebony Rainford-Brent and Henry Blofeld.

Also featured is this exceptional cricket tea.