Podcast appearances and mentions of chris deacy

In a special edition of my podcast this week, Craig Braddick has interviewed me to talk about growing up in the 1980s with Radio 1 and then with Radio 2 into the 90s and beyond, and how being a contestant on Blockbusters guided me towards my own broadcasting career. I talk about the significance of 1981 – the year I started listening to Radio 1 – and Bucks Fizz winning Eurovision and how, during my schooldays, the charts on a Sunday mattered in the school playground. We also talk about whether the presenters of the day really represented what was going on in the wider world and whether there was a patriarchal streak to broadcasting in that era. I talk about who my favourite presenters were in those days, including the impact of Adrian John who was a presenter in the 1980s who really understood his audience. We talk about my childhood diary entries and what it contains about my radio interests, and how I used to include information about the DJ and the artists who were on Top of the Pops each week. We also talk about DJ handovers both on radio and on TOTP, and of the presenters who perhaps didn't always get on (famously Tony Blackburn and John Peel). We reflect on whether for listeners there is a particular ‘golden era' and whether some of the Radio 1 DJs in the 80s thought that they were more important than the music, and we refer to the way some presenters were delegated. We talk about the way they were caricatured in the Smashie and Nicey mode. We then move on to discuss what happened with Radio 2's evolution in the 1980s and how different the station was in those days from today, and how David Hamilton's perceptions of the station in the 80s and now are diametrically opposite.  I talk about how much I enjoyed the guests on Gloria Hunniford's show on Radio 2 in the afternoons in the early 90s when I was at university. I refer to the line between education and entertainment as being blurred and how those in-depth conversations were an inspiration for my Nostalgia podcast. We talk about Jimmy Young's news and current affairs career and how the iconic JY was perhaps in some ways evoking a different era. We then speak about my experience of appearing as a contestant on Blockbusters and of meeting Bob Holness, and how it came as a surprise to my school peers that I got on the show in the first place. Craig askes me about my radio heroes, and I talk about Ed Stewart and how he died before he had a chance to read what I had written about him in a book I wrote about Christmas. We refer to Stewpot's radio personality and whether he would have fitted a different sort of genre of broadcasting. I reflect, too, on the female presenters who have influenced me, including Sarah Kennedy, and the contrast in broadcasting style with Chris Evans. I tell Craig about how I tend to gravitate to more introverted presenters and how radio and university teaching cross over in unexpected ways. Then, at the end of the interview Craig asks me what in ten years' time I think I am going to be listening to on the radio.

My guest this week is Anne Watkins, who came to Lampeter in 1985, after originally expecting to work for the Civil Service, where she studied Philosophy and Ethics in Western Thought. Anne recalls hearing the sheep bleating on the hills and knowing that Lampeter was the place for her. We talk about long friendships especially with the overseas students and about how Philosophy helped her to think carefully. Anne also did an MA in Interfaith Relations. Anne talks about growing up in Cardiff and her earliest memories and her traumatic transition to high school. She remembers her Catholic education and the Corpus Christi procession. She remembers listening to the charts when growing up and discusses how her dreams have changed over the years.  We find out why Anne couldn't join the Merchant Navy and how she always wanted to travel. Anne failed her ‘O' levels but ended up staying and working in Higher Education and made it her mission to improve education for others. Anne is a fanatical record keeper by way of diaries and photograph albums. She started keeping a diary in 1974 and reflects on how the photo interest in the early days, pre-digital, was expensive. Anne talks about the teachers who inspired her, and remembers dancing around a cauldron at school and being given animals to look after. She also remembers some of the gigs she went to see when growing up. Anne then talks about what has changed in recent years in terms of going out vs. staying at home due to lockdown. We get to hear her lockdown story which involved her having to change her routine. She returned to letter writing and encouraged others to do so. Anne talks about why she found coming out of lockdown difficult, and how she spent much of lockdown without internet. Towards the end of the interview, Anne talks about how she would live her life again in the same way and how she tries not to dwell too much on what is negative. She considers whether she maybe has been living too much in the past, discusses why friendships are crucially important and why her home has been referred to as a shrine. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Anne Watkins and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Jonty Stern, who works at the Sir John Soane's Museum in London. Jonty ran the Doctor Who Society at Lampeter and we learn about his encyclopaedic knowledge of the series and the impact it has had on him over the years. Jonty did Welsh Studies at Lampeter and focused on Celtic languages. He was the only student in the UK doing Middle Breton at the time, and we find out how he became interested in languages. His ‘A' levels didn't work out for him – and we learn how Lampeter beckoned. Jonty is obsessed with diaries and history and has been keeping a diary since 1986. He even brought along his 1990-93 Lampeter diaries to our interview which took place at the O2 in Greenwich on one of the hottest days of the year in July 2022. Jonty explains how some of his entries were written up many years later and we have a discussion about who his diaries are written for, and how some of the topics on which he writes only exist in his diary – there is no other, say, internet reference to the events described. Diaries are connected to his photos and tax returns, and during lockdown Jonty interviewed elderly relatives and friends. We find out how they were able to connect what happened, say, on VE Day with their experiences of lockdown. We talk about the LBGT community, freedom of speech, RP accents on TV, and how diversity changes were not predicted accurately in, say, sci-fi. We also learn about Jonty's work in market research and his love of museums. Then, towards the end of the interview we find out about Jonty's stint on the Channel 4 series Big Brother in 2007, what made him apply, how it was a break from his life up to that point, and how he made it through to finale night. He talks about being both an extrovert and an introvert, how he feels about Channel 4 following doing the programme and what it was like being a celebrity and then no longer being famous. We also discuss how he wasn't allowed to take his diary with him into the Big Brother house. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jonty Stern and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Craig Braddick, a British born race caller from Arizona who I have interviewed previously in this podcast series. Craig is a specialist on the history of TV sport and here we focus on various sporting events in the monochrome era from 1948-1966. We begin by discussing the way in which sport has always been on demand and has united people in a community. Craig talks about pre-Second World War women's amateur sport which came to prominence in the 1948 London Olympics. There is very little of the 1948 Olympics in the archives and it is important for giving us the genesis of what we are used to in TV sport coverage today. We then look at the 1953 FA Cup Final, the oldest soccer broadcast in the archives, and how it is atmospheric of a different era. This is when TV for the first time became the first choice over radio for experiencing sport. We discuss Roger Bannister and the 4 minute mile, and how it was broadcast on a programme called Sportsview which was the first show in the UK to use an autocue. Then we have the launch of Grandstand in 1958 and (later) its football results teleprinter. It introduced people to regional sports events. Craig talks about its presenter David Colman's expertise and how the programme covered the Grand National for the first time in 1960 which again united people around television. We look at the 1964 Olympics which was broadcast by satellite and the 1966 World Cup final when BBC and ITV worked together to share facilities. It was the first time slow motion was used in real time in football coverage and gave other countries the chance to develop their own coverage of football. It was also a time when football and politics came together, epitomized by Harold Wilson, and we learn why Tony Benn scuppered the chance for the BBC to screen the World Cup in colour. At the end of the interview we find out how Craig plans to draw on all of this knowledge and expertise in the future. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Craig Braddick and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Ben Marsh, Reader in History at the University of Kent, and very well known for the Marsh Family musical videos which inspired so many people during and since lockdown. Ben talks about how people have been craving something authentic and we learn what it was like to perform live on Comic Relief, meeting (nearly) Richard Curtis and being watched by people one has constructed one's world around. Ben reflects on how some people will see in the videos whatever it is that reinforces their cultural world and how the videos have endeavoured to bring people together. Music can reach people and enable us to escape tribalism. We talk about copyright issues and find out about the inspiration for some of the music. We learn about Ben's research on histories of failure and how he very nearly didn't become an academic. He couldn't study History at school, but we learn that something about colonial America clicked for him. We talk about going back to the music or films that mattered to us when young, and how we need people to validate our passions. Ben talks about ornaments that his late grandmother hoarded and how much we tend to value an archive. We discuss keeping records relating to the pasts, and misremembering the past, and the significance of blurry pictures of a Labrador on a school trip to the Isle of Wight. We discover how Ben got into academia and the art of retro-articulating one's life and how he feels differently about his research post-2016. Ben also speaks about how most people are historians more than they perhaps realize. Then, at the end of the interview, we talk about the selection of positive memories and what we do with negativity and positivity, and how we share our journey with other people. We also learn that Ben gets to look back professionally but otherwise is a looking forward person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Ben Marsh and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Rianna Patterson, an accredited coach, social entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, mental health advocate and founder of the Dominica Dementia Foundation. She has also done film work for an NHS client on the importance of music for people with dementia, and in the interview Rianna talks about the importance of celebrating older people. We find out why Rianna became involved in this research and the stigma around it, and she discusses how we have come a long way in terms of how we deal with grief. Born in Hackey and raised in Dominica, Rianna came to the University of Kent to study Psychology and graduated in 2020. She talks about how she has retraced the timeline and story of her grandparents. We talk about how there is so much more to a person than, say, their job, and why it is important to have human conversations. Rianna's earliest memories include going to the beach with her grandparents, and we learn that from a young age Rianna perfected the art of video editing. She talks about how her music tastes have changed and the live acts she has seen, and we find out about the time she played football with GoldLink. She also reveals that she would love to meet her namesake Rihanna. We learn what prompted Rianna to study Psychology and why coming to Kent was such a shock because of the traditions she was leaving behind. She was involved in the Caribbean Union, and we find out about the lecturers who inspired Rianna and why the Kent Pole Fitness Society was especially important. We also learn about the values that Rianna is keen to uphold and about the log she keeps of what she does and her goals, as well as why her 15 year old self would be floored if she saw what Rianna is doing now, and why if Rianna looks back it is in order to look forward. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Rianna Patterson and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was a great pleasure to meet José Moreno Carbonell for my latest Nostalgia Interview. Our paths may have once crossed in Lampeter where we were both students in the 1990s. José lives in France but comes from Spain and works as a high school Spanish teacher. José has just had a novel published called A la sombra de la glicinia - https://www.amazon.es/sombra-glicinia-Antonio-Moreno-Carbonell/dp/B09W7FLQ49 - which is a recreation of oral tradition from his home village mixed with classical mythology and 20th century Spanish history. It was written during lockdown and José talks about how it came about and the way in which writing was a survival strategy. We learn about José's earliest memories from growing up in Spain and how he comes from a family of school teachers. He always wanted to be a writer and we find out how José couldn't have been a writer if he hadn't become a teacher. We learn about José's TV influences when growing up in Spain in the days when there was just one channel, and we talk about the music our children listen to and how José started liking his father's classical music when a teenager. We also discuss the musical accomplishments that our children inherit. We find out about the teachers who made an impression as well as about José's time in Lampeter and the benefits from living there compared to a city life. We also discover why he would never keep a diary of his own. José then tells me a story from the time he was 12 years of age involving a Nobel Prize for Literature winner, The Three Musketeers and false memories. At the end of the interview we talk about what he wanted to be as a teenager, the advantage sometimes in not being paid for the things we love doing, why José is a looking forward person and why ‘this year's Christmas will be next year's nostalgia'. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and José Moreno Carbonell and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

Marion Stuart turns the tables on me for this week's Nostalgia Interview. I talk about my earliest memories which involve having my hair washed as a baby and listening to Pinky and Perky at nursery (obsessively) and how my children don't have the same musical tastes as me. I talk about what I was interested in outside of music, and my obsession with TV or radio schedules. This helped me at university in terms of having a copious record of all my lecture notes and being organized with essay writing. Looking back I wonder if I would be labelled today as having OCD. We talk about what experiences have moulded me the most, as well as my relationship with my parents and the notion of protectiveness. Marion asks me why movies are such a significant part of my life and how I came to film relatively late on, and we talk about what it is like to see a film many years after the first viewing - and the way in which my diary gives me a record of that film. She asks about my theology and about my interest in Near Death Experiences and their relationships to the movies I watch, and to how indebted I was to the likes of Paul Badham and Chris Arthur at university. She asks about my religious background. I talk about the limited religion I received from my Church school and how in later years I channelled religious interests through academic study. I explain why I didn't go to chapel at university. We move on to talk about relationships and whether I am in a better place now than I was in the past, and how we can get caught up in relationships that are not genuine (leading to a discussion about gaslighting). I talk about a particularly debilitating relationship experience and how this became a creative writing project for me. I turned my personal life into an analogous project to my PhD, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. Marion asks me how I have moved on and whether I will make the same mistakes again, and I talk about the importance of the integrity of character in answer to Marion's question of who I am. I conclude by referring to the importance of always being the student, and always being in a state of change, of growth, of transformation. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Marion Stuart and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is legendary broadcaster David Hamilton. David's career goes back to 1959 when he joined the British Forces Network radio station in Germany and was there at the same time as Elvis Presley. He was the last person to present Housewives' Choice and did one of the first TV interviews with The Beatles. David talks about his stint on Radio 1 and how the station evolved from the pirate days, and discusses in particular the camaraderie with the Radio 1 football team. We talk about the latest RAJAR radio industry data figures and how Boom Radio, where David currently works, is rising and how it taps into the gap created by national radio stations. David talks about how lockdown has changed our working patterns, and why he likes being in his cocoon in Sussex. David reflects on his time presenting Top of the Pops in an age when whole families would congregate around the TV, and he talks about how change is happening more quickly now than has been the case in previous decades. Radio was David's first love and he speaks about it as being his window to the world. Pete Murray was his broadcasting hero, and we find out how he managed to talk Pete out of retirement last Christmas.  David talks about how he got rid of the rough edges of his South London accent in order to get on radio and about the time he was offered the chance to present Wish You Were Here with Judith Chalmers but prioritized his radio commitments. David also talks about how he started out as a journalist, how he has sung on cruise ships and how, thanks to Ken Dodd, he came to be known as ‘Diddy' David Hamilton. We finish by talking about his friend (and my own radio hero) Ed Stewart who died while David was doing his rock n roll tour in 2016. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and David Hamilton and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was terrific for this week's Nostalgia Interview to meet Lyle Young. Lyle is a research and innovation coordinator for the University of Kent and was formerly a student at Kent where he studied English for his degree. Originally from Hertfordshire, Lyle talks about Canterbury being his adopted home and we learn about his love of literature and of being a novelist. We learn how he came to work in event organization and comms and about two novels he has written. Lyle wrote for 30 minutes a day on his most recent book which he explains is a work of sci-fi that's similar to the world of Ready Player One about someone who wants to be a video game streamer. He enjoys writing about young people. Lyle talks about how his girlfriend has been really good at helping him and he discusses one's motivations for doing things and whether we ultimately do them for ourselves. We learn about Lyle's influences which include Philip K. Dick and Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days and how they're not about the future but about now. We talk about how we can adapt with the aid of technology and how this applied during lockdown. Lyle has been playing the guitar since he was 10, and he remembers his dad playing ELO in the car. Lyle reflects on how music can be so tribal especially between indie and metal and how for his generation it will be more common to listen to music on the internet rather than the radio. We find out, too, about the music that Lyle himself puts out. At the end of the interview, Lyle talks about how his memories are positive and we discuss the nature of the banal as well as why neither looking back nor forward have done him much good. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Lyle Young and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was a huge privilege for this week's Nostalgia Interview to meet Nigel Nelson, the longest serving political editor in Fleet Street. Nigel works for the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. We recorded our interview on the afternoon that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer received fines from the Metropolitan Police for attending a party in Downing Street during lockdown. Nigel gives us his take on whether they should have resigned and how the removal of the Prime Minister affects the country's command structure. Nigel has worked with seven Prime Ministers, and he explains that he still has a frisson of excitement every time he walks into the House of Commons. He talks about how history can teach you lessons but that it can't tell you what will happen next. We discuss how the nature of news and politics has changed over the years and how it is now a 24/7 operation. Nigel talks about the things he sometimes can't publish and why he is irritated by political biographies, and how facts don't always tell the full story. From his teenage years Nigel has had an interest in politics and a talent for writing and he reveals how he has done things which he could only have dreamed about when he was young, including writing a political novel. I ask Nigel if he ever thought about being on the other side of the fence and he recounts the time he did toy with that idea at the time of the SDP in the 1980s. We learn why he would rather be on the sidelines than becoming one of the players. We find out about the events that Nigel has influenced through his work on The People, and we talk about why he admires Ken Clarke and Nigel Farage from the other side of the political spectrum and the importance for a political journalist of not becoming too friendly with politicians. Nigel shares his thoughts on how Prime Minister's Questions is really theatre and we learn that politicians often don't get along with politicians on their own side. We learn that Nigel's favourite film is Zulu and we discover why Muhammad Ali is such a pivotal figure and why Nigel has an interest in Gregorian chants. Nigel expresses his thoughts on organized religion, and we discuss whether politics and religion are similar. His mother was a spy and Nigel reveals his own experience of when the intelligence agencies tried to recruit him, too. Nigel explains that he would rather reveal than keep secrets. We also learn why he turned his back on university. Being a journalist, Nigel has a ringside view on history and he talks about his experience of being under fire at the time of war, how he and his wife have diametrically opposite political positions, and we learn why Nigel favours coalition as the best form of government. Then, at the end of the interview, Nigel reflects on his life and career and explains why he is a forward looking person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Nigel Nelson and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Heide Kunzelmann, German Culture & Language Coach for International Knowledge Workers - largely qualified migrants and expats - based in Vienna. Heide left the University of Kent in 2020 and she discusses transferable skills and how to use them to make a living. Heide talks about her Austrian background and how she left home to study at the age of 18. She talks about memories that stretch back to moving at the age of four, including a home with no electricity, and she remembers the quiet and having lots to do as an only child. Heide reveals the importance of her Walkman when she was young and how she would take long walks and listen to Rick Astley. We talk about the notion of instant gratification and of retro and the role of nostalgia as well as how film can be a portal into our pasts that opens up an emotional landscape. Heide talks about the relationship between the uncanny and nostalgia, and we learn why Top Gun was the coolest film ever when she was growing up, but that she doesn't necessarily feel the same way now. Things that matter to us now we are bound to think differently about when we are our parents' age. Heide studied English and German at university, but wanted to be a musician, and we learn why she didn't follow that dream. We learn about her present job for which she draws on texts and helping people understand her culture better, and working with people coming to Austria in search of jobs. She has the freedom to create programmes and concerts in her self-employed capacity. Heide is doing many of the same things her mother did and she talks about the influence of her parents in her life. Then, at the end of the interview, Heide talks about why nostalgia can be like a drug and why we glorify the past. She discloses that her younger self wanted to work on an English university campus, and we find out about the novelette she wrote when she was 16. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Heide Kunzelmann and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Dan Clark, e-Learning Manager at the University of Kent who begins the interview by talking about the power that technology has in learning and teaching. We talk about our experiences during lockdown of rapid change and how technology can make things happen. Dan discusses how and when he is able to stay away from technology because it is a massive part of his day job. We talk about the days before the internet when we would find things via a paper trail and the important role of physical products. Dan is from Cheshire and he talks about his Lake District connection and why it is such a magical place for him. Cornwall was his ‘go to' place as a child where there was a different pace of life, and this leads to us discussing the notion of counterpoint. We learn why music is important to Dan. He talks about his earliest musical memories relating to travelling to Oban, Scotland, in 1987, including ‘Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits. He was given an electric guitar on his 15th birthday and has since played his own music. Dan formed a band at the end of secondary school and grew up at a time when the Manchester music scene was huge. We talk about school reunions and the rose tinted view of past experiences and how our perceptions of the past are shaped by our experiences. We learn how Dan entered his current profession as a learning technologist. He studied Media and Cultural Studies for his degree at Manchester, is presently doing a PhD and is fascinated to find those threads in his journey from having done ‘A' level Sociology. Dan reveals that he has never had a fixed career plan and we speak about the difference between personal, academic and career goals. He talks about the tutors at Manchester who inspired him in terms of how the past is represented. Dan talks about his running predilections, too, which started in later years and how it is good from a wellbeing sense. Dan talks about always having had a nostalgic disposition and how he looks back to think about how he got to where he is now. He talks about health anxieties and how they can be turned to a positive outcome, and how the past makes us who we are. Towards the end of the interview, Dan brings up his interest in abandoned buildings which he photographs, including a TB sanatorium in Cheshire. It led him to appear on Ghost Hunting with Girls Aloud in 2005 – and we learn what the band thought about Dan's obsession. Finally, Dan discusses what his older self would tell his younger self and he tells us about his recurring dream. At the end, Dan reveals why he looks back more than he looks forward. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Dan Clark and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is a playwright Lance Woodman, who has written for Radio 4 and is a theatre tour guide for the Royal Shakespeare Company.  Lance was born in Hereford but moved quite a bit while young and now lives in Stratford-upon-Avon. He has undertaken research into his family tree (Lance's great uncle was my maternal grandfather), including most recently the 1921 census. He talks about how this has been a source of stories for his playwriting, and we learn about the rabbit holes he has found himself going down. Lance talks about how it's a working class history that is not widely covered, involving no dukes, kings or earls. He found an example of a family member, for example, who was deported due to Poor Law legislation. He reflects on how in such a scenario existence is tenuous and that very few people broke out of the cycle until more recent times. We discuss whether and how Lance uses the raw materials of such research as data for writing plays, and we discover that he uses ghosts as a dramatic device for bringing the past into the present. In terms of his earliest memories, Lance reflects on how there were not many constants. He became an enthusiastic cyclist, and Lance talks about how he messed up school and didn't go to university until he was in his late 30s. For his 21st birthday Lance went to see Ian Dury and the Blockheads in concert, and he talks about being a cataloguer of cycling records and medical information. We discuss how names are often changed for census purposes and about the advantages of going to university in one's 30s. Lance had been an IT professional for many years and we find out how he ended up doing a degree in Drama and then a Masters in Playwriting Studies at Birmingham. He reflects on how going to university was like coming to life. He has also lectured in universities. He discusses his hobbyist interest in theatre and how as a playwright he tends to watch audiences as much as he does the shows. Lance also talks about the different forms that theatre has taken due to lockdown, e.g. various online manifestations. Then, towards the end of the interview, we talk about how memories are not fixed and the way in which the past impacts on the present. We learn that Lance has fulfilled many of his dreams and he reflects on how his life is coloured by his past. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Lance Woodman and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent. 

My guest this week is Vera da Silva Sinha who works as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of York, looking at time, number and space in indigenous minority language communities of Brazil. We begin by talking about Vera's experience of lockdown and of Christmases spent growing up in Brazil. Vera is from a small village in the south of Brazil where her father was a lorry driver. Vera was 29 when she left Brazil, where she was a police officer, and was doing a PhD at the time that she met her husband. She ended up moving to Europe and Vera talks about the stereotypes involved when comparing different countries. Vera talks about how she didn't have much money when growing up but that this was offset by the chance to meet many people in different places. She talks about how she became an anthropologist and how she came across two Bibles in different languages which had a big effect on her. She isn't someone who tends to remember dates but she does remember the images of those moments from her past. Vera talks about classical music and how she used to listen to the BBC World Service on Short Wave, and she reveals why she needs to have music on in the background when trying to sleep. She talks about working with vulnerable and abused people both as a policewoman in Brazil and, today, as an academic where she does work with different communities and deals with exactly the same areas. Vera discusses something very tragic that happened in her family for which the pain never goes away and how she kept her family together and tried to be the best researcher as a result. She is so proud of her parents for what they taught her, and Vera reflects on how the chances of her going to university from her background was very small. We talk about the things that motivate us and about social class and how Vera was the object of prejudice because of her accent while she was at school. She talks about an episode which turned her into a writer and about the responsibility of a teacher to empower, rather than crush, people. Then, towards the end of the interview, Vera discloses what her younger self imagined she would end up doing with her life and about how if you do something you like to do then the outcome will be fine. She has a life story which can resonate with many people and Vera talks about how lucky she feels to have had the life she has led. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Vera da Silva Sinha and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was a great pleasure to meet award-winning journalist Jo Phillips for my latest Nostalgia Interview. Jo is a political commentator and has worked as a political editor and broadcaster and was press secretary and policy adviser to Paddy Ashdown and has stood for Parliament. She also worked for Bob Geldof for 10 years. Jo is a sailor and gardener and she explains why she sees herself primarily as a journalist. Jo talks about the importance of being curious, and we learn that radio has been her first love. She explains why it sparks the imagination. We also learn about her political interests and leanings, and why politics is not just about Westminster. She has written a book called Why Vote? A guide for those who can't be bothered – which details the work she has done to get people who wouldn't normally vote to do so – and talks about why local engagement matters. Jo then reveals how she got to work with Paddy Ashdown and she talks about the importance of his diaries. This was a time when Labour and the Lib Dems discussed working together, and Jo discusses why he was so good to work for and with during his time as Lib Dem leader and when he was High Representative for Bosnia. We talk about the Lib Dems punching above their weight in the 1990s. She talks about the preparation that Paddy Ashdown made for PMQs and the anguish they went through (she was his spinner) before going into the bear pit. Jo recalls Paddy's reaction when Tony Blair gave his first speech as Labour leader – ‘he's bloody good, isn't he?' She talks about the price the Lib Dems paid in later years for the coalition with the Conservatives and she discusses why one can't talk about right and left any more and why Britain's influence in the world has diminished due to Brexit. Jo is a farmer's daughter and we find out where she got her interest in politics from. We move on to talk about the televising of Parliament and why she thinks the select committee system is so important. Jo talks about how Boris Johnson's motive for going into Parliament is different from that of most MPs, and we learn that Paddy Ashdown and Sir John Major became friends in later years. I ask her what happened behind the scenes between the party leaders, and she talks about how politicians were more human in those days. We talk about those unlikely friendships. Jo studied English and Philosophy at the University of Kent and designed the artwork for the Freshers Handbook in 1973/4. She talks about the bands that came to campus in those days, including Captain Beefheart (there's an hilarious story involving a bottle of Drambuie), Led Zeppelin and 10CC. We find out how she ended up in journalism, and we discover that she was Michael Parkinson's editor on LBC – or ‘Narky Parky' as she called him. She talks about the guests who would come on the programme, including Anthony Burgess and Gore Vidal, and we learn why she calls Michael Parkinson the supreme interviewer. Towards the end of the interview Jo talks about the challenge of being a commentator and we find out about the 11.31 Club. She discusses the importance of using one's brain and why she always says yes when an opportunity arises. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jo Phillips and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Craig Braddick, a horse racing commentator based in the US where he has been living since 2001. Originally from Cambridge, England, Craig works mainly at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona, where the new film Jockey (Clint Bentley, 2021) was filmed. We find out why Craig made the journey and about how he has worked in around 18 different states largely doing media work. Race calling is a specialized field and we hear about his passion for that. His father was a professional pundit and Craig has been around horseracing since a young age. He talks about how he overcame a speech impediment by emulating TV commentators as a boy. We learn that Peter O'Sullevan and other commentators were very encouraging, and we reflect on the skills that previous generations of broadcasters had. As a commentator the job is to tell a story, like a novel – there are protagonists and antagonists – and Craig explains that although you can see more through binoculars than you can on a TV screen you have to know what the viewers are seeing to do the job properly. We discover that the nightmare scenario in Craig's profession is when you can't see the jockey silks. He talks about why it is hard to judge yourself as a commentator, why he listens back to every race he calls and why it is normal to cringe when you hear the sound of your own voice. Craig explains that he has a book containing 1200 phrases which he can use in a race call, and he discusses the importance of not being complacent and the need to do better. We talk about his archive television interest, which he traces back to watching Dr. Who at the age of 5. He'd be watching TV from a technical viewpoint, concerning where the cameras were positioned, at the age of 6 or 7, and has developed a voracious interest in TV history. He talks about the TV commentators he got to know, and he talks about the regret he feels regarding people with whom his paths didn't cross, e.g. David Coleman. He refers to the history of sport on TV and the allure of monochrome TV.              Craig discusses the challenges of getting to this point in his life and recovering from a health challenge and about how he thinks more of the struggles than the successes. Success is fleeting but the work he puts in lasts forever.  Then, at the end of the interview, Craig talks about the TV shows that most influenced him and we find out why he doesn't still have an archive of some of the reviews he wrote back in his school days. He looks forward from a professional viewpoint but in his heart Craig is a looking back person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Craig Braddick and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Malcolm Dixon, Head of Quality Assurance at the University of Kent who has just published his first novel, The Little House on Everywhere Street. We learn writing fiction is more indicative of who Malcolm is than his day job, and he tells me why good writing is an exercise in misdirection. Malcolm has written short stories in the past, and his novel is about a house with doors that lead on to different cities. It's all about what makes a happy family, in which the family members have misadventures and go missing in time. He grew up in Liverpool in a different time when it was a deprived city, and Malcolm reveals that he has a prodigious memory and can remember the great Winter of 1963 and going to see the Beatles in 1965, as well as being able to remember learning to walk. He would listen to the charts on a Tuesday lunchtime and to football matches on the radio. Malcolm did his first degree in Sunderland and went to graduate school at the University of Minnesota on a sports scholarship. We learn that football is the lingua franca of his family. He also tells me his Ed Stewart story. Stewpot was a genuine football (Everton) fan and even corrected Malcolm on a football fact. His parents were born in the early 1920s and his father kept a seaman's log. We hear about his being attacked by enemy fire and about his grandmothers who were widowed early. We learn about how Malcolm ended up doing his present role and how it isn't who he is and we learn what his wife thinks his superpower is (letting people underestimate him). I ask Malcolm if he watches other people watching him. With his new book he knew ‘this was it', and he talks about how people believed in the project. He has other books in the pipeline – and indeed he has written a trilogy. Then, at the end of the interview, we find out that Malcolm's memories are mainly positive and that there isn't much that he is nostalgic about, other than his children's childhood, and he says why children are like Woody and Buzz from Toy Story. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Malcolm Dixon and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Suzanne Owen, Reader at Leeds Trinity University, who used to be our External Examiner for Religious Studies at Kent. Suzanne talks about how she is always excited to see what other institutions are doing and we learn about how walking is a counterpoint to her day.  We learn about Suzanne's creative writing work and whether she can ever publish it. We talk about the different skills involved and how it can be like being a detective. Suzanne was, back in the 1980s, a DJ in San Francisco. She was studying radio technology at the time and played punk and new wave. She has researched indigenous traditions and was once a tutor in Canadian Studies. Suzanne's first post in Leeds Trinity was in World Religions and she talks about why she is critical of the category. When she was 5 years old she had an encounter with a wolf and no one knew she was missing or seemed to care, and Suzanne reflects on how this turned her into an outsider and a non-conformist, even an anarchist. She joined the Theosophical Society in Edinburgh, which helped develop her interest in the study of religion. Both of her parents were music fans, and Suzanne reveals that ‘London Calling' by The Clash completely grabbed her. She also played bass in a punk band in her last year at high school and subscribed to the Stranglers fanzine. Suzanne talks about non-attachments to things and how Facebook is a repository of her life. We also learn why she didn't follow a career in photography. We talk about our subject areas being under pressure and how having an interest somewhere else that can sustain us is so important. Suzanne has never been tempted to go to a school reunion and we learn what her younger self would have wanted to do. Towards the end of the interview, Suzanne reflects on how she was a latchkey kid which meant she had adventures in the hills, but she also felt neglected and she was bullied. This has made her feel more independent and any nostalgia she feels is that she had that space. We learn why today the present is the best place to focus, while looking at the past as sources of creativity. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Suzanne Owen and Chris Deacy and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Jennifer Uzzell, who is studying for a PhD in Durham, has done a Masters degree at Lampeter, and used to teach full time in a secondary school. Jennifer's original background is in theology and biblical studies, when she did her undergraduate degree at Durham. We learn about how her interest in Hinduism developed and how Jennifer is a Senior ‘A' level examiner. Her latest research is on Druids and their attitudes towards death and dying. We talk about how on many levels she is squaring circles. We learn about how she became involved in the funeral director business which in some respects could be construed as a form of therapy. She didn't see a dead body prior to working in a funeral home, and we find out how Jennifer does the job and how she has the right resources to do it and how she has a vocational role both to the bereaved and the dead. We talk about how Jennifer's job impacts on her research and vice versa, and we talk about the different ways of conducting funerals that work for each family – including juggling and drinking whisky in one case. She devoured Greek mythology as a child and she talks about the paucity of work on non-Christian traditions when she was at university. Jennifer has always been interested in how words are used in translation, and she talks about why she considers herself an anthropologist of religion and being aware of watching herself watching. She discusses also being an insider both as a Druid and a funeral director. We talk about the key role of fiction in paganism and of re-enchantment, and about the importance of myth and magic and folk horror. Towards the end of the interview, Jennifer talks about the way funerals can be a way for families to reconnect, and we discuss the role of connecting with an imagined past and about Jennifer's work in historical re-enactment. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jennifer Uzzell and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

The tables were turned on me for this week's Nostalgia Interviews podcast – as I am the guest. Pamela Petro, who did such a fantastic interview with me earlier in 2021, asks me about my background (and we talk about why I don't sound Welsh), why I used to emulate great radio presenters and newsreaders and why I ended up in academia if I always wanted to be on the radio. I talk about my career path, the dream that never went away, the bridge between broadcasting and teaching, and how this all dovetailed during lockdown when I would record my lectures like doing a radio show. I talk about my first university memory and recount my memories of the first day at Lampeter, which dovetailed with buying a bed for my sister, and why I came close to crying. Friday 4 October 1991 was the beginning of the rest of my life. Pamela asks me what the song is that sums up my student days (the answer may surprise you), and I talk about the 1992 Lampeter Arts Hall Christmas disco when I danced really badly to the Human League and how it led to a particularly memorable experience at the Quarry club in Lampeter the following Tuesday… I discuss how I wasn't in a good place 5 or 6 years ago and, through my work on Nostalgia, I have wanted to return to the prosaic, humdrum stuff from my undergraduate days and to say thank you to those friends from that era, and how one episode in particular was the template for me becoming involved with student support many years later. I then talk about my diaries and how and why I have been annotating my past, and what it says about the difference between experience and memory. I refer to the diary as being a corrective against having a rose-coloured lens reading of the past. We also talk about what makes Lampeter special by virtue of what for other people might be its perceived limitations. We then focus on the role of memoir and finding a way to connect a personal story to universal experiences. Specifically, I talk about why the diary became a form of salvation after I met somebody in 2016 who didn't turn out to be who she promised to be, and the diary turned me into a detective in my own story. I talk about how the diary is both primary source, secondary source and work in progress. The interview finishes with me being asked what I would do if God gave me the chance to satisfy one desire!

It was a huge pleasure to meet Alison Robertson for this week's Nostalgia Interview. Alison's research is in the area of subcultures – specifically BDSM and kink as religious practice. Alison refers to how this is a notoriously sensitive area – and about how hard it can be to get people to talk to her.  Alison discuss the insider vs. outsider question and we learn that Alison is fascinated by areas where boundaries blur. Her participants might reject the label ‘religion' but not the things that Alison believes make it a religion. Some people have a very fixed understanding of religion. Alison talks about the therapeutic or confessional benefit for her participants when they talk about BDSM, and how some of them both wanted to be identified and didn't want to be identified at the same time. We discuss stereotypes and the judgements that people think may be attached to what they do, and we look at this in the context of nostalgia and the past. Alison's first degree was in Law and she is still in touch with a friend from playschool. In her experience as a PhD candidate she found that the edgier you are the better. But in an employment sense people tend to be more wary – and Alison recounts the experience from when a referee once refused to write a reference for Alison because they didn't want to be associated with kink. We talk about assumed binaries and how it applies to pleasure vs. pain. Alison tells us why she has a problem with the category of non-religion and about the different uses we give to the same word. Alison reflects on how at school religion was put in a container and cut off from everything else, and that this does Religious Studies a disservice. She did a PGCE RE and we learn how she became interested in studying kink and why she would like it if more people studied it. Then, towards the end of the interview Alison discusses positive memories and the definition of nostalgia, and how some words are negative and not all positive, e.g. intimacy, and the way kink can be a way of reshaping trauma. We end the interview by talking about the way Bat out of Hell has helped her understand fandom – and how there is nothing random about fandom! Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Alison Robertson and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Declan Kavanagh, Senior Lecturer in 18th Century Studies in the School of English at the University of Kent. Declan's specialism is in the area of poetry and political pamphlets from the period and how they address questions of masculinity, nationhood, gender, sexuality and disability.  We talk about surviving lockdown and how it impacted on Declan personally, and about how he became interested in the history of arrangements of power around gayness, queerness and transness. Declan talks about the rage but never any sense of shame over his sexuality, and he is not sure that as much ground has been won in recent decades as the legislative success of, say, same-sex marriage might suggest. There is, for example, still transphobia, and there are questions over whether feminism speaks for trans women. He reflects on the toxic and restrictive notions of gender which are impacting on people and how, although trans people are everywhere, media representations to this end are not always helpful. We talk about Section 28 and the notion of queerness as being in flux. Declan remembers watching breakfast TV as a child with the Spice Girls being interviewed, and we learn that he used to be into heavy metal and The Smiths. We also hear Declan's reaction to me mentioning that Cilla Black supported the Tories, and he gives us his thoughts on cancel culture and why he thinks Morrissey is a racist and how we shouldn't be afraid to call out racism. Declan discusses how nostalgia comes from a sense of loss and uncriticality which is dangerous. The culture wars, he says, are about nostalgia, and he recalls people he knows who are stuck in their past. He says he has always been inclined to look towards the future. Towards the end of the interview Declan reflects on what it felt like to be four, and we learn about friendships from over the years, and how he survived his schooldays, as well as why he is okay with people misrepresenting him. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Declan Kavanagh and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Kazuyo Matsuda, who is an architect, working in the UK for the last 20 years and practices the Japanese martial art of Kendo which she has been teaching for over two decades. Kazuyo talks about how Kendo, which originated in Japan in the 13th Century, was first seen in the UK at the Japanese Village in Knightsbridge built in 1885. Kazuyo has been in the UK since 1993 and before that lived in Japan. She came to the UK initially to study Fine Art and we learn how she switched to Architecture. She has three sisters, her father was a solicitor and her mother still lives in Japan. We learn about her memories of growing up, playing touchball and going on adventures in the days before computer games. She went to kendo twice a week with her sister and ended up sticking with it. Kazuyo talks about how lockdown impacted her – and how the experience taught her how important exercise was. We learn that Kendo is a safe sport, relatively speaking, and how she managed to teach it online during lockdown, finding some funny ways to be inventive. She discusses MTV and seeing Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper in concert, and also practising the piano and her love of Italian culture, as well as being a fan of The Karate Kid. We then turn to Kazuyo's architecture work which involves designing buildings. She is interested in the challenge in seeing what lies behind buildings and Kazuyo talks about Portmeirion where people's memories were distorted via space. She also discusses the idea of knowing people as a building. Kazuyo talks about how architecture has changed since it became possible to build 3D models using a computer and she speaks about how she thinks theory and practice need to merge. We learn about her earliest memories and how memories play an important role in architecture and dreams, and we talk about negative experiences, e.g. relating to sad childhood experiences and the need for longing, including connecting with people with whom we are no longer in the same physical space. Then, at the end of the interview Kazuyo talks about learning to make the future better via revisiting the past. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Kazuyo Matsuda and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Penny Sartori, a medical researcher and teacher in the field of near-death experiences who did a PhD in NDEs at Lampeter. Penny used to work in the Intensive Therapy Unit in Morriston Hospital in Swansea where she was upset about the death of her patients and which led her to want to research more about death.  Something that Penny discovered is that the neurophysiological assumptions that better fitted her nurse training didn't seem to be an adequate or sufficient model for understanding the phenomena. She found that talking to patients about what they were feeling and what they said face to face was an eye opening experience. They appreciated the fact that she was taking their experiences seriously whereas in many cases their relatives might dismiss their testimonies. It was a form of empowerment for them which counterbalanced the trauma of having come close to death. Penny talks about the negative experiences which some of the patients had, and she reveals what her colleagues thought about her research and the importance for nurses to recognize and validate these experiences and support their patients. We learn how this ended up becoming the PhD with Paul Badham as supervisor and how this all changed her life. Her work on NDEs has enabled her to become more appreciative of her life and it taught her to live in the moment. We talk about NDE characteristics, some of the findings of her research, including the seeing of deceased relatives and whether all of the patients she was studying had clinically died. We learn that she is interested in the extent to which NDEs give meaning to patients' lives, and Penny discusses the lack of acceptance in nursing circles of these experiences. Do we understand the dying process sufficiently? Penny tells me about the impact of her research and the book, which was serialized in a national newspaper, had on her personally. We also find out what made her enter the nursing profession in the first place and how everything has fallen into place in her life since. Finally, towards the end of the interview Penny talks about growing up in Swansea where she used to enjoy going surfing, and we hear about her love of 80s music. We learn that she is in touch with her best friend from school, why she enjoyed the solitude of lockdown, and why Penny is a looking forward kind of person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Penny Sartori and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Rachel Gefferie who works at the University of Kent as Diversity Mark Officer and is also doing an Anthropology PhD. Rachel, who is originally from Suriname and later moved to the Netherlands, talks about why calendar and anniversary dates and photographs are so important. She can relive the original feelings she had when she looks back at pictures. Rachel tells us why she selects happy moments and why the camera is like an extended eye. We also discuss how other people may interact (differently) with them, even those in the same picture, and Rachel talks about the role that pictures play in her cultural background. They represent the most important thing in one's life and all of one's accomplishments. She talks about the time she was asked what the object was from childhood that means the most to her, and it was when she won her first book for writing a story. And we find out about Rachel's attachment to objects, e.g. jewellery. She has a necklace that reminds her of her time in Colombia where she was diagnosed with a heart defect and she was told that she didn't have long to live. She was told to do something that she wanted to do as she didn't have much time left. She ended up in Saint Martin where she had a second opinion and discovered that she wasn't terminally ill. The necklace symbolizes her having new life and having a second chance and needing to make it work. She now faces sickness in a completely new way, and Rachel talks about how she has become more cautious if she is separated from her husband. Music played a big role in her upbringing, and we learn that lockdown had a huge impact on the connections which live music brings. We find out whether there were any inspiring artists. Rachel discusses dance hall and music of Jamaican origin, and she discusses a photo that she brought with her to the recording of herself with the son of Bob Marley, Ky-Mani Marley. Rachel talks about her educational journey. She worked as a social worker in Saint Martin and taught in Suriname. She then went on to do a Masters in Social Anthropology and now her PhD. Surprisingly, Rachel explains how she ended up in Canterbury due to Google. At the end of the interview, Rachel talks about how she believes that, in the context of her Christian faith, everything happens for a reason. The health diagnosis was an attack on her faith but afterwards her faith returned. And, Rachel explains why she lives through the past, in the present, looking at the future. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Rachel Gefferie and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is radio enthusiast Noel Tyrrel, founder of the David Hamilton's Hot Shots fan site and someone who has an encyclopaedic knowledge and collection of vintage radio shows. Noel grew up with radio, and we learn why the person who awakened his interest was David Hamilton. We talk about why Junior Choice was so special and whether the sort of radio presenting that Ed Stewart and David Hamilton epitomized is in ascendance any more. We also find out why David Hamilton is called ‘one take Hamilton'. Noel talks about what it was like to meet his radio heroes and we hear about the time Noel was at the supermarket checkout and who should ring to apologize for not playing ‘Paddy McKinty's Goat', which Noel had requested for his young daughter on the Christmas edition of Christmas Junior Choice, but Stewpot himself. He talks about what was so clever about the Jimmy Young show, and how we could never work out what JY's political sympathies were. We discuss JY's previous incarnation as a crooner and we learn what Noel thinks about JY's successor, Jeremy Vine. Both of Noel's parents were actors and through them he met many showbiz types. He talks about Simon Dee and we find out why Noel would categorize himself as a frustrated journalist. We learn why Noel so enjoys disseminating David Hamilton's BOOM Radio show on social media and writing a synopsis of each programme. He explains why he is a sounding board for David Hamilton and we find out whether Noel himself would be interested in doing a radio show of his own. He tells us why radio plays are better than their TV counterparts, why radio will far outlast TV, and why radio is so wonderful because one can listen to it while ‘on the move'. At the end of the interview we learn whether Noel is a looking back or looking forward type of person, what he thinks of Benny Hill and Talking Pictures TV and why he respects things for the period in which they were made. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Noel Tyrrel and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Babiche Deysel, Executive Headteacher at Petham Primary School in Kent. Originally from the Netherlands, Babiche lived and worked for many years in Zimbabwe and Botswana. In Zimbabwe she studied the economic impact of projects run by a women's group and she discusses the way in which one doesn't always realize how bad things are in a country which, as she points out, is very different from the country where she got married, until one steps outside of it. Babiche talks about her experience of living in houses surrounded by barbed wire and of friends being attacked. Born in the Hague, Babiche talks about experiences which have made her and her family stronger and about the ways in which we are inclined to look back through the past with a rose coloured lens but in which there were adversities we had to overcome. She talks about her experience of Christmas during the pandemic and how boundaries were woolly during lockdown. She remembers from childhood driving to Spain or Italy and listening to Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton and Van Morrison on a loop and enjoying the sounds of Radio Caroline. In those days there was information to which we did not have access, which is all very different from today, and we learn that Babiche brought all her records back with her from Zimbabwe to Botswana but that they didn't make the journey to the UK. We find out how Babiche ended up accidentally working as a teacher. When she was young she wanted to be a ballerina, she studied Social Educational Care at undergraduate level and then did a Masters in Pedagogy. When she was in Africa she ended up working in the fashion industry as a menswear buyer where people would get worked up about, say, the colour of a drawstring and she thought there was more to life. She then embarked on a teaching degree through the University of South Africa. Babiche talks about why it's important for a teacher to have a broader experience than just what happens in the classroom. Teachers who are parents themselves also have a better understanding of the job. We discover whether there were any teachers who especially inspired her and we talk about why it can be easier to be a teacher than a pupil. We move on to talk about teaching in situations that one couldn't anticipate, and how children will always tell the truth.  We learn that Babiche used to write letters from Zimbabwe and she has a portfolio of letters sent to her grandmother. Then, at the end of the interview, we discuss whether it is possible to find good experiences out of horrendous times, and we talk about how we used to be in touch with people in the days before social media. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Babiche Deysel and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Pamela Petro, American author, artist and teacher based in Massachusetts. Pamela has just published a memoir called The Long Field in which we learn about her passion for Wales as an American, based around the concept of hiraeth. Pamela did an MA in The Word and the Visual Imagination at Lampeter and she talks about how she never got over her ‘Welsh thing'. In the last 35 years she has been back something like 28 times. Lampeter has affected her in a way no other place has. Pamela talks about how she felt instantly at home there and about being comfortable on the margins looking critically at the centre. She felt that she was in touch with the world in this intimate place, and she talks about using our own stories as a jumping off place to a universal plane. We learn about the importance of hiraeth, which might be thought of as a form of homesickness and longing and as the presence of absence – perhaps a longing for the self that we once were. We hear about the time a man appeared out of a manhole wearing a German pith helmet, and a sheep wandering in the library. Pamela grew up in New Jersey and she talks about the search for that in between state and about how one is always imagining what we don't have. To miss something is the springboard to imagination, and Pamela is happy to be in that liminal space. It's the looking forward, say to Christmas, that's more important than Christmas Day itself. We find out why Pamela looks forward to the shortening of the light in winter, and we consider these motifs via the endings of The Shawshank Redemption and Local Hero. At the end of the interview we discuss how negative experiences allow one to grow, and we talk about how loss might be deemed to be the most important thing in life. We discover that Pamela carries the past with her all the time – and we find out what would happen if she could choose between going to the past or the future. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Pamela Petro and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Jasjit Singh, Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds where his research includes how people learn about religion and engage with their religious heritage. He is originally from Bradford and did a degree in Computer Science and Accounting at Manchester. We learn how Jasjit found that there weren't many HE institutions which studied the Sikh tradition and about his work on a Religion and Society research project on youth. We learn why he's an accidental activist and why his research was impactful by default. We talk about diversity in the curriculum and how important it is in terms of representation that people see Jasjit on the stage at his university's Graduation ceremonies. He remembers encountering Radio 1 when he was in school and getting signed photos of Gary Davies and Steve Wright. Jasjit also saw Prince and Michael Jackson in open air concerts within a few weeks of each other. This was a time of bhangra music too and we learn that at Jasjit's school there  weren't too many other Sikhs. Jasjit recalls the days when Bradford had a massive thousand seater cinema. He remembers the queuing and how it was more of a concert than a film experience. He is a big Star Wars fan, and he learn about his not so accidental meeting with Mark Hamill on the red carpet and indeed how he met Luke Skywalker on the day that Luke died. We discuss how lockdown has changed the way we do what we do, e.g. in terms of conferences. We find out why Kim Knott was such an influential figure, and Jasjit asks whether universities demonstrate what knowledge production and research actually does. He says we need to recognize the limitations of some of the subjects, e.g. History in school is British history. We talk about the framing of academia and about how Bend it Like Beckham was a seminal movie for South Asians.  Jasjit also talks about the way Sikhs were portrayed in 70s TV and the othering of non-white characters in Hollywood, as well as how the internet has enabled minority communities to undertake their own cultural productions. At the end of the interview Jasjit talks about going through IVF at the same time that he got his PhD funding. He explains that IVF was a painful experience and isn't something that men especially talk about. We also discover why Jasjit is mostly a looking forward person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jasjit Singh and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Gregory Shushan, a researcher in the area of Near Death Experiences who is currently based in Portugal. Gregory went to Lampeter to do a PhD in 2004 on a cross cultural study of afterlife beliefs under the supervision of Paul Badham. We talk extensively about Near Death Experiences and how Gregory was interested in looking at the impact of NDEs on culture. Gregory was born in San Diego and grew up in an environment where his parents had very different approaches to life. He talks about the role of travel in his life, and we learn that he studied at UCL before going to Lampeter. We learn too about Gregory's tendency to the outsider way of thinking. He once contemplated being a musician and Gregory discusses his musical influences, and the resonances of Matt Dillon's debut 1979 film Over the Edge. British music and culture also influenced him, and we discover that Gregory listens to it today though not so much in the case of punk.  Gregory talks about his work on indigenous religions and NDEs and is looking at Victorian and Edwardian work on mediumship and reincarnation memories for his next book. He calls out the racist elements in some of that spiritualist literature, and we talk about the way NDEs are overlaid with our cultural conditioning and symbols. We then discuss H.H. Price's work on mind-dependent worlds which, Gregory believes, comes closest to explaining the similarities and differences in afterlife and NDE experiences. Gregory talks about what people who have had an NDE make of his research, and he talks about how people who have had an NDE may look to his work to corroborate their experiences. The materialist sceptics also want him to corroborate their ‘it's all in the brain' position. He explains why he isn't interested in proving whether or not NDEs are true or not. At the end of the interview we learn that Gregory's memories are fairly mixed. He talks about finding journals from when he was a teenager and he talks about ‘nostalgicising' certain periods of his life and how he is inclined to look back and forward more than be in the present. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Gregory Shushan and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Jan Moriarty, Student Success Manager at the University of Kent, a wonderful project designed to support students to achieve better degrees. We learn how Jan became involved in the project and how her initial concern that it was not going to be possible to solve EDI issues in two years were balanced by the consideration that morally it is something that has to be done. It reveals who is flourishing and who is not, e.g. a black student is more likely to come out with a worse degree than their white peers.  It's about holding a mirror up to the institution, and changing our behaviours and changing mindsets. Crucial to Jan's work is the extent to which we have to take people with us and that those with white privilege have to use their white privilege as a force for change. We learn that Jan did a joint honours degree in Sociology and Dance at Roehampton. Her father was a Trades Union rep whereas her mother had quite different politics. Jan reflects on how education when she was growing up wasn't really about questioning. She was brought up in a Northern Roman Catholic family with Irish heritage where religion was one dimensional. Jan talks about the reinvention of herself – which can entail getting rid of things from her past, and she reflects on how we present ourselves to the world in a way that we want others to see us. Jan talks about being in the LGBT community, and the constant need to negotiate one's sexuality in relation to the world. She grew up straight in a straight world where questioning wasn't something that one did. Only when she was at university was she able to meet other people in other environments. She met her wife first in 1985 but it was many more years before they got together. She discusses how anti-LGBT discrimination was everywhere and how it was a dangerous time to be in the LGBT community. She talks about her thoughts on the Thatcher government, how her father  was supportive when she came out but that she and her mother didn't speak for a few years. Jan understands why some young people lose contact with their families due to their sexual orientation. There is still a lot of intolerance against LGTB people and people of colour, and Jan talks about the importance for straight people to support minoritized groups. We move on to Brexit and the way that it has fostered Othering, ditto the racism that dominated the headlines following the Euro 2020 final, and we talk about people's fears of gay people. We also find out whether Jan looks backwards or forwards and why she thinks that the present is all that we have. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jan Moriarty and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Fr. Peter Malone, priest and film critic, based in Australia, who was a foundational figure back when I did my own PhD in the late 1990s. Peter talks about his interest in Christ-figure films, including through the work of Clint Eastwood, and he draws on the distinction between redeemer figures and saviour figures and we find out about his work on anti-Christ figures. He speaks about how these films reveal one's own understanding of Jesus himself and we discuss the evolution of Jesus films. He has been reviewing films since 1968 when he reviewed To Sir With Love and Far From the Madding Crowd, and we learn that Peter has a drive to see every film and he relays how he was once asked ‘Why can't you just watch a film?' We learn how he goes about reviewing a film and how he spent 11 years in London and became part of the London Film Critics Circle. He thought Philip French was one of the most amiable reviewers. Peter asks me if I pay to see a film and he refers to how it's a waste if he goes out and doesn't watch two films in one session. We learn how he goes about writing (or indeed speaking) a review. He often writes discussion questions relating to each film, and Peter explains why he once wrote a letter to each of the films that have influenced him. In the 90s he visited Pacific countries e.g. the Solomon Islands and Fiji which have given him a wider horizon regarding how people appreciate films in different countries, and we learn that for a number of years Peter went to Iran. He tells me what he thinks about the booing and hissing that often takes place at Cannes, and we talk about whether the role of the audience impacts on the way we review a film. He refers also to when he met Martin Scorsese. I ask if studios pay attention to critics' reviews, and our discussion moves on to the Marvel universe. In the 90s he interviewed as many Australian directors as he could, and Peter tells me why directors are more interesting to have conversations with than actors. We also learn how his thoughts on All That Jazz changed on a second viewing, and why The English Patient didn't do anything for him either time he watched it. Then, at the end of the interview, we learn why when people ask him if he is sick of watching films all the time, Peter's answer is ‘Not yet'. And, we discover why Peter cherishes looking back to the past but also looks forward. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Peter Malone and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Professor Bettina Schmidt, Professor in Study of Religions and Anthropology of Religion at University of Wales Trinity Saint David and President of the British Association for the Study of Religion. Bettina is also Director of the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre in Lampeter. Bettina is currently looking in her research at questions of spirituality, health and wellbeing and one of her areas of specialism is spirit possession and trance in Brazil and on vernacular forms of religion, such as voodoo, in the Caribbean. Originally from a working class background in Germany, where her father was a coal miner, Bettina reflects on how her mother made sure she and her sisters had a good education. Anthropology was a way for Bettina to see the world, and Bettina talks about the role that religion played in terms of identity in her mother's life. Indeed, for Bettina, religious identity is more important in some respects than the content of religion. We learn what her parents thought about her career and about the role that the patron saint Barbara played, including in Bettina's PhD viva. Bettina also discusses musical interests, including Abba and Grease and civil rights songs. She saw Joan Baez perform in Cardiff shortly before lockdown and she also remembers being impressed by Joe Cocker. We learn how Bettina entered academia and talk about whether fieldwork can still take place due to lockdown. Bettina explains that she keeps a diary of each of her field trips and we discover why Brazil is the only place to which she has returned. Indeed, she joined Facebook because of the people in Brazil and we learn how she sent her books to the leaders of the community who helped her. We find out about the university teachers who inspired Bettina and why she is inspired more by ideas than people. She talks about her father's experience of being harassed for being a German after the War and she discusses the role of nostalgia in the context of a past that was destroyed by political events. Bettina also reflects on how Brexit has been tough on Europeans living in the UK, and we talk about the concepts of cultural memory and of a Utopian Africa. Then, at the end of the interview, we learn that Bettina enjoys reading Agatha Christie crime novels and we talk about the nostalgic idea of a Britain that never existed vis-à-vis the stories of Enid Blyton and how anthropology comprises a subjective reflection of the world. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Bettina Schmidt and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Professor David Cheetham, Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Birmingham where he has been based since 1999. David and I were both Theology students at Lampeter, with David studying for his PhD at the time that I was an undergraduate, and David talks about how Lampeter influenced him – and how there was more going on than his academic achievements. We talk about the second nature element of Zoom and how it has affected our teaching and we learn why David is an optimist about life post-lockdown. We discuss his memories of living in Lampeter back in the days when you ‘had to make your own entertainment' in a way that wouldn't have happened in a city university and why Lampeter was like a self-contained ecosystem of people in which he didn't have to worry about ‘tomorrow'.  We learn all about the legendary Edmund Estafan and the Mydroilyn Sound Machine where David was the band's keyboardist and David reveals that he had originally wanted to be a musician and that despite ostensibly going there to read Theology Lampeter enabled him to become a musician. He also recalls his ritual of running over to the local Chinese takeaway for 11pm. David recalls growing up in the 1980s in what was a very musical world and that he once told the Revd. Richard Coles that ‘Don't Leave Me This Way' by The Communards was the first song he danced to at the Lampeter union disco. David is not the first person I've interviewed who has written a PhD on John Hick (see my interview in 2019 with Gerard Loughlin). He talks about meeting John Hick at his home in Birmingham over a strong sherry and David recounts an hilarious story about how he once had a clash between a Blend Band rehearsal and seeing John Hick give a talk.  We learn about how David doesn't necessarily agree with everything Hick has written and he tells us why Hick was worried about how Death and Eternal Life would be perceived, before moving on to talk about Paul Badham's influence (on his both) and his defence of dualism. We learn what David's younger self would have expected him to do and how one of his secondary school teachers thought he was a bit too ambitious when he said at the age of about 14 that he wanted to be a Professor one day.  We discuss whether our university tutors could ever have known what we got up to outside of our work and at the end of the interview we discover why David has a ‘good nostalgia' about what he has done in his life to date. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and David Cheetham and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was such a pleasure for my latest Nostalgia Interview to catch up with Stacey Rand. Stacey has been at Kent for around a decade where she is a senior researcher in PSSRU, a research unit focusing on social care and community based services. Stacey is also a priest in the Church of England. Stacey's first degree was in natural sciences and she ended up specializing in neuroscience, and has also worked in the pharmaceutical industry. She talks about the journey towards ordination, about the relationship between utilitarianism and Christianity and the diverse range of backgrounds of those training for ministry. We also find out what has tended to happen when she wears a clerical collar when travelling on the bus. Stacey was born in Enfield and grew up in Hertfordshire and she talks about how she loved being outdoors as a child. Faith didn't play such a big role when growing up but the interest/curiosity here developed in her time studying at Cambridge, and she was later baptised as an adult. She discusses her musical tastes and having had piano lessons which opened up a world of classical music and early music on the recorder. Stacey is also a member of the University of Kent Chorus. We talk about adapting to doing things differently due to the pandemic, e.g. in terms of data collection, and how she was fortunate to have had something of a head start in terms of lockdown via prior experience of working remotely. Her 5 year old self thought she would either be a pop star or a librarian and we discover how Stacey got into natural sciences but nearly ended up following a career in law. We talk about the unexpected impacts of research, and Stacey discusses the importance of keeping one day a week clear from work. Then, towards the end of the interview we talk about the role of looking back and the relationship between positive and negative memories. Stacey talks about the comfort provided by the Book of Job because of how it confronts suffering face on, and Stacey discusses how looking back and looking forward often go hand in hand. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Stacey Rand and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Jonathan Trigg, who studied Archaeology at Lampeter from 1995-98 and has been at Liverpool for the last 22 years. We talk about the advantages of living and studying on a small campus like Lampeter. Jonathan, who was brought up in Essex, talks about how and why he decided to apply to university and being a late developer. We talk about our relationship with the past and his work on war memorials and how some people are going to be more deserving of our praise than others. From growing up Jonathan remembers watching cricket with his father and we discuss the 1981 Royal Wedding. He also remembers the love of family and then discovering after going to university that he had the chance to become himself. Jonathan doesn't have a mobile phone and we talk about the benefits (or otherwise) of doing everything online due to lockdown. He appreciates the time that his tutors took to give him and others to learn and we talk about the importance of feedback. We also learn how he ended up working in academia and why he feels that in some ways it is a hobby.  He relays what happened when he saw Gladiator at the cinema with a Roman archaeology and history lecturer who had a problem with some facets of the film. Jonathan also talks about voting for the first time while a student and playing for the student cricket team. He learned life experience at Lampeter and academic experience at Liverpool. When asked at a young age what he wanted to be he would have said a museum curator. Jonathan talks about how good it is when people go on to do things because of your efforts, and he finishes with a reference to the Welsh hiraeth. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jonathan Trigg and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Charles Musselwhite, Professor in Psychology at Aberystwyth. Charles is a specialist in gerontology with a particular focus on how people engage with place in terms of age. He first went to Lampeter to study Archaeology and Charles talks about how that experience underpinned what he thinks now. We learn that he prefers a bottom up approach to his research, asking how someone lives their life and we learn how, for example, transport is more about people than vehicles. After Lampeter Charles went to Southampton to study Psychology and later did a PhD looking at how young boy racers change in their lifetime. We look at the role of nostalgia vis-a-vis the people that Charles interviews, and the views that older people who are housebound see from their windows. Charles also talks about how the most interesting bits in people's lives are often the everyday and ordinary ones rather than the extraordinary events. He grew up near Portsmouth, his parents were teachers, and Charles remembers once seeing his headmaster throwing up in his parents' downstairs toilet at 3am. He talks about how he can feel and smell the past as well as see it.  Charles talks about how gratifying it is when students tell you how much they learned from your teaching. He didn't complete his degree at Lampeter and Charles explains why he doesn't now want to be a Professor who doesn't teach.  Musically, Charles has always been into progressive rock and he recounts the time when he went down from Lampeter to see Marillion in concert in Cardiff in January 1994 and how he especially remembers the most unusual of journeys there. We discuss how the journey is often as important as the destination. Charles reveals that he suffers from rose tinted glasses syndrome and he talks about the importance of keeping diaries in terms of correcting the way we look at things. He's not very good at parking the past, he tells us why returning to Lampeter is restorative and unique and we finish by reflecting on how our friendships often evolve in ways we might not have anticipated. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Charles Musselwhite and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Canadian author, Nichola Zacher, writer of the adventures of the Marley series of children's books. The second instalment, ‘Marley the Dreamer', is newly released and we learn from Nichola how it is a response to her father being diagnosed with dementia. We discover how Nichola's literary career started. Nichola lives in Ontario but her grandmother was born in Bournemouth, England. In her books, Nichola draws on real life experiences from her dad's life. She talks about how Marley touches her readers' hearts, and we learn about the influences on her writing – love, acceptance and empathy – and how books are a good way to connect with children. Nichola reflects on how she was able to do book signings before Covid and we learn that she used to work as an early childhood teacher. We discover that she doesn't intend to return to that and is enjoying keeping her father's story alive. Nichola talks about her kind teacher from England who helped her along the way, and we find out that she always liked Mister Rogers – she loved spending her time with him every day on the television, and we learn how Nichola listens to the radio via headphones while rollerblading with Marley. She tells us about the impact of having a dog in terms of icebreaker conversations and I ask Nichola about the role of nostalgia. She talks about what her younger self would have wanted to do, we learn about the friends she is in touch with and how Facebook helps to spread her messages of love. Then, at the end of the interview we find out why Nichola has always been looking forward while also looking back to the memories that she shared with her father. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Nichola Zacher and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Bob Bowie, Professor of Worldviews Education at Canterbury Christ Church University and Director of the National Institute of Christian Education. We learn that Bob, who lives in West Kent, started out by studying classics and philosophy and went on to train as an RE teacher.  We discuss the question of what RE is, whether people study religion because they are religious, and the implications for census data. Bob recalls growing up in Enfield, North London, and its Victorian parks and being one of three kids in his class at school who had parents who were born in England. Bob explains why the city is a place to visit rather than to live and why there are some things he doesn't want to go back to, e.g. the violence that was a regular part of his time in school.  Bob, though, sees this as a gift as it gave him opportunities to discover forms of hospitality he hadn't experienced before, and we talk about being the victim of bullying.  There is something about music that is interwoven in our neural structures and Bob discusses how the cohort you were with when you were younger carries on in you. We learn why he used to reference Casablanca in his ethics classes and we talk about it is that that marks us generationally.  We learn why Saturdays were so important when growing up and how, with nostalgia, what we may have taken to be normal when growing up can become strange. He asks whether we dishonour the suffering by eliminating memories of the likes of Jimmy Savile? We also talk about purgatory as God whispering in your ear the story of your life and we learn why Bob has respect equally for those who want to close the lid on traumatic memories and those who want to open it. We talk about how the problem with Paradise is the unchanging nature of the blessed state, we learn about Bob's box of spaceships, and why Japan is an extraordinary country, having lived there back in the mid-90s. We learn whether he is ready to return there (or Enfield for that matter), and at the end of the interview we learn why Bob is more inclined to look forward rather than back. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Bob Bowie and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was a huge pleasure to record my second Nostalgia Interview with Darren Griffin, Professor of Genetics, whom I first met in 2019. For our catch up interview we talk about the implications of lockdown on his work and how lockdown has enabled Darren and his team to have a productive year, publishing 43 manuscripts. We talk about the adoption of different work practices and why recording your own lectures can be the worst of all worlds. We discuss synchronous and asynchronous modes of delivery and what shape teaching will take post-lockdown. We learn about his musical passions and the way radio can improve your mood. He talks about resurrecting old tech – Darren has his record deck in his kitchen as well as a home cinema, and we both share a Bucks Fizz connection. Darren also reveals how during lockdown he would declutter his house every weekend and how he took up cycling. His lab does a review of the year, and we talk about the lack of possibility for closure brought about by the pandemic and what the ‘new normal' will be. We learn that Darren has also enjoyed returning to the pub. We find out whether he kept a diary and what are his goals going forward, including making his first TV documentary, Generation Genome. Darren will be taking his teaching to the Middle East, also. We talk about the absence of fact-based decision making, and how the likes of Donald Trump can influence people in ways that cannot be right.  Darren discusses the different successes of Track and Trace vs. the vaccine, ‘designer babies', disingenuous politicians, Brexit, whether academics live in their ivory towers, and the role of the university going forward. Following Covid, we were saved by science – and Darren discusses how it is amazing that the vaccines were rolled out within a year of the virus being discovered, and we talk about the tabloid and social media backlash and what ‘research' is in this context. Then, at the end of the interview, we discover, once again, that Darren is a forward thinking person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Darren Griffin and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Árni Svanur Daníelsson who is the Head of Communication for the Lutheran World Federation. We learn that Árni used to work in a video rental shop and became acquainted with film history. He went on to study theology at university and was involved in a theology and film group Deus ex Cinema. We talk about the theology and film field and the possibilities that online communication have brought about, including podcasts which are allowing people to be creative. Árni was born in Iceland in 1973, he grew up in a small family and he remembers growing up around a big forest. He talks about why The Empire Strikes Back, which he saw at the cinema three times, is such a key memory for him. We also learn about Árni's musical influences and how music has been a way for him to connect with his children. Árni talks about doing his degree in Iceland and his research on the way pastors are represented in film, and he discusses how film is a good way of understanding and of critique. We discover that in 2008 he was ordained as the first online pastor of the Church of Iceland, and we move on to talk about the impact of lockdown on ministry and we discover what his biggest hopes are once lockdown ends. At the end of the interview, we learn that Árni's memories are mainly positive and we talk about the role of grief and how our perceptions of grief may be reframed later in life. We discover that his younger self wouldn't have been able to imagine what he is doing now and Árni reveals why he reflects with gratitude on his past. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Árni Svanur Daníelsson and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was a huge pleasure to meet Sr. Rose Pacatte, who is based in Culver City CA, around 9 miles from Hollywood, for my latest Nostalgia Interview. Rose is from San Diego originally and we learn that she planned to be a Sister from a young age. She started the Pauline Center for Media Studies and in the interview Rose talks about how she became a film critic. Faith and film came about at the same time for Rose, and we learn that she first saw The Searchers when she was seven and how it is one of her most important films. Rose is currently working on a chapter in a book for Routledge on social justice, human rights and media literacy education. Rose has recently been to the cinema for the first time in a year and we find out why she prefers independent cinema to those (many) quests for Jesus figures in superhero movies. We learn why The Matrix made such an impression on Rose and why meaning is made between the screen and the audience, rather than by what the director (necessarily) intends. She talks about why she is not interested in ‘messages’ and why film is the external manifestation of the inner reality of the characters and of the story itself. We discuss the role of violence and Holocaust films, how she styles her reviews, and we talk about this year’s Oscar winners including Nomadland.  We then proceed to talk about how blood and guts are Mel Gibson’s signature. She was invited to a screening of The Passion of the Christ and we learn that he didn’t like what she told Gibson afterwards regarding how people might laugh at the film because of the intensity on display. Rose tells us how eating her dinner before watching The Exorcist wasn’t a good thing and we discuss the differences between The Nun and The Exorcism of Emily Rose – and the problems that arise when you don’t have a theological consultant on board. At the end of the interview Rose discusses how she never thought that this would be her vocation and she reveals that she was diagnosed in 1997 with MS – and how it ended up being an amazing gift for her. The interview then finishes with a discussion of the difference between hope and optimism. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Rose Pacatte and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Paul Hedges, Associate Professor in Interreligious Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore. Paul and I were contemporaries in the University of Wales and we learn about how Lampeter made him the academic and person that he is today. We learn about the days when computers weren’t used for writing essays, when students would pay someone to type up their dissertations for them, and the library had a card catalogue. Paul tells us about the time he once derived his inspiration for writing an essay from a strong bottle of cider. The whole Lampeter experience was like a bubble, quite different from the rest of the world. Paul reflects on what it has been like to go back on the other side of the fence, as it were, and he recalls the chance in Lampeter to explore the countryside. He talks about his lower middle class upbringing and how he would play Dungeons & Dragons back in the days when it wasn’t cool to be nerdy. He also talks about growing up in one of the most boring towns on the planet (according to Paul!). Paul had friends who represented very different world views to his own, and Paul considers how his academic interest in interreligious relations and how different worldviews or traditions make sense of each other can be traced back to those days. Paul is interested in questions of autoethnobiography and the way in which you can’t understand people without understanding their location. We talk about how different research is now that we have access to technology, but Paul reflects on why there is something missing - less time for cogitating, perhaps. We talk about postcolonialism and the move away from the western paradigm and the importance of inclusion. We learn about Paul’s musical influences, including Pink Floyd, and that his son is a classical music buff. Then, at the end of the interview, Paul discusses why he has positive memories of childhood and why, thanks to Lampeter discos, he can’t get YMCA out of his head, as well as his propensity to airbrush the negative stuff of life. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Paul Hedges and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Christine Atchison, who lives in the suburbs of Toronto, and recently completed a PhD which explored transcendence in film. Christine talks about how the 1989 Batman film started her interest in this area, as did a conversation in a bar on pluralism in the Patristic period. Christine discusses imposter syndrome and Eliade and talks about why she enjoyed her PhD viva. She studied in the UK and moved to China and she was fascinated to see how superhero movies were received there compared to the West. We talk about whether people will become used to watching films at home in the future, post-lockdown, and whether there is a future for films to be primarily cinema, and communal, based. Christine talks about why her experience of watching Batman vs. Superman was very different from that of her friends – and how the experience of watching the movie at the cinema is the reason for that. We learn that Christine started studying biology and history when she was at university and we learn how she got into Religious Studies, and how she would love to research and make an impact on people. Christine comes from a working class background, and we learn that she has followed a different path to other family members, and she discusses how when she was young she preferred to be indoors rather than play outside. Christine talks about the privilege element of doing a PhD and how financial help could make greater diversity possible. Christine talks about how going to university changed her life forever and we find out about the teachers who have been so supportive. At the end of the interview, Christine reflects on how even the negative things in her life don’t feel negative, looking back, and how she can be nostalgic about those fragile moments. We talk about depth and transcendence and she explains why her younger self would be confused about what she is doing now, and whether she would want to revisit her past. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Christine Atchison and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

It was such a pleasure for my latest Nostalgia Interview to catch up with Kate Fox – poet, stand up comedian, academic, journalist, broadcaster and ethnographer. Kate talks about her last gig before lockdown, our love of lattes and living by the sea, and her connection with the University of Kent through comedy studies and the Autism and the Arts festivals. We discuss our conference food experiences and how buffets and carveries are likely to be casualties of the pandemic. Kate relays her lockdown experiences and what has changed for her. We learn that she recorded an episode of Radio 4’s Pick of the Week from her living room on her phone and why she has no urge to do proper stand up in front of a Zoom audience. Kate has written a book about Northern women, and she talks about whether Covid has given us a chance to do things differently in this new hybrid world as well as about the way in which universities have changed since the 1990s in terms of the way they deal with disability and neurodiversity and enabling students to flourish.  Kate did communication and media studies at Loughborough and comes from a working class background. She had to prove why she needed to go to university in order to become a journalist and we learn about the advice she received from Ian Hislop. Her PhD looked at Northern women and the idea of resistance and class and why she found doing it so empowering. She explains why we can have the carnivalesque in academia and Kate talks about the countercultural nature of comedy studies. We talk about how she discovered Leonard Cohen when she was 16 and how her two favourite films at university were Clueless and Schindler’s List. Kate worked for commercial local radio and we learn why her northern voice was a barrier to reading the news. She ended up having a regular poetry slot on Radio 4’s Saturday Live, and Kate talks about her book on northern women and how some northern women radio and TV presenters from the past, such as Joan Bakewell, may no longer get work because they are perceived as being too posh. Kate reflects on why some people are nostalgic for the idea of a strong northern woman such as Betty Boothroyd and Hilda Ogden, she talks about what her younger self would think about what she has done with her life, and at the end of the interview I ask Kate if she considers herself to be a trailblazer. We also learn why Kate is totally stuck in the 1980s. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Kate Fox and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Celia Pontin, who works for the Committees of Advertising Practice, and has done a PhD (I was her supervisor) on video games and theology. Celia talks about how for her a game is a voluntary attempt to overcome an unnecessary obstacle – and that this is the element that makes it fun. She explains how she drew on the religion and film methodology and looked at how the interactive nature of video games affects our ability to interpret them meaningfully through a theological lens.  We talk about why someone might choose to be a villain in a game and how video games give us the freedom to consider options we wouldn’t consider ‘being’ in real life. We bring in the question of fatalism in the case of fixed narratives. We learn that Celia originally considered going to university to do astrophysics and that when she was a teenager she had wanted to be a vicar. We learn why she doesn’t always like describing her PhD to people she doesn’t particularly know and she reflects on the influence of an essay on Lord of the Flies which she did for her GCSEs and how it impacted on the PhD she did, as well as a Hobbit video game. She says that she would be surprised if her son didn’t to some extent follow in her footsteps. Church music has always been the backdrop of Celia’s life, and she tells us that she was surprised to discover that her friends weren’t all into classical music. She was also interested in countercultural music. She talks about how surprised her younger self would be to discover that she prefers reading policy documents sometimes to reading fiction. We also talk about political blunders and the way we look back on events, and our reflections of the Millennium Dome and Y2K. At the end of the interview, Celia reflects on being in a position of relative privilege, having had a good comprehensive education and going on to university. She talks about how it can be possible to feel nostalgic about bittersweet episodes, we find out if there is anything she would change if she could go back and we learn why she is a looking forward person. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Celia Pontin and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

My guest this week is Adele Reinhartz, Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. We learn how work in religion and film became an interest of hers and that Adele was active and non-athletic in childhood. She grew up in a secular Jewish household and ended up majoring in Jewish Studies and by default Religious Studies. We discuss whether Judaism is a religion or should be configured as an identity. Adele talks about work on Christ-figures in the light of Judas and the Black Messiah and she looks at why we have these tropes at a time of a decline of religious literacy. She talks about her teaching approach and whether and how to screen a film to her students. Her parents loved the movies and Adele talks about how she took her own children and now her grandchildren to the cinema. She tells us about her most indelibly etched experience of going to the movies, which involves going to see The Jungle Book and we discuss why people enjoy sad movies. We learn that Adele wouldn’t want to go back to any previous part of her life and she talks about how it is hard to look forward during the pandemic. She discusses how she listens to the radio and we discover that the first LP she was given was Simon & Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence. Adele also reveals that she does choral singing with virtual choirs in Britain.  We learn how Adele ended up in academia and how she was taught by Ed Sanders who was teaching at McMaster when she was a student and brought the New Testament alive. Adele considered other career paths early in her PhD, including going into Law School, but that wasn’t compatible with starting a family. She talks about how she didn’t have a burning passion to go into academia and we learn that she’s not really a nostalgic person. We talk about how teaching has changed due to the pandemic, why she is happy with where she is in her life, but why nostalgia is a complicated business and how positive outcomes can accrue from things we know we shouldn’t have done. At the end of the interview we learn why Adele can’t watch films about dementia or the Holocaust, yet her parents, who were Holocaust survivors, would watch all of them. We talk also about whether a comedy can be made of the Holocaust. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Adele Reinhartz and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

For my 100th Nostalgia Interview, it was a massive pleasure to meet Pete Paphides, a music journalist who has written for Melody Maker, Q and Time Out and has been the chief music critic for The Times. Pete’s memoir Broken Greek, with the wonderful sub-title A Story of Chip Shops and Pop Songs, was Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Pete also went to Lampeter, where he studied Philosophy from 1989-92, and Pete begins the interview by talking about his fond memories of rainy mornings in Lampeter and the culture shift he experienced from having left the city of Birmingham for one of the smallest campuses in the country. Pete relays his experiences of hearing the sound of sheep at night and we talk about the notion of ‘infinite choice’. Pete tells us about his more recent, very felicitous visit to a shoe shop in Aberaeron and we learn that Pete wrote Broken Greek in coffee shops – and how Lampeter kickstarted the idea of the café as office. Pete talks about his reasons for writing what he calls a ‘confusion memoir’ and how he wanted to put the reader in his head space. We talk about his very early memory of sitting in his parents’ car and hearing Leo Sayer’s ‘When I Need You’, how from the ages of 4-7 he had selective mutism, and we learn that for Pete music was a proxy means by which he understood his life. We talk about childhood diaries, how music was an imperfect mirror of what was going on in the world around him, how we tend to look back on childhood decisions and tastes and how it is wrong to apply to them adult categories. Pete dissects the concept of Guilty Pleasures, which is applied to Abba, and we learn why Hag’s Record shop is the reason why he decided to stay in Lampeter. We learn why Pete made a point of keeping in the book the real name of one of the ‘characters’ from his past, and we learn his thoughts on Paul McCartney and ‘Mull of Kintyre’, and what happened on Christmas Day 1977 involving a racist neighbour and an unexpected act of kindness. Then, towards the end of the interview we learn why writing Broken Greek was an escape of sorts. We learn how Pete came to write it and how he never thought he’d make a living out of writing (as a music journalist). Pete tells us why his 10 year old self was in some ways smarter than his 25 year old self, and at the very end we discover why Pete looks forward practically but looks back sentimentally. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Pete Paphides and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.

Chris Deacy - https://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/thrs/staff/deacy.htmlFollow me on twitter: @vivianasimosThanks for listening!