Podcast appearances and mentions of Edward Heath

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974

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Best podcasts about Edward Heath

Latest podcast episodes about Edward Heath

The Georgia Politics Podcast
1975: The Political Rise of Margaret Thatcher

The Georgia Politics Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 21, 2025 53:16


Welcome to The Georgia Politics Podcast! In this episode we dive into our 1975 series and turn our focus across the pond to the political rise of Margaret Thatcher. Before she became Britain's first female Prime Minister, Thatcher was a rising force in the Conservative Party, securing the party leadership in 1975 after a dramatic challenge to Edward Heath. We'll explore the political and economic climate that set the stage for her ascent, the key players who shaped her early career, and how her brand of conservatism began to take hold. What did her leadership victory mean for Britain and the world? And how did it foreshadow the sweeping changes she would later bring as Prime Minister? Join us as we dive into this pivotal moment in Thatcher's career and its lasting impact on global politics. Connect with The Georgia Politics Podcast on Twitter @gapoliticspod Hans Appen on Twitter @hansappen Craig Kidd on Twitter @CraigKidd1 Proud member of the Appen Podcast Network. #gapol

House of Lords Podcast
Lord Butler of Brockwell: Lord Speaker's Corner

House of Lords Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2024 47:53


‘I'd heard bombs before, so I knew it was a bomb.'Forty years ago this month, Robin Butler - Principle Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher - was in the room with the prime minister when the Brighton bomb exploded nearby in their hotel.‘This is our opportunity to show that terrorism can't defeat democracy'Now Lord Butler of Brockwell tells the Lord Speaker about his experience, from their initial reaction to the blast, to going back to retrieve the prime minister's papers, and shares Margaret Thatcher's response to his suggestion she postpone the start of the Conservative Party Conference the next morning.‘I devoted my life to assisting politicians with government.'Lord Butler worked closely with five prime ministers, from Edward Heath to Tony Blair. In this episode he shares his experience of working with each of them either as private secretary or cabinet secretary. He speaks about later work of prime ministers on Northern Ireland, negotiations with Europe, why he joined the civil service and the growing role of special advisers. He also shares his thoughts on reforming the Civil Service, arguing that ‘you've got to reform it constantly… But you've got to lead the Civil Service in my view, and not drive them' Hear more from the series https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/house-of-lords-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

featured Wiki of the Day
Jeremy Thorpe

featured Wiki of the Day

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2024 3:37


fWotD Episode 2691: Jeremy Thorpe Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Monday, 16 September 2024 is Jeremy Thorpe.John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979, and as leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. In May 1979 he was tried at the Old Bailey on charges of conspiracy and incitement to murder his ex-boyfriend Norman Scott, a former model. Thorpe was acquitted on all charges, but the case, and the furore surrounding it, ended his political career.Thorpe was the son and grandson of Conservative MPs, but decided to align with the small and ailing Liberal Party. After reading Law at Oxford University he became one of the Liberals' brightest stars in the 1950s. He entered Parliament at the age of 30, rapidly made his mark, and was elected party leader in 1967. After an uncertain start during which the party lost ground, Thorpe capitalised on the growing unpopularity of the Conservative and Labour parties to lead the Liberals through a period of electoral success. This culminated in the general election of February 1974, when the party won 6 million votes. Under the first-past-the-post electoral system this gave them only 14 seats, but in a hung parliament, no party having an overall majority, Thorpe was in a strong position. He was offered a cabinet post by the Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, if he would bring the Liberals into a coalition. His price for such a deal, reform of the electoral system, was rejected by Heath, who resigned in favour of a minority Labour government.The February 1974 election was the high-water mark of Thorpe's career. Thereafter his and his party's fortunes declined, particularly from late 1975 when rumours of his involvement in a plot to murder Norman Scott began to multiply. Thorpe resigned the leadership in May 1976 when his position became untenable. When the matter came to court three years later, Thorpe chose not to give evidence to avoid being cross-examined by counsel for the prosecution. This left many questions unanswered; despite his acquittal, Thorpe was discredited and did not return to public life. From the mid-1980s he was disabled by Parkinson's disease. During his long retirement he gradually recovered the affections of his party, and by the time of his death was honoured by a later generation of leaders, who drew attention to his record as an internationalist, a supporter of human rights and an opponent of apartheid and all forms of racism.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:27 UTC on Monday, 16 September 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Jeremy Thorpe on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Kimberly.

Blastfrom Castfrom
The Year 1973

Blastfrom Castfrom

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2024 42:07


Aloha from the Blastfrom Castfrom. We're swimming back to the year 1973. David Bowie, Bruce Lee, Edward Heath, the mobile phone and the supposed birth date of Hip Hop are all topics of discussion. If you'd like a Spotify playlist of songs from the year to soundtrack your journey with us, here you go - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4XVHxwqJI4ZqHyxacTnQUu?si=00a74f92a17145d4 

通勤學英語
回顧星期天LBS - 英國脫歐相關時事趣聞 All about 2022 Brexit

通勤學英語

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2024 10:56


The Rest Is History
420. Britain in 1974: Thatcher Enters the Ring (Part 4)

The Rest Is History

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2024 51:11


The horrific Guildford Pub Bombings of Saturday 5th October 1974 sent shockwaves through Britain, worsening the sense of crisis sweeping through the nation. It cast a dark shadow over the election campaign due to take place five days later. The future had rarely seemed grimmer, with a general sense of moral and economic panic, weariness and depression. For the fourth time, Labour's Harold Wilson and the Conservative's Edward Heath faced off, with Wilson able to scrape a three-seat majority. But could Wilson really revive the nation? Or would it be up to the new figure emerging from the Conservative Party, a certain Margaret Thatcher… Join Dominic and Tom for the conclusion to their series on one of the maddest years in British history, 1974. With dysfunctional governments, dark conspiracies, economic meltdown and ongoing terrorist attacks, can Britain survive the year? *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!  Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yeni Şafak Podcast
SÜLEYMAN SEYFİ ÖĞÜN - KATILAŞMALAR, SIVILAŞMALAR VE BUHARLAŞMALAR

Yeni Şafak Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 10, 2024 6:14


Birkaç hâdise üst üste geldi. Fransa'da Başbakan istifâ etti ve yerine, başarılı Fransız aktör Yves Attal'ın oğlu Gabriel Attal isimli bir başkası atandı. Yunanistan'da ise Syriza Partisi'nin başına ise Stefanos Kessakilis isimli yeni bir şahıs geçti. Bu iki nevzuhur liderin müşterek bâzı nitelikleri var: Hem Attal hem de Kessakilis eşcinsel. Diğer bir müşterek tarafları yakışıklı ve genç olmaları. Gabriel Attal'ın şöyle böyle bir siyâsal kariyeri mevcut. Ama daha çok mâliyeci bir teknokrat olarak. Kessakilis ise uzun seneler ABD'de yaşamış, Biden'a destek vermiş, Golden Sachs Bankası'nda çalışmış, siyâsetle alâkası, Attal'a göre daha zayıf bir şâhıs. Ama her ikisi de para-tura işlerinde temâyüz etmişler. Bu da başka bir benzerlikleri. 1980'lere kadar hüküm süren iklimde dünyâda, şöyle böyle genel kâbul görmüş siyâsetçi tipinin hayli dışında tipler bunlar. Sert, maço, çoklukla yaşını başını almış erkek veya erkekleşmiş kadın siyâsetçilerdi eski zamanların siyâsetçileri. Sevenleri elbette vardı, ama sevimli oldukları söylenemezdi. Ciddiyet başat prensipleriydi. Kissenger ve Nixon ABD'den buna tipik misâldir. Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, onların Birleşik Krallık'daki muadilleriydi. Fransa'da Jacques Chirac, Valéry Gisgard d'Estaing ilk akla gelen isimler. Şansölye Willy Brandt ve Helmut Schmidt Almanya'dan bu listeye dâhil edilebilir. İtalya'da Amintone Fanfani, Aldo Moro, Guilio Andreotti bu sınıfın İtalya'daki karşılıklarıdır. Bu şahıslar Soğuk Savaş'ın şekillendirdiği Zamânın Ruhu'na hitap ediyorlardı. Alabildiğine soğuk ve katıydılar. Onlara reelpolitik ilkeler yol gösteriyordu. Tabiî ki sütten çıkmış ak kaşık değillerdi. Ama hepsi de denge adamlarıydı. Siyâsetlerini dikkât, rikkât ve ölçü üzerine kuruyorlardı. 1980'lerden başlayarak tuhaf gelişmelere şâhit olmaya başladık. İkinci sınıf bir Holywood aktörü olan Reagan ABD Başkanlığına seçilerek yapıyı alt üst eden ilk figür oldu. Almanya'da Helmut Kohl halâ kabalığı, bilhassa yemek konusunda oburluğu ile nam salmıştır. Margaret Thatcher ise çıkardığı kanunlarla Birleşik Krallık'da kurulu tekmil dengeleri alt üst etmiş, Demir Lady sıfatını kazanmıştır. Baba-Oğul Bush'ların neleri kırıp döktükleri ortada. Yeltsin'i ayık bulmak neredeyse imkânsızdır. (Bizde de Turgut Özal tam bu kırılmayı karşılar). Arkası gelmiştir. İtalya'da Silvio Berlusconi, Fransa'da Sarkozy, Birleşik Krallık'da Tony Blair, tam da bunu ifâde eder. Artık katı siyâset sınıfının yerini, her yerde eş anlı olmasa da hayli sulu başka bir sınıf almaktadır. Meselâ Almanya'da Kohl sonrası Schröder ve Merkel devirlerinda hâlâ eskinin izlerine rastlanabilir. Almanya'da kırılma Olaf Scholz'da başladı. Son zamanların en büyük düşünürü olarak gördüğüm Zygmunt Bauman'ın kibarca Akışkan Toplum olarak kavramlaştırdığı bir dünyânın siyâsetçileridir onlar. Akışkan (liquid) toplumların siyâsetçileri de bir o kadar sıvılaşmış, sululaşmış şahıslar olabilirdi. Ama artık onlar da zamânın gerisinde kalıyorlar.

The LGBT Sport Podcast
The One with John-Edward Heath

The LGBT Sport Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2023 35:46


John-Edward Heath is someone who lives and breaths sport. A powerlifter, a snowboarder, a Crossfit competitor and an adaptive athlete with dreams of medalling on the grandest stages of them all – John-Edward is a man with big ambitions and the drive to match.But he's also a man who has had to overcome extraordinary obstacles. As a child, he experienced homelessness; as a gay Marine, he was outed; he had to deal with the trauma of a partner and a best friend taking their own lives; and, after being hit by a drunk-driver and experiencing a significant number of medical difficulties and complications, he made the decision to have his lower leg removed.With all of that trauma, you might think that John-Edward was consumed by negativity – but actually, the reverse is true, and the American adaptive athlete is focused on competing at the Paralympics and the grandest stages that sport has to offer, and of raising others up along the way.We talk about all of that in this episode – including how he discovered sport was for him, understanding his own sexuality, the idea of being ‘inspirational' and loads more besides, in a truly memorable episode. WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR GUESTS? @CarbonFiberJohn WANT TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THE PODCAST? @jack_murley jack.murley@bbc.co.uk HAVE YOU BEEN AFFECTED BY ANY OF THE ISSUES RAISED IN THIS EPISODE?BBC ACTION LINE WEBSITE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1NGvFrTqWChr03LrYlw2Hkk/information-and-support-mental-health-self-harmSAMARITANS WEBSITE: https://www.samaritans.org/

This Is My Life Yo
I am your newest fan (with John Edward Heath) #15

This Is My Life Yo

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2023 13:51


Hey ya'll, in this episode I had a conversation with John Edward Heath, an ELITE adaptive athlete who has overcome adversity over and over to be at the top of his game, in life and in the games. Enjoy! Follow John ⮕ https://instagram.com/carbonfiber_john_ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/timly/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/timly/support

Wex Appeal - Barbells, Beats & Buffoonery
59. LIVE from the CrossFit Games - John-Edward Heath - Paralympic Hopeful and Adaptive Athlete Advocate

Wex Appeal - Barbells, Beats & Buffoonery

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2023 46:55


John-Edward Heath is a Paralympic Hopeful and advocate for the adaptive athletes in Functional Fitness. With his trusty Corgi named Lord Voldemort by his side he is fighting to make sure that the voice of the adaptive athlete is seen in all sports, but more specifically the sport of CrossFit. We have a very candid conversation about the things CrossFit is doing right as well as the things they are doing very wrong. The message....JUST SHOW UP! Follow our new sponsor THUNDRBRO on IG (@thundrbro) and go check out the THUNDRBRO programs they offer at ⁠⁠⁠www.thundrbro.com⁠⁠⁠ You can follow along on my 90 Day Journey with THUNDRBRO on my IG and TikTok Shop and save with our other sponsors ⁠Blackout Barbell⁠. Go to ⁠⁠⁠BlackoutBarbell.shop⁠⁠⁠ and use the code "BLKOUT" to save 10% OFF your order. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Strong Coffee Company⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use code "WEXAPPEAL" to get $15 OFF your order. For exclusive Wex Appeal content become a Triple B Crew member for $4.99/mo. Just follow the link to sign up. ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wexappeal/subscribe⁠⁠

Think Out Loud
Celebrating 30 years of The Museum at Warm Springs, while looking to its future

Think Out Loud

Play Episode Listen Later May 10, 2023 18:33


In March 1993, The Museum at Warm Springs opened its doors, becoming the first Tribal museum in the state of Oregon and changing the way institutions represent the Native American historic and cultural record. Today, the museum boasts an extensive collection of artifacts, artwork, photographs and heirlooms that the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs started acquiring more than five decades ago from Tribal members and families. It also provides a space to showcase temporary exhibits and contemporary work, such as an “An Eye for the Rez,” a retrospective of Warm Springs Tribal member and photographer Edward Heath currently on display as part of the programming to celebrate the museum's 30th anniversary. Joining us to talk about the museum's legacy and share her vision for its future is Elizabeth Woody, executive director of The Museum at Warm Springs and a former Oregon Poet Laureate. But first, we hear from Central Oregon Bureau Chief Emily Cureton Cook who recently paid a visit to the museum to learn about its enduring cultural impact. Warm Springs Community Radio K-W-S-O provided archival recordings for this radio story, and KWSO journalist Will Robbins contributed to the reporting.

1919: The Year of Race Riots and Revolts
The Journey Episode 18 - In Conversation with Manoj Patel

1919: The Year of Race Riots and Revolts

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2023 65:05


Manoj Patel in conversation with  Emma Golby-KirkThe Journey Project is a Heritage Lottery funded project undertaken by Unity`101, intended to show the motivation, changes and the experiences  of people that have travelled from around the world to make Hampshire their home. Consisting of Oral History Testimonies, information and other conversations that tell the stories of a changing Southampton and Hampshire.Thanks to the work of volunteers and a small staff team a resource will be created that will be held in Southampton Archives as a record and resource for people in the future. 

通勤學英語
回顧星期天LBS - 英國脫歐相關時事趣聞 All about Brexit

通勤學英語

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2022 10:26


歡迎留言告訴我們你對這一集的想法: https://open.firstory.me/user/cl81kivnk00dn01wffhwxdg2s/comments Topic: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation. 加油站大排長龍,燃料價格上漲,超市貨架空無一物,大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。 Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging '60s, the '70s were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver. 英國人從疫情造成的18個月冬眠中醒來,發現國家遭遇許多與1970年代相同的痛苦。這次時光機器情節跟電影「王牌大賤諜」毫無相似之處:不同於動盪的1960年代,人們都說1970年代是戰後英國最淒涼的日子。只是想到要回到當時,就足以讓現任政府領導人不寒而慄。 The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade. 英國突然爆發的末日預言,源自心理學的份量跟經濟學一樣多。無疑地,這個國家面臨一系列問題,一些由疫情引起,另一些由英國脫歐造成。專家們說,現在就預測英國將陷入那十年特有的經濟低迷與政治動盪,仍為時過早。 “It's a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it's half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” 倫敦國王學院經濟學教授波特斯說:「原則上來說,這樣的多種因素組合可能導致那種情況,但個別也能發揮作用。我們總是在談論1970年代,但已過去半個世紀了,一切都不一樣了。」 Britain's economy, he noted, has bounced back faster from the pandemic than many experts predicted. The shortages in labor and some goods are likely a transitory effect of reopening much of the economy after prolonged lockdowns. Rising wages and supply bottlenecks are driving up the inflation rate, while the fuel shortages that have closed dozens of gas stations reflect a shortage of truck drivers, not of energy supplies. 他指,英國經濟從疫情中恢復的速度比許多專家預測還快。勞動力和一些商品短缺,可能是長期防疫封鎖後重新開放大部分經濟活動的短暫影響。工資上漲和供應瓶頸正在推升通膨率,而造成數十家加油站關閉的燃料短缺,反映的是卡車司機短缺,而非能源供應問題。 Nor does Britain have the aging industrial base and powerful unions it had in the 1970s. Labor unrest led to crippling strikes that brought down a Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, and one of his Labour Party successors, James Callaghan, after what the tabloids called the winter of discontent, in 1979. 英國也沒有1970年代那樣老化的工業基礎與強大工會。1979年發生小報所稱的「不滿之冬」,勞工騷亂導致嚴重罷工,造成保守黨首相奚斯及他的工黨繼任者之一卡拉漢下台。 And yet the parallels are suggestive enough that the right-leaning Daily Mail warned that “Britain faces winter of woe” — a chilly welcome for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he returned from the United States, having celebrated a new submarine alliance and rallied countries in advance of a U.N. climate change conference in Scotland in November. 然而,一些相似之處足以引發聯想,讓右傾的每日郵報發出「英國面臨災難冬天」警告。對訪美歸來的英國首相強生而言,這是個冷淡迎接,他才剛慶祝新的潛艦聯盟成立,並在11月蘇格蘭聯合國氣候變遷會議前團結各國。 “That is a very easy ghost to resurrect,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington who now sits in the House of Lords. “But these are real problems. You can just see this perfect storm coming.” 英國駐華府前大使、現為上議院議員的達洛許說:「那是個很容易復活的鬼魂,但這些都是實實在在的問題。你可以看到這場完美風暴逼近。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5804159 Next Article Topic: Brexit ‘done' at last: Now for the hard part The United Kingdom left the EU on Friday, its most significant change of course since the loss of its empire — and a major blow to 70 years of efforts to forge European unity from the ruins of two world wars. 英國上週五脫離了歐盟,這是自大英帝國解體以來英國最重大的改變,這對自兩次世界大戰廢墟中重建、經七十年整合努力的歐洲來說,也是重大的打擊。 After the numerous twists and turns of a three-and-a-half-year crisis, the final parting is an anticlimax of sorts: Britain steps into the twilight zone of a transition period that preserves membership in all but name until the end of this year. 這場危機歷時三年半、經過無數迂迴曲折,最後的脫歐似乎有些太過平靜:英國進入了過渡期的模糊地帶,雖名義上已脫離歐盟,但到年底前這段過渡期仍享有原先歐盟成員國之待遇。 At a stroke, the EU will lose 15 percent of its economy, its biggest military spender and the world's international financial capital — London. “This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act,” said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, one of the leaders of the “Leave” campaign in the 2016 referendum. “It is a moment of real national renewal and change.” 英國一脫歐,歐盟即會損失百分之十五的經濟、其最大的軍事開支國,以及國際金融重鎮──倫敦。 英國首相波里斯‧強生說:「這是黎明破曉、揭開新篇章的時刻」,強生曾是二○一六年公投中「脫歐」派的領導人之一。「這是真正的民族復興與變革的一刻。」 DISUNITED KINGDOM The EU cautioned that leaving meant losing the benefits of membership, though the US said Britons wanted to escape the “tyranny of Brussels.” While Britons either side of the Brexit (a portmanteau of “British” and “exit”) divide expressed either sadness or delight. 國內嚴重的分歧 歐盟警告說,英國脫歐意味失去歐盟成員國所享有的利益,雖然美國表示英國人想逃離「布魯塞爾的暴政」。而對於脫歐,英國贊成與反對的兩方皆表達出其喜與悲。〔「Brexit」(英國脫歐)一字為「Britain」與「 exit」所合成。〕 For proponents, Brexit is “independence day” — an escape from what they cast as a doomed German-dominated project that is failing its 500 million people. 對脫歐支持者來說,英國脫歐日是「獨立日」──擺脫了他們所認為注定失敗、由德國主導、辜負其五億人民的歐盟。 Opponents believe Brexit is a folly that will weaken the West, shrivel what is left of Britain's global clout, undermine its economy and ultimately lead to a more inward-looking and less cosmopolitan set of islands in the northern Atlantic. 反對脫歐的人認為,英國脫歐是不智之舉,會削弱西方的力量,也會讓英國所剩不多的全球影響力更無足輕重、破壞英國的經濟,最終會讓英國變成獨善其身、國際化程度較低的北大西洋島嶼。 Brexit was always about much more than Europe. The referendum, which split voters 52 percent to 48 percent, showed up deep divisions and triggered soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to empire and modern Britishness. 英國脫歐所牽涉的問題絕不止是歐洲。脫歐公投將選民撕裂為百分之五十二贊成與百分之四十八反對的兩方,顯示選民分歧之深,也引發了人民對國家分裂、移民,乃至大英帝國及現代對「英國性」之定義等這一切的深刻反省。 SMALL TIMEFRAME AHEAD Feb. 1 marks the beginning of a new phase of negotiations between London and Brussels to agree on the shape of their future relationship. 協議談判的緊迫時程 倫敦與布魯塞爾自二月一日起開始新階段的談判,以決定其未來關係的樣貌。 They have until the end of 2020 — a transition period during which Britain will remain an EU member in all but name — to hammer out an agreement on trade and other issues including security, energy, transport links, fishing rights and data flow. 將於二○二○年底屆滿的過渡時期中(在過渡期,英國實質仍為歐盟成員,但名義上不是),英國和歐盟必須就貿易和其他問題(包括安全、能源、交通運輸、漁權及資料流通)達成協議。 Johnson claims 11 months is time enough to strike a “zero tariff, zero quota” trade deal and has vowed — even though the option is there — not to extend the limbo period beyond 2020. 強生聲稱,十一個月的時間足以達成「零關稅、零配額」的貿易協議,並誓言不會把過渡期延長、拖過二○二○年,即便英國有此選項。 If they fail, the legal default will be a potentially crippling no-deal Brexit that would leave trade between Britain and the EU from 2021 onwards based on WTO terms, and see the imposition of import duties and controls. 若未在此期限內達成協議,就會變成無協議脫歐,損害可能非常嚴重,英國和歐盟間之貿易便會在二○二一年起依世界貿易組織(WTO)之規定課徵進口關稅及受管制。 Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/02/04/2003730294/1 Next Article Topic: In Slumping U.K., Feelings Of ‘Bregret' Toward Brexit Six and a half years after voting to leave the European Union, three years after the formal departure, two years after signing a post-Brexit trade deal with Brussels and one month after installing its fourth prime minister since the 2016 referendum, Britain is caught in — what else? — another debate over Brexit. 公投脫歐6年半後、正式脫歐3年後、與布魯塞爾簽署脫歐後貿易協議2年後,以及任命2016年公投以來第四任首相滿月後,英國正陷入,還會有別的嗎?另一場關於英國脫歐的辯論。 Brexit may be in the history books, but “Bregret,” as the British newspapers have called it, is back in the air. 英國脫歐可能已載入史冊,但英國報紙所說的「後悔脫歐」又重新浮上水面。 The cause of the remorse is clear: Britain's economic crisis, which is the gravest in a generation and worse than those of its European neighbors. Not all — or even most — of the problems are because of Brexit, but Britain's vexed trade relationship with the rest of Europe indisputably plays a role. That makes it a ripe target for an anxious public casting about for something to blame. 後悔的原因很明顯是英國的經濟危機,這是一個世代以來最嚴重的一次,比歐洲鄰國情況還要糟。並非所有問題都因為英國脫歐,甚至大部分問題都不是,但英國跟歐洲其他國家之間棘手的貿易關係,無疑發揮了一定作用。這讓它成為焦慮民眾追究責任的現成目標。 The latest eruption of this never-ending drama began last week with an opinion poll that showed support for Brexit had fallen to its lowest level yet. Only 32% of those surveyed in the poll, by the firm YouGov, said that they thought leaving the European Union was a good idea; 56% said it was a mistake. 這場永無止盡的鬧劇最近一次上演是在上星期,一項民調顯示英國脫歐支持率已降至最低水位。根據YouGov公司民調,僅32%受訪者認為離開歐盟是個好主意,56%的人則稱這是個錯誤。 The Brexit second-guessing grew louder this week, after The Sunday Times of London published a report that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was considering pursuing a closer arrangement with the European Union, modeled on that of Switzerland. The Swiss have access to the single market and fewer border checks, in return for paying into the bloc's coffers and accepting some of its rules. 質疑英國脫歐的聲浪本周變得更大,因為倫敦的《周日泰晤士報》刊出報導稱英相蘇納克正考慮仿效瑞士,跟歐盟建立更緊密關係。瑞士能進入歐洲單一市場和享有較少邊境檢查,代價是必須付款給歐盟並接受歐盟一些規範。 Sunak quickly shot down the report, which was attributed to “senior government sources.” 蘇納克迅速駁斥這篇宣稱來自「政府高層消息人士」的報導。 “Under my leadership,” Sunak told business executives Monday, “the United Kingdom will not pursue any relationship with Europe that relies on alignment with EU laws.” 蘇納克周一告訴企業主管表示:「在我的領導下,英國不會尋求與歐洲建立任何仰賴於遵守歐盟法律的關係。」 “I voted for Brexit, I believe in Brexit,” Sunak added. “I know that Brexit can deliver, and is already delivering, enormous benefits and opportunities for the country.” 蘇納克還說:「我投票支持英國脫歐,我相信脫歐。我知道英國脫歐能夠實現,且已在為我國帶來巨大利益和機會。」 While nobody is predicting that Britain will seek to rejoin the European Union, political analysts said that the Sunday Times report, on top of the dismal economic data and growing popular sentiment against Brexit, would open a fresh chapter in Britain's search for a new relationship with the rest of Europe. Where that would lead, they cautioned, was impossible to predict. 雖然沒人預測英國將尋求重新加入歐盟,但政治分析人士表示,《周日泰晤士報》的報導,加上黯淡經濟數據及日益高漲的反對脫歐民眾情緒,將為英國開啟尋求與歐洲其他國家建立新關係的篇章。他們提醒說,這將導致什麼結果無法預測。Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/6811142 Powered by Firstory Hosting

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs
Episode 160: “Flowers in the Rain” by the Move

A History Of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2022


Episode 160 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Flowers in the Rain" by the Move, their transition into ELO, and the career of Roy Wood. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "The Chipmunk Song" by Canned Heat. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, 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/ Note I say "And on its first broadcast, as George Martin's theme tune for the new station faded, Tony Blackburn reached for a record." -- I should point out that after Martin's theme fades, Blackburn talks over a brief snatch of a piece by Johnny Dankworth. Resources As so many of the episodes recently have had no Mixcloud due to the number of songs by one artist, I've decided to start splitting the mixes of the recordings excerpted in the podcasts into two parts. Here's part one . I had problems uploading part two, but will attempt to get that up shortly. There are not many books about Roy Wood, and I referred to both of the two that seem to exist -- this biography by John van der Kiste, and this album guide by James R Turner.  I also referred to this biography of Jeff Lynne by van der Kiste, The Electric Light Orchestra Story by Bev Bevan, and Mr Big by Don Arden with Mick Wall.  Most of the more comprehensive compilations of the Move's material are out of print, but this single-CD-plus-DVD anthology is the best compilation that's in print. This is the one collection of Wood's solo and Wizzard hits that seems currently in print, and for those who want to investigate further, this cheap box set has the last Move album, the first ELO album, the first Wizzard album, Wood's solo Boulders, and a later Wood solo album, for the price of a single CD. Transcript Before I start, a brief note. This episode deals with organised crime, and so contains some mild descriptions of violence, and also has some mention of mental illness and drug use, though not much of any of those things. And it's probably also important to warn people that towards the end there's some Christmas music, including excerpts of a song that is inescapable at this time of year in the UK, so those who work in retail environments and the like may want to listen to this later, at a point when they're not totally sick of hearing Christmas records. Most of the time, the identity of the party in government doesn't make that much of a difference to people's everyday lives.  At least in Britain, there tends to be a consensus ideology within the limits of which governments of both main parties tend to work. They will make a difference at the margins, and be more or less competent, and more or less conservative or left-wing, more or less liberal or authoritarian, but life will, broadly speaking, continue along much as before for most people. Some will be a little better or worse off, but in general steering the ship of state is a matter of a lot of tiny incremental changes, not of sudden u-turns. But there have been a handful of governments that have made big, noticeable, changes to the structure of society, reforms that for better or worse affect the lives of every person in the country. Since the end of the Second World War there have been two UK governments that made economic changes of this nature. The Labour government under Clement Atlee which came into power in 1945, and which dramatically expanded the welfare state, introduced the National Health Service, and nationalised huge swathes of major industries, created the post-war social democratic consensus which would be kept to with only minor changes by successive governments of both major parties for decades. The next government to make changes to the economy of such a radical nature was the Conservative government which came to power under Margaret Thatcher in 1979, which started the process of unravelling that social democratic consensus and replacing it with a far more hypercapitalist economic paradigm, which would last for the next several decades. It's entirely possible that the current Conservative government, in leaving the EU, has made a similarly huge change, but we won't know that until we have enough distance from the event to know what long-term changes it's caused. Those are economic changes. Arguably at least as impactful was the Labour government led by Harold Wilson that came to power in 1964, which did not do much to alter the economic consensus, but revolutionised the social order at least as much. Largely because of the influence of Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary for much of that time, between 1964 and the end of the sixties, Britain abolished the death penalty for murder, decriminalised some sex acts between men in private, abolished corporal punishment in prisons, legalised abortion in certain circumstances, and got rid of censorship in the theatre. They also vastly increased spending on education, and made many other changes. By the end of their term, Britain had gone from being a country with laws reflecting a largely conservative, authoritarian, worldview to one whose laws were some of the most liberal in Europe, and society had started changing to match. There were exceptions, though, and that government did make some changes that were illiberal. They brought in increased restrictions on immigration, starting a worrying trend that continues to this day of governments getting ever crueler to immigrants, and they added LSD to the list of illegal drugs. And they brought in the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, banning the pirate stations. We've mentioned pirate radio stations very briefly, but never properly explained them. In Britain, at this point, there was a legal monopoly on broadcasting. Only the BBC could run a radio station in the UK, and thanks to agreements with the Musicians' Union, the BBC could only play a very small amount of recorded music, with everything else having to be live performances or spoken word. And because it had a legal obligation to provide something for everyone, that meant the tiny amount of recorded music that was played on the radio had to cover all genres, meaning that even while Britain was going through the most important changes in its musical history, pop records were limited to an hour or two a week on British radio. Obviously, that wasn't going to last while there was money to be made, and the record companies in particular wanted to have somewhere to showcase their latest releases. At the start of the sixties, Radio Luxembourg had become popular, broadcasting from continental Europe but largely playing shows that had been pre-recorded in London. But of course, that was far enough away that it made listening to the transmissions difficult. But a solution presented itself: [Excerpt: The Fortunes, "Caroline"] Radio Caroline still continues to this day, largely as an Internet-based radio station, but in the mid-sixties it was something rather different. It was one of a handful of radio stations -- the pirate stations -- that broadcast from ships in international waters. The ships would stay three miles off the coast of Britain, close enough for their broadcasts to be clearly heard in much of the country, but outside Britain's territorial waters. They soon became hugely popular, with Radio Caroline and Radio London the two most popular, and introduced DJs like Tony Blackburn, Dave Lee Travis, Kenny Everett, and John Peel to the airwaves of Britain. The stations ran on bribery and advertising, and if you wanted a record to get into the charts one of the things you had to do was bribe one of the big pirate stations to playlist it, and with this corruption came violence, which came to a head when as we heard in the episode on “Here Comes the Night”, in 1966 Major Oliver Smedley, a failed right-wing politician and one of the directors of Radio Caroline, got a gang of people to board an abandoned sea fort from which a rival station was broadcasting and retrieve some equipment he claimed belonged to him. The next day, Reginald Calvert, the owner of the rival station, went to Smedley's home to confront him, and Smedley shot him dead, claiming self-defence. The jury in Smedley's subsequent trial took only a minute to find him not guilty and award him two hundred and fifty guineas to cover his costs. This was the last straw for the government, which was already concerned that the pirates' transmitters were interfering with emergency services transmissions, and that proper royalties weren't being paid for the music broadcast (though since much of the music was only on there because of payola, this seems a little bit of a moot point).  They introduced legislation which banned anyone in the UK from supplying the pirate ships with records or other supplies, or advertising on the stations. They couldn't do anything about the ships themselves, because they were outside British jurisdiction, but they could make sure that nobody could associate with them while remaining in the UK. The BBC was to regain its monopoly (though in later years some commercial radio stations were allowed to operate). But as well as the stick, they needed the carrot. The pirate stations *had* been filling a real need, and the biggest of them were getting millions of listeners every day. So the arrangements with the Musicians' Union and the record labels were changed, and certain BBC stations were now allowed to play a lot more recorded music per day. I haven't been able to find accurate figures anywhere -- a lot of these things were confidential agreements -- but it seems to have been that the so-called "needle time" rules were substantially relaxed, allowing the BBC to separate what had previously been the Light Programme -- a single radio station that played all kinds of popular music, much of it live performances -- into two radio stations that were each allowed to play as much as twelve hours of recorded music per day, which along with live performances and between-track commentary from DJs was enough to allow a full broadcast schedule. One of these stations, Radio 2, was aimed at older listeners, and to start with mostly had programmes of what we would now refer to as Muzak, mixed in with the pop music of an older generation -- crooners and performers like Englebert Humperdinck. But another, Radio 1, was aimed at a younger audience and explicitly modelled on the pirate stations, and featured many of the DJs who had made their names on those stations. And on its first broadcast, as George Martin's theme tune for the new station faded, Tony Blackburn reached for a record. At different times Blackburn has said either that he was just desperately reaching for whatever record came to hand or that he made a deliberate choice because the record he chose had such a striking opening that it would be the perfect way to start a new station: [Excerpt: Tony Blackburn first radio show into "Flowers in the Rain" by the Move] You may remember me talking in the episode on "Here Comes the Night" about how in 1964 Dick Rowe of Decca, the manager Larry Page, and the publicist and co-owner of Radio Caroline Phil Solomon were all trying to promote something called Brumbeat as the answer to Merseybeat – Brummies, for those who don't know, are people from Birmingham. Brumbeat never took off the way Merseybeat did, but several bands did get a chance to make records, among them Gerry Levene and the Avengers: [Excerpt: Gerry Levene and the Avengers, "Dr. Feelgood"] That was the only single the Avengers made, and the B-side wasn't even them playing, but a bunch of session musicians under the direction of Bert Berns, and the group split up soon afterwards, but several of the members would go on to have rather important careers. According to some sources, one of their early drummers was John Bohnam, who you can be pretty sure will be turning up later in the story, while the drummer on that track was Graeme Edge, who would later go on to co-found the Moody Blues.  But today it's the guitarist we'll be looking at. Roy Wood had started playing music when he was very young -- he'd had drum lessons when he was five years old, the only formal musical tuition he ever had, and he'd played harmonica around working men's clubs as a kid. And as a small child he'd loved classical music, particularly Tchaikovsky and Elgar. But it wasn't until he was twelve that he decided that he wanted to be a guitarist. He went to see the Shadows play live, and was inspired by the sound of Hank Marvin's guitar, which he later described as sounding "like it had been dipped in Dettol or something": [Excerpt: The Shadows, "Apache"] He started begging his parents for a guitar, and got one for his thirteenth birthday -- and by the time he was fourteen he was already in a band, the Falcons, whose members were otherwise eighteen to twenty years old, but who needed a lead guitarist who could play like Marvin. Wood had picked up the guitar almost preternaturally quickly, as he would later pick up every instrument he turned his hand to, and he'd also got the equipment. His friend Jeff Lynne later said "I first saw Roy playing in a church hall in Birmingham and I think his group was called the Falcons. And I could tell he was dead posh because he had a Fender Stratocaster and a Vox AC30 amplifier. The business at the time. I mean, if you've got those, that's it, you're made." It was in the Falcons that Wood had first started trying to write songs, at first instrumentals in the style of the Shadows, but then after the Beatles hit the charts he realised it was possible for band members to write their own material, and started hesitantly trying to write a few actual songs. Wood had moved on from the Falcons to Gerry Levene's band, one of the biggest local bands in Birmingham, when he was sixteen, which is also when he left formal education, dropping out from art school -- he's later said that he wasn't expelled as such, but that he and the school came to a mutual agreement that he wouldn't go back there. And when Gerry Levene and the Avengers fell apart after their one chance at success hadn't worked out, he moved on again to an even bigger band. Mike Sheridan and the Night Riders had had two singles out already, both produced by Cliff Richard's producer Norrie Paramor, and while they hadn't charted they were clearly going places. They needed a new guitarist, and Wood was by far the best of the dozen or so people who auditioned, even though Sheridan was very hesitant at first -- the Night Riders were playing cabaret, and all dressed smartly at all times, and this sixteen-year-old guitarist had turned up wearing clothes made by his sister and ludicrous pointy shoes. He was the odd man out, but he was so good that none of the other players could hold a candle to him, and he was in the Night Riders by the time of their third single, "What a Sweet Thing That Was": [Excerpt: Mike Sheridan and the Night Riders, "What a Sweet Thing That Was"] Sheridan later said "Roy was and still is, in my opinion, an unbelievable talent. As stubborn as a mule and a complete extrovert. Roy changed the group by getting us into harmonies and made us realize there was better material around with more than three chords to play. This was our turning point and we became a group's group and a bigger name." -- though there are few other people who would describe Wood as extroverted, most people describing him as painfully shy off-stage. "What a  Sweet Thing That Was" didn't have any success, and nor did its follow-up, "Here I Stand", which came out in January 1965. But by that point, Wood had got enough of a reputation that he was already starting to guest on records by other bands on the Birmingham scene, like "Pretty Things" by Danny King and the Mayfair Set: [Excerpt: Danny King and the Mayfair Set, "Pretty Things"] After their fourth single was a flop, Mike Sheridan and the Night Riders changed their name to Mike Sheridan's Lot, and the B-side of their first single under the new name was a Roy Wood song, the first time one of his songs was recorded. Unfortunately the song, modelled on "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones, didn't come off very well, and Sheridan blamed himself for what everyone was agreed was a lousy sounding record: [Excerpt: Mike Sheridan's Lot, "Make Them Understand"] Mike Sheridan's Lot put out one final single, but the writing was on the wall for the group. Wood left, and soon after so did Sheridan himself. The remaining members regrouped under the name The Idle Race, with Wood's friend Jeff Lynne as their new singer and guitarist. But Wood wouldn't remain without a band for long. He'd recently started hanging out with another band, Carl Wayne and the Vikings, who had also released a couple of singles, on Pye: [Excerpt: Carl Wayne and the Vikings, "What's the Matter Baby"] But like almost every band from Birmingham up to this point, the Vikings' records had done very little, and their drummer had quit, and been replaced by Bev Bevan, who had been in yet another band that had gone nowhere, Denny Laine and the Diplomats, who had released one single under the name of their lead singer Nicky James, featuring the Breakaways, the girl group who would later sing on "Hey Joe", on backing vocals: [Excerpt: Nicky James, "My Colour is Blue"] Bevan had joined Carl Wayne's group, and they'd recorded one track together, a cover version of "My Girl", which was only released in the US, and which sank without a trace: [Excerpt: Carl Wayne and the Vikings, "My Girl"] It was around this time that Wood started hanging around with the Vikings, and they would all complain about how if you were playing the Birmingham circuit you were stuck just playing cover versions, and couldn't do anything more interesting.  They were also becoming more acutely aware of how successful they *could* have been, because one of the Brumbeat bands had become really big. The Moody Blues, a supergroup of players from the best bands in Birmingham who featured Bev Bevan's old bandmate Denny Laine and Wood's old colleague Graeme Edge, had just hit number one with their version of "Go Now": [Excerpt: The Moody Blues, "Go Now"] So they knew the potential for success was there, but they were all feeling trapped. But then Ace Kefford, the bass player for the Vikings, went to see Davy Jones and the Lower Third playing a gig: [Excerpt: Davy Jones and the Lower Third, "You've Got a Habit of Leaving"] Also at the gig was Trevor Burton, the guitarist for Danny King and the Mayfair Set. The two of them got chatting to Davy Jones after the gig, and eventually the future David Bowie told them that the two of them should form their own band if they were feeling constricted in their current groups. They decided to do just that, and they persuaded Carl Wayne from Kefford's band to join them, and got in Wood.  Now they just needed a drummer. Their first choice was John Bonham, the former drummer for Gerry Levene and the Avengers who was now drumming in a band with Kefford's uncle and Nicky James from the Diplomats. But Bonham and Wayne didn't get on, and so Bonham decided to remain in the group he was in, and instead they turned to Bev Bevan, the Vikings' new drummer.  (Of the other two members of the Vikings, one went on to join Mike Sheridan's Lot in place of Wood, before leaving at the same time as Sheridan and being replaced by Lynne, while the other went on to join Mike Sheridan's New Lot, the group Sheridan formed after leaving his old group. The Birmingham beat group scene seems to have only had about as many people as there were bands, with everyone ending up a member of twenty different groups). The new group called themselves the Move, because they were all moving on from other groups, and it was a big move for all of them. Many people advised them not to get together, saying they were better off where they were, or taking on offers they'd got from more successful groups -- Carl Wayne had had an offer from a group called the Spectres, who would later become famous as Status Quo, while Wood had been tempted by Tony Rivers and the Castaways, a group who at the time were signed to Immediate Records, and who did Beach Boys soundalikes and covers: [Excerpt: Tony Rivers and the Castaways, "Girl Don't Tell Me"] Wood was a huge fan of the Beach Boys and would have fit in with Rivers, but decided he'd rather try something truly new. After their first gig, most of the people who had warned against the group changed their minds. Bevan's best friend, Bobby Davis, told Bevan that while he'd disliked all the other groups Bevan had played in, he liked this one. (Davis would later become a famous comedian, and have a top five single himself in the seventies, produced by Jeff Lynne and with Bevan on the drums, under his stage name Jasper Carrott): [Excerpt: Jasper Carrott, "Funky Moped"] Most of their early sets were cover versions, usually of soul and Motown songs, but reworked in the group's unique style. All five of the band could sing, four of them well enough to be lead vocalists in their own right (Bevan would add occasional harmonies or sing novelty numbers) and so they became known for their harmonies -- Wood talked at the time about how he wanted the band to have Beach Boys harmonies but over instruments that sounded like the Who. And while they were mostly doing cover versions live, Wood was busily writing songs. Their first recording session was for local radio, and at that session they did cover versions of songs by Brenda Lee, the Isley Brothers, the Orlons, the Marvelettes, and Betty Everett, but they also performed four songs written by Wood, with each member of the front line taking a lead vocal, like this one with Kefford singing: [Excerpt: The Move, "You're the One I Need"] The group were soon signed by Tony Secunda, the manager of the Moody Blues, who set about trying to get the group as much publicity as possible. While Carl Wayne, as the only member who didn't play an instrument, ended up the lead singer on most of the group's early records, Secunda started promoting Kefford, who was younger and more conventionally attractive than Wayne, and who had originally put the group together, as the face of the group, while Wood was doing most of the heavy lifting with the music. Wood quickly came to dislike performing live, and to wish he could take the same option as Brian Wilson and stay home and write songs and make records while the other four went out and performed, so Kefford and Wayne taking the spotlight from him didn't bother him at the time, but it set the group up for constant conflicts about who was actually the leader of the group. Wood was also uncomfortable with the image that Secunda set up for the group. Secunda decided that the group needed to be promoted as "bad boys", and so he got them to dress up as 1930s gangsters, and got them to do things like smash busts of Hitler, or the Rhodesian dictator Ian Smith, on stage. He got them to smash TVs on stage too, and in one publicity stunt he got them to smash up a car, while strippers took their clothes off nearby -- claiming that this was to show that people were more interested in violence than in sex. Wood, who was a very quiet, unassuming, introvert, didn't like this sort of thing, but went along with it. Secunda got the group a regular slot at the Marquee club, which lasted several months until, in one of Secunda's ideas for publicity, Carl Wayne let off smoke bombs on stage which set fire to the stage. The manager came up to try to stop the fire, and Wayne tossed the manager's wig into the flames, and the group were banned from the club (though the ban was later lifted). In another publicity stunt, at the time of the 1966 General Election, the group were photographed with "Vote Tory" posters, and issued an invitation to Edward Heath, the leader of the Conservative Party and a keen amateur musician, to join them on stage on keyboards. Sir Edward didn't respond to the invitation. All this publicity led to record company interest. Joe Boyd tried to sign the group to Elektra Records, but much as with The Pink Floyd around the same time, Jac Holzman wasn't interested. Instead they signed with a new production company set up by Denny Cordell, the producer of the Moody Blues' hits. The contract they signed was written on the back of a nude model, as yet another of Secunda's publicity schemes. The group's first single, "Night of Fear" was written by Wood and an early sign of his interest in incorporating classical music into rock: [Excerpt: The Move, "Night of Fear"] Secunda claimed in the publicity that that song was inspired by taking bad acid and having a bad trip, but in truth Wood was more inspired by brown ale than by brown acid -- he and Bev Bevan would never do any drugs other than alcohol. Wayne did take acid once, but didn't like it, though Burton and Kefford would become regular users of most drugs that were going. In truth, the song was not about anything more than being woken up in the middle of the night by an unexpected sound and then being unable to get back to sleep because you're scared of what might be out there. The track reached number two on the charts in the UK, being kept off the top by "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees, and was soon followed up by another song which again led to assumptions of drug use. "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" wasn't about grass the substance, but was inspired by a letter to Health and Efficiency, a magazine which claimed to be about the nudist lifestyle as an excuse for printing photos of naked people at a time before pornography laws were liberalised. The letter was from a reader saying that he listened to pop music on the radio because "where I live it's so quiet I can hear the grass grow!" Wood took that line and turned it into the group's next single, which reached number five: [Excerpt: The Move, "I Can Hear the Grass Grow"] Shortly after that, the group played two big gigs at Alexandra Palace. The first was the Fourteen-Hour Technicolor Dream, which we talked about in the Pink Floyd episode. There Wood had one of the biggest thrills of his life when he walked past John Lennon, who saluted him and then turned to a friend and said "He's brilliant!" -- in the seventies Lennon would talk about how Wood was one of his two favourite British songwriters, and would call the Move "the Hollies with balls". The other gig they played at Alexandra Palace was a "Free the Pirates" benefit show, sponsored by Radio Caroline, to protest the imposition of the Marine Broadcasting (Offences) Act.  Despite that, it was, of course, the group's next single that was the first one to be played on Radio One. And that single was also the one which kickstarted Roy Wood's musical ambitions.  The catalyst for this was Tony Visconti. Visconti was a twenty-three-year-old American who had been in the music business since he was sixteen, working the typical kind of jobs that working musicians do, like being for a time a member of a latter-day incarnation of the Crew-Cuts, the white vocal group who had had hits in the fifties with covers of "Sh'Boom" and “Earth Angel”. He'd also recorded two singles as a duo with his wife Siegrid, which had gone nowhere: [Excerpt: Tony and Siegrid, "Up Here"] Visconti had been working for the Richmond Organisation as a staff songwriter when he'd met the Move's producer Denny Cordell. Cordell was in the US to promote a new single he had released with a group called Procol Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale", and Visconti became the first American to hear the record, which of course soon became a massive hit: [Excerpt: Procol Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale"] While he was in New York, Cordell also wanted to record a backing track for one of his other hit acts, Georgie Fame. He told Visconti that he'd booked several of the best session players around, like the jazz trumpet legend Clark Terry, and thought it would be a fun session. Visconti asked to look at the charts for the song, out of professional interest, and Cordell was confused -- what charts? The musicians would just make up an arrangement, wouldn't they? Visconti asked what he was talking about, and Cordell talked about how you made records -- you just got the musicians to come into the studio, hung around while they smoked a few joints and worked out what they were going to play, and then got on with it. It wouldn't take more than about twelve hours to get a single recorded that way. Visconti was horrified, and explained that that might be how they did things in London, but if Cordell tried to make a record that way in New York, with an eight-piece group of session musicians who charged union scale, and would charge double scale for arranging work on top, then he'd bankrupt himself. Cordell went pale and said that the session was in an hour, what was he going to do? Luckily, Cordell had a copy of the demo with him, and Visconti, who unlike Cordell was a trained musician, quickly sat down and wrote an arrangement for him, sketching out parts for guitar, bass, drums, piano, sax, and trumpets. The resulting arrangement wasn't perfect -- Visconti had to write the whole thing in less than an hour with no piano to hand -- but it was good enough that Cordell's production assistant on the track, Harvey Brooks of the group Electric Flag, who also played bass on the track, could tweak it in the studio, and the track was recorded quickly, saving Cordell a fortune: [Excerpt: Georgie Fame, "Because I Love You"] One of the other reasons Cordell had been in the US was that he was looking for a production assistant to work with him in the UK to help translate his ideas into language the musicians could understand. According to Visconti he said that he was going to try asking Phil Spector to be his assistant, and Artie Butler if Spector said no.  Astonishingly, assuming he did ask them, neither Phil Spector nor Artie Butler (who was the arranger for records like "Leader of the Pack" and "I'm a Believer" among many, many, others, and who around this time was the one who suggested to Louis Armstrong that he should record "What a Wonderful World") wanted to fly over to the UK to work as Denny Cordell's assistant, and so Cordell turned back to Visconti and invited him to come over to the UK. The main reason Cordell needed an assistant was that he had too much work on his hands -- he was currently in the middle of recording albums for three major hit groups -- Procol Harum, The Move, and Manfred Mann -- and he physically couldn't be in multiple studios at once. Visconti's first work for him was on a Manfred Mann session, where they were recording the Randy Newman song "So Long Dad" for their next single. Cordell produced the rhythm track then left for a Procol Harum session, leaving Visconti to guide the group through the overdubs, including all the vocal parts and the lead instruments: [Excerpt: Manfred Mann, "So Long Dad"] The next Move single, "Flowers in the Rain", was the first one to benefit from Visconti's arrangement ideas. The band had recorded the track, and Cordell had been unhappy with both the song and performance, thinking it was very weak compared to their earlier singles -- not the first time that Cordell would have a difference of opinion with the band, who he thought of as a mediocre pop group, while they thought of themselves as a heavy rock band who were being neutered in the studio by their producer.  In particular, Cordell didn't like that the band fell slightly out of time in the middle eight of the track. He decided to scrap it, and get the band to record something else. Visconti, though, thought the track could be saved. He told Cordell that what they needed to do was to beat the Beatles, by using a combination of instruments they hadn't thought of. He scored for a quartet of wind instruments -- oboe, flute, clarinet, and French horn, in imitation of Mendelssohn: [Excerpt: The Move, "Flowers in the Rain"] And then, to cover up the slight sloppiness on the middle eight, Visconti had the wind instruments on that section recorded at half speed, so when played back at normal speed they'd sound like pixies and distract from the rhythm section: [Excerpt: The Move, "Flowers in the Rain"] Visconti's instincts were right. The single went to number two, kept off the top spot by Englebert Humperdinck, who spent 1967 keeping pretty much every major British band off number one, and thanks in part to it being the first track played on Radio 1, but also because it was one of the biggest hits of 1967, it's been the single of the Move's that's had the most airplay over the years. Unfortunately, none of the band ever saw a penny in royalties from it. It was because of another of Tony Secunda's bright ideas. Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister at the time, was very close to his advisor Marcia Williams, who started out as his secretary, rose to be his main political advisor, and ended up being elevated to the peerage as Baroness Falkender. There were many, many rumours that Williams was corrupt -- rumours that were squashed by both Wilson and Williams frequently issuing libel writs against newspapers that mentioned them -- though it later turned out that at least some of these were the work of Britain's security services, who believed Wilson to be working for the KGB (and indeed Williams had first met Wilson at a dinner with Khrushchev, though Wilson was very much not a Communist) and were trying to destabilise his government as a result. Their personal closeness also led to persistent rumours that Wilson and Williams were having an affair. And Tony Secunda decided that the best way to promote "Flowers in the Rain" was to print a postcard with a cartoon of Wilson and Williams on it, and send it out. Including sticking a copy through the door of ten Downing St, the Prime Minister's official residence. This backfired *spectacularly*. Wilson sued the Move for libel, even though none of them had known of their manager's plans, and as a result of the settlement it became illegal for any publication to print the offending image (though it can easily be found on the Internet now of course), everyone involved with the record was placed under a permanent legal injunction to never discuss the details of the case, and every penny in performance or songwriting royalties the track earned would go to charities of Harold Wilson's choice. In the 1990s newspaper reports said that the group had up to that point lost out on two hundred thousand pounds in royalties as a result of Secunda's stunt, and given the track's status as a perennial favourite, it's likely they've missed out on a similar amount in the decades since. Incidentally, while every member of the band was banned from ever describing the postcard, I'm not, and since Wilson and Williams are now both dead it's unlikely they'll ever sue me. The postcard is a cartoon in the style of Aubrey Beardsley, and shows Wilson as a grotesque naked homunculus sat on a bed, with Williams naked save for a diaphonous nightgown through which can clearly be seen her breasts and genitals, wearing a Marie Antoinette style wig and eyemask and holding a fan coquettishly, while Wilson's wife peers at them through a gap in the curtains. The text reads "Disgusting Depraved Despicable, though Harold maybe is the only way to describe "Flowers in the Rain" The Move, released Aug 23" The stunt caused huge animosity between the group and Secunda, not only because of the money they lost but also because despite Secunda's attempts to associate them with the Conservative party the previous year, Ace Kefford was upset at an attack on the Labour leader -- his grandfather was a lifelong member of the Labour party and Kefford didn't like the idea of upsetting him. The record also had a knock-on effect on another band. Wood had given the song "Here We Go Round the Lemon Tree" to his friends in The Idle Race, the band that had previously been Mike Sheridan and the Night Riders, and they'd planned to use their version as their first single: [Excerpt: The Idle Race, "Here We Go Round the Lemon Tree"] But the Move had also used the song as the B-side for their own single, and "Flowers in the Rain" was so popular that the B-side also got a lot of airplay. The Idle Race didn't want to be thought of as a covers act, and so "Lemon Tree" was pulled at the last minute and replaced by "Impostors of Life's Magazine", by the group's guitarist Jeff Lynne: [Excerpt: The Idle Race, "Impostors of Life's Magazine"] Before the problems arose, the Move had been working on another single. The A-side, "Cherry Blossom Clinic", was a song about being in a psychiatric hospital, and again had an arrangement by Visconti, who this time conducted a twelve-piece string section: [Excerpt: The Move, "Cherry Blossom Clinic"] The B-side, meanwhile, was a rocker about politics: [Excerpt: The Move, "Vote For Me"] Given the amount of controversy they'd caused, the idea of a song about mental illness backed with one about politics seemed a bad idea, and so "Cherry Blossom Clinic" was kept back as an album track while "Vote For Me" was left unreleased until future compilations. The first Wood knew about "Cherry Blossom Clinic" not being released was when after a gig in London someone -- different sources have it as Carl Wayne or Tony Secunda -- told him that they had a recording session the next morning for their next single and asked what song he planned on recording. When he said he didn't have one, he was sent up to his hotel room with a bottle of Scotch and told not to come down until he had a new song. He had one by 8:30 the next morning, and was so drunk and tired that he had to be held upright by his bandmates in the studio while singing his lead vocal on the track. The song was inspired by "Somethin' Else", a track by Eddie Cochran, one of Wood's idols: [Excerpt: Eddie Cochran, "Somethin' Else"] Wood took the bass riff from that and used it as the basis for what was the Move's most straight-ahead rock track to date. As 1967 was turning into 1968, almost universally every band was going back to basics, recording stripped down rock and roll tracks, and the Move were no exception. Early takes of "Fire Brigade" featured Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum on piano, but the final version featured just guitar, bass, drums and vocals, plus a few sound effects: [Excerpt: The Move, "Fire Brigade"] While Carl Wayne had sung lead or co-lead on all the Move's previous singles, he was slowly being relegated into the background, and for this one Wood takes the lead vocal on everything except the brief bridge, which Wayne sings: [Excerpt: The Move, "Fire Brigade"] The track went to number three, and while it's not as well-remembered as a couple of other Move singles, it was one of the most influential. Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols has often said that the riff for "God Save the Queen" is inspired by "Fire Brigade": [Excerpt: The Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen"] The reversion to a heavier style of rock on "Fire Brigade" was largely inspired by the group's new friend Jimi Hendrix. The group had gone on a package tour with The Pink Floyd (who were at the bottom of the bill), Amen Corner, The Nice, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and had become good friends with Hendrix, often jamming with him backstage. Burton and Kefford had become so enamoured of Hendrix that they'd both permed their hair in imitation of his Afro, though Burton regretted it -- his hair started falling out in huge chunks as a result of the perm, and it took him a full two years to grow it out and back into a more natural style. Burton had started sharing a flat with Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Burton and Wood had also sung backing vocals with Graham Nash of the Hollies on Hendrix's "You Got Me Floatin'", from his Axis: Bold as Love album: [Excerpt: The Jimi Hendrix Experience, "You Got Me Floatin'"] In early 1968, the group's first album came out. In retrospect it's arguably their best, but at the time it felt a little dated -- it was a compilation of tracks recorded between late 1966 and late 1967, and by early 1968 that might as well have been the nineteenth century. The album included their two most recent singles, a few more songs arranged by Visconti, and three cover versions -- versions of Eddie Cochran's "Weekend", Moby Grape's "Hey Grandma", and the old standard "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", done copying the Coasters' arrangement with Bev Bevan taking a rare lead vocal. By this time there was a lot of dissatisfaction among the group. Most vocal -- or least vocal, because by this point he was no longer speaking to any of the other members, had been Ace Kefford. Kefford felt he was being sidelined in a band he'd formed and where he was the designated face of the group. He'd tried writing songs, but the only one he'd brought to the group, "William Chalker's Time Machine", had been rejected, and was eventually recorded by a group called The Lemon Tree, whose recording of it was co-produced by Burton and Andy Fairweather-Low of Amen Corner: [Excerpt: The Lemon Tree, "William Chalker's Time Machine"] He was also, though the rest of the group didn't realise it at the time, in the middle of a mental breakdown, which he later attributed to his overuse of acid. By the time the album, titled Move, came out, he'd quit the group. He formed a new group, The Ace Kefford Stand, with Cozy Powell on drums, and they released one single, a cover version of the Yardbirds' "For Your Love", which didn't chart: [Excerpt: The Ace Kefford Stand, "For Your Love"] Kefford recorded a solo album in 1968, but it wasn't released until an archival release in 2003, and he spent most of the next few decades dealing with mental health problems. The group continued on as a four-piece, with Burton moving over to bass. While they thought about what to do -- they were unhappy with Secunda's management, and with the sound that Cordell was getting from their recordings, which they considered far wimpier than their live sound -- they released a live EP of cover versions, recorded at the Marquee. The choice of songs for the EP showed their range of musical influences at the time, going from fifties rockabilly to the burgeoning progressive rock scene, with versions of Cochran's "Somethin' Else", Jerry Lee Lewis' "It'll Be Me", "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star" by the Byrds, "Sunshine Help Me" by Spooky Tooth, and "Stephanie Knows Who" by Love: [Excerpt: The Move, "Stephanie Knows Who"] Incidentally, later that year they headlined a gig at the Royal Albert Hall with the Byrds as the support act, and Gram Parsons, who by that time was playing guitar for the Byrds, said that the Move did "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star" better than the Byrds did. The EP, titled "Something Else From the Move", didn't do well commercially, but it did do something that the band thought important -- Trevor Burton in particular had been complaining that Denny Cordell's productions "took the toughness out" of the band's sound, and was worried that the group were being perceived as a pop band, not as a rock group like his friends in the Jimi Hendrix Experience or Cream. There was an increasing tension between Burton, who wanted to be a heavy rocker, and the older Wayne, who thought there was nothing at all wrong with being a pop band. The next single, "Wild Tiger Woman", was much more in the direction that Burton wanted their music to go. It was ostensibly produced by Cordell, but for the most part he left it to the band, and as a result it ended up as a much heavier track than normal. Roy Wood had only intended the song as an album track, and Bevan and Wayne were hesitant about it being a single, but Burton was insistent -- "Wild Tiger Woman" was going to be the group's first number one record: [Excerpt: The Move, "Wild Tiger Woman"] In fact, it turned out to be the group's first single not to chart at all, after four top ten singles in a row.  The group were now in crisis. They'd lost Ace Kefford, Burton and Wayne were at odds, and they were no longer guaranteed hitmakers. They decided to stop working with Cordell and Secunda, and made a commitment that if the next single was a flop, they would split up. In any case, Roy Wood was already thinking about another project. Even though the group's recent records had gone in a guitar-rock direction, he thought maybe you could do something more interesting. Ever since seeing Tony Visconti conduct orchestral instruments playing his music, he'd been thinking about it. As he later put it "I thought 'Well, wouldn't it be great to get a band together, and rather than advertising for a guitarist how about advertising for a cellist or a French horn player or something? There must be lots of young musicians around who play the... instruments that would like to play in a rock kind of band.' That was the start of it, it really was, and I think after those tracks had been recorded with Tony doing the orchestral arrangement, that's when I started to get bored with the Move, with the band, because I thought 'there's something more to it'". He'd started sketching out plans for an expanded lineup of the group, drawing pictures of what it would look like on stage if Carl Wayne was playing timpani while there were cello and French horn players on stage with them. He'd even come up with a name for the new group -- a multi-layered pun. The group would be a light orchestra, like the BBC Light Orchestra, but they would be playing electrical instruments, and also they would have a light show when they performed live, and so he thought "the Electric Light Orchestra" would be a good name for such a group. The other band members thought this was a daft idea, but Wood kept on plotting. But in the meantime, the group needed some new management. The person they chose was Don Arden. We talked about Arden quite a bit in the last episode, but he's someone who is going to turn up a lot in future episodes, and so it's best if I give a little bit more background about him. Arden was a manager of the old school, and like several of the older people in the music business at the time, like Dick James or Larry Page, he had started out as a performer, doing an Al Jolson tribute act, and he was absolutely steeped in showbusiness -- his wife had been a circus contortionist before they got married, and when he moved from Manchester to London their first home had been owned by Winifred Atwell, a boogie piano player who became the first Black person to have a UK number one -- and who is *still* the only female solo instrumentalist to have a UK number one -- with her 1954 hit "Let's Have Another Party": [Excerpt: WInifred Atwell, "Let's Have Another Party"] That was only Atwell's biggest in a long line of hits, and she'd put all her royalties into buying properties in London, one of which became the Ardens' home. Arden had been considered quite a promising singer, and had made a few records in the early 1950s. His first recordings, of material in Yiddish aimed at the Jewish market, are sadly not findable online, but he also apparently recorded as a session singer for Embassy Records. I can't find a reliable source for what records he sang on for that label, which put out budget rerecordings of hits for sale exclusively through Woolworths, but according to Wikipedia one of them was Embassy's version of "Blue Suede Shoes", put out under the group name "The Canadians", and the lead vocal on that track certainly sounds like it could be him: [Excerpt: The Canadians, "Blue Suede Shoes"] As you can tell, rock and roll didn't really suit Arden's style, and he wisely decided to get out of performance and into behind-the-scenes work, though he would still try on occasion to make records of his own -- an acetate exists from 1967 of him singing "Sunrise, Sunset": [Excerpt: Don Arden, "Sunrise, Sunset"] But he'd moved first into promotion -- he'd been the promoter who had put together tours of the UK for Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Brenda Lee and others which we mentioned in the second year of the podcast -- and then into management. He'd first come into management with the Animals -- apparently acting at that point as the money man for Mike Jeffries, who was the manager the group themselves dealt with. According to Arden -- though his story differs from the version of the story told by others involved -- the group at some point ditched Arden for Allen Klein, and when they did, Arden's assistant Peter Grant, another person we'll be hearing a lot more of, went with them.  Arden, by his own account, flew over to see Klein and threatened to throw him out of the window of his office, which was several stories up. This was a threat he regularly made to people he believed had crossed him -- he made a similar threat to one of the Nashville Teens, the first group he managed after the Animals, after the musician asked what was happening to the group's money. And as we heard last episode, he threatened Robert Stigwood that way when Stigwood tried to get the Small Faces off him. One of the reasons he'd signed the Small Faces was that Steve Marriott had gone to the Italia Conti school, where Arden had sent his own children, Sharon and David, and David had said that Marriott was talented. And David was also a big reason the Move came over to Arden. After the Small Faces had left him, Arden had bought Galaxy Entertaimnent, the booking agency that handled bookings for Amen Corner and the Move, among many other acts. Arden had taken over management of Amen Corner himself, and had put his son David in charge of liaising with Tony Secunda about the Move.  But David Arden was sure that the Move could be an albums act, not just a singles act, and was convinced the group had more potential than they were showing, and when they left Secunda, Don Arden took them on as his clients, at least for the moment. Secunda, according to Arden (who is not the most reliable of witnesses, but is unfortunately the only one we have for a lot of this stuff) tried to hire someone to assassinate Arden, but Arden quickly let Secunda know that if anything happened to Arden, Secunda himself would be dead within the hour. As "Wild Tiger Woman" hadn't been a hit, the group decided to go back to their earlier "Flowers in the Rain" style, with "Blackberry Way": [Excerpt: The Move, "Blackberry Way"] That track was produced by Jimmy Miller, who was producing the Rolling Stones and Traffic around this time, and featured the group's friend Richard Tandy on harpsichord. It's also an example of the maxim "Good artists copy, great artists steal". There are very few more blatant examples of plagiarism in pop music than the middle eight of "Blackberry Way". Compare Harry Nilsson's "Good Old Desk": [Excerpt: Nilsson, "Good Old Desk"] to the middle eight of "Blackberry Way": [Excerpt: The Move, "Blackberry Way"] "Blackberry Way" went to number one, but that was the last straw for Trevor Burton -- it was precisely the kind of thing he *didn't* want to be doing,. He was so sick of playing what he thought of as cheesy pop music that at one show he attacked Bev Bevan on stage with his bass, while Bevan retaliated with his cymbals. He stormed off stage, saying he was "tired of playing this crap". After leaving the group, he almost joined Blind Faith, a new supergroup that members of Cream and Traffic were forming, but instead formed his own supergroup, Balls. Balls had a revolving lineup which at various times included Denny Laine, formerly of the Moody Blues, Jackie Lomax, a singer-songwriter who was an associate of the Beatles, Richard Tandy who had played on "Blackberry Way", and Alan White, who would go on to drum with the band Yes. Balls only released one single, "Fight for My Country", which was later reissued as a Trevor Burton solo single: [Excerpt: Balls, "Fight For My Country"] Balls went through many lineup changes, and eventually seemed to merge with a later lineup of the Idle Race to become the Steve Gibbons Band, who were moderately successful in the seventies and eighties. Richard Tandy covered on bass for a short while, until Rick Price came in as a permanent replacement. Before Price, though, the group tried to get Hank Marvin to join, as the Shadows had then split up, and Wood was willing to move over to bass and let Marvin play lead guitar. Marvin turned down the offer though. But even though "Blackberry Way" had been the group's biggest hit to date, it marked a sharp decline in the group's fortunes.  Its success led Peter Walsh, the manager of Marmalade and the Tremeloes, to poach the group from Arden, and even though Arden took his usual heavy-handed approach -- he describes going and torturing Walsh's associate, Clifford Davis, the manager of Fleetwood Mac, in his autobiography -- he couldn't stop Walsh from taking over. Unfortunately, Walsh put the group on the chicken-in-a-basket cabaret circuit, and in the next year they only released one record, the single "Curly", which nobody was happy with. It was ostensibly produced by Mike Hurst, but Hurst didn't turn up to the final sessions and Wood did most of the production work himself, while in the next studio over Jimmy Miller, who'd produced "Blackberry Way", was producing "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones. The group were getting pigeonholed as a singles group, at a time when album artists were the in thing. In a three-year career they'd only released one album, though they were working on their second. Wood was by this point convinced that the Move was unsalvageable as a band, and told the others that the group was now just going to be a launchpad for his Electric Light Orchestra project. The band would continue working the chicken-in-a-basket circuit and releasing hit singles, but that would be just to fund the new project -- which they could all be involved in if they wanted, of course. Carl Wayne, on the other hand, was very, very, happy playing cabaret, and didn't see the need to be doing anything else. He made a counter-suggestion to Wood -- keep The Move together indefinitely, but let Wood do the Brian Wilson thing and stay home and write songs. Wayne would even try to get Burton and Kefford back into the band. But Wood wasn't interested. Increasingly his songs weren't even going to the Move at all. He was writing songs for people like Cliff Bennett and the Casuals. He wrote "Dance Round the Maypole" for Acid Gallery: [Excerpt: Acid Gallery, "Dance Round the Maypole"] On that, Wood and Jeff Lynne sang backing vocals. Wood and Lynne had been getting closer since Lynne had bought a home tape recorder which could do multi-tracking -- Wood had wanted to buy one of his own after "Flowers in the Rain", but even though he'd written three hit singles at that point his publishing company wouldn't give him an advance to buy one, and so he'd started using Lynne's. The two have often talked about how they'd recorded the demo for "Blackberry Way" at Lynne's parents' house, recording Wood's vocal on the demo with pillows and cushions around his head so that his singing wouldn't wake Lynne's parents. Lynne had been another person that Wood had asked to join the group when Burton left, but Lynne was happy with The Idle Race, where he was the main singer and songwriter, though their records weren't having any success: [Excerpt: The Idle Race, "I Like My Toys"] While Wood was writing material for other people, the only one of those songs to become a hit was "Hello Suzie", written for Amen Corner, which became a top five single on Immediate Records: [Excerpt: Amen Corner, "Hello Suzie"] While the Move were playing venues like Batley Variety Club in Britain, when they went on their first US tour they were able to play for a very different audience. They were unknown in the US, and so were able to do shows for hippie audiences that had no preconceptions about them, and did things like stretch "Cherry Blossom Clinic" into an eight-minute-long extended progressive rock jam that incorporated bits of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", the Nutcracker Suite, and the Sorcerer's Apprentice: [Excerpt: The Move, "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited (live at the Fillmore West)"] All the group were agreed that those shows were the highlight of the group's career. Even Carl Wayne, the band member most comfortable with them playing the cabaret circuit, was so proud of the show at the Fillmore West which that performance is taken from that when the tapes proved unusable he kept hold of them, hoping all his life that technology would progress to the point where they could be released and show what a good live band they'd been, though as things turned out they didn't get released until after his death. But when they got back to the UK it was back to the chicken-in-a-basket circuit, and back to work on their much-delayed second album. That album, Shazam!, was the group's attempt at compromise between their different visions. With the exception of one song, it's all heavy rock music, but Wayne, Wood, and Price all co-produced, and Wayne had the most creative involvement he'd ever had. Side two of the album was all cover versions, chosen by Wayne, and Wayne also went out onto the street and did several vox pops, asking members of the public what they thought of pop music: [Excerpt: Vox Pops from "Don't Make My Baby Blue"] There were only six songs on the album, because they were mostly extended jams. Other than the three cover versions chosen by Wayne, there was a sludge-metal remake of "Hello Suzie", the new arrangement of "Cherry Blossom Clinic" they'd been performing live, retitled "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited", and only one new original, "Beautiful Daughter", which featured a string arrangement by Visconti, who also played bass: [Excerpt: The Move, "Beautiful Daughter"] And Carl Wayne sang lead on five of the six tracks, which given that one of the reasons Wayne was getting unhappy with the band was that Wood was increasingly becoming the lead singer, must have been some comfort. But it wasn't enough. By the time Shazam! came out, with a cover drawn by Mike Sheridan showing the four band members as superheroes, the band was down to three -- Carl Wayne had quit the group, for a solo career. He continued playing the cabaret circuit, and made records, but never had another hit, but he managed to have a very successful career as an all-round entertainer, acting on TV and in the theatre, including a six-year run as the narrator in the musical Blood Brothers, and replacing Alan Clarke as the lead singer of the Hollies. He died in 2004. As soon as Wayne left the group, the three remaining band members quit their management and went back to Arden. And to replace Wayne, Wood once again asked Jeff Lynne to join the group. But this time the proposition was different -- Lynne wouldn't just be joining the Move, but he would be joining the Electric Light Orchestra. They would continue putting out Move records and touring for the moment, and Lynne would be welcome to write songs for the Move so that Wood wouldn't have to be the only writer, but they'd be doing it while they were planning their new group.  Lynne was in, and the first single from the new lineup was a return to the heavy riff rock style of "Wild Tiger Woman", "Brontosaurus": [Excerpt: The Move, "Brontosaurus"] But Wayne leaving the group had put Wood in a difficult position. He was now the frontman, and he hated that responsibility -- he said later "if you look at me in photos of the early days, I'm always the one hanging back with my head down, more the musician than the frontman." So he started wearing makeup, painting his face with triangles and stars, so he would be able to hide his shyness. And it worked -- and "Brontosaurus" returned the group to the top ten. But the next single, "When Alice Comes Back to the Farm", didn't chart at all. The first album for the new Move lineup, Looking On, was to finish their contract with their current record label. Many regard it as the group's "Heavy metal album", and it's often considered the worst of their four albums, with Bev Bevan calling it "plodding", but that's as much to do with Bevan's feeling about the sessions as anything else -- increasingly, after the basic rhythm tracks had been recorded, Wood and Lynne would get to work without the other two members of the band, doing immense amounts of overdubbing.  And that continued after Looking On was finished. The group signed a new contract with EMI's new progressive rock label, Harvest, and the contract stated that they were signing as "the Move performing as The Electric Light Orchestra". They started work on two albums' worth of material, with the idea that anything with orchestral instruments would be put aside for the first Electric Light Orchestra album, while anything with just guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and horns would be for the Move. The first Electric Light Orchestra track, indeed, was intended as a Move B-side. Lynne came in with a song based around a guitar riff, and with lyrics vaguely inspired by the TV show The Prisoner, about someone with a number instead of a name running, trying to escape, and then eventually dying.  But then Wood decided that what the track really needed was cello. But not cello played in the standard orchestral manner, but something closer to what the Beatles had done on "I am the Walrus". He'd bought a cheap cello himself, and started playing Jimi Hendrix riffs on it, and Lynne loved the sound of it, so onto the Move's basic rhythm track they overdubbed fifteen cello tracks by Wood, and also two French horns, also by Wood: [Excerpt: The Electric Light Orchestra, "10538 Overture"] The track was named "10538 Overture", after they saw the serial number 1053 on the console they were using to mix the track, and added the number 8 at the end, making 10538 the number of the character in the song. Wood and Lynne were so enamoured with the sound of their new track that they eventually got told by the other two members of the group that they had to sit in the back when the Move were driving to gigs, so they couldn't reach the tape player, because they'd just keep playing the track over and over again. So they got a portable tape player and took that into the back seat with them to play it there. After finishing some pre-existing touring commitments, the Move and Electric Light Orchestra became a purely studio group, and Rick Price quit the bands -- he needed steady touring work to feed his family, and went off to form another band, Mongrel. Around this time, Wood also took part in another strange project. After Immediate Records collapsed, Andrew Oldham needed some fast money, so he and Don Arden put together a fake group they could sign to EMI for ten thousand pounds.  The photo of the band Grunt Futtock was of some random students, and that was who Arden and Oldham told EMI was on the track, but the actual performers on the single included Roy Wood, Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, and Andy Bown, the former keyboard player of the Herd: [Excerpt: Grunt Futtock, "Rock 'n' Roll Christian"] Nobody knows who wrote the song, although it's credited to Bernard Webb, which is a pseudonym Paul McCartney had previously used -- but everyone knew he'd used the pseudonym, so it could very easily be a nod to that. The last Move album, Message From The Country, didn't chart -- just like the previous two hadn't. But Wood's song "Tonight" made number eleven, the follow-up, "Chinatown", made number twenty-three, and then the final Move single, "California Man", a fifties rock and roll pastiche, made the top ten: [Excerpt: The Move, "California Man"] In the US, that single was flipped, and the B-side, Lynne's song "Do Ya", became the only Move song ever to make the Hot One Hundred, reaching number ninety-nine: [Excerpt: The Move, "Do Ya"] By the time "California Man" was released, the Electric Light Orchestra were well underway. They'd recorded their first album, whose biggest highlights were Lynne's "10538 Overture" and Wood's "Whisper in the Night": [Excerpt: The Electric Light Orchestra, "Whisper in the Night"] And they'd formed a touring lineup, including Richard Tandy on keyboards and several orchestral instrumentalists. Unfortunately, there were problems developing between Wood and Lynne. When the Electric Light Orchestra toured, interviewers only wanted to speak to Wood, thinking of him as the band leader, even though Wood insisted that he and Lynne were the joint leaders. And both men had started arguing a lot, to the extent that at some shows they would refuse to go on stage because of arguments as to which of them should go on first. Wood has since said that he thinks most of the problems between Lynne and himself were actually caused by Don Arden, who realised that if he split the two of them into separate acts he could have two hit groups, not one. If that was the plan, it worked, because by the time "10538 Overture" was released as the Electric Light Orchestra's first single, and made the top ten -- while "California Man" was also still in the charts -- it was announced that Roy Wood was now leaving the Electric Light Orchestra, as were keyboard playe

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The Red Box Politics Podcast
PMQs Unpacked: The 1972 Edition

The Red Box Politics Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2022 48:34


Matt Chorley and Patrick Maguire analyse the dramatic scenes at Westminster 50 years ago, when a protest by MPs against rising unemployment caused uproar and led to the Commons being suspended.The events of the day are recreated by actor and impressionist Kieran Hodgson, before Matt speaks to a minister in Edward Heath's government about his memories of the time. Plus Times columnist Melanie Reid and Daily Mirror political editor John Stevens talk about Conservative MPs calling for ministers to negotiate with nurses, the Scottish Government raising taxes, and why we should stop moaning about snow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Week in Westminster

Isabel Hardman from The Spectator reviews a dramatic week in Westminster following Rishi Sunak's arrival in Downing Street. The former Conservative Cabinet minister Greg Clark discusses the Prime Minister's first few days in office with the Shadow Leader of the House Thangam Debbonaire. As Northern Ireland prepares for new elections to Stormont, the former DUP leader in Westminster Lord Dodds explains why his party refused to share power with Sinn Fein. Also in this week's programme, the SNP's Brendan O'Hara and Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers debate legislation to remove the legal status of all retained EU law by 2023. Not since the early 1980s have three former prime ministers sat in the House of Commons. The veteran documentary-maker Michael Cockerell, who interviewed Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Edward Heath, joins Catherine Haddon from the Institute of Government to reflect on whether Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss's presence on the backbenches will be a help or hindrance to Rishi Sunak. Editor: Peter Snowdon

London Walks
Today (October 28) in London History – Joining the EEC

London Walks

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2022 13:37


Dan Snow's History Hit
Britain's Worst Prime Minister

Dan Snow's History Hit

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2022 31:31


Could Liz Truss be Britain's worst Prime Minister? As the political scene in the UK hurtles into further disarray, Dan gets together historians Tim Bale, Christine Haddon and Robin Eagles to put forward who they think has been Britain's worst Prime Minister over the centuries. Anthony Eden, Edward Heath and the 3rd Earl of Bute contend for first place.This episode was produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stuff That Interests Me
Will Liz Truss as PM mark a turning point for the pound?

Stuff That Interests Me

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2022 8:21


“Pound crashes to weakest level since 1985 in blow to Truss” ran the headline on the Telegraph website yesterday.“The Bank of England had one job today”, as economist Shaun Richards put it, “which was to talk up the pound and instead their waffling sees it at US $1.14.” Theresa May Flash Crash aside, that's a 37-year low.And that's measuring it against the dollar. If you measure the pound's purchasing power against essential basics such as energy or houses, its performance has been way more woeful.It's not just the pound, even if it is one of the worst offenders. It's all fiat money. I've been banging on about it for 20 years but I may as well bang on some more: fiat money and its devaluation is the greatest and most pernicious intergenerational theft in history. Devaluing your currency boosts assets but devalues labour When you devalue money, among numerous other things, you devalue salaries, which is to devalue labour. All the young have is their labour. You boost the value of assets meanwhile, which is what the old have acquired over the course of their lives. The net result is to transfer wealth from young to old. Compounded over decades, 5% one year, 8% another, this process has been devastating. Don't get me started on the knock-on effects: smaller families started later in life and all the rest of it. So many people of my generation and above think they are business geniuses because they paid the market rate for a house 30 or 40 years ago. You are not. Systematic and incremental devaluation by successive administrations was “what did it”.The Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank, the European and Japanese Central Banks – central banking has a lot to answer for. It feels like we might finally be in some kind of endgame for fiat money now. Mind you, I thought we were in the endgame in 2008, so I'm probably wrong this time around as well. I've no doubt some new magic words even more unintelligible than “quantitative easing” are being conjured up as I write.Right rant over. I had to get that off my chest. Let us move on. Does a new PM mean you should go long the pound?We have a new government. Money is the issuance of government. The weak pound is all over the headlines. So I thought it would be an interesting exercise today to look, first, at the performance of the pound by successive governments over the past generation. And then to consider whether one should be buyer or seller here.“Buy on silence, sell on headlines,” is a good little investment motto that I've just invented. When something makes the headlines, there is often not a lot of narrative left in the tank,  the story is mature and the next stage is exhaustion. It's standard contrarian market psychology. Does the fact that the weak pound has made the headlines mean it's time to take the other side of the trade and go long? Could be.We'll start with a chart of the pound against the dollar – aka cable – since 1970. And by the way, the dollar has a much larger market cap than the pound, so what is going on on the other side of the pond tends to have a greater effect on cable than what is happening here. That is the case at present. The pound is weak, but so is the euro, the yen and any other number of currencies you care to mention – except the Russian rouble. Current pound weakness is as much a function of US dollar strength as anything. The chart of the pound against the euro over the last three years is much flatter.In any case, cable is the benchmark, so here is the pound against the dollar since 1970, when it was $2.40 (!).The broader trend is down, but there are periods of relative strength – 1976-1981, 1985-1991, 2000-2007. We've basically been in a downtrend since 2007, shortly after Tony Blair stood down and Gordon Brown became PM. It is what is known in the game as a secular bear market. Now we consider the same chart, but this time I have overlaid the government. Even though several prime ministers have led successive governments – Wilson, Thatcher, Major and Blair for example – for the sake of clarity and simplicity I have marked the chart by PM. Needless to say the dates of the red and blue lines are approximate. The first observation I make is that, despite their reputation for fiscal competence, the Tories have not been good stewards of the currency. In the case of Edward Heath and David Cameron, the pound was marginally stronger when they stood down than it was when they took office. Despite his presiding over Black Wednesday and the ERM fiasco, for John Major the pound was only a few per cent lower than it was when he started.But in the case of – and this surprised me – Margaret Thatcher, plus Theresa May and Boris Johson it was lower. Labour's record is mixed. Harold Wilson saw it lower, Jim Callaghan higher (that surprised me too). Tony Blair has the best record of all – it went from roughly $1.60 to $2.10 – and Gordon Brown the worst.That said Blair was one of the few PMs – perhaps the only one – to stand down from a position of strength. Normally PMs are stood down because there is something voters or MPs or both are not happy with, which will be reflected in a weak currency.Lower taxes and higher spending should encourage growthBack to today. This latest move in the dollar has been extraordinary. I've long been suggesting the US dollar index could go as high as 120 (another 10% from here – though exhaustion indicators are starting to appear), but at a certain point purchasing power parity will kick in and currencies will reflect relative valuations. On a purchasing power parity basis the pound is very cheap at $1.14. The other observation I make about the above chart is that new administrations have often marked turning points in the currency. This, one could argue, was the case for Wilson, Callaghan, Major, Brown, Cameron, May and Johnson.Despite the Tories' record for incompetence, Liz Truss has put together a cabinet that is, broadly speaking, actually conservative. Unlike previous administrations, it is not full of wets and social democrats, who happen to be in the Conservative Party. Lower taxes and less spending (I'll believe that when I see it) should lead to economic growth, which should help the currency. The big kahuna though is where the Bank of England base rate goes – and indeed the Fed Funds Rate.I'd say there is a not unreasonable chance that, with a new government, we could mark a turning point for the pound. We're at a point of extremity where such a turn could happen. But let's see what government does first, before we get too excited. As I say, another not totally unreasonable possibility is that we are in the endgame for fiat. In that case the pound slides below parity. If you want to buy gold to hedge yourself against all of this, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal. If you are in London on September 28 or 29, my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures is coming to the Museum of Comedy. It's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

The Flying Frisby
Will Liz Truss as PM mark a turning point for the pound?

The Flying Frisby

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2022 8:21


“Pound crashes to weakest level since 1985 in blow to Truss” ran the headline on the Telegraph website yesterday.“The Bank of England had one job today”, as economist Shaun Richards put it, “which was to talk up the pound and instead their waffling sees it at US $1.14.” Theresa May Flash Crash aside, that's a 37-year low.And that's measuring it against the dollar. If you measure the pound's purchasing power against essential basics such as energy or houses, its performance has been way more woeful.It's not just the pound, even if it is one of the worst offenders. It's all fiat money. I've been banging on about it for 20 years but I may as well bang on some more: fiat money and its devaluation is the greatest and most pernicious intergenerational theft in history. Devaluing your currency boosts assets but devalues labour When you devalue money, among numerous other things, you devalue salaries, which is to devalue labour. All the young have is their labour. You boost the value of assets meanwhile, which is what the old have acquired over the course of their lives. The net result is to transfer wealth from young to old. Compounded over decades, 5% one year, 8% another, this process has been devastating. Don't get me started on the knock-on effects: smaller families started later in life and all the rest of it. So many people of my generation and above think they are business geniuses because they paid the market rate for a house 30 or 40 years ago. You are not. Systematic and incremental devaluation by successive administrations was “what did it”.The Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank, the European and Japanese Central Banks – central banking has a lot to answer for. It feels like we might finally be in some kind of endgame for fiat money now. Mind you, I thought we were in the endgame in 2008, so I'm probably wrong this time around as well. I've no doubt some new magic words even more unintelligible than “quantitative easing” are being conjured up as I write.Right rant over. I had to get that off my chest. Let us move on. Does a new PM mean you should go long the pound?We have a new government. Money is the issuance of government. The weak pound is all over the headlines. So I thought it would be an interesting exercise today to look, first, at the performance of the pound by successive governments over the past generation. And then to consider whether one should be buyer or seller here.“Buy on silence, sell on headlines,” is a good little investment motto that I've just invented. When something makes the headlines, there is often not a lot of narrative left in the tank,  the story is mature and the next stage is exhaustion. It's standard contrarian market psychology. Does the fact that the weak pound has made the headlines mean it's time to take the other side of the trade and go long? Could be.We'll start with a chart of the pound against the dollar – aka cable – since 1970. And by the way, the dollar has a much larger market cap than the pound, so what is going on on the other side of the pond tends to have a greater effect on cable than what is happening here. That is the case at present. The pound is weak, but so is the euro, the yen and any other number of currencies you care to mention – except the Russian rouble. Current pound weakness is as much a function of US dollar strength as anything. The chart of the pound against the euro over the last three years is much flatter.In any case, cable is the benchmark, so here is the pound against the dollar since 1970, when it was $2.40 (!).The broader trend is down, but there are periods of relative strength – 1976-1981, 1985-1991, 2000-2007. We've basically been in a downtrend since 2007, shortly after Tony Blair stood down and Gordon Brown became PM. It is what is known in the game as a secular bear market. Now we consider the same chart, but this time I have overlaid the government. Even though several prime ministers have led successive governments – Wilson, Thatcher, Major and Blair for example – for the sake of clarity and simplicity I have marked the chart by PM. Needless to say the dates of the red and blue lines are approximate. The first observation I make is that, despite their reputation for fiscal competence, the Tories have not been good stewards of the currency. In the case of Edward Heath and David Cameron, the pound was marginally stronger when they stood down than it was when they took office. Despite his presiding over Black Wednesday and the ERM fiasco, for John Major the pound was only a few per cent lower than it was when he started.But in the case of – and this surprised me – Margaret Thatcher, plus Theresa May and Boris Johson it was lower. Labour's record is mixed. Harold Wilson saw it lower, Jim Callaghan higher (that surprised me too). Tony Blair has the best record of all – it went from roughly $1.60 to $2.10 – and Gordon Brown the worst.That said Blair was one of the few PMs – perhaps the only one – to stand down from a position of strength. Normally PMs are stood down because there is something voters or MPs or both are not happy with, which will be reflected in a weak currency.Lower taxes and higher spending should encourage growthBack to today. This latest move in the dollar has been extraordinary. I've long been suggesting the US dollar index could go as high as 120 (another 10% from here – though exhaustion indicators are starting to appear), but at a certain point purchasing power parity will kick in and currencies will reflect relative valuations. On a purchasing power parity basis the pound is very cheap at $1.14. The other observation I make about the above chart is that new administrations have often marked turning points in the currency. This, one could argue, was the case for Wilson, Callaghan, Major, Brown, Cameron, May and Johnson.Despite the Tories' record for incompetence, Liz Truss has put together a cabinet that is, broadly speaking, actually conservative. Unlike previous administrations, it is not full of wets and social democrats, who happen to be in the Conservative Party. Lower taxes and less spending (I'll believe that when I see it) should lead to economic growth, which should help the currency. The big kahuna though is where the Bank of England base rate goes – and indeed the Fed Funds Rate.I'd say there is a not unreasonable chance that, with a new government, we could mark a turning point for the pound. We're at a point of extremity where such a turn could happen. But let's see what government does first, before we get too excited. As I say, another not totally unreasonable possibility is that we are in the endgame for fiat. In that case the pound slides below parity. If you want to buy gold to hedge yourself against all of this, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal. If you are in London on September 28 or 29, my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures is coming to the Museum of Comedy. It's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

Level Playing Field - A LGBT sports podcast
The Sports Kiki Ep. 130: John Edward Heath, Paralympic hopeful and veteran, on how to keep going

Level Playing Field - A LGBT sports podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2022 32:21


Happy Saturday! On this week's show, Alex chats with John Edward Heath, an amputated veteran who's training to compete in his first Paralympics. Alex and John talk about experiencing tragedy and how to not only overcome, but stay strong. Follow Alex on Twitter: @AlexReimer1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Européen de la semaine
Liz Truss, favorite pour succéder à Boris Johnson

Européen de la semaine

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2022 3:38


Qui remplacera Boris Johnson au poste de Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni ? Les membres du parti conservateur doivent choisir le 5 septembre entre Rishi Sunak, le désormais ex-ministre des Finances, et Liz Truss, l'actuelle cheffe de la diplomatie. Cette fan inconditionnelle de Margaret Thatcher est la favorite dans cette campagne. Habituée de Westminster, Liz Truss avait déjà envisagé de prendre la tête du parti après la démission de Theresa May. Elle s'était finalement rangée derrière Boris Johnson auquel elle est restée fidèle. Elle espère maintenant devenir la cheffe de fil des conservateurs. Depuis le début de sa campagne, elle tente de séduire la droite de son parti. Contrairement à son rival Rishi Sunak, elle propose de réduire les impôts pour stimuler la croissance et de supprimer les écotaxes sur le carburant.  Un programme économique qui ne la distingue que légèrement de Boris Johnson. « Liz Truss est probablement la candidate de la continuité, sa politique est la plus proche de celle de Boris Johnson », analyse Simon Usherwood, professeur de science politique à l'Open University, pour qui elle reste tout de même une candidate qui s'inscrit dans le sillage de celui qu'elle veut détrôner. « Elle s'est également montrée plus disposée à le défendre et à le soutenir au fil des années. Elle n'a d'ailleurs pas démissionné de son poste de ministre le mois dernier alors que le Premier ministre affrontait tout un tas de scandales, ce qui l'a d'ailleurs fait jeter l'éponge. Jusque-là, elle a essayé de dépeindre Johnson comme quelqu'un qui avait de bonnes idées, mais qui n'a pas tenu toutes ses promesses. » Fidèle lieutenante du parti conservateur depuis plus de 25 ans Avant d'être ministre sous Boris Johnson, Liz Truss avait déjà participé aux gouvernements précédents. « Elle a servi sous David Cameron, avant le Brexit bien sûr, ensuite sous Theresa May », souligne Aurélien Antoine qui est professeur de droit public, spécialiste des institutions britanniques et directeur de l'observatoire du Brexit. « Elle a été récompensée de son soutien à Boris Johnson lors de la campagne pour la succession de Theresa May par un ministère. Et avec le départ de David Frost, elle a récupéré les dossiers du Brexit en devenant, notamment, une des ministres principales du cabinet de Boris Johnson, en devenant ministre des Affaires étrangères. C'est un parcours qui a commencé vraiment très jeune. Sa première candidature à Westminster date de 2001, c'est donc quelqu'un qui a déjà une riche expérience politique. Entre 2001 et 2004, Sunak était à Goldman Sachs à ce moment-là. » Mais c'est également ce parcours qui pourrait lui coûter des voix au sein du parti. Il est possible que les Tories lui reprochent son inconstance et un certain opportunisme. Au-delà de son parcours, ce sont quelques points clés de son programme qui pourraient refroidir les conservateurs les plus modérés. « Liz Truss veut faire baisser les impôts, mais les finances du pays ne peuvent pas réellement endurer cette mesure, affirme Simon Usherwood. Elle veut, par ailleurs, prendre des décisions fortes concernant l'Irlande du Nord et ça créera beaucoup de frictions avec l'Union européenne. Il y a toute une série de problèmes, comme le pouvoir d'achat, qui vont être urgents et pressants pour elle… » La nouvelle Maggie Pour l'instant, Elizabeth Truss, de son vrai prénom, reste favorite parmi les 160 000 membres du parti conservateur. Notamment parce qu'elle tente de se présenter comme la nouvelle Margaret Thatcher, encore très populaire chez les Tories. Comme elle, Liz Truss est une grande partisane du libre-échange et se montre très ferme face à la Russie. Elle s'est même dite prête à appuyer sur le bouton nucléaire en cas de menace. En plus d'avoir joué le rôle de Maggie dans une pièce de théâtre plus jeune, beaucoup de médias lui ont fait remarquer, à de nombreuses reprises, qu'elle s'habille souvent de la même manière que celle qui fut la première femme cheffe de gouvernement entre 1979 et 1990 et que la ressemblance est parfois frappante. Mais si Liz Truss voit dans Thatcher une icône qui « a redressé le pays » pendant une période difficile, elle s'offusque quand des journalistes l'interrogent sur cette ressemblance vestimentaire. « C'est toujours assez frustrant que les femmes en politique soient toujours comparées à Margaret Thatcher, déclare-t-elle. Aucun homme n'est comparé à son prédécesseur : Edward Heath. » Âgée de 46 ans, la candidate apprécie ces traits d'humour pour tourner en dérision les arguments qui vont à son encontre. Chez les conservateurs, elle remet en question le cliché du candidat directeur de banque ou aristocrate austère. Pour sir John Curtice, le gourou des élections au Royaume-Uni, Liz Truss « devrait faire une erreur spectaculaire pour que Rishi Sunak gagne ces élections. »

Mind Medicine
Episode 11 : "Carbon Fiber" John Edward Heath on Escaping a Victim Mentality, Leaving a Legacy that People Will Remember

Mind Medicine

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 12, 2022 55:49


John Edward Heath, otherwise known as "Carbon Fiber John" has a must hear story. John grew up in and out of the foster care system in the DC area. He then went on to serve in the Marine Corps, and after became a trusted coach and mentor at The Naval Academy. Throughout his time of service, John lost both his best friend and significant other to suicide. On top of all of this, John was in an accident that left him losing his leg.  Through all of this adversity became a man who wants to be seen as nothing more than a human, "John Edward Heath", instead of the tragedies he has faced. Today, John is a Paralympic athlete training for the 2024 and 2026 Paralympics in Track & Field and Parasnowboarding. Brandt and John talk about the destruction of a victim mentality and how vulnerability plays a part in escaping this viscous cycle. They talk about leaving a legacy for their loved ones who took their lives, and the legacy they want to leave for others. 

通勤學英語
回顧星期天LBS - 英國相關時事趣聞 All about Britain

通勤學英語

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2022 11:52


Topic: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters   Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation. 加油站大排長龍,燃料價格上漲,超市貨架空無一物,大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。 Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging '60s, the '70s were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver. 英國人從疫情造成的18個月冬眠中醒來,發現國家遭遇許多與1970年代相同的痛苦。這次時光機器情節跟電影「王牌大賤諜」毫無相似之處:不同於動盪的1960年代,人們都說1970年代是戰後英國最淒涼的日子。只是想到要回到當時,就足以讓現任政府領導人不寒而慄。 The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade. 英國突然爆發的末日預言,源自心理學的份量跟經濟學一樣多。無疑地,這個國家面臨一系列問題,一些由疫情引起,另一些由英國脫歐造成。專家們說,現在就預測英國將陷入那十年特有的經濟低迷與政治動盪,仍為時過早。 “It's a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it's half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” 倫敦國王學院經濟學教授波特斯說:「原則上來說,這樣的多種因素組合可能導致那種情況,但個別也能發揮作用。我們總是在談論1970年代,但已過去半個世紀了,一切都不一樣了。」 Britain's economy, he noted, has bounced back faster from the pandemic than many experts predicted. The shortages in labor and some goods are likely a transitory effect of reopening much of the economy after prolonged lockdowns. Rising wages and supply bottlenecks are driving up the inflation rate, while the fuel shortages that have closed dozens of gas stations reflect a shortage of truck drivers, not of energy supplies. 他指,英國經濟從疫情中恢復的速度比許多專家預測還快。勞動力和一些商品短缺,可能是長期防疫封鎖後重新開放大部分經濟活動的短暫影響。工資上漲和供應瓶頸正在推升通膨率,而造成數十家加油站關閉的燃料短缺,反映的是卡車司機短缺,而非能源供應問題。 Nor does Britain have the aging industrial base and powerful unions it had in the 1970s. Labor unrest led to crippling strikes that brought down a Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, and one of his Labour Party successors, James Callaghan, after what the tabloids called the winter of discontent, in 1979. 英國也沒有1970年代那樣老化的工業基礎與強大工會。1979年發生小報所稱的「不滿之冬」,勞工騷亂導致嚴重罷工,造成保守黨首相奚斯及他的工黨繼任者之一卡拉漢下台。 And yet the parallels are suggestive enough that the right-leaning Daily Mail warned that “Britain faces winter of woe” — a chilly welcome for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he returned from the United States, having celebrated a new submarine alliance and rallied countries in advance of a U.N. climate change conference in Scotland in November. 然而,一些相似之處足以引發聯想,讓右傾的每日郵報發出「英國面臨災難冬天」警告。對訪美歸來的英國首相強生而言,這是個冷淡迎接,他才剛慶祝新的潛艦聯盟成立,並在11月蘇格蘭聯合國氣候變遷會議前團結各國。 “That is a very easy ghost to resurrect,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington who now sits in the House of Lords. “But these are real problems. You can just see this perfect storm coming.” 英國駐華府前大使、現為上議院議員的達洛許說:「那是個很容易復活的鬼魂,但這些都是實實在在的問題。你可以看到這場完美風暴逼近。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5804159   Next Article   Topic: British hospitals use blockchain to track COVID-19 vaccines   Two British hospitals are using blockchain technology to keep tabs on the storage and supply of temperature-sensitive COVID-19 vaccines, the companies behind the initiative said on Tuesday, in one of the first such initiatives in the world. 英國有兩家醫院正以區塊鏈技術來監控武漢肺炎(新型冠狀病毒病,COVID-19)疫苗儲存與供應的動態,這些疫苗對溫度極其敏感。負責該計畫的公司上週二表示,這是此新做法的全球首例之一。 Two hospitals, in central England's Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick, are expanding their use of a distributed ledger, an offshoot of blockchain, from tracking vaccines and chemotherapy drugs to monitoring fridges storing COVID-19 vaccines. 這兩家分別位於英格蘭中部埃文河畔史特拉福及華威的醫院,將分散式帳本(區塊鏈的一種)技術的應用範圍擴大,從追蹤疫苗及化療藥物之動向,到監視儲存武漢肺炎疫苗的冰箱。 The technology will bolster record-keeping and data-sharing across supply chains, said Everyware, which monitors vaccines and other treatments for Britain's National Health Service. Everyware發布聲明表示,這項技術將加強整個供應鏈的紀錄保存與數據共享。Everyware為英國國民保健署監控疫苗及其它藥物之動向。 Logistical hurdles are a significant risk to the speedy distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, but have resulted in booming business for companies selling technology for monitoring shipments from factory freezer to shots in the arm. 物流的障礙對快速配送武漢肺炎疫苗構成了威脅,但提供監控技術的公司卻因此大發利市──它們監控疫苗的運送,從藥廠冷凍庫開始,直到注射入手臂。 Pfizer Inc and BioNTech's shot, for example, must be shipped and stored at ultra-cold temperatures or on dry ice, and can only last for up to five days at standard fridge temperatures. Other vaccines, such as Moderna Inc's, do not need such cold storage and are therefore easier to deliver. 舉例來說,輝瑞公司及德國生物新技術公司所生產的疫苗,其運輸和儲存都必須處於超冷溫度或置於乾冰上,而且在標準冰箱溫度下最多只能保存五天。其他疫苗,例如莫德納公司所生產的疫苗,則不需要這樣的冷藏,因此更易於運送。 Firms from finance to commodities have invested millions of dollars to develop blockchain, a digital ledger that allows secure and real-time recording of data, in the hope of radical cost cuts and efficiency gains. 從金融公司到日用品公司,有許企業已投資數百萬美元來發展區塊鏈。區塊鏈是一種數位帳本,可以安全、即時地記錄數據,以期大幅度削減成本並提高效率。 Blockchain originated from Bitcoin, and it was created for the sake of Bitcoin — Bitcoin being blockchain's first application. A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data. By design, a blockchain is resistant to modification of its data. 區塊鏈的起源為「比特幣」,為了比特幣而產生了區塊鏈──比特幣為區塊鏈的第一個應用。區塊鏈為以密碼學串接並保護內容的串連文字紀錄(又稱區塊)。每一個區塊包含了前一個區塊的加密雜湊、相應時間戳記以及交易資料,這樣的設計使得區塊內容具有難以篡改的特性。 Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2021/01/25/2003751156   Next Article   Topic: Plastic-Bag Charge in England Prompts Applause, Anger and Humor Some critics predicted chaos, confusion and "bag rage." But while this week's introduction of a 5 pence charge for plastic shopping bags in England did not lead to a nationwide mutiny, as some had warned, it did prove polarizing. Environmentalists, for the most part, praised the government initiative introduced on Monday(Oct.5), saying it would reduce pollution and waste. After all, it can take 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose, according to an estimate by Nick Clegg, who was deputy prime minister at the time the step was announced. Last year, major supermarkets in England handed out roughly 7.6 billion single-use plastic bags, about 140 per person, the government has estimated. 一些批評者預言此事必會引發混亂、困惑及「袋怒症」。實則,英格蘭本周開始每個塑膠購物袋收取5便士並未出現全境性反彈,然而正如部分人士所警告的,它的確引起了兩極化的反應。 環保派多半讚揚政府周一(10月5日)推出的這個行動,表示這將使汙染和廢棄物減少。畢竟,據措施宣布時擔任英國副首相的尼克.克萊格估計,一個塑膠袋可能要長達1千年才能分解。政府估計,英格蘭主要超市去年約發出76億個一次性塑膠袋,平均每人約拿140個。 The government hopes the fee, equivalent to about 8 cents, will help reduce the cost of cleaning up garbage by 60 million pounds, or about $80 million, over the next decade. Stores and supermarkets are being encouraged to donate the proceeds from the bag charge to charitable causes, and are expected to raise 730 million pounds for such endeavors. 政府希望,每個袋子收費約合8美分(台幣2.4元)的作法,能使未來10年的垃圾清理成本減少6千萬英鎊,約合8千萬美元(台幣24億元)。 當局鼓勵商店與超市將塑膠袋收入捐給慈善事業,如此預計可募得7.3億英鎊。 But critics of the new fee say it will stoke mayhem, given the long list of exemptions; shoppers can still get a free plastic bag if they are buying pet fish; raw fish, meat or poultry; unwrapped blades (including axes, knives and razor blades); takeout food; or loose seeds and flowers. There are also worries that customers might verbally abuse supermarket cashiers, and some retailers have provided members of their staff with training on how to cope with angry shoppers. 但批評新費用者說,一長串的豁免項目將引起混亂;若消費者購買寵物魚、生魚、肉或家禽、未包裝的刀片(包括斧頭、刀和刮鬍刀片)、外賣食物或零散的種子和花,仍可拿到免費塑膠袋。也有人擔心顧客會辱罵超市收銀員,有些零售業者已開始訓練員工如何應付憤怒的顧客。 Then there were worries that shoppers would throng the British capital's already harried streets, clutching, for example, jars of tomato sauce. One man who didn't want to pay for a plastic bag for a single item was seen walking down a street in North London holding a package of wrapped salmon. Yet another fear is that there will be a glut of eating at checkout counters as wily consumers try to scarf down food before paying for it. 然後令人憂心的是,消費者將把本已忙碌的英國首都街道擠滿,手上抓著罐裝番茄醬之類東西。有位老兄不想為單一物品付塑膠袋的錢,抱著一袋包裝好的鮭魚走在北倫敦街頭。另有件事讓人憂心,很多人會在結帳櫃檯吃將起來,精於盤算的消費者會試圖把食物吃掉再付帳。 That similar plastic-bag charges exist in the other parts of Britain — Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland — seems to not influence the critics. In Wales, use of plastic bags has dropped 79 percent since a 5 pence charge was put in effect in 2011. The new rules in England apply to retailers with more than 250 full-time employees. Retailers that fail to properly enforce the measure can be fined up to 5,000 pounds. 英國其他地區(威爾斯、北愛爾蘭及蘇格蘭)都收取類似塑膠袋費,但批評者似乎並未因而降低音量。威爾斯2011年開始收取5便士至今,塑膠袋用量減少了79%。 英格蘭新規定適用於全職員工超過250人的零售業者,未適切執行者最高可罰5千英鎊。 Similar efforts to regulate plastic bag have been put in place across the world. In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to introduce a ban on thin plastic bags amid concerns that they were clogging drainage pipes and contributing to devastating flooding. 規範塑膠袋使用的類似努力已在全球各地實施。 孟加拉2002年成為第一個推出薄塑膠袋禁令的國家,因為擔心塑膠袋堵住排水管且造成毀滅性洪災。 In 2008, Rwanda banned plastic bags outright, helping to solidify its image as one of the most environmentally conscious nations in East Africa. In the United States, many communities have regulated or even prohibited the bags. Since 2007, they have been banned in nearly 100 municipalities in California, including Los Angeles. In 2014, California banned stores from giving out free plastic bags. The law was to take effect in July, but after lobbying by opponents of the bill, including the bag industry, a referendum on whether to repeal the ban is planned for November 2016. 盧安達在2008年完全禁用塑膠袋,鞏固了它東非環保意識模範國的形象。 在美國,許多社區已規範或甚至禁用塑膠袋。2007年起,塑膠袋已在加州洛杉磯等近百城市禁用。加州2014年立法禁止商店發放免費塑膠袋,原定當年7月生效,但在包括塑膠袋產業在內的反對者遊說下,計畫於2016年11月就是否廢除禁令進行公投。 Only a tiny fraction of plastic bags are recycled, while many end up in kitchen cupboards, floating through the air or wasting away slowly in landfills. "Plastic bags end up everywhere — stashed in cupboards, floating down canals, littering our streets or killing wildlife," Friends of the Earth, a British environmental group, said in a statement welcoming the new measure. However, the TaxPayers' Alliance, an anti-tax group, said the new measure would burden families who are already struggling to get by. 只有極小部分塑膠袋被回收再利用,卻有許多最後待在廚房櫥櫃內、飄浮在空中,或在垃圾掩埋場慢慢腐爛。英國環保團體「地球之友」在歡迎這項新措施的聲明中說:「塑膠袋落得到處都是 -- 藏身於櫥櫃內、飄流在運河中、散布在我們的街頭,或殺死了野生動物。」 然而,反稅團體「納稅人聯盟」說,新措施將使那些已在掙扎圖存的家庭負擔更重。 A 2013 study by the Washington-based National Center for Policy Analysis, which champions laissez-faire economics, argued that paper and reusable bags were worse for the environment than plastic bags when it came to energy and water use, and to greenhouse gas emissions. "Every type of grocery bag incurs environmental costs," wrote H. Sterling Burnett, the author of the study. 提倡自由放任經濟的華府美國國家政策分析中心在2013年的研究報告中主張,就能源和水的使用及溫室氣體排放而言,紙袋跟環保袋比塑膠袋更不環保。報告作者史特林.柏奈特寫道:「每種食品雜貨袋都有環境成本。」 Whatever the arguments, the rules have inspired a mix of applause, resentment, fear and no little humor. "Can England cope with the bag charge, or will there be a bagpocalypse?" Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett asked in the British daily The Guardian. "Plastic Bags Chaos Looms," read a headline in The Daily Mail. Chloe Metzger, a 21-year-old blogger and student, wrote on Twitter: "I understand the whole #plasticbags thing but it couldn't be more annoying." 無論主張為何,新規定已引發多種反應,掌聲,怨恨,憂懼,還有不少的幽默。雷亞儂.露西.科斯雷在英國衛報上問道:「英格蘭能處理好塑膠袋收費嗎,或是將出現袋之末日?」每日郵報的標題則寫道:「塑膠袋亂局一觸即發。」21歲的學生部落客克羅伊.梅茲傑在推特上寫道:「我完全明白塑膠袋這檔事,但它讓人煩透了。」 Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/287605/web/

WhatKast
JIMMY SAVILE, THE BBC AND TED HEATH!

WhatKast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2022 90:17


Did Jimmy Savile procure children for Prime Ministers and celebrity friends?Were the BBC aware of what was going on?patreon.com/whatkastSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/whatkast)

The Examined Athlete
EP 26 - John Edward Heath

The Examined Athlete

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2021 76:52


In this episode, Clay speaks with John Edward Heath. John is a veteran of the United States Marines, an amputee, adaptive athlete, Paralympic hopeful, mental health advocate, and motivational speaker. John takes listeners through some of the most difficult moments along his journey including his biological mother struggling with addiction as he moved in and out of foster care, sexual abuse, anger and resentment, drugs, gangs, public outing as a gay man, losing friends and loved ones to suicide, and the decision to amputate his leg. John and Clay also explore how adversity serves him today, the importance of influential voices, the power of belief, and gratefulness as John explains how he used all of his experiences to find his true purpose of helping and healing others. Please follow John's journey on Instagram and learn more about ATF athletes at www.adaptivetrainingfoundation.org.

Historias de la economía
La semana de tres días como solución a la crisis energética

Historias de la economía

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2021 8:23


En los años 70, Reino Unido sufrió una crisis energética que recuerda a la actual. Con los precuios de la electricidad y el gas natural en máximos históricos, algunos británicos se habrán acordado de los sucedido entre 1973 y 1974. En aquel invierno, los problemas en el sector del carbón hicieron al Gobierno buscar fórmulas alternativas para racionar el consumo eléctrico. Y la rece fue la semana de tres días. El sector minero tenía un peso estratégico, y daba a los mineros poder e influencia. Con la inflación desbocada, y la crisis del petróleo apretando, los sindicatos empezaron a reclamar subidas salariales. El Gobierno se negó y agravó el choque, poniendo en peligro el suministro de carbón. En noviembre de 1973, los mineros recharazon la huelga, pero aprobaron prohibir las horas extra, para tratar de reducir la producción a la mitad.Ante el miedo de que las reservas empezaran a agotarse, el Gobierno conservador liderado por Edward Heath anunció un paquete de medidas a la desesperada, para reducir el consumo de electricidad. Y por encima de todas destacaba la 'Orden del Trabajo de Tres Días'. Esta norma contemplaba que, a partir del 1 de enero de 1974, el consumo de electricidad de la actividad comercial se limitase a tres días consecutivos por semana, prohibiendo a los comerciantes abrir más horas esos días. Los servicios esenciales, como hospitales, supermercados o imprentas de periódicos, quedaban exentos. Pero, por ejemplo, las televisiones tenían que dejar de emitir a las 22.30 de la noche, para reducir el consumo energético. Los bares y pubs fueron los establecimientos que más notaron esta medida, ya que se vieron abocados al cierre. Se prohibieron los partidos de fútbol que necesitasen iluminación eléctrica: los que se jugaban por la noche entre semana fueron aplazados a los fines de semana. Las partidas de cartas alrededor de un candil se volvieron a poner de moda. Hasta se dispararon las ventas de velas. Las restricciones se levantarían el 7 de marzo de 1974.La repercusión en la opinión pública fue notoria, convirtiéndose en un pulso entre mineros y Gobierno, pero con menor conflictividad en las calles. Como Boris Johnson ahora, el Ejecutivo se vio obligado a recurrir a los militares: promovió que transportasen el carbón y atendieran las centrales eléctricas. El principal representante sindical de los mineros fue muy crítico, y acuñó una frase: "No se puede excavar el carbón con bayonetas".En medio de esta situación, Heath convocó elecciones generales para febrero del 74. Y preguntó retóricamente a los votantes que quién gobernaba Reino Unido: el Ejecutivo o los mineros. El laborista Harold Wilson volvió al poder. Con un Gobierno en minoría, levantó la 'semana de tres días', subiendo enseguida el sueldo a los mineros. En octubre se celebraron nuevas elecciones, y los laboristas reforzaron su mayoría.La situación actual no es exactamente la misma pero, si sumamos los efectos laborales y comerciales provocados por el Brexit y la Covid, se pueden encontrar paralelismos. Así lo destaca Paul Donovan, de UBS. "Con el bajo suministro de gas en Europa, los precios han aumentado. Esto debería amortiguar la demanda, sobre todo de la electricidad, al cambiar el comportamiento de los consumidores de energía. Pero también puede provocar una versión actualizada de la semana de tres días", asegura.Y Donovan deja más claves. "Las oficinas son ineficientes, tanto desde el punto de vista económico como el medioambiental. La típica mesa de oficina estaba ocupada 24 horas a la semana antes de la pandemia, pero las luces se dejaban encendidas, y la oficina se calentaba durante mucho más tiempo", recuerda. ¿Qué paso con el confinamiento? Que el consumo de electricidad cayó más de un 10%.Ante la perspectiva de un invierno duro si las temperaturas bajan demasiado, y con los precios de la energía en máximos, ¿cambiarán los hábitos laborales? "Hay sectores en los que el trababajo híbrido implica que, por el momento, muchas personas acudan a la oficina dos o tres días a la semana. El aumento de los precios de la electricidad podría hacer que más personas teletrabajen desde su casa durante más tiempo en invierno, lo que reduciría un poco la demanda de la electricidad", sentencia Donovan. En principio, el actual Gobierno descarta que vayan a aplicar medidas tan drásticas como las de los 70. Pero habrá que ver si mantienen la misma postura cuando llegue el invierno.

通勤學英語
每日英語跟讀 Ep.K226: 物價上漲與商品短缺勾起英國人70年代慘痛記憶

通勤學英語

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2021 4:19


歡迎通勤家族 週一晚上9pm,在Clubhouse上跟我與Peddy一同閒聊、練習英語!快加入 15Mins 通勤學英語直播室吧~   更多通勤學英語Podcast單元: 每日英語跟讀Podcast,就在http://www.15mins.today/daily-shadowing 精選詞彙 VOCAB Podcast,就在https://www.15mins.today/vocab 語音直播 15mins Live Podcast, 就在https://www.15mins.today/15mins-live-podcast 文法練習 In-TENSE Podcast,就在https://www.15mins.today/in-tense 歡迎到官網用email訂閱我們節目更新通知。   老師互動信箱: ask15mins@gmail.com 商業合作洽詢: 15minstoday@gmail.com   每日英語跟讀 Ep.K226: In Britain, Rising Prices and Shortages Evoke 1970s-Style Jitters   Long lines at gas stations, rising fuel prices, empty shelves in supermarkets and worries about runaway inflation. 加油站大排長龍,燃料價格上漲,超市貨架空無一物,大家憂心通貨膨脹失控。 Britons have emerged from 18 months of pandemic-imposed hibernation to find their country has many of the same afflictions it had during the 1970s. There is nothing Austin Powers-like about this time machine: Unlike the swinging '60s, the '70s were, by all accounts, some of the bleakest days in postwar Britain; even contemplating a return to them is enough to make leaders of the current government shiver. 英國人從疫情造成的18個月冬眠中醒來,發現國家遭遇許多與1970年代相同的痛苦。這次時光機器情節跟電影「王牌大賤諜」毫無相似之處:不同於動盪的1960年代,人們都說1970年代是戰後英國最淒涼的日子。只是想到要回到當時,就足以讓現任政府領導人不寒而慄。 The sudden burst of doomsaying in Britain is rooted at least as much in psychology as economics. While there is no question the country faces a confluence of problems — some caused by the pandemic, others by Brexit — experts said it was far too soon to predict that Britain was headed for the kind of economic malaise and political upheaval that characterized that decade. 英國突然爆發的末日預言,源自心理學的份量跟經濟學一樣多。無疑地,這個國家面臨一系列問題,一些由疫情引起,另一些由英國脫歐造成。專家們說,現在就預測英國將陷入那十年特有的經濟低迷與政治動盪,仍為時過早。 “It's a combination of things that could, in principle, lead to that, but are quite survivable on their own,” said Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at Kings College London. “We always talk about the 1970s, but it's half a century later, and all sorts of things are different.” 倫敦國王學院經濟學教授波特斯說:「原則上來說,這樣的多種因素組合可能導致那種情況,但個別也能發揮作用。我們總是在談論1970年代,但已過去半個世紀了,一切都不一樣了。」 Britain's economy, he noted, has bounced back faster from the pandemic than many experts predicted. The shortages in labor and some goods are likely a transitory effect of reopening much of the economy after prolonged lockdowns. Rising wages and supply bottlenecks are driving up the inflation rate, while the fuel shortages that have closed dozens of gas stations reflect a shortage of truck drivers, not of energy supplies. 他指,英國經濟從疫情中恢復的速度比許多專家預測還快。勞動力和一些商品短缺,可能是長期防疫封鎖後重新開放大部分經濟活動的短暫影響。工資上漲和供應瓶頸正在推升通膨率,而造成數十家加油站關閉的燃料短缺,反映的是卡車司機短缺,而非能源供應問題。 Nor does Britain have the aging industrial base and powerful unions it had in the 1970s. Labor unrest led to crippling strikes that brought down a Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, and one of his Labour Party successors, James Callaghan, after what the tabloids called the winter of discontent, in 1979. 英國也沒有1970年代那樣老化的工業基礎與強大工會。1979年發生小報所稱的「不滿之冬」,勞工騷亂導致嚴重罷工,造成保守黨首相奚斯及他的工黨繼任者之一卡拉漢下台。 And yet the parallels are suggestive enough that the right-leaning Daily Mail warned that “Britain faces winter of woe” — a chilly welcome for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he returned from the United States, having celebrated a new submarine alliance and rallied countries in advance of a U.N. climate change conference in Scotland in November. 然而,一些相似之處足以引發聯想,讓右傾的每日郵報發出「英國面臨災難冬天」警告。對訪美歸來的英國首相強生而言,這是個冷淡迎接,他才剛慶祝新的潛艦聯盟成立,並在11月蘇格蘭聯合國氣候變遷會議前團結各國。 “That is a very easy ghost to resurrect,” said Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to Washington who now sits in the House of Lords. “But these are real problems. You can just see this perfect storm coming.” 英國駐華府前大使、現為上議院議員的達洛許說:「那是個很容易復活的鬼魂,但這些都是實實在在的問題。你可以看到這場完美風暴逼近。」Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/5804159

Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings and Queens

Iain Dale talks to public affairs consultant Wilf Weeks about the life and premiership of Edward Heath, who served as Prime Minister from June 1970 to February 1974.

World Cup Rambling
The Carnival is Over: England, the 1970 World Cup, and the General Election

World Cup Rambling

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2021 54:16


The summer of 1970 – England, the reigning World Champions, are off to Mexico, in an attempt to win the Jules Rimet Trophy again. It's a whole different challenge for England, as they have to cope with the Mexican heat and altitude, as well as being tagged as the villains, owing to Latin American conspiracy theories about 1966. The drama begins off the field as England's catering arrangements and Sir Alf Ramsey's aloof demeanour raise the hackles of the Mexicans. Then a stopover in Colombia goes disastrously wrong with the Bobby Moore bracelet affair. Things get more intense as the tournament finally starts – from a physical encounter with Romania to an epic confrontation with Brazil, then a pedestrian match with Czechoslovakia and the ultimate showdown with West Germany. Meanwhile back home, Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister, is seeking to repeat his own victory from 1966, by winning a fresh general election. After four turbulent years, Wilson's Labour Party is comfortably ahead of the Edward Heath's Tories in the opinion polls. However, the World Cup is preying on Wilson's mind. The PM is taken with the notion that Labour's fortunes rise and fall, in accordance with those of the England team. Wilson is worried about what will happen to the Labour government if England are knocked out of the competition shortly before polling day. Could England's defeat against West Germany really have affected the outcome of the 1970 general election? Follow me on Twitter @MatthewOkot Follow @WorldCupRamble Subscribe to World Cup Rambling on your podcast platform

Warfare
From Nazi Gold to the Zinoviev Letter: Myth, Intrigue, and Conspiracy

Warfare

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2021 36:15


Truth, rumour, conspiracy? Gill Bennett OBE had the job of sorting fact from fiction as chief historian of the Foreign Office from 1995-2005, and senior editor of its official history of British foreign policy, Documents on British Policy Overseas. During over thirty years as a historian at Whitehall, she provided historical advice to twelve foreign secretaries under six prime ministers, from Edward Heath to Tony Blair. In this conversation with James, Gill takes us through the biggest conspiracies of the World Wars. Her book can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Zinoviev-Letter-Conspiracy-that-Never/dp/0198767307 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cinema Eclectica | Movies From All Walks Of Life
8: Pop Screen: That'll Be the Day (with Mark Cunliffe)

Cinema Eclectica | Movies From All Walks Of Life

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2021 49:21


The title is Buddy Holly, the star is David Essex, and the mood is pure Edward Heath. Claude Whatham's 1973 coming-of-age film might be set in the 1950s but it's really an artefact of Britain's long post-60s comedown, bleak, pessimistic and extremely brown. Remarkably, this tale of a wannabe rock star shrugging and screwing his way through a drizzly holiday camp made Essex a teen idol, and it has a slew of '50s and '60s stars supporting him: Keith Moon, Billy Fury and, as his sleazy mentor, no less a figure than Ringo Starr. In this week's Pop Screen, Graham and Mark discuss the oft-underrated acting talents of the one-time Richard Starkey, as well as all the other issues the film brings up: the surprisingly durable stage and screen career of David Essex, the round of musical chairs that led to this being directed by the rock-sceptic Whatham, and the film's connections to the life of John Lennon. About the only thing we don't cover is the sequel, Stardust, because... ...that's our Patreon exclusive (https://www.patreon.com/thegeekshow) for next month, so if you want to be listening to that next week you know where to go. To stay informed about other forthcoming episodes, don't forget to follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tgs_thegeekshow/?hl=en) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/TGS_TheGeekShow) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TGS.TheGeekShow) . #popscreen #moviereviews #thatllbetheday #davidessex #ringostarr #billyfury #keithmoon #johnlennon #davidputtnam #1950s #stardust

My Time Capsule
Ep. 48 - Michael Maloney

My Time Capsule

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2020 53:46


Michael Maloney is an english actor. He was Edward Heath in The Crown, Viscount Astor in The Trial of Christine Keeler, he's been in The Thick of It, Mr Selfridge, the films Henry V and Hamlet with Kenneth Branagh, Truly Madly Deeply with Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman, Notes on a Scandal with Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett and that's just some of his acting credits. The list goes on and on! Michael Maloney is guest number 48 on My Time Capsule. He chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he'd like to put in a time capsule; four he’d like to preserve and one he’d like to bury and never have to think about again .Follow My Time Capsule on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook: @MyTCpod .Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter: @fentonstevens and Instagram @mikefentonstevens .Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .Music by Pass The Peas Music .Artwork by Matthew Boxall .Social media support by Harriet Stevens .This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pod Britannia
S2, Ep 4: The Crown og to statsministere

Pod Britannia

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2020 26:15


I ukas episode av Pod Britannia snakker Øivind Bratberg med journalist og historiker Ulf Andenæs om to statsministere som er sentrale i den siste sesongen av «The Crown» - Harold Wilson og Edward Heath. Andenæs har møtt dem begge i sin tid som journalist i Aftenposten. Han har blant annet vært avisens korrespondent i London. Podkastproduksjon av Per Åsmund Reymert. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

SWR2 Archivradio - Geschichte in Originaltönen
Premier Edward Heath schwärmt von Europa

SWR2 Archivradio - Geschichte in Originaltönen

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2020 1:50


2.1.1973 | Großbritannien ist jetzt Mitglied der Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft. Und der britische Premierminister Edward Heath beschwört die "frische Einheit" in Europa.

Eftertanker
Europæiske statsledere #2.5 Edward Heath

Eftertanker

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2019 35:31


Femte afsnit i serien om de britiske statsledere efter 1945 handler om Edward Heath, som var premierminister i perioden 1970 til 1974. Her kan du lytte til en samtale mellem instituttets professor Peter Nedergaard og generalsekretær i Atlantsammenslutningen Lars Bangert Struwe.

europ femte edward heath statsledere peter nedergaard
The INVICTUS Stream Podcast

The year is 1973, and England is sporting some good vibes. There is a feeling of global togetherness as Edward Heath, our fine conservative PM, successfully negotiates our entry into the European Economic Community (EEC). The war on Vietnam has come to an end as Nixon signs the Paris Peace accords and American troops are returning home to their families. Here at home, Pink Floyd has just released their new album "Dark Side of the Moon" and it is selling like crumpets on tea-day. Drugs are also on the rise. So yes. Good vibes. Good vibes indeed. If you are in the field of statistics, you know that it's right around these years of good vibes that things start to go horribly wrong.... (The Beatles) Here Comes The Sun - Gabriella Quevedo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGlIImajcRI _________________________________________ Discord: https://discord.gg/TPZFwP8 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheINVICTUSStream The INVICTUS Stream is hosted by best friends: Harlan Guthrie, Justin James, Jo Fallak & Chris Viseau who enjoy gaming in all its forms. Each host has their own unique personality and GMing style, bringing their own ideas about what an RPG is and how a story is told. Over three years ago INVICTUS was created so that regardless of distance we could still sit together around a virtual table and do what we love. Our style may be unscripted, unorthodox and sometimes unfiltered but it's our vision and the way we play games together. So sit back, enjoy, have a lark or a laugh, grab a drink and play along as we continue to do our very best to entertain you. See You 'Round The Table! Don't forget to join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheINVICTUSStream/ If you have any questions, comments or concerns about our videos please feel free to contact us via e-mail! theinvictusstream@gmail.com

Iain Dale All Talk
Bonus: Harvey Proctor

Iain Dale All Talk

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2019 46:43


Four years ago former Tory MP Harvey Proctor was accused by a man the police called ‘Nick’ of sexually abusing him as a teenager. ‘Nick’ also accused Edward Heath, Leon Brittain and Field Marshall Lord Bramall of abusing him too. Harvey Proctor’s house was raided, he lost his job, his house and his livelihood. Iain interviewed him several times on LBC at the time and commissioned his book ‘Credible & True’. Eventually the Metropolitan Police admitted that Harvey had no case to answer and they launched criminal proceedings against ‘Nick’, real name Carl Beech. At the end of July he was found guilty of perverting the course of justice. Harvey Proctor’s story doesn’t end there. In midAugust Harvey came into the LBC studio. You will hear how the case has affected him and what he plans to do now, as well as his views on the behaviour of the Metropolitan police and about deputy Labour leader Tom Watson. At times, it’s an emotional listen.

Portmanteau

Brexit - "British" and "exit" references the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. This term was first coined by Peter Wilding, the chairman of British Influence, in a 2012 blog post called "Stumbling Towards the Brexit." Brexit culminates after several decades of history. Originally, the European Communities, predecessor to the EU were created in in the 1950s. Great Britain attempted to join in 1963 and again in '67 but was vetoed by Charles De Gaulle, President of France - some of those not always warm and fuzzy Anglo-French relations. Finally, on the third attempt, the UK joined in 1973 under the Conservative government of Edward Heath. But not everyone was happy with the arrangement. There was a segment of the population known as Eurosceptics - another portmanteau. In the 1970s and 1980s these voices for withdrawal were mostly from the political left. Then in the 1990s the political right started showing opposition to further EU integration and this led to the creation of The United Kingdom Independence Party - UKIP which split off from the Conservative Party. This may also have been a factor in the UK never adopting the euro and staying with the pound sterling as their currency. Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that there were five economic tests that the euro must meet. It failed the five-tests and the pound has remained in the UK. Fast forward nearly 20 years and on June 23 2016, 51.9 percent voted to leave the EU. This vote resulted in Prime Minister David Cameron resigning after losing his campaign against Brexit. He was succeeded by Theresa May. The UK was scheduled to exit March 29th 2019 but that deadline was extended to October 31st. Also in March, Prime Minister Theresa May proposed "slow brexit" but ultimately under pressure she resigned effective June 7th of the year. July 24th 2019 Boris Johnson (BoJo - another portmanteau) was elected Prime Minister in his first statement to the House of Commons as prime minister, he affirmed his absolute commitment to leaving the EU October 31st, with or without any kind of deal. Brexit is a perfect example of the scope and power of one word.   Resources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroscepticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Communities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_European_Union–United_Kingdom_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100314/why-doesnt-england-use-euro.asp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BoJo

Private Passions
Barbara Hosking

Private Passions

Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2019 31:20


Barbara Hosking was born above her father’s dairy in Penzance, back in the 1920s, and ended up in the corridors of power serving two British Prime Ministers. Two years ago, at the age of ninety, she decided to come out as gay, which, she says, is the best thing she’s ever done. Barbara Hosking talks to Michael Berkeley about moving from Cornwall to a new world in London after the War, meeting Eastern European emigres, and discovering lesbian clubs where women could dance together openly. All sorts of women were there, from the posh to the very poor, from “respectable” women to prostitutes. Despite her early Labour party affiliation, she found herself working for Edward Heath, whom she admired greatly, and who she persuaded not to wear a terrible old cardigan when he was conducting with the London Symphony Orchestra. She talks too about finding happiness late in life with her partner Margaret. Music choices include Edward Heath conducting Elgar, Strauss’s opera Ariadne Auf Naxos, Schubert’s Winterreise, and Britten’s Billy Budd. And a love song in Yiddish, a language she taught herself and which she loves. Producer: Elizabeth Burke A Loftus production for BBC Radio 3

Historical Oracle Podcast
Britain And The EU - Part 2: Accession To Maastricht

Historical Oracle Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2018 22:33


In this special three-part series, Historical Oracle takes you through the History of Britain's relationship with the EU from the end of the Second World War until Brexit. Part 2 focuses on Britain's accession to the EU in 1972 under Edward Heath, the 1975 EU Referendum and Thatcher's uneasy relationship with the Union.

Brexit: A Love Story?
1. Fanfare for the future

Brexit: A Love Story?

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 29, 2018 18:36


It's 1973 and Britain is joining the European Economic Community. For some it's the culmination of years of hard work and a political necessity for the country. But for others, concerns about food prices, sovereignty and the English language remain unresolved. Mark Mardell explores the UK's 45 year love affair with Europe, starting with the role that Edward Heath - the Prime Minister at the time - had in negotiating entry into the common market. Email: WATO@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCWorldatOne

Start the Week
Who governs Britain?

Start the Week

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2017 41:49


The former President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, questions how senior judges became cast as 'enemies of the people' last year. He tells Andrew Marr how the judiciary has grown more powerful and ready to challenge the government over the last half century - while professor of politics Tim Bale explores whether parliament has at the same time become weaker. Cicero was proscribed as an enemy of the people in the 1st century BC. Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy has now been dramatized for the stage, and is a timely reminder of earlier collisions of politics, the law and the people. Barbara Hosking understands the workings of politics and the media, having served under two Prime Ministers - Harold Wilson and Edward Heath - and pioneered breakfast television. She reflects back on her life travelling from a Cornish village to the corridors of power. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Last Word
Sir Peter Hall, Kate Millett, Sir Edward du Cann, JP Donleavy

Last Word

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2017 27:55


Matthew Bannister on Sir Peter Hall, the director who founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, ran the National Theatre and created many acclaimed theatrical and operatic productions. Kate Millett, the radical feminist whose 1970 book Sexual Politics suggested that men's institutionalised power over women is a social construct, rather than innate or biological. Sir Edward Du Cann, the Tory MP and businessman who chaired the 1922 backbench committee, fell out with Edward Heath, and went bankrupt in the 1990s. J.P. Donleavy, the US-born Irish writer whose bawdy tale of Dublin Life - The Ginger Man - sold fifty million copies.

Chart Music
#6 - April 10th 1975: Woody Looks Like Edward Heath

Chart Music

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2017 145:32


This sixth episode of the podcast which asks: a Lego submarine full of maggots? Really? This episode sees us throwing ourselves between two stools marked 'GLAM/FUNK' and 'PUNK/DISCO' and sprawling awkwardly in the space marked '1975', in order to check whether it really was one of the tawdrier years for Pop. Spoiler alert: yes, it rather is, actually. Emperor Rosko (looking for all the world like a Transatlantic Stu Francis) empties out a massive lucky bag of Pop-rammel, which includes people in silhouette pretending to have oral sex with Telly Savalas, someone who wasn't brave enough to be Alvin Stardust hiding behind a dog, Chicken-In-A-Basket (but really decent chicken, not Findus) soul, And Pan's People are dressed like sexy, sexy Vileda SuperMops. It's not all bad, however: The Sweet come back hard on their tottery platform heels one last time, the Goodies wear matching dungarees with a 'G' on them, like radical-feminist Crips, Susan Cadogan drops one of the greatest reggae tunes of the decade, and it's 1975 and Bohemian Rhapsody hasn't come out yet, so you already know what's No.1. Al Needham is joined by Neil Kulkani and Simon Price for a proper snuffle around the bell-bottomed, tartan-fringed crotch of April '75, veering off to sing disgusting variations of Bay City Roller songs, discuss why pirate radio was a bit crap, actually, the thrill of Snuff Delivery Day in old peoples homes in Coventry, and being bequeathed platform shoes by your father. The longest episode yet, full to the brim with swearing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Calvary Chapel Of Lafayette, Louisiana
1 John 1:8-10 – 1 John 1:9–The Christian Bar of Soap????

Calvary Chapel Of Lafayette, Louisiana

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2016 47:53


One day British newspaper publisher and politician William Beverbook was in the washroom of Parliament when he ran into Edward Heath, a member of Parliament, whom he had trashed the day before in an editorial. When Beverbook saw Heath, he apologized by saying, “I’ve been thinking it over, and what I said about you in my editorial was wrong, so here and now, I wish to apologize.” “Very well, Heath responded, “But the next time, please insult me in the […]

Gresham College Lectures
Learning from History? The 1975 Referendum on Europe

Gresham College Lectures

Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2016 62:59


Close examination of the events leading up to the Iraq War 2003 and detailed analysis of the decision making process by Professor Vernon Bogdanor FBA CBE http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-iraq-war-2003 Britain held her first national referendum in 1975 - on whether we should remain in the European Communities, forerunner of the European Union, which we had joined in 1973. The result was a two to one majority for staying in. Party attitudes were almost the opposite to what they are today. The Labour government favoured staying in, but the party in the Commons and in the country did not. The Conservatives were enthusiastically for staying in. The nationalists in Scotland and Wales favoured leaving.The referendum was not held solely because the Labour government sincerely wished to discover the views of the British people, but to paper over the cracks of a divided party; nor did the two to one majority indicate widespread popular enthusiasm for Europe. Britain was at that time, economically, the sick man of Europe. One of Britain's European Commissioners, Sir Christopher Soames said that it was no time to leave a Christmas club, let alone the Common Market! In addition, there was considerable deference towards the pro-European political establishment - Harold Wilson, Roy Jenkins, Shirley Williams and Edward Heath. Neither of these factors are present today.Populist politicians such as Tony Benn and Enoch Powell tried to stimulate a grass-roots nationalist movement against Europe, such as had defeated the pro-Europeans in Norway in a referendum held in 1972. Such movement did not materialise. Could it do so today?Are there any lessons to be learnt from the 1975 referendum?The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-iraq-war-2003 Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,900 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)
The Tories and the Miners 1970-1984

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2015 36:48


In 1974 the government of Edward Heath was defeated in an election called to give Heath a mandate against the trade unions. His nemesis was the miners union organiser Arthur Scargill. In 1984 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inflicted a crushing defeat on the union movement, a victory long in the planning by the Conservative Government. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory.

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)
The Tories and the Miners 1970-1984

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2015 36:48


In 1974 the government of Edward Heath was defeated in an election called to give Heath a mandate against the trade unions. His nemesis was the miners union organiser Arthur Scargill. In 1984 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inflicted a crushing defeat on the union movement, a victory long in the planning by the Conservative Government. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Red Box Politics Podcast
Are politicians responsible for their own unsavoury supporters?

The Red Box Politics Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2015 29:47


Tim Montgomerie is joined by Hugo Rifkind, Francis Elliott and Jenni Russell. Hugo Rifkind: Are politicians responsible for their own unsavory supporters? When opponents of Jeremy Corbyn are targeted with sexist or anti-semitic abuse on social media, is that really his fault? And, if not, does that also render Nigel Farage blameless when racists decide he's speaking their language, or the SNP, when Cybernats bat for them? More worrying still, what if similar people - heaven forbid - should ever agree with us? Francis Elliott: The delay to the Iraq Inquiry report is clearly upsetting for the families of those killed in the war and is frustrating for the politicians. But when a mob unites David Cameron with Yvette Cooper it's hard not to feel queasy. Are we sure we are blaming the right person for the delay and for the right reasons? Jenni Russell: in the last month Edward Heath and Camila Batmanghelidjh have both been fatally damaged by vague and flimsy accusations. Phrases like sex abuse are now... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Don Woods
I'd like to strangle my boss!

Don Woods

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2015


The song this week was one I came up with in the 70’s “Strangle My Boss”….it has changed a bit since then but it opened a few doors…it got me a publishing deal with Evolution Records (with the help of Leapy Lee)…and this particular song was actually recorded by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band….didn’t do much and later it was recorded by some Australian DJ on vinyl (I’ve still got a copy somewhere)….I also recoded it in a big studio in Clapham….don’t know what happened to the master tapes but hey…that’s rock and roll. ..There has been an article on the news regarding a “posh” hotel in Ireland where a bottle of WATER with your meal will cost you 26 quid….this is an example of capitalising on the mentalities of those who wander amongst us…those who can sell WATER have always had my admiration…it’s pure genius…proving that some people will believe anything “Oh yes you can tell it comes from a Swiss mountain stream…etc”…bit like the football fraternity who receive 60 quid from someone who can see the match on the tele for nothing…thinking that they are an actual necessity at the match…and even when you lose they don’t want their money back…genius!! There is a hotel close to here which provides champagne for £500 a bottle….and apparently they sell lots of it…..sad isn’t it? ...The witch hunters are out in force….Edward Heath has been accused of inappropriate behaviour with children….the guns are out…all over the papers…all over the news….despite NO ACTUAL EVIDENCE as yet….plus the fact that the bloke has been dead for 10 years…..so what is the point of all this?….when the police fail to investigate a car crash where two people were trapped in a car for three days…and both died…one would think that priorities seem to have gone astray somewhere. Not to mention the valuable members of the House of Lords getting £300 a day for just turning up and doing a U-Turn and going home….£300 a day for NOTHING….I wish someone would tell me what purpose they serve while they are snoring away with their daily wad….WHAT A BUNCH OF FREELOADERS!!...the country’s full of them. ..Sport has taken a dive….since the 2012 Olympics less and less people are getting involved in sport….they reckon we are losing interest….the answer is simple….let’s get back to educating kids that sport is about WINNING not “just taking part”….these days there can be no winners and no losers…everyone must be involved…TRIPE!!...unless they include throwing the beanbag in the Olympics we may as well count ourselves out….let’s teach kids to WIN and not to stop until they do….that’s SPORT….the rest is simply exercise. ....and finally the country is mourning the sad loss of Cilla….I don’t think she realised how popular she was….it’s a real shame as she was a true star…sadly I never met her but watched her rehearsing for a show on a local theatre and she was laughing and joking with the band….and I once saw her in panto….a sad loss indeed…a Liverpool lass through and through…she’ll be missed…

Don Woods
I'd like to strangle my boss!

Don Woods

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2015


The song this week was one I came up with in the 70’s “Strangle My Boss”….it has changed a bit since then but it opened a few doors…it got me a publishing deal with Evolution Records (with the help of Leapy Lee)…and this particular song was actually recorded by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band….didn’t do much and later it was recorded by some Australian DJ on vinyl (I’ve still got a copy somewhere)….I also recoded it in a big studio in Clapham….don’t know what happened to the master tapes but hey…that’s rock and roll. ..There has been an article on the news regarding a “posh” hotel in Ireland where a bottle of WATER with your meal will cost you 26 quid….this is an example of capitalising on the mentalities of those who wander amongst us…those who can sell WATER have always had my admiration…it’s pure genius…proving that some people will believe anything “Oh yes you can tell it comes from a Swiss mountain stream…etc”…bit like the football fraternity who receive 60 quid from someone who can see the match on the tele for nothing…thinking that they are an actual necessity at the match…and even when you lose they don’t want their money back…genius!! There is a hotel close to here which provides champagne for £500 a bottle….and apparently they sell lots of it…..sad isn’t it? ...The witch hunters are out in force….Edward Heath has been accused of inappropriate behaviour with children….the guns are out…all over the papers…all over the news….despite NO ACTUAL EVIDENCE as yet….plus the fact that the bloke has been dead for 10 years…..so what is the point of all this?….when the police fail to investigate a car crash where two people were trapped in a car for three days…and both died…one would think that priorities seem to have gone astray somewhere. Not to mention the valuable members of the House of Lords getting £300 a day for just turning up and doing a U-Turn and going home….£300 a day for NOTHING….I wish someone would tell me what purpose they serve while they are snoring away with their daily wad….WHAT A BUNCH OF FREELOADERS!!...the country’s full of them. ..Sport has taken a dive….since the 2012 Olympics less and less people are getting involved in sport….they reckon we are losing interest….the answer is simple….let’s get back to educating kids that sport is about WINNING not “just taking part”….these days there can be no winners and no losers…everyone must be involved…TRIPE!!...unless they include throwing the beanbag in the Olympics we may as well count ourselves out….let’s teach kids to WIN and not to stop until they do….that’s SPORT….the rest is simply exercise. ....and finally the country is mourning the sad loss of Cilla….I don’t think she realised how popular she was….it’s a real shame as she was a true star…sadly I never met her but watched her rehearsing for a show on a local theatre and she was laughing and joking with the band….and I once saw her in panto….a sad loss indeed…a Liverpool lass through and through…she’ll be missed…

Gresham College Lectures
The General Election, February 1974

Gresham College Lectures

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2015 63:43


This was the 'who governs' election, fought in the midst of a miners strike. Edward Heath appealed for a mandate to adopt a strong policy towards the trade unions, but was denied it. The outcome was the first hung parliament since 1929, and a Labour minority government which went to the country after just seven months. The Liberals gained their best result - 19% of the vote - since the 1920s, but only 14 seats in the Commons. The Scottish nationalists also made striking advances. The February 1974 election inaugurated the era of multi-party politics in Britain.The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-general-election-february-1974Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,700 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.ukTwitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)

By the early 1970s a perfect storm of inflation and mounting industrial unrest brought the government of Edward Heath to its knees. His plans to introduce free market economics and politics to Britain were abandoned and he was outmanoeuvred by the National Union of Mineworkers, resulting in the 1974 three day week.This podcast explores the crises that beset Heath and their origins in the Wilson years of the late 1960s. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory.

Explaining History (explaininghistory) (explaininghistory)

By the early 1970s a perfect storm of inflation and mounting industrial unrest brought the government of Edward Heath to its knees. His plans to introduce free market economics and politics to Britain were abandoned and he was outmanoeuvred by the National Union of Mineworkers, resulting in the 1974 three day week. This podcast explores the crises that beset Heath and their origins in the Wilson years of the late 1960s. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Gresham College Lectures
Entry into the European Community, 1971-73

Gresham College Lectures

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2014 64:03


The history, politics and personalities that led to entrering the European Community in 1973: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/entry-into-the-european-community-1971-73This lecture analyses the reasons for the successful negotiations between Edward Heath's Conservative government and the European Community, which led to entry into 1973. It considers the parliamentary battles over entry and the problems they caused for both government and oppositionThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/entry-into-the-european-community-1971-73 Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,500 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.ukTwitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

The Legacy of Margaret Thatcher
The Legacy of Margaret Thatcher

The Legacy of Margaret Thatcher

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2013 20:38


What is Margaret Thatcher's legacy? Academics Gillian Peele and Tom Lubbock discuss the legacy of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In 1975 Margaret Thatcher defeated Edward Heath for the Leadership of the Conservative Party. Both have a firm claim to be the Prime Minister with the humblest origin. Both resigned after failing to defeat a challenge to their leadership on the first ballot. In the words of Malcolm Rifkind, both were 'strong-willed, stubborn and convinced of their own rectitude' (Thatcher's most famous quality but also one that Tony Blair cited in his 2005 Eulogy for Ted Heath). But these similarities are as tittle tattle compared to the fact that as prime minister both faced the same governing challenge, the same kernel of the same problem: how to govern a country that some said had become ungovernable. This is where their fortunes diverge sharply. How did the figure of Margaret Thatcher so completely come to overshadow that of her predecessor as Conservative Leader? That is the subject of this podcast by Dr Tom Lubbock and Prof. Gillian Peele.

The New Elizabethans
Ralph Robins

The New Elizabethans

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2012 11:32


The New Elizabethans. Ralph Robins James Naughtie on one of the foremost industrialists of the second Elizabethan age, Ralph Robins, who is credited with turning around the fortunes of Rolls-Royce. In 1971 Rolls-Royce was nationalised by Edward Heath's government in order to save the ailing company. Their fortunes improved and under the leadership and long term strategies of Ralph Robins, Rolls-Royce was privatised again and is now a hugely successful power systems company again and the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines. The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings. They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse.".

The New Elizabethans
Enoch Powell

The New Elizabethans

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2012 11:29


No political figure in our time has risen to such heights of fame and influence on such a brief, fragmentary career in office as Enoch Powell. For more than half his Parliamentary career he was defined in the minds of many people by one speech about immigration made at a Birmingham hotel in 1968. He was sacked the next day by the Conservative party leader, Edward Heath and spent the rest of his political career on the back benches of the Conservative party, then later with the Ulster Unionists. Asked as he was about to turn 80 how he would like to be remembered, he replied "I should like to have been killed in the war". The New Elizabethans have been chosen by a panel of leading historians, chaired by Lord (Tony) Hall, Chief Executive of London's Royal Opera House. The panellists were Dominic Sandbrook, Bamber Gascoigne, Sally Alexander, Jonathan Agar, Maria Misra and Sir Max Hastings. They were asked to choose: "Men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and/or given the age its character, for better or worse." Producer; Sarah Taylor.

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
53 Years of Media and Politics

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 4, 2010 83:41


Dr. David Butler brings his legendary Friday evening Media and Politics seminar to a final conclusion by answering questions instead of asking them. Dr Butler's well-worn armchair was occupied by John Lloyd (of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism), who assumed the role of the questioner, together with Baroness Margaret Jay, a former student of Dr Butler. Also for the first time in 53 years, the Chatham House Rule did not apply. The last seminar of David Butler was, uniquely, on-the-record. Bringing together journalists and politicians in an Oxford common room was the revolutionary invention of the young don in 1957. Butler introduced the off-the-record rule for the seminars so that the civil service mandarins, leading politicians and journalists could speak freely and share their real life experiences and anecdotes with the audience. This created an extraordinarily intimate ambience in the seminar room. Butler never asked the guest to prepare a talk, as he "only wanted their genius". Among the guests of the seminar series have featured such towering figures of both British public life and media as Tony Benn, Baroness Shirley Williams, David Dimbleby, Alan Rusbridger, and the director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson - and the names listed here are only some of the guests of the 85-year old Butler's last academic year. In the previous 52 years the seminar has played host to the former Prime Ministers, Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan, Edward Heath, John Major and Tony Blair As a young don in his twenties, Butler was twice summoned by Winston Churchill. Sir Winston, having forgotten why he had invited Butler, gave his whole 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' speech over dinner. On his second visit, Butler found himself explaining the arithmetic of the upcoming election by using apples and tangerines. Meeting Churchill, whom he had greatly admired, prepared Butler for interacting with all the famous guests of his seminars. "I could not be in awe of anyone's presence since", Butler said on Friday 4th of June. Butler is one of Britain's first and still most renowned psephologists (study and statistical analysis of elections). British television audiences have come to know him as the astute commentator of the BBC's election night programmes from the early 1950's until the year 1979. He is well known for launching the concept of swing in elections and for co-inventing the swingometer, first used on screen in 1959. Butler was involved in authoring or co-authoring every edition of the Nuffield studies on British elections from 1945 to 2005. David Butler's eternal interest in the elections is not only about quantifying. He said that he was sorry to see the "human nature, the analysis and the journalistic side" of politics and voting being drowned by sheer mathematics. Butler found Britain's last general election as the most exciting ever. About his own voting behaviour he said: "I did not vote in the 1950's, but since then I have consistently voted for all parties."

The National Archives Podcast Series
Unfinished business: Britain and the European Community

The National Archives Podcast Series

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2008 55:42


Focusing on Britain's changing relationship with the European Community between 1945 and 1975, Contemporary Specialist Mark Dunton guides us through the key documents that reveal the attitudes of leading figures, the diplomatic process and public perceptions of an evolving Europe.

Gresham College Lectures
Leadership and Change: Prime Ministers in the Post-War World - Edward Heath

Gresham College Lectures

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 21, 2006 70:55


This is a part of the series Leadership and Change: Prime Ministers in the Post-War World.

Desert Island Discs
Lord Roll

Desert Island Discs

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2001 36:42


Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Lord Roll.Now in his 90s, Eric Roll is enjoying his third career as an investment banker. As a young man he was a talented academic, but he left university life in the 40s to join the civil service. There he was regarded as one of the cleverest negotiators of his generation, working with Ernest Bevin on the Marshall Plan, Edward Heath on EEC membership and Harold Wilson on the Department of Economic Affairs. Lord Roll chooses eight records to take with him to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Clarinet Quintet in A major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe Luxury: Cassette recorder and cassettes

lord marshall plan economic affairs eec harold wilson edward heath clarinet quintet sue lawley desert island discs favourite
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Lord Roll. Now in his 90s, Eric Roll is enjoying his third career as an investment banker. As a young man he was a talented academic, but he left university life in the 40s to join the civil service. There he was regarded as one of the cleverest negotiators of his generation, working with Ernest Bevin on the Marshall Plan, Edward Heath on EEC membership and Harold Wilson on the Department of Economic Affairs. Lord Roll chooses eight records to take with him to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Clarinet Quintet in A major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Faust by Johann Wolfgang Goethe Luxury: Cassette recorder and cassettes

lord marshall plan economic affairs eec harold wilson edward heath clarinet quintet sue lawley desert island discs favourite
Desert Island Discs
Edward Heath

Desert Island Discs

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 1988 38:19


Sue Lawley's castaway this week is a man who has, at times, endured a different isolation from that imposed by the mythical island. But along with his frequently turbulent political career, he has also enjoyed the close companionship of his fellow crew members when captaining his yacht to resounding victories, as well as conducting some of the greatest orchestras in the world. Former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Edward Heath will be discussing his many achievements - political, nautical and musical - as well as his plans for the future in Desert Island Discs.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Prisoners' Chorus by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Volume of the works of the Impressionist painters Luxury: Suntan lotion

Desert Island Discs: Archive 1986-1991

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is a man who has, at times, endured a different isolation from that imposed by the mythical island. But along with his frequently turbulent political career, he has also enjoyed the close companionship of his fellow crew members when captaining his yacht to resounding victories, as well as conducting some of the greatest orchestras in the world. Former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Edward Heath will be discussing his many achievements - political, nautical and musical - as well as his plans for the future in Desert Island Discs. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Prisoners' Chorus by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Volume of the works of the Impressionist painters Luxury: Suntan lotion