English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter
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Send us a textIt would be a good fight!!Support the showGet in touch at...Email us podcastelimination@gmail.comText or send a voice message to 07713163065 and get played on the showThanks for listening.
phone interview by Peter Jonathan Robertson in 1992 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious. Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/PiL tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious. Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/PiL tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious. Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/PiL tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As the days grow short and rainy, we're here to give you the lowdown on all the best Talking Picture TV highlights to cozy up to at home. Norman Wisdom, Nigel Bruce and killer shrews await!
In 1966, at the height of World Cup fever, an unassuming little British comedy film came out and caused nary a ripple despite a stellar cast of well-known faces. Michael Bentine stars as Horace Quilby, the titular Sandwich Man, who walks the streets of London and seems to know everyone he passes. Without anything so distracting as a plot the film meanders somewhat and is essentially a series of sketches loosely linked together, an indication perhaps of Bentine's lack of experience in long-form storytelling, having come off the back of his hugely successful television series It's A Square World. The film features a host of well-known figures from the world of comedy including Norman Wisdom, Terry-Thomas, Bernard Cribbins, John Le Mesurier, Fred Emney, Harry H Corbett, Stanley Holloway and Ron Moody and has possibly the most incongruous ending to a film ever! Joining Tyler this week are Rob & Guy of the podcast Britcom Goes To The Movies, a show in which they examine big-screen spin-offs of small-screen comedy series and characters - ko-fi.com/britcomgoes
Send us a Text Message.Peter Vs NormanNo doubt two British comedy icons justified of a position in the Elimination Season 4 Quarter Finals but only one can make it to the Semi Finals....Who will it be?Support the Show.Get in touch at...Email us podcastelimination@gmail.comText or send a voice message to 07713163065 and get played on the showThanks for listening.
Send us a Text Message.Bob and Norman go head to head!Support the Show.Get in touch at...Email us podcastelimination@gmail.comText or send a voice message to 07713163065 and get played on the showThanks for listening.
To celebrate the release of The Daleks in Colour on Bluray and DVD this week, Ben and Mark are joined once again by Mark Harrison to discuss how well it updates a 1965 classic, and what it has in common with Peter Cushing's Dr. Who & the Daleks movieWhy is Peter Cushing's non-canon Doctor Who movie the definitive telling of the first encounter with the Daleks? And will Benjamin Cook's choppily edited version for the TikTok generation ever topple Milton Subotsky's technicolour marvel?Also: What is the Del Boy falling through the bar of Doctor Who? Which 1960s companion was one of 30 names attached to be the next James Bond after Sean Connery? Is the colourised Daleks just the different birthday cake to ruin?Support the showFollow us on TwitterLike us on FacebookBuy us a pint
"There's two scythes to every story." In this very exciting instalment of our journey through all things Smegazine, Cappsy, Danny and Ian are joined by two very special guests - Chris Barrie's nipples. Listen along as the five of us discuss neural networks, yuppies, Kochanski's giant forehead, Norman Wisdom's popularity in Albania, whether or not Back To Reality was actually any good, and how The Inquisitor is accidentally responsible for the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. It's best to have the magazine in front of you as you listen. If you don't have an actual copy, scans are available on archive.org or Stasis Leak, you freeloading bastard.Show notes G&TV covers Cyberzone John's ancient Episode Orders article, and Christopher Wickham's oft-linked-to Red Dwarf Broadcast Guide We couldn't find the footage of Norman Wisdom pissing about ahead of Albania vs England, but here's a bit of C5's coverage to prove we weren't making it up Dave's competition winning Inquisitor vs Judge Dredd comic FAO Jane Killick in late 1992: all the changes made in the Red Dwarf Omnibus G&TV covers The Reconstructed Heart
Welcome back to Bad Dads Film Review, where today we're setting our sights on a classic piece of British cinema, The Bulldog Breed. Released in 1960, this film is a delightful mix of comedy, romance, and a dash of patriotism, embodying the charm and wit of early British films.The Bulldog Breed stars the iconic Norman Wisdom, known for his slapstick humor and impeccable comedic timing, as Norman Puckle. After being rejected by the love of his life for not being adventurous enough, Puckle joins the Royal Navy, where his misadventures begin. What follows is a series of hilarious and often absurd events that lead Norman from being a hopeless romantic to an unlikely hero.Our protagonist, Norman Puckle, finds himself in a whirlwind of naval training mishaps, including a memorable scene involving a rocket and an unintended trip to space. Yes, you heard that right – space! The film cleverly combines everyday situational comedy with the fantastical, making it a unique watch even by today's standards.The Bulldog Breed is a showcase of Norman Wisdom's comedic genius. The film is packed with laugh-out-loud moments, showcasing Wisdom's physical comedy and endearing character work. It's a light-hearted look at naval life and British stoicism, with a message about perseverance and self-belief at its core.So, whether you're a long-time fan of Norman Wisdom or new to his work, The Bulldog Breed offers a charming, laugh-filled voyage back to the golden age of British comedy. Reegs especially enjoyed this one!Join us on Bad Dads Film Review as we dive into this gem of a film, exploring its comedic highs and heartfelt message. It's time to hoist the sails for a journey filled with laughs, love, and a bit of lunacy!
This week's pod was recorded just after we saw ‘Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm' at London's National Portrait Gallery, a warm and winning show that starts with him as a wide-eyed fan trying to take pictures of his heroes and soon switches to his shots of the whole world trying to photograph him. We talk about his pictures of French jazzers, Paris boulevards, backstage rooms at TV shows, models, paparazzi, light entertainment stars, screaming fans, American police guns, Miami beaches, billboards, views from plane windows, hotel rooms, cocktails and a New York theatre showing “Christine Keeler Goes Nudist plus Playgirls”. And wonder how it feels to discover 60 years later you had your photo taken by a Beatle. PLUS … … the top-flight rock and roll star we passed in Soho. … the record David tries every year to force himself to like. … the wonderful Geoff Davies of Probe Records, the much-loved Liverpool figurehead who signed the Farm and Half Man Half Biscuit. … bands who've had the most members. … ‘Norman Wisdom, Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, good times”. What's not to love about the Human League's Dare? … the new U2 parlour game. … why CDs sales are on the up. … and what the police would know about you if they found your phone.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on September 25th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/1SwIYJWoHKGet your exclusive NordVPN deal here - it's risk-free with Nord's 30-day-money-back guarantee!: https://nordvpn.com/yourearSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week's pod was recorded just after we saw ‘Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm' at London's National Portrait Gallery, a warm and winning show that starts with him as a wide-eyed fan trying to take pictures of his heroes and soon switches to his shots of the whole world trying to photograph him. We talk about his pictures of French jazzers, Paris boulevards, backstage rooms at TV shows, models, paparazzi, light entertainment stars, screaming fans, American police guns, Miami beaches, billboards, views from plane windows, hotel rooms, cocktails and a New York theatre showing “Christine Keeler Goes Nudist plus Playgirls”. And wonder how it feels to discover 60 years later you had your photo taken by a Beatle. PLUS … … the top-flight rock and roll star we passed in Soho. … the record David tries every year to force himself to like. … the wonderful Geoff Davies of Probe Records, the much-loved Liverpool figurehead who signed the Farm and Half Man Half Biscuit. … bands who've had the most members. … ‘Norman Wisdom, Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, good times”. What's not to love about the Human League's Dare? … the new U2 parlour game. … why CDs sales are on the up. … and what the police would know about you if they found your phone.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on September 25th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/1SwIYJWoHKGet your exclusive NordVPN deal here - it's risk-free with Nord's 30-day-money-back guarantee!: https://nordvpn.com/yourearSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week's pod was recorded just after we saw ‘Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm' at London's National Portrait Gallery, a warm and winning show that starts with him as a wide-eyed fan trying to take pictures of his heroes and soon switches to his shots of the whole world trying to photograph him. We talk about his pictures of French jazzers, Paris boulevards, backstage rooms at TV shows, models, paparazzi, light entertainment stars, screaming fans, American police guns, Miami beaches, billboards, views from plane windows, hotel rooms, cocktails and a New York theatre showing “Christine Keeler Goes Nudist plus Playgirls”. And wonder how it feels to discover 60 years later you had your photo taken by a Beatle. PLUS … … the top-flight rock and roll star we passed in Soho. … the record David tries every year to force himself to like. … the wonderful Geoff Davies of Probe Records, the much-loved Liverpool figurehead who signed the Farm and Half Man Half Biscuit. … bands who've had the most members. … ‘Norman Wisdom, Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, good times”. What's not to love about the Human League's Dare? … the new U2 parlour game. … why CDs sales are on the up. … and what the police would know about you if they found your phone.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on September 25th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/1SwIYJWoHKGet your exclusive NordVPN deal here - it's risk-free with Nord's 30-day-money-back guarantee!: https://nordvpn.com/yourearSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Owen Blackhurst, Seb White, James Bird, and Tommy Stewart catch up this week to talk about being on the clock, Jock Stein, the Tasmanian wolf, the Albanian national team, the 2004 Carling Cup Final, Pablo Zabaleta, Ratatouille, Save the Dolphins, taxis in Tirana, Norman Wisdom, Samuel Eto'o being brilliant at Real Mallorca, Eiður Guðjohnsen, Thierry Henry, Jenny the Giraffe, walking the coals, Nicolas Anelka, getting booed by your own fans, kefir, unnecessary handshakes, no extra time and straight to penalties, roll-on deodorant and so much more.Subscribe to CLUB MUNDIAL nowhttps://mundialmag.coSign up for the Newsletterhttps://mundialmag.co/newsletterFollow MUNDIAL on Twitter - @mundialmagFollow MUNDIAL on Instagram - @mundialmag Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
James 1:23-24 My ability to forget things constantly amazes me, but it probably shouldn't. The brain decreases in size in our 30s and 40s and, more rapidly, in our 60s. Norman Wisdom, the much- loved comedian and actor, said: “As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes...and I can't remember the other two.” In our verses today James points out the absurdity of looking in a mirror and then immediately forgetting what you have seen. At the time, mirrors were made of highly polished metal, placed horizontally on a table for people to examine themselves in. The refection would not have been as clear as that which we see in a modern mirror, but to not remember anything would have been crazy! Forgetting what you look like is relatively unimportant, but remembering what God's word says is in a different category. This is a matter of spiritual life and death. We can't run the risk of listening to what God has to say and then totally forgetting it. So how are we going to remember God's words? James' advice is to put it into practice. As we turn God's words into action, we are bound to think deeply about their meaning and the way in which they impact our lives practically. I wonder how you hear God's word. Many of us do so by listening to sermons, but most people often totally forget what was said by the end of the week. There are many things that can be done to help with this. Some find it helpful to make notes while listening - that certainly helps me. Others talk with a friend or discuss the sermon in a small group. All of these things are helpful, but none of them beats taking immediate action and putting what you've heard into practice straight away. QUESTION How do you help yourself to remember what God has said to you? PRAYER Loving God, forgive me that I find it so easy to get distracted and forget what you have said to me. Help me to become better at listening to your word and then putting it into practice. Amen
First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on July 16th 2023 It's been rather too long since we last heard from our Canadian Correspondent RICK LAWLOR on the show, so when I did finally manage to remind myself of this and get in touch, it was a joy to find out that he was still keen to contribute to the show, despite those pesky time differences that can sometimes make finding suitable moments to record slightly difficult to organize. But RICK was still keen, even if it meant rearranging our dates and wondering about whether any time lag in the question and answer process might mean adding those NASA style BLEEPS to the end of every sentence and calling each other Roger all of the time. Neither was necessary, of course, but that moment of nostalgia did remind me that we'd never done one of our EARLIEST TV MEMORIES shows with RICK, and so that's what we decided to talk about, and I think that if your own TV memories feature POGLES' WOOD, NORMAN WISDOM, BASIL BRUSH, JACKANORY, VISION ON, THINK OF A NUMBER, ITC series like RANDALL & HOPKIRK (DECEASED) and PLANET OF THE APES, or if you're someone who just likes to cosy up and watch TV with your own nearest and dearest, I think you'll find the following hour a rather charming one to spend in his company. PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.
Join us as presenter, author and farmer Kate Humble guides us through magical ancient woodland near her remote Wales home in the Wye Valley. With infectious enthusiasm and occasional impressions, she tells us about the plants and animals along our route as well as the story of her accidental career, becoming host of nation's favourite Springwatch having never wanted to be a TV presenter! Kate also talks worldwide travels, access to nature and planting trees with the Woodland Trust on her smallholding. Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people, for wildlife. Adam: Well, in early spring I went on a woodland walk in Wales with presenter, author and farmer Kate Humble, who was taking me around what promised to be some amazing woodland with her dogs. But as is increasingly common in these podcasts we of course had to begin with me getting absolutely and entirely lost. This is an absolute disaster. Although I am bad at directions, this is not my fault *laughs* So Kate sent me a pin, she said look this is going to be hard to find my place, she sent me a map pin. I followed the map pin. Look I'm here I don't know if you can hear this you probably can't hear this. This is the gate that's locked, which is across some woodland path. So I can't get there. And of course there is no phone signal, so I'm going to have to drive all the way back to some town to find a phone signal. And I'm already late. OK. I have managed to find a village where there is a phone signal. I've managed to call Kate and Kate *laughs* Kate has clearly got the measure of me and told me to give up and she is now going to get in her car and find me in this village and I will follow her back. In the meantime, we have passed Google map pins back and forwards, which apparently tell her that I'm sitting outside her house. But I really am nowhere near her house, so I seem to have broken Google which well, that's a first. Anyway I've got a banana here, so if she's a long time, I have dinner and I'll just wait. This will never happen. This will actually never happen. Well we've found Kate. We've found a whirly country drive lane. Feels a bit like rally driving. It's like, I mean, I don't understand why my map wouldn't find it, but this is certainly a bit of rally driving we're doing here getting to her house. My goodness. We found her house. OK. Well, we're here. Which I never thought I I really thought it was really lovely. The idea was nice, and next time I'm in Wales, I'll give you a call so really, it's it's better than I thought better than I thought. Anyway, so you're leading me off with your two dogs. Kate: I am. I am. I'm leading you off into one of the most beautiful I think I mean, obviously I'm a little bit biased but it is one of the most important areas of ancient woodland in Britain. This is the Wye Valley. We're the lower Wye valley, so we are the the the the bit really where the River Wye is in its sort of last bit of its journey. It's risen in mid Wales, about 136 miles from here. I know that cause I've walked the whole route. Adam: Really, we're not doing that today, are we? Kate: No we're not no I promise. I promise Adam. So yes and we are basically about 5 or 6 miles from where it flows into the River Severn and then out into the Bristol Channel and the woods around here are a lovely mix of broadleaf, so we're walking through broadleaf woodland now and this is literally this is what I walk out of my front door. Aren't I lucky? Adam: You are lucky. Kate: I'm so lucky. So we've got a lovely mix of broadleaf woodland now and we're just coming into that time of year. Which is the time of year that makes everybody's spirits lift, because we are coming into spring, and if we actually just stop just for a second. You can hear that's a blue tit calling *imitates sound* and I mean, this isn't the perfect day for birdsong, but the birdsong was really picking up. And that's the lovely thing about living alongside woodland. So even in the winter, even when you don't think there are any birds at all, what you hear in these words is *imitates sound* that's a very, very bad impression of a great spotted woodpecker. Adam: OK, I'm glad you. I I was guessing it might be a woodpecker, but I didn't want to. Kate: So they start to drum around about sort of late January, they'll be drumming. And and then as the and we also have tawny owls, lots of tawny owls in these woods. We've got an owl box and we used to have an owl that we called Percy who we have no idea whether it was a boy or girl. Adam: I was gonna say it was, a reason it was called Percy? Kate: Don't know, just it just it looked like a Percy. Adam: Just fancied the name. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. Kate: But we have lovely tawny owls here. So, you know, at dusk and and when when I take the dogs out sort of last thing at night round about 10 o'clock 11:00 o'clock at night we walk down this track and and you stand here and you hear this wonderful and everyone thinks you know, tawny owls go toowit toowoo. They're the classic toowit toowoo owls, but actually you've got 2 owls calling, so you've got the male going *imitates noise* and then you have the females going *imitates noise*. And they're calling each other, establishing territories or going ooh I like the sound of you, there's a bit of flirting going on. So these are, as I say really it's it's just the biggest treat to live with this on my doorstep. Adam: Right, so fantastic. You you clearly I mean, you've launched into a sort of fantastic description and detailed knowledge, but you are not a country girl by birth are you? Kate: No, I am a country girl by birth. Adam: Oh you are? I though you were born in London? Kate: I am. No. Well, I was you're right, I was I was Adam: Sorry, do I know where you were born and you don't. Kate: Well, being born and where you were brought up is different. Adam: Yeah, OK. OK, fair enough. Kate: So I was, you're absolutely right, I was born in London. I was born in well, I was born in Wimbledon in fact. This is my neighbour by the way. Adam: Right. Right. Wow. I didn't, we're in the middle of nowhere I didn't know there'd be a neighbour. Kate: I know, but I know. But there are other people mad enough to live in these woods, and he's particularly mad. Adam: OK. Does he mind you saying that? Kate: Not at all. Not at all. No. He's absolutely used to it. Hello. Come and say hello to the Woodland Trust podcast. Adam: No. OK, I'm just checking. OK. Hi, I'm Adam. Hi. Nice to see you. Yeah, I hear you're her neighbour. Kate: This is this is this is writer Mark Mccrum and his dog Jabba. Yes. So I'm just dragging Adam down to take a look at the ponds and talking about the ponds down there. Mark: Oh lovely. Which ponds? Kate: The ponds down there. Mark: Oh those ones? Yeah, very good. I might see you on the reverse cause I'm gonna go all the way round. Kate: Oh you're gonna go round. OK, fine. Lovely. Mark: These are lovely woods cause you never see anybody here. *all laugh* Adam: I'm sorry. Kate: Apart from you Adam: I was gonna say, and me, I've ruined it. Kate: Yeah we're the only people who see each other aren't we. Adam: So you were telling me you are you are born in Wimbledon, but you you grew up in the country then? Kate: Yeah. So I was I was born in Wimbledon and yes. So after about, I think I was about six months old, my mother always says that she realised that London was clearly not the place for me and Adam: From six months? Outward bound baby were you? Kate: Yes! She said she said there basically wasn't enough space in London for me. So so yes, so I was brought up in Berkshire, right? And I was brought up next to a farm. So I was always a sort of vicariously farming kid. Even though my parents weren't farmers and and spent my childhood looking after various animals of various descriptions, and I think the wonderful thing about being the age I am, so everyone bemoans being old, but I think I just I I am so thankful that I was born in the sixties. Adam: Why? Kate: Because no one had invented health and safety, climbing trees, no one had climbing frames, you climbed trees. And I think the trees enjoyed it, and so did you. And if you hadn't fallen out of quite a lot of trees by the time you were 10 and had various, you know, scars or broken bits as proof of a proper childhood, it wasn't a proper childhood. Adam: Right. OK. Kate: So I had a lovely proper childhood of, you know, not being plonked in front of a screen of some description or another. We're going to cut off piste a little bit and head down here. Adam: OK, I'm is this a precursor warning that I'm about to get bumps and scrapes and? Kate: This is a precursor warning that you might yes, you might. It's quite a steep descent. Adam: OK just as long as my, my face is my fortune though, as long as that's safeguarded throughout this, that'll be fine. OK. Well, that's good. Yeah. Lots of leaves around. Yeah. Kate: Of course it will be a soft landing whatever you say. Lots of leaves. One of the nice things again about broadleaf woodland. And as you can see, I'm sure your leaf identification is brilliant, but we've got a lovely mix of oak here and beech, as well as the evergreen so the hollies and lovely, lovely mosses. But yes, what you're walking on is is a sort of glorious mulchy carpet, but we have a profusion of bluebells. Adam: Already they've come up? Kate: Well the bluebells, the the plants themselves have come up so the leaves are up and there are one or two I'm going to show you, is it, will it be your first bluebell of the year? Adam: It, almost, almost we we can pretend it is for dramatic purposes. Let's let's go along. Kate: OK, OK. They are, they're just, they're just starting to come here now and and you get that lovely moment. It'll be about probably about three weeks or a month's time, slightly depending on on what the weather does, where you get the, the unfurling of the beech trees. So that glorious kind of neon green which when the light goes through you get that sort of wonderful, almost disco light effect show. Adam: And aren't they in Welsh, aren't they called cuckoos? The Welsh translation for bluebells is cuckoo clock. I think it's because it's like it's a harbinger of spring along with the cuckoo. Kate: Oh, I didn't know that. Adam: Oh my God, I found something you didn't know. Kate: You know, you know, you'll know lots, I don't know, but Adam: No, no, let's hope that's true that's that's I'll have to go check that. Do check that before you tell anybody. Kate: Well, I'll just blame you. Adam: But no, I do think in Welsh the translation for Bluebell is is cuckoo clock or something like that because it is this harbinger of spring and I think that's it's a really nice I I won't even try the Welsh but in Welsh it sounds very so I mean, I thought we were going to chat about your conversion to nature and everything, but actually that's a lot of nonsense. This is this has been a constant in your life? Kate: Well, it's been, I mean, coming to Wales, so I did live in London, you know, after I left home. Adam: Except, I mean, you didn't choose a a nature career, did you? I mean, you you're involved now we can talk about that. But first, what was your first career? Kate: Well, I mean. Career always seems such a grand word and that you've planned it. Adam: Yeah. OK, so your accidental career. Kate: So my accidental career, well, I had this idea that that I that I wanted to work in television, although again I don't really know where that came from. We're going just down here. Part of me also wanted to be a a safari guide. Adam: Good. I can see the appeal of that. Kate: I went to I when I was 19 having never really been abroad at all, because again, our generation didn't really go abroad as a matter of course. So I went to Africa when I was 19 and. Adam: Sorry we're not talking on a holiday? Kate: No it was a well it was a it was probably a rebellion. Adam: Right. You went as far away as your your parents as you could. I'm not going out for the evening I'm popping off to Africa? Kate: Yes, yes. I'm popping off to Africa and I don't know when I'll be back. One of those. Adam: Right. Yeah, good. Good exit line. So where, where, where in Africa were you and what were you doing there? Kate: So I I started in South Africa. I ended up in Egypt. Adam: Right, just bumming around doing sort of bar work or doing something more serious? Kate: I did I did I was a waitress for a little bit, but I was very, very bad and was sacked. I I was a model for a little bit, also very bad, very bad at that too. Adam: Why were you so bad at that? Kate: Because because I really don't like having my photograph taken and I really like food. Adam: Yes, OK well I would I would have guessed I could have advised you that wasn't the career for you. Kate: So so the two things, yeah, didn't really weren't terribly compatible to that. But I then got a job as a cook and a driver on a safari, and I drove a truck aged 19, having never really been out of Berkshire, from Cape Town, through Botswana and into Zimbabwe. And and then I hitched back to Cape Town. So I had a a real adventure. But what I what it really did for me was, having had this very sort of unconsciously wild childhood, I don't mean you know lots of parties and taking drugs I mean, a natural wild childhood, I then went to a place where the natural world was was so extraordinary and so mindblowing, and on a scale, you know, everything was was was like technicolour. You know, the birds were amazing. The the you know the the the size of the animals, the proliferation of the wildlife, the size of the landscapes, the emptiness and I think it was that journey that turned my mind to really re-look and re-examine the natural world and think it's, you know, it's extraordinary, it's it's mind blowing in every way and so even though I then came back and thought I want to have this sort of career in telly what I really wanted to do in my career in telly was work for the natural history unit. Adam: Right. And is that what you did? Kate: No. Not initially anyway. Adam: OK, but you have done, I mean you've done nature programmes, lots of nature programmes. What did you first start doing? Kate: We're going down here. I have. So I first started sweeping streets in the East End. Adam: In EastEnders? Kate: No, in the East End, no. I was a runner so I basically got jobs wherever I could get jobs and I got a job on a commercial that happened to be shooting in the East End and they needed the streets swept and so that was one of my jobs. But had no plans to be on the telly that that really did happen by mistake. Adam: I think you know my first job in telly. I don't know if you remember That's Life with Esther Rantzen. Do you remember they she always had rude, funny vegetables? Kate: I do, yes Adam: That was my job to find them, yeah so only only marginally above the street sweeping. Kate: Oh my goodness! Adam: So you got how did you get picked there? I mean, we gotta get back to the natural world. But you've had such such a fantastic life. So I mean, I think people will be fascinated to know you have not much of even a vague plan about what you're doing. You're fumbling about a bit. Kate: None, yeah. Living in a squat. Eating crisps. Adam: So yeah, right. So not many models will be will be living like that and eating crisps, I get that You're sweeping streets as your way into telly, all of a sudden you're on telly. How did that happen, was that more of a plan or did someone just turn around and go, hey, you, street sweeper, you'll do? Kate: No, it wasn't. So I had I had graduated from street sweeper, so it took about probably four four or five years I have become by now a sort of senior researcher. And I got a job at the BBC. My first job at the BBC on a programme called Animal Hospital. Adam: Right. Yes. And you were still a researcher there or presenter? Kate: Yeah, as a researcher. And and I think the reason that I got the job was actually my childhood. Because I think it was the first series, in fact, I think the only series that they did of Animal Hospital in a rural practice. So we went to a practice that didn't just do small animals, pets type animals, but also bigger animals like farm animals and horses and I think the only reason I got the job was that I was the only person they interviewed who knew what to do with something bigger than a hamster. Adam: Right ok great. Kate: And I had my own wellies. Adam: Oh good. Always important for a career in telly, your own wellies, see these are the secrets people wanna know. Good. So you've got your wellies? Kate: Always really, really important. They are. So I got that job I got that researcher job. And at the end of it, the BBC do this appraisal thing. And they said we thought you were alright, you did OK, will you come back and do the next series and I said I'd absolutely love to. I'd really loved it, absolutely loved it. Can we just pause here a minute because this, Adam: A sea of wild garlic? Kate: No, these are bluebells. Adam: These are bluebells? Oh, sorry. Look at the ignorance here. Kate: These are bluebells. Well, those white flowers let me show you these because they're beautiful. Adam: I thought like I I think that's what I thought was wild garlic shows you *unintelligible* OK, we've got a proper safari expert. Kate: No. So look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, first bluebell starting to unfurl except my dog's just walked all over it. Come on you're not supposed to walk on there. Adam: So this is, all of this is bluebells? Kate: So all of this will be bluebells and in about 3 weeks time you get this absolutely, it's so blue it's like the colour actually detaches itself from the flowers and floats above it in this sort of glorious mist, it's beautiful. But this these flowers here I love. And these are these are one of the flowers along with celandines which are the kind of waxy yellow flowers that people will see in woodlands and even in their gardens at this time of year, these are wood anemones. And they are lovely, very delicate white flowers with these slightly sort of hand-like leaves and the lovely thing about these, they're not looking at their best at the moment because it's been quite a wet day. But when the sun's out, they open to the sun like these brilliant white stars. And sometimes there are areas around here where you'll see carpets of wood anemones and they're one of the first I've seen these as early as January, although not this year because we had lots of frosts. Adam: It's funny you, you, you, you use the word magical I'm just looking at this tree with covered in moss and everything, there is something magical about these sorts of places, a sort of sense of, sense of, a Tolkien type moment isnt there?. Kate: Absolutely. Absolutely. I've I I don't think it is a coincidence that lots of fairytales are set in woodlands because there is something otherworldly about them. We're going to head keep heading down just so that you have a really good climb on the way up. Adam: Yeah, I was gonna say I'm fine going down, I'm assuming you're sending a car to pick me up? It's well a little, a little Uber will just I'm sure, Kate: Nice try, Adam! Lots of Ubers around here. Look, look, look. Adam: Oh look now that is OK that's a proper bluebell. Kate: That is a, a, a bluebell that's a proper bluebell. Adam: Yeah, that is my first proper bluebell of the year. Kate: And you can see all the others are just starting to come. Adam: And that's and it is lovely because clearly so few people come here that's the problem often with bluebells is when people trample all over them. And we've got just one clean path down here and it's completely undisturbed for as far as the eye can see. So yes, we OK, we we did a little pit stop for bluebells. We're back on and the what was the programme, animal? Kate: Animal Animal Hospital. Adam: Animal Hospital. So they wanted you back as a researcher. I'm interested in the jump from behind the screen to on screen. Kate: So so they basically said lovely we'll see you in four months and I said oh well, I've got a landlord and rent to pay, I can't not work for four months. I'm going to have to get another job and it may mean that I'm not available. And they said ohh well, maybe we can find you something else within the BBC as a stopgap. And I had also at that point, so this is the mid 90s now, started writing. I was writing travel. And I'd spent at the the a end of a a, the second Africa trip that I did between 94 and 95, I'd spent the last two months of that in Madagascar. Adam: Right. Kate: Madagascar was a place that I was obsessed with because of its wildlife because it has unique flora and fauna. I came back and got an article commissioned to write about it, and it was the first, Adam: Your first commission? Kate: Yes, my first commission and my first article, and it was in a broad a broadsheet newspaper, and I was very excited and very proud about that. And so when I was asked by the series producer of the BBC Holiday programme, whether I would consider coming to work for them because I was a travel writer, Adam: Right OK, yeah, you're now a travel writer because of your one article. Kate: I am I am now a I am now a travel writer on the strength of one of one article. Adam: Whoa oh Kate, I'm so glad you were the first person to sort of go over *Kate laughs* That was before me I just want that on record. Kate: Yeah. Adam: OK so I haven't gone over yet. Kate: You haven't got over yet. Adam: OK. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Kate: Yes. So I got a job on the BBC Holiday programme. Anyway the next day I got called into the big boss's office. And I assumed that my short lived career at the BBC Holiday programme was about to be ended because I wasn't quite sure why, but perhaps because I hadn't been taking the producers guidelines as seriously as I might and that also I had smoked on a fire escape, which probably wasn't a good idea. And instead I was asked to do a screen test and I assumed that this was the sort of common test that the Holiday programme did and I tried to say I really don't want to be a presenter thank you, I love doing, I love making the programmes, I love the research, I love talking to people, I love putting things together. I'm quite, I like logistics. I'm quite, you know, I like all that stuff I don't want to be a presenter. And they went well do a do a screen test. So at this point I just thought I've just got to get out of this office because I feel very embarrassed by the whole situation. So I will just nod smile say yes, do it, it'll be a disaster, and then everything can go back to normal. So that's what I did. Three weeks later, the boss came into the office, Adam: Sorry, we have to stop. This is a story that's gonna last all day, cause I keep stopping because your dog is posing or it was posing beautifully by this river. Kate: Well, so this river is an important, one of the sort of parallel streams that run into the River Wye for this is the Angidy, we are in the Angidy Valley, surrounded by amazing woodland on both sides, it's a very steep sided valley. This river is particularly good for dippers, which are those lovely chocolate brown and white birds, they look like little waiters. Adam: Right *laughs* Kate: And they and they, they're called dippers because that's exactly what they do. So we'll keep an eye out because we might see some, but they'll sit on a stone like that exposed stone within the waterfall there and they will jump into the water and literally completely submerge. They'll disappear completely and they're looking for things like caddisfly larva, which is what they feed on, and then they'll bob up and come back up and they're they're just these wonderful, perky, very smart little birds. Adam: Brilliant, OK. Kate: They're the only British songbird that is also a water bird. Adam: Wow, OK, good. All right. Kate: There you are, little bit of, little bit of, Adam: No, I like these these these sorts of diversions we take, it's it's almost like doing a stand up routine, so we're gonna go gonna go back to the story now. So you thought everybody in the world gets a screen test. So I'm just doing this and then they'll leave me alone. Kate: Yes, yes. And and then the boss came into the office about 3 weeks later. And she said, can you go to France tomorrow? And I said yes, of course, assuming that they needed somebody to carry the heavy stuff. Bhcause carrying heavy stuff is the other thing that I am good at. I can whistle very loudly and I can carry very heavy things and those are really the only two things that I can offer the world. Adam: OK, I I you, you have set yourself up for a big whistle at the end, so we'll we'll wait for that then let's hold out. Kate: It it will blow your ears well, that's all I'm saying. So she said, we want you to present a film on a barge in Normandy, could you please do something about my hair, she said. My own hair. Adam: I see she didn't ask you to be a hairdresser? Also could you cut my hair? Kate: Yes could you cut my hair *laughs*. No, could you do something about your hair, she said. I thought she's been talking to my mum, who constantly despairs of my lack of my lack of grooming. Adam: Right, also right at this point of hair hair disasters, we have to pause because we've come across as you may hear an extraordinary small waterfall, it's a weir, really, isn't it? Kate: It is really. Adam: I'm gonna take another photo of this before we get back to the life and misadventures of Kate Humble. So I'm just gonna take a photo. You'll find that, no doubt on one of our Twitter feeds. Oh, I know beautiful, oh no the dogs disappeared, the dog doesn't like posing for me. But all right, so now, you're off to France. You need a haircut and, Kate: So I'm off to France. I need I need I need to basically smarten myself up. Off I went to France and presented my first film. Adam: Right. And that was, I mean, we could talk about this forever, but that was the beginning of that was the beginning of this, the story. OK, well, amazing. Kate: Yes. My first job for the natural history unit came in 2000. And I was asked to do a programme, which was a sort of, was made in response to Blue Planet. So the very first series of the Blue Planet, which I think everybody watched with their mouths open because we had never seen the oceans in that way before, particularly the deep ocean. And there was a phrase used which I have used many, many times since, which was that more people have been to the moon than there have been to the deep ocean. And people were fascinated by these, they were they were creatures that looked like they might have been designed for Star Wars. They were so extraordinary. Adam: These sort of angler fish which have which have this light don't they. Kate: That sort of thing, and these these, you know, these astonishing, you know, plankton with flashing lights, there were Dumbo octopus with, you know, little octopus with these sort of literally did look like Dumbo the elephant, you know, deep water sharks that people had never seen before that were really slow moving and and, you know astonishingly well-adapted to live at depths and in in at water pressure that no one thought anything could exist in and come on dogs we're gonna keep, do you wanna have a, Adam: And so yours was a response, in what way? Kate: So we did a live, Adam: The dogs keep looking at me like they want me to throw something for them is that what's going on? Kate: They do, and I'm going to just try and find a, here let's try let's try this, here we are. Adam: Look, they're very, oh you've thrown it into the river? Kate: Go on, in you go. Adam: Oh, look at that go! Kate: Come on Teg, do you wanna go in as well? Here you are. This one's going to sink, go on. Ready? Go. Good girl. Where's it gone? Teggy, it's just there. That's it. Well done, well done, dogs. Adam: Oh they like that. Kate: Well, I can't go and get it, you have to bring it here, that's the deal with sticks *laughs* So we did a live programme from a boat in Monterey Bay. I made some films to play into that live show. So I went to the Cayman Islands, which is a rotten thing to ask anybody to do, can you imagine? Adam: Terrible, terrible. You wanted to be back in the East End really. Kate: I did really, sweeping streets and instead there I was, doing films about coral reefs and this is the one of, this is the wonderful thing about the natural history unit or just about making films with animals is the lengths that you have to go to to be able to capture the natural world in all its wonder. And so I was asked to go and film a shark called a six gill shark that lives very deep and only about 10 people in the world had ever seen. And I was sent to go and find this creature. You know, I can't I can't even now I can't really believe that I was asked to do that. Adam: And did you find it? Kate: Eventually. We had to do two, we did one trip we failed to find it, Adam: How how long was that? Kate: So that was, we did 6 dives. It was an amazing trip. We didn't get the shark on the first trip. We went back for another trip. We didn't get it. We didn't get it. We finally got it and it was incredible. Incredible moment. And that was the first job that I did for the natural history unit and there was then somebody who came up with the idea of doing British wildlife life live at kind of springtime, like kind of now. Adam: And this was Springwatch was it? Kate: This was the precursor to Springwatch. Adam: Oh I didn't know there was one. Kate: There were two! Adam: What were they called? Kate: So the first one was called Wild In Your Garden. So I'm just going to put the dogs on a lead here. Hold on, poppet. Just hold on my poppet. That's it. We've got to take Adam up the hill now. So yes, so the first one was called Wild In Your Garden and it was Bill Oddie and Simon King and me. And we did two shows a night, from gardens in Bristol, and it sort of worked as an idea. Adam: Right. OK. Kate: It worked well enough or it wasn't so much of a disaster that there wasn't a thought of let's try it slightly differently, maybe on a farm instead of in the garden, and we went to this wonderful organic farm in Devon and basically made camp for three weeks. And made a series called Britain Goes Wild. And Britain went a tiny bit wild. And so the following year we thought, well, we'll do it again, but maybe we'll just call it something different. Adam: Right. Kate: And someone came up with the idea of calling it spring watch and everyone said, and it always went out at the same time as it does now, sort of end of May and people go, it's not really spring though is it? And we're like, well spring enough, still spring things happening and Springwatch seemed to capture everybody's imaginations and and I presented that for 10 years. Adam: And you presented that for how many, how many years? Kate: Ten. Adam: Blimey! That's a long, Kate: Yeah, I know. I've just grown old on telly and then Autumnwatch came into being and then Winterwatch and I did Seawatch. So I did a series about British Britain's seas and and marine life. Yeah. So I did eventually get my wish of working for the natural history unit. Adam: Oh, that's very good. The fairy godmother in the form of the BBC descended and granted your wish. And now from all of those adventures abroad and on TV and everything you then said, I'm gonna move to this really quite, there's another car coming, quite quite remote parts of Wales. Why that? Kate: We're going to head up here. Hold on, dogs. There we are. Adam: Oh there's some steps. Hallelujah. Kate: OK, only for this little bit. Adam: Look, stop stop taking away the hope. Kate: *laughs* So so I we moved, Adam: Yes so you you picked up sticks and then moved to Wales. Perhaps it's not such a big move because the natural world has seemed to be always the centre of things for you. So but why Wales in particular? Kate: Well, that is a curious question. I had no connection with Wales as far as I was aware. I honestly honestly can't tell you why I felt this extraordinary pull to live here. But it really was it was like a magnetic pull. There is actually a a Welsh word and I'm not sure I'm really allowed to use it in my context, but I can't think of a better word to use for the feeling that I had. And it's hiraeth and is a word that it's sort of more than home sickness. It's like a deep longing for the place that you belong. A yearning, a pit of the stomach emptiness for your home. Adam: You felt this was a spiritual home, did you? Kate: I don't know I really don't know, Adam. I, as I say I just had this extraordinary pull to live here. And yeah, I would look at the, there are these old fashioned things called maps, and I would look at the A to Z of Great Britain. And you know, there I was in the South East and if you look at a thing called a map, Adam: Yes, sorry is this a point about me getting lost on the way to you. Kate: No no not even remotely. No, it's the fact that no one uses them anymore, and yet, they're the greatest treasures we have. So if you look at a map, the South East of England is just this chaos of colour and roads and towns and names. And it's just, you know, there's not a square millimetre that hasn't got a name in it or something in. The further west you go, the browner the map becomes, and when you go over the border into Wales, it's mainly brown and green and it's got beautiful lyrical names like Abergavenny and and it's got mountains and mountains, when you've been brought up in Berkshire mountains are the height of exoticism. To live in a in a country that had mountains all of its own just struck me as being remarkable. I still, 15 years on, find it remarkable that I can I can get up at breakfast, not go terribly far, and climb a bona fide mountain. I love that. And that's what I love about Wales. Adam: And and you've done more than, I mean, people might feel that and move to a beautiful part of the country and live there and more or less carry on with their ordinary life. But you've not done that. I mean, you're not just you don't just go for walks, the natural world is something you've created a a new career out of as well. Is that fair? Kate: I wouldn't call it a career. Adam: OK but you're very much well, but you make money from it and it fills your days. Kate: Well, no, no, I don't think I don't know I don't I don't think that's I don't think that's true at all. I think you know I my working life is peculiar. I've I still am involved making television programmes, some of which involve the natural world. I still write, some of that's about the natural world, but not all of it. The natural world for me is nothing to do with making a living. Making a living. But it is about living. And it was one of the things that I was acutely aware of when I lived in London was I felt cut off from the seasons. This year you know, I know I can tell you that I didn't hear a skylark until the middle of March last year it was Valentine's Day. I can tell you that because that's what I'm experiencing. And I love feeling that instead of the natural world being something I watch on the television or I read about in a book that I am able to be part of it. And that's one of the big problems I think that we face now with trying to engage people with the importance of things like biodiversity, species loss, habitat loss. None of those things sound very sexy, and none of those things appear to matter to us because we as a species so weirdly and inexplicably view ourselves as a species separate from the natural world and the natural world has become something that we just watch for our entertainment. But we are just another mammal in this amazingly complex, beautiful, brilliant web that is the biodiversity web, where everything fits in and everything works together, and one thing feeds another thing and you know, until we feel properly part of that, immersed in it and and wrapped up in it, why are we ever going to worry about the fact that it is now a biodiversity net that's full of holes, and those holes mean that the net becomes less and less effective and the less effective that net becomes, the more it affects us, but we see ourselves as somehow immune from that process and we're not. And what I love about living here, what I love about walking in this area every day, twice a day, is the fact that I feel that I can, I'm I'm more in tune with our natural world and that is sadly, it shouldn't feel a it shouldn't be a privilege, but it is. Adam: And do you feel, I mean, you're you feel passionate about it. Do you feel evangelical about it? Kate: Yes. Adam: So what do you, do you have a prescription to help to bring others on side? Kate: I wish it didn't, I wish you didn't have to ask me that question. I wish it didn't have to be an on side. Adam: Do you do you feel that's an unfair question? Or do you think there's? Kate: No, I don't. I think it's a very fair question because lots of people don't feel or don't perhaps don't experience it experience the advantages of the natural world, or they haven't been they haven't been given the opportunities to properly understand the impact that it can have on us and all those impacts are positive. I mean, there's loads of science. And you know, it was talked about endlessly during the pandemic about how green spaces are good for our mental health, blue spaces are good for our mental health, being outdoors, being in nature, listening to birdsong, sing plants grow, all those things are good for us. But we've got to a place where we've been so divorced from it, where we look for our pleasures in shopping malls and online and and we forget that actually all we need is right here. And, you know, it's a hard sell for some to to somebody who's never experienced this, who hasn't had the privileges I've undoubtedly had, you know who have not grown up in the countryside, who find it fearful or boring or inexplicable, don't understand where they fit in. Adam: And I think one of the perhaps growing debates, I think or interesting ones anyway for me is is the balance between trying to either scare people or make them aware of the environmental challenges and potential for disaster. And then so to sort of go engage with the subject it's really it's really newsworthy, it's it's it's imperative people do things and actually turning people off going well we're we're all going to literally burn, enjoy the party whilst it lasts. So what what do you feel about that? Kate: Yeah, yeah. I mean, all all, all you have to do, all you have to do is watch Don't Look Up. Have you seen that film? Adam: Yes. Kate: And and and that, you know, absolutely embodies what you have just said. Adam: So what do you think about that? Because I think there's a balance between going, offering hope, the power or audacity of hope is a phrase one hears as opposed to the sort of potential to frighten people into action. Actually the opposite, don't frighten them into action. Offer them hope of change. And I wonder where you feel that, if we've got that balance right, or whether, Kate: No, we haven't got it right and I, but I don't know what the balance is because I think there's a real, I think that a lot of programmes that are made about natural history now have become so glossy and so beautiful and and so almost otherworldly that they don't actually reflect the reality of the natural world. And a lot of them again show the natural world without the context of people. And of course, that's sort of how we want to see it, we don't want people muddying those pictures. We don't want, as you say, the kind of the awful stories of the litter and the, you know, the the, the, the negative impact that human have humans have had on the natural environment. So we kind of don't want to see it, but equally if we don't see it, we don't engage with it and we kind of can watch one of those documentaries and even if David Attenborough is telling you that, you know, this is a habitat that's in peril or this is the last animal of its type that you will ever see, you don't really take that in because you're looking at these really stunning pictures and you think it's kind of OK. But I don't know what the answer is because I also know that as you say, if all you peddle is hopelessness and helplessness, no one's going to engage, they're going to stick their heads in the sand and just hope that it all goes away and pass it on to the next generation. So somehow we as communicators need to find a way that really does cut through. That really does make people feel, genuinely feel part of the natural world, that it isn't just another thing. I had the great joy of interviewing Tim Peake not that long ago, and I was interviewing him for a book that I'm writing about the concept of home. And I thought he would have, of anybody, a really unique idea of home having not just left home but left the planet. And he told me that he did a spacewalk, he was out in space for over four hours, and he said the blackness is like a blackness you cannot imagine. But he said, you know, you see Mars and Jupiter and Venus and you see Earth. And he said, when you're there, amongst the planets in that way you see that Earth is, as far as anyone's experience, and any telescope has been able to tell us, unique. You look at it and he said there it is, this colour, this blue and green planet, whereas everything else is, you know silver and and ghostly, ours is a living planet and he said he had this, he had this sort of feeling when he was there looking at Earth and imagining somebody, some other being coming up and tapping him on the shoulder and saying hey, hi, who are you? I'm Tim. And he'd say oh hello so where are you from then? And Tim said I felt this enormous swell of pride to be able to point to our planet and say I'm from that planet there. I'm from Earth. I'm an earthling and I thought if all of us had that experience, could understand what it was like, how special our planet is in a universe that is infinite as far as we know and that we have, we have no idea what's out there, but what we do know at the moment is that our planet is unique and I think we would treasure it that much more and have moments like this of just standing amongst the trees and midges coming out, the drizzle, the mud and go, this is our home, this is where we live. It's really special. Aren't we lucky? Adam: You're taking me uphill again aren't you. Kate: I am taking uphill, but you've done the worst bit and you and and actually you marched. I was impressed! Adam: Oh OK good. You know I'll fall apart after, I'm just doing it so I don't embarrass myself too badly. Kate: *laughs* I'm afraid it is going to get very, very muddy, so you're going to have wet socks, mud up to your knees, you know, that's why I spend six months of the year in wellies. Adam: Right OK. But you know, that is the privilege of being an earthling, isn't it? Kate: It is it is. Adam: So you've been you've got involved with the Woodland Trust. Kate: I've been involved with the Woodland Trust for quite a long time, but it really started when we took on a farm near here. Adam: What's this an arable farm? Kate: No, it was a small council farm. It belonged to the council and people are not really aware that there are such a thing. Adam: I've never heard this one. Kate: No, but there used to be about 16,000 council farms throughout Britain and they were set up as part of the 1906 Smallholdings and Allotments Act and they were there, low rent, small areas, usually 30, 40 acres that sort of size and they would be available to rent for farmers who for whatever reason, didn't have a farm of their own. And over the years, as farming practices have changed as economic models have driven farmers to need to to produce things on a bigger scale, small farms have been basically relegated to either hobby farms or they've been broken up and sold to land that's been added to bigger farms. So we've lost an enormous number of these small farms and with them an enormous opportunity for people with farming skills to stay on the land and produce as food. And that's what was going to happen to this farm. And for whatever reason, I just felt this was not the thing to do and to cut a very, very, very long story short, we ended up taking over the farm and setting up a rural skills centre o prove that a small farm, ours is just over 100 acres, could still be viable. It supports itself and that's really important. But one of the things that we wanted to do, we were really interested to do when we took it over was to add more trees. It's it's got some wonderful ancient trees. There's an oak tree on the farm that we call Old Man Oak, as did the tenants before us. They introduced us to him and we think he's about 600 years old. And but we wanted to plant more trees. But we had this conundrum of how do we increase the tree cover on the farm without taking away the pasture because obviously we needed the pasture for the livestock and it was the Woodland Trust that helped us with that conundrum. So they looked, together we walked round the farm and we identified either areas where there were small copses or where there was a bit of a hedge. So what we did with the Woodland Trust's advice and input was to put in trees as shelter breaks, so not actually impinging on the pasture, just or very much, but adding a kind of a thicker bit of hedge if you like, or making a copse a little bit bigger and in that way we've planted over 1,000 trees on the farm in the last decade that we've had it. And then at home we have a four acre small holding and and so at the beginning of last year I started thinking maybe it's an age thing, you start thinking about legacy and when you when you take over a piece of land, what you start to understand actually very quickly is that you will never own it, that you are simply the caretaker of it for the time that you are around. And I think we've got cleverer now. Our knowledge has become greater. We understand that just planting trees isn't the answer. We need to think about we need to think of landscape as a mosaic and so what we wanted to do was to create a little mosaic. Plant trees, create water or make a space for water, make sure that there was going to be areas that had glade that was good for insects, that was good for wild flowers. And so I talked to the Woodland Trust and said, are you going to be into this idea, because it's not just planting trees and they went, that's exactly what we're into. That's exactly what we want to do. We want to create habitat. It's not about blanketing a landscape with trees. It's about planting the right trees in the right places at the right density to create something that you know, in a generation's time will have real lasting value, and that's what's been so wonderful about working with, you know, an organisation like that that sees big picture, sees longevity as as an advantage rather than as a disadvantage. And and that's what's been so lovely is that, you know, I can go to them and say so I've got this plan. I mean, I'm not even going to be alive to see it kind of come to fruition but do you care? And they went, we don't care, do you care? No. Let's do it. And that's wonderful. Adam: Wonderful. OK sorry, this is a bit, this is the bit where I'm going ohh well, I'm swimming effectively swimming now. Kate: Sorry. This is a very wet bit. Adam: Hold on a second. OK. Right. That's a very Norman Wisdom walk I seem to have. OK. Yeah. OK, so ohh sorry, hold on. Kate: It gets, that's the that's the wettest bit now, now we're now we're more or less home and dry. Adam: Oh well you know what we we might be home, but we are not dry. That would be inaccurate at this point. So well, that's a neat story to bring us back to home with isn't it. So you know things are looking good. It's all hopeful. A a long journey and a long one ahead, you know, not just for you, but for that natural world you're creating. Kate: Well, I hope that you know the the I I think going back to to what you said about how we can, we can help us all feel that we are actually, you know part and parcel of the natural world rather than observers of it or visitors of it and things like planting trees or being aware of the seasonal joys of the bluebells coming through, or, you know the leaf fall in the autumn and the colour, all those things if if i you know if we can build that awareness that brings with it huge joy and reward, then maybe we'll start to cut through again and people will start to feel more like the natural world is their world and not just another part of the planet that they live on. Adam: Well having arrived back at Kate's home, let me just say there are lots more woodland walk podcasts for you to enjoy wherever you get your podcasts from. And indeed, if you want to find an actual wood near you well, you can go to the Woodland Trust website www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/findawood. Until next time, happy wandering. Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks with Adam Shaw. Join us next month, when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff, partners and volunteers. Don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you're listening to us and do give us a review and a rating. And why not send us a recording of your favourite woodland walk to be included in a future podcast? Keep it to a maximum of five minutes and please tell us what makes your woodland walk special or send us an e-mail with details of your favourite walk and what makes it special to you. Send any audio files to podcast@woodlandtrust.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sir Norman Wisdom was definitely an important factor in the success of the stuntman in film. Norman was guaranteed to make you laugh whatever you did. He couldn't walk down the street without seeing an opportunity to fall over and make people laugh.Tex Fuller was a stuntman who was perfectly cast as Norman's stuntman for many of his movie outings. They worked very closely together but didn't always see eye to eye. However, in amongst all of this chais common sense did prevail and the really dangerous stuff was left to Tex.More to discover on Friday in our YouTube videoIf you've enjoyed this episode then why not follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using the following linkhttps://linktr.ee/behindthestunts
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A deep dive into 50 years of leadership, experience, and wisdom. Chief Norman provides a humble look into the people and events that have had their unique place in his journey of the fire service. John is an accomplished fire service leader, and author. The Links for his published work are attached below Instagram: @chiefnormanfdny Amazon: Working with Giants https://a.co/d/0qZJ3Zy Fire Engineering books and Video: https://fireengineeringbooks.com/john-norman/ Chief Norman's website: http://www.chiefnorman.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-nasti/support
The Final Mannin Open Line of 2022 with Onchan Commissioners big news, stolen parcels in Ramsey, Isle of Man radio survey, new Govt freephone numbers, Norman Wisdom & the spirit of Marge Joughin. It's Mannin Line with Andy Wint #iom #manninline #manxradio
The Big Freeze Boxing Day evening 1962 The Christmas Number One at the top of the hit parade was Return to Sender by Elvis Presley All around the country, families were settling down after a busy two days of eating, drinking and making merry. Small screen entertainment on the tv that evening included a hilarious variety show from the London Palladium featuring Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom and the BBCs big Boxing Day movie was Moulin Rouge starring Jose Ferrer and Zsa Zsa Gabor And then, it began to snow. A day late and tantalisingly close to giving the country a proper White Christmas, but snow nevertheless. The temperature dropped…..and it continued to snow. And it snowed and snowed, and it got colder. And it snowed and it snowed some more And that was how it would be for the next one hundred days or so as Britain was plunged into an icy wilderness that would last until the following March. Industry ground to halt as businesses and schools were forced to close. There was widespread panic as ambulances and fire crews were unable to respond to emergencies. Essential supplies and medication failed to get through to hospitals and over half the natural wildlife population died in the freezing temperatures, unable to forage to food. Nothing could be done to stop the bitter temperatures and the relentless snowfall Ladies and gentlemen, Rainbow Valley is proud to present the story of The Big Freeze You can follow the podcast on Twitter @rv_podcast Join our Facebook group at Facebook/rainbowvalleypodcast Or send us your thoughts and feedback to rainbowvalleypod@gmail.com This has been a Stinking Pause production. Thanks for listening Scott
In this special episode we go back even further than the 80's and 90's and focus on a movie from the 1950's. Although made well before our time many 80s kids in the UK were brought up on comedies from this era on television, shown less these days they were popular summer holiday and weekend viewing for many of us. Norman Wisdom was my favourite comedian to star in these movies and this was the film of his I watched most, I showed it to James Rowe of King Street cinema and we chatted about our thoughts. He was new to the movie, would he like it as much as me?
Welcome to Eyes & Teeth Julia BurnettThe Music Hall is a great place to be whether you're reminiscing through a song, a ditty, a joke or routine and you can't experience that if the music hall has died out and faded away along with the stars that brightened the stages back then and that's why people like todays guest is important to keep the memories and performers acts alive by paying tribute and remembering them.Julia Burnett talks about the entertainers she portrays and adored as well as the stars she worked alongside ventriloquists Ray Alan & John Bouchier and her husband Alan Simmons, Theatre Promoter Dick Condon, Headliners Max Bygraves and Norman Wisdom and her time as a young dancer to her time in the Lady Ratlings Grand Order and her conversations with Royalty. Julia is a cavalcade of variety conversation making her the perfect hour on Eyes & Teeth – Legends of Laughter welcome Julia Burnett…
Alan Freed used the term “rock and roll” as early as 1951. It was a euphemism for sex but Freed used it to describe rhythm and blues, or “race music”, in a way that was more acceptable to white audiences. Freed was keen to promote white cover versions of songs originally recorded by black artists. But, while this new rock 'n' roll music started to gain popularity and see increased record sales, there wasn't an instant mass take-over of the music scene. You'll hear a marginal increase in rock numbers but the charts are still dominated by big band orchestration and actor/singer cross-overs. Listen out for a crooning Norman Wisdom as you sit back and enjoy the sounds of 1954.
YOU DON'T WANNA DO IT LIKE THAT, MR GRIMSDALE!!!!!!Two national treasures face off with Wisdom and Enfield!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/eliminationpodcast?fan_landing=true)
In the summer of 2002 David Freeman talked to Tony Hawks about the challenge he had been given to have a hit record somewhere. It's a remarkable, entertaining and almost unbelievable story. He reveals how he rose to the challenge and became a chart star in Albania with the help of Norman Wisdom. Simon Cowell gets a mention too.
Daniel Dean has pizzazz, he's a real entertainer and we got to know each other on a UK Pantomime Tour, I was Aladdin / Wishee-Washee in one there was a budget and Daniel was the Genie and he painted himself blue everyday for the part. The days of going to Wetherspoons with a Smurf will live for me forever. We shared digs too and when his beloved poodle WANDA was still with us that little pooch was adorable and kept my bed warm, especially one night when I woke up and realised it had piddled at the bottom of my bed. That's why anecdotes on eyes and teeth are welcomed otherwise every episode is the same In this edition Daniel talks of Liberace and you can hear more about him in our final next episode but in this penultimate show Magic Dean talks of Paul Daniels, Johnny Mans, Norman Wisdom, Nathan Zorchak, Comedian Paul Eastwood, The Royal Variety Charity and so much more, welcome to Eyes & Teeth A Touch of Magic Daniel Dan
From music hall to Red Dwarf, pantomime to Absolutely Fabulous, we look at the history of British comedy, the names, shows, and historical events that made it what it is today. Like what you hear? Become a patron of the arts for as little as $2 a month! Or buy the book or some merch. Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs. Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Music: Kevin MacLeod, Steve Oxen, David Fesliyan. . Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Links to all the research resources are on the website. Podchaser: Moxie got me through 2,500 miles. I listened to every episode regardless of audio quality from the vault. I got my fix of facts with a personality that kept me entertained the entire time. I shared it with everyone I knew that would appreciate the facts, wit and hilariously subtle segues. Profile avatar 2 months ago byBoredatwork23 Book: David Nowlin 5.0 out of 5 stars Be prepared to be amazed at what you needed know, but did not. Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2021 Great book. Read it cover to cover, but am planning to reread it again and again. It is so full of such wonderful pieces of information that I use to interject conversations whenever I can. Thank you Moxie for such a wonderful gift, and the book is great too Gift and merch “The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” Thus begins Douglas Adams' Restaurant at the End of the Universe, sequel to his culture touchstone The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That's the book that gave us the answer to life, the universe and everything, though not the question. Welcome to episode number 42, which I have decided to devote to [drumroll] the history of British comedy. That means we're going to try to cram hundreds of years, thousands of performers, and a dozen mediums into a half-hour show. But don't panic. My name's Moxie and this is your brain on facts. British comedy history is measured in centuries, from chase scenes and beatings into Shakespeare's comedies to the misadventures of Mr. Bean. Even as times, tastes, and technologies changes, some themes are eternal. Innuendo, for example, has been a staple in the literature as far back as Beowulf and Chaucer, and is prevalent in many British folk songs. King Charles II was such a fan of innuendo that he encouraged it to the point that Restoration comedy became not only its own genre, but an explicit one at that. The repressive Victorian period gave us burlesque, though not in the same form as the shows you can see today - more vaudeville than striptease. Absurdism and the surreal had always been an undercurrent, which firmly took root in the 1950's, leading Red Dwarf, The Mighty Boosh, and Count Duckula. Though the British Empire successfully conquered ¼ of the globe, but its individual people struggled and suffered. Plagues, wars, poverty, class oppression, and filthy cities gave rise to, and a need for, black humor, in which topics and events that are usually treated seriously are treated in a humorous or satirical manner. The class system, especially class tensions between characters, with pompous or dim-witted members of the upper/middle classes or embarrassingly blatant social climbers, has always provided ample material, which we can see in modern shows like Absolutely Fabulous, Keeping Up Appearances, and Blackadder. The British also value finding humor in everyday life, which we see in shows like Father Ted, The IT Crowd, and Spaced, which also incorporates a fair amount of absurdity. But there's nothing the Brits do better than satire and nobody does it better than the Brits. “The British, being cynical and sarcastic by nature do have a natural flair for satire,” says BBCAmerica.com writer Fraser McAlpine. “There's a history of holding up a mirror to society and accentuating its least attractive qualities that goes back hundreds of years...Sometimes the satire is biting and cold, sometimes it's warm and encouraging, but if you want someone who can say a thing that isn't true, but also somehow IS true in a really profound way. You need look no further.” There are three principal forms of satire. Menippean satire uses fantasy realms that reflect back on modern society. Everything from Alice in Wonderland to the works of Terry Pratchett fit here, as would Dr. Who. Horatian satire skewers cultural moments of silliness using parodic humor. These are the kind of thing you tend to see most of in comedy TV shows, like The Office. We're laughing at people being inept and harassed, but not evil. Juvenalian satire skewers everything with abrasive, often bleak, wit. If there's an element of horror at the topic being discussed, that's a clue that it's Juvenalian. John Oliver is a fair hand with Juvenalian satire. Most political cartoon and black humor fall under this heading. Though comedy is as old as laughter, we're going to begin today's time travel with the music hall. (FYI, the narrative today is going to overall linear, but there will be a fair amount of bouncing around.) Music halls sprang up as an answer to proper theater, which was at the time heavily monitored and censored by the government. It took place in humble venues like the backs of pubs and coffee houses. By the 1830s taverns had rooms devoted to musical clubs. They presented Saturday evening Sing-songs and “Free and Easies”. These became so popular that entertainment was put on two or three times a week. Music in the form of humorous songs was a key element because dialogue was forbidden. Dialogue was for the theater and if you had speaking parts, you'd be subject to censorship. The Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 empowered the Lord Chamberlain's Office to censor plays; this act would be in force until 1968. So, no speaking parts, less, though still some censorship. Music halls also allowed drinking and smoking, which legitimate theaters didn't. As the shows became more popular, they moved from the pubs into venues of their own. Tavern owners, therefore, often annexed buildings adjoining their premises as music halls. The usual show consisted of six to eight acts, possibly including a comedy skit (low comedy to appeal to the working class), a juggling act, a magic act, a mime, acrobats, a dancing act, a singing act, and perhaps a one-act play. In the states, this format was essentially vaudeville. The music hall era was a heyday for female performers, with headliners like Gracie Fields, Lillie Langtry, and Vesta Tilley. The advent of the talking motion picture in the late 1920s caused music halls to convert into cinemas to stay in business. To keep comedians employed, a mixture of films and songs called cine-variety was introduced. The other critically important tradition of that era was panto or pantomime, but not the Marcel Marceau type of pantomime you might be picturing, but a type of theatrical musical comedy designed for family entertainment. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy, dancing, and gender-crossing actors. It combines topical humour with well-known stories like fables and folk tales. It is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers. It's traditionally quite popular around Christmas and New Years. In early 19th century England, pantomime acquired its present form and featured the first mainstream clown Joseph Grimaldi, while comedy routines also featured heavily in British music halls. British comedians who honed their skills at pantomime and music hall sketches include Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel. The influential English music hall comedian and theatre impresario Fred Karno developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among the young comedians who worked for him as part of "Fred Karno's Army". VODACAST Hopping back to famous ladies of music hall, one such was Lily Harley, though her greatest claim to fame is having given birth to Charles Spencer Chaplin. When Lily inexplicably lost her voice in the middle of a show, the production manager pushed the five-year-old Charlie, whom he'd heard sing, onto the stage to replace her. Charlie lit up the audience, wowing them with his natural comedic presence. Sadly, Lily's voice never recovered, and she was unable to support her two sons, who were sent to a workhouse. For those of us who don't know workhouses outside of one reference in A Christmas Carol, think an orphanage or jail with indentured servitude. Young Charlie took whatever jobs he could find to survive as he fought his way back to the stage. His acting debut was as a pageboy in a production of Sherlock Holmes. From there he toured with a vaudeville outfit named Casey's Court Circus and in 1908 teamed up with the Fred Karno pantomime troupe, where Chaplin became one of its stars as the Drunk in the comedic sketch A Night in an English Music Hall. With the Karno troupe, Chaplin got his first taste of the United States, where he caught the eye of a film producer who signed Chaplin to a contract for a $150 a week, equivalent to over three-grand today. During his first year with the company, Chaplin made 14 films, including The Tramp, which established Chaplin's trademark character and his role as the unexpected hero. By the age of 26, Chaplin, just three years removed from his vaudeville days, was a superstar. He'd moved over to the Mutual Company, which paid him a whopping $670,000 a year to make now-classics like Easy Street. Chaplin came to be known as a grueling perfectionist. His love for experimentation often meant countless takes, and it was not uncommon for him to order the rebuilding of an entire set or begin filming with one leading actor, realize he'd made a mistake in his casting and start again with someone new. But you can't argue with results. During the 1920s Chaplin's career blossomed even more, with landmark films, like The Kid, and The Gold Rush, a movie Chaplin would later say he wanted to be remembered by. We'll leave Chaplin's story while he's on top because his private life from here on out gets, in a word, sordid. Though Chapin was English, his film were American. British cinema arguably lagged decades behind, but they began to close the gap in the 1940's. Films by Ealing Studios, particularly their comedies like Hue & Cry, Whisky Galore! and The Ladykillers began to push the boundaries of what could be done in cinema, dealing with previously taboo topics like crime in comedic ways. Kitchen sink dramas followed soon after, portraying social realism, with the struggles of working class Britons on full display, living in cramped rented accommodation and spending their off-hours drinking in grimy pubs, to explore controversial social and political issues ranging from abortion to homelessness. These contrasted sharply with the idea of cinema as escapism. This was the era of such notable stars as actor/comedian/singer-songwriter Norman Wisdom. Beginning with 1953's Trouble in the Store, for which he won a BAFTA (the British equivalent to an Oscar), his films were among Britain's biggest box-office successes of their day. Wisdom gained celebrity status in lands as far apart as South America, Iran and many Eastern Bloc countries, particularly in Albania where his films were the only ones by Western actors permitted by dictator Enver Hoxha to be shown. He also played one of the best characters in one of my favorite and most hard to find films, “The Night They Raided Minsky's.” There are few institutions in British history that have had such a massive role in shaping the daily lives of British citizens as the British Broadcasting Corporation, which for decades meant the wireless radio. “For many it is an ever-present companion: from breakfast-time to bedtime, from childhood through to old age, there it is telling us about ourselves and the wider world, amusing and entertaining us,” says Robin Aitkin, a former BBC reporter and journalist. The BBC solidified its place in the public consciousness from its beginnings in 1922 to the end of the Second World War in 1945 is of special interest because these pivotal years helped redefine what it means to be British in modern society. This was especially true during the high unemployment of the 1920's, when other forms of entertainment were unaffordable. The BBC was formed from the merger of several major radio manufacturers in 1922, receiving a royal charter in 1927, and governmental protection from foreign competition made it essentially a monopoly. Broadcasting was seen as a public service; a job at the BBC carried similar gravitas to a government job. Classical music and educational programs were its bedrock, with radio plays added to bring theater to the wireless. The BBC strove to be varied but balanced in its offerings, neutral but universal; some people found it elitist nonetheless. Expansion in offerings came slowly, if at all, in the early years. Trying to bring only the best of culture to the people meant that bawdy music hall acts had little to no place on the radio. Obscenity was judged by laws passed as early as 1727. British libel and slander laws are more strict than in the US, so making fun of public figures was taboo even in forms that would have been legal. And blasphemy? Lord, no. In 1949, the BBC issued to comedy writers and producers the Variety Programmes Policy Guide For Writers and Producers, commonly known as "the Green Book." Among things absolutely banned were jokes about lavatories, effeminacy in men, immorality of any kind, suggestive references to honeymoon couples, chambermaids, fig leaves, ladies' underwear, prostitution, and the vulgar use of words such as "basket". (Not an actual basket, the Polari word “basket,” meaning the bulge in a gentleman's trousers. More on that later.) The guidelines also stipulated that "..such words as God, Good God, My God, Blast, Hell, Damn, Bloody, Gorblimey, Ruddy, etc etc should be deleted from scripts and innocuous expressions substituted." Where the independently tun music halls gave people what they wanted, BBC radio gave people what it felt they needed. But comedy writers are nothing if not clever and there is always a way to slip past the censors if you try. In the very beginning of radio, comedies lampooned the poor, because only those with money had radios. As radio ownership grew, the topics of shows broadened. First half-hour comedy program in 1938, Band Wagon, included musical interludes, was effectively a sitcom and set the stage for much of what came after. By then, nearly every household had a radio. WWII had an enormous impact on British comedy and entertainment in general. Unlike WWI, which was fought on the continent, WWII was right on top of them, with the Blitz, blackouts, rationing, et al. All places of amusement, which by their nature meant lots of people would gather and could be a target for bombings, were closed. But the government soon realized comedy had an important role to play in helping its people to keep calm and carry on. Bonus fact: The iconic 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster was designed months before WWII began, but was never officially sanctioned for display. It only achieved its prominent position in the public imagination after its rediscovery in 2001. All the parody t-shirts still annoy me though. Theater was allowed to continue, but television service was suspended. This brought radio back to the forefront for communication and diversion. The most popular show was It's That Man Again, which ran on BBC radio from ‘39-'49. It's humor was a great unifier during the war, helping people to laugh at the things they were scared of. People would often listen huddled around their radio during a blackout. In its character archetypes, it offered a more comprehensive range of social representation than what had come before it, with characters ranging from east end charwomen to the upper class. It was so universally popular that supposedly its catch-phrases, which is regarded as the first to really succeed with, were used to test suspected German spies. If you didn't know who said what, they'd be shot. During the war, Britain fought back against the Nazi propagandists' ferocious scaremongering with things like a song about the fact that Hitler may or may not have only one testicle, the other of which we were storing in a London theatre for safe keeping. This attitude, combined with having had enough authority to last them a while, would extend to their own government at the start of the 1960's when Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, and Jonathan Miller made fun of the prime minister in their stage show Beyond The Fringe, with the PM in the audience. This would open the door for satirical news programs like 1962's That Was The Week That Was, grandfather to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. There was also The Frost Report, whose staff of writers included five names many of know well and you know we're going to get into more detail on - Chapman, Jones, Idle, Palin, and Cleese. The war would remain subject to comedy, either as the primary setting or a recurring plot point for decades to come in shows like Dad's Army, Allo Allo, and even Are You Being Served?, one of my personal favorites. If you've ever seen me at my customer service day jobs, I pattern my behavior on Mrs. Slocombe, though I don't reference my pussy as often. [clip] Experiences in the war led to the prominence of absurdism/surrealism, because nothing could match what they men had been through. One of the most famous example was The Goon Show, with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Peter Sellers. The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, who also created the theme to Dr Who. The Goon Show and other such programs were popular with those who were students at the time, seeding their sense of humor into the next generation. Spike Milligan in particular had wide-reaching cultural influence. The Goon Show was cited as a major influence by The Beatles, the American comedy team The Firesign Theatre, as well as, among many others, Monty Python. PATREON Do you remember how I said in episode #39, Short-Lived, Long Remembered that Jackie Gleason's Honeymooner's was the first TV sitcom? I was mistaken and I don't mind issuing a correction. Pinwright's Progress, which ran for ten episodes starting in 1946, was the first half-hour television sitcom, telling the tale of a beleaguered shop-owner, his hated rival and his unhelpful staff. By 1955, ⅓ of British households had a TV. That year saw the launch of ITV, I for independent, because it was *not run by BBC with its war vets with good-school educations, but by showmen and entertainers. Where the BBC did comedies for and about the middle-class, ITV brought full-blooded variety to TV. The BBC was forced to loosen its tie a bit to keep up. ITV also had commercials, which BBC shows never did -a concept that is quite foreign to the American brain- so writers had to learn to pace their shows differently to allow for the break. One stand-out was Hancock's Half-hour, which began on radio and moved to TV. Fom 54-61, it pushed sitcoms with a focus on character development, rather than silly set-ups, musical interludes, and funny voices of radio plays. Two writers on the show, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, would leave to create Comedy Playhouse in 1961, ten half-hour plays. One of these grew into the TV show Steptoe and Son (1962–74), about two rag and bone men, father and son, who live together in a squalid house in West London. This was the basis for the American series Sanford and Son, as well as version in Sweden, Netherlands and Portugal. For those not in the know, a rag and bone man collected salvageable rubbish from the streets, making it a bizarre name choice for a clothing company but oh well. The tone and offerings changed considerably with the cultural revolution of the 1960's. Rock music, the birth control pill, civil rights, everything was changing. Round The Horne, which aired on BBC radio on Sunday afternoons was chock full of brazen innuendos and double-entendres. Some of them were risque to the point of being ironically safe -- people who would have objected to them were not of the sensibility to catch the joke it the first place. Their most remarkable characters were Julian and Sandy, two very obviously gay characters in a time when it was still illegal to be gay in Britain. Julian and Sandy got away with the bawdiest of their jokes because they spoke Polari, a pidgin language made up a words from Romani, French, Italian, theater and circus slang and even words spelled backwards. They might refer to someone's dirty dishes and the squares would have no idea that “dish” meant derriere. Bonus fact: You probably use Polari words without even realizing it, if you describe a masculine person as “butch” or something kitchy as “camp,” even “drag” meaning clothes, particularly women's. The Carry On Films, a franchise that put out nearly a movie a year for three decades and spun off a TV series, held up a cartoonish mirror to the depressed and repressed Britain of the 1950s and 1960s. They blended the rapid-fire pace of music hall sketches with topicality and a liberating sense of directness. Carry On also filled the gap left as music halls as an institution collapsed. Monty Python's Flying Circus aired from 69-74 and enjoyed a unique watershed success not just for British comedy but also for television comedy around the world. Monty Python was unlike anything that had appeared on television, and in many ways it was both a symbol and a product of the social upheaval and youth-oriented counterculture of the late 1960s. The show's humour could be simultaneously sarcastic, scatological, and intellectual. The series was a creative collaboration between Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, the sole American in a group of Oxford and Cambridge graduates. The five Brits played most of the roles, with Gilliam primarily contributing eccentric animations. Although sketch comedy shows were nothing new, television had never broadcast anything as untraditional and surreal, and its importance to television is difficult to overstate. Their free-form sketches seldom adhered to any particular theme and disregarded the conventions of comedy that writers, performers and audiences had been accustomed to for generations. Even the opening title sequence didn't follow the rules; it might run in the middle of the show or be omitted entirely. Over the run of the series, a *few characters recurred, but most were written solely for one sketch. The show spun-off a number of feature films, like Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and the Meaning of Life (1983) and even a Tony Award-winning musical comedy Spamalot, first produced in 2005, as well as books and albums like Instant Record Collection. Decades after the show's initial run, the mere mention of some dead parrots, silly ways, Spam or the Spanish Inquisition is enough to prompt laughter from even casual fans. All the members who continue on to successful careers, but let's follow John Cleese to his next best-known project. I put my favorite sketch in Vodacast; see if you can guess it before you look. And tell me yours, soc med. Fawlty Towers has been described as the sitcom by which other sitcoms must be measured, voted number one in the BFI's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000. Its main character, Basil Fawlty, was inspired by a seethingly rude hotel proprietor John Cleese encountered while filming abroad with the Monty Python team. Cleese actually tested the character on another show in 1971, Doctor At Large, a comedy about newly-graduated doctors, based on the books of Richard Gordon. The setting for Fawlty Towers was a painfully ordinary hotel that Basil constantly struggling to inject a touch of class into. His escapades included trying to hide a rat from a hygiene inspector, keeping a dead customer hidden, and pretending that his wife Sybil was ill during their anniversary party, when in fact she's walked out on him). Basil was the perfect vehicle for Cleese's comic talents: mixing the biting verbal tirades against his wife and guests with the physical dexterity utilised to charge about between self-induced disasters. Part of the success of the show is arguably the fact that it ran for a mere twelve episodes, so never ran out of steam. It's been remade in other countries, but those version never really capture the success of the original. That's one of the key differences between British and American TV series. A British show might have 2 writers for a season of 6-10 episodes, whereas an American show will have a team of writers for a season of 13-25 episodes. Quality over quantity, I suppose. In part, this is a reflection of the difference between the size of the TV audience in the two countries, and the economics of television production; for decades sitcoms on US television that delivered the highest ratings, whereas; in Britain the highest ratings figures were normally for soap operas. The tone shifted again as the 60's gave way to the 70's. The anger of 60's revolution gave way to a more comfortable feeling in the 70's. One of the stand-outs of the decade, which continued into the 80's, was The Two Ronnies. A sketch show starring Ronnies Barker and Corbett, it moved away from the long-standing comic and straight-man format. It was the BBC's flagship of light entertainment, the longest running show of its genre. If we're talking modern comedy duos, we need to talk about Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Even in alternative comedy scenes, women had trouble gaining the same notoriety as their male peers. A step in the right direction was 1987's French and Saunders, a sketch show that displayed the wilful amateurishness of much alternative comedy, but shunned both the violence and scatology or the strident politics that were staples of the big-name performers. The duo's humour was distinctively female, but not feminist, and most of their jokes were at the expense of themselves or each other. As audiences and budgets grew, the pair increasingly favoured elaborate spoofs of pop stars and blockbuster movies. After the show French starred in The Vicar of Dibley and Saunders to the role she's probably best known for, Edina in Absolutely Fabulous. And that's where we run out of ideas, at least for today. Don't be surprised if this topic spawns a sequel. I left out Punch and Judy, skipped right over literature, had to forgo luminaries like Morecambe and Wise, didn't get to the panel show format, and said nothing of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, which may actually be a crime, I'm not sure. Well, it's like they say in the biz, always leave them wanting more. Thanks for spending part of your day with em. Sources: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/truth-behind-keep-calm-and-carry-on https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/feb/17/the-five-stages-of-british-gags-silliness-repression-anger-innuendo-fear https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goon_Show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Wisdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hancock%27s_Half_Hour https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/17/gender.filmnews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_the_Horne http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1011109/index.html https://www.britannica.com/topic/Monty-Pythons-Flying-Circus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galton_and_Simpson http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/fawltytowers/ http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/06/history-brits-better-satire https://www.britannica.com/art/music-hall-and-variety https://www.biography.com/people/charlie-chaplin-9244327 https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1107&context=ghj https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U77CXPANrCc&list=PL9e1sByp65ixpMQlW9hpMMdomwSwGK9-Y
Why are we Brits bonkers about pantomime? And what do they make of this Christmas tradition over in the U.S? In this podcast episode, Sue talks to The New York Times journalist Alexis Soloski about Christmas theatre traditions, catching Wagon Wheels and extremely rude jokes. Sue also speaks to actor Steve Simmonds to get a Dame's-eye view of panto in the U.K. Alexis Soloski is a theatre critic for the New York Times and a contributing writer for the Guardian here in the UK. Alexis wrote an article about British panto for the New York Times in December 2020, which included a review of the New Wolsey's hit show, The Snow Queen. Alexis watched 8 pantos online in a single weekend in order to write the article (therein lies insanity, she says) and she thinks there might be a market for panto over in New York because she can't bear to see yet another version of The Nutcracker. Steve Simmonds (aka ‘Romford') is an actor – musician who is very familiar with the New Wolsey stage. He played Dame Sigrid Smorgasbord in The Snow Queen and is playing Dame Dolly Durden in the 2021 production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Sue prises Steve out of the rehearsal room to talk about the art of playing the Dame, how he avoids committing the biggest crime in panto and his memory of seeing Norman Wisdom play Buttons. Watch Jack and The Beanstalk in-theatre or via livestream, at the New Wolsey Theatre until 8th January 2022.In theatre tickets: https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/jack-the-beanstalk-2/Livestream tickets: https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/jack-the-beanstalk-livestream/------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you would like to be a guest, or if you have feedback about this or any other episode of Theatre Unwrapped drop us a line at shornby@wolseytheatre.co.ukListen to all the Theatre Unwrapped episodes hereVisit the New Wolsey Theatre website hereThe New Wolsey Theatre is supported by Arts Council England, Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council.
Johnny Mans is responsible for the success and return to the stage of Norman Wisdom, it was Mr Mans who kick started the knighthood which resulted in Norman deservedly becoming a Sir.Johnny started out as a comedian and a brilliantly well respected one at that and his natural ability and ease in booking top artistes of the day sealed his name in the industry as a Top Promoter and Producer and his days as a comedian slowed down.His passion was putting things together and he has always known what works.Welcome to Eyes & Teeth Johnny Mans
Richard Gauntlett can be found on that Cruise Ship on your holiday, in that musical in the West End, in an opera, in a Pantomime... he directs, produces, writes and stars in his own works and is a wonderful comedy variety act with an extensive knowledge of Show Business.Dickie and I chat about his initiation into the famous Order and we talk his grandfather Freddie Gauntlett and about fellow Brother Rats such as heroes of his including Charles Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Norman Wisdom and many more.In the day leading up to Christmas 2020 was a challenge for any Producer of a Pantomime but it didn't flaw Richard when he put together a one hour Show titled Pantomime in a pickle which combined many Panto stories within the one and it paid off.Welcome to Eyes & teeth - the Water Rats - Dickie Gauntlett
Glenn M Ford is known as the renowned Norman Wisdom tribute and his friendship with the man himself went beyond endorsement. Glenn has worked his way through the Clubs, Theatres, Summer Seasons and Charity Performances in hopes that one day a Royal Variety Show will come his way. He has never given up that dream, just like myself. We put ourselves out there and do what we do to make people smile, laugh and reminisce.Once you have that bug it's hard to shake off. Sadly Sir Norman is no longer with us or thanks to Glenn, he still can be and if you see a Norman Wisdom on stage in a recent drama on Television then chances are it was Mr Ford that you saw.Glenn has dressed as Norman and walked 100's of miles to raise over £20,000 for worthy causes and he never stops giving.His childhood mirrors Wisdom's similarly but in true Norman Wisdom style he found his way to the Spotlight of Showbusiness..Welcome to Eyes & teeth Glenn M Ford
Inveterate broadcaster Martin Kelner talks to Dora Dale about Alvin Stardust, Denis Healey and Joyce Grenfell and Norman Wisdom. Plus a new innovation in Community Policing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
It’s Bank Holiday for the Bank Holiday as host, Mel Byron, talks about the Carol Reed classic. Join us for news, reviews and music as we talk about our favourite TV channel. There’s a British B crime drama, Paul Newman in Hombre and a terrifying Vampire Circus too. There’s comedy with Norman Wisdom in Press for Time and The Chain features an array of acting talent.
Steve Crossman, John Murray, Ian Dennis and The Telegraph's Jason Burt preview England's World Cup Qualifier against Albania. They debate several of the selection headaches Gareth Southgate faces both in the immediate future and looking ahead to this summer's rescheduled Euros. We also hear from the England manager on Luke Shaw's international return after a season of redemption for the left-back at Manchester United as well as the prospect of a City-United quartet in defence. And Harry Maguire compares the England side that reached a World Cup semi-final three years ago to the current crop of players he now works with. TOPICS: 01:10: The panel discuss their previous trips to Albania as well as the country's affinity with Norman Wisdom. 07:05: Gareth Southgate's handling of players & his selection dilemmas. 18:05: Gareth Southgate on Luke Shaw and a potential City-United defensive unit. 21:51: Discussion on Luke Shaw's recent emergence. 28:45: Harry Maguire compares the England World Cup semi-finalists in 2018 to the current crop. 35:50: The midfield debate.
Comedian and Impressionist Johnny Laff has spent years in the clubs and theatres in summer seasons as himself the Stand Up, or as Norman Wisdom and more recently donning a dress and wig as Mrs Brown. Johnny semi-retired enjoys taking part in Production shows at an all inclusive Premiere Holiday Resort in Great Yarmouth called Potters. He is a much loved member of their team and can't wait to get back and do what he loves.In this hour we talk about shows we've worked on together as well as shows Johnny has been part of especially the "Freddie Starr" years, now he has to have guts to of worked many Tours with Freddie a much renowned "loose cannon" onstage and off but one who never stopped entertaining but always crossed the line.Johnny is a lovable personality and a funny man. During the Pandemic months he has been on Facebook Live connecting with people and connecting others in his chat shows just to bring smiles to peoples faces. When funny is in your blood, it becomes a passion and Mr Laff is sharing his passion which gives him the joy you can hear in his voice.
This week, Alison is catching up with host of ITV2’s brand new cookery-dating show, it’s Scarlett Moffatt! The quickfire round IS ACTUALLY quick this week - and Scarlett gives us the goss on who she fancied as a kid, and why peanut butter sandwiches and Norman Wisdom will always have a special place in her heart! She tells Alison about how she got her family onto Gogglebox because she was helping out a friend who was working as a researcher (the TV kind, not the scientific kind!), and about the diary entries she wrote as a kid wishing she was Ant and Dec’s sidekick! Aww!Scarlett and Alison talk frankly about dealing with trolls and bullies, why you’ll rarely catch Scarlett crying at the TV, and why being naked on telly can get in the bin! And you’ll also hear why Alison should NEVER be allowed near Ant and Dec…! Don’t forget, a new episode of My Life In TV will drop every Monday, and we’re back next week with a special festive episode! See you there!
In 2002 I started a 6 month contract on a cruise ship around the Mediterranean and Baltics and for 3 of those months a Comic named Micky Zany joined Nina & I and it turned into the funniest and most enjoyable contract at sea I've ever had. Friends to this day, we laugh and always revert back to that cruise. In this edition Micky & I talk about his inspirations, audiences, venues and love for Golf. Hear about Norman Wisdom, Prof Stephen Hawking, Billy Connolly and many more as we enter the Zany World of Micky...
We are back with another two week's worth of vintage film goodness, and not just that - this episode also features reviews of the fine short subjects and TV shows from the usual group of TPTV enthusiasts. Charlie Chaplin, Norman Wisdom, Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn, Charlton Heston - our late July episode is stocked to the brim with stars!
Robot introduces Sean to “Arnold Goldburger’s Insult Club” - it is quite an event. Added to that, this week’s song is about Chicken’s playing football and Robot and Katy’s biggest fan Normal pops up to give us some of his very special Norman Wisdom. George is also back with some “jokes”. We are not quite sure why.
Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. Our latest episode with Scott and Steven features our thoughts on Norman Wisdom’s second movie, One Good Turn from 1955 Orphanage handyman Norman is, as a former resident himself, very much one of the family at the home. Enjoying a particularly strong bond with the children, he accompanies them to Brighton to see the sea, but manages to lose his trousers on the train journey south. Trying to find somewhere to be less conspicuous only half-dressed, he stumbles across a London-to-Brighton walking race - and manages to win first prize! The trophy he's awarded looks likely to come in handy when one particular boy, Jimmy, is let down by an aunt. To cheer him up Norman promises to buy him any toy he wants - but the electric ride-in model car he's got his eye on would normally be well out of Norman's price range, even at £12. As Norman sets about trying to find the money, news comes through that the home is to be sold and demolished to make way for a large new factory. The children will be sent into private foster care under the plans, but neither they nor the staff are going to accept their fate without a fight! You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Podchaser Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod Join us over at our Facebook Group ….we’d love to chat with you email: reelbritannia@gmail.com Thanks for listening Scott and Steven
In our December episode, Jim and Martin ease themselves into Whuletide by settling down to watch The Black and White Guardian Show. It’s something of a festive feast, featuring as it does Rudolph the Two-Nosed Shadow, a space Trotter on hols from ver Big Smoke and some props which look suspiciously like they’ve come out of a Christmas cracker (along with some of the jokes). The wicked Marshal gets advice from his mirror while our fairy tale princess is prepared to be part of a crystal to get the part of Romana. She’s pursued by a man who’s wetter than a Sea Devil’s vest and he’s feebly assisted by another, whose life seems to be redirected halfway through by a visit from three ghosts – presumably Norman Wisdom, Mr Pastry and a Chuckle Brother. Meanwhile, the Doctor rants, Romana vamps and K9 switches masters as rapidly as TV channels on a bloated Boxing Day. But did the lads think The Armageddon Factor was a missing piece in their lives or was it the last orange cream in the Quality Street tin of Television? Listen to find out!
Join Jonathan and Rob for episode 5 of series 2 - a bit like Ocean's Eleven, but with less George Clooney, and with more Norman Wisdom falling down the stairs. Episode Title Written by Directed by Guest stars 5 Almost Like a Holiday Alistair Bell Laurence Moody Norman Wisdom, Michael Attwell, Sheila Ruskin, Elvi Hale, Jeff Rawle, Kevin Stoney, David Quilter, Penelope Lee, Roy Spencer Music is the Bergerac theme by George Fenton, performed by Youngr (many thanks to Youngr for permission to use the track!)
Philip Green (19 July 1911 – 6 October 1982), sometimes credited as Harry Philip Green, was a film and television composer and conductor. He composed more than 150 film scores including The Yellow Balloon (1952), Carry on Admiral (1957), The Square Peg(1958, together with several other Norman Wisdom films), The League of Gentlemen (1960), Victim (1961), The Singer Not the Song (1961), and The Intelligence Men (1965). His themes for John and Julie (1954) and The March Hare (1956) both won Ivor Novello Awards.[2] He also composed the themes for the popular 1960s television crime series Ghost Squad and Sergeant Cork. Like many composers of film music and light music, he also wrote prolifically for production music libraries and as a result, a number of his compositions are familiar through their use in film, radio and television programmes. Many of these works are now published by Carlin Production Music.
Poem by Fibich performed by Alistair and Narcissus by Joyce Grenfell and Norman Wisdom.
Photographer, publisher and film director Rankin joins Rev. Richard Coles and Aasmah Mir. He talks about swapping accountancy for photography, his career which includes photographing the Queen in 5 minutes, and the impact of having a child. Celebrating Record Store Day – we have Ashli Todd - owner of world’s oldest record store, Spillers in Cardiff. Journalist Babita Sharma recalls her experiences growing up in a corner shop. Alistair McGowan shares his Inheritance Tracks: Poem by Fibich performed by Alistair McGowan and Narcissus by Joyce Grenfell and Norman Wisdom. Writer and presenter Danny Wallace discusses family life, why he’s proud of ‘Join Me’ and random acts of kindness. Producer: Claire Bartleet Editor: Beverley Purcell
This week I chat to Marko who is a circus performer and workshop teacher. Marko has been performing for over 11 years now and travels the UK impressing audiences with his many skills, juggling, the diablo, stilt walking, the list is endless. We also chat about his hero Norman Wisdom, how Norman got started in showbiz himself and his journey into stardom. A very interesting part of the podcast plus a short bit on Tommy Cooper and how he came to choose a fez! So it's all here in this week's episode. A big thanks to Marko and here's where you can find him: Facebook: Mark 'Marko' Taylor Instagram: markoscircus
Lancashire's oldest newly weds, Silverdale station goes hi-tech and Elvis turns up in Ossie. Plus, Strictly's Len, Nathan Carter, Alfie Moore and Norman Wisdom's secret gig.
David’s Story. He’s warm-hearted, an irrepressible enthusiast and one of life’s true innocents. His life story is fascinating, starting in 1937 in Hartlepool. His tales feature overcoming a disability, a musical youth, a brushmaking apprenticeship, hospital radio, rubbing shoulders with showbiz royalty; Bud Flanagan, Norman Wisdom and even playing onstage with Old Mother Riley. He also talks movingly about about the very recent loss of his wife of over 50 years, Hazel. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
.Is it me or has modern pop music totally lost its way?....I know I come from a different age and perhaps I am indeed past it....but most modern music has no point....there is no content to listen to....my problem is when listening to records I know how it is all done and understand all the technology....bit like watching a conjuror when you know how he does his tricks....but to me there has to be a point to a song....instead of the repetitive lyrics we seem to get these days....come back rock and roll...all is forgiven. 2.Are we not all sick of adverts telling us how much these banks and insurance companies care about us?....telling us they will get us compensation for any accident we have ...or sort out PPI etc etc....with the no win no fee statement....what they don't tell you is how much THEY will make.....banks are not your friend their aim is to squeeze as much money out of you as they can....it's like the friendly car salesman who is a great guy until you tell him you don't want the car....when he turns into a different bloke altogether. 3.They keep going on about how it is so hard to get on to the property ladder....or how one parent families are struggling to survive...or newlyweds having to struggle...which is very sad but in my day you settled for cheap items not top of the range televisions or brand new cars ...or fancy expensive holidays.....if we couldn't afford it we did without....but not these days....which seems to me to be the problem....and there is always someone there to cash in on your "big day"....by draining your bank account....while people are so gullible there will always be millionaires. 4.Our national treasure,The Lake District,has been awarded the the same status as The Taj Mahal and other world wonders....quite rightly so...I spend a lot of time there particularly through the Winter and it really is a spectacular place to visit....I have been to many picturesque places within Scandinavia and Europe and The U.S.A.....and have yet to find better views than in The Lakes....yet a large proportion of our population want to go abroad and sit beside a swimming pool and fry....when this is on our doorsteps....it's beyond me.....Prince Charles was brought in to present the award.....however I think he was ill advised when he bought that overcoat....it was huge and would weigh a ton if he got caught in the rain. The song I have sent you this week has an interesting story....it is one I recorded round about 1980 for Blackpool council....it was originally called "Blackpool Magic"......they neither liked it nor wanted it....so I simply went back into my studio and changed the words to "Long Live The Isle Of Man"....and I sent it to Norman Wisdom who lived there....to my delight he phoned me up and and said he liked the song and would record it when he got the chance....and we had a chat about his films and career....what a lovely man....a short time later I met him back stage when he was on a theatre in Liverpool.....I don't know whether he ever got round to recording the song but it was worth it all just to meet him....that's showbiz.
.Is it me or has modern pop music totally lost its way?....I know I come from a different age and perhaps I am indeed past it....but most modern music has no point....there is no content to listen to....my problem is when listening to records I know how it is all done and understand all the technology....bit like watching a conjuror when you know how he does his tricks....but to me there has to be a point to a song....instead of the repetitive lyrics we seem to get these days....come back rock and roll...all is forgiven. 2.Are we not all sick of adverts telling us how much these banks and insurance companies care about us?....telling us they will get us compensation for any accident we have ...or sort out PPI etc etc....with the no win no fee statement....what they don't tell you is how much THEY will make.....banks are not your friend their aim is to squeeze as much money out of you as they can....it's like the friendly car salesman who is a great guy until you tell him you don't want the car....when he turns into a different bloke altogether. 3.They keep going on about how it is so hard to get on to the property ladder....or how one parent families are struggling to survive...or newlyweds having to struggle...which is very sad but in my day you settled for cheap items not top of the range televisions or brand new cars ...or fancy expensive holidays.....if we couldn't afford it we did without....but not these days....which seems to me to be the problem....and there is always someone there to cash in on your "big day"....by draining your bank account....while people are so gullible there will always be millionaires. 4.Our national treasure,The Lake District,has been awarded the the same status as The Taj Mahal and other world wonders....quite rightly so...I spend a lot of time there particularly through the Winter and it really is a spectacular place to visit....I have been to many picturesque places within Scandinavia and Europe and The U.S.A.....and have yet to find better views than in The Lakes....yet a large proportion of our population want to go abroad and sit beside a swimming pool and fry....when this is on our doorsteps....it's beyond me.....Prince Charles was brought in to present the award.....however I think he was ill advised when he bought that overcoat....it was huge and would weigh a ton if he got caught in the rain. The song I have sent you this week has an interesting story....it is one I recorded round about 1980 for Blackpool council....it was originally called "Blackpool Magic"......they neither liked it nor wanted it....so I simply went back into my studio and changed the words to "Long Live The Isle Of Man"....and I sent it to Norman Wisdom who lived there....to my delight he phoned me up and and said he liked the song and would record it when he got the chance....and we had a chat about his films and career....what a lovely man....a short time later I met him back stage when he was on a theatre in Liverpool.....I don't know whether he ever got round to recording the song but it was worth it all just to meet him....that's showbiz.
Toby Hadoke - comedian, actor and TV aficionado - provides today's free podcast and download as he talks to another person involved with Doctor Who's first 54 years on television!
The song I've sent you this week is called "Long Live The Isle of Man"and came about from a song I was asked to write about #Blackpool.....I sent it to Norman Wisdom who lived over there ....I met him a few years later when we interviewed him for Radio Merseyside....the song got plays on #Manx radio. A short film has been made called Run...Hide...Tell... which instructs holiday makers what to do if faced with a terrorist attack....this is what TV has been reduced to...talk about scare mongering.... I watched #Rafa Nadal's 5 hour epic at Wimbledon....which he sadly lost.....I watched a fascinating programme presented by Sue Barker where she looked up some of the past Wimbledon champions and covered the time Billy Jean King pushed for "equality"... On the subject on money....the interest rate on our savings is now a massive 0.03%...which is 3/100 of 1% if my maths serves me right. I also watched the programme on the making of #SergeantPepper.....which I am not a particular fan of....#Beatles were the subject of mass hysteria which snowballed to such an extent that anything they did "must be good"....
The song I've sent you this week is called "Long Live The Isle of Man"and came about from a song I was asked to write about #Blackpool.....I sent it to Norman Wisdom who lived over there ....I met him a few years later when we interviewed him for Radio Merseyside....the song got plays on #Manx radio. A short film has been made called Run...Hide...Tell... which instructs holiday makers what to do if faced with a terrorist attack....this is what TV has been reduced to...talk about scare mongering.... I watched #Rafa Nadal's 5 hour epic at Wimbledon....which he sadly lost.....I watched a fascinating programme presented by Sue Barker where she looked up some of the past Wimbledon champions and covered the time Billy Jean King pushed for "equality"... On the subject on money....the interest rate on our savings is now a massive 0.03%...which is 3/100 of 1% if my maths serves me right. I also watched the programme on the making of #SergeantPepper.....which I am not a particular fan of....#Beatles were the subject of mass hysteria which snowballed to such an extent that anything they did "must be good"....
John talks to the late comedy star NORMAN WISDOM in a Hannam Archive who became world famous for his string of hit movies. #comedy #normanwisdom image courtesy of normanwisdom.co.uk
The song I’ve sent you is from an interesting period of my songselling activities. It was originally written for the Blackpool tourism dept and it was called “It’s Blackpool Magic”…they didn’t want it so I changed the lyrics to “Long Live The Isle of Man”…sent it to Norman Wisdom who lived over there ............ I was quite moved when I watched “Rock Around The Clock” on the TV recently….this was the film which changed the direction of my life in 1956 when I saw it on the pictures…it still has that same magic…as John Lennon once said “before rock and roll there was nothing”….what surprised me was one of Bill Haley’s Comets played an accordion…unbelievable…a classic film. As always there is the annual debate about bonfire night…WHY?... I was watching the programme they had on the guy who cracked the Enigma code…thus saving thousands of lives and helping to end the war…but oh no…that’s of no importance …HE WAS A HOMOSEXUAL!!... Nothing has changed in this country….as I always say it’s serfs and noblemen…if the Sheriff of Nottingham decided to extend his land he would have.......
The song I’ve sent you is from an interesting period of my songselling activities. It was originally written for the Blackpool tourism dept and it was called “It’s Blackpool Magic”…they didn’t want it so I changed the lyrics to “Long Live The Isle of Man”…sent it to Norman Wisdom who lived over there ............ I was quite moved when I watched “Rock Around The Clock” on the TV recently….this was the film which changed the direction of my life in 1956 when I saw it on the pictures…it still has that same magic…as John Lennon once said “before rock and roll there was nothing”….what surprised me was one of Bill Haley’s Comets played an accordion…unbelievable…a classic film. As always there is the annual debate about bonfire night…WHY?... I was watching the programme they had on the guy who cracked the Enigma code…thus saving thousands of lives and helping to end the war…but oh no…that’s of no importance …HE WAS A HOMOSEXUAL!!... Nothing has changed in this country….as I always say it’s serfs and noblemen…if the Sheriff of Nottingham decided to extend his land he would have.......
Lorraine's tenth radio programme and podcast is a tongue-in-cheek look at VOICES! Fed up with X Factor blandness pumped over tannoys across town, Lorraine gets out some quirky examples of voices and even gives you a singing lesson or three! Warm up with silly noises and the help of Joyce Grenfell and Norman Wisdom! Listen to the beautiful 7 octave range of a mongolian singer, soar to the dizzy heights of falsetto by a star you wouldn't believe could do that, PLUS hear the completely shambolic recording of Mrs Miller's Downtown! Quirky, eclectic, and very funny this podcast will cheer you up on the greyist of days and get you reaching for more. ENJOY! First heard on Radio Reverb 97.2FM - Brighton's Community Radio Station ' exciting, unusual and downright unpredictable radio'. www.lorrainebowen.co.uk Intern help by Jamie Spiers-Goddard. Photo taken at Lorraine's record collection by Step Haiselden The Singing Lesson By Topol 1 Humming And Buzzing By Anton Browne 2 Ritual Virtuality By Sainkho Namtchylak 3 The Open Throat By Anton Browne 4 Downtown By Mrs. Miller 5 Warm-Up Sirens By Kim Chandler 6 I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat By Mel Blanc 7 Wish You Were Her By Billy Bragg 8 How Hot The Sun By Bob Stoloff 9 Bach Arrangement By Swingle Singers 10 Hot Cookin' By Lambert, Hendricks And Ross 11 Dere By Vujicsics 12 Polyphonies And Techniques Vocales By Ethiopie 13 Vacuum Cleaner By Starbase 109 14 Mandelay Song By Dagmar Krause 15 Oh, Happy Day By Edwin Hawkins Singers 16 Telephone Song By Mike Samms Singers
Robert Ross is “the top chronicler of British comedy” (Howard Maxford, Film Review). Robert has written best-selling books such as the Monty Python Encyclopedia, Last of the Summer Wine the Finest Vintage and The Complete Goodies. As a consultant, researcher, writer and audio commentary moderator, Robert has worked on many dvd releases, recording with the likes of Jim Dale, Leslie Phillips, Norman Wisdom and June Whitfield. Robert has narrated documentaries for several Minder releases and was thrilled to re-live one of his childhood television memories when Fabulous Films dubbed the thirteen ‘lost’ episodes of Monkey! into English for the first time. He wrote the narration for the behind-the-scenes documentary Monkey Nuts and interviewed voice-over artistes including Andrew Sachs, Miriam Margolyes, David Collings and Burt Kwouk. Robert has also written sleeve notes for several compact disc collections of comedy tunes and songs, worked on interactive dvd quiz releases and acted as consultant for various Carry On franchise releases, including the most recent Slowdazzle calendars and a collection of Royal Doulton Character Toby Jugs! He was also the consultant for the official 31st anniversary Slowdazzle Monty Python and the Holy Grail calendar of 2005. Inaugurating the popular Carry On events at Pinewood Studios that reunited cast and crew alongside devoted fans of the series, Robert interviewed writer Norman Hudis, Liz Fraser, Patsy Rowlands and other stars of the series. Robert has also hosted sell-out events at the National Film Theatre, interviewing The Goodies and the League of Gentlemen on stage, as well as attending the Edinburgh Festival and interviewing classic comedy stars like Terry Jones and Melvyn Hayes. Robert was a regular guest at the Cult TV conventions from 2000 until 2004, interviewing such heroes as Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Jack Douglas, Bill Oddie, Don Estelle, Nicholas Courtney and Colin Baker. He is now proud to be involved with the Telly Nation charity festivals as well as the signing conventions run by Showmasters. He was a judge, in the Best Comedy category, for the 2004 British Animation Awards and sat on the committee for the first Best of British Comedy luncheon at B.A.F.T.A. in aide of The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund. His passion for the best in British comedy also saw Robert contribute heavily to the best-selling part work The Classic Carry On Collection, as well as the part-work devoted to the popular situation comedy Dad’s Army. Robert co-wrote the television documentary, What’s A Carry On? and the radio special, Thou Art Awful?, a celebration of bawdy British humour through the centuries. More recently he has turned his attention to drama, writing Doctor Who for Big Finish; his star casts including sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, Leslie Phillips, Roy Hudd, Doug Bradley and David Tennant who thrilled as the Doctor from 2005 to 2010. He is a frequent guest on radio, taking part in hundreds of broadcasts and often being assigned a mammoth talkathon by the BBC during promotions for their latest dvd and cd releases. His many television credits include interviews for What’s A Carry On?, Top Ten: Comedy Records, Will the Real Basil Fawlty Please Stand Up?, Legends: Hattie Jacques, Legends: Terry-Thomas, What the Pythons Did Next, Richard & Judy and the BBC News. As an ‘actor’ he has made several appearances in perennial sitcom favourite, Last of the Summer Wine, playing a pub customer in ‘Last Post and Pigeon’ and a mourner at Compo’s funeral in ‘Just a Small Funeral’. Read about Robert’s latest project “The Forgotten Heroes of Comedy”: http://unbound.co.uk/books/forgotten-heroes-of-comedy www.robertross.co.uk @RobertWRossEsq - Sara Shulman is the Founder and Editor of Comedy Blogedy, TEDxUCL speaker on 'The Power of Funny', former Head of Comedy at UCLU Rare FM and produces the Humour Me Comedy Podcast. Sara is also a Classics Undergraduate at UCL and occasionally gigs on the comedy circuit. www.comedyblogedy.com www.twitter.com/comedyblog http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxUCL-SARA-SHULMAN-The-power;search%3Asara%20shulman UCL is consistently ranked as one of the world's top universities. Across all disciplines our faculties are known for their research-intensive approaches, academic excellence and engagement with global challenges. This is the basis of our world-renowned degree programmes. Visit us at ucl.ac.uk.
David Bowie, The Clash, Eddy Grant, Alabama 3, Basement Jaxx, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Squeeze, Smiley Culture, Norman Wisdom, London Boys, Roots Manuva and Southside Allstars feature on the South London playlist.
This week’s guest Robert C.S. Downs has published six novels, one collection of short stories, and written one television film. His novel “Going Gently,” published by Bobbs-Merrill in this country and Faber and Faber in Great Britain, was produced for television by the BBC. It starred Norman Wisdom and Judi Dench. The production won five British Academy Awards and was … Read more about this episode...
Well it’s us again, swiftly abandoning any plans for a Hallowe’en special or a return to the happy days of Paul’s food poisoning tales. However, we do get a chance to catch up on some of the many reasons Metro is shit and give our own very special tributes to Norman Wisdom (although we forgot Manimal had also carked it so consider this bit in brackets to be his tribute). Also, stay tuned for what may well turn out to be the first ever episode of Event Horizon Crescent to win an Oscar! You know, cos it’s good. I know they don’t give Oscars to podcasts but I’m just saying... oh fuck you then, fuck you.
Waffle On Tribute to Norman Wisdom. Welcome to this special tribute podcast to a fantastic comedian and all round entertainer Sir Norman Wisdom who sadly passed away on the 4th of October 2010. A well loved man who's career blossomed in the late 50's and early 60's. His films were not popular with the critics but loved by the general public. Later in life he took to stage work and stand up comedy drawing great success along with some serious straight roles. He lived on the Isle of Man for many years and it was here that he passed away at the grand age of 95. We felt it fitting and only right that we do a tribute podcast to Norman and i hope that you will enjoy this and for anyone who is not familiar with is work please do seek out the film On the Beat from 1962 which is a personal favourite. We'll be back in a few weeks with the official October show.
Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor and comedian Sir Norman Wisdom. His cloth cap and tight-fitting jacket became his screen trademark in the 1950s and 1960s and characters like Norman Pitkin won him fans all over the world. Sir Norman talks to Sue Lawley about a career that's spanned more than 60 years and chooses eight records to take with him the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Don't Laugh at Me 'Cos I'm a Fool by Norman Wisdom Book: Reach for the Skies by Sir Douglas Bader Luxury: Pot of stew with two dumplings
Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor and comedian Sir Norman Wisdom. His cloth cap and tight-fitting jacket became his screen trademark in the 1950s and 1960s and characters like Norman Pitkin won him fans all over the world. Sir Norman talks to Sue Lawley about a career that's spanned more than 60 years and chooses eight records to take with him the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don't Laugh at Me 'Cos I'm a Fool by Norman Wisdom Book: Reach for the Skies by Sir Douglas Bader Luxury: Pot of stew with two dumplings
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