One lunchtime in 1961 a young telephone engineer called Mal Evans took a different route back to work after eating his sandwiches at Liverpool’s Pier Head. Choosing a short cut down a back alley he heard what sounded like Elvis Presley music coming from a fruit cellar. Paying a shilling, he went down some… read more
New writing
Will It Be 1966 All Over Again? (Mail On Sunday, August 20, 2020
Hurrah The Lionesses Ray Connolly Some moments you remember all your life. One of mine happened fifteen minutes after England won the World Cup in 1966. Like almost everybody else in the country, Plum, my wife of three months, and I had just watched the final on TV, and were driving in my little… read more
What is it about Horses? May 4, 2023
What is it about horses? Why on Saturday will we smile fondly when we see the Household Cavalry as it accompanies King Charles in his golden carriage on his way to Westminster Abbey for his Coronation? Why, in fact, do we need horses in our national pageants? They are, of course, strong and beautiful and… read more
Manchester City 1, Inter Milan 0 May 13, 2023
Consider the newspaper photographs the day after. See the unrestrained euphoria of the fans who congregated together on Saturday night to celebrate the victory of Manchester City over Inter Milan in the European Champions League final. It was a raucous time in Manchester after the match. Inevitably, a few fans got over-excited. There are always… read more
God Only Knows Where AI will lead us next? (Daily Express, May 13, 2023)
A Beatle was singing God Only Knows on my phone the other night. No, I thought. That can’t be right. The Beatles never recorded God Only Knows. That must be the Beach Boys. But having been listening to the voice of Paul McCartney for the best part of sixty years, I know Macca when… read more
Yoko Ono at 90 Mail on Sunday, January 1, 2023
Half a century ago Yoko Ono was probably the most vilified woman in the world. Believed by many to have been responsible for the break-up of the Beatles, she had, it was thought, ruined everything. Who does she think she is, was a widespread attitude, and not only among Beatles fans. This strange, zany, Japanese,… read more
Devoted – BBC Radio 4 (23.3.21)
Devoted Writer Ray Connolly spent six months in hospital fighting Covid 19. This is the story of how he survived. Starring Philip Jackson and Alison Steadman. read more
Blue Christmas a short story (December 20, 2022)
Alan had never been a fan. Not like his mother. When she was 70, and still liked to go on foreign holidays, she’d saved up and gone on a pilgrimage ‘to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee’, as she liked to say. He’d offered to go, too, but she wouldn’t have it. ‘You’ll only mock,’ she’d said.… read more
Sam and the Monkey Suit
(1) The Fancy Dress Party Sam had a problem. His friend Abbie was having a fancy dress birthday party on the last day of the school holidays and he couldn’t decide what he wanted to go as. ‘What about being a wizard with a cloak, a wand and a pointed hat?’ his mum suggested.… read more
A Second Chance – The Moment That Changed My Life (an edited version of this article appeared in The Guardian – November 17, 2021)
A second chance – that’s what I was being given when, having skirted death during that first round of Covid, I left hospital just over a year ago. I was, I was told, only half way there. It would take twelve more months before my body got back to near where it had been before… read more
