Last year’s Twitter onslaught was beautiful, it’s true, and 2016 deservedly belonged to James Blunt. Putting the music to one side, he ‘scooped’ the Colne Ranger Person of the Year for his self-depreciating witty take downs via his medium of choice. This year’s review is a somewhat harder task with a gluttony of favourites becoming anti-heroes whilst there were few major sporting events in which to hail a new king/queen/other (this is the year of the non-gender specific).

The standout performance of note came from the Sportsperson of the Year: Anthony Joshua. Hailing from Watford, AJ became only the second man after Joe Frazier to hold the World Heavyweight championship whilst being a reigning Olympic champion. His take down of the man mountain Klitschko in April this year was a sight to behold and he comes across as a jolly good egg to boot, albeit an ostrich-sized one.

Record of the year goes to Harry Styles' Sign of The times. Despite being seriously anti One Direction, aka ‘1D’ (if you want to be down with the kids), I was expecting a manufactured pop ditty aimed at the teeny bop market. He caught us unaware as he served up with a video full of originality and a song that is catchier than a fielder's latch caught in a catch. Album of the Year comes from Kaleo, the coolest cats to come out of Iceland since Eider Gudjonsson. The album A/B is a rock stomper setting the foundations for a long and fruitful career. Forget Ed Sheeran’s twee, overrated set at Glastonbury, performance of the year belongs to the extremely competent Foo Fighters who not only smashed the Pyramid stage for six, but arguably put up the greatest headline set the middle class roughing it set have ever seen.

The one category I have struggled with is that of Villain of the Year. Trump is universally disliked, even by his own wife, and is a sitting duck for mockery. Other runners and riders were thin on the ground until you count in perennial sex pests who got their deserved comeuppance. From Kevin Spacey becoming more famous for his wandering hands and long lonely walks with his dog, to Harvey Weinstein, who proved himself to be the epitome of a power-crazed deviant while Hollywood turned a blind eye. Now the cat is out of the bag, big name celebrities have broken cover and jumped on the bandwagon now it is newsworthy to do so. Bill Cosby brings up the rear of the celebrity deviant list, shattering the Cliff Huxtable image he had carefully cultivated.

After debating long and hard for at least four seconds, my Villain of the Year award however must go to Hertsmere Council. They stealthily undertook a so-called public consultation as they proposed a ‘preferred’ plan to build up to 8,000 new homes around the village of London Colney (currently 4,500 homes). They have point blank refused to engage with locals to ask them if they want it (we don’t) and have patronised any form of challenge from those of us who have legitimate and real concerns. I plan to inform them of their award via email but have little faith in their IT systems, seemingly constructed by a five-year-old.

2017 has seen the usual array of legends departing: Tom Petty, Chris Cornell, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Hugh Hefner, Jake La Motta and Mary Tyler Moore, whilst the world still mourns the irrefutable talent of George Michael, with stories of his musical brilliance and personal kindness still being reported a year after his passing.

Cock up of the year goes to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway after they announced, mistakenly, that La La Land had won the Best Picture Oscar when it should have gone to Moonlight.

Alright my loves, Person of the Year this year however can only go to one man. He lived a life full of highers and lowers, was rarely embroiled in controversy, had catchphrases others could only dream of, received a knighthood for charity work, was multi-talented, a hit with Miss Worlds and played a damn good game, good game. This is not the greatest honour he will ever receive, granted, but we will never see the like of him again. He was a relic of a bygone music hall age that kept on coming back with humility, charm and extreme professionalism at every time. Take a bow, Brucie. You were the leader of the pack, making you a lucky jack. 2017 belongs to you and resoundingly answers the question: Didn’t he do well?