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6 episodes with st trinian
2 episodes with st trinian
3 episodes with st trinian
6 episodes with st trinian
Join us for Hammer's Hands of the Ripper, a 1971 British horror film released as the second half of a double feature with Twins of Evil. Directed by Peter Sasdy, produced by Aida Young, and written by L.W. Davidson from a story by Edward Spencer Shew. Making good use of the large Baker Street set at Pinewood Studios—left over from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes—the production was denied permission to film its final scenes at St. Paul's Cathedral, so a replica was constructed instead. If the Pritchards' home and staircase look familiar, it's because Hammer's ever-resourceful set designers reused elements from The Curse of Frankenstein years earlier (see episode 2 of our podcast for more on that classic). Director Peter Sasdy, who cited Hands of the Ripper as his favourite film, also directed the original Adrian Mole TV series (both The Secret Diary and The Growing Pains), three episodes of Hammer House of Horror, and two other Hammer features: Countess Dracula and Taste the Blood of Dracula (the latter coming to the podcast later this year, hopefully). Most monumentally, he directed the legendary BBC sci-fi thriller The Stone Tape (definitely check General Witchfinders number 5—our third most popular episode to date!). Eric Porter stars as Doctor Pritchard. Renowned for his work in film, television, and theatre, he famously played Professor Moriarty opposite Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes and Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga. Angharad Rees plays Anna, the daughter of the Ripper. She appeared in Boon (take a drink), starred as Demelza in 28 episodes of Poldark, and, the year after Hands of the Ripper, featured in Under Milk Wood alongside Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, and Elizabeth Taylor. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, had a pub named after her in Pontypridd (sadly now a card shop), and founded a Knightsbridge jewellery company, Angharad. Pieces she designed were featured in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Wikipedia also notes she was once in a relationship with Alan Bates, which we mention only to plug episode 35, where we talked about The Shout.Lynda "Nurse Gladys Emmanuel" Baron appears as Long Liz—a curious name choice considering Long Liz was an actual canonical Ripper victim. Here, she's depicted alive and well (at least initially), years after Saucy Jack's supposed demise. Baron appeared as a recurring character in both Coronation Street and EastEnders, and played three different characters in Doctor Who across three Doctors.Dora Bryan turns up as Mrs Golding, one of two clairvoyants in the film. You may know her from 50 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine, Boon (drink), or as Helen in A Taste of Honey (written by Jon's mum's mate Shelagh Delaney). She (Dora, not Shelagh) also appeared in both a Carry On and a St Trinian's.Lastly, Norman Bird pops up as the Police Inspector. If he looks familiar, it's because he had over 200 TV and 60 film roles. He was in Spywatch (as Mr Jenkins), Boon (drink), Woof!, Whack-O!, and Help! (with Stephen Mangan). He also did a stint in Jim Davidson's Up the Elephant and Round the Castle—only mentioned because Ross was convinced it was alongside Marina Sirtis, but IMDb says she was in just one episode?Anyway, back to Norman Bird. He appeared in The Adventure Game, Whistle Down the Wind, Steptoe and Son, Fawlty Towers, Please Sir!, and The Medusa Touch (on our long list since day one). He was Mr Braithwaite, the farmer, in Worzel Gummidge and voiced Bilbo in the 1978 Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings. Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/general-witchfinders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Greg screens Frank Launder's 1954 comedy "The Belles of St. Trinian's."
British actress and producer Gemma Arterton has led a long-running and diverse acting career, with many roles to her name. She made her film debut in the 2007 comedy St Trinian's and made her mark in the 2008 blockbuster Quantum of Solace as a Bond Girl. Since then, she's gone on to star in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Clash of the Titans, The King's Man, and Rogue Agent - and she stars in the TV series Funny Woman. Her newest role sees her playing a budding actress being blackmailed by a powerful critic in the 1930's-set thriller The Critic. She says she was drawn to the role when she first got word of it - and working with Sir Ian McKellen was a 'privilege'. "It was one of the biggest privileges of my whole life, really, working with him - so it was a no-brainer, really." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Spoiler Room brave a trip to St. Trinian's to review "Blue Murder at St. Trinian's" While there was no murder there were plenty of hijinks. Tune in to hear the crew discuss this second installment in a series of movies none of them were aware of until now. Literary License Podcast: https://www.llpodcast.com/Kicking the Seat: https://kickseat.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/spoilerroompodcast/support
Paloma Faith is an award-winning singer, songwriter and actor. She has released six albums, including her most recent The Glorification of Sadness, received a BRIT Award, been a judge on The Voice UK as well as an actor in films such as St Trinian's and TV's series Pennyworth. She is also the mother of two daughters. She joins Clare to discuss her book – MILF - in which she delves into the issues that face women today from puberty and sexual awakenings, to battling through the expectations of patriarchy and the Supermum myth.Far-right parties across Europe made significant gains in the European elections, and women have been at the forefront of this right-wing shift in several countries. Right-wing groups which include those led by Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, France's Marine Le Pen and Germany's Alice Weidel are set to gain further seats in European parliament. To hear about the female leaders of Europe's far-right and what this shift could mean for women, Anita is joined by the host of EU Confidential Politico's Sarah Wheaton and Shona Murray, Europe correspondent for Euronews.Nearly 300 rapes and sexual assaults reported by sex workers during the Emma Caldwell murder investigation were not dealt with by police at the time, the BBC has learned. 276 reports of sex crimes made by sex workers working in Glasgow during the murder inquiry were filed away and not acted upon. Investigate journalist Sam Poling, whose work was pivotal in bringing Emma Caldwell's killer, Iain Packer, to justice in February of this year, joins Clare McDonnell to discuss, along with former Detective Sergeant Willie Mason.The American singer-songwriter, Chaka Khan, known as the Queen of Funk, is celebrating her 50th anniversary in music this year. With hits such as Ain't Nobody, I Feel for You and the anthem I'm Every Woman her music has sold an estimated 70 million records, winning her 10 Grammy Awards. She is curating Meltdown 2024 at the Royal Festival Hall, and opens the festival tomorrow night. She shares her plans and discusses her favourite songs.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Annette Wells Editor: Rebecca Myatt
Paloma Faith is an award-winning singer, songwriter and actor. She has released six albums, including her most recent The Glorification of Sadness, received a BRIT Award, been a judge on The Voice UK as well as an actor in films such as St Trinian's and TV's series Pennyworth. She is also the mother of two daughters. She joins Clare to discuss her book – MILF - in which she delves into the issues that face women today from puberty and sexual awakenings, to battling through the expectations of patriarchy and the Supermum myth.In the first of our Woman's Hour interviews with the leaders of the main political parties in the run-up to the General Election, Clare McDonnell is joined by Rhun ap Iorwerth, who leads Plaid Cymru, or the Party of Wales.A new study in England says that a third of cases where newborns are at risk of being taken into care involve parents who have learning disabilities or learning difficulties. The research – which was commissioned by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory – also finds that in over 80% of these cases, the parents' learning disabilities or difficulties had not been identified until their cases reached court. Clare is joined by the report author Katy Burch, child protection lawyer Reagan Persaud and she also hears from a parent whose children were recently taken into care. And following golfer Rory McIlroy's announcement that he and his wife Erica have "resolved their differences" and dismissed the divorce petition he filed for last month, we ask what keeps some couples returning time and again to particular relationships. Clare talks to behavourial psychologist & relationship coach Jo Hemmings.Presented by Clare McDonnell Producer: Laura Northedge
In celebration of Girls Aloud kicking off their highly anticipated tour we decided to talk about the 2007 British film that they sang a massive tune in. We also touch on Zayn's recent promo tour, Sophie Turner's comments on her divorce and the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle. Follow us for more on X (Twitter) & Instagram @MakeItAPopcast
This week, we're going back to school with some absolute icons and some bastard ex-Musk and a very very bad comedian. It's St Trinians! Cross dressing! Lesbians? Lucy Punch! Big day for us. Get extra bonus nonsense at Patreon Follow us! @queersgoneby on IG, Twitter and TikTok @thekatebutch on IG, Twitter, FB and TikTok @acaitlinpowell on IG, Twitter and TikTok Find us on our YouTube channel Music: Disco Sting by Kevin MacCleod
Fionnuala and Bríd rewatch the 2007 film St. Trinian's. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Influenced by soul and jazz, in this episode Faith shares her own favourite tracks from the record pile, and how music and fashion icons Madonna and McQueen influenced her as a performer.Originally from Hackney in East London, Paloma rose to fame in the 2010s, winning Best British Female Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards in 2015. With two double-platinum albums, and numerous top-10 singles, she's also appeared in films including ‘St Trinian's' and ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'. A mother of two, Paloma has been vocal about the struggles women face in the music industry, particularly when juggling motherhood. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF NEW ALBUM CELESTIAL SONGS: ZOOM SPECIAL EVENT WITH CHRIS BRAIDE ON INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS! Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Interviewing the Legends I'm your host Ray Shasho. Downes Braide Association was formed as a studio-based project by Geoff Downes and Chris Braide and has previously produced four studio albums: Pictures Of You (2012), Suburban Ghosts (2015), Skyscraper Souls (2017) and Halcyon Hymns (2021) and a live album Live In England (2019). The project draws on Downes' and Braide's rich musical heritage to create a delightfully accessible brand of progressive rock. British singer-songwriter-pianist Chris Braide has recently returned to UK shores after many years based in California. He enjoys enormous success writing and producing music for film scores, advertising campaigns and working closely with artists including Sia, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears and Marc Almond. Downes Braide Association (DBA) announce the release of their long-awaited new album Celestial Songs released on September 8th. Following their previous critically acclaimed studio albums, Celestial Songs will be the fifth DBA studio collaboration for Geoff Downes (keyboards) and multi award-winning songwriter Chris Braide (vocals). The album will be released in 3 formats: CD, 2LP and Box Set. PLEASE WELCOME BRITISH SINGER, SONGWRITER, COMPOSER, PIANIST, RECORD PRODUCER… CHRIS BRAIDE OF DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION TO INTERVIEWING THE LEGENDS … PURCHASE THE NEW ALBUM FROM DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION Entitled CELESTIAL SONGS You can pre-order all formats of Celestial Songs here: CD version: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/downes-braide-association-celestial-songs-cd-edition/ 2LP version: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/downes-braide-association-celestial-songs-vinyl-edition/ Box set version: https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/downes-braide-association-celestial-songs-deluxe-12-box-set-edition/ Also available at amazon.com 2023 release. Geoff Downes is a legendary British keyboard player known the world over for being a member of supergroups The Buggles, Asia, and Yes. He has been the powerhouse behind some of the most memorable keyboard driven pop-rock-prog songs of the last 40 years. He has worked with an exceptional caliber of musician from Kate Bush and Mike Oldfield to Billy Idol and Agnetha Faltskog. Chris Braide is one of the greatest songwriters the UK has ever known, having worked with Sia, Hans Zimmer, Nicki Minaj, David Guetta, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, and Lana Del Rey. Together, they form Downes Braide Association - a writing and recording partnership with a pedigree like no other. Celestial Songs is DBA's fifth studio album and contains 11 emotive, reflective and magical songs which address these changing times. The tracks are sometimes dark and brooding, reflecting the anxiety, frailty and confusion of our modern world. However, there are also shafts of vivid sunlight which break through and providing uplifting anthems of resilience, hope and love. As with previous DBA releases, the cover artwork has been painted by Roger Dean, arguably the most famous album cover artist in the world. The album also features a contribution from Braide's long-time friend and collaborator Marc Almond. Also HALCYON HYMNS BY DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION Featuring the hit single “Your Heart Will Find the Way” Available at amazon.com FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION VISIT For more information: https://downesbraide.co.uk/ Downes Braide Association https://www.facebook.com/downesbraide/ Facebook: www.christopherbraide.com Christopher Braide www.geoffdownes.com Geoff Downes www.youtube.com/channel/UC9QsD_p9n5MtwWKJy3jpfmA YouTube Downes Braide Association @TheRealDBAMusic Twitter DISCOGRAPHY Downes Braide Association (DBA) Studio albums Pictures of You (2012) Suburban Ghosts (2015) Skyscraper Souls (2017) Halcyon Hymns (2021) Celestial Songs (2023) Live albums Live in England (2019) CHRIS BRAIDE Filmography Braide wrote, performed or produced songs on the following film soundtracks: The Princess Diaries (2002) Without a Paddle (2004) St Trinian's (2007) The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) The Great Gatsby (2013) Youth (2015) Leap (2016) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) Fifty Shades Darker (2017) Wonder Woman (2017) Gnome Alone (2017) Charming (2018) Vox Lux (2018) Duck Duck Goose (2018) Trouble (2021) Support us on PayPal!
Mo and Christina take on their 159th film, 2007's St. Trinian's! Join them as they discuss deranged school girls, Camila and Geoffrey's steamy romance, and the teenage yearning for crime. Our Patreon is LIVE! https://www.patreon.com/moviesthatraisedus We are thrilled to launch our Patreon with exciting perks such as a listener picked bonus movie episode, exclusive Discord, being added to our Close Friends, and a personalized thank you note! Our merch shop is live! Check out our Raymond the Lifeguard design and so much more!! https://tinyurl.com/vxpbczup Follow us on instagram @moviesthatraisedus Follow us on tiktok @moviesthatraiseduspod Follow us on twitter @mtru_pod Do you have a movie you want us to cover next? Fill out our form! https://forms.gle/fU5vRfTk8K5Gb7cD8
This week, Nathan, Richard, Todd and Adrian Phoon leave the peasants of Worksop to their mud-eating and get together to ask themselves the questions Is the Doctor as big a hero as Robin Hood? and Is Robin Hood even real?, only to come up with some very surprising answers. It's Robot of Sherwood. Notes and links There have been any number of film versions of Robin Hood, which is part of the point, but Richard is mostly reminded of the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn as Robin, directed by Michael Curtiz, with an Oscar-winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Errol Flynn didn't go to Scots College in Sydney, Nathan: it was Sydney Church of England Grammar School, commonly known as Shore. He claimed to have been expelled from Shore for having sex with one of the ladies who worked in the laundry. Star Trek: The Next Generation did its fantasy Robin Hood episode in its triumphant fourth season. It guest starred John DeLancie as Q and was called Qpid. Here is an article in The Guardian from 2014, reporting the cuts made to this episode because of the beheading of two American journalists by members of Islamic State. We spend some time talking about Ben Miller's career. He's one half of Armstrong and Miller, of course, as well as doing two series of Death in Paradise. Paul Cornell's Primeval episode which featured Miller hunting a dinosaur was called Traitor Revealed. When this was shot, Tom Riley was also playing a young Leonardo Da Vinci in Da Vinci's Demons. He was also in St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009) with David Tennant and Jodie Whittaker. Follow us Nathan is on Twitter as @nathanbottomley, Todd is @toddbeilby, Richard is @RichardLStone, and Adrian is @the_iphoon. The Flight Through Entirety theme was arranged by Cameron Lam. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @FTEpodcast. We're also on Facebook and Mastodon, and you can check out our website at flightthroughentirety.com. Please consider rating or reviewing us on Apple Podcasts, or we'll assault you with cutlery until you do. And more You can find Jodie into Terror, our flashcast on the entirety of the Whittaker Era of Doctor Who, at jodieintoterror.com, at @JodieIntoTerror on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and wherever podcasts can be found. We'll be back with a new flashcast on the second Russell T Davies era in November. Our James Bond commentary podcast is called Bondfinger, and you can find that at bondfinger.com, at @bondfingercast on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else as well. We can also be heard on the Blakes 7 podcast Maximum Power, which has completed its coverage of the first half of the show. Plans are already well underway for our coverage of Series C later in the year, probably. There's also our Star Trek commentary podcast, Untitled Star Trek Project, featuring Nathan and friend-of-the-podcast Joe Ford. In our most recent episode, we watched another episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — this time, the delightful fantasy romp The Elysian Kingdom. There are new episodes out every Friday. And finally, Brendan and his friend Bjay have joined forces to play and review videogames on The Bjay BJ Game Show. Take a listen: it's funny, well-informed and completely enjoyable.
Comedian and artist Jo Neary (Ideal, Man Down) on illustrator Ronald Searle, in particular his school satires: St Trinian's and the immortal Molesworth books, with Geoffrey Willans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For this episode Dan, Michael and Helena look back at a movie Michael loved and Helena saw in the cinema, St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. Theme music by @themenniss. Follow @HiltMpod on social media https://linktr.ee/hiltmpod Join our Patreon https://www.patreon.com/hiltmpod Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Movies That Made Me… Episode 6: Trial By Jury Luke Sorba wrote and directed his first movie on Super 8 when he was 18 years old. "The Mirror Within" won in the Novice Category at Streatham and Norwood Amateur Film Club's Annual Awards. He only made one more (apart from some YouTube sketches) but he has since watched 6000 movies made by other people and owns 1600 on DVD. He spent more teenage hours at the National Film Theatre and the Electric Cinema than anywhere else, and is currently on first name terms with staff at Peckhamplex. Over two hundred books on cinema fill his shelves and he has a complete collection of Monthly Film Bulletin magazines (incorporated in Sight and Sound since 1990) going back to 1964. As an actor and writer, as well as a teacher of story telling Luke brings professional experience to his observations but it his status as a super-fan that sets him apart. He is rare among enthusiasts in that there is no period nor genre nor country whose movies he is not curious about. From Intolerance to Inception, The St Valentine's Day Massacre to The Belles of St Trinian's, Do the Right Thing to Dr Dolittle, Zombieland to Nomadland, Superfly to Superman, Tod Browning to Todd Haynes, Federico Fellini to The Fast and Furious, Monika Treut to Monica Bellucci, there is a place for everyone in The Movies That Made Me. Luke Sorba and Andrew Paine previously collaborated on the online improvised comedy show "Unmute". Together they make up Picard Productions. Episode 6 features… Lee Apsey is an award-winning writer, director, producer and performer across film, theatre and digital media. His accomplishments range from critically acclaimed feature films and TV pilots to multiple sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, Brighton Fringe and Leicester Square Theatre atop a multi-million viewership across online projects. As an improviser he has taught and performed in the UK, Europe, Asia and United States for over a decade. He is the co-founder of CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation (“A Spectacular must see” - ☆☆☆☆☆ Bunberry Magazine) as well as currently performing Your Flaws: The Musical and freestyle rap show Slice of Rhyme. Susie Labinjoh is a civil liberties and human rights solicitor. She specialises in: civil actions against the police and other public bodies; related human rights claims; compensation claims for victims of miscarriage of justice and public law challenges related to these areas. In her spare time she enjoys film, theatre and podcasts amongst other things! Trials By Jury... JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (2000) d Gale Edwards Possibly the most famous miscarriage of justice, this time presented as a rock opera. Made washing your hands in public a trope 2000 years before Covid. Contrasts: Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) d Norman Jewison; The Passion of the Christ (2004) d Mel Gibson; The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) d Martin Scorsese MRS DOUBTFIRE (1993) d Chris Columbus Alongside Aladdin. and Good Morning Vietnam a fantastic platform for the comedic talent of Robin Williams. And by no means as sentimental as some of Williams' subsequent films. Contrasts: Kramer vs Kramer (1979) d Robert Benton; Tootsie (1982) d Sydney Pollack TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) d Robert Mulligan A classic movie (adaptation of Harper Lee's classic book) which is particularly interesting to revisit with a post-Black Lives Matter perspective. Racism, justice, community – all through the gaze of a child. Contrast: In the Name of the Father (1993) d Jim Sheridan JUST MERCY (2019) d Destin Daniel Cretton Jamie Foxx reminds us how incredibly versatile he is in this searing true story about a black man falsely convicted of a murder that takes place in the Harper Lee's home town. Contrast: A Few Good Men (1992) Rob Reiner A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946) d Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger A wonderfully rich film that is both truly of its time – just after World War 2 – and yet its playing with form and dealing with diversity are so relevant today. Contrast: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) d Robert Wise TWELVE ANGRY MEN (1957) d Sidney Lumet The quintessential movie about a jury which actually started out as a TV drama ( and you can literally see why). The group is all ready to condemn and to punish… until a single individual quietly suggests they take one more look. Contrast: Lord of the Flies (1963) d Peter Brook End Credits Luke Sorba: Host Twitter: LukeSorbaLabour Andrew Paine: Producer & Audio Engineer Twitter: ItPainesMe
Welcome to this week's pod in which various white-hot topics are brought in for questioning, among them … … Whatever happened to Dando Shaft? … Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas and flowsy saxophones in The Belles of St Trinian's … Does it matter if music-making acts are fictitious or that rappers are artificial and produced by computer graphics and AI? … how many people were in Keith Tippett's Centipede (the clue's in the name)? … Titus Groan and Demon Fuzz … is there anything the lily-livered music business is prepared to defend? … puddings delivered by Deliveroo … Jann Wenner and the caviar spoons … the ‘greening' of Reading Festival … and what kind of sane world allows pop music at hotel breakfasts?----------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It's completely risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee!----------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, with full visuals, and ad-free!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to this week's pod in which various white-hot topics are brought in for questioning, among them … … Whatever happened to Dando Shaft? … Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas and flowsy saxophones in The Belles of St Trinian's … Does it matter if music-making acts are fictitious or that rappers are artificial and produced by computer graphics and AI? … how many people were in Keith Tippett's Centipede (the clue's in the name)? … Titus Groan and Demon Fuzz … is there anything the lily-livered music business is prepared to defend? … puddings delivered by Deliveroo … Jann Wenner and the caviar spoons … the ‘greening' of Reading Festival … and what kind of sane world allows pop music at hotel breakfasts?----------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It's completely risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee!----------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, with full visuals, and ad-free!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcome to this week's pod in which various white-hot topics are brought in for questioning, among them … … Whatever happened to Dando Shaft? … Alastair Sim, Terry-Thomas and flowsy saxophones in The Belles of St Trinian's … Does it matter if music-making acts are fictitious or that rappers are artificial and produced by computer graphics and AI? … how many people were in Keith Tippett's Centipede (the clue's in the name)? … Titus Groan and Demon Fuzz … is there anything the lily-livered music business is prepared to defend? … puddings delivered by Deliveroo … Jann Wenner and the caviar spoons … the ‘greening' of Reading Festival … and what kind of sane world allows pop music at hotel breakfasts?----------Grab your EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal by going to https://nordvpn.com/yourear to get up a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 months for free! It's completely risk free with Nord's 30 day money-back guarantee!----------Subscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon and receive every future Word Podcast before the rest of the world, with full visuals, and ad-free!: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Movies That Made Me… Episode 5: Screen Partnerships Luke Sorba wrote and directed his first movie on Super 8 when he was 18 years old. "The Mirror Within" won in the Novice Category at Streatham and Norwood Amateur Film Club's Annual Awards. He only made one more (apart from some YouTube sketches) but he has since watched 6000 movies made by other people and owns 1600 on DVD. He spent more teenage hours at the National Film Theatre and the Electric Cinema than anywhere else, and is currently on first name terms with staff at Peckhamplex. Over two hundred books on cinema fill his shelves and he has a complete collection of Monthly Film Bulletin magazines (incorporated in Sight and Sound since 1990) going back to 1964. As an actor and writer, as well as a teacher of story telling Luke brings professional experience to his observations but it his status as a super-fan that sets him apart. He is rare among enthusiasts in that there is no period nor genre nor country whose movies he is not curious about. From Intolerance to Inception, The St Valentine's Day Massacre to The Belles of St Trinian's, Do the Right Thing to Dr Dolittle, Zombieland to Nomadland, Superfly to Superman, Tod Browning to Todd Haynes, Federico Fellini to The Fast and Furious, Monika Treut to Monica Bellucci, there is a place for everyone in The Movies That Made Me. Luke Sorba and Andrew Paine previously collaborated on the online improvised comedy show "Unmute". Together they make up Picard Productions. Episode 5 features… Lesley Ann Albiston is a comedy playwright, theatre director, actor improviser, teacher and fine artist. Her recent plays Chop Me Up Or Let Me Go and A Slice Of Eel Pie have been performed on the London Fringe to great reviews. Lesley Ann shares her birthday with one of her favourite film directors, Alfred Hitchcock. Twitter: @LesleyAnnAlbist Neil Cole is an actor, playing several roles in Amazon Prime horror anthology series Dark Ditties Presents… and lead roles in forthcoming feature films The Chain and Sentinel. He is a also an award-winning comedian and presenter (MTV, National Geographic, Eurosport) Twitter: @neilcole https://theneilcoleshow.com Howdy Partners... WAY OUT WEST d James Horne (1937) Peak sound era Laurel and Hardy, the template for so many male comedy double acts from Abbott and Costello to Dumb and Dumber. Contrast: Stan and Ollie (2018) FIGHT CLUB d David Fincher (1999) Edward Norton in a study of toxic masculinity from before the term was coined and when Brad Pitt was still a screen actor (and a good one!) rather than just a screen persona. Contrast: A Beautiful Mind (2001) when Russell Crowe was still a screen actor (and a good one!) rather than just a screen persona. SOME LIKE IT HOT d Billy Wilder (1959) The second Billy Wilder movie to be chosen by a guest on The Movies That Made Me… and why not? Starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, this is genuine Hollywood gold (albeit based on an obscure French movie from 1935 called Fanfare of Love). Contrast: Shakespeare in Love (1998) See below… SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE d John Madden (1998) More cross-dressing and disguises (see above) this time with Joseph Fiennes. One of the best ever representations of theatre on film. Plus one of a tiny number of movies in which you don't wish Gwyneth Paltrow had been replaced by another actress. Contrast: Stage Beauty (2004) THE PRODUCERS d Mel Brooks (1967) Quite simply my favourite comedy ever, with career-defining performances from Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Though originally scheduled to star Peter Sellers and Dustin Hoffman! Contrast: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971) Inter-generational satire from Hal Ashby more famous for box office hits Being There and Shampoo, critically-acclaimed The Last Detail and Best Picture Oscar winner Coming Home. Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon star in his most original film. Contrast: The Mother (2003) End Credits Luke Sorba: Host Twitter: LukeSorbaLabour Andrew Paine: Producer & Audio Engineer Twitter: ItPainesMe
The Movies That Made Me… Episode 4: Want To Change The World Luke Sorba wrote and directed his first movie on Super 8 when he was 18 years old. "The Mirror Within" won in the Novice Category at Streatham and Norwood Amateur Film Club's Annual Awards. He only made one more (apart from some YouTube sketches) but he has since watched 6000 movies made by other people and owns 1600 on DVD. He spent more teenage hours at the National Film Theatre and the Electric Cinema than anywhere else, and is currently on first name terms with staff at Peckhamplex. Over two hundred books on cinema fill his shelves and he has a complete collection of Monthly Film Bulletin magazines (incorporated in Sight and Sound since 1990) going back to 1964. As an actor and writer, as well as a teacher of story telling Luke brings professional experience to his observations but it his status as a super-fan that sets him apart. He is rare among enthusiasts in that there is no period nor genre nor country whose movies he is not curious about. From Intolerance to Inception, The St Valentine's Day Massacre to The Belles of St Trinian's, Do the Right Thing to Dr Dolittle, Zombieland to Nomadland, Superfly to Superman, Tod Browning to Todd Haynes, Federico Fellini to The Fast and Furious, Monika Treut to Monica Bellucci, there is a place for everyone in The Movies That Made Me. Luke Sorba and Andrew Paine previously collaborated on the online improvised comedy show "Unmute". Together they make up Picard Productions. Episode 4 features… Stella Duffy is a writer and psychotherapist. She is an award-winning writer of seventeen novels, over seventy short stories and fourteen plays. Stella worked in theatre for over thirty-five years as an actor, director, facilitator and improvisor and received the OBE for Services to the Arts in 2016. She is also a yoga teacher and runs yoga-for-writing workshops. Alongside her private psychotherapy practice, Stella works for a low-cost community mental health service. She is in the third year of a doctorate training in Existential Psychotherapy and her research is in the embodied experience of postmenopause. Twitter: @stellduffy Web: https://stelladuffytherapy.co.uk/ Anshu Srivastava spent twenty-five years training and working as an architect, before changing direction and becoming a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Web www.mra.co.uk Web www.srivastavatherapy.co.uk The Movies That Made Them Want To Change The World GREGORY'S GIRL (d Bill Forsyth) 1981 A film that is sweet without being sentimental, hopeful without being naïve, with an object of desire that subtly takes control. A remarkable portrait of an unremarkable teenager. Contrast - The Inbetweeners Movie BOY (d Taika Waititi) 2012 A father and son re-unite, two cultures join across an ocean, and innocence is on the line in 1980's Aotearoa / New Zealand. Waititi's blend of humour and pathos, of optimism and discovery is already laid out in his most autobiographical movie. The end credits sequence is outstanding! Contrast - Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol.2 THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (d Gillo Pontecorvo) 1966 So realistic some audiences thought they were watching a documentary. Banned in France for being to honest about its colonial past. Proudly political it is simultaneously gripping as a human drama, thriller and war movie. Contrast – The Wind that Shakes the Barley DESERT HEARTS (d Donna Deitch) 1985 A landmark movie as Queer Cinema meets the mainstream, putting Jane Rule's 1964 romantic novel on screen – stunning landscapes, honest performances with actors and director putting their careers on the line. It was viciously attacked by the New York Times but is now a deserved cult classic. Contrast – Lianna THE FLORIDA PROJECT (d Sean Baker) 2017 The most sublime final sequence I have witnessed this century. And the movie before that is pretty darn great too! It excels across more than one genre and is one of the best movies centred on a single building, in cinema. Contrast – Les Quatre Cents Coups FIVE EASY PIECES (d Bob Rafelson) 1970 Full of sound and fury signifying… a great deal. My favourite performance by Jack Nicholson in my favourite film from the Easy Rider / Raging Bull era. Karen Black is a revelation in a classic “going home” movie. Contrast – The Royal Tenenbaums The Movies That Made Me… credits Luke Sorba: Host Twitter: LukeSorbaLabour Andrew Paine: Producer & Audio Engineer Twitter: ItPainesMe
The Movies That Made Me… Episode 3: LOVE Luke Sorba wrote and directed his first movie on Super 8 when he was 18 years old. "The Mirror Within" won in the Novice Category at Streatham and Norwood Amateur Film Club's Annual Awards. He only made one more (apart from some YouTube sketches) but he has since watched 6000 movies made by other people and owns 1600 on DVD. He spent more teenage hours at the National Film Theatre and the Electric Cinema than anywhere else, and is currently on first name terms with staff at Peckhamplex. Over two hundred books on cinema fill his shelves and he has a complete collection of Monthly Film Bulletin magazines (incorporated in Sight and Sound since 1990) going back to 1964. As an actor and writer, as well as a teacher of story telling Luke brings professional experience to his observations but it his status as a super-fan that sets him apart. He is rare among enthusiasts in that there is no period nor genre nor country whose movies he is not curious about. From Intolerance to Inception, The St Valentine's Day Massacre to The Belles of St Trinian's, Do the Right Thing to Dr Dolittle, Zombieland to Nomadland, Superfly to Superman, Tod Browning to Todd Haynes, Federico Fellini to The Fast and Furious, Monika Treut to Monica Bellucci, there is a place for everyone in The Movies That Made Me. Luke Sorba and Andrew Paine previously collaborated on the online improvised comedy show "Unmute". Together they make up Picard Productions. Episode 3 Features... Martha Julier is a film graduate, and a Script Editor working in TV Drama. Despite this, she has somehow retained her love of Film & TV. As a freelance script editor, Martha's worked on projects for BBC, ITV and FX/Disney+. Dan O'Connor is one of the world's foremost innovators in unscripted theatre. He is a multifaceted actor, improviser, writer, and director performing on television and stage around the world. His training includes the American Conservatory Theater and extensive work with Keith Johnstone (Author of Impro) since 1986. He is a graduate of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Dan is the founder of the critically acclaimed Impro Theatre and is a co-founder of BATS Improv in San Francisco and LA Theatresports. Dan has been teaching internationally for 30 years training writers, actors and directors about narrative storytelling and exploring the future of theatre. In that time he has also worked with corporate clients using improvisation as tool for adaptation and change. He has been guest performer with everyone from Second City to Groundlings. Most recently he has developed the "LIVING STORY BOARD" with Stephen Kearin an ongoing development process for animators, storyboard artists and writers at Disney and Dreamworks Animation. He co-wrote Life UnScripted: Using Improv Principles to Get Unstuck, Boost Confidence, and Transform Your Life published by North Atlantic Books. You can watch Dan's TED Talk titled “Improvising a Better World” by clicking here. Love Is In The Air... IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE 1946 (Frank Capra) Post-war America in need of healing finds family man and community leader, Jimmy Stewart on the precipice of self-destruction. Can love pull him back? The movie that most defines Capra-esque. Contrast: A Christmas Carol (1951) MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE 1985 (Stephen Frears) Race, Class, Sexuality and Toxic Masculinity all explored with candour and passion decades before “woke” meant anything more than what you did before eating breakfast. Hanif Kureishi's best screenplay, the launch of Daniel Day-Lewis as a movie star. Against a backdrop of heartless Thatcherite Britain. Contrast: Loving (2016) STRICTLY BALLROOM 1992 (Baz Luhrmann) The movie that gave the BBC the title (well, half) of its most popular TV show of the last twenty years. Outsiders from different worlds come together in the Australian auteur's first film. The sequence using Cindy Lauper's True Colours is sublime. Contrast: Romeo + Juliet (1996) LA BELLE E LA BETE 1946 (Jean Cocteau) Poet, playwright, artist, novelist, Cocteau's live action telling of the classic tale ask the eternal question: can true love redeem? Magical. Contrast: Beauty and the Beast (1991) BEFORE SUNRISE 1995 (Richard Linklater) The most romantic film inspired by a railway station since Brief Encounter. Semi-improvised dialogue between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as lovers thrown together by chance adds authenticity and intelligence to a film that launched the most unlikely movie franchise. Right person, wrong time, wrong place…. can love survive? Contrast: The Lady Vanishes (1936) CASABLANCA 1942 (Michael Curtiz) When love of justice and romantic love collide, one must be sacrificed? Bogart. Bergman. And a world of talent on and off-camera. Luke's favourite film. Film's most romantic song. Contrast: There is none. It's a non-pareil.
Movies That Made Me… Episode 2: Creative Artists Luke Sorba wrote and directed his first movie on Super 8 when he was 18 years old. "The Mirror Within" won in the Novice Category at Streatham and Norwood Amateur Film Club's Annual Awards. He only made one more (apart from some YouTube sketches) but he has since watched 6000 movies made by other people and owns 1600 on DVD. He spent more teenage hours at the National Film Theatre and the Electric Cinema than anywhere else, and is currently on first name terms with staff at Peckhamplex. Over two hundred books on cinema fill his shelves and he has a complete collection of Monthly Film Bulletin magazines (incorporated in Sight and Sound since 1990) going back to 1964. As an actor and writer, as well as a teacher of story telling Luke brings professional experience to his observations but it his status as a super-fan that sets him apart. He is rare among enthusiasts in that there is no period nor genre nor country whose movies he is not curious about. From Intolerance to Inception, The St Valentine's Day Massacre to The Belles of St Trinian's, Do the Right Thing to Dr Dolittle, Zombieland to Nomadland, Superfly to Superman, Tod Browning to Todd Haynes, Federico Fellini to The Fast and Furious, Monika Treut to Monica Bellucci, there is a place for everyone in The Movies That Made Me. Luke Sorba and Andrew Paine previously collaborated on the online improvised comedy show "Unmute". Together they make up Picard Productions. Episode 2 features… Tai Campbell is a writer, director, comedian, celebrity impressionist and life long film fan. A founding member of the UK's first all Black improv team Do The Right Scene, he has credits include BBC One, BBC Three and Vice. He enjoys pretty much anything that can make him laugh and is a real sucker for a great story Suki Webster most recently starred in “Motorhoming with Merton and Webster” a six part travel show on Channel 5. Suki is a founder member of the critically acclaimed “Paul Merton's Impro Chums”. She is a regular guest with The Comedy Store Players and appeared in the West End run of One Word Improv co-starring with Eddie Izzard and ‘Whose Line is It Anyway Live'. She also has her own Improv show ‘Suki Webster's Guest Speaker.' In 2018/19 Suki wrote and starred in a Radio 4 sitcom ‘My Obsession.' Film & TV work includes: Comic Act (Gemini Films). The New Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner Brothers, US TV), Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes To Glastonbury (BBC2) and Baby Father (BBC2). Radio: Just A Minute (R4) The Impro Musical (R2). Theatre Work: Court In The Act and Passport to Danger (Watford Palace Theatre & Chichester) A Visit From Miss Prothero, Mon Droit and Making News. (Edinburgh Festival.) Our Creative Artists come from… MY FAVOURITE YEAR 1982 (Richard Benjamin) Set in the 1950's heyday of live television with a tour de force from Peter O'Toole and based on the memories of Mel Brooks and the shock he got when he met his screen idol, Errol Flynn in real life. Contrast: Last Action Hero (1993) THE JACKSONS – AN AMERICAN DREAM 1992 (Karen Arthur) Five hour epic biopic of one of the most talented and famous musical families in history and a look at the pain offstage as well as the genius on it. Contrast: The Sound of Music (1965) SUNSET BLVD 1950 (Billy Wilder) The most famous street in cinema houses a fallen silent movie star from a bygone era and a hack Hollywood screenwriter feeding off each other to survive in an industry that consumes everyone. Contrast: Singing in The Rain (1952) THE SHINING 1980 (Stanley Kubrick) Wannabe great American novelist Jack Nicholson gets writer's block holed up off season in creepy Overlook Hotel and his family suffer the consequences. Contrast: The Haunting (1963) A MIGHTY WIND 2003 (Christopher Guest) Affectionate parody of the 60's US Folk Revival scene in particular and Band Reunions in general. Featuring the late, legendary Fred Willard who once said to Luke “you are very funny” and he has treasured this ever since. Contrast: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Movies That Made Me: Episode 1: Heroes Luke Sorba wrote and directed his first movie on Super 8 when he was 18 years old. "The Mirror Within" won in the Novice Category at Streatham and Norwood Amateur Film Club's Annual Awards. He only made one more (apart from some YouTube sketches) but he has since watched 6000 movies made by other people and owns 1600 on DVD. He spent more teenage hours at the National Film Theatre and the Electric Cinema than anywhere else, and is currently on first name terms with staff at Peckhamplex. Over two hundred books on cinema fill his shelves and he has a complete collection of Monthly Film Bulletin magazines (incorporated in Sight and Sound since 1990) going back to 1964. As an actor and writer, as well as a teacher of story telling Luke brings professional experience to his observations but it his status as a super-fan that sets him apart. He is rare among enthusiasts in that there is no period nor genre nor country whose movies he is not curious about. From Intolerance to Inception, The St Valentine's Day Massacre to The Belles of St Trinian's, Do the Right Thing to Dr Dolittle, Zombieland to Nomadland, Superfly to Superman, Tod Browning to Todd Haynes, Federico Fellini to The Fast and Furious, Monika Treut to Monica Bellucci, there is a place for everyone in The Movies That Made Me. Luke Sorba and Andrew Paine previously collaborated on the online improvised comedy show "Unmute". Together they make up Picard Productions. Episode 1 features… Talal Karkouti Talal is a British-Syrian comedian and actor. He is the co-host and producer of The Alexei Sayle Podcast and just won 2nd place in The Musical Comedy Awards 2022. He also co-hosts the music review show DJARBIC with his brother on the Tarboosh Records YouTube channel. Pippa Evans Pippa is an award-winning performer specialising in improvisation and musical comedy. You may have heard her on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue on Radio 4 or seen her creating instant musicals with Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. Pippa is the author of Improv Your Life: An Improviser's Guide To Embracing Whatever Life Throws At You and can be found teaching improv workshops online via her website pippaevans.com. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband and her cat. Twitter/Insta @iampippaevans Our Heroes ALADDIN 1992 (d. John Musker, Ron Clements) Classic Disney from its 90's revival era with Robin Williams at his peak, and centred around a street kid from Agrabah negotiating love, magic and the spite and might of the Grand Vizier. APOCALYPTO 2006 (d. Mel Gibson) Having shot Passion of the Christ in ancient Aramaic, Gibson's next was entirely in Yucatec. One Mayan tribe fights for survival against another while the invading Conquistadors approach to change the land forever. THE WIZARD OF OZ 1939 (d. Victor Fleming) The most famous shoes in movie history propel Judy Garland on an unforgettable adventure that is part fable, part nightmare and fully merits its legendary status. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION 1994 (d. Frank Darabont) iconic prison movie with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman trying to stay alive on the inside. While secretly planning life on the outside. CASABLANCA 1942 (d. Michael Curtiz) Humphrey Bogart has retired from, while Ingrid Bergman is facing up, the epic struggle to save Europe from fascism. They meet again… in Casablanca. TAKEN 2008 (d. Pierre Morel) Unofficial remake of “An American in Paris”. With killing instead of dancing. (Trivia: Maggie Grace who played 55 yr old Liam Neeson's teenage daughter was actually 24. Leslie Caron who played 38 yr old Gene Kelly's love interest was only 19). Links Luke Sorba (Host) : Twitter @LukeSorbaLabour Andrew Paine (Producer & Audio Engineer) : Twitter @ItPainesMe
Star of the St Trinian's films and inspiration for Victoria Wood and Miranda Hart, Joyce Grenfell was one of Britain's most loved female comedienne, writer, actor and singer. Cheryl Knight tells us about Joyce, and her hugely popular one woman show which is touring southern England. Press link for tour info and tickets. http://www.apollotheatrecompany.com/ode-to-joyce.html #OdetoJoyce #Theatre #RadioGorgeous
This episode we've a tale from the Isle of Man featuring a folkloric Kaiju, a super-powered Saint, unusual ordinance, a brave little tailor(but not that brave little tailor), a deal with god, and more nautical terms than you can shake a main brace at. For pictures, links and musical credits please see the website page at https://talesofbritainandireland.com/episode-37-the-buggane-of-st-trinians/
It's time for episode four and the second of Lauren's picks for our Heist Season. And in true Lauren fashion she has chosen the chaotic girl power extravaganza that is St. Trinian's. Find all our socials over at hisfilmhermovie.com
127 Hours with a Film Kid: This week, we delve into the “Marvel Question” discourse and learn which directors would or would not direct superhero movies, regardless of whether they've been asked to direct a superhero movie. Slumdog Millionaire: We debate the benefits of pulling a scam on a studio, the undeniable (yet still denied) hotness of Dev Patel and the worst use of “fate” we've seen on the podcast. St Trinian's: In another film that's only loosely about a quiz show competition, we discuss questionable 2007 jokes, the implications of discussing Colin Firth in a film that stars Colin Firth, and Lindsey's lack of knowledge of common British terms. Film Kids Giant Squids is produced and hosted by Lindsey Buttel and Brooke Hoppe. Intro music is by the band Poly Action. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 Find Us Onlinehttps://filmkidsgiantsquids.comhttps://twitter.com/FilmSquidsPodhttps://www.instagram.com/filmsquidspod/https://www.facebook.com/filmsquidspod
Matthew Sweet with a look and film music for movies with a disruptive vibe reflecting the launch this last week of Michael Caton-Jones's new film 'Our Ladies', about a group of school girls from the Scottish Highlands who spend a day partying, drinking and hooking up in Scotland's capital. Also in the programme is music for the varioues St Trinian's films, plus 'Rebel Without A Cause', 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', 'Heathers', 'Suicide Squad', 'Birds of Prey' and the recent 'The Suicide Squad', 'Kick-Ass', and 'The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared'. The Classic Score of the Week is 'West Side Story'.
‘Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction, my readers must decide for themselves.' It's a scorching St Valentine's Day in 1900 when three boarding-school girls and a teacher disappear during a day-trip to Hanging Rock in the arid Australian outback. Fact or fiction? Misadventure or murder? Accident or assassination? Join us on our latest literary podcast adventure as we delve into the mystery, history and hysteria of Joan Lindsay's classic Australian Gothic novel with Kate Young, author of The Little Library Cookbook. From the slow-seeping horror of Hanging Rock to coming-of-age tales of tuck boxes and midnight feasts, high jinks and humour, Kate guides the Slightly Foxed magazine team through the school-story tradition and asks why it's such fertile ground for fiction. On the way we visit the Chalet School, Malory Towers and St Trinian's, and slip into darker territory with Decline and Fall, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. In this month's literary expedition, we take a peek inside Quentin Blake's House of Illustration, and to finish there's the usual wide-ranging round-up of current reading featuring: Anthony Buckeridge's classic Jennings series of prep-school stories; Emily Danforth's romp, Plain Bad Heroines, inspired by Shirley Jackson; and Tsitsi Dangarembga's tale of a young girl from a rural village in Zimbabwe, Nervous Conditions.Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 44 minutes; 24 seconds)Books MentionedWe may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Jess in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay (2:02) The Little Library Cookbook, The Little Library Year and The Little Library Christmas, Kate Young The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark (14:14) The Naughtiest Girl in the School, Enid Blyton (15:14) Malory Towers is a series of six novels by Enid Blyton. The first novel is First Term at Malory Towers (15:21) The Chalet School is a series of 64 novels by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer (15:51) Frost in May, Antonia White (20:37) The St Trinian's books by Ronald Searle are out of print (22:53) Decline and Fall, Evelyn Waugh (23:44) Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (25:17) The Secret History, Donna Tartt (27:06) Murder Most Unladylike, Robin Stevens (28:37) An Experiment in Love, Hilary Mantel (30:17) Terms & Conditions: Life in Girls' Boarding-Schools, 1939–1979, Ysenda Maxtone Graham (30:55) The Worst Witch, Jill Murphy (31:49 Our Lady of the Nile, Scholastique Mukasonga (33:43) Plain Bad Heroines, Emily M. Danforth (38:53) The Jennings books by Anthony Buckeridge are out of print (40:11) Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga (41:53) Related Slightly Foxed Articles Hazy Memories of Hanging Rock, Kate Young on Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Issue 64 (2:02) Chalet Girls, Daisy Hay on Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's Chalet School books, Issue 56 (16:07) Once a Catholic . . ., Melissa Harrison on Antonia White, Frost in May, Issue 54 (20.37) Old Girls and Very Old Girls, Nicola Shulman on Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Terms & Conditions, Issue 52 (30:55) C. T. Jennings and the Problem of Evil, Robin Blake on Anthony Buckeridge, the Jennings books, Issue 17 (40:11) Educating Ulyth, Ysenda Maxtone Graham on the girls' school stories of Angela Brazil, Issue 44 Other Links The Little Library Cafe: food inspired by literature from Kate Young Leave No Trace, Madeleine Watts on lost-children narratives in Australia, The Believer (8:36) Friends of the Chalet School (15:51) House of Illustration, London (36:24) Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable
Enjoy this amazing meditation. Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, writer, and activist. After beginning his career as a comedian and later becoming an MTV presenter of Big Brother´s Big Mouth. He also had a film role in St Trinian´s, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek. He also worked as a voice actor in the animated films: Despicable Me, Hop, Despicable Me 2 and Arthur. Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth, inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change and meditation. Brand launched his political-comedy web series The Trews and released a book entitled Revolution. Let me know your experiences with this incredible meditation. I am a Reiki Master, specialist in Reiki Distant Healing, which means I can send Reiki to everywhere in the world. I have had the pleasure and blessing of doing many Reiki Distant Healings Sessions, in England, Bolivia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, etc; with wonderful results. Reiki is a holistic therapy, and its goal is promote balance and harmony in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Reiki is an incredible powerful healing energy. I have healed successfully some Covid-19 cases from my home. No side effects. Fast and Real Results. In addition, if there is no change, you pay nothing. Lots to win and literally nothing to lose. If you have any question, or you are passing through difficult health situations, I can help you, leave me a message. If you think this meditation can help someone, please share it. Thank you for being here. I send you all the love you can receive. May the force be with you.
Enjoy this fantastic meditation. Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, writer, and activist. After beginning his career as a comedian and later becoming an MTV presenter of Big Brother´s Big Mouth. He also had a film role in St Trinian´s, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek. He also worked as a voice actor in the animated films: Despicable Me, Hop, Despicable Me 2 and Arthur. Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth, inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change and meditation. Brand launched his political-comedy web series The Trews and released a book entitled Revolution. Let me know your experiences with this awesome meditation. I am a Reiki Master, specialist in Reiki Distant Healing, which means I can send Reiki to everywhere in the world. I have had the pleasure and blessing of doing many Reiki Distant Healings Sessions, in England, Bolivia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, etc; with wonderful results. Reiki is a holistic therapy, and its goal is promote balance and harmony in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Reiki is an incredible powerful healing energy. I have healed successfully some Covid-19 cases from my home. No side effects. Fast and Real Results. In addition, if there is no change, you pay nothing. Lots to win and literally nothing to lose. If you have any question, or you are passing through difficult health situations, I can help you, leave me a message. If you think this meditation can help someone, please share it. Thank you for being here. I send you all the love you can receive. May the force be with you.
Sleep is so important to live fully. Here is a beautiful tool!!! Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, writer, and activist. After beginning his career as a comedian and later becoming an MTV presenter of Big Brother´s Big Mouth. He also had a film role in St Trinian´s, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek. He also worked as a voice actor in the animated films: Despicable Me, Hop, Despicable Me 2 and Arthur. Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth, inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change and meditation. Brand launched his political-comedy web series The Trews and released a book entitled Revolution. Let me know your experiences with this great meditation. I am a Reiki Master, specialist in Reiki Distant Healing, which means I can send Reiki to everywhere in the world. I have had the pleasure and blessing of doing many Reiki Distant Healings Sessions, in England, Bolivia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, etc; with wonderful results. Reiki is a holistic therapy, and its goal is promote balance and harmony in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Reiki is an incredible powerful healing energy. I have healed successfully some Covid-19 cases from my home. No side effects. Fast and Real Results. In addition, if there is no change, you pay nothing. Lots to win and literally nothing to lose. If you have any question, or you are passing through difficult health situations, I can help you, leave me a message. If you think this meditation can help someone, please share it. Thank you for being here. I send you all the love you can receive. May the force be with you.
To start you just need to take the first step. Decide it!!! Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, writer, and activist. After beginning his career as a comedian and later becoming an MTV presenter of Big Brother´s Big Mouth. He also had a film role in St Trinian´s, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek. He also worked as a voice actor in the animated films: Despicable Me, Hop, Despicable Me 2 and Arthur. Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth, inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change and meditation. Brand launched his political-comedy web series The Trews and released a book entitled Revolution. Let me know your experiences with this amazing meditation. I am a Reiki Master, specialist in Reiki Distant Healing, which means I can send Reiki to everywhere in the world. I have had the pleasure and blessing of doing many Reiki Distant Healings Sessions, in England, Bolivia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, etc; with wonderful results. Reiki is a holistic therapy, and its goal is promote balance and harmony in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Reiki is an incredible powerful healing energy. I have healed successfully some Covid-19 cases from my home. No side effects. Fast and Real Results. In addition, if there is no change, you pay nothing. Lots to win and literally nothing to lose. If you have any question, or you are passing through difficult health situations, I can help you, leave me a message. If you think this meditation can help someone, please share it. Thank you for being here. I send you all the love you can receive. May the force be with you.
Do and benefit from this great meditation. Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, writer, and activist. After beginning his career as a comedian and later becoming an MTV presenter of Big Brother´s Big Mouth. He also had a film role in St Trinian´s, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek. He also worked as a voice actor in the animated films: Despicable Me, Hop, Despicable Me 2 and Arthur. Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth, inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change and meditation. Brand launched his political-comedy web series The Trews and released a book entitled Revolution. Let me know your experiences with this beautiful meditation. I am a Reiki Master, specialist in Reiki Distant Healing, which means I can send Reiki to everywhere in the world. I have had the pleasure and blessing of doing many Reiki Distant Healings Sessions, in England, Bolivia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, etc; with wonderful results. Reiki is a holistic therapy, and its goal is promote balance and harmony in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Reiki is an incredible powerful healing energy. I have healed successfully some Covid-19 cases from my home. No side effects. Fast and Real Results. In addition, if there is no change, you pay nothing. Lots to win and literally nothing to lose. If you have any question, or you are passing through difficult health situations, I can help you, leave me a message. If you think this meditation can help someone, please share it. Thank you for being here. I send you all the love you can receive. May the force be with you.
I really hope you enjoy this great meditation. Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, radio host, writer, and activist. After beginning his career as a comedian and later becoming an MTV presenter of Big Brother´s Big Mouth. He also had a film role in St Trinian´s, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek. He also worked as a voice actor in the animated films: Despicable Me, Hop, Despicable Me 2 and Arthur. Brand has become known as a public activist and campaigner, and has spoken on a wide range of political and cultural issues, including wealth, inequality, addiction, corporate capitalism, climate change and meditation. Brand launched his political-comedy web series The Trews and released a book entitled Revolution. Let me know your experiences with this great meditation. I am a Reiki Master, specialist in Reiki Distant Healing, which means I can send Reiki to everywhere in the world. I have had the pleasure and blessing of doing many Reiki Distant Healings Sessions, in England, Bolivia, Spain, Mexico, Germany, etc; with wonderful results. Reiki is a holistic therapy, and its goal is promote balance and harmony in the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Reiki is an incredible powerful healing energy. I have healed successfully some Covid-19 cases from my home. No side effects. Fast and Real Results. In addition, if there is no change, you pay nothing. Lots to win and literally nothing to lose. If you have any question, or you are passing through difficult health situations, I can help you, leave me a message. If you think this meditation can help someone, please share it. Thank you for being here. I send you all the love you can receive. May the force be with you.
It's snogs behind the bike shed and big St Trinian's energy this week as Big Brother sends our housemates back to school. A silent protest goes awry, Shel's graduation party turns jammy, and we stan Becki Seddiki.
IT'S SCORPIO SEASON. Let's talk about dildos and boarding school. Yes I sound a little groggy during the intro and tarot section I have tonsillitis :) Follow the pod on instagram. Recommendations: Kay Wilson Illustration A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll Godemiche (Use COLOURFUL for 30% off) STRAIGHT GIRL The Lovely Omens Tarot Deck The Marigold Deck Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow Fellas, is it gay to read? (Podcast) You Only Love Once (Podcast) Trigger and content warnings: Main segment (3-31 mins) TW & CW: Concussion, classism, transphobia, queer baiting, sexualisation of schoolgirls in St Trinian's, slut shaming, dildos, fisting, depression, bullying, homophobia, internalised homophobia, being closeted, predatory gay trope, gay shame, crushes, use of the word dyke, biphobia, bi stereotypes, cancer, misgendering, mental illness. Wild Child segment (31-42 mins) TW & CW: Emma Roberts being a domestic abuser (no details) Agenda segment (42-1.10 mins) TW & CW: Sex, sexting, strap ons, dildos, using a sex toy with a partner, new sexual experiences, communicating about sex with a partner, consent, orgasms, coronavirus, queer sex, gendered terms in a sexual context, dirty talk, asking for what you want in bed, not being able to orgasm, mention of how trauma informs sex (no details here), porn, sex education, homophobia/queerphobia, sexual dysfunction, vaginismus, the orgasm gap, cissexism, dysphoria during sex, asexuality, kink and BDSM. TW St Trinian's: classism, racism, transphobia, homophobia, underage drinking and drugs, dead dog, sexualisation of school girls, a man fancying a teenager, drugging someone, misogyny and sexism. TW Wild Child: slut shaming, anti sex work, fire, smoking, underage drinking, having a dead parent. References St Trinians Wild Child Tabloid Art History (zine) Feel Good The L Word You're Wrong About Podcast How Cum podcast Sex Education Autostraddle Lesbian Sex 101 Dipsea (audio porn) Fucked (zine) What is “lesbian sex” anyway? Music: PremiumWave
St Trinian's director Barnaby Thompson and his screenwriter son Preston talk to FLW about working on their new film Pixie with Olivia Cooke, Ben Hardy and Alec Baldwin, and the one injustice of his youth that Preston can't get over... at the hands of his father!
Richard Coles and Nikki Bedi are joined by Rupert Everett, star of stage and screen with titles such as My Best Friend’s Wedding, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of being Earnest, Shakespeare in Love, St Trinian’s, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and his directorial debut which he also wrote and starred in: The Happy Prince. We also have Charlotte Mensah, the UK’s authority on natural Afro, mixed and curly textured hair. Her journey took her between Ghana and the UK, overcoming some major hurdles, leaving school at 16, finding a community and security in hair dressing to owning her own salon, hair range and a charity to help others. Jasvir Kaur Rababan MBE is a Sikh music therapist and one of the only female rabab players in the world. She talks about her journey from tone-deaf teenager to professional musician, and how picking up her instrument for the first time felt like coming home. And JJ Chalmers joins us. A former Royal Marines commando, Invictus Games medallist, TV presenter, media personality and public speaker, after being severely injured from a bomb blast whilst serving as a Royal Marine in Afghanistan JJ suffered life-changing injuries that led him to a long road of recovery. He’s now swapping his microphone for the glitter ball on Strictly. Writer Bernard Cornwell chooses his Inheritance Tracks: Down to the River to Pray performed by Alison Krauss and Pie Jesu from Fauré’s Requiem performed by Voces8, and we have your Thank you. Producer: Corinna Jones
Devon describes the fun shenanigans of the all girls school St Trinian’s. Devon is talking about the two movies St Trinian’s and The Legend of Fritton's Gold from the 2000’s.
Merry Christmas! Jaffa Cakes for Santa returns with a two-part special as we enjoy Christmas Day 1984 on BBC1.
Donald Macleod journeys through some of the contrasting sides of Sir Malcolm Arnold and his music Sir Malcolm Arnold was a prolific composer, writing music in many different genres ranging from nine symphonies and over twenty concertos, to chamber music, music for brass bands and nearly one hundred and twenty film scores. These many works for film include classics such as Hobson’s Choice, Whistle Down the Wind, the St Trinian’s films, and The Bridge on the River Kwai for which he won an Oscar. He composed works for some of the very top performers in the music industry including Julian Bream, Julian Lloyd Webber, Larry Adler, Frederic Thurston, Benny Goodman, and collaborated with the likes of Deep Purple and Gerard Hoffnung. His music crossed social boundaries and gave pleasure to so many, and yet his personal life was marred by alcoholism, depression and periods of hospitalization. He’s been described as a larger than life character, outrageous, Falstaffian, Bohemian, and some of the stories which circulated about Arnold have become the stuff of legend. Across the episode Donald Macleod traces Sir Malcolm Arnold’s life through exploring five different influences upon the composer’s music, from his love of Cornwall and Ireland, to his own mental and emotional wellbeing. Music featured: The Belles of St Trinian’s (Prelude) Symphony No 2, Op 40 (Lento) String Quartet No 1, Op 23 Clarinet Sonatina, Op 29 English Dances Set 1, Op 27 Three Shanties, Op 4 (Allegro vivace) Four Cornish Dances, Op 91 Fantasy for Guitar, Op 107 Symphony No 8, Op 124 (Allegro) Philharmonic Concerto, Op 120 Suite Bourgeoise for flute, oboe and piano (Tango) Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, Op 47 A Grand Grand Overture, Op 57 Symphony No 4, Op 71 (Allegro) Concerto for Two Pianos (3 Hands), Op 104 The Padstow Lifeboat, Op 94 Divertimento for flute, oboe and clarinet, Op 37 Little Suite No 1, Op 53 Fantasy for Brass Band, Op 114 Concerto for Two Violins, Op 77 Hobson’s Choice (Overture) The Sound Barrier Five Blake Songs, Op 66 Symphony No 5, Op 74 Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Wales For full tracklistings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Malcolm Arnold https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b8hm And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z
Welcome back to Looks and Books, and to episode twelve of our 'Reading is Fundamental' book club! This week, we're discussing a modern classic of dystopian fiction: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Look, we'll address the elephant in the room - the link between this and last week's St Trinian's episode is tenuous to say the least. But as Cat points out, they're both about fictional, unconventional British boarding schools, so make of that what you will. NB: our next 'Reading is Fundamental' Book Club read is Christmas Days by Jeanette Winterson, which we'll be discussing in two weeks' time. Buy it here: https://bit.ly/2SuhHav Looking for an affordable and efficient way to buy the books on your TBR list whilst still shopping independently? Why not try our lovely friends over at Wordery: wordery.com/ Find us on Twitter: @looksandbooksco Cat's Twitter/Instagram: @catandtheodore Olly's Twitter: @ollypenderghast | Olly's IG: oliverwearing Want to get in contact? Email us: hello@looksandbooks.co.uk Cover artwork by the ridiculously talented @laurelmaeart on Instagram.
Scarlett is joined by Gemma Arterton talking about all things f-word – from her role on the feminist masterpiece that is St Trinian’s to her stint as a Bond girl and everything in between. Buy the book here: https://amzn.to/2CVYBYe | https://apple.co/2OOgjhC Come see us live: https://www.feministsdontwear.pink/tour/
We delve into the world of film and find the forgotten gems or otherwise unappreciated masterpieces of film and talk about them. This episode we discuss one of the best films of all time "St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold" (2009) which stars Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, David Tennant, Toby Jones, Juno Temple and Gemma Arterton? In this commentary, we talk about the interesting questions that are brought from watching this brilliant film and we hope that we answer some of those questions. This episode features Ryan Sliwinski, Bartek Kasprzyszak & Lauren Thuys! PRESS PLAY AT 4:56!
Elizabeth Harris visits Michael Salmon's studio in Kooyong, Melbourne, and learns from the children's author, illustrator, and entertainer of school children, what 50 years in the arts has taught him about - Learning to trust your instincts about what early readers find funny. The importance of branching out and diversifying if you want to thrive as an author and illustrator in the long term. How your personality and people skills (or lack thereof) can influence your success in the arts. The pleasure of giving back to the community when you've attained a measure of professional success. How did a beloved children's book make it to the centre page of a newspaper, and its main character become 600 kilos of bronze outside a public library in the nation's capital? What's the connection between Michael, Healthy Harold (the Life Education giraffe that visits schools), and the Alannah and Madeline Foundation? Follow Michael as he travels around Australia visiting Indigenous schools and schools with students of diverse ethnicities, backgrounds, and levels of English fluency. Find out more about Michael Salmon's work at MichaelSalmon.com.au. Notes:Robyn Payne is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and audio engineer of 25 years’ experience in the album, film, TV and advertising industries. She composed the music for the theme song 'Victoria Dances', which is featured in host Elizabeth Harris' children's book, Chantelle's Wish, available for sale on Elizabeth's website at ElizabethHarris.net.au. The lyrics for 'Victoria Dances' were written by Elizabeth Harris. FULL TRANSCRIPT Elizabeth: Welcome to Writers’ Tête-à-Tête with Elizabeth Harris, the global show that connects authors, songwriters and poets with their global audience. So I can continue to bring you high-calibre guests, I invite you to go to iTunes, click Subscribe, leave a review, and share this podcast with your friends. Today I’m delighted to introduce the highly creative and entertaining children’s author and illustrator, Michael Salmon. Michael Salmon has been involved in graphics, children’s literature, TV and theatre since 1967. He started his career with surfing cartoons, and exhibitions of his psychedelic art, and then joined the famous marionette troupe – The Tintookies – as a trainee set designer stage manager in 1968 (the Elizabethan Theatre Trust, Sydney). Since then his work has been solely for young people, both here in Australia and overseas. His many credits include his Alexander Bunyip Show (ABC TV 1978-1988), pantomimes, fabric and merchandise design, toy and board game invention, writing and illustrating of 176 picture story books – which Michael I’m absolutely flabbergasted and astonished and in wonderment at, and everybody’s laughing at that, or maybe he’s laughing at me, I don’t know. (Laughter) I’ll say it again – 176 picture story books for young readers. Several million copies of his titles have been sold worldwide. Michael has been visiting Australian primary schools for over 40 years. His hour-long sessions are interesting, fun, humorous and entertaining, with the focus on students developing their own creativity, which is just fantastic. Suitable for all years, many of these school visits can be seen on Michael’s website, which I will ask you to repeat later. Michael: Okay. Elizabeth: Several trips have been up to the Gulf of Carpentaria Savannah Schools and to the remote Aboriginal community Schools on Cape York Peninsula, as a guest of EDU. EDU – what is that? Michael: Education Department, Queensland. Elizabeth: The Australian Government honoured his work in 2004 by printing a 32nd Centenary, special edition of his first book The Monster that ate Canberra – I like that - as a Commonwealth publication … for both residents and visitors to our Capital. Every Federal Politician received a copy. Michael: Even if they didn’t want it, they got one. (Laughter) Elizabeth: Michael was also the designer of ‘Buddy Bear’ for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation (Port Arthur 1996). The Foundation financially supports Children/Families who are victims of violence/violent crime; they are currently running an anti-bullying campaign in Australian Schools. In 2010 the ACT Government further recognized his work by commissioning a bronze statue of his first book character ‘Alexander Bunyip’. Unveiled in April 2011, it stands next to the new – and I’ll get you to say this, Michael … Michael: GUN-GAH-LIN. Elizabeth: Gungahlin Library in our Federal Capital. Thank you for saying that. Michael has presented ‘Bunyip-themed history sessions’ for audiences of School Children at the National Library of Australia since 2011. School touring and book titles continue, which I’m blown away by, because you’ve written and illustrated 176 books! Michael: Some of those were activity books, to be fair, but they were necessitated – writing, the requirements of children, and illustrations, so they were all lumped in together, basically. Elizabeth: So Michael Salmon, welcome to Writers’ Tête-à-Tête with Elizabeth Harris. Michael: Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure, and thank you for visiting my studio here in downtown Kooyong, Melbourne. Elizabeth: We are delighted to be here – Serena Low and I, everybody – Serena being my wonderful tech support. Michael, we have been Facebook friends for some time now, which is a wonderful way to keep in contact with people. But do you think social media has affected children adversely, and stopped them from reading and enjoying children’s literature? Michael: Do you know, in order to answer some of the questions you asked, I probably pondered this one the most. It’s strange times. I’m 67 years old now. If I go back to when I was a teenager … Elizabeth: Looking very dapper, I may say. Michael: Yes, thank you, thank you. (Laughter) It’s amazing what no exercise will do. (Laughter) Things have changed so much. If you go back to the fifties and sixties – which both you ladies will have to look at the old films and see reruns of Gidget and all that kind of stuff – however, the main communication of young people several, several decades ago, socially, would have been the telephone. Invariably, houses only had one line that mums and dads would need. But the girls mostly – and perhaps the boys too – would be on the line talking to their friends and all this kind of stuff. And that was the only direction of communication. Perhaps letters and whatever, but certainly the telephone was the main thing. Now how things have changed these days. Having 12 grandchildren ranging from – what are they now, 2 to 24 – I’ve seen a whole gamut, and I see daily just how much social media – the iPads, tablets and things – are taking up their time and the manners in which they take up their time. Elizabeth: What a wonderful family to have! Michael: Well, it’s certainly a bit like a zoo (laughter) – I hope they don’t mind me saying that – and I’m the head monkey, but that’s about it. That’s true. But if you think of a child – and one of the main loves in life is visiting schools, and over the many years in Australia I’ve visited many, many schools – and just see what the teachers are up against these days. And often the teachers are – it’s well-known – surrogate parents on many occasions. Often it’s left to teachers, whether it be librarians or very kind teachers … Elizabeth: Challenging job. Michael: … To instill in the children a love of literature and how important reading is. But I think of going back to my youth and my toy soldier collection and making and making balsa wood castles and Ormond keeps and whatever it may be, playing in my room with this fantasy world I had grown up in. Elizabeth: What an imagination! Michael: Well, my father read to me – when it first came out, back in the fifties, and I was quite young, but – The Hobbit, C.S. Lewis and the Narnian … – beautiful. I was brought up in those kind of – and he also read most of Dickens to me, as well as Kipling. Quite incredible stuff. So my father was a major player in my love of literature. And I’m not sure that it happens hugely these days, but I grew up in a world of imagination. And it wasn’t any great surprise to my parents that I entered the world I’m in, which is the fantasy world of children, because I never got out of it, basically. 67 years we’re looking at at the moment. I would say mental age is about 8 or 9. (Laughter) Elizabeth: But you make very good coffee for a 9-year-old, Michael. Michael: But it did eventuate that sitting in my studio in the early hours of the morning, if I start laughing at a concept or whatever, I know full well through the passage of time that preppies or Grade Ones or Twos or kinders will start laughing at it too. So you get to trust your judgement after a while in the arts. You get to know where your strengths are. But going back to your original question, I have a couple of grandchildren who are absolute whizzes on their tablets. They’ve gone through the Minecraft thing; they’ve gone this, they’ve gone that. Almost an obsessive kind of stuff there. Elizabeth: It’s an addiction, I think. Michael: Sometimes, you must take time away from the use of imagination. Because let’s face it, in using our imagination, our creativity – and creativity can be cooking a magnificent meal, it can be keeping a well-balanced house. There’s all kinds of creativity, or it could be the artist creativity, but that’s such an important thing, of finding who we are. Elizabeth: Yes. Michael: And to have children taken away to a certain extent Magic Land which is absolutely fine until they become obsessive or addictive, as some of these things are, there’s a great danger that children are – shall we say – not able to evaluate or to progress their natural talents etcetera coming through, especially in the arts. Elizabeth: I totally agree with you. Michael, you’ve written and illustrated so many books. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, 176. How do you decide what to write about? Michael: Well, it’s probably – I’ve always written from a cover idea. There’s a book of mine going way back. It’s one of my old favourites, a very simple one, which is called The Pirate Who Wouldn’t Wash. And when I talk to children and they say where do you get your ideas from, I say sometimes you get two ideas that are unrelated and you put them together, and because hopefully my books are rather funny and I was brought up in the fifties on things like The Fabulous Goon Show, Peter Sellers, and Spike Milligan. I loved Monty Python which was a direct sort of baby from The Goon Show. So my love of comedy has always been UK-based. And so that strange juxtaposition of whatever, so I thought, okay, a pirate, and perhaps a person who doesn’t like to wash. And you put them together and you have the pirate who wouldn’t wash. And then you simply – it’s easy if you have a vivid imagination – you list a whole lot of encounters or what could happen to a pirate who wouldn’t wash. Elizabeth: Could we talk about that? I’d love to talk about that. Michael: A monster, and then someone who doesn’t like vegetables. Which was one of my stepsons, William, and he was ‘Grunt the Monster’, which was one of my early characters. Refused to eat his vegetables. His teachers went to great lengths to find out how he could eat them, disguise them in milkshakes or whatever it may be. So it was William I was writing about, one of my younger stepsons at that stage. And at university when he went through Architectural course, he was called Grunt, because they knew full well the book was based on him. So it’s good sometimes to disguise – but nonetheless feature things you see around you. Elizabeth: How did he cope with it? Michael: He loved it, he loved it, he loved it. Elizabeth: He got attention? Michael: He got attention, all that kind of stuff, and he had one of his best mates who let everyone know that he was called ‘Grunt’ – that was sort of his name. But at some stage, I think he uses that – he lectures in Architecture around the country these days. He’s gone and done very well, dear William, and he will sometimes use that as a joke. Elizabeth: Yes. Icebreaker. Michael: Icebreaker, exactly. Elizabeth: Was there a pivotal person who influenced your career? And if so, can you tell us how they inspired you? Michael: Probably apart from the people I’ve mentioned previously, the Tolkiens and the Hobbits and the Lord of the Rings and the C.S. Lewises and that sort of thing, I’ve always loved the classic British thing like Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons. These are very famous books that everyone read at one stage. Back in those early fifties, my father was at Cambridge University so we were hoisted out of New Zealand; we went to live in the UK, and it was such a great time for a child to be in the UK. It’s still suffering war damage from Second World War, and London still roped off sections of it - the Doodlebugs, the flying bombs that the Germans sent over to hit London. So it was a rather strange place, but the television was brilliant. I was a Enid Blyton fan, a foundation member of the Secret Seven Club. Elizabeth: Were you really. Michael: Even though based in Cambridge, we looked forward to every month of the Enid Blyton magazines, so I grew up on The Faraway Tree and the Secret Seven and the Famous Five. I had my badges, I had all the merchandise. But also on the television in those days was a show we never got to hear in Australia – Muffin the Mule. There was also Sooty the Sweep, Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men. Andy Pandy was another one. Most of those were for kindies and little bubs. Basil Brush was a little bit later on. And British television was always superb, especially for children. Blue Peter and some of those famous shows was a little bit later on. I mention this because I had ten years of my own show on ABC which you’ll learn later on, and used puppets and things which I’d seen being used on British television. Elizabeth: Can you tell us about that show please? Michael: The show itself … When Alexander first became a character, it was a Michael 'Smartypants book', a little book I had published in 1972. This is The Monster That Ate Canberra. And this basically the genesis of the television show. I thought I would do a – I wasn’t a university student but it was like a smartypants university student publication, because the bunyip himself was not the Kangaroo – was in fact an oversized pink bunyip, more like a Chinese dragon. However, the monster was the public service, and so it was like a joke about the public service. Because back in those seventies and late sixties, large departments were being taken from Melbourne and Sydney and relocated in Canberra, Melbourne Commonwealth finance and other things, so Canberra was being flooded with the public service. And that was why Canberra was being set up, but anyway, as a youngster back in 1972 when I first wrote that book, I envisaged this large King Kong kind of character over Civic, which was the main principal shopping centre, the oldest shopping centre, going on Northbourne Avenue as you come in from Sydney. There’s this large monster devouring things, but this monster has a problem: he is short-sighted. Anyway, he saw the buildings – the famous, iconic buildings of Canberra as objects of food. So put them into – like the Academy of Science, a gigantic apple pie; the National Library, which was recently built, at that stage and still looks like a gigantic birthday cake; and I had the Carillon looking like a Paddle Pop or something like that, which are all to do with objects of food. And the bunyip devoured them. And the Prime Minister – the original Prime Minister back then was (William) “Billy” McMahon, and when he chucked, we had then changed to Gough Whitlam. So Prime Minsters changed within the reprints of this book. The best thing about this … way way back when Gough Whitlam became our Prime Minister, one of the first things he did was institute an office that had never been there before, called the Department of Women. It was there specially to consider and to aid passage of women in Australia into jobs and a whole range of things that had never been heard before in a male-dominated kind of world. Elizabeth: I’ve always been a fan of Gough, so I must say … (Laughter) Michael: Well, Gough appointed a single mum called Elizabeth Reid – Liz Reid – and she was a very famous lady and she really championed the cause of women, you know, equal rights, and these ridiculous things that should have been fixed a long time but hadn’t. So Liz Reid was pictured in the centre page of the Woman’s Weekly, soon after Gough – this was one of his first appointments, Liz Reid. And there was Liz with her little bub – so she was a brand new single mum. Elizabeth: Oh wow. Which in those days would have been scandalous, wouldn’t it. Michael: Oh yes, but Gough was famous for that. He already went out specially with the arts. Regardless of how he was considered as a Prime Minister, he was certainly a great patron of the arts, Gough Whitlam. Elizabeth: As I said, I’m a fan. Michael: In this picture, centre pages of Woman’s Weekly, double spread, was little bubba. And in little bubba’s hands, supported by his mother, was a copy of The Monster That Ate Canberra. Elizabeth: Wow! How did you feel? Michael: I thought, “Fantastic!” I got a call within a week from one of the biggest educational publishers in the world, called McGraw-Hill, asking “Can you tell us a little bit about this? And I was described as this is probably not how I would think, and I said “No, but thank you very much for calling.” So the most unusual thing sort of kicked up, and we were reprinting this book again and again for Canberra, because Canberra was laughing its head off. Elizabeth: Good on you Ms Reid – and baby. Michael: So we had a theatrical presentation, pantomimes based on it with the local Canberra youth theatre. ABC then serialized it on radio, and then came to me – this was about 1977 or so – saying, “Would you consider having Alexander Bunyip on television?” Elizabeth: Wow. Michael: And I said “Yes please, thank you very much.” And it was through a mate of mine, quite a well-known scriptwriter for Australian films called John Stevens, and also director of plays and whatever around Australia, and he was one of the directors of the young people’s programs in ABC, who were based at that stage in Sydney. Anyway, Alexander got on television through this rather, uh, strange path he led, entertaining the people of Canberra. Elizabeth: Can I ask you with that, and throughout your life, you have enjoyed such great success, and certainly rightly so. Have you found that there’s been what has been seen as insignificant moments, turn into huge, huge achievements for you? Michael: Well, (I) try to step away from cliché but sometimes it’s hard to, when I say you make your own luck. But the fact that that for example, one of my main – I love it – the statue of Alexander Bunyip, 600 kilograms of bronze outside the library. Elizabeth: In that place I can’t pronounce. Michael: Gungahlin, that’s right, Gungahlin. Elizabeth: I’ll practise it. Michael: I’ll tell you how that happened. Sometimes on Google if you’re an artistic person and you’re an author or illustrator, if you just put your name in and see what’s the latest thing, are there any new entries. Sometimes schools put in things in comments or whatever. Sometimes odd things about your life come up – business life, work life. And there was a situation that occurred, when Gungahlin Community Council had discussed whether – because John Stanhope, who was the chief minister of the ACT at that stage was putting up statues left right and centre, because he wanted a lot of edifices in Canberra to entertain people. Elizabeth: He was a visual. Michael: Yeah, visual person. And someone said, “Why don’t we have Alexander Bunyip?” and there was general laughter. But that was supported in the Council vote of Hansard, you know, the documented notes taken in that particular Council session, and I saw this online. And so I merely wrote to this person, sent them one of the more recent copies of The Monster That Ate Canberra, and said “That sounds great. Let me know if I can help.” Elizabeth: Absolutely! Michael: Gosh, one thing after another happened, and the head of the Council Alan Kirlin, with John Stanhope, got it organized, and within a year there was a brand new statue being launched by John Stanhope, one of the last things he did before he resigned. He’d done some magnificent work in Canberra. So new ministers were appointed etcetera, so John – the statue was launched, and I made a speech which was dedicated to my mum, who had died the year before. She was a Canberra girl, and I thought that would be nice to dedicate, at least mention her. I’m sure if she were around - in ethereal style - she wouldn’t miss out on that one, I can assure you. Elizabeth: I’m sure. Michael: But when the statue was dedicated – the statue stands there – Elizabeth: Can we go back, because I would like to talk about that speech about your mum. Can we talk about that? Michael: Yes. Well, my mother Judy, as I said who passed on in 2010 – the statue was put up in 2011 – was a very … went bush Port Douglas many years ago, before Christopher Skase was up there. (Laughter) So I used to go up there and visit her. A hurricane holiday house, which is simply a house in Port Douglas without any windows. It was up in the hills towards the Mosman River valley. Elizabeth: For those who don’t know Christoper Skase, can you please touch on him briefly. Michael: Christopher Skase was one of our major financial entrepreneurs who died over in a Spanish location owing millions of dollars to many people. He was like a younger brother of Alan Bond. That’s where Christopher Skase fitted in. I don’t think New York or Spain ever really sort of – Elizabeth: Recovered. Michael: Recovered from the Australian paparazzi to see whether Skase was in fact dying or whether he was in a wheelchair with breathing apparatus, wheeled out by his ever-loving wife Pixie, who is back safely in the country now. But that’s by the by. (Laughter) Michael: My mother was a fairly gregarious character. Elizabeth: Bit like yourself. Michael: (Laughter) Pushy. Elizabeth: No, no, no. Delightful, and entertaining. Michael: Judy was one of the younger daughters of her father, my grandfather, Canon W. Edwards – Bill Edwards. He was a young Anglican curate who’d been badly gassed on the fields of Flanders and the Somme in the First World War. Elizabeth: Oh dear. Michael: But he was an educationalist, as well as a very strong Anglican within the church. So he was sent on his return out to Grammar School looking after that in Cooma. When Canberra was designated as the place to have our new capital, the Anglican Church from Sydney said, “Please harness up one of the buggies, and take six of your seniors and go look at four different venues in Canberra that we are looking at to have a brand new school.” Elizabeth: Wow. Michael: And they chose the most beautiful place, in a road called Mugga Way just at the bottom of Red Hill, which is Canberra Boys’ Grammar. He was their founding Headmaster. Elizabeth: Was he! Michael: But the fact was that they settled on that because they pitched their tents under the gum trees. They woke up with the sound of intense kookaburra noise, and thought this was perfect for a grammar school, or any other school for that matter. Elizabeth: Oh, beautiful. Michael: They were all talking and whatever it was. Elizabeth: Bit like sounding the bell, you know. Michael: (Laughter) So going back to those days, that was the start of Canberra and my family going back there to the thirties of last century. However, back in those days in the Second World War, my father had graduated from school in New Zealand, and was sent across as one of those New Zealand young soldiers to become an officer at Duntroon, the training college. The Defence Academy they call it now, but good old Duntroon. So when he graduated, it was the end of World War Two, and he was sent up to war crimes trials in Japan, as one of his first things the Aus-New Zealand ANZAC forces when they went up there to look after things for a while. But my mother was quite a brilliant lady, and she would always be the one painting and decorating and doing all this kind of stuff. Always a dynamic kind of person. And apart from loving her very much as a mum, she instilled in me this gregarious, rather exhibitionist kind of thing. Elizabeth: (Laughter) Thank you Judy. It’s Judy, isn’t it. Thank you Judy. I know you’re here. Michael: So Judy was responsible for – in younger, thinner days, long hair, beads, not necessarily hippie stuff but just total exhibitionist kind of stuff. Elizabeth: Oh I’ve seen photographs of this man, everybody. My goodness, what a heartthrob. Michael: I looked like I could have been another guitarist in Led Zeppelin or something. Elizabeth: I’m actually just fanning myself with my paper. (Laughter) Michael: But anyway, it’s all a bit of fun. Elizabeth: Did you ever sing? Michael: No, no, no. I was actually a drummer at one of the schools I attended. Elizabeth: Were you? I like drummers. Michael: Yes, but not this kind of drummer. In the pipe bands at Scotch College, Sydney. I was a tenor drummer. Elizabeth: Okay. Michael: So they have the big, the double bass drum or whatever and the tenor drums and the drumsticks - I forget the name – like the Poi they have in New Zealand. And the tenor drums – you have to have coordination if you want to play the tenor drums as you march along in your dress: the Black Watch dress. Elizabeth: Isn’t learning music so important, which reflects in other areas? Michael: It is, it is. Elizabeth: Can we talk about that? Michael: Well, I think that – not being musical but having written lyrics in my pantomimes – and down at a very amateur level worked out what a bunyip would sing about, or go back to an early blues song or doo-wop kind of song when Alexander is stuck in a zoo in the pantomime. So I had great fun. So my musical experience – I was lucky to have some very clever people, including one gentleman who until a few years ago was one of the Heads of Tutors at Canberra School of Music called Jim Cotter. Now Jim Cotter and I – he wrote my first music for me, for the pantomimes I used to do way back in the early days. And then Peter Scriven – he was the head of the Tintookies Marionette Theatre, who were all under the auspices of the Elizabethan Theatre Trust in Sydney at Potts Point. And Peter had engaged him to do – I was doing some sets – it was the first show, our first children’s show at the Opera House – and I did the costumes for Tintookies. It was a revamp of what Peter Scriven had been doing back in the fifties. And Jim had some brand new music, and so my musical experience was purely admiring music and talented people who did that, realizing that it was not my forte. Elizabeth: Aren’t they clever. Michael: Nonetheless, by writing lyrics and giving some vague, vague “rock ‘n roll and I like it” -like, you know. Not exactly “Stairway to Heaven”, you know what I’m saying? Elizabeth: (Laughter) Who was your favourite band at that stage? Michael: Ahh, I grew up in the Sixties. I got myself a hearing aid the other day. You can hardly see it – one of these new things. But essentially, I’ve had to, because I spent a lot of my younger life surfing in the eastern beaches of Sydney. The promotion of bone growth over the ear – there’s some kind of term for it – and they had to cut away the bone if I were to hear properly. And I thought, I don’t want my ear cut, so I’ll just leave it as it is at 67. But also too, I do attribute some of those early groups to my lack of hearing these days, because I did study for my exams with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones. Pretty much one of my favourite groups of all time was a group that spread, with different members going to different other groups, were The Byrds in America. Dylan songs. “Mr Tambourine”. Elizabeth: Yes. Was it Eric – Eric somebody? Or did I get the wrong group. Michael: We’re talking about David Crosby, Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn who changed his name and became Roger, or was it the other way round. But they had the Dylan. They came out with “Mr. Tambourine Man”. Elizabeth: Yes, I know that song. Michael: Their next one was ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’. Then they went into more Dylan of, “All I Really Want to Do”. And these are hits of the Sixties. Elizabeth: You could sing a few bars. Michael: No I couldn’t. Not even Dylan-style. (Laughter) But I love those songs, mainly because - Elizabeth: They’re great. Michael: Jim McGuinn had a 12-string guitar, and it was this jingly-jangly feel to their songs that I loved dearly. But another group which I must tell you, because I met up with them in real life, which is one of my favourite groups, is The Seekers. Elizabeth: Oh! Miss Judith! Michael: Now Keith Potger is a good mate of mine. We go for gentlemen’s clubs like Savage Club; he’s a member of Savage, enjoy long lunches, and often with some other guests. Elizabeth: Athol Guy? Michael: Yes. And Judith Durham – where you’re sitting there – came and sat down there with her manager a few years ago. Elizabeth: My goodness! Michael: She’d seen a presentation – Elizabeth: She’s beautiful. Michael: Oh, magnificent. And her voice! Elizabeth: Angel. Michael: Judith had seen a production by Garry Ginivan, who is one of the principal Australian children’s entrepreneurs for theatrics, theatres. He’s just finished doing Hazel E.’s Hippopotamus on the Roof kind of stuff, and I’m not sure if he’s doing Leigh Hobbs’ Horrible Harriet. Now that’s going to the Opera House. I’m not sure if Garry Ginivan’s doing that for Leigh. He did for Graeme Base. He did My Grandma Lived in Gooligulch, and also brought packaged stuff like Noddy and Toyland, Enid Blyton and other stuff like The Faraway Tree. So anyway he was presenting Puff the Magic Dragon – and I’m just looking around the room to find a graphic of the poster, because I’d designed Puff the Magic Dragon. Elizabeth: Did you? Michael: And they used that for all the promotional material and stuff there, but it was the puppet that I designed. And Judith went along to see – it was at The Athenaum Theatre here in Melbourne, a few years ago now. Elizabeth: Lovely theatre. Michael: And she liked the whole idea of the dragon, and she rang me. And so here was this most beautiful angel on the other line … Anyway, she was round a couple of days with her management. She was at that time – this was before The Seekers got back together and did all that magnificent tours they did over the last five or six years, Andre Rieu included. Judith is a honky-tonk girl; she loves the music of spiritual and going across to honky-tonk, like Scott Joplin, the ragtime, and all this sort of stuff. Elizabeth: Oh, fun! Michael: And she had written several things that she wanted the sheet music to be illustrated to sell, as part of the Judith Durham empire. And she did the ‘Banana Rag’. So immediately I did the illustration for her. I didn’t take any payment. I said, “Look, Judith, might I be impertinent and ask you to come to one of my clubs and sing – come to dinner?” She was a very strict vegetarian and looked after herself incredibly well after a terrible accident where she had to look after her whole system and she’s done that magnificently. So there she was singing, and this was when The Seekers had just released one of their LP’s, called “Morning Town Ride to Christmas”, which was for children’s songs, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house of these senior gentlemen at the club I was talking about, one of these good old Melbourne clubs, when she sang “The Carnival’s Over”. Elizabeth: Oh yes. Michael: Absolutely superb, so that was more than enough payment for doing some artwork. But since then, I continued … and met the desperate Keith Potger. Elizabeth: Weren’t you lucky. Weren’t you lucky. Weren’t you lucky to have that gorgeous woman. Michael: I was lucky. I was lucky. But I had to tell you, Judith - they had an article on her website, and she’s on Facebook as well - had at that time recorded with The Lord Mayor’s Orchestra here in Melbourne. It was called “The Australian Cities Suite”, and she had written a song for every major city in Australia. And I remember she and I were trying to do a book together, a book based on a song that her husband – who passed on through, oh gosh, what was it – the wasting disease, muscular disease … Elizabeth: MS? Muscular Dystrophy? Michael: Muscular Dystrophy. I’m sure that must be it. He put in a song called “Billy the Bug and Sylvia Slug”, and so we put that into a book. And I took Judith along to see some of the heads of various publishing firms in Sydney as well as the head of ABC merchandising in their ivory tower down in Haymarket area. Beautiful beautiful premises they have there, ABC Studios. And so Judith was much heralded in both places when I took her as my guest to introduce this book to her. The book didn’t work unfortunately, but she did start singing in the car as we’d arrived early in the carpark of the ABC citadel in Haymarket. She started singing. And we were all sitting there. And she started singing songs again from The Seekers. Elizabeth: I don’t think I’m ever going to stand up again. Michael: So here we are in Kooyong, and there’s the beautiful strains of Judith Durham singing songs, and I thought, “It doesn’t get much better than this.” Elizabeth: Oh wow. Michael: I don’t think Deborah Harry could have done the same. Elizabeth: Do you think Judith Durham would speak with me on this podcast? Michael: Judith is a very accommodating person, and I’m sure that if you ask through her management, Graham her manager would – I’m sure - she would look at that favourably. Elizabeth: Would I have to wear a ball gown? I have a couple. To meet the Queen. Michael: Meet the Queen. (Laughter) But anyway, I suppose too, in my business – and Australia is not a huge place really, when it comes to who knows what and we talked before about the degrees of separation. Elizabeth: Absolutely. Michael: And so, a lot of my stuff has been … involved with, because of my work, a lot of singers and whatever via The Hat Books. I remember Russell Morris, not in this place but a previous place. Elizabeth: “The Real Thing”? Michael: “The Real Thing” Russell Morris. Brilliant, brilliant, and had the two LP’s as well. Elizabeth: And Molly, Molly is attached to that – he produced it, didn’t he. Michael: Yeah, but Russell Morris had this concept that he came up with his wife 30 years ago. It was about a toy that was pre-broken and you had to fix it. The whole idea of the toy was that you had to re-glue this broken toy. Elizabeth: Right. Michael: It was ceramic, and he was so keen on it, but I just didn’t think it was going to work. He was a man with an incredible imagination – Elizabeth: Russell Morris? Michael: Russell Morris. He had this toy concept, but it didn’t work, because I don’t think kids want to sit around re-gluing a toy that has been broken. I don’t know what he was on. Elizabeth: He was quite resourceful. Michael: Ah, he is. Look at the way Russell Morris has revived in recent times. And he’ll have to excuse me. I don’t remember, but I’ve certainly listened to his two LP’s – albums as we used to call them, back in the old days – that he did. All bluesy and whatever, and he’s still got a magnificent voice. Elizabeth: You know, there are so many Australians that are not – what should I say – recognized as they should be, I think. And such talent. Michael: Ah, yeah. Elizabeth: And do you think we need to go overseas, like in the old day. I was listening to a program last night, actually, and Brian Cadd was on it. Love Brian Cadd. Beautiful, beautiful music. And he said you know, back in the day you had to go to London. Michael: Yes, yes. Well, look at Easybeats and stuff like that. Elizabeth: Do you think people need to go? Michael: Brian Cadd and The (Bootleg) Family (Band), that’s what he calls his group, they are reappearing at – they are doing an Australian tour this month in February – I saw it on Facebook, actually. Elizabeth: You know, a friend of mine who’s a pastel artist, highly acclaimed – we were talking about this, and she said in this country, she’s just not recognized and she really needs … She’s working in a boutique! Michael: It is a problem. You know on Facebook, which is one of the loves of my life, you see a good deal of Australian up-and-coming authors and illustrators, and ones that you dearly wish would … And I do believe that you if you earn it, you deserve a place in the sun – your ten minutes, twelve minutes of fame, all that kind of stuff. And if you’re smart enough, after your time has been, you then start doing things which reinvent yourself. I’m not talking about Madonna-style, but I’m talking about coming up with new things, being aware of new trends and seeing whether you can adapt your talents. Elizabeth: Being a survivor. Michael: Being a survivor, absolutely. Because let’s face it, and I’m very grateful – for example, the schools around Australia – 45 years… Elizabeth: I’m sure they’re grateful to you too. Michael: I go into the schools and there are teachers there that say, “Look, the last time I saw you Michael, was when I was in Prep or Grade One, and I loved your books then and I still love them." I’m just so thankful. Elizabeth: How do you feel, other than gratitude? Michael: Well, this is one of those major things, of feedback you get. And some of them come up and say “I started drawing because of you drawing”. Elizabeth: You’re inspirational! Michael: There are just those things there that I … and also entertaining. Doing a bit of stand-up comedy, giving out very silly prizes like Barbie books to Grade Six boys for good behaviour. I know Preppies will never forget those things. Elizabeth: Can you talk us through – when you present to the school, how do you do that? Michael: This year I’ve got a ‘Michael Salmon’s Monster Show’ which is talking about more or less the same thing, but some different pictures to ones I’ve been doing before. Essentially what I realized right at the start is if I do some speed cartooning, right in the very first picture I draw there, and do it so quickly in a great show-off manner, you get the kids hooked. Elizabeth: It’s magic; it’s in front of us. Michael: Because the little ones, they say “Look what he did! Look how fast he drew!” And I always knew that that particular facet, if you did it correctly, the little Preppies in the front – because we do try to get mixed grades, with the Grade Sixes at the back – is that you would have their attention if you kept on. So I sort of talked about the way I invented characters and how it happened. Bobo my dog who is not here today – dear Bobo in the book I wrote called Bobo My Super Dog, where I sort of – he saves the world a bit. Elizabeth: Of course he would. (Laughter) Michael: Oh, I don’t know. Let’s just go back to the bit about Australia and the people who are trying to make it, and they are doing their very best and you see their brilliant talent. And it’s very evident on Facebook – it’s one of my major purveyors of talent – the ideas that people come up with and all that sort of stuff. I mean, you’ve got some brilliant people here in Australia. You look at Leigh Hobbs for a start. Now he belongs to the Savage Club as I do, so I catch up with him for lunch on occasions. And there he is with his two-year tenure in his position championing children’s books and children’s literature around Australia. His cartoons are very much like Ronald Searle, the famous British cartoonist, who did the original cartoons that accompanied the original published books and also the film versions of St Trinian’s movies, of schoolgirls and things like that – the naughty schoolgirls. And Ronald Searle was a brilliant, brilliant artist, and he had the kind of nuttiness in his cartooning that Leigh Hobbs had. You look at Leigh Hobbs’ stuff – they are very, very sparse, great placement of colour, they are done in a very slapdash manner. It all works together beautifully – from Horrible Harriet, to Old Tom and whatever. And if you’ve got other people – what’s that book by Aaron Blabey – something or other Pug? (Pig the Pug) I bought some books for my very young grandchildren for Christmas, and I thought, “I haven’t seen these books before.” And here he is winning awards and YABBA (Young Australians Best Book Awards) Awards and all this kind of stuff. And so much talent around. And it’s hard in Australia to make a living as an author, because the royalties and stuff, even if you are one of the top ones, may suffice for a while but aren’t continuing. Elizabeth: And yet Michael you’ve done that – for 50 years – haven’t you. Michael: Only because of schools. 45 years in schools and 50 years in the arts. But mainly because I branched out and did things like theatre – the television show. You saw when you first entered the merchandise for 'Alexander Bunyip'. Spotlight stores were behind me for fabrics for a decade, and they finished not a huge many years ago. And that had nothing to do with 'Alexander Bunyip'. But the fact of really, of diversifying. Elizabeth: Okay. Michael: And the books for me lay a platform. When Mum or Dad read a book at night to their children, and it happens to be one of yours, and it’s something they like, and they happen to be one of the lead buyers of Spotlight stores and they say “We must do something about this guy”, and they came round and sat where you’re sitting, and they said “We’d like to offer you a deal.” And I thought, “Oh thank you. That’s great!” Elizabeth: But can I interject? The vital part of that is certainly that there is talent and diversification, but it’s also the ability to connect with people - which you are very skilled at. And the warmth that you have … Michael: Well, thanks to my mother, because she was a people person. Yes, you’re quite right – it does help to be a people person if you’re an artistic person. Of course sometimes it doesn’t flow. Some of the best children’s authors are not people persons. So you can’t expect to do anything. I learned long ago of creating an impact on your audience – start and hold them if you can from then on, and then you can impart any message you want. And the only message I really impart to the children is about developing their creativity, for them to start working on the things they’re good at, or keep drawing or singing or whatever it may be. Elizabeth: I really want to segue into something from those comments about your work for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. That is so, so pivotal. Can we talk about that? Michael: Yes. Do you know, in general terms, it’s really good if you’ve had success, I’ve found, especially in the arts, to find venues and areas and avenues to give back to society. I hope that doesn’t sound too corny. Elizabeth: It sounds beautiful. Michael: Up here, I’ve got some – when I was one of the patrons of “Life Be In It” for the Victorian – Elizabeth: Oh yes! Michael: And I designed – not the vans, those large pantechnicon vans that went around and advertised anti-drugs and – Elizabeth: It was Norm, wasn’t it. Norm. Michael: Norm was “Life Be In It”. This was the Life Education Centre, the one started up by Ted Knox at King’s Cross Chapel, but they went to a huge thing. Large pantechnicon trailers filled with the latest kind of things, and all round Australia, but particularly in Victoria – because that’s where my expertise was, helping them design big wheels to go on, painted by local mums and dads. And I also do it to do some fundraising. But Life Education had a Harold Giraffe as their logo, and it’s still going gangbusters. So these things would go to schools, and like the dental van they locked you in that, and they would see these incredible digital displays of bodies and drugs and anti-drugs, things like that. Magnificent, magnificent. That was one thing I was involved in. A good mate of mine, a school librarian called Marie Stanley, who’s since not a school teacher anymore – a school librarian – she rang up soon after 1996 when the horrific Port Arthur thing had occurred. She had been seconded – Walter Mikac, whose wife Nanette and two daughters Alannah and Madeline were shot dead – he knew he had to do something. So he went to see the Victorian Premier at that stage, Steve Bracks, and also saw John Howard. And between them he got funding to set up a St Kilda Road office and start the Alannah and Madeline Foundation which is purely there to help the victims of violent crime – the families, the children – provide them with some kind of accommodation or support or clothing, needs, or toiletries – a whole range of stuff there. So they seconded Marie Stanley from Williamstown North Primary School. Because I’d visited her school many times, she rang me up and said, “Look, Michael, I’m doing this, I’m on salary, but I need your help. Could you help me invent a character?” So I came on board with Alannah and Madeline (Foundation) on a purely voluntary basis, which is my pleasure, and we invented a character called Buddy Bear as a very safe little bear and a spokes figure, whereby – and there are behind me as we speak in this interview – there are Buddy Bear chocolates up there. And they did something like five million chocolates with my name and my design on it through Coles stores and Target stores … Elizabeth: You know Michael, next time we meet I need a camera. (Laughter) Michael: That’s just 'Buddy Bear' stuff. And 'Buddy Bear' has gone on strongly and it’s now part of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. But they got involved in a very important … the main focus of anti-bullying. And I was the person – I want to say one thing, because it’s true – I suggested that they should go – violence and all this stuff for families was terrible enough – but if they wanted to go to the bully, they really should get into the heart of the matter. And to me, I said to them once, “Look, please. I’ve seen what we’re doing. We’ve got Buddy Bear as the spokes figure for violence in the home. But we really should be hitting schools and things with something that centers around bullying and have an anti-bullying campaign. And you know, it is one of those things which is said at the right time and the right place. And now we’ve got Princess Mary of Denmark who is the international head of 'Buddy Bear' and they’ve got their own thing over there because of her Australian connection with Tasmania. We have the National Bank who are the sponsors of the 'Buddy Bear' program of the Alannah and Madeline (Foundation), so we have a fully-fledged charity. But the early days of inventing 'Buddy Bear', and a lot of people who gave their time and effort for no cost as I did, and pleasure to get the whole thing going. But it was all through initially Walter Mikac, thinking that with his deceased wife and two little girls, he had to do something. He was a pharmacist by trade and he was a smart man – he is a smart man – and he set the wheels in motion. And so it was a - ‘pleasure’ is not the right word. It was satisfying to be involved with a program that was ultimately going to help children feel better and safe and especially with this bullying thing, of being able to … Elizabeth: Personally, I love fundraising and I do a lot of it. And actually we have on the agenda this year a fundraiser for another children’s author: Pat Guest. His son Noah, and Noah has Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy, and the family need a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. Michael: Yes, yes, yes. Elizabeth: Pat’s a wonderful person. He’s published five books and counting, and has written one about Noah called That’s What Wings Are For. He has actually podcasted with me. So I’m going to put you on the spot now and ask you if you would like to create something – Michael: Absolutely! Let me know … Elizabeth: I haven’t even finished my sentence! Michael: No, no, no, the answer’s yes. The answer’s yes. Elizabeth: The generosity! Thank you. Michael: No, no, my pleasure. You talk about the – do you pronounce it ‘Duchenne’? There was a very famous fundraiser with that society up in Cairns several years ago, where various artists and musicians and illustrators were asked to provide – and they said a ukulele – so you had very famous artists and musicians and illustrators creating and painting their own version on this practical ukulele that was sent back to Cairns and auctioned off for charity and raised a whole lot of money. Elizabeth: You know Pat, I think, would love to meet you. And I know Noah – the whole family are just beautiful people. Michael: But I’ll have you know, only because of that connection where they contacted me saying “Would you like to …” and I had no knowledge whatever of the disease and the toll it took. Elizabeth: I’ve nursed a couple of boys with it. Michael: From my recollection, would it be quite correct to say it’s quite gender-specific? It hits boys more than girls? Elizabeth: Yes. The two children that I nursed were brothers, and they passed. So we want to focus on the positive side, and this Saturday, actually there’s a trivia night which is sold out – Michael: Oh good! Good, good. Elizabeth: And it’s Eighties music which is my thing – I love that – so hopefully I will win, everybody. Don’t bet on me, Michael, but if there was a ticket, I’d invite you. But we’re looking at later in the year and we have some great people. Dave O’Neil wants to do a spot – Michael: Oh yeah, good, good, good. Elizabeth: And he podcasted with me. And like yourself, pretty much before I got my sentence out, he said 'yes'. Robyn Payne whom I wrote my song with for my children’s book – she wants to write a song. So we’ve got many … and Robyn Payne was in Hey Hey, It’s Saturday for many years. She was in that band, and Robyn’s incredible – she plays eight instruments. Michael: Right, right, yes, yes. Elizabeth: She’s performed at the Grand Final; incredibly talented lady. I just ran into her the other night with Neil, her husband, and Steph who’s a good friend of mine and recently performed with her on stage as well, they’re looking at writing a song for Noah. So it’s taking off. Michael: One of the best fundraisers I’ve been to is a yearly event – still going – the Alannah and Madeline (Foundation) did. I don’t keep in contact with them directly; it was just a pleasure to work in, but what they did at the Palladium Ballroom – have 'Starry Starry Night'. Now 'Starry Starry Night' would have almost anyone who’s anyone in show business, on television and the media, would be there, from the jockeys at Melbourne Cup who would be singing Village People and whatever. Quite brilliant. And they had a huge host. We’re talking about – and I’m not exaggerating – 50 or so celebrities attended that. Black Night night and it really was a “starry starry night”. I haven’t attended for a long time, but I did my duty and it was a great pleasure to be there and part of it. But that was a brilliant fundraiser, and still continues as a fundraiser for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. Elizabeth: Oh, I’m so honoured that you said yes to me before I even finished my sentence. Thank you so much! Talking about stars, I’d like to go to my signature question, and then we’ll say adieu to you. Michael, this is a signature question I ask all my guests: what do you wish for, for the world, and most importantly for yourself? Michael: Well, as we’re sitting here in early February of 2017, because of all these incredible events that are going on every quarter of the day from the United States there, where the world order seems to be rapidly changing, and oddities occurring there and without going into it too heavily we all know what we’re talking about, I have a hope that the situation in America remedies itself, and that the situations change rapidly, and that America gets back, because as the biggest country in the world for what it is and known as, because we need the stability of America etcetera, so it’s a fairly direct sort of wish that America gets its act together again soon, and maintains something that we can trust in. Because America really is being that main country in the world. Elizabeth: Do you see a way – does that start one person at a time? Is that how things start to change? Michael: Gosh, as we’ve evidenced with the Women’s March and a whole range of stuff now that the immigration – oh dear – it just goes on, goes on. And without going into a full-scale discussion of that, my wish is that America gets back together quickly, and maintains and gets someone new in charge. I don’t know how that’s going to happen – impeachment or … but something has to happen, so that the world can feel stable again. And that’s not grandiose, but that’s probably affecting a lot of people in the world. As every new edict or special signatory thing is signed in the White House, the ripples it sends across for instability is quite amazing. We’ve never seen it before, unless you were there during Chamberlain days when Neville Chamberlain was talking to Hitler, and some of those – not grandiose or high-flying stuff, but it does affect especially Aussies who love America dearly, and America loves us. Elizabeth: But to me your books so beautifully reflect history. Michael: Some of them do, some of them do. It’s like a Facebook page – I really do love entertaining people and making them laugh. And that’s probably the last part of your question – I really would like every child in the mass audiences I encounter, we’re talking about 500 or so - I would like to think that every child had an opportunity – not because of anything to do with my talk that may be instrumental , it doesn’t really matter – the children of today can reach their potential, and the energy and the talents they have are recognized. Not squashed, quashed, forgotten, put to one side by society or families, issues, whatever it may be. Elizabeth: You know, that reminds me of a good friend of mine, Andrew Eggelton. So Andrew Eggelton is an interesting man – he’s a New Zealander actually; he’s a Kiwi – and he believes in the Art of Play. So his wish is that everybody gets to use their God-given talents. Michael: Ditto, ditto, absolutely. Because you do see the children out there. Just to give you an example: I spoke to close to 12,000 children during a tour that I organized myself – I do have some other agents organizing other states … Elizabeth: How do you look after your throat? Michael: Thank goodness I’ve always had a voice that can throw – a loud voice – I was captain of a rugby team in my machismo days. I was in New Zealand, and as a front row forward you don’t usually have a shy, retiring kind of personality. When you go out to tour, and on that tour we toured everything around the Riverina, we did places like West Wyalong, places you normally drive through as you are going up the back roads to Dubbo or some place like that. Then we went to Sydney, the western suburbs schools, and even this morning I had a phone call from one of the agents for a school near Loganlea. The school called and they want a couple of sessions. Most of their students are refugees with English ESL, so English Second Language. I would say English third or fourth language. Elizabeth: How many children at that school? Michael: Seven hundred. She said – the agent who rang me – and this is the first one in the tour that’s coming up late July for southeastern Queensland – “The reason no doubt that you’ve been invited to this particular school” which I know well, is because my act is highly visual. You don’t need a lot of language to understand it, because I draw all the cartoons. Or I’m caricaturing children, or getting them to caricature me. It’s almost like – ‘international language’ is not the right phrase – but it’s almost like a human comedy or whatever you call it. Elizabeth: It’s like smiling. Michael: It’s like smiling, and the more the merrier. So up there you’ve got the refugee children. You’ve got a lot of – and I really enjoy going to the Tongan or Samoan or Fijian or Maori schools or New Zealand, because I used to play rugby and I played with so many Islanders over the years and I’ve got some good mates there. And especially up there in southern parts of Brisbane, before you hit the Gold Coast, it’s always challenging, and I love to go up there, so it’s great to hear that. And the same thing applies to Indigenous schools up on the Gulf of Carpentaria, they call them, the Gulf Savannah schools up in Cape York, where you go to places like Weipa and stuff like that. And some of the notorious – notorious because of the troubles that have occurred – there’s a couple of places along the Peninsula there – they are trouble spots and have been for many years. Elizabeth: You know Michael, that just says so much about you, because so many people would not go within cooee of those places, and it reflects your beautiful generosity. So I want to thank you very much for guesting on Writers’ Tête-à-Tête with Elizabeth Harris. And I think we need a Part Two. It’s been an absolute delight and thank you so much. Michael: Thank you very much, and thank you Serena too. I babbled on a bit, but fifty years – fifty years of working in this country – there’s been a lot of water under the bridge. A lot of people, a lot of children, and I’m just very lucky. I consider myself very lucky to be in that position, to have that rapport with kids, and to just get on with them and entertain them and enjoy them. Elizabeth: I consider those children and us very, very lucky to have met you today. Thank you so much. Michael: Thank you guys. Thank you. [END OF TRANSCRIPT]
Matthew Sweet looks back on the film career of Malcolm Arnold, including excerpts from "Hobson's Choice", "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Hard Times" and "Roots of Heaven". Matthew's classic score of the week is from "The Belles of St Trinian's".
Resuming his celebration of mid-20th century British film, the columnist and historian Simon Heffer turns his gaze on five hugely popular comic actors. Alastair Sim is perhaps best remembered for a definitive interpretation of Scrooge, but Simon Heffer also recalls the run of classic comedies in which he perfected his role as a slightly ambivalent, often incompetent and occasionally threatening presence: The Happiest Days of Your Life, Laughter in Paradise, Captain Boycott and An Inspector Calls.He concludes by revealing the little-known story of how Sim came to play the main role - or, rather, roles - in a film which has become a landmark of British cinema - The Belles of St Trinian's. The inestimable Margaret Rutherford had been marked down to play the headmistress, Miss Fritton, but when Rutherford turned out to be unavailable, Alastair Sim offered to take on both his male part and the role of Miss Fritton, granting him the glorious lines: "In other schools, girls are sent out quite unprepared into a merciless world, but when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world that has to be prepared."Producer : Beaty Rubens.
As part of The Sound of Cinema season, Neil Brand introduces Malcolm Arnold’s score for The Belles of St Trinian's and explores why it is one of the most important in the history of film music.
Påsken er overstået, kommentarsporet er i kassen og nu er det tid til at snakke film igen! Dennis rejser sig ind i hobbitternes verden og David rejser ind i en sort hul (og det er ikke den nye Tyler Perry film). Vi skal på en hyggelig date og drikke os stangstiv med en gammel kæreste. Og så har vi begge set en overraskende god film!. Følgende titler omtales: 0:27:55 The Wraith 0:34:18 The Black Hole 0:45:21 Date Night Bluray 0:53:39 St Trinian's 2 Bluray 1:03:09 Rubber Bluray 1:11:44 Big Trouble in Little China 1:21:33 The Caller Bluray 1:28:50 Alex Cross 1:42:58 Age of the Hobbits Bluray 1:51:19 Sightseers 1:59:35 The Watch Bluray 2:09:22 Sexy Evil Genius
Lionel Jeffries directed The Railway Children and appeared in classic movies such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Blue Murder at St Trinian's, Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon. Find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Jeffries In my early days on the radio, this was one of the OBs that I was sent on by Classic Gold 828. The presenter Hilary Jeffs took content from minidisc to air. The edit is very rough and I was still very new at being on air.
The category winners of the Costa Book Awards 2011 are announced live on Front Row by the awards' director Bud McLintock. Literary editors Gaby Wood and Will Skidelsky give their response to the winners of the five categories - novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children's book. The winner in each category receives £5,000, and one of the five winning books will then selected as the Costa Book of the Year, announced on 24 January, receiving a further £30,000. Multi-award winning writer Tony Marchant discusses his new drama Public Enemies about the relationship between a convicted murderer recently released from prison, played by Daniel Mays, and his probation officer, played by Anna Friel, who is returning to work after being suspended after a shocking crime was committed by an offender under her supervision. Mark Lawson is joined by Ralph Steadman and Posy Simmonds in paying tribute to Ronald Searle, the British cartoonist best known for creating the fictional girls' school St Trinian's, who died today aged 91. This week Front Row talks to an artist, a playwright, and a film director who each face the challenge of following up on especially successful projects. First, ceramic artist Edmund de Waal talks about what comes after his memoir, The Hare With The Amber Eyes, which won several literary prizes last year, and was the biggest selling non fiction paperback . Producer Nicki Paxman.
Sue Lawley travels to Provence in the south of France to meet the illustrator and satirist Ronald Searle in his first recorded interview in more than 30 years. Ronald Searle is arguably Britain's foremost graphic satirist, though he has not lived in this country since 1961 and likes to comment that most people in Britain now think he's dead. He is best-known as the creator of St Trinian's, the horrible, suspender-wearing schoolgirls who devote more time to gambling, torture and arson than they do their lessons. Ronald Searle was born in 1920 in Cambridge and drew obsessively from an early age. At the age of just 15 he had his first cartoon published in the local paper, The Cambridge Daily News and his career blossomed in the mid-to-late 1930s. However, in 1939 he joined up and after two years of training he was posted to Singapore. He says that for a month they were 'running backwards' through the jungle before being captured by the Japanese and he spent the rest of the war as a P.O.W. They were traumatic years - he felt driven to draw as a way of recording what was happening around him - but his work led to him being singled out as a trouble-maker and as a result he was assigned to work on the infamous 'death railway' that the Japanese were building between Thailand and Burma. Ninety-five per cent of those working on it died but, despite coming close to death on several occasions, Ronald Searle survived.In 1961 he left Britain for a new life in France - one where he was not known as the creator of St Trinians - but where he could concentrate on his political, satirical drawings and reportage. Now aged 85, he still regularly produces cartoons and illustrations for The New Yorker and Le Monde. His work can currently been seen at the Imperial War Museum in London.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: The Champagne Song by Johann Strauss Book: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by Lawrence Goldman Luxury: Champagne (the best possible)
Sue Lawley travels to Provence in the south of France to meet the illustrator and satirist Ronald Searle in his first recorded interview in more than 30 years. Ronald Searle is arguably Britain's foremost graphic satirist, though he has not lived in this country since 1961 and likes to comment that most people in Britain now think he's dead. He is best-known as the creator of St Trinian's, the horrible, suspender-wearing schoolgirls who devote more time to gambling, torture and arson than they do their lessons. Ronald Searle was born in 1920 in Cambridge and drew obsessively from an early age. At the age of just 15 he had his first cartoon published in the local paper, The Cambridge Daily News and his career blossomed in the mid-to-late 1930s. However, in 1939 he joined up and after two years of training he was posted to Singapore. He says that for a month they were 'running backwards' through the jungle before being captured by the Japanese and he spent the rest of the war as a P.O.W. They were traumatic years - he felt driven to draw as a way of recording what was happening around him - but his work led to him being singled out as a trouble-maker and as a result he was assigned to work on the infamous 'death railway' that the Japanese were building between Thailand and Burma. Ninety-five per cent of those working on it died but, despite coming close to death on several occasions, Ronald Searle survived. In 1961 he left Britain for a new life in France - one where he was not known as the creator of St Trinians - but where he could concentrate on his political, satirical drawings and reportage. Now aged 85, he still regularly produces cartoons and illustrations for The New Yorker and Le Monde. His work can currently been seen at the Imperial War Museum in London. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Champagne Song by Johann Strauss Book: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography by Lawrence Goldman Luxury: Champagne (the best possible)
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