Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In the ‘80s, John created the first regular column about the burgeoning London stand-up scene. In 1990 he wrote a book about its effect on the Edinburgh Festival: “Comics: A Decade of Comedy at the Assembly Rooms.” That year he also devised and ran a live topical stand-up team show at The London Comedy Store, The Edge. (It was destroyed in 2020!) In 2009 John was diagnosed with RRMS, which cut short his main job as a TV casting director for “Black Books,” “My Family,” et al. Now, John writes “Fall Down Get Up Again,” an irreverent journey with MS, and also serves as MS News Today Forums co-moderator.

January 22, 2021January 21, 2021

A Nod to the Long-running Comedy Show ‘No Sex Please, We’re British’

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

“No Sex Please, We’re British” was a British farce that opened in London’s West End in 1971 and ran until 1987. It was panned by critics, but having “Sex” ... Read more

January 15, 2021January 13, 2021

My ‘Great Escape’ During a Long Pandemic

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Unfortunately, mine didn’t involve a cool motorbike — it was the wrong kind, as somehow Steve McQueen had managed to steal a British one — and an impossible jump ... Read more

January 8, 2021January 6, 2021

Sorry, This Is Not About New Year’s Resolutions. Get Over It!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Now I know what it is like to write like Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson. Not because I have their talent (if only), but due to the inescapable ... Read more

December 18, 2020December 16, 2020

Santa Claus Is Still Comin’ to Town

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Well, 2020 was a weird year for everybody. It was even weird for magical creatures, as these days, an awful lot of people believe they exist! It’s tough now ... Read more

December 11, 2020December 9, 2020

‘Well, This Could Be the Last Time, I Don’t Know!’

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Don’t be so overdramatic, my wife always tells me. But as I’ve spent 30 years of my life as a pseudo-luvvie, I’ve earned the right to have a good ... Read more

December 4, 2020December 2, 2020

The Thankful Rest of Thanksgiving

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I’m surprised I get anything done! Luckily, the parent company of Multiple Sclerosis News Today is in the U.S., so I didn’t have to write this column last week, ... Read more

November 20, 2020November 18, 2020

To Be Forewarned Is to Be Forearmed

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

My travails with MS invariably deal with what it does to me. This week, dear reader, it’s what I did to my jolly old self! I’ve got a daily ... Read more

November 13, 2020November 12, 2020

Of Mice and Men (and MS Research)

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

The other day, I was watching an arts documentary instead of another repeat of a movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was about John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of ... Read more

November 6, 2020November 5, 2020

45 Minutes in the Life of John Peter Connor

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I have two regular carers at the moment. The first to arrive greets me with her usual efficacious, “Good morning, John!” She’s loud enough to wake the whole street. ... Read more

October 30, 2020October 29, 2020

The Long and Winding Road to My Urologist’s Door

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Last week’s column, “The Loneliness of the Long-distance UTI Patient,” dealt with my dive into the Eastern (bloc) world of bacteriophages. It would be a fun exercise (and boy, ... Read more

October 23, 2020October 28, 2020

The Loneliness of the Long-distance UTI Patient

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

When did I first become aware of the word “phage”? “Star Trek,” of course! It was an episode about a disease that was destroying a race somewhere in the ... Read more

October 16, 2020October 14, 2020

Resistance May Be Futile, but the Borg Taught Me Something

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

OK, you’re not all science fiction nuts, so I’ll explain: The Borg are a cybernetic race and the lead baddies in the “Star Trek” universe — or, the way ... Read more

October 9, 2020October 7, 2020

Fighting the Beast

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It was 3 p.m. last Thursday. Things should have been good. I had filed the copy for my previous column the day before. Ultimately, some of my outrageous musings ... Read more

October 2, 2020September 30, 2020

Everything You Wanted to Know About Poo, but I Was Afraid to Write

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Eurgh! Poo is what I fear most at the moment. I thought turning this column into a diary was cool. Following the greats, such as John Diamond, who chronicled ... Read more

September 25, 2020September 23, 2020

The Terrible 62s, or the Rage of the Non-toddler Adult

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It’s usually best to write with time for reflection. I often feel like a foreign correspondent reporting from the front line of my own bedroom! The shells of multiple ... Read more

September 18, 2020September 16, 2020

Like Iggy Says, ‘All Aboard for Funtime’

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I’ve been a moderator at MS News Today Forums for a while. One of my jobs, besides rejecting the interminable bots that try to become members, is to promote ... Read more

September 11, 2020September 9, 2020

Turn It Off, Then On Again

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

There’s always something! As a columnist, that comes in handy, as then I don’t have to think too much. Stop snickering at the back for thinking that I never ... Read more

September 4, 2020September 2, 2020

Einstein Said Time Is Relative, but Not For This Relative

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Albert Einstein proved that the faster you go, the less you’ll age compared with those you left at home. This effect, however, is imperceptible unless you have the ability ... Read more

August 28, 2020August 27, 2020

There’s No Business Like Show Business — Till There’s No Business

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In June, I wrote a column about accepting I’d have to physically retire from directing and producing my own stand-up stage show, “The Edge.” Now, because of that which ... Read more

August 21, 2020August 19, 2020

‘Apocalypse Now’: I Love the Smell of Hashish in the Morning

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Helicopters were whirling in my brain. Turns out, it was a solitary police one. Though it was another hot night, my wife closed my windows in case of a ... Read more

August 14, 2020August 12, 2020

Relapse, Relapse, Relapse, Profanity, Relapse

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Maybe I should have called this one “Short and Sharp 2.” Yes, I’ve had another relapse, following my last one in May. I can no longer clean my own ... Read more

August 7, 2020August 5, 2020

It Was a Lazy Sunday Afternoon — Not!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It all started on the hottest day of the year here in the U.K. My phone said it was 99 F. An old friend was coming over, and my ... Read more

July 31, 2020July 29, 2020

The Mouth That Roared and Roared

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Strap in: This is not going to be a fun one. Even less so for me — though I’m writing this under the sort of drug load that Jack ... Read more

July 24, 2020July 22, 2020

The Joy of Joining the ‘Downton Abbey’ Set

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

For an espoused leftie, you might be surprised that I’ve always had the brush of the rugged individualist about me. Not quite Bear Grylls, but grabbing a rucksack and ... Read more

July 17, 2020July 16, 2020

It’s a Matter of Timing and Mic Technique

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In the U.K., stand-up comedy is currently dead. Like Python’s parrot, it “wouldn’t move if you put 4,000 volts through it!” That’s not strictly true. Our government has just ... Read more

July 10, 2020July 8, 2020

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Woman

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

In this case, the woman in question was yet again my wife, Jane. The hour in question was 4 p.m. on my usual day of writing. But on this ... Read more

July 6, 2020July 16, 2020

Here Comes the Sun, and It’s All Too Much

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Yup, it’s the annual whinge about what heat does to most of us, this time livened up by a headline that includes two Beatles’ song titles. (Yes, I did ... Read more

June 26, 2020June 24, 2020

A Morning With No Opera but Enough for a Small Choir!

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Last Wednesday my days of rest suddenly smashed to a halt. At one point it seemed like the majority of those who work for my local council’s social services ... Read more

June 19, 2020June 17, 2020

All Quiet on the MS Front

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It hasn’t been that quiet in my surrounding world! Last week there was a crow fight so loud in our back garden that it echoed down the chimney into ... Read more

June 12, 2020June 10, 2020

So, Where Do I Start?

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Ah, it’s not the blank page that all writers fear that I’m worried about. Those days have long left me. Now it’s applying the discipline to stop! When I ... Read more

June 5, 2020June 3, 2020

Retirement: My Very Own Blackstar

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

“At the center of it all” is the dignity of allowing myself to retire with grace. And it only took a world-shattering event to get me to come to ... Read more

May 29, 2020May 27, 2020

Growing Up to Be a Strapping Big Baby

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

It was 4 a.m. and a crisis was brewing. I knew that this time, I’d be a nincompoop if I tried to deal with the situation myself, as I’d ... Read more

May 22, 2020May 21, 2020

Short and Sharp

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

This column will be short as I am quite ill. That’s nothing too unusual for those of us with MS. Oh, the joys of a relapse. A while back, ... Read more

May 15, 2020May 13, 2020

Waving the Flag of Victory

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

Hi there. It’s me, typing again on my very ownsome! For the last two weeks, I’ve been too ill to manage, so my wife kindly acted as a secretary ... Read more

May 8, 2020May 12, 2020

Putting Down the Ritz

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

My stomach is grumbling. I’ve just had the worst weekend ever. And that includes when I had my first sclerosis and smashed my shoulder to pieces on a tennis ... Read more

May 1, 2020May 12, 2020

Keeping It All in the Family

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I’ve never done this before, but I’m dictating this column to my wife. She has many attributes, among them being trained as a secretary many years ago. We went ... Read more

April 24, 2020April 28, 2020

Everything I Should Have Written About but Haven’t Gotten Round to

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

So far, this week has been horrible, but I’ll give that a brief mention later. The truth ain’t pretty, nor do I think it always makes good copy. Unless ... Read more

April 17, 2020April 15, 2020

Zen and the Art of UTI Maintenance

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I knew a urinary tract infection (UTI) had come a visiting again. I’m now attuned to the slightest hint, like that vague burning after weeing. Indeed, it doesn’t have ... Read more

April 10, 2020April 28, 2020

Becoming Self-absorbed with MS During the Pandemic

Columns, Covid-19, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

With everything being so awful, the goal is to write uplifting copy. OK, sounds like my sort of gig. One way of dealing with things is to become self-absorbed ... Read more

April 3, 2020March 31, 2020

In Training for Solitary Confinement

Columns, Fall Down, Get Up Again- a Column by John Connor

I’ve just been sentenced to at least 18 months in solitary without time off even for good behavior! Pretty harsh. Luckily, I’m match fit. I’ve already previously done nearly ... Read more