Rob Temple

My new book, A Very British Christmas, is out today! Your festive survival guide. Available at all the usual bookshops.

I remember once reading that this was physically impossible and would never be done in real race conditions. Absolutely incredible achievement.

@lana_burner Indeed. My sister accessed London media life with no connections in the 90s, all the way from Peterborough! As did I in the late-2000s. It’s just funny how the media tends to think everyone in the country did that (or even wanted to).

@RobTemple101 The thing is though, that lifestyle WAS accessible if you were young and near London. I lived in a very deprived part of east London but I still managed to get myself a job at a TV production company for a reasonable salary with no experience. Would be unheard of now.

The Times has done an article about what it was like to live in the 90s, where the journalist does things like goes to the Groucho Club and talks to someone who worked at The Face. That is very much not the 90s that 99.9% of people lived in 😂

@MartinBecker14 I was making the lighthearted observation that people tend to have fun in their 20s regardless of the place or decade, a thought in-keeping with my original thoughts about (and in the spirit of) the Times article. I’m not sure how you’ve taken so much offence at that.

@MartinBecker14 How preposterously sensitive.

@MartinBecker14 My 20s were the best years of my life too, because I was in my 20s 😂

I mean, I was maximum 17 in the 90s, but what I remember of my Dad was him going to the office in Peterborough every day and then coming home for his tea then watching telly until bedtime.

The media would have us believe that most people in Britain spent the 90s hanging out with Liam and Noel, living in Primrose Hill, and working at Loaded.

I’ve got to stop reading the news as soon as I wake up. The first words I saw today were “doom loop.” This can’t be good for my health.

Whoever the man in the tracksuit is, he’s a hero. I hope he pulls through. Unbelievable bravery.

I used to have more money before smartphones, back when £50 wouldn’t suddenly leave my account because of an app I’d forgotten to unsubscribe from.

I don’t like to boast, but there’s not much I’m good at, so I just want to let you know… I actually find changing the oven clock very straightforward.

@Futurewor1d I guess it can be fiddly in some places, but this morning I asked for “a medium black coffee with some milk on the side” and the person behind the till said ok and then gave it to me. Some of the sitcoms I see I swear the comedians are just making the issues up in their heads.

@RobTemple101 It’s not confusing, it is however an annoying pretension and there should be a space for a coffee shop for people who want brown stuff in a cup and can’t be arsed with the ritual. Went to one place and they won’t give out sugar unless you had tasted it first!

Why does every single comedian these days have to do a “oh it’s so complicated ordering coffee!!” sketch. It’s really not that confusing.

Happy UK publication day to the lovely @RobTemple101! 🥳Today A VERY BRITISH CHRISTMAS publishes in hardback and VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS CHRISTMAS QUIZ BOOK is out in paperback!🎄@SoVeryBritish

I was just in the queue in a small local shop when a lady burst through the door and shouted towards the till - from the doorway! - “SORRY, DO YOU SELL VICTORIA SPONGE CAKE?!” The cashier replied, “No.” The lady yelled, “THEY DON’T SELL IT!” back to someone waiting outside, then dashed out of the door as quickly as she came. I’ve never witnessed a more British emergency.

I got in a lift today on the fourth floor. An elderly gentleman was already in there by the buttons, the ground floor button already pressed. ‘All aboard,’ he said as I stepped in, then asked, ‘Where to, sir?’ I replied, ‘Two, please.’ He pressed the two button and said, ‘Good choice.’ It was all quite silly, but it made me smile. I’d like to be a bit more like that sometimes.

Middle-aged comedians seem to get in so many pickles when it comes to ordering coffee in coffee shops.

New book! mailchi.mp/atlantic-books…