“Sometimes, you have a gem of an idea, and just have to write it down right away”. This is how the broadcaster turned columnist, Adrian Chiles, described the process of writing one of his twice-weekly columns for the Guardian. Beginning in 2019 and now stretching to over 500 editions, the columns have become an excellent showcase to Chiles’ warmth and wit over anything and everything, from video games to motorway billboards.
This book puts together a carefully curated collection of around 200, or just under half, of his total works over the last five years. Chiles’ warmly recalled how this seemingly mundane business ended up becoming some of his favourite and well-read columns. Two particular ones namedropped revolved around the reaction to installing a urinal in his house, and the trials and tribulations of fixing the dishwasher.
While Chiles sometimes has gems of ideas, he also likened the process of finding an idea when something wasn’t jumping out at him, as taking him back to doing his homework at the last minute in school. Chiles then moved to spoke poignantly about his late father, and how he reacted to his passing in March this year, through the medium of his columns, mentioning a moment at the undertakers where he was handed his watch, and was surprised when it continued to move.
Chiles also looked back in passing over his career in journalism, which saw him rise through the ranks as a business presenter for the BBC, before coming into his perhaps best known roles during the late 2000s and early 2010s – as host of the One Show then a lead presenter on ITV’s England football coverage. A key column, Chiles also felt, was one that he wrote back in 2022 on a stone-identifying app. He would go on to link this to his inquisitive nature meaning that in the modern age, everything that he saw on his walks around the South Wales coast could be resolved by apps, the aircraft that flew overhead and the flower on the side of the path.
The self-confessed West Bromwich Albion fan also mentioned his thick Brummie accent, which has not diminished, and which he “was never told to change” throughout his journalism career. On another key aspect of the columns, the titles, Chiles admitted that he doesn’t write the titles, which can often be as entertaining and witty as the columns themselves. “I don’t like them, but they’re great”. Overall, this talk was engaging and encapsulated the spirit of the columns themselves – sometimes poignant, and sometimes completely random, but always thought-provoking.
Rating: ★★★★☆
The Curious Columns of Adrian Chiles was published in October 2024. Other Off the Shelf Festival events can be found here