Declan Diamond

SGT PEPPERS WAS RELEASED 59 YEARS AGO TODAY!!!!!

Listening to my pop records as a little kid at the start of the 80's took me to a different world. I can only imagine what it must have been like for kids less than 20 years earlier hearing The Beatles for the first time

Paul McCartney reveals John Lennon complimented him exactly once in their entire songwriting partnership The most successful songwriting duo in history wrote together for roughly a decade. They produced the catalogue that reshaped popular music. And in all that time, by Paul's own account, John praised his work to his face on a single occasion. Asked whether he and John were competitive as writers, Paul doesn't hesitate: "Yeah, we were competitive. Yeah. Not openly, but we later admitted, yeah, you know, so Paul's written a good one there. I better get going." The rivalry ran underneath everything. One would hear the other's new song, register it as a challenge, and quietly raise his own game. Paul describes the internal monologue plainly: "That's a bit good. Right. Here we go. Come on." He gives a concrete example of how this shaped the catalogue. When John wrote "Strawberry Fields Forever," reaching back into his Liverpool childhood, Paul answered with a song reaching back into his own: "If he'd written Strawberry Fields, I would write Penny Lane. You know, he's remembering his old area in Liverpool. So, I'll remember for mine." Two of the most beloved songs in the Beatles catalogue, written as quiet returns of serve. Then comes the part that lingers. Asked whether they complimented each other when one wrote something great, Paul answers: "Once." Once. In all those years of writing together. The one time it happened, Paul remembers exactly which song it was. "Here, There and Everywhere," from Revolver: "John sort of just when it finishes wrote a really good song that I love that song. And I was like, 'Yes, he likes it.' You know, I've remembered it to this day. It's pathetic really." Decades on, he still remembers the moment. He calls his own remembering of it pathetic, but the fact that he remembers at all says something about what a word from John was worth to him. Asked whether he ever returned the praise, Paul is more generous about himself, with a caveat: "Yeah, I would tell him his stuff was great. You'd normally have to be a little bit drunk. It helped."

Dan Burn chasing down Lamine Yamal at the World Cup:

@BrianCrowley75 @timelesscolours Although quite radical, I think he would have been shocked that his sons would have been involved in violent rebellion in Ireland but we will never know

@diamond_declan @timelesscolours James Pearse was something of a political radical himself so it may not have been a total surprise that his sons followed a similar path.

The Pearse Family Portrait of the Pearse household, headed by sculptor & stonemason James Pearse Margaret Pearse with children Margaret, Mary Brigid, Willie & Patrick. Patrick Pearse and William Pearse, would later be executed for their roles in the Easter Rising of 1916.

@timelesscolours Your work has been amazing. So many of these photographs that I have never seen before. Really bringing history to life in glorious colour

It’s been fascinating researching the period and discovering just how deep the surviving photographic record actually is. Some of these photographs completely surprised me.

Just wanted to say a sincere thank you to everybody who’s been following and supporting my 1916 Rising series over the past few weeks. I’ve really appreciated the messages, discussions, corrections, stories, photo contributions and the shared passion for Irish history.

¿Cuántos fans de este gran tenor por aquí?

Happy 70th birthday, Homer Simpson!

@dublin_damo Been meaning to go for ages. Always had a feeling that the people there were really sound

@NMBLAKE We all have a few of them Neil

@diamond_declan I’d love to have seen them live. Big regret of mine.

The most famous person I ever locked eyes with. Nottingham 1991

My 14 year old is more impressed that I saw The Killers on their first European tour than that I saw Nirvana

Kurt Cobain (1993)

@OldInternetFeel The most famous person I ever locked eyes with. Nottingham 1991

Love this! LEGO have updated their age range so Sir David Attenborough can still build 🤣😎

Snoopy x Randy Rhoads

The songs that you loved aged 17 stay with you. Dive by Nirvana is certainly one of them. I loved Sliver but the B side hit me differently and I saw it as a game changer. Can only imagine what it must have been like as a teen with each new Beatles release youtu.be/paxCkni3ahU?is…

@timelesscolours Was lucky to live if arrested by the psychotic Bowen-Colthurst

Before & After Two extremely rare postcards, inscribed & signed by Alderman James Kelly, 'Taken in Dublin April '16 before my arrest' & 'Taken in London immediately on my release from Wandsworth Jail & deportation In Error' was arrested by Captain Bowen-Colthurst. Just 18 days.

Dear David Attenborough, Congratulations on reaching your 100th lap around the sun, young man! Thank you for sharing the wonders of our world with such care and curiosity. Here’s to many more years, slow and steady wins the race! With admiration, Jonathan the Tortoise