Never throw anything away. I was reminded of this when I was watching a BBC2 documentary about journalist Lynn Barber recently. At one point interviewer Alan Yentob and Barber visited the north London home of 91-year-old newspaper archivist Edda Tasiemka. She had footballers in the toilet, film stars under stairs, politicians in the hall. I mean she had cuttings about them. Tasiemka is a legend among journalists of the pre-Google age. She was the first port of call when they were researching a story.

What must it be like to be the brain of Ricky Gervais?

I remember exactly where I was when I first saw The Office. In the office. Twelve years ago this spring, an advance VHS – remember those? – arrived. I'd like to boast that I immediately spotted a classic. What I actually spotted was a quite funny workplace-based sitcom starring the politically incorrect bloke from Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show.

Robin Ince's 9 Carols and Lessons for Godless People gigs are a bit like the universe - constantly expanding. About 25 minutes in our garrulous, cardigan-clad host said that he had to get a move on because there were 23 acts on the bill. Or maybe 23 acts coming up. I'm not sure, I'd already filled up my notebook by then and lost count. It is a bit of a challenge reviewing this annual event in 300 words for the Evening Standard.