Podcasts about Denmark

SHOW NOTES: •We should avoid generations stereotyping. •We're really better off than we're led to believe. •Try living in Denmark or Iceland. •Magic bullets won't help. •Can a culture survive on gambling? •There is extreme unhappiness in the land. •It is exacerbated by the internet. •People would rather blame themselves, the boss, or the system rather than accept accountability. •Conspiracies and claims of catastrophes abound. •Self-absorption has become a pastime. •Selfishness has grown to not even wanting to have kids. •What I learned growing up having to challenges without safe havens and trigger warnings. •What I told my son.

Are we preparing people as quickly as we're preparing machines? That's the uncomfortable question at the heart of Coursera's 2025 Global Skills Report, and the starting point for my conversation with Nikolaz Foucaud, Coursera's Managing Director for EMEA. As the UK jumps more than 20 spots in global skills rankings and countries like Singapore and Denmark widen the gap with lifelong learning cultures, we explore why mindset may be as important as access when it comes to reskilling for an AI-driven economy. Nikolaz explains how the newly introduced AI Maturity Index reflects the growing urgency around workforce readiness and why governments and employers need to stop thinking in degrees and start investing in micro-credentials that reflect what learners and businesses actually need. We also unpack the gender gap in AI learning, the alarming lack of growth in cybersecurity skills, and why economic pressure often drives the highest levels of completion and success. As institutions, employers, and individuals try to catch up with the pace of technological change, what will it take to build a learning culture that keeps momentum? And are we measuring the right things when we talk about readiness? Let me know what you think.

Send us a text message and tell us your thoughts.Freedom wasn't granted—it was seized through blood, sweat, and unwavering resistance. Across the Dutch and Danish Caribbean colonies, enslaved Africans fought against brutal systems of oppression that are often overshadowed in mainstream historical narratives focused on British, Spanish, and French colonial powers.When thousands gathered in St. Croix on July 2nd, 1848, led by freedom fighter General Buddhoe (Moses Gottlieb), they weren't asking politely for their liberation. They threatened to burn Frederiksted to the ground, forcing the Danish governor to declare immediate emancipation. This powerful act of collective resistance is why July 3rd remains sacred in the U.S. Virgin Islands, commemorated through Freedom Week celebrations that honor ancestral sacrifice and triumph.Meanwhile, in the Dutch Caribbean territories like Suriname, Curaçao, and Aruba, emancipation arrived decades later in 1863—and even then with the cruel stipulation that the formerly enslaved would be required to work an additional decade on the plantations where they had suffered. This delayed freedom, finally realized in 1873, is now celebrated as "Keti Koti" (the chain is broken), a powerful testament to resilience against Dutch colonial brutality. The colonial footprints of the Netherlands and Denmark—alongside brief periods of Swedish and Portuguese occupation—remain etched in Caribbean legal systems, languages, demographics, and collective consciousness. By amplifying these overlooked histories, we honor the full spectrum of Caribbean resistance and recognize that every Emancipation Day represents a hard-won victory by those who refused to accept bondage as their fate. Our ancestors' struggle for dignity continues to illuminate our path forward.Support the showConnect with Strictly Facts - Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Website Looking to read more about the topics covered in this episode? Subscribe to the newsletter at www.strictlyfactspod.com to get the Strictly Facts Syllabus to your email!Want to Support Strictly Facts? Rate & Leave a Review on your favorite platform Share this episode with someone or online and tag us Send us a DM or voice note to have your thoughts featured on an upcoming episode Donate to help us continue empowering listeners with Caribbean history and education Produced by Breadfruit Media

Catherine, Princess of Wales, made a stylish diplomatic splash in Dior as she welcomed the Macrons to the UK—her first time wearing the iconic French label. Prince William, meanwhile, is off to Zurich for the Women's Euro semi-final. We also dive into the latest staff shakeup in Harry and Meghan's camp, a social media misstep from Kensington Palace, and a Wimbledon sighting from King Frederik of Denmark.To get this show ad-free and binge all episodes of Crown and Controversy now, join Caloroga Plus: caloroga.com/plus

Does BMW have an actual problem, or are things going so well there's no need to worry? The guys debate for Sebastian S. in Denmark, who already has a high-performance car. Then, Adam W. has a large budget but doesn't want a flashy car. Audio-only MP3 is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and 10 other platforms. Look for us on Tuesdays if you'd like to watch us debate, disagree and then go drive again! 00:00 Intro 01:40 2025 Nissan Armada PRO-4X 05:11 2026 Ferrari Amalfi 11:09 SRT is back? 12:03 Xiaomi SU7 Ultra Prototype ‘Ring Record 13:58 RAV4 has dethroned the Model Y 15:51 2026 RAV4 16:34 Stanley Tumblers forcing cupholder rethink 17:39 The Rocketeer MX-5 Miata 19:12 ZR-1X name too controversial? 22:51 Topic: BMW Blues - Things Are Good Now, But What Are They Setting Up For? 40:09 Car Debate 1 - A Love/Hate Relationship 56:00 Car Debate 2 - If You Know, You Know 01:07:42:10 Car Conclusion 1 - Rusty Roulette 01:10:38:01 Car Conclusion 2 - Carsylum For Orphans 01:15:20:16 Did You See This - The F1 Movie 01:28:18:14 Audience Questions on Social Media Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to our two YouTube channels. Write to us your Topic Tuesdays, Car Conclusions and those great Car Debates at everydaydrivertv@gmail.com or everydaydriver.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rogers for America with Lt. Steve Rogers – Greenland is considering requesting more US troops, which could be beneficial due to national security concerns. Given Greenland's proximity to the North Pole and the Arctic, a strong US military presence would be advantageous. Initially, it was amusing, but then it became serious, involving Russia, China, Denmark, and even NATO...

Our 215th episode with a summary and discussion of last week's big AI news! Recorded on 07/04/2025 Hosted by Andrey Kurenkov and Jeremie Harris. Feel free to email us your questions and feedback at contact@lastweekinai.com and/or hello@gladstone.ai Read out our text newsletter and comment on the podcast at https://lastweekin.ai/. In this episode: Cloudflare's new AI data scraper blocking feature, its potential implications, and technical challenges Meta's aggressive recruitment for its Super Intelligence Labs division is covered, highlighting key hires from OpenAI and other leaders in the field Anthropic loses significant talent to Cursor, with details on their new economic futures program focusing on AI's impact on the labor market Notable open-source AI model releases from Baidu and Tencent are also discussed, including their performance metrics and potential applications. Timestamps + Links: (00:00:11) Intro / Banter (00:01:43) News Preview Tools & Apps (00:02:55) Cloudflare Introduces Default Blocking of A.I. Data Scrapers (00:05:44) Runway is going to let people generate video games with AI (00:11:24) Google embraces AI in the classroom with new Gemini tools for educators, chatbots for students, and more (00:16:23) No one likes meetings. They're sending their AI note takers instead. (00:18:08) Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you (00:19:14) Google's Imagen 4 text-to-image model promises 'significantly improved' boring images Applications & Business (00:22:18) Mark Zuckerberg announces his AI ‘superintelligence' super-group (00:29:35) Anthropic Revenue Hits $4 Billion Annual Pace as Competition With Cursor Intensifies (00:35:10) As job losses loom, Anthropic launches program to track AI's economic fallout (00:38:04) OpenAI says it has no plan to use Google's in-house chip (00:41:08) Nvidia stakes new startup that flips script on data center power (00:44:11) TSMC Arizona Chips Are Reportedly Being Flown Back to Taiwan For Packaging; U.S. Semiconductor Supply Chain Still Remains Dependent on Taiwan Projects & Open Source (00:46:57) Baidu releases open source model family ERNIE 4.5 (00:51:55) Tencent Open Sources Hunyuan-A13B: A 13B Active Parameter MoE Model with Dual-Mode Reasoning and 256K Context (00:57:09) Together AI Releases DeepSWE: A Fully Open-Source RL-Trained Coding Agent Based on Qwen3-32B and Achieves 59% on SWEBench (01:00:11) GLM-4.1V-Thinking: Towards Versatile Multimodal Reasoning with Scalable Reinforcement Learning (01:04:10) DiffuCoder: Understanding and Improving Masked Diffusion Models for Code Generation Research & Advancements (01:06:21) Wider or Deeper? Scaling LLM Inference-Time Compute with Adaptive Branching Tree Search (01:13:07) The Automated LLM Speedrunning Benchmark: Reproducing NanoGPT Improvements (01:18:04) Claude 4 Opus and Sonnet reach 50%-time-horizon point estimates of about 80 and 65 minutes, respectively (01:21:37) Performance Prediction for Large Systems via Text-to-Text Regression (01:25:38) Does Math Reasoning Improve General LLM Capabilities? Understanding Transferability of LLM Reasoning (01:26:33) Correlated Errors in Large Language Models Policy & Safety (01:29:04) Forecasting Biosecurity Risks from LLMs (01:36:06) AI Task Length Horizons in Offensive Cybersecurity (01:42:30) Inside Tech's Risky Gamble to Kill State AI Regulations for a Decade (01:52:56) Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features

Get ready for a thoughtful and down-to-earth conversation with our host, Cathleen O'Sullivan and guest is Michael Frantl, Global Lead for Culture, Engagement, and Performance Solutions at Novo Nordisk about what really shapes strong leadership and why culture matters more than ever. With a career that's taken him across the US, UK, and Scandinavia, Michael shares his real-world experience of building workplace cultures that go beyond posters and buzzwords.   Together, they talk about leading with trust, creating space for belonging, and the small, everyday actions that bring values to life. Michael also reflects on the role of optimism, why control doesn't build connection, and how to make culture feel genuine wherever you work. If you're building a team, leading change, or just trying to show up more intentionally, this episode is for you.   Episode Timeline:  00:00 Introduction 04:36 Life since we last met: moves, parenthood, and big shifts 06:03 Taking the leap, moving to Denmark and starting fresh 10:50 Balancing positivity and reality in leadership 14:09 From rush to reflection: Building quiet moments Into busy days 19:48 Lessons from the family construction business 30:58 Listening to understand: what philosophy taught me about dialogue 39:09 Building workplaces that support people and results 52:06 The power of focus and consistency in culture work 01:03:26 Practical steps for organizations tobBring values to life Key Takeaways: Culture is about what you do every day: Michael and Cathleen stress that company culture isn't just about posters or slogans. It's about how people act and interact every day.    Positivity Matters, but keep it real: Michael talks about finding joy in small moments and connecting with others, but also warns against ignoring challenges.  Leading with intention and space: Move away from micromanaging to truly supporting people. Listening, clear communication, and giving teams room to grow are key.  About Michal Frantl: Michael is a Global Culture, Engagement, & Performance Solutions Lead at Novo Nordisk, based in Copenhagen Denmark. He is an experienced people and culture professional with a focus on culture building and measurement, leadership development/coaching, and employee engagement who has worked across international offices both in house and as an external consultant.   Originally from Wisconsin in the US, he has lived in the US, UK, Sweden, Italy, and Denmark and has a Masters degree in Organizational Behaviour from Birkbeck, University of London. Connect with Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelfrantl/   Connect: 
  Find | Cathleen O'Sullivan  Business: cathleenmerkel.com   Email: cmc@cathleenmerkelcoaching.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathleen-merkel/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legendary_leaders_cathleenos/     FOLLOW LEGENDARY LEADERS ON APPLE, SPOTIFY OR WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO YOUR PODCASTS.

Welcome to the fabulous over 50 PODCAST, where we are hosting a marathon! And today the featured show is Sane and Simple Podcasting. Are you interested in podcasting? You are going to love this episode! Anna is looking for ways to spread the word about The Qube app AND find funding opportunities. We brainstormed for awhile and then....it was time for ChatGPT. We cover: 1. finding podcast networks highlighting BIPOC creators 2. potential grant programs 3. individual BIPOC creators 4. potential angel investors Feel free to follow along and use these prompts to help grow your podcast and/or podcast community (or business!) If you want help with ChatGPT: https://www.coffeelikemedia.com/ The Qube app: https://theqube.app/   Focus on getting the message out has been Stephanie Fuccio's podcasting goal since she started her first podcast in 2017. She's also a Podcast Strategist, helping podcasters use newer tools like ChatGPT and static image channels on YouTube to expand their podcast. Sane And Simple Podcasting is where you can find her tips on all audio apps, YouTube and Substack. Away from the mic, Steph is an American currently in Denmark after 15+ years in Asia. Her special interests include finding decaf coffee shops, raiding stationary shops and meeting new people....like you? Feel free to get in touch.

Laughter, lies, language, and cultural clashes. Some jokes don't survive the border. Abby Wambaugh and Dharkshika Christopher join cohosts Derek and Conrad to talk about the challenges—and joys—of performing stand-up across languages and cultures. With sets in Danish, Norwegian, English, French, and Swedish, they've experienced what works, what doesn't, and how humor shifts with the audience. From literal-minded Danish crowds to multilingual punchlines and awkward silences, this episode explores what it really means to be funny across cultures. What Are You Doing in Denmark podcast:IG: https://instagram.com/waydidpodWatch on YouTubeDharkshika Christopher (Guest):IG: https://www.instagram.com/dharshika.christopherFB: https://www.facebook.com/DharshikaChristopherComedyAbby Wambaugh (Guest): IG: https://www.instagram.com/abbywambaughPodcast: https://www.instagram.com/helpholepod/Derek Hartman:IG: https://instagram.com/robetrottingYT: https://youtube.com/c/robetrottingTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@robetrottingFB: https://www.facebook.com/robetrottingConrad Molden:Ig: https://instagram.com/conradmoldencomedyYT: https://youtube.com/c/conradmoldenTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@conradmolden FB: https://facebook.com/conradmoldenhttps://www.conradmolden.dkWAYDID episodes about Danish humo(u)r:92 | Going Viral in Denmark: Mathias Bach on TikTok Fame, Danish Humor & Applesauce: https://open.spotify.com/episode/72hAGh4sx2QkVj2PgYJlG358 | Are Danes as funny as they think? Navigating Danish humor (part 2): https://open.spotify.com/episode/2kzbCwzJwGDlUa0CSosSre?si=BMPu03IzQHGxGN98-B7bKA56 | Are Danes as funny as they think? Navigating Danish humor (part 1), https://open.spotify.com/episode/4KakZgNO7Kpq5AsxOOShqN?si=5960799d612a4b19

Synopsis: When an introverted engineer becomes the President & CEO of REGENXBIO, transformation follows. Curran Simpson joins host Rahul Chaturvedi to unpack his unlikely journey from biotech operations to the C-suite—and how that hands-on experience is reshaping gene therapy's future. They dive into the evolution of REGENXBIO's pipeline, tackling ultra-rare diseases like MPS II, ambitious plans for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and commercial partnerships with giants like AbbVie. Curran offers hard-earned leadership lessons, honest reflections on scaling science, and insights into how one-time gene therapies could revolutionize treatment in both rare and common diseases. From clinical nuance to strategic boldness, this is a masterclass in biotech leadership, platform focus, and staying patient-first—no matter how complex the science or market. Biography: Curran M. Simpson is the President and Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors at REGENXBIO. Mr. Simpson previously served as the Company's Chief Operating Officer. In that role, he led key business functions including Research & Clinical Development, Corporate Strategy, Manufacturing & Quality, Regulatory, and Commercial Operations. Mr. Simpson joined REGENXBIO in 2015 with extensive leadership experience across biopharmaceutical operations and served as the Company's Chief Technology and Operations Officer before becoming COO. Prior to joining REGENXBIO, he was the Regional Supply Chain Head for North America and Interim Chief Operating Officer at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Mr. Simpson earlier served as interim CEO of Human Genome Sciences (HGS), where he led the integration of HGS into GSK, and as Senior Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Manufacturing Operations at HGS. Prior to HGS, Mr. Simpson was Director of Manufacturing Sciences at Biogen. Earlier in his career, Mr. Simpson served in an overseas assignment at Novo-Nordisk Biochem in Denmark and in various senior development and engineer roles at Genentech, working on Herceptin and Avastin, among other roles. Mr. Simpson has an M.S. in surface and colloid science from Clarkson University and a B.S. in chemistry from the Clarkson College of Technology.

If you watch ad-supported streaming or TV, you've heard Mike's work. From the Super Bowl to multi-year global campaigns, he's the guy behind the musical storytelling for the world's best brands.Find out what actually makes a top music supervisor tick. How he discovers. What he loves. And also learn what goes into this wild job!Mike's one of the best (and kindest) in the business. Sync is how musicians make a lot of their money now, but it's often a black box. There's no one that shares wisdom so freely as Mike — a great guy who truly loves music!Since joining Droga5 in 2016, Mike Ladman founded and developed the Music Department managing music and audio capabilities across the agency and client roster. During this time, Mike has helped lead the agency to win over 90 music and advertising industry awards, notably 1 sports Emmy, five Cannes Lions, two D&AD Pencils, four Clios including the Grand Music Clio, eight AMP awards, 2 Guild Of Music Supervisor Awards, a Ciclope award among others, across Droga5 clients such as Google, The New York Times, Facebook, Hennessy, Levi's and others. He has created and supervised music across global campaigns including work for the Super Bowl, Olympics, Grammy's Oscar's, Emmy's, and Presidential Elections. In 2018, Mike was named one of Billboard's Top Branding Power Players. He has been an international music delegate around the world at music festivals and conferences in Denmark, Amsterdam, Israel, Brazil, Mallorca and more. Prior to joining Droga5, he was a Music Producer at McCann for nearly seven years, where he provided music for clients, such as Microsoft, the United States Army, Verizon, MasterCard and more, across the agency's roster. Mike received his first film credit managing the music supervision for an indie film, Tracktown, which premiered at the LA Film Festival in 2016. In his free time he DJ's under the alias DJ PuppyHiccups and produces music under many aliases with lots of collaborators.Connect with Mike on his:✏️ ⁠IG⁠And listen to his eclectic Spotify Playlist at:⁠⁠⁠✏️ ⁠LadmanMusicDiscoveryFor 30% off your first year of DistroKid to share your music with the world click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DistroKid.com/vip/lovemusicmore⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to this pod's blog on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to receive deeper dives on the regular

This week we discuss the Danish government's permit extensions for two offshore wind farms, the U.S. Senate's new renewable energy bill, the Belgian government's halted wind farm tender, and the complexities of laying seabed cables for wind farms. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! You are listening to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by build turbines.com. Learn, train, and be a part of the Clean Energy Revolution. Visit build turbines.com today. Now here's your hosts, Alan Hall, Joel Saxon, Phil Totaro, and Rosemary Barnes.  Allen Hall 2025: Well welcome back to Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I have Rosemary Barnes down in Canberra Australia. Phil's in California, and evidently he lives next door to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and I, I had no idea, Phil, like you're that close to royalty.  Phil Totaro: I'm not. You're  Allen Hall 2025: making that up. Joel's up in Wisconsin somewhere in the northern wilds of Wisconsin. Next to a cheese factory, and here I sit in Charlotte, North Carolina. If we've been paying attention or if you've been paying attention to the news over the last, uh, 48 hours in America has been complete chaos as we are recording this and the US Senate has [00:01:00] passed a bill regarding renewable energy and it's back to the house. Supposedly this is all gonna get signed off by the 4th of July. So we're recording it. Today is July 2nd. Um. So by the time you hear this, something may or may not have happened, and we're trying to keep abreast of the latest, but I think there's some other news going on around the world. And, uh, one of the stories we found interesting was the Danish Offshore, uh, agency Energy Agency has approved permit extensions for two of Denmark's oldest offshore wind farms, which marks a major milestone for. Wind energy longevity. The middle Gruden and Newstead offshore wind farms have received permission to operate for an additional 25 years and 10 years respectively. That is massive extension. Uh, the middle Gruden facility, which is built in 2001, has about 20 turbines and about 40 megawatts of capacity, and it's owned by a community cooperative. [00:02:00] And the Danes being on top of all these things, uh, allowed the extension after doing an engineering analysis showing that the infrastructure has more life. This is unusual. Is this just a artifact of early designs being overly conservative? And these wind farms can practically live forever? I think so. I, uh,  Joel Saxum: I like it. Alright. I wish that all these wind turbines are built this way because it's then you can get more longevity of, I think now of course when everybody has a repower now or tries to extend life, they're trying to really do it. So they're trying to, if we're gonna put money, we'll try to, you know, up the kilowatt, we'll try to up the capacity, well then the foundations don't hold and these kind of things. So it's kind of like if you look at, um. I'm up here in northern Wisconsin, not too far from my house. There's a bridge that was built by the CCC, uh, the civilian Conservation Corps in like the, um, at the Great Depression. So like in the 1930s, late, [00:03:00] late 1920s. And that bridge is fine. Like it's golden. It's still good, right? But it was overbuilt, super built to be heavy duty construction. And there's another bridge just down the road from that same one over the same river that was done in the seventies that needs a complete replacement. Because it was done, it was done with like, you know, di different design functions, not as robust. And,

After avidly watching the first 8 matches of the 2025 Women's European Championship, LDG takes the mic for an instant analysis of the 8 sides he viewed as the strongest in a Euros special edition episode of The Women's Soccer Podcast. He highlights where each team thrived, the tactical adjustments that need to be made in the future, standout players, and more!Thank you for listening! Remember to follow us wherever you get your podcasts, on Instagram (@the_womens_soccer_podcast) and Bluesky (@thewomenssoccerpod.bsky.social). In addition, leave a 5-star review and tell all your friends about our show!PSA: This episode talks about Spain, France, Germany, England, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The first part contains the other 8 teams.

Back in Episode 11 Ejler shared some memories of farm life on the rural island of Bonholm, Denmark. One story that really struck a chord was the existence of a food called Head-cheese, a magical substance created from the boiled remains of whatever comes out of the head of a pig. Never one to turn down a challenge, Robin provided the head of a wild boar the very next chance he had to harvest one. In this Episode Robin and Ejler reminisce about the sequence of events that brought them to the mysterious flavors of Danish Wild-Boar head cheese. While eating this magical dish they also catch up over their recent adventures in South Africa and Northern California.A huge thank you to Ejler for the great conversation - and for remembering his mother's old recipe.-----------------Subscribe to this podcast so you're always up to date. Even better - share us with a friend who loves the outdoors.Follow Robin & The Wild Dispatch on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook...

Will You Own Nothing and Be Happy? Ida Auken of Denmark had written about the future year 2030, how she owns nothing and has no privacy, and claims "it is a good life." However, we question what she wrote. We talk about the problems of what happens when someone else owns and controls things you need in everyday life. With ownership comes control. Ownership also encourages responsibility and care for the things that are owned. Ownership is taking responsibility, and responsibility is the opposite of socialism. We taught our kids to take responsibility and be self-sufficient. When should you own and when is it logical to rent things?   Sponsors: American Gold Exchange Our dealer for precious metals & the exclusive dealer of Real Power Family silver rounds (which we finally got in!!!). Get your first, or next bullion order from American Gold Exchange like we do. Tell them the Real Power Family sent you! Click on this link to get a FREE Starters Guide. Advanta IRA Our family has our IRA's & HSA at Advanta IRA. Set up a truly Self-Directed Roth or Traditional IRA, HSA, 401k or other accounts with Advanta IRA & you can invest in hard assets like we do. We own Real Estate, Gold, Silver, Bitcoin, Notes & even private placements in our retirement accounts. With Advanta IRA you can too! They will waive the application fee on new accounts when you mention the Real Power Family. Abolish Property Taxes in Ohio: https://reformpropertytax.com/ Our Links: www.RealPowerFamily.com Info@ClearSkyTrainer.com 833-Be-Do-Have (833-233-6428)

Katie Smith has reaction to defeats for England and Wales at UEFA Women's EURO 2025. She's joined by Izzy Christiansen, Nedum Onuoha, Julien Laurens and Vicki Sparks as England are beaten by France. Hear interviews with Sarina Wiegman, Alessia Russo and Alex Greenwood. Plus Eilidh Barbour and Danny Gabbidon round up Wales' defeat to Netherlands and hear from Rhian Wilkinson.02:45 Alex Greenwood INTERVIEW, 05:55 Alessia Russo INTERVIEW, 08:00 England underperform in midfield? 11:00 Was it a foul on Russo for France's second goal? 14:45 What positives were there for England? 20:00 Hannah Hampton a highlight? 22:40 Sarina Wiegman INTERVIEW, 26:10 Wales lose in first major tournament match, 32:15 Rhian Wilkinson INTERVIEW.BBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Sun 1700 Norway v Finland on Sports Extra 3, Sun 2000 Switzerland v Iceland on Sports Extra, Mon 1700 Spain v Belgium on Sports Extra, Mon 2000 Portugal v Italy on Sports Extra, Tue 1700 Germany v Denmark on Sports Extra, Tue 2000 Poland v Sweden on Sports Extra.

In this ClimateGenn episode we are looking at 3 interviews recorded at the Arctic Repair Conference in Cambridge hosted by the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge. In the 1st interview with Centre for Climate Repair director, Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, we touch on some of the theme emerging from the conference but also from the news cycle during London Climate Week that was running concurrently.In the 2nd interview I speak with Anni Pokela from the Finnish organisation Operaatio Arktis – an emerging think tank looking to articulate informed discussions around extreme climate impacts, tipping points and geoengineering also called climate interventions. Operaatio Arktis have gained international recognition for their clear engagement on these complex and often taboo topics. The 3rd interview in this series is with Justus Lehtisaari also from Operaatio Arktis. Both these conversations are recorded during the evening drinks in Cambridge and attempt to explore how their work interacts with such a broad range of issues that we are collectively facing today.There are 5 more interviews from the Arctic Repair conference that include Indigenous Climate representative from Tuvalu, Faatupu Simeti discussing the existential threat of sea-level rise and inundation, as well as a conversation with Julius Mihkkal Eriksen Lindi, PROJECT COORDINATOR at the Arctic and Environmental Unit from the Saami Council who is tasked with trying to see if climate interventions can help preserve their way of life or be rejected as dangerous to life.There are also a second set of discussions with Kerry Nickols from Ocean Visions, Jason Box from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, and Rafe Pomerance, a legendary climate policy expert based in Washington. I have a backlog of interviews waiting to be published and recorded. I will uploaded a preview of my interview this week with David Spratt from Australia, an in-depth discussion of policy and risk response. David is always very well informed and has much to say. Thank you for listening.

-- On the Show: -- Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from Massachusetts, joins David and Jesse Dollemore to discuss her opposition to Trump's "big beautiful bill" -- Republican leaders openly say they're supporting bad legislation solely because Trump tells them to -- Republicans privately criticize Trump but publicly enable him out of fear -- JD Vance once warned Trumpism would collapse when voters felt the pain of failed promises -- CNN attempts to create false equivalence by pressuring Democrats to offer praise for Trump's spending bill -- Trump launches misleading boasts and personal attacks on Truth Social instead of defending his policies -- State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce's religious-style praise for Trump highlights the cult-like devotion around him -- New reports show independent creators like David and Brian Tyler Cohen are now key news sources -- On the Bonus Show: Nancy Mace's pajama stunt, judge strikes down Trump's attempt to suspend asylum status, Denmark lets people copyright their features, and much more...

In this extensive broadcast, Tara details alarming findings from peer-reviewed studies and official data estimating up to 600,000 U.S. deaths linked to COVID-19 vaccines—far surpassing what the media reports. She highlights underreported dangers of mRNA shots, including serious gastric illnesses and a surge in ER visits among vaccinated teens, while contrasting Japan and Denmark's public warnings with America's ongoing blackout. The show then pivots to expose a legal push to prevent deportations by citing alleged abuse in El Salvador's mega prison. Finally, Tara unpacks Gallup polling showing Democrats' record-low pride in America, and a stunning shift in sympathy toward Palestinians over Israelis—a transformation she argues is fueling the rise of far-left candidates and anti-American sentiment.

GUEST: Anders Puck Nielsen - YouTuber and military analyst. Today I'm speaking with Anders Puck Nielsen, military analyst and influential YouTuber based in Denmark. He specialises in naval warfare and strategy; in today's video we are going to be talking about the Ukrainian withdrawal from Kursk, the state of NATO and repetition of Kremlin narratives coming from the White House and Trump's inner circle. ----------LINKS:https://www.youtube.com/@anderspuck https://twitter.com/anderspuckhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/anderspucknielsen/https://apnielsen.info/en/frontpage/----------DESCRIPTION: NATO's Defense Strategy, US Munition Withdrawal, and Europe's Path Forward with Anders Puck NielsenIn this episode, military analyst and YouTuber Anders Puck Nielsen delves into pressing topics concerning global military strategy. The conversation opens with an analysis of NATO's 5% defense budget increase for member states and segues into the implications of the US halting munitions supplies to Ukraine. The episode covers the strategic fallout of these actions, the impact on European security, and the historical and geopolitical underpinnings of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Nielsen emphasizes the need for Europe to adopt a leadership role in defense strategies, touching upon the complexities of nuclear deterrence and the resilience required to counteract Russian aggression. Finally, the discussion reflects on the transformative resilience within Ukraine, underscoring the nation's strong civic society and innovative defense measures.----------CHAPTERS:00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome00:07 NATO's Defense Increase and US Munitions Withdrawal01:47 Implications of US Policy on European Security04:34 European Defense Spending and Strategic Independence09:42 Nuclear Deterrence and European Security20:20 Putin's Perspective and Russian Economy34:27 Potential Escalation and European Leadership42:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------PLATFORMS:Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqmLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube's algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Eurovision threw itself a 50th birthday party, and it's now the 20th anniversary of that party! Don't overthink it: just enjoy our discussion of what the Contest was all about back in 2005 and who reigns supreme as the greatest ESC song of all time. Jeremy's talking 'bout his generations, Dimitry demands respect for Everybody, and Oscar's a little over the whole Napoleon thing.Watch Congratulations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D-kvTfbMowThis week's companion playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5TaSUZsdr0pPRd84B61eKb The Eurovangelists are Jeremy Bent, Oscar Montoya and Dimitry Pompée.The theme was arranged and recorded by Cody McCorry and Faye Fadem, and the logo was designed by Tom Deja.Production support for this show was provided by the Maximum Fun network.The show is edited by Jeremy Bent with audio mixing help was courtesy of Shane O'Connell.Find Eurovangelists on social media as @eurovangelists on Instagram and @eurovangelists.com on Bluesky, or send us an email at eurovangelists@gmail.com. Head to https://maxfunstore.com/collections/eurovangelists for Eurovangelists merch. Also follow the Eurovangelists account on Spotify and check out our playlists of Eurovision hits, competitors in upcoming national finals, and companion playlists to every single episode, including this one!

We're back after almost three years with a brand-new season about people living a life less ordinary — beginning with Danish adventurer Thor Pedersen, who shares his incredible story of visiting every country in the world without flying.Thor recounts his experiences crossing oceans on cargo ships, navigating through war zones, and enduring the mental and physical challenges that came with this ambitious endeavor.Despite numerous setbacks, including a two-year pandemic lockdown in Hong Kong, Thor persevered and achieved his goal. He reflects on the kindness of strangers, the cultural insights gained, and the personal growth that came from pushing his limits.This episode is a testament to human determination and the extraordinary efforts people will make to defy what's considered impossible.NotesLearn more on Thor's official websiteBuy his book "The Impossible Journey"

Katie Smith is joined by our commentary team of Izzy Christiansen and Vicki Sparks in Basel to reflect on Norway's 2-1 win against hosts Switzerland. Former England captain Steph Houghton is on the pod too as the panel react to Chloe Kelly's reunion with Arsenal ahead of England's tournament opener on Saturday. And finally, Danny Gabbidon and Eilidh Barbour are here to preview tomorrow's match between Spain and Portugal.Timecodes: 00:15 Switzerland 1-2 Norway reaction 09:26 Chloe Kelly interview with Ben Haines 13:22 The panel reacts to her Arsenal reunion 19:45 Danny Gabbidon & Eilidh Barbour preview Spain v PortugalBBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Thu 2000 Spain v Portugal on 5 Live, Fri 1700 Denmark v Sweden on Sports Extra 3, Fri 2000 Germany v Poland on 5 Live, Sat 1700 Wales v Netherlands on 5 Live, Sat 2000 France v England on 5 Live.

Our CTC LIVE series is back for Wimbledon 2025! Dan will be rounding up all the action from the Championships.These are shorter episodes that we´ll bring you throughout the tournament to give you insights and a round-up of the biggest talking points of the day.In our Day 1 Recap, Dan is joined by the coach of Elmer Moller and Holmgren and Denmark´s Davis Cup captain, Freddie Nielsen.And Top S&C Coach Kieron Vorster who has worked with Liam Broady, Dan Evans, Tim Henman and Wayne Ferreira.Episode Highlights:-Is tournaments such as Halle, Eastobourne good preparation for WimbledonWhy are so many seeded players going out in round 1Freddie's player August Holmgren progressing to Round 2 after a straight sets victoryMatches to watch out for on Day 3 Each episode is LIVE on YouTube by searching 'Control the Controllables Podcast' and following our Instagram and Twitter (X) for the latest times!CTC Instagram: www.instagram.com/ctc.podcastCTC Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@controlthecontrollablesCTC X: www.x.com/ctc__podcastThanks for listening!

Linnaea is the passionate owner of a beloved Santa Cruz institution that has evolved into a creative hub for American-made art, design, and feel-good goods. She first joined the store as a 16-year-old seasonal hire in 1993 and, 16 years later, celebrated her anniversary by buying the business. Since then, Linnaea has honored its legacy while transforming it into Artisans & Agency, a space that champions craftsmanship, community, and connection.With a degree in art history, Linnaea brings a curator's eye and a community builder's heart to everything she does—from spotlighting emerging makers to introducing Denmark's Christiania Bikes to the U.S. Together with her husband, Peter, Linnaea continues to shape the store's future, keeping it fresh and relevant as it nears its 50th anniversary in 2026.In this episode, Linnaea joins Michelle to share her inspiring journey of buying and evolving the store. They discuss how she transformed the business while staying true to its roots, her passion for community-building, and how she curates a unique shopping experience by introducing new brands and supporting local artists.We are doing our first-ever open call! You can submit your store or favorite store to be on the podcast because every store has a story behind it! Go to theretailwhorepodcast.com, click on SUBMIT YOUR STORE, fill out an easy form and we'll see you on the mic!What's Inside:Linnaea's journey from seasonal hire to business owner and the transformation of the storeThe importance of curating American-made art and design while maintaining community connectionsHow Linnaea became the U.S. distributor for Denmark's Christiania Bikes and expanded her offeringsMentioned In This Episode:InstagramFacebookArtisans & Agency Website

Jenner Marcucci is the founder of Summit Leadership Group. He has extensive expertise in the areas of leadership development, sales training, communication skills, and executive team development. Most recently, Jenner served as Vice President, Learning & Development for Catalina Marketing – $600M company specializing in personalized digital media. Prior to that, Jenner worked for16 years at Pfizer Inc. in sales, key accounts, sales training, sales management, operations and leadership development. Jenner was instrumental in creating, launching, and implementing Pfizer's worldwide leadership development strategy. Pfizer was recognized as the number one training company in the world for three consecutive years with a field force of 15,000 in the US. Jenner holds a BS in International Business and Spanish from Brigham Young University. He served a 2 year volunteer mission in Madrid Spain. He is fluent in Spanish and has conducted multi-lingual training in Spanish, Italian, Japanese, German, and French. His international clients are diverse and include those from Japan, Mexico, UK, Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Russia and Australia. His favorite career is being a husband and fathe to five children and three grandchildren. Currently his wife Meridith has placed him on a performance improvement plan. Podcast Sponsor: Summit Leadership Group Summit Leadership Group transforms organizations by developing bold, agile leaders who inspire performance and lead with purpose. Through tailored coaching and immersive training, we ignite lasting growth where it matters most—at the intersection of people, culture, and results. To know more about Jenner visit his website: www.summitleadershipgroup.com

【欢迎订阅】 每天早上5:30，准时更新。 【阅读原文】 标题：Sex work in the gig economy 正文：FOR DECADES Sweden was seen as the epitome of sexual freedom, so much so that President Dwight Eisenhower fulminated in 1960 that its people tended towards “sin, nudity, drunkenness”. In 1971 it followed Denmark to become the second country in the world to legalise all forms of pornography. Yet Sweden has been altogether more prudish when it comes to prostitution, having originated the so-called Nordic Model in 1999, which criminalised the purchase of sex, but not its sale, with the intention of reducing demand while protecting vulnerable women. This model has since spread widely. In the past decade, France, Ireland, Israel and the American state of Maine have all adopted it; Scotland is considering it. 知识点：epitome n. /ɪˈpɪtəmi/ a perfect example of something 典范，缩影 • She looked the epitome of elegance and good taste.她看上去是优雅与品味的化身。 • He is the epitome of a modern young man.他是现代年轻人的典范。 获取外刊的完整原文以及精讲笔记，请关注微信公众号「早安英文」，回复“外刊”即可。更多有意思的英语干货等着你！ 【节目介绍】 《早安英文-每日外刊精读》，带你精读最新外刊，了解国际最热事件：分析语法结构，拆解长难句，最接地气的翻译，还有重点词汇讲解。 所有选题均来自于《经济学人》《纽约时报》《华尔街日报》《华盛顿邮报》《大西洋月刊》《科学杂志》《国家地理》等国际一线外刊。 【适合谁听】 1、关注时事热点新闻，想要学习最新最潮流英文表达的英文学习者 2、任何想通过地道英文提高听、说、读、写能力的英文学习者 3、想快速掌握表达，有出国学习和旅游计划的英语爱好者 4、参加各类英语考试的应试者（如大学英语四六级、托福雅思、考研等） 【你将获得】 1、超过1000篇外刊精读课程，拓展丰富语言表达和文化背景 2、逐词、逐句精确讲解，系统掌握英语词汇、听力、阅读和语法 3、每期内附学习笔记，包含全文注释、长难句解析、疑难语法点等，帮助扫除阅读障碍。

From the BBC World Service: Political turmoil is brewing in Thailand after the country's prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was suspended by the Constitutional Court. Her party, the Pheu Thai Party, has struggled to launch key economic policies since taking office. We'll hear more. Plus, a dispatch from Robinhood's international crypto event in Cannes and a trek to the Øresund Bridge, which has linked Denmark and Sweden — and impacted businesses there — for 25 years.

Ali Bruce-Ball is joined by Conor McNamara & Vicki Sparks ahead of UEFA Women's EURO 2025. Hear from England striker Alessia Russo, catch Vicki's Toblerone tales from Basel and will the ‘false one' get in to the Great Glossary of Football Commentary. Plus reaction to Manchester City crashing out of the FIFA Club World Cup, and will Clash of the Commentators champion Ali Bruce-Ball be beaten?Live show tickets: crossedwires.live/fringe WhatsApp voicenotes to 08000 289 369 Emails to TCV@bbc.co.uk00:50 Man City knocked out of FIFA Club World Cup, 03:10 Russell Fuller slips on his cliché banana skin, 07:30 Vicki Sparks joins the pod live from Switzerland, 13:40 5 Live commentaries at the Women's Euros, 14:10 Hear from England striker Alessia Russo, 17:05 What are Wales aiming for at first major tournament? 19:20 Don't give Vicki extra facts on matchday! 23:30 Toblerone tales from Basel, 25:15 Vicki vs Ali in Clash of the Commentators, 32:10 ‘False One' for the Great Glossary?BBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Wed 1700 Iceland v Finland on Sports Extra 2, Wed 2000 Switzerland v Norway on 5 Live, Thu 2000 Spain v Portugal on 5 Live, Fri 1700 Denmark v Sweden on Sports Extra 3, Fri 2000 Germany v Poland on 5 Live, Sat 1700 Wales v Netherlands on 5 Live, Sat 2000 France v England on 5 Live.Glossary so far: 2-0 is a dangerous score, After you Claude, All-Premier League affair, Aplomb, Brace, Brandished, Breaking the deadlock, Bundled over the line, Champions elect / champions apparent, Clinical finish, Commentator's curse, Coupon buster, Cultured/Educated left foot, Denied by the woodwork, Draught excluder, Elimination line, Fellow countryman, Foot race, Formerly of this parish, Fox in the box, Free hit, Goalmouth scramble, Good touch for a big man, Head tennis, Honeymoon Period, In and around, In the shop window, Keeping ball under their spell, Languishing, Loitering with intent, Marching orders, Nestle in the bottom corner, Numbered derbies, Nutmeg, One of those, Opposite number, Park the bus, PK for penalty-kick, Postage stamp, Put their laces through it, Rasping shot, Red wine not white wine, Relegation six-pointer, Rooted at the bottom, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Seen them given, Sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, Sleeping giants, Slide rule pass, Small matter of, Smash and grab, Spiders web, Stayed hit, Steepling, Stinging the palms, Stonewall penalty, Straight off the training ground, Stramash, Sweeper keeper, Throw their cap on it, Thruppenny bit head / 50p head, Turns like an ocean liner / aircraft carrier, Put it in the mixer, Towering header, Turning into a basketball match, Turning into a cricket score, Walking a disciplinary tightrope, Wand of a left foot, We've got a cup tie on our hands, Where the owl sleeps, Winger in their pocket, Wrap foot around it, Your De Bruynes, your Gundogans etc.

From the BBC World Service: Political turmoil is brewing in Thailand after the country's prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was suspended by the Constitutional Court. Her party, the Pheu Thai Party, has struggled to launch key economic policies since taking office. We'll hear more. Plus, a dispatch from Robinhood's international crypto event in Cannes and a trek to the Øresund Bridge, which has linked Denmark and Sweden — and impacted businesses there — for 25 years.

To what extent can maternal nutrition during pregnancy influence a child's later cognitive or behavioural development? While genetic and environmental factors are known to contribute to neurodevelopmental outcomes such as ADHD and autism, growing attention is being paid to the potential role of prenatal exposures, including dietary patterns. Yet, evidence in this area remains limited, and causality is difficult to establish. One recent study aimed to explore this question by analysing how maternal diet quality during pregnancy (specifically, adherence to a Western-style dietary pattern) related to neurodevelopmental outcomes in children assessed clinically at age 10. In this episode, Dr. David Horner discusses the findings from this prospective cohort study, the use of metabolic markers to complement dietary data, and the implications for future research into modifiable prenatal risk factors. About The Guest Dr. David Horner is a researcher in maternal nutrition and cardiometabolic health, based at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is also a qualified medical doctor from Queen's University of Belfast. His research is driven by a keen interest in modifiable determinants of health, aiming to better understand and improve health outcomes. Having worked as a medical doctor for 2 years in the UK, in 2017 Dr. Horner then moved to Copenhagen, where he completed a Master's in Global Health and a PhD examining the impact of maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy on child health. Timestamps [02:47] Introduction to the study [07:08] Strengths and findings of the study [21:17] Genetic factors and gene-environment interactions [25:42] Metabolomics and potential mechanisms [30:12] Interpreting the study's findings [38:03] Future research directions [42:50] Key ideas segment (Sigma Nutrition Premium) Related Resources Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium Join the Sigma email newsletter for free Enroll in the next cohort of our Applied Nutrition Literacy course See Sigma's "recommended resources" list Email: david.horner@dbac.dk Study: Horner et al., 2025 – A western dietary pattern during pregnancy is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and adolescence David's LinkedIn post about the study (with discussion in the comments)

On June 30th, 2000, Pearl Jam headlined the Roskilde Festival in Denmark while touring Europe for their Binaural album. About an hour after they took the stage, there was a sudden surge towards the front. Multiple fans lost their footing on the muddy terrain, and some were trampled. The outcome is one of the worst tragedies in live music history as the lives of nine fans were lost. This incident permanently changed the lives of each member of Pearl Jam, and everything from that point forward about their live show changed. From heightened security, to a renewed sense of empathy and compassion, their goal was to ensure that nothing like Roskilde would ever happen at one of their shows again. They've made good on that promise. On the 25th anniversary, we look back and examine the stories and healing process that followed in the aftermath. Part two takes a look at the band's return to Copenhagen for the first time since the tragedy, how general admission at shows would slowly be reinstated over time and powerful performances of Black and Love Boat Captain played at pivotal moments where they paid tribute to the families who lost loved ones. You'll get to hear from our esteemed panel who will share their personal stories of how they reacted to the incident, and will discuss why sticking together was always the best and only option for the band. Make sure you check out the part one episode of this series if you wish to hear this story told chronologically. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the Show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com./liveon4legs

July is vacation month in Denmark, and it's ironic that many Danes go elsewhere on vacation at just this time of year, when you have the best chance of good weather in Denmark. And I do mean chance – there is never any guarantee. Some Danes go abroad, driving vacations to Southern Europe are popular. There's a well-known cycle in which the summer weather is good one year, so everyone plans a vacation in Denmark the following year, and then the weather is awful, so everyone plans a foreign vacation the next year, and then the weather is good, and so on. You can surf in Denmark Staying in Denmark, even if you don't own one of the famous Danish summer houses, can be a great choice. There's a surprising amount of nature to experience in this small, flat, country that isn't as densely populated as the UK, or the Netherlands, or even Germany. You can surf in Denmark, along the windy west coast, and when you're done explore the ever changing sand dunes. Maybe visit the little lighthouse that is slowly being swallowed up by the sand. Hike through ancient forests in Denmark In Denmark you can hike through ancient forests, and even sleep there in some of the public forest shelters. Most of the forest shelters are big wooden boxes with one side entirely open, but with a roof to protect you from the rain. You can walk through beautiful meadows filled with wildflowers and butterflies. Watch whales along the coastline. Tramp through marshes and see red foxes and white-tailed eagles. Visit open grasslands with a few wild horses. Chalk cliffs and fossil hunting in Denmark You can enjoy almost any type of Nordic landscape except mountains, because Denmark doesn't really have any. It's tallest peak, Møllehøj, is 1/3 the height of the Empire State Building. But if you insist on rocky peaks, you can visit some lovely chalk cliffs in Denmark and try fossil hunting in the sand. And what ties them all together is the Marguerite Route, or Daisy Route, that runs all over Denmark. The Daisy Route isn't a straight line from one place to another, like Route 66 in the US or the Trans-Siberian express. It's 4200 kilometers, or 2600 miles, that looks like a plate of spaghetti, with lots of curves and twists. It takes you on back roads where you can see the quiet side of Denmark. It never doubles back on itself and, with one significant exception – the Big Belt Bridge between Zealand and Fyn – it involves no highways. Margueritruten Route or the Daisy Route The Daisy Route is named after the former queen, Margrethe, who inaugurated it on her 50th birthday in 1991. Her nickname is Daisy. And the signs you will follow on the Daisy Route are brown squares with white daisies. The Daisy Route is a great way to enjoy Danish nature, although, unfortunately, it works best with a car. Bikes in the city, cars in the countryside One of Denmark's little secrets is that despite all the tourism pictures of healthy Danes riding bicycles, bicycle infrastructure is best in the big cities. Many roads in the countryside don't have a bike lane, and you probably don't want to be on a lonely country road on your bike with a cement mixer truck behind you. Outside of those big cities, most Danes do own cars – and there are more cars in Denmark every year, even though they're very expensive and parking enforcement is draconian. From the window of my home in Copenhagen, I watch cars being hit with parking fines every single weekday. Denmark's founding document, the Jelling Stone What about mass transit? Can you enjoy the Daisy Route using trains and buses? You can indeed, if you want to see some of the major cultural spots on the route. For example, the Jelling Stone, the giant carved stone that is Denmark's founding document, kind of its Magna Carta or Declaration of Independence. Put up by King Harold Bluetooth in the year 965, it marks Denmark's transition to the centralized monarchy it still has today. And yes, Bluetooth on your phone is named after him. The Jelling Stone is very easy to reach by train. Finding Fossils on Møns Klimt Or Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, also known as Elsinore in Shakespeare's play Hamlet. You can easily take public transport to the castle, where Hamlet lived in the play, and the guard Marcellus said “Something is Rotten in Denmark.” Although Shakespeare apparently never visited the castle himself, you can. It's a simple trip with train, bus, or even ferry from Sweden. But the some of the best stops on the Daisy Route in Denmark don't work well with mass transit. For example, Møns Klimt is a dramatic white chalk cliff on an island in southeast Denmark. You can walk along the beach finding prehistoric fossils during the day or go stargazing at night, because there's very little light pollution. Summer vacation chill in Denmark To get to Møns Klimt from my home in Copenhagen is a 90 minute car trip…or a 4-hour odyssey involving three trains, two buses, and a long walk. Or a 7-hour bike trip. It can be done without a car, but it may take away some of your vacation chill. And vacation chill is what July in Denmark is all about. Everything closes down Many companies in Denmark shut down for the last two weeks of July and sometimes the first week of August, restaurants and shops are closed, many church services are suspended. Even my local ice cream shop in Copenhagen closes down, although I'm sure the ones in tourist locations are open and very busy. You may get to enjoy this in glorious summer sunshine, and on a sunny day, there is no country as pretty as Denmark. Or you could experience it in cold, pelting rain – possibly on the same day. Danish summer weather has no guarantees.

Our CTC LIVE series is back for Wimbledon 2025! Dan will be rounding up all the action from the Championships.These are shorter episodes that we´ll bring you throughout the tournament to give you insights and a round-up of the biggest talking points of the day.In our Day 1 Recap, Dan is joined by the coach of Elmer Moller and Holmgren and Denmark´s Davis Cup captain, Freddie Nielsen.Episode Highlights:-Men´s seeds Holger Rune, Griekspoor, Medvedev and more who are already out.How are the players coping with the Wimbledon weather.Freddie reflects on Elmer Moller's Wimbledon debut against Francis TiafoeBritish players including Sonay Kartal, Oliver Tarvet and Billy Harris who are through to round 2.Each episode is LIVE on YouTube by searching 'Control the Controllables Podcast' and following our Instagram and Twitter (X) for the latest times!CTC Instagram: www.instagram.com/ctc.podcastCTC Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@controlthecontrollablesCTC X: www.x.com/ctc__podcastThanks for listening!

Love, visas, identity, motherhood, burnout, Denmark. Ilana Buhl didn't just move for love—she rebuilt her life from scratch. In this candid conversation with cohosts Derek and Brooke, Ilana shares how a three-day trip turned into a lifetime abroad. From navigating Denmark's tough family reunification process to finding her footing as a teacher, parent, and online creator. Along the way, they unpack culture shocks, language learning, and why stepping back from social media can be the right thing to do sometimes.Ilana Buhl (guest): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_lykke_charmTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the_lykke_charmWhat Are You Doing in Denmark podcast:Instagram: https://instagram.com/waydidpodWatch us on YouTubeDerek Hartman:IG: https://instagram.com/robetrottingYT: https://youtube.com/c/robetrottingTikTok: https://tiktok.com/@robetrottingFB: https://www.facebook.com/robetrottingBrooke Black:IG: https://instagram.com/brookeblackjustTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brookeblackjust

Ben Haines is joined by Ellen White and Jen Beattie ahead of UEFA Women's EURO 2025. They reflect on the key talking points from England's 7-0 friendly win over Jamaica. How much does that result mean? What about the Toone/James selection headache? And who will be the players to watch at the tournament in Switzerland?03:15 How much can you read into the Jamaica game? 06:45 When do the players know they are starting? 10:00 Toone turns it on, but James causes headache, 14:05 Were Jamaica the right opponents for England? 16:15 England overcome disruptive build-up, 18:30 What's it like going into tournament mode? 25:35 Bonmati boost for ‘favourites' Spain, 27:55 How important is it for hosts Switzerland to do well? 31:20 Norway are an ‘odd team'… 32:35 Who are the players to watch?BBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Wed 1700 Iceland v Finland on Sports Extra 2, Wed 2000 Switzerland v Norway on 5 Live, Thu 2000 Spain v Portugal on 5 Live, Fri 1700 Denmark v Sweden on Sports Extra 3, Fri 2000 Germany v Poland on 5 Live, Sat 1700 Wales v Netherlands on 5 Live, Sat 2000 France v England on 5 Live.

On June 30th, 2000, Pearl Jam headlined the Roskilde Festival in Denmark while touring Europe for their Binaural album. About an hour after they took the stage, there was a sudden surge towards the front. Multiple fans lost their footing on the muddy terrain, and some were trampled. The outcome is one of the worst tragedies in live music history as the lives of nine fans were lost. This incident permanently changed the lives of each member of Pearl Jam, and everything from that point forward about their live show changed. From heightened security, to a renewed sense of empathy and compassion, their goal was to ensure that nothing like Roskilde would ever happen at one of their shows again. They've made good on that promise. On the 25th anniversary, we look back and examine the stories and healing process that followed in the aftermath. We'll share powerful performances of songs from the 2000 tour and how Eddie's song writing at that time was impacted by the incident. Joining us on this episode is author of the PJ20 book, Jonathan Cohen, to bring perspective to the story, and we invite Pearl Jam community members on to share their personal stories, including witnessing the band at their Virginia Beach show, and one of the nine live performances of Arc. Please stay tuned for Part 2 which should be released shortly after the release of this episode. Visit the Concertpedia - http://liveon4legs.com Contact the show - liveon4legspodcast@gmail.com Donate to the Show - http://patreon.com/liveon4legs

Our favourite Grand Slam here at Control the Controllables is underway! Our panellists are back to chat through everything we can expect from Wimbledon 2025.Dan went live on YouTube from SW19 for this year´s Wimbledon Preview episode. You can listen to everything they discussed, including which players to watch out for, predictions to pick up the titles and their potential popcorn match-ups.

Libby Ran 30/06/2025 Nordic Fairies - Wait So Long - פיות נורדיות 116 MARY JEAN, GRETA - heal eat sleep repeat (Denmark) Moyka - 24/7 (Norway) Swedish House Mafia - Wait So Long (Sweden) Vilma Jää - Lemmennostajaämmä (Finland) Valerie Melina - My Current Obsession (Sweden) Kakkmaddafakka - Good Time Crew (Norway) Phogg - In the Beginning by Chanceling (Sweden) Murder Maids - Waste Away (Norway) Laleh - When Good Ain't Good (Sweden) NEA EINI - Vädret i april (Sweden) Efterklang, Mabe Fratti - Ese Día (Denmark, Guatemala) Bellman - Disorder (Norway) Silver Lining - One Little Song (Norway) Jacob Collier, AURORA - A Rock Somewhere / The Seed - For Greenpeace (UK, Iceland) iamamiwhoami, Ionnalee - THE LAST DANCER (Sweden) Orions Belte - The Carneddau (Norway)

In this heartfelt and inspiring episode I sit down with Royal Danish Ballet Principal Ballerina Holly Dorger - a childhood friend whose dance journey has taken her from suburban Michigan to the royal stage of Copenhagen.Holly's path has been anything but predictable. From training at the School of American Ballet with dreams of joining New York City Ballet, to unexpectedly being offered a contract abroad, Holly opens up about how she began her professional career at 18 with the Royal Danish Ballet.She shares candid reflections on everything from finding personal healing through dancing roles such as Giselle to what it's like to be knighted by the Queen of Denmark. We talk about the challenges of building a life in a foreign country, what it's like to grow artistically over nearly two decades as a professional, and how she brings authenticity and emotional depth to every performance - especially the ones rooted in human experience and vulnerability.If you've ever wondered what it's like to build a career abroad, channel personal pain into performance, or face the question of "what's next?" after reaching the top, this conversation is a must-listen.Key “Pointes” in this Episode

After being in touch with J-Popcon since 2015, we finally got the chance to sit down with them, in person of one of their organizers Ida Bjerring Winkler about all things J-Pop and what it means to run the biggest convention of its kind in Denmark! Enjoy! Interview starts at minute 22:18.

Ozempic is one of the most import new medications in a generation. The scientist who created it is a self-described "nerd," who grew up on a farm in Denmark and has no interest in the limelight. Lotte Knudsen started her career working on laundry detergent enzymes, but eventually joined a team at the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk that was tasked with looking for new treatments for diabetes. She was convinced that a recently discovered human hormone called GLP-1 could be made into a powerful medication, not only for Type 2 diabetes, but also for weight loss. It took 20 years of hard work and persistence for her and her team to figure it out, but their creation now shows promise as a worthy foe of heart disease, kidney disease, Parkinson's, alcoholism & Alzheimer's as well. In this episode Lotte Knudsen tells her story, and we hear from two of the other scientists who made critical contributions to this revolution in medicine: Mads Thomsen and Daniel Drucker.

Katie Smith has reaction to England's 7-0 friendly win over Jamaica ahead of UEFA Women's EURO 2025. She's with Karen Bardsley, Gilly Flaherty and Vicki Sparks. Also hear interviews with Sarina Wiegman, Ella Toone and Georgia Stanway.00:45 England win couldn't have gone much better, 02:30 How excited should we be about Lauren James? 04:50 Ella Toone stakes her claim for the 10 role, 07:20 Lionesses given their send-off in Leicester, 15:05 Sarina Wiegman INTERVIEW, 19:35 England's defensive performance, 21:45 Ella Toone INTERVIEW, 26:05 Should Le Tissier or Agyemang have played? 28:30 BONUS INTERVIEW with Georgia Stanway.BBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries: Wed 1700 Iceland v Finland on Sports Extra 2, Wed 2000 Switzerland v Norway on 5 Live, Thu 2000 Spain v Portugal on 5 Live, Fri 1700 Denmark v Sweden on Sports Extra 3, Fri 2000 Germany v Poland on 5 Live, Sat 1700 Wales v Netherlands on 5 Live, Sat 2000 France v England on 5 Live.

My recent live DJ set from the sublime Stella Polaris, the world's biggest chillout festival, held in Copenhagen, Denmark. A mix born from love and the important little details, crafted with care, intention and emotion. It moves through deep cinematic ambience and reflective grooves to joyful after-dark tracks. Go to the website for playlists and info.

INTERVIEW: San Diego FC's 4-goal hero Milan Iloski chatted with teammate/roommate Tommy McGunner and Sam in 2023 about his path to Orange County, his cooking "skills", some truly impressive pranks and big plans for the future in Denmark (now MLS)

Jimbo welcomes Daniel Storey, JJ Bull and Tom Williams into the pod to discuss football, Springsteen and cleats.Both Argentinian clubs are out of the Club World Cup but River Plate go down fighting, literally, as they lose to Inter. We've got almost a full set of last 16 ties to look forward to, including Chelsea's clash with Benfica.Lee Carsley takes England Under 21s to a second successive Euros final as Harvey Elliott shows his worth to potential suitors. They face favourites Germany on Saturday.Elsewhere, Arsenal's transfer activity looks set to heat up, while Lyon are relegated to Ligue 2 due to the state of their finances.Plus the most agonising game in English football history and when Denmark killed the back pass.Produced by Charlie Jones.RUNNING ORDER: • PART 1a: JJ's new album and Tom's old boots (01.00)• PART 1b: The madness of Inter River (08.00) • PART 1c: Elsewhere in the Club World Cup (15.30)• PART 2a: On This Day (23.00)• PART 2b: England Under 21s return to the Euro final (35.00)• PART 3a: Transfer talk (43.00)• PART 3b: Lyon relegated, Pogba joins Monaco (48.00)• PART 3c: Inter Totally Cup - Williams v Eccleshare (56.00) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conventional wisdom says immigration drives down wages and takes jobs from American workers. But what if that story is fueled by bad economics? Journalist Rogé Karma joins Nick and Goldy to challenge the Econ 101 logic that supercharges anti-immigrant rhetoric—and to explain what the data actually shows. Drawing on research from the U.S., Denmark, and beyond, Karma makes the case that immigrants don't steal jobs—they grow the economy. In a moment when political leaders are pushing mass deportations in the name of “economic populism,” this conversation reveals what's really at stake.  Rogé Karma is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He was previously the senior editor of The Ezra Klein Show at The New York Times. At The Atlantic, he covers economics and economic policy. Social Media: ⁠@theatlantic.com⁠ ⁠theatlantic⁠ ⁠@TheAtlantic⁠ Further reading:  ⁠The Truth About Immigration & The American Worker⁠ ⁠The Most Dramatic Shift in U.S. Public Opinion⁠ Website: ⁠http://pitchforkeconomics.com⁠ Instagram: ⁠@pitchforkeconomics⁠ Threads: ⁠pitchforkeconomics⁠ Bluesky: ⁠@pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social⁠ Twitter: ⁠@PitchforkEcon⁠, ⁠@NickHanauer⁠, ⁠@civicaction⁠ YouTube: ⁠@pitchforkeconomics⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Pitchfork Economics⁠ Substack: ⁠The Pitch⁠

For those who haven't heard the announcement I posted, songs from this point on will sometimes be split among multiple episodes, so this is the second part of a two-episode look at the song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?” by Fairport Convention, and the intertwining careers of Joe Boyd, Sandy Denny, and Richard Thompson. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-one-minute bonus episode available, on Judy Collins’ version of this song. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by editing, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum For about an hour this was uploaded with the wrong Elton John clip in place of “Saturday Sun”. This has now been fixed. Resources Because of the increasing problems with Mixcloud’s restrictions, I have decided to start sharing streaming playlists of the songs used in episodes instead of Mixcloud ones. This Tunemymusic link will let you listen to the playlist I created on your streaming platform of choice — however please note that not all the songs excerpted are currently available on streaming. The songs missing from the Tidal version are “Shanten Bells” by the Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” by A.L. Lloyd, two by Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, three by Elton John & Linda Peters, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow” by Sandy Denny and “You Never Know” by Charlie Drake, but the other fifty-nine are there. Other songs may be missing from other services. The main books I used on Fairport Convention as a whole were Patrick Humphries' Meet On The Ledge, Clinton Heylin's What We Did Instead of Holidays, and Kevan Furbank's Fairport Convention on Track. Rob Young's Electric Eden is the most important book on the British folk-rock movement. Information on Richard Thompson comes from Patrick Humphries' Richard Thompson: Strange Affair and Thompson's own autobiography Beeswing.  Information on Sandy Denny comes from Clinton Heylin's No More Sad Refrains and Mick Houghton's I've Always Kept a Unicorn. I also used Joe Boyd's autobiography White Bicycles and Chris Blackwell's The Islander.  And this three-CD set is the best introduction to Fairport's music currently in print. Transcript Before we begin, this episode contains reference to alcohol and cocaine abuse and medical neglect leading to death. It also starts with some discussion of the fatal car accident that ended last episode. There’s also some mention of child neglect and spousal violence. If that’s likely to upset you, you might want to skip this episode or read the transcript. One of the inspirations for this podcast when I started it back in 2018 was a project by Richard Thompson, which appears (like many things in Thompson’s life) to have started out of sheer bloody-mindedness. In 1999 Playboy magazine asked various people to list their “songs of the Millennium”, and most of them, understanding the brief, chose a handful of songs from the latter half of the twentieth century. But Thompson determined that he was going to list his favourite songs *of the millennium*. He didn’t quite manage that, but he did cover seven hundred and forty years, and when Playboy chose not to publish it, he decided to turn it into a touring show, in which he covered all his favourite songs from “Sumer Is Icumen In” from 1260: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Sumer is Icumen In”] Through numerous traditional folk songs, union songs like “Blackleg Miner”, pieces by early-modern composers, Victorian and Edwardian music hall songs, and songs by the Beatles, the Ink Spots, the Kinks, and the Who, all the way to “Oops! I Did It Again”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Oops! I Did it Again”] And to finish the show, and to show how all this music actually ties together, he would play what he described as a “medieval tune from Brittany”, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt”] We have said many times in this podcast that there is no first anything, but there’s a reason that Liege and Lief, Fairport Convention’s third album of 1969, and the album other than Unhalfbricking on which their reputation largely rests, was advertised with the slogan “The first (literally) British folk rock album ever”. Folk-rock, as the term had come to be known, and as it is still usually used today, had very little to do with traditional folk music. Rather, the records of bands like The Byrds or Simon and Garfunkel were essentially taking the sounds of British beat groups of the early sixties, particularly the Searchers, and applying those sounds to material by contemporary singer-songwriters. People like Paul Simon and Bob Dylan had come up through folk clubs, and their songs were called folk music because of that, but they weren’t what folk music had meant up to that point — songs that had been collected after being handed down through the folk process, changed by each individual singer, with no single identifiable author. They were authored songs by very idiosyncratic writers. But over their last few albums, Fairport Convention had done one or two tracks per album that weren’t like that, that were instead recordings of traditional folk songs, but arranged with rock instrumentation. They were not necessarily the first band to try traditional folk music with electric instruments — around the same time that Fairport started experimenting with the idea, so did an Irish band named Sweeney’s Men, who brought in a young electric guitarist named Henry McCullough briefly. But they do seem to have been the first to have fully embraced the idea. They had done so to an extent with “A Sailor’s Life” on Unhalfbricking, but now they were going to go much further: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves” (from about 4:30)] There had been some doubt as to whether Fairport Convention would even continue to exist — by the time Unhalfbricking, their second album of the year, was released, they had been through the terrible car accident that had killed Martin Lamble, the band’s drummer, and Jeannie Franklyn, Richard Thompson’s girlfriend. Most of the rest of the band had been seriously injured, and they had made a conscious decision not to discuss the future of the band until they were all out of hospital. Ashley Hutchings was hospitalised the longest, and Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, and Sandy Denny, the other three surviving members of the band, flew over to LA with their producer and manager, Joe Boyd, to recuperate there and get to know the American music scene. When they came back, the group all met up in the flat belonging to Denny’s boyfriend Trevor Lucas, and decided that they were going to continue the band. They made a few decisions then — they needed a new drummer, and as well as a drummer they wanted to get in Dave Swarbrick. Swarbrick had played violin on several tracks on Unhalfbricking as a session player, and they had all been thrilled to work with him. Swarbrick was one of the most experienced musicians on the British folk circuit. He had started out in the fifties playing guitar with Beryl Marriott’s Ceilidh Band before switching to fiddle, and in 1963, long before Fairport had formed, he had already appeared on TV with the Ian Campbell Folk Group, led by Ian Campbell, the father of Ali and Robin Campbell, later of UB40: [Excerpt: The Ian Campbell Folk Group, “Shanten Bells (medley on Hullaballoo!)”] He’d sung with Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd: [Excerpt: A.L. Lloyd, “Tom’s Gone to Hilo” ] And he’d formed his hugely successful duo with Martin Carthy, releasing records like “Byker Hill” which are often considered among the best British folk music of all time: [Excerpt: Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, “Byker Hill”] By the time Fairport had invited him to play on Unhalfbricking, Swarbrick had already performed on twenty albums as a core band member, plus dozens more EPs, singles, and odd tracks on compilations. They had no reason to think they could actually get him to join their band. But they had three advantages. The first was that Swarbrick was sick of the traditional folk scene at the time, saying later “I didn’t like seven-eighths of the people involved in it, and it was extremely opportune to leave. I was suddenly presented with the possibilities of exploring the dramatic content of the songs to the full.” The second was that he was hugely excited to be playing with Richard Thompson, who was one of the most innovative guitarists of his generation, and Martin Carthy remembers him raving about Thompson after their initial sessions. (Carthy himself was and is no slouch on the guitar of course, and there was even talk of getting him to join the band at this point, though they decided against it — much to the relief of rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol, who is a perfectly fine player himself but didn’t want to be outclassed by *two* of the best guitarists in Britain at the same time). And the third was that Joe Boyd told him that Fairport were doing so well — they had a single just about to hit the charts with “Si Tu Dois Partir” — that he would only have to play a dozen gigs with Fairport in order to retire. As it turned out, Swarbrick would play with the group for a decade, and would never retire — I saw him on his last tour in 2015, only eight months before he died. The drummer the group picked was also a far more experienced musician than any of the rest, though in a very different genre. Dave Mattacks had no knowledge at all of the kind of music they played, having previously been a player in dance bands. When asked by Hutchings if he wanted to join the band, Mattacks’ response was “I don’t know anything about the music. I don’t understand it… I can’t tell one tune from another, they all sound the same… but if you want me to join the group, fine, because I really like it. I’m enjoying myself musically.” Mattacks brought a new level of professionalism to the band, thanks to his different background. Nicol said of him later “He was dilligent, clean, used to taking three white shirts to a gig… The application he could bring to his playing was amazing. With us, you only played well when you were feeling well.” This distinction applied to his playing as well. Nicol would later describe the difference between Mattacks’ drumming and Lamble’s by saying “Martin’s strength was as an imaginative drummer. DM came in with a strongly developed sense of rhythm, through keeping a big band of drunken saxophone players in order. A great time-keeper.” With this new line-up and a new sense of purpose, the group did as many of their contemporaries were doing and “got their heads together in the country”. Joe Boyd rented the group a mansion, Farley House, in Farley Chamberlayne, Hampshire, and they stayed there together for three months. At the start, the group seem to have thought that they were going to make another record like Unhalfbricking, with some originals, some songs by American songwriters, and a few traditional songs. Even after their stay in Farley Chamberlayne, in fact, they recorded a few of the American songs they’d rehearsed at the start of the process, Richard Farina’s “Quiet Joys of Brotherhood” and Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn’s “Ballad of Easy Rider”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Ballad of Easy Rider”] Indeed, the whole idea of “getting our heads together in the country” (as the cliche quickly became in the late sixties as half of the bands in Britain went through much the same kind of process as Fairport were doing — but usually for reasons more to do with drug burnout or trend following than recovering from serious life-changing trauma) seems to have been inspired by Bob Dylan and the Band getting together in Big Pink. But very quickly they decided to follow the lead of Ashley Hutchings, who had had something of a Damascene conversion to the cause of traditional English folk music. They were listening mostly to Music From Big Pink by the Band, and to the first album by Sweeney’s Men: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “The Handsome Cabin Boy”] And they decided that they were going to make something that was as English as those records were North American and Irish (though in the event there were also a few Scottish songs included on the record). Hutchings in particular was becoming something of a scholar of traditional music, regularly visiting Cecil Sharp House and having long conversations with A.L. Lloyd, discovering versions of different traditional songs he’d never encountered before. This was both amusing and bemusing Sandy Denny, who had joined a rock group in part to get away from traditional music; but she was comfortable singing the material, and knew a lot of it and could make a lot of suggestions herself. Swarbrick obviously knew the repertoire intimately, and Nicol was amenable, while Mattacks was utterly clueless about the folk tradition at this point but knew this was the music he wanted to make. Thompson knew very little about traditional music, and of all the band members except Denny he was the one who has shown the least interest in the genre in his subsequent career — but as we heard at the beginning, showing the least interest in the genre is a relative thing, and while Thompson was not hugely familiar with the genre, he *was* able to work with it, and was also more than capable of writing songs that fit in with the genre. Of the eleven songs on the album, which was titled Liege and Lief (which means, roughly, Lord and Loyalty), there were no cover versions of singer-songwriters. Eight were traditional songs, and three were originals, all written in the style of traditional songs. The album opened with “Come All Ye”, an introduction written by Denny and Hutchings (the only time the two would ever write together): [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Come All Ye”] The other two originals were songs where Thompson had written new lyrics to traditional melodies. On “Crazy Man Michael”, Swarbrick had said to Thompson that the tune to which he had set his new words was weaker than the lyrics, to which Thompson had replied that if Swarbrick felt that way he should feel free to write a new melody. He did, and it became the first of the small number of Thompson/Swarbrick collaborations: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Crazy Man Michael”] Thompson and Swarbrick would become a brief songwriting team, but as much as anything else it was down to proximity — the two respected each other as musicians, but never got on very well. In 1981 Swarbrick would say “Richard and I never got on in the early days of FC… we thought we did, but we never did. We composed some bloody good songs together, but it was purely on a basis of “you write that and I’ll write this, and we’ll put it together.” But we never sat down and had real good chats.” The third original on the album, and by far the most affecting, is another song where Thompson put lyrics to a traditional tune. In this case he thought he was putting the lyrics to the tune of “Willie O'Winsbury”, but he was basing it on a recording by Sweeney’s Men. The problem was that Sweeney’s Men had accidentally sung the lyrics of “Willie O'Winsbury'” to the tune of a totally different song, “Fause Foodrage”: [Excerpt: Sweeney’s Men, “Willie O’Winsbury”] Thompson took that melody, and set to it lyrics about loss and separation. Thompson has never been one to discuss the meanings of his lyrics in any great detail, and in the case of this one has said “I really don't know what it means. This song came out of a dream, and I pretty much wrote it as I dreamt it (it was the sixties), and didn't spend very long analyzing it. So interpret as you wish – or replace with your own lines.” But in the context of the traffic accident that had killed his tailor girlfriend and a bandmate, and injured most of his other bandmates, the lyrics about lonely travellers, the winding road, bruised and beaten sons, saying goodbye, and never cutting cloth, seem fairly self-explanatory: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Farewell, Farewell”] The rest of the album, though, was taken up by traditional tunes. There was a long medley of four different fiddle reels; a version of “Reynardine” (a song about a seductive man — or is he a fox? Or perhaps both — which had been recorded by Swarbrick and Carthy on their most recent album); a 19th century song about a deserter saved from the firing squad by Prince Albert; and a long take on “Tam Lin”, one of the most famous pieces in the Scottish folk music canon, a song that has been adapted in different ways by everyone from the experimental noise band Current 93 to the dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah to the comics writer Grant Morrison: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Tam Lin”] And “Matty Groves”, a song about a man killing his cheating wife and her lover, which actually has a surprisingly similar story to that of “1921” from another great concept album from that year, the Who’s Tommy. “Matty Groves” became an excuse for long solos and shows of instrumental virtuosity: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Matty Groves”] The album was recorded in September 1969, after their return from their break in the country and a triumphal performance at the Royal Festival Hall, headlining over fellow Witchseason artists John and Beverly Martyn and Nick Drake. It became a classic of the traditional folk genre — arguably *the* classic of the traditional folk genre. In 2007 BBC Radio 2’s Folk Music Awards gave it an award for most influential folk album of all time, and while such things are hard to measure, I doubt there’s anyone with even the most cursory knowledge of British folk and folk-rock music who would not at least consider that a reasonable claim. But once again, by the time the album came out in November, the band had changed lineups yet again. There was a fundamental split in the band – on one side were Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, whose stance was, roughly, that Liege and Lief was a great experiment and a fun thing to do once, but really the band had two first-rate songwriters in themselves, and that they should be concentrating on their own new material, not doing these old songs, good as they were. They wanted to take the form of the traditional songs and use that form for new material — they wanted to make British folk-rock, but with the emphasis on the rock side of things. Hutchings, on the other hand, was equally sure that he wanted to make traditional music and go further down the rabbit hole of antiquity. With the zeal of the convert he had gone in a couple of years from being the leader of a band who were labelled “the British Jefferson Airplane” to becoming a serious scholar of traditional folk music. Denny was tired of touring, as well — she wanted to spend more time at home with Trevor Lucas, who was sleeping with other women when she was away and making her insecure. When the time came for the group to go on a tour of Denmark, Denny decided she couldn’t make it, and Hutchings was jubilant — he decided he was going to get A.L. Lloyd into the band in her place and become a *real* folk group. Then Denny reconsidered, and Hutchings was crushed. He realised that while he had always been the leader, he wasn’t going to be able to lead the band any further in the traditionalist direction, and quit the group — but not before he was delegated by the other band members to fire Denny. Until the publication of Richard Thompson’s autobiography in 2022, every book on the group or its members said that Denny quit the band again, which was presumably a polite fiction that the band agreed, but according to Thompson “Before we flew home, we decided to fire Sandy. I don't remember who asked her to leave – it was probably Ashley, who usually did the dirty work. She was reportedly shocked that we would take that step. She may have been fragile beneath the confident facade, but she still knew her worth.” Thompson goes on to explain that the reasons for kicking her out were that “I suppose we felt that in her mind she had already left” and that “We were probably suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, though there wasn't a name for it back then.” They had considered inviting Trevor Lucas to join the band to make Denny more comfortable, but came to the (probably correct) conclusion that while he was someone they got on well with personally, he would be another big ego in a band that already had several, and that being around Denny and Lucas’ volatile relationship would, in Thompson’s phrasing, “have not always given one a feeling of peace and stability.” Hutchings originally decided he was going to join Sweeney’s Men, but that group were falling apart, and their first rehearsal with Hutchings would also be their last as a group, with only Hutchings and guitarist and mandolin player Terry Woods left in the band. They added Woods’ wife Gay, and another couple, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, and formed a group called Steeleye Span, a name given them by Martin Carthy. That group, like Fairport, went to “get their heads together in the country” for three months and recorded an album of electric versions of traditional songs, Hark the Village Wait, on which Mattacks and another drummer, Gerry Conway, guested as Steeleye Span didn’t at the time have their own drummer: [Excerpt: Steeleye Span, “Blackleg Miner”] Steeleye Span would go on to have a moderately successful chart career in the seventies, but by that time most of the original lineup, including Hutchings, had left — Hutchings stayed with them for a few albums, then went on to form the first of a series of bands, all called the Albion Band or variations on that name, which continue to this day. And this is something that needs to be pointed out at this point — it is impossible to follow every single individual in this narrative as they move between bands. There is enough material in the history of the British folk-rock scene that someone could do a 500 Songs-style podcast just on that, and every time someone left Fairport, or Steeleye Span, or the Albion Band, or Matthews’ Southern Comfort, or any of the other bands we have mentioned or will mention, they would go off and form another band which would then fission, and some of its members would often join one of those other bands. There was a point in the mid-1970s where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport Convention while Fairport Convention had none. So just in order to keep the narrative anything like wieldy, I’m going to keep the narrative concentrated on the two figures from Fairport — Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson — whose work outside the group has had the most influence on the wider world of rock music more broadly, and only deal with the other members when, as they often did, their careers intersected with those two. That doesn’t mean the other members are not themselves hugely important musicians, just that their importance has been primarily to the folk side of the folk-rock genre, and so somewhat outside the scope of this podcast. While Hutchings decided to form a band that would allow him to go deeper and deeper into traditional folk music, Sandy Denny’s next venture was rather different. For a long time she had been writing far more songs than she had ever played for her bandmates, like “Nothing More”, a song that many have suggested is about Thompson: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Nothing More”] When Joe Boyd heard that Denny was leaving Fairport Convention, he was at first elated. Fairport’s records were being distributed by A&M in the US at that point, but Island Records was in the process of opening up a new US subsidiary which would then release all future Fairport product — *but*, as far as A&M were concerned, Sandy Denny *was* Fairport Convention. They were only interested in her. Boyd, on the other hand, loved Denny’s work intensely, but from his point of view *Richard Thompson* was Fairport Convention. If he could get Denny signed directly to A&M as a solo artist before Island started its US operations, Witchseason could get a huge advance on her first solo record, while Fairport could continue making records for Island — he’d have two lucrative acts, on different labels. Boyd went over and spoke to A&M and got an agreement in principle that they would give Denny a forty-thousand-dollar advance on her first solo album — twice what they were paying for Fairport albums. The problem was that Denny didn’t want to be a solo act. She wanted to be the lead singer of a band. She gave many reasons for this — the one she gave to many journalists was that she had seen a Judy Collins show and been impressed, but noticed that Collins’ band were definitely a “backing group”, and as she put it “But that's all they were – a backing group. I suddenly thought, If you're playing together on a stage you might as well be TOGETHER.” Most other people in her life, though, say that the main reason for her wanting to be in a band was her desire to be with her boyfriend, Trevor Lucas. Partly this was due to a genuine desire to spend more time with someone with whom she was very much in love, partly it was a fear that he would cheat on her if she was away from him for long periods of time, and part of it seems to have been Lucas’ dislike of being *too* overshadowed by his talented girlfriend — he didn’t mind acknowledging that she was a major talent, but he wanted to be thought of as at least a minor one. So instead of going solo, Denny formed Fotheringay, named after the song she had written for Fairport. This new band consisted at first of Denny on vocals and occasional piano, Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Lucas’ old Eclection bandmate Gerry Conway on drums. For a lead guitarist, they asked Richard Thompson who the best guitarist in Britain was, and he told them Albert Lee. Lee in turn brought in bass player Pat Donaldson, but this lineup of the band barely survived a fortnight. Lee *was* arguably the best guitarist in Britain, certainly a reasonable candidate if you could ever have a singular best (as indeed was Thompson himself), but he was the best *country* guitarist in Britain, and his style simply didn’t fit with Fotheringay’s folk-influenced songs. He was replaced by American guitarist Jerry Donahue, who was not anything like as proficient as Lee, but who was still very good, and fit the band’s style much better. The new group rehearsed together for a few weeks, did a quick tour, and then went into the recording studio to record their debut, self-titled, album. Joe Boyd produced the album, but admitted himself that he only paid attention to those songs he considered worthwhile — the album contained one song by Lucas, “The Ballad of Ned Kelly”, and two cover versions of American singer-songwriter material with Lucas singing lead. But everyone knew that the songs that actually *mattered* were Sandy Denny’s, and Boyd was far more interested in them, particularly the songs “The Sea” and “The Pond and the Stream”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “The Pond and the Stream”] Fotheringay almost immediately hit financial problems, though. While other Witchseason acts were used to touring on the cheap, all packed together in the back of a Transit van with inexpensive equipment, Trevor Lucas had ambitions of being a rock star and wanted to put together a touring production to match, with expensive transport and equipment, including a speaker system that got nicknamed “Stonehenge” — but at the same time, Denny was unhappy being on the road, and didn’t play many gigs. As well as the band itself, the Fotheringay album also featured backing vocals from a couple of other people, including Denny’s friend Linda Peters. Peters was another singer from the folk clubs, and a good one, though less well-known than Denny — at this point she had only released a couple of singles, and those singles seemed to have been as much as anything else released as a novelty. The first of those, a version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” had been released as by “Paul McNeill and Linda Peters”: [Excerpt: Paul McNeill and Linda Peters, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”] But their second single, a version of John D. Loudermilk’s “You’re Taking My Bag”, was released on the tiny Page One label, owned by Larry Page, and was released under the name “Paul and Linda”, clearly with the intent of confusing particularly gullible members of the record-buying public into thinking this was the McCartneys: [Excerpt: Paul and Linda, “You’re Taking My Bag”] Peters was though more financially successful than almost anyone else in this story, as she was making a great deal of money as a session singer. She actually did another session involving most of Fotheringay around this time. Witchseason had a number of excellent songwriters on its roster, and had had some success getting covers by people like Judy Collins, but Joe Boyd thought that they might possibly do better at getting cover versions if they were performed in less idiosyncratic arrangements. Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway went into the studio to record backing tracks, and vocals were added by Peters and another session singer, who according to some sources also provided piano. They cut songs by Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “You Get Brighter”] Ed Carter, formerly of The New Nadir but by this time firmly ensconced in the Beach Boys’ touring band where he would remain for the next quarter-century: [Excerpt: Linda Peters, “I Don’t Mind”] John and Beverly Martyn, and Nick Drake: [Excerpt: Elton John, “Saturday Sun”] There are different lineups of musicians credited for those sessions in different sources, but I tend to believe that it’s mostly Fotheringay for the simple reason that Donahue says it was him, Donaldson and Conway who talked Lucas and Denny into the mistake that destroyed Fotheringay because of these sessions. Fotheringay were in financial trouble already, spending far more money than they were bringing in, but their album made the top twenty and they were getting respect both from critics and from the public — in September, Sandy Denny was voted best British female singer by the readers of Melody Maker in their annual poll, which led to shocked headlines in the tabloids about how this “unknown” could have beaten such big names as Dusty Springfield and Cilla Black. Only a couple of weeks after that, they were due to headline at the Albert Hall. It should have been a triumph. But Donahue, Donaldson, and Conway had asked that singing pianist to be their support act. As Donahue said later “That was a terrible miscast. It was our fault. He asked if [he] could do it. Actually Pat, Gerry and I had to talk Sandy and Trevor into [it]… We'd done these demos and the way he was playing – he was a wonderful piano player – he was sensitive enough. We knew very little about his stage-show. We thought he'd be a really good opener for us.” Unfortunately, Elton John was rather *too* good. As Donahue continued “we had no idea what he had in mind, that he was going to do the most incredible rock & roll show ever. He pretty much blew us off the stage before we even got on the stage.” To make matters worse, Fotheringay’s set, which was mostly comprised of new material, was underrehearsed and sloppy, and from that point on no matter what they did people were counting the hours until the band split up. They struggled along for a while though, and started working on a second record, with Boyd again producing, though as Boyd later said “I probably shouldn't have been producing the record. My lack of respect for the group was clear, and couldn't have helped the atmosphere. We'd put out a record that had sold disappointingly, A&M was unhappy. Sandy's tracks on the first record are among the best things she ever did – the rest of it, who cares? And the artwork, Trevor's sister, was terrible. It would have been one thing if I'd been unhappy with it and it sold, and the group was working all the time, making money, but that wasn't the case … I knew what Sandy was capable of, and it was very upsetting to me.” The record would not be released for thirty-eight years: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “Wild Mountain Thyme”] Witchseason was going badly into debt. Given all the fissioning of bands that we’ve already been talking about, Boyd had been stretched thin — he produced sixteen albums in 1970, and almost all of them lost money for the company. And he was getting more and more disillusioned with the people he was producing. He loved Beverly Martyn’s work, but had little time for her abusive husband John, who was dominating her recording and life more and more and would soon become a solo artist while making her stay at home (and stealing her ideas without giving her songwriting credit). The Incredible String Band were great, but they had recently converted to Scientology, which Boyd found annoying, and while he was working with all sorts of exciting artists like Vashti Bunyan and Nico, he was finding himself less and less important to the artists he mentored. Fairport Convention were a good example of this. After Denny and Hutchings had left the group, they’d decided to carry on as an electric folk group, performing an equal mix of originals by the Swarbrick and Thompson songwriting team and arrangements of traditional songs. The group were now far enough away from the “British Jefferson Airplane” label that they decided they didn’t need a female vocalist — and more realistically, while they’d been able to replace Judy Dyble, nobody was going to replace Sandy Denny. Though it’s rather surprising when one considers Thompson’s subsequent career that nobody seems to have thought of bringing in Denny’s friend Linda Peters, who was dating Joe Boyd at the time (as Denny had been before she met Lucas) as Denny’s replacement. Instead, they decided that Swarbrick and Thompson were going to share the vocals between them. They did, though, need a bass player to replace Hutchings. Swarbrick wanted to bring in Dave Pegg, with whom he had played in the Ian Campbell Folk Group, but the other band members initially thought the idea was a bad one. At the time, while they respected Swarbrick as a musician, they didn’t think he fully understood rock and roll yet, and they thought the idea of getting in a folkie who had played double bass rather than an electric rock bassist ridiculous. But they auditioned him to mollify Swarbrick, and found that he was exactly what they needed. As Joe Boyd later said “All those bass lines were great, Ashley invented them all, but he never could play them that well. He thought of them, but he was technically not a terrific bass player. He was a very inventive, melodic, bass player, but not a very powerful one technically. But having had the part explained to him once, Pegg was playing it better than Ashley had ever played it… In some rock bands, I think, ultimately, the bands that sound great, you can generally trace it to the bass player… it was at that point they became a great band, when they had Pegg.” The new lineup of Fairport decided to move in together, and found a former pub called the Angel, into which all the band members moved, along with their partners and children (Thompson was the only one who was single at this point) and their roadies. The group lived together quite happily, and one gets the impression that this was the period when they were most comfortable with each other, even though by this point they were a disparate group with disparate tastes, in music as in everything else. Several people have said that the only music all the band members could agree they liked at this point was the first two albums by The Band. With the departure of Hutchings from the band, Swarbrick and Thompson, as the strongest personalities and soloists, became in effect the joint leaders of the group, and they became collaborators as songwriters, trying to write new songs that were inspired by traditional music. Thompson described the process as “let’s take one line of this reel and slow it down and move it up a minor third and see what that does to it; let’s take one line of this ballad and make a whole song out of it. Chopping up the tradition to find new things to do… like a collage.” Generally speaking, Swarbrick and Thompson would sit by the fire and Swarbrick would play a melody he’d been working on, the two would work on it for a while, and Thompson would then go away and write the lyrics. This is how the two came up with songs like the nine-minute “Sloth”, a highlight of the next album, Full House, and one that would remain in Fairport’s live set for much of their career: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth”] “Sloth” was titled that way because Thompson and Swarbrick were working on two tunes, a slow one and a fast one, and they jokingly named them “Sloth” and “Fasth”, but the latter got renamed to “Walk Awhile”, while “Sloth” kept its working title. But by this point, Boyd and Thompson were having a lot of conflict in the studio. Boyd was never the most technical of producers — he was one of those producers whose job is to gently guide the artists in the studio and create a space for the music to flourish, rather than the Joe Meek type with an intimate technical knowledge of the studio — and as the artists he was working with gained confidence in their own work they felt they had less and less need of him. During the making of the Full House album, Thompson and Boyd, according to Boyd, clashed on everything — every time Boyd thought Thompson had done a good solo, Thompson would say to erase it and let him have another go, while every time Boyd thought Thompson could do better, Thompson would say that was the take to keep. One of their biggest clashes was over Thompson’s song “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”, which was originally intended for release on the album, and is included in current reissues of it: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman”] Thompson had written that song inspired by what he thought was the unjust treatment of Alex Bramham, the driver in Fairport’s fatal car crash, by the courts — Bramham had been given a prison sentence of a few months for dangerous driving, while the group members thought he had not been at fault. Boyd thought it was one of the best things recorded for the album, but Thompson wasn’t happy with his vocal — there was one note at the top of the melody that he couldn’t quite hit — and insisted it be kept off the record, even though that meant it would be a shorter album than normal. He did this at such a late stage that early copies of the album actually had the title printed on the sleeve, but then blacked out. He now says in his autobiography “I could have persevered, double-tracked the voice, warmed up for longer – anything. It was a good track, and the record was lacking without it. When the album was re-released, the track was restored with a more confident vocal, and it has stayed there ever since.” During the sessions for Full House the group also recorded one non-album single, Thompson and Swarbrick’s “Now Be Thankful”: [Excerpt, Fairport Convention, “Now Be Thankful”] The B-side to that was a medley of two traditional tunes plus a Swarbrick original, but was given the deliberately ridiculous title “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sir B. McKenzie’s Daughter’s Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie”] The B. McKenzie in the title was a reference to the comic-strip character Barry McKenzie, a stereotype drunk Australian created for Private Eye magazine by the comedian Barry Humphries (later to become better known for his Dame Edna Everage character) but the title was chosen for one reason only — to get into the Guinness Book of Records for the song with the longest title. Which they did, though they were later displaced by the industrial band Test Dept, and their song “Long Live British Democracy Which Flourishes and Is Constantly Perfected Under the Immaculate Guidance of the Great, Honourable, Generous and Correct Margaret Hilda Thatcher. She Is the Blue Sky in the Hearts of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage and Bow in Deep Respect and Gratitude to Her. The Milk of Human Kindness”. Full House got excellent reviews in the music press, with Rolling Stone saying “The music shows that England has finally gotten her own equivalent to The Band… By calling Fairport an English equivalent of the Band, I meant that they have soaked up enough of the tradition of their countryfolk that it begins to show all over, while they maintain their roots in rock.” Off the back of this, the group went on their first US tour, culminating in a series of shows at the Troubadour in LA, on the same bill as Rick Nelson, which were recorded and later released as a live album: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Sloth (live)”] The Troubadour was one of the hippest venues at the time, and over their residency there the group got seen by many celebrities, some of whom joined them on stage. The first was Linda Ronstadt, who initially demurred, saying she didn’t know any of their songs. On being told they knew all of hers, she joined in with a rendition of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”. Thompson was later asked to join Ronstadt’s backing band, who would go on to become the Eagles, but he said later of this offer “I would have hated it. I’d have hated being on the road with four or five miserable Americans — they always seem miserable. And if you see them now, they still look miserable on stage — like they don’t want to be there and they don’t like each other.” The group were also joined on stage at the Troubadour on one memorable night by some former bandmates of Pegg’s. Before joining the Ian Campbell Folk Group, Pegg had played around the Birmingham beat scene, and had been in bands with John Bonham and Robert Plant, who turned up to the Troubadour with their Led Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page (reports differ on whether the fourth member of Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, also came along). They all got up on stage together and jammed on songs like “Hey Joe”, “Louie Louie”, and various old Elvis tunes. The show was recorded, and the tapes are apparently still in the possession of Joe Boyd, who has said he refuses to release them in case he is murdered by the ghost of Peter Grant. According to Thompson, that night ended in a three-way drinking contest between Pegg, Bonham, and Janis Joplin, and it’s testament to how strong the drinking culture is around Fairport and the British folk scene in general that Pegg outdrank both of them. According to Thompson, Bonham was found naked by a swimming pool two days later, having missed two gigs. For all their hard rock image, Led Zeppelin were admirers of a lot of the British folk and folk-rock scene, and a few months later Sandy Denny would become the only outside vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin record when she duetted with Plant on “The Battle of Evermore” on the group’s fourth album: [Excerpt: Led Zeppelin, “The Battle of Evermore”] Denny would never actually get paid for her appearance on one of the best-selling albums of all time. That was, incidentally, not the only session that Denny was involved in around this time — she also sang on the soundtrack to a soft porn film titled Swedish Fly Girls, whose soundtrack was produced by Manfred Mann: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “What Will I Do With Tomorrow?”] Shortly after Fairport’s trip to America, Joe Boyd decided he was giving up on Witchseason. The company was now losing money, and he was finding himself having to produce work for more and more acts as the various bands fissioned. The only ones he really cared about were Richard Thompson, who he was finding it more and more difficult to work with, Nick Drake, who wanted to do his next album with just an acoustic guitar anyway, Sandy Denny, who he felt was wasting her talents in Fotheringay, and Mike Heron of the Incredible String Band, who was more distant since his conversion to Scientology. Boyd did make some attempts to keep the company going. On a trip to Sweden, he negotiated an agreement with the manager and publisher of a Swedish band whose songs he’d found intriguing, the Hep Stars. Boyd was going to publish their songs in the UK, and in return that publisher, Stig Anderson, would get the rights to Witchseason’s catalogue in Scandinavia — a straight swap, with no money changing hands. But before Boyd could get round to signing the paperwork, he got a better offer from Mo Ostin of Warners — Ostin wanted Boyd to come over to LA and head up Warners’ new film music department. Boyd sold Witchseason to Island Records and moved to LA with his fiancee Linda Peters, spending the next few years working on music for films like Deliverance and A Clockwork Orange, as well as making his own documentary about Jimi Hendrix, and thus missed out on getting the UK publishing rights for ABBA, and all the income that would have brought him, for no money. And it was that decision that led to the breakup of Fotheringay. Just before Christmas 1970, Fotheringay were having a difficult session, recording the track “John the Gun”: [Excerpt: Fotheringay, “John the Gun”] Boyd got frustrated and kicked everyone out of the session, and went for a meal and several drinks with Denny. He kept insisting that she should dump the band and just go solo, and then something happened that the two of them would always describe differently. She asked him if he would continue to produce her records if she went solo, and he said he would. According to Boyd’s recollection of the events, he meant that he would fly back from California at some point to produce her records. According to Denny, he told her that if she went solo he would stay in Britain and not take the job in LA. This miscommunication was only discovered after Denny told the rest of Fotheringay after the Christmas break that she was splitting the band. Jerry Donahue has described that as the worst moment of his life, and Denny felt very guilty about breaking up a band with some of her closest friends in — and then when Boyd went over to the US anyway she felt a profound betrayal. Two days before Fotheringay’s final concert, in January 1971, Sandy Denny signed a solo deal with Island records, but her first solo album would not end up produced by Joe Boyd. Instead, The North Star Grassman and the Ravens was co-produced by Denny, John Wood — the engineer who had worked with Boyd on pretty much everything he’d produced, and Richard Thompson, who had just quit Fairport Convention, though he continued living with them at the Angel, at least until a truck crashed into the building in February 1971, destroying its entire front wall and forcing them to relocate. The songs chosen for The North Star Grassman and the Ravens reflected the kind of choices Denny would make on her future albums, and her eclectic taste in music. There was, of course, the obligatory Dylan cover, and the traditional folk ballad “Blackwaterside”, but there was also a cover version of Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Let’s Jump the Broomstick”] Most of the album, though, was made up of originals about various people in Denny’s life, like “Next Time Around”, about her ex-boyfriend Jackson C Frank: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Next Time Around”] The album made the top forty in the UK — Denny’s only solo album to do so — and led to her once again winning the “best female singer” award in Melody Maker’s readers’ poll that year — the male singer award was won by Rod Stewart. Both Stewart and Denny appeared the next year on the London Symphony Orchestra’s all-star version of The Who’s Tommy, which had originally been intended as a vehicle for Stewart before Roger Daltrey got involved. Stewart’s role was reduced to a single song, “Pinball Wizard”, while Denny sang on “It’s a Boy”: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “It’s a Boy”] While Fotheringay had split up, all the band members play on The North Star Grassman and the Ravens. Guitarists Donahue and Lucas only play on a couple of the tracks, with Richard Thompson playing most of the guitar on the record. But Fotheringay’s rhythm section of Pat Donaldson and Gerry Conway play on almost every track. Another musician on the album, Ian Whiteman, would possibly have a profound effect on the future direction of Richard Thompson’s career and life. Whiteman was the former keyboard player for the mod band The Action, having joined them just before they became the blues-rock band Mighty Baby. But Mighty Baby had split up when all of the band except the lead singer had converted to Islam. Richard Thompson was on his own spiritual journey at this point, and became a Sufi – the same branch of Islam as Whiteman – soon after the session, though Thompson has said that his conversion was independent of Whiteman’s. The two did become very close and work together a lot in the mid-seventies though. Thompson had supposedly left Fairport because he was writing material that wasn’t suited to the band, but he spent more than a year after quitting the group working on sessions rather than doing anything with his own material, and these sessions tended to involve the same core group of musicians. One of the more unusual was a folk-rock supergroup called The Bunch, put together by Trevor Lucas. Richard Branson had recently bought a recording studio, and wanted a band to test it out before opening it up for commercial customers, so with this free studio time Lucas decided to record a set of fifties rock and roll covers. He gathered together Thompson, Denny, Whiteman, Ashley Hutchings, Dave Mattacks, Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, pianist Tony Cox, the horn section that would later form the core of the Average White Band, and Linda Peters, who had now split up with Joe Boyd and returned to the UK, and who had started dating Thompson. They recorded an album of covers of songs by Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Johnny Otis and others: [Excerpt: The Bunch, “Willie and the Hand Jive”] The early seventies was a hugely productive time for this group of musicians, as they all continued playing on each other’s projects. One notable album was No Roses by Shirley Collins, which featured Thompson, Mattacks, Whiteman, Simon Nicol, Lal and Mike Waterson, and Ashley Hutchings, who was at that point married to Collins, as well as some more unusual musicians like the free jazz saxophonist Lol Coxhill: [Excerpt: Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band, “Claudy Banks”] Collins was at the time the most respected female singer in British traditional music, and already had a substantial career including a series of important records made with her sister Dolly, work with guitarists like Davey Graham, and time spent in the 1950s collecting folk songs in the Southern US with her then partner Alan Lomax – according to Collins she did much of the actual work, but Lomax only mentioned her in a single sentence in his book on this work. Some of the same group of musicians went on to work on an album of traditional Morris dancing tunes, titled Morris On, credited to “Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield”, with Collins singing lead on two tracks: [Excerpt: Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks, John Kirkpatrick and Barry Dransfield with Shirley Collins, “The Willow Tree”] Thompson thought that that album was the best of the various side projects he was involved in at the time, comparing it favourably to Rock On, which he thought was rather slight, saying later “Conceptually, Fairport, Ashley and myself and Sandy were developing a more fragile style of music that nobody else was particularly interested in, a British Folk Rock idea that had a logical development to it, although we all presented it our own way. Morris On was rather more true to what we were doing. Rock On was rather a retro step. I'm not sure it was lasting enough as a record but Sandy did sing really well on the Buddy Holly songs.” Hutchings used the musicians on No Roses and Morris On as the basis for his band the Albion Band, which continues to this day. Simon Nicol and Dave Mattacks both quit Fairport to join the Albion Band, though Mattacks soon returned. Nicol would not return to Fairport for several years, though, and for a long period in the mid-seventies Fairport Convention had no original members. Unfortunately, while Collins was involved in the Albion Band early on, she and Hutchings ended up divorcing, and the stress from the divorce led to Collins developing spasmodic dysphonia, a stress-related illness which makes it impossible for the sufferer to sing. She did eventually regain her vocal ability, but between 1978 and 2016 she was unable to perform at all, and lost decades of her career. Richard Thompson occasionally performed with the Albion Band early on, but he was getting stretched a little thin with all these sessions. Linda Peters said later of him “When I came back from America, he was working in Sandy’s band, and doing sessions by the score. Always with Pat Donaldson and Dave Mattacks. Richard would turn up with his guitar, one day he went along to do a session with one of those folkie lady singers — and there were Pat and DM. They all cracked. Richard smashed his amp and said “Right! No more sessions!” In 1972 he got round to releasing his first solo album, Henry the Human Fly, which featured guest appearances by Linda Peters and Sandy Denny among others: [Excerpt: Richard Thompson, “The Angels Took My Racehorse Away”] Unfortunately, while that album has later become regarded as one of the classics of its genre, at the time it was absolutely slated by the music press. The review in Melody Maker, for example, read in part “Some of Richard Thompson’s ideas sound great – which is really the saving grace of this album, because most of the music doesn’t. The tragedy is that Thompson’s “British rock music” is such an unconvincing concoction… Even the songs that do integrate rock and traditional styles of electric guitar rhythms and accordion and fiddle decoration – and also include explicit, meaningful lyrics are marred by bottle-up vocals, uninspiring guitar phrases and a general lack of conviction in performance.” Henry the Human Fly was released in the US by Warners, who had a reciprocal licensing deal with Island (and for whom Joe Boyd was working at the time, which may have had something to do with that) but according to Thompson it became the lowest-selling record that Warners ever put out (though I’ve also seen that claim made about Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle, another album that has later been rediscovered). Thompson was hugely depressed by this reaction, and blamed his own singing. Happily, though, by this point he and Linda had become a couple — they would marry in 1972 — and they started playing folk clubs as a duo, or sometimes in a trio with Simon Nicol. Thompson was also playing with Sandy Denny’s backing band at this point, and played on every track on her second solo album, Sandy. This album was meant to be her big commercial breakthrough, with a glamorous cover photo by David Bailey, and with a more American sound, including steel guitar by Sneaky Pete Kleinow of the Flying Burrito Brothers (whose overdubs were supervised in LA by Joe Boyd): [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Tomorrow is a Long Time”] The album was given a big marketing push by Island, and “Listen, Listen” was made single of the week on the Radio 1 Breakfast show: [Excerpt: Sandy Denny, “Listen, Listen”] But it did even worse than the previous album, sending her into something of a depression. Linda Thompson (as the former Linda Peters now was) said of this period “After the Sandy album, it got her down that her popularity didn't suddenly increase in leaps and bounds, and that was the start of her really fretting about the way her career was going. Things only escalated after that. People like me or Martin Carthy or Norma Waterson would think, ‘What are you on about? This is folk music.'” After Sandy’s release, Denny realised she could no longer afford to tour with a band, and so went back to performing just acoustically or on piano. The only new music to be released by either of these ex-members of Fairport Convention in 1973 was, oddly, on an album by the band they were no longer members of. After Thompson had left Fairport, the group had managed to release two whole albums with the same lineup — Swarbrick, Nicol, Pegg, and Mattacks. But then Nicol and Mattacks had both quit the band to join the Albion Band with their former bandmate Ashley Hutchings, leading to a situation where the Albion Band had two original members of Fairport plus their longtime drummer while Fairport Convention itself had no original members and was down to just Swarbrick and Pegg. Needing to fulfil their contracts, they then recruited three former members of Fotheringay — Lucas on vocals and rhythm guitar, Donahue on lead guitar, and Conway on drums. Conway was only a session player at the time, and Mattacks soon returned to the band, but Lucas and Donahue became full-time members. This new lineup of Fairport Convention released two albums in 1973, widely regarded as the group’s most inconsistent records, and on the title track of the first, “Rosie”, Richard Thompson guested on guitar, with Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Fairport Convention, “Rosie”] Neither Sandy Denny nor Richard Thompson released a record themselves in 1973, but in neither case was this through the artists’ choice. The record industry was changing in the early 1970s, as we’ll see in later episodes, and was less inclined to throw good money after bad in the pursuit of art. Island Records prided itself on being a home for great artists, but it was still a business, and needed to make money. We’ll talk about the OPEC oil crisis and its effect on the music industry much more when the podcast gets to 1973, but in brief, the production of oil by the US peaked in 1970 and started to decrease, leading to them importing more and more oil from the Middle East. As a result of this, oil prices rose slowly between 1971 and 1973, then very quickly towards the end of 1973 as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict that year. As vinyl is made of oil, suddenly producing records became much more expensive, and in this period a lot of labels decided not to release already-completed albums, until what they hoped would be a brief period of shortages passed. Both Denny and Thompson recorded albums at this point that got put to one side by Island. In the case of Thompson, it was the first album by Richard and Linda as a duo, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Today, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and as one of the two masterpieces that bookended Richard and Linda’s career as a duo and their marriage. But when they recorded the album, full of Richard’s dark songs, it was the opposite of commercial. Even a song that’s more or less a boy-girl song, like “Has He Got a Friend for Me?” has lyrics like “He wouldn’t notice me passing by/I could be in the gutter, or dangling down from a tree” [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “Has He got a Friend For Me?”] While something like “The Calvary Cross” is oblique and haunted, and seems to cast a pall over the entire album: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “The Calvary Cross”] The album itself had been cheap to make — it had been recorded in only a week, with Thompson bringing in musicians he knew well and had worked with a lot previously to cut the tracks as-live in only a handful of takes — but Island didn’t think it was worth releasing. The record stayed on the shelf for nearly a year after recording, until Island got a new head of A&R, Richard Williams. Williams said of the album’s release “Muff Winwood had been doing A&R, but he was more interested in production… I had a conversation with Muff as soon as I got there, and he said there are a few hangovers, some outstanding problems. And one of them was Richard Thompson. He said there’s this album we gave him the money to make — which was I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight — and nobody’s very interested in it. Henry the Human Fly had been a bit of a commercial disappointment, and although Island was altruistic and independent and known for only recording good stuff, success was important… Either a record had to do well or somebody had to believe in it a lot. And it seemed as if neither of those things were true at that point of Richard.” Williams, though, was hugely impressed when he listened to the album. He compared Richard Thompson’s guitar playing to John Coltrane’s sax, and called Thompson “the folk poet of the rainy streets”, but also said “Linda brightened it, made it more commercial. and I thought that “Bright Lights” itself seemed a really commercial song.” The rest of the management at Island got caught up in Williams’ enthusiasm, and even decided to release the title track as a single: [Excerpt: Richard and Linda Thompson, “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight”] Neither single nor album charted — indeed it would not be until 1991 that Richard Thompson would make a record that made the top forty in the UK — but the album got enough critical respect that Richard and Linda released two albums the year after. The first of these, Hokey Pokey, is a much more upbeat record than their previous one — Richard Thompson has called it “quite a music-hall influenced record” and cited the influence of George Formby and Harry Lauder. For once, the claim of music hall influence is audible in the music. Usually when a British musician is claimed to have a music ha