Well Eye Never

Ten Years Of Blogging

Incredibly, this month marks the 10th anniversary of my blog, as I registered with WordPress and started rambling away here at the start of February in 2016, talking about my conditions aniridia and nystagmus. The old journal posts listed before then were added and backdated retrospectively during the Covid lockdowns as something to do, although in that regard I’m impressed that I’ve been able to fill a blog with content spanning over 25 years, and that people have been so interested in reading about my past as well as the present.

I’ve also just started my 10th year of living in London, so while my anniversary of the big move isn’t technically until next Christmas, and I will probably say more about that particular milestone when the time comes, it’s practically a double celebration.

And on top of all that, thanks to some fortuitous timing, I’ve managed to ensure that this particular post is my 500th to be published here. Sure, there have been more than that in total, as a few posts have been merged or deleted over time, and I’m not counting the index pages. But in terms of currently published posts on my homepage, there are now 500 exactly.

Carer & Career Updates – January 2026

After everything Mum and I went through last year, it’s fair to say that 2026 has had mixed beginnings for us. But ultimately there are signs of hope and potential for the 12 months ahead. So I wanted to give an update about caring for Mum and have a little rant about my work situation, so you know where we stand at the moment, before I do my Favourites post about the month soon.

Chris McCausland – Keep Laughing Review

I’ve mentioned Chris McCausland several times in my blog in recent years, because he’s one of my favourite comedians, and not because he’s blind. He’s very funny, clever and down to earth, a genuine nice guy, and I got to see him live a few years ago, which I hope to do again at some point. Recently I also enjoyed his fascinating documentary Seeing Into The Future, and he’s done great podcast interviews with the BBC, Channel 4 News and Romesh Ranganathan.

And now my mother and I have listened to the audiobook of his new autobiography, Keep Laughing, and we’ve really enjoyed it, so I wanted to do a review here as well. This isn’t sponsored or gifted, I’m just a fan, and I hope you find it interesting.

Freddie Mercury’s World – Part 10 – The Performer

We got there in the end. To conclude my series of photos that I took at the Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own exhibition at Sotheby’s in 2023, we’re paying close attention to what the Queen frontman was best known for – his songwriting and performing.

There are some very significant items here, most of which are from the On Stage auction, but there are a few pieces from other auctions thrown in too. It all depends on how Sotheby’s had things on display in the galleries.

As has been the case in all the previous posts, clicking on the images will blow them up and the item links will take you to the description pages. So I hope you enjoy!

Freddie Mercury’s World – Part 9 – Stage Fashion

Here’s the penultimate collection in my series of amazing items that I saw on my visit to Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own, the exhibition that took over Sotheby’s in 2023.

We’re now turning our attention to the On Stage auction, where items relating to Freddie’s songwriting and performing – some of which are very recognisable and important to big Queen fans like myself – sold for a total of £9,476,740! Most of the clothing shown here is from that auction but, as with previous posts, there are a few pieces from other auctions mixed in as well.

As ever, you can click on the images to enlarge them and the item names to read more, and I hope you enjoy seeing the wide selection I’ve included here.

Freddie Mercury’s World – Part 8 – Little Things

Here’s the next part of my in-depth series about my visit to the exhibition Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own at Sotheby’s in 2023. And we’re continuing on from my previous post about the Crazy Little Things gallery.

This time I’m going to show you a wide selection of mostly smaller items that were sold in the first and second Crazy auctions, and occasionally some of the other auctions, from jewellery to various random objects.

As always, to enlarge the images you can click on them, and to read more about each item you can click on its name. Enjoy!

Freddie Mercury’s World – Part 7 – The Collector

Freddie Mercury was an avid collector of objects, who had a real eye for beauty, loved all things feline and had a great sense of humour. And that’s clearly in evidence here, as we continue looking back at my photos from the 2023 A World Of His Own exhibition that took place at Sotheby’s.

This time we’re looking at items to do with cats, clothing, books and music that he collected. Most of them are from the auctions Crazy Little Things 1 and Crazy Little Things 2, which raised £10.3 million altogether! But there are a few bits and pieces from other auctions mixed in too, just as there were some items from the Crazy auctions in my previous posts.

So there’s plenty to look through, and as before you can click on the images to enlarge them and the item names to learn more. Hope you enjoy as always!

Jack Dee – Stand-Up Comedy Reviews

Recently I celebrated John Bishop’s 25 years in comedy by watching and reviewing several of his great stand-up shows, including the latest one that aired on Sky Comedy over Christmas.

Another of my favourite comedians who also had a new special on Sky was Jack Dee. He’s been on the circuit even longer, making audiences laugh since he first set foot on stage in the late 80s, and really came to prominence on TV from the early 90s onwards. So he’s been going strong for over 35 years. I’ve seen him in many shows on TV in that time, and I also enjoy listening to him on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue on BBC Radio 4, as he’s proven to be the perfect host since taking over from the late, great Humphrey Lyttelton back in 2009.

Jack is of course known for his deadpan, sarcastic and grumpy stage persona, and he uses it to wonderful comedic effect. He does laugh sometimes, of course, but he’s usually very good at staying in character. It’s easiest to see him laughing more naturally in interviews, as well as the Oh My Dog podcast with Seann Walsh and guests, which isn’t the kind of podcast that interests me, but from a quick look at it out of curiosity, they do seem to have a lot of fun banter.

All that said, however, the truth is that he does actually suffer from depression, and has done for many years. So it’s good that he’s been open about it in interviews, which helps to raise awareness. He manages it well, and being able to channel his energy through his comedy has been life-changing for him.

So his latest stand-up special has given me a good excuse to rewatch and review his old DVDs, as it’s been quite some time since I’ve gone through them. Most of his DVDs don’t have extra features, but there’s plenty more footage of Jack online of course, as you can on my Youtube playlist. So I hope you enjoy looking through it all.

Freddie Mercury’s World – Part 6 – Awards

We’ve crossed the halfway point in my look back at the 2023 Sotheby’s exhibition Freddie Mercury: A World Of His Own. I hope you’re finding it interesting so far.

For this post we’re going to look at a whole bunch of awards, because Freddie and Queen were honoured with a deluge of well-earned accolades during and after his lifetime, so there were lots on display in the exhibition. I’m not going to list them all, obviously, but I’m going to present a big selection that I took photos of, to give you a thorough sense of what was there. Most were sold in the Crazy Little Things 2 auction while a few were in the On Stage sale.

A wall filled with disc sales awards for Queen and Freddie Mercury albums and singles.

The vast majority of the sales awards adorned the walls of a room featuring Freddie’s royal cloak and crown (which you’ll see in a later post in this series). There were a huge number of silver, gold and platinum awards there, for the sales of singles and albums, and occasional awards for videos. But there were also some awards scattered around elsewhere too. A lot of the awards for disc sales look very similar by their nature, but there are a few more striking ones in amongst them.

So let’s crack on with it. As before you can click on the images to enlarge them and the award names to find out more, and I hope you enjoy!

Freddie Mercury’s World – Part 5 – Art

Freddie Mercury didn’t just love the art of music, he was also a keen fan of paintings and prints. For example, in the first part of this series looking through the photos I took at the 2023 A World Of His Own exhibition at Sotheby’s, we saw some of the Japanese imagery that he had in his collection.

So now it’s time to dig deeper and see more of the art that he owned and had on display at Garden Lodge, his residence from which I recently shared many images of his furniture here and here. Most of these pieces were therefore sold in the At Home auction, but there are some from the Evening Sale and Crazy Little Things auctions too.

Towards the end of this post you’ll also see the famous door to the house, which itself is a work of art due to the fan tributes that completely cover it. And on a related note I’ll also show you my own visit to the property – not that you can see anything from the outside, but it still feels nice to say I’ve been there.

So with a reminder that you can click the names of the artworks to read more about them and the images to enlarge them, I hope you enjoy looking through it all!

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