Richard Dunwoody's Blog by Richard_Dunwoody

I’ve been back in Berlin this week and catching up with a few things following the trip to Kabul. On Saturday, I went to see James Blunt at the 02 World and was lucky enough to have a bit of a chat with him at the party afterwards. (Why he would want to talk to me when he should have been introducing himself to the many female admirers present is anyone’s guess!). The concert was superb and the O2 World was all but sold out. Not surprisingly, he had most of the German audience out of their seats. Big thanks must go to Hugo Chittenden for the invitation. Hugo went to school with James, and I went to Uganda and Kenya last year with Hugo, who helps run The Volunteer (thevolunteer.com), a project that looks to work and volunteer with charities doing specialized projects overseas, focusing on a selection of humanitarian issues.

I went to put in a couple of days helping to build the Kisadahki School in Uganda. I’m no music critic, but I thought James’ first album, Back To Bedlam, was very good. I know ‘You’re Beautiful’ gets slated, but it was only because it was played so much. It certainly helped Back to Bedlam become the best-selling album of the Noughties. After graduating from his army-sponsored place at Bristol University, James re-trod his father's and grandfather’s footsteps into the force. He was sent to patrol the streets of Kosovo as a peacekeeper before being promoted to captain.

He was put in charge of leading 30,000 troops into Pristina as the first British officer to enter the Kosovan capital and I’ve always loved the track No Bravery, which was written when he was in Kosovo. Just over an hour before the concert, we were watching Ireland demolish England in the RBS 6 Nations Championship, so it was a good afternoon! It is a pity that Ireland didn’t play like that against Wales. Although they were robbed in that game by the ‘try that wasn’t’, they never really showed up and were particularly disappointing in the second half. If they can play to their potential, it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t do very well in the upcoming World Cup. The football wasn’t too bad, either. I know a lot of people are starting to think that Arsenal are chokers, but I was happy enough that the Gunners came back from two down at West Brom to keep us within five points of Manchester United with a game in hand.

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, Liz Ampairee, my agent, was one of the riders in the Charity Derby at Cheltenham last week, raising money for Cancer Research UK. She did very well, although the slow pace did not help her mount, the formerly Henry Cecil trained, Kings Troop. She rode to orders (quite rightly the trainer Alan King's, not mine) and looked pretty stylish! As for racing this weekend, I will be glued to the delayed start of the Formula One season, which now kicks off in Australia. I will be rooting for Michael Schumacher, but fear the Red Bulls – of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber – will be strong again as will the McLaren team of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton. You can’t really tell much from pre-season testing, so it will be interesting to see who goes well in the opening races. Have a great weekend.