Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ross King: Mick Hucknall’s Simply delighted with triumphant gigs

Mick Hucknall (Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images for IWC)
Mick Hucknall (Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images for IWC)

In 1986 we hadn’t heard of smartphones or Donald Trump. One Direction hadn’t even been born yet.

But for the past three decades British soul sensations Simply Red have been one of the most popular bands around.

They’re in the midst of a massive world tour and will return to the UK again later in the year – they’re set for a triumphant gig at Edinburgh Castle on July 14.

I caught up with the band’s Mick Hucknall – who must be one of the most recognisable frontmen in the business.

So is he happy with how successful the tour has been? Of course. In fact he’s like the (ginger tabby) cat who’s got the cream!

“I always wanted to have a consistent career in music,” he laughed.

“I didn’t predict that we’d have this consistent level of success though.

“One thing that strikes people when they come to see the shows is how many hits we had.

“You see mums bringing daughters, it’s generations. It’s wonderful.”

Mick’s also tipped his eight-year-old daughter Romy to follow him into the music industry.

“She’s got good pitch for someone her age, I was really surprised,” he told me.

“She can actually sing in tune! She seems to have taken a shine to it.

“There’s no pressure, she’s only eight and I want her to enjoy life first and foremost – but she enjoys singing and I’d encourage her to do it if she wanted.”


John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are set to play Laurel and Hardy (Getty Images & Allstar)
John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan are set to play Laurel and Hardy (Getty Images & Allstar)

Elsewhere, one piece of news to catch my eye last week was that Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly are going to star as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Jon S. Baird’s biopic, Stan And Ollie.

I’m looking forward to seeing Steve tackle the role of Stan – who was educated and grew up in my home town of Glasgow.

He gave his first professional performance on stage at the Panopticon Music Hall in the city’s Trongate 110 years ago.

I’m looking forward to seeing this, Reilly and Coogan are two smashing actors, so I’m sure this won’t be another fine mess.

I also want to give a shout out to my number one fan, Lisa.

Thank you for the donation to Sunday Post charity CHAS!

And next week I’ve got news from behind the scenes of when I met the Rocket Man.

No, not Tim Peake – it’s only Sir Elton John!