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Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
‘UK's weirdest arcade with a robot that massages your feet is the perfect day out'
Housed in a small unit, tucked away on a quiet by-street in Holborn, London, just off of Red Lion Square, is the strange yet excellent Novelty Automation "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life, for there is in London all that life can afford," once mused Samuel Johnson. Presumably he had just come back from an afternoon at Novelty Automation when he said that. Housed in a small unit, tucked away on a quiet by-street in Holborn, London, just off of Red Lion Square, is the perfect afternoon out, especially for those who have begun feeling that they've tasted all that the English capital has to offer. You've been to M&M World. You've seen the big blue whale at the Natural History Museum more times than you care to admit. You've looked at Big Ben from Westminster Bridge. The obvious next step is Novelty Automation. The shop is a vibrant treasure-trove of Victorian-style automatons operated by shiny silver coins that roll down the cashier's chute into your awaiting bucket. Do you know of an unusual place you think we should visit? Please email Over the course of one to two hours, you'll make your way around the small shop, slotting between one and three coins into each of about 20 machines. The cost is reasonable: a bucket of 35 coins coming in at £28 and seeming plenty enough for three. Some machines do all of the work for you, such as the AirbedbugBNB, which invites up to two players to draw a curtain around them and witness the story of a family of bedbugs as they look for a suitable holiday let to settle down in. Another, the Instant Eclipse, had my friend clamber into a small, dark rocket-shaped pod. He emerged a minute later and refused to explain what had happened. He seemed similarly perturbed after placing his socked foot inside the robot chipodist machine. Those units that do require some participation are still much more focused on being vehicles of satire than on putting a gamer's hand-eye coordination to the test. One of the most addictive had the three of us tensely willing on a magnetised haul of coins up past financial regulators to the top of a skyscraper, where our ill-gotten gains could be effortlessly lost amid the City of London's modern spires. A particularly silly yet on-the-nose bit of satire comes in the form of the Fulfillment Centre machine, which has players powering an Amazon warehouse worker on an impossible and gruelling trial shift by running manically on the spot. Novelty Automation is the work of Tim Hunkin, a Suffolk-based inventor and cartoonist who presented a TV show called The Secret Life of Machines and drew a comic strip for The Observer called The Rudiments of Wisdom. Clearly, that combination of experiences has been brought together and used to excellent effect. The stylisation of the machines, their absurdist humour and gross characters remind me of the work of Chris Simpsons Artist. Arguably, the pinnacle of it all comes in the form of Is it Art?, which invited us to put an object into a small glass box. We chose a lighter which then rose up into the eyeliner of a mannequin art critic. After a short moment of consideration and a closer look he concluded that yes, it was indeed art.
Daily Mirror
02-07-2025
- Daily Mirror
'I went to Santorini and it was the worst holiday of my life'
Santorini is one of the most beautiful islands in Europe - and a rotten place to go on holiday Santorini, often hailed as one of Europe's most picturesque islands, is paradoxically a dreadful choice for a holiday destination. Indeed, the Greek island boasts impeccably white walls. True, its blue domes are strikingly azure. And yes, the celebrated sunsets are truly breathtaking. However, I can assure you that no amount of scenic sunsets, pristine walls, or vivid domes could justify the expense of visiting Santorini, writes James Walker. I recently endured the unfortunate experience of joining the two million tourists who flock to the island annually. My partner and I spent 36 hours there, concluding an otherwise splendid nine-day Greek odyssey that had delighted us in Athens and Naxos – both exceptional locations. We never expected Santorini to be the pinnacle of our trip. We were well aware of the notorious crowds, exorbitant prices, and utter pandemonium. We had even been tipped off about a few scams. Still, we pondered, could Europe's most sought-after destination really be that terrible? The answer, regrettably, was a resounding disaster. Within mere minutes of our arrival, we encountered telltale signs of the worst tourist traps: an out-of-place Indian restaurant in the Mediterranean, a shop touting "100% legal cannabis", and a dodgy sex store. We brushed it off, thinking these nuisances could easily be overlooked. After all, we hadn't even reached the central town yet, reports the Express. But then our coach deposited us in Fira. What unfolded before us was a quagmire of chaos that could make Leicester Square seem like a tranquil paradise, complete with an M&M World. American visitors stood agape. Traders of cheap souvenirs hawked their wares. Social media influencers posed incessantly. After battling through the throngs of counterfeit vendors, American tourists and selfie-stick wielders, we finally arrived at our hotel. Following a brief rest - and a refreshing cold shower - we plunged back into the fray. For a moment, the trip seemed to be improving. The vistas were as breathtaking as advertised and the weather was bearable. However, an hour and two beverages later, I found myself frantically opening the EasyJet app whilst being cornered by a herd of charging donkeys. When could I escape this hellhole? Not soon enough, it seemed. I confess, I'm not one for stoicism. That trait seems to have been omitted from my genetic makeup. However, I've conversed with other Santorini survivors - those of a more resilient disposition - and the consensus is clear: your hard-earned cash is better invested elsewhere. Sure, you can enjoy a pleasant evening with a romantic dinner and a mesmerising sunset. And if you're flush with cash, you might relish a day lounging by the infinity pool. But you'll be missing out on so much more: the excitement, the cuisine, the beaches, the history and the culture that are abundant on nearly every other Greek island. So, scrap your plans to visit Santorini. Absorb the cancellation fees. Reschedule those flights. Then use whatever funds remain for a jaunt to Naxos and thank me afterwards.
Metro
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Steve Coogan reveals 'disastrous' reason he avoids eye contact with white middle
If you've ever lived in a major city, then you probably know the pure terror of someone trying to make eye contact with you on public transport. But for actor and comedian Steve Coogan, this white-hot dread goes beyond a tourist asking you if you're finished with your paper – preferably the Metro – or a sadomasochist wondering the quickest way to M&M World. For the last three decades, Steve has played Alan Partridge, one of the UK's best-loved comic characters. The 'broadcaster, newscaster, sportscaster and thoughtscaster' – his words, not ours – Alan Partridge. Co-created by Steve and writer Armando Iannucci, Alan is a parody of C-list presenters with an ego bigger than an XXL Toblerone and a stardom so dim he'd struggle to make the guest list at your local Greggs. Yet despite his immense character flaws, Brits – especially men of a certain age – can't get enough of Alan Gordon Partridge. Which brings us back to Steve, 56, and his occasionally uncomfortable train journeys, where he'll hear Alan's old catchphrase warbled by a fellow passenger. 'If I'm in a crowded train, and someone shouts, it's really not welcome,' he admits to Metro when we sit down with him, ahead of the release of his podcast Alan Partridge – From the Oasthouse series 4. 'Normally, that's where it happens.' 'Most of the time, no one bothers me,' he laughs. 'But I try to avoid making eye contact with white middle-aged men, because that's a recipe for disaster.' Despite his ambivalence to Alan's old catchphrase, Steve has definitely grown to love the character he once called an 'albatross around his neck'. He tells me that while he never wanted Partridge to 'feel like a contractual obligation' and that stepping away from the character is 'really important' to him, he's grown to see Alan as a 'really comfy set of clothes you'd slob around the house in'. Indeed, he's perfectly frank that over the years, the line between Partridge and himself has blurred. Our Deputy TV Editor explains why he loves Alan Partridge… I admit it – and did to Steve when I spoke to him – I am the type of person who'd spot Steve on the train and have to resist the urge to shout 'Dan' or 'Aha'! That's tremendously uncool of me to admit I know, but Alan means a great deal to me. You see, my dad introduced me to Alan when I was on the cusp of becoming a teenager, and watching Alan storm around the Linton Travel Tavern or recreate James Bond in his caravan was a real bonding experience for the pair of us. But beyond that, knowing Partridge quotes was for me, and many others, like knowing a secret second language. There's joy in peppering your speech with a little Alan-ism (the more obscure the better) every now and again, and waiting for someone to react to it. It's like you're both speaking in a code that effortlessly bonds you without the need for small talk. You're connected in a special way because you can say with 100% certainty, Steve Coogan doesn't want to talk to you on a train. 'Some of Alan's views are absolutely diametrically opposed to my own,' he admits. 'But some of it is what I sometimes, in my more visceral moments, secretly think, but understand, is wrong. 'There's no secret that I'll meet with Neil and Rob Gibbons [his co-writers] and say stuff as me and they'll literally just write it down, barely modified from what I've said myself to them that morning before we start writing.' Steve's comfort – and dare I say love – of the character is clear. Since bringing Alan out of an unofficial hiatus in 2010, barely a year has gone by without us getting a small slice of Partridge pie. In the last decade, Alan has spoofed magazine shows, celebrity documentaries, mid-morning radio, and podcasts. Yet despite the character's seemingly limitless adaptability, there's one place that Steve, Neil and Rob have never taken the Norwich legend. It's an avenue that seems ripe with comedic potential for a conservative character like Alan, who finds himself on the fringes of the media world; they've never had him spoof GB News or other news channels that people regard as right-wing. 'Early on, we gave Alan a sort of reactionary outlook,' Steve tells me. 'But we moved away from that.' Looking at the media landscape from Alan's perspective, Steve believes that his character sees the media as taking more of a 'centre-left worldview' than a channel like GB News might convey. 'The GB News worldview might have great traction, but it's certainly not all-pervasive in the media,' he adds. Laughing, he explains how Alan's no doubt taken a look at the media and thought he's better tracking to the left than the right. 'I always used to say he was like David Cameron,' He explains, 'but I think he's a bit like David Cameron and Keir Starmer combined, a monster mashup of Starmer and Cameron.' That, more than slightly self-serving evolution from reactionary to a more sympathetic position, is the secret to Alan's success in Steve's mind. 'It wasn't just that the character itself evolved, the approach to writing the character has as well,' he explains. 'The idea of Alan trying to lean into the Zeitgeist and be somehow aligned with modern thinking made not only the character feel relevant… but we as writers think it's funnier.' 'If Alan were just a fixed curmudgeon, reactionary, that could be funny, but it runs out of steam after a while. For some reason, we find the idea of him trying to be hip and trendy funnier.' Indeed, Steve believes Alan's oblivious attempts at nuance are much more amusing than having him be a simple satire of right-wing rent-a-gobs. In fact, for Steve, the secret sauce to Partridge is the moments we see Alan slip up and reveal his hidden reactionary side. 'The panic. That's one of my favourite things, panic in his eyes,' he admits. 'He has enough self-awareness to realise what he's done.' So, will we see more Alan gaffes in the future? Well, Steve's clearly got plenty of ideas tumbling around his brain like trainers in a washing machine. There's an upcoming TV series – Alan Partridge: How Are You? – and there was a brief moment during our chat where Steve seemed taken with the idea of taking Alan on the after-dinner speaking circuit. More Trending Still, he was clear that he and the Gibbons have a rule for brand Partridge. 'The golden rule is to ask, 'Do we as a writing group feel like we have got the enthusiasm to do things… Do we have something in the tank?' 'As long as something is rooted in truth, that feels organic…we should do it. And I'm sure we will.' View More » Series 4 of From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast is available to download now on Audible. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Steve Coogan reads the names of over 15,000 children killed in Gaza at powerful vigil
