Updated 1:46pm 11 February 2012:

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Jon Perks

Jon Perks

French cheese declared world champion at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham

The cheese, called Ossau-Iraty, saw off off competition from 2,700 other entries at the World Cheese Awards 2011, which were held in Brum for the second year running.Read

The Pierces review HMV Institute Library, Birmingham

“IT’S Ladies’ Night!” declared Alison Pierce, the blonde half of the siblings from Birmingham, Alabama, no less.Read

Music: A window on former Stranglers' world

OLD punks never die... they just head off to the spare room to write a spot of fiction.Read

10cc review, Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

IT WAS more like 10°C than 10cc, in a less than toasty Alex (had someone left a window open?), but Graham Gouldman and friends warmed hands and hearts with a trip through the back catalogue – both his own pre-10cc days (he wrote the likes of The Hollies’ Bus Stop) and, in the main set, the string of hits he, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme enjoyed in the 1970s.Read

Music: Hits kick off nostalgic gig

WHEN Ocean Colour Scene play Birmingham O2 Academy tomorrow, frontman Simon Fowler has one thing to remember – not to leave too soon.Read

Food and Drink: If Heston made cocktails, they'd taste like this...

TRAVEL, they say, broadens the mind.Read

Paloma Faith Review, Wolverhampton Civic Hall

SHE’S the 1940s Lady Gaga, with a Barbara Windsor giggle.Read

Review: Jean Michel Jarre in Birmingham

IT’S hard to say who enjoyed the concert more – the audience or its star, French synth pioneer Jean Michel Jarre.Read

Food and Drink: Nachos, naturally, at Matt’s Bodega

HE’S Birmingham’s very own burrito brother.Read

Music: Chilling out with festival favourite

For many at The Big Chill festival, Norman Jay OBE is Mr Big Chill.Read

Food and Drink: Cooking risotto doesn't get any tougher than this!

I NOW know how the gladiators felt when they were about to step out into the arena.Read

Music: Hugh Cornwell unveils new album in Bilston

AFTER 40 years in the business, there can’t be many venues Hugh Cornwell hasn’t played.Read

Music: Harper Simon calls on his famous dad

IF the credits to his debut album are anything to go by, Harper Simon’s mobile phone contacts list must read like a musical Who’s Who.Read

Debut well worth wait

IF the credits to his debut album are anything to go by, Harper Simon’s mobile phone contacts list must read like a musical Who’s Who.Read

Review: The Stranglers at 02 Academy

A two-hour set with as many classics as possible shoe-horned into it, the foursome of original members Jean-Jacques Burnel, Jet Black, Dave Greenfield (who these days looks more and more like Billy from DIY SOS) and ‘new boy’ Baz Warne (who’s been there since 2000) gave the audience what they wanted – a conveyor belt of their finest tunes.Read

Guillemot Fyfe Dangerfield flies solo at Glee Club

JANUARY 18 was supposedly the gloomiest day of the year, so an uplifting gig from Guillemots man Fyfe was the perfect remedy.Read

Review: David Gray at the Symphony Hall

ON HIS various visits to Birmingham, David Gray has played most venues; Ronnie Scott’s (in his pre-Babylon fame days), the Academy and NIA – both on his last round of touring four years ago.Read

Comedy: Phill Jupitus stars in Rock With Laughter

SINGING with Ian Dury’s band The Blockheads is what Phill Jupitus lovingly refers to as “a part-time arrangement” – but with the packed work schedule he has ahead, it could hardly be anything more.Read

Music: Fake Fab Four fun

NEIL Harrison has been John Lennon for almost as long as Lennon himself was.Read

Woodstock comes to The Big Chill

THE man who booked the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Who to play Woodstock 40 years ago will be a special guest at this year’s Big Chill festival.Read

Author Profile

The Birmingham Post's Magazines Editor, Jon has been a journalist since the early 90s, working on a range of titles including The Birmingham Metro news, Sunday Mercury and most recently, What's On, SelectLiving and CityLiving, which he edited for more than three years.