Murray is out and the English football team are still licking their wounds whilst spending thousands on holidays in far flung places, to soften the blow. I say bring on the curling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile in our little piece of Soho paradise things have been tripping along very nicely.

The crafty couple of pigeons that created a Houdini act by materialising ‘within’ the bird protected netting last week managed to escape just as mysteriously as they appeared. Weird.

Charles had a special milestone birthday and a jolly good time by all accounts, so a very happy belated one Mr Nove!

We also had a visit from ‘Mini Nick’ otherwise known as baby Isaac. He was ever so good and seemed to be cooing all the right sort of sounds. It seems we have another ‘thesp’ in the making.

Now one of my all time favourite programmes has to be Red Dwarf – A timeless classic, with my favourite quote being:

Lister: The red, green and blue signs are all flashing. What the smeg does that mean?

Kryten: Well either we’re under attack sir, or we’re having a disco

Genius.

But there is a point to this random outburst as naturally funny man Mr Norman Lovett came in to grace our sofas on Wednesday. It was Norman who played the part of the computer generated head ‘Holly' during the first, second, seventh (as a guest star) and eighth series.

Holly prides himself on the fact he had an IQ of 6,000 (apparently the same IQ as 6,000 PE teachers or 12,000 car park attendants), but after three million years by himself, he had become computer senile, or as Holly put it, "a bit peculiar".

Norman is a stand-up comedian and even has his own DVD out called Bags and Biscuits of which he is immensely proud. He was also heard as the voice over for several Sugar Puffs adverts of the late 1980s in which he said "Sugar Puffs, you'll go monster mad for the honey"

I was just VOX mad to meet one of my childhood idols. Thanks for the laughs Norm.

Another regular to A1, and friend of resident voice artist Lucy Scott, is Ben Miles. Ben is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the British TV comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004.

He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which also boasts such alumni as Orlando Bloom (yum), Daniel Craig (swoon) and Joseph Fiennes (somebody stop me!).

Miles often works with director James McTeigue: he appeared in McTeigue's 2006 film V for Vendetta as 'Dascombe', in Ninja Assassin and in Speed Racer. On stage he played 'Bolingbroke' in the Old Vic's production of Richard II in 2005 alongside his father-in-law Gary Raymond.

I managed to pluck up the courage to ask for a wee piccie of Ben last week and pretty much blinded him in the process - twice - and all for the sake of you lot out there. Such dedication to the cause.



So last week we had it all. Comedian, trained actor and.....A Reality TV Star!!!!!!

The words ‘dignity intact’ and ‘Big Brother’ don’t usually go hand in hand but incredibly one human being has managed it.

Mr BB ‘winner spinner’ himself, Craig Phillips, was up at VOX Towers looking very tanned indeed and not a hammer or chisel in sight (unless you count his chin).

In 2000 when Craig shot to fame winning the first Big Brother and with it the hearts of a nation, many viewers already knew he was a self-made entrepreneur.

His public appeal shown in Big Brother along with his vast property experience and down to earth manner were quickly spotted by television execs and he was drafted in as a resident expert on various programmes.

He has presented TV shows across the globe, destinations including Canada, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, Germany, Cyprus, Kosovo, Bosnia, France, Spain and Ascension Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Well that accounts for the deep perma tan then Craigy boy.

Craig supports numerous charities and is certainly a man of action. In supporting them he has; abseiled one of London’s tallest buildings, abseiled the 335ft high St John’s Beacon tower above Liverpool City Centre, completed the London marathon, zip lined 600 feet across an open quarry, took part in a 12,000 ft skydive jumps and wing walked at 2000ft.

Dear lord man, most reality TV stars are content to get their bits out, snog a celeb then dive into obscurity forever and a day! We salute you Craig for mixing hard graft with a media edge and remaining a lucrative commodity in your own right.

SOHO NEWS:

Ok, ok, I can deny it no longer.....I am indeed obsessed with food. Is there somewhere I can go to stand up and be counted as such??

I blame Eleanor Howell for this week’s foodie blog as she made an impromptu visit to the recently opened new offering from Jamie Oliver.

‘Jamie’s Italian' in Covent Garden is the new central London flagship site.

It has been named brand of the year by the British Hospitality Association at its annual awards ceremony. This accolade is testament to the teams who work hard everyday to ensure that the customer experience is true to what ‘Jamie's Italian’ prides itself on - fantastic quality, honest Italian food in beautifully rustic and un-pretentious environments.

You don’t even need to book, and I have it on authority from Miss Howell that it is indeed very affordable and bloody lovely!

So go on, make that change from Pizza Express just the once, and see if the cheeky cockney sparrow really is onto something.

So I close another chapter of the saucy and delectable goings on at A1.

Join the fun bus next week to find out who, or indeed what, may be stepping through those doors and visiting us folk on the fourth floor.