When I was 10 years old, I dreamed of being the best drummer in the world. Day in, day out, I’d watch videos, listen to albums, and read magazines featuring the current and past best players. How did they practice, what bands did they play for, what made them so great? I sucked up any… Read More

I’ve had a few injuries in my time, but one of the worst was my knee about ten years ago. Every time I walked, I imagined the pain I would feel, and how I was making the injury worse. In the end, a specialist suggested that the injury had cleared up long ago and that… Read More

It normally starts around this time; the same old messages from fitness bloggers and jacked insta models. “Relax”, they tell you, “Christmas is only one day a year”. Well, great, Richard, I’m proud of you for not tracking your macros for a whole day, perhaps I’ll put a fucking medal in your stocking. For the… Read More

If you’ve ever been knocked out before, you’ll know that it’s a strange sensation. You don’t feel the impact of whatever implement is rendering you unconscious, you just sort of wake up wondering where you are. If you’re a boxer, knocking someone out is kind of your job, and few people were better at it… Read More

A calorie is a calorie. Just the same as a watt is a watt or a volt is a volt. Consume more than you burn and you will gain weight. This is an undisputed truth, and I’m ok with it. I can live with not eating mac and cheese all day because when I do… Read More

In 1770, Johann Georg Schröpfer made a floating ghost appear to a room full of people. Using skulls, incense, crucifixes, and holy water as part of his ritual, everyone believed the ghosts were real. In reality, the apparitions were the result of nothing but a lantern and some moveable glass slides. The trick later referred… Read More

When selling a diet book, telling the truth is fairly far down the list of the typical marketing strategy. No one wants to hear that eating too much is what led them to poke new notches in their belt. I’m yet to see the day that titles such as “your fat is your fault”, or… Read More

Once, while sitting in the cinema, I watched a man in the row in front open a Tupperware box and proceed to eat its contents. I remember initially feeling admiration for that amount of dedication to meal prep. Then the smell, like microwaved cat food hit me, and my feelings toward him quickly changed. Making… Read More

In 1965, a 27-year-old morbidly obese man weighing a terrifying 207kg walked into the royal infirmary in Dundee and told the doctors he was going to starve himself in a bid to lose weight. As you might imagine, the doctors advised against this rather extreme cause of action, but the man was not interested. Whatever… Read More

I’ve always been a big James Bond fan and one of my favourites is Goldfinger. Despite having a great plot, a legendary set of characters with some outstanding names (Pussy Galore anyone), it has some genuinely cool scenes. One that stands out is when 007 has to stop a nuclear bomb from going off. On… Read More