Brian Viner

Brian Viner swapped London for the Herefordshire countryside, and his column ‘Country Life’ documents his attempts to chase the rural idyll. Chiefly a sports writer, he pens a weekly sports column and interview for the paper. He is the author of Ali, Pele, Lillee and Me: A Personal Odyssey Through the Sporting Seventies.

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Golf is the most fun you'll have with your clothes on (unless it's a blazer and club tie)

Brian Viner: It must be 20 years since I declared to the girlfriend I was soon to marry that I couldn't countenance being friendly with a man who didn't love sport.

Recently by Brian Viner

Brian Viner: London 2012 is the time to do a runner

Friday, 18 March 2011

With gold-medal winning serendipity, the Olympic countdown clock in Trafalgar Square developed a glitch on Tuesday just hours after transmission of the first episode of Twenty Twelve, a spoof BBC documentary series about general haplessness in the preparation of next year's Games.

Brian Viner: Revie was the original master at convincing himself the world was against his team

Saturday, 12 March 2011

The Last Word

Brian Viner: You shouldn't rush a good drama

Friday, 11 March 2011

We television critics are used to being lambasted as worthless specimens of humanity. And actors, producers, directors and screenwriters have now been joined by bloggers, tweeters and message-boarders in telling us that we know nothing, the implication being that they know a whole lot more.

Brian Viner: While Shahzad was hitting India for six I was left thumping my steering wheel

Saturday, 5 March 2011

The Last Word

Brian Viner: Laughter can be a local delicacy, too

Friday, 4 March 2011

We all know, or think we know, that nationalities differ in terms of what makes them laugh. And of course we British pride ourselves on having a superior sense of humour than the Germans (especially the Germans), the French and even the Americans, who are said to lack our acute ear for irony, although if television comedy ever produced two greater deliverers of the ironic quip than Seattle psychiatrists Frasier and Niles Crane, I can't think of them. Nope, not even Terry and June.

Brian Viner: Jordan v Gattuso is a heavyweight bout to savour – as long as there's no spitting

Saturday, 19 February 2011

The Last Word

Brian Viner: Confessions of a true romantic

Friday, 18 February 2011

For the average couple, romance starts seeping out of marriage just 14 months after the exchange of vows, according to a survey commissioned – you're going to like this – by Better-Bathrooms.com.

Brian Viner: Think of a number – and double it to be a winner in football's bizarre shirt lottery

Saturday, 12 February 2011

The Last Word

Brian Viner: Why is film awash with honours?

Friday, 11 February 2011

Sir Christopher Lee, 88 years old and still 6ft 5ins in his slippers, is to be presented on Sunday with a Bafta Fellowship, the greatest honour the British film industry can bestow. This is splendid news, an overdue accolade for a man who, it is generally accepted, has appeared in more films than anyone alive, and rarely gets the recognition he deserves for being king of the franchises, the only common denominator between the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Star Wars films, the Bond movies and of course the Hammer horrors.

Brian Viner: What happened to 'Are you being served'?

Friday, 4 February 2011

The BBC2 series Michel Roux's Service, like The Apprentice for waiters and waitresses, ended last night. I dipped in and out, and enjoyed what I watched, though it will take more than masterful Michel to dilute the cocktail of surliness, ignorance and apathy that these days passes for service in far too many of Britain's restaurants, hotels, shops and anywhere else where staff and customers come into direct contact.

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