Podcasts about Widnes

This week, I'm joined by Warrington Wolves player Adam Holroyd to discuss the season up to now and his career path to the Wire. We look back on how Adam started off in rugby league, him moving to Widnes and then joining the Warrington Wolves academy. We also look back on him making his debut, how he found out and his goals now for the future. We discuss the big games coming up and how he hopes to be apart of something special at the Wire. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This week, duel code international and former Warrington player Jonathan Davies joins us to discuss his career and his time at the Wolves. We chat about his big move from union to league and how big a story it was at the time. I discuss with him about his time at Widnes and them becoming world champions while he was there. He tells us about how it came about for him to move from Widnes to local rivals Warrington and how close we were to becoming league champions in his first season there. We also chat about his wonderful Great Britian try against Australia and look forward to the upcoming ashes series. I ask some fan questions and I find out if Jonathan truly is a Wire. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This week, I'm joined by Widnes player Dec Patton and Warrington player Joe Philbin to discuss Warrington's challenge cup win over Widnes. Best friends Dec & Joe discuss playing against each other and how special it was for them but how there hoping to play in the same team again in the future. We also discuss the important moments during the game and the great atmosphere that was created by both sets of fans. I also find out if they did target each other and if they informed there teammates of any weaknesses they may have. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Me and former Warrington Wolves player Chris Riley look back on Warrington's lost against Wakefield. We discuss the problems with our defence, why have we given up so many points in the last 2 games. The team selection against Wakefield and the rumuors about Zane Musgrove going to Cas on loan. We talk about if Warrington can turn it around and how a good performance is badly needed against Widnes. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Carol, Jono and Craig are flying solo this week in the latest episode of your fave Stars podcast. The gang look back at the home win over Leeds Knights before previewing the upcoming games and Stars' trip to Widnes in particular.   There's last week's results & tables, some news & notes and the usual AOB topics round things off. Please like, subscribe, share, comment and review wherever you're getting your fix of Starcast - interaction helps the podcast grow.  Also let us know where you're listening and which team you support. Thanks for continuing to support the podcast wherever you watch or listen. Follow @billinghamstars on all social media channels for the very latest from the club. BILLINGHAM STARS TV:Fozzie post-game v Leeds: https://youtu.be/kSPzO3x84MMBen G man of the match: https://youtu.be/3HB_R1xM4a0 STARS ON SPOTIFY: Our channel for player playlists: https://open.spotify.com/user/31erl73d34nurp5peu75kuebireq?si=1542fd69b0f84aa1  Starcast is produced by @march74sports for Billingham Stars.

Assistant manager Louis Dodds looks back on his playing career and how he's finding the transition from player to coach. Also hear Richard Duffy's post-match reaction and the latest fan away day from Widnes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Christian Thornton was the landlord of the Hammer & Pincers pub, in Widnes in the north-west of England, and a very popular landlord he was too, who was very popular and worked closely with the many charities in the community. He didn't take any nonsense but he was a kind, good-humoured man who took his responsibilities as a landlord seriously. He had run the popular pub with his wife for 16 years and as well as their business, it was also the home of the couple and their three children. But on one quiet and very normal Sunday, events at the pub resulted in the most shocking murder.Find out more about the UK True Crime Podcast:https://uktruecrime.comSupport me at Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/UKTrueCrime Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jimmy Quinn made his mark in the Football League and on the international stage. The former Congleton Town player looks back on a career that saw him score over 200 goals in the Football League and earn 46 caps for Northern Ireland. Also hear Richard Duffy's post-match reaction after the 1-1 draw against Nantwich Town and a preview to the top of the table clash against Widnes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, former Widnes and Warrington player Steve McCurrie chats about his career. Steve tells us about how it all started for him signing for Widnes at a young age and playing in a Challenge Cup Final for them early on. We talk about his move to Rugby Union and how he came back to Rugby League by signing for Warrington. We talk about his time at the Wire and playing under coach Darryl van der Velde and the vision he had for Warrington. We hear how he came to leave Warrington and go back to Widnes and also why the Wilderspool got the nickname the Zoo. Steve talks about his couple of appearances at International level and what he thinks on the current state of the International game. We find out about Steve's new career as a driving instructor and why I wish I went with him when I was doing my lessons. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This week, Warrington Wolves number 9 Danny Walker join us to discuss his career up to now. We chat about the season just gone and the lost to Hull KR, as well discussing the rumours linking him with an NRL move. Danny tells us about how it all started for him, his time at Widnes before making the move to Warrington. We talk about those seasons under Steve Price and Daryl Powell as well as looking forward to the future with Sam Burgess. Danny speaks about the dream he has to be involved in that first Warrington squad to win the grand final and his hope in getting more international caps. We also find out that Danny isn't the best at booking flights and why he hated playing against a certain player. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

A Widnes lad that found rugby by accident but loved it straight away. Initially playing rugby league at school an invite to a union club turned Tom into an unbelievable number seven. He remained loyal to Widnes RUFC throughout his career whilst playing rugby league for Halton Farnworth Hornets now and then. He's a really great fella and a doting family man who has been through a lot and come out the other side. What a guy.

This week, I'm joined by former Warrington Wolves halfback and a man who played at both Wilderspool and the Halliwell Jones, Gary Hulse. We chat about how Gary started playing rugby league as a kid and making his debut for Warrington in 2001 against Castleford and why it then went so badly wrong in 2002. We talk about the last game at wilderspool and moving to the Halliwell Jones. The first season at the new stadium and his great try against Widnes. We speak about the sadness he felt in leaving Warrington and why the new RFL rules made a big difference in that happening. He talks about siging for Widnes and that tough season there and then moving to Swinton as well as playing for Wales. Gary chats about what he thinks about Warrington now and the state of the game now. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

We're joined by the director and GM of NIHL - Martin Peters and Haydn Hunter - to talk all things NIHL, the season so far, working with clubs to make the league successful and announcing the venue for playoff finals!The the gang return to scheduled programming with a look at the win over Widnes, ahead to Leeds away and go through results from across the weekend.Please like, subscribe, share, comment and review wherever you're getting your fix of Starcast - interaction helps the podcast grow.  Also let us know where you're listening and which team you support.Follow @billinghamstars on all social media channels for the very latest from the club.TRAINING TALKS: Lucas Dowdle https://youtu.be/QCQlOB1IKfIBILLINGHAM STARS TV SUNDAY:Stephen Foster: https://youtu.be/7eo3N10pDYYCallum Wilkinson: https://youtu.be/nO0yYemh0MUIain Brown: https://youtu.be/wiRpNXscwr4Starcast is produced by @march74sports for Billingham Stars.

Some story for a lady from Widnes, following Widnes Vikings but making it with St. Helens RFC. Never could she have imagined where her playing career would take her after her family going through the mill and being in a difficult relationship. An absolute credit to Sts, her family but more importantly herself.

A Widnes born and bred man could only be into one thing surely? That was rugby league and Widnes RLFC. He did dip in & out of rugby union with Widnes RUFC & Birchfield RUFC but he followed Widnes RL & then went on to report about them & also worked for them during the Neil Kelly regime. Their aren't many stories around like Andrews, believe me.

A story born & bred in Widnes that follows Widnes RLFC & Everton FC. Rugby become something he loved doing in high school and he never looked back. The Wids was now a home from home though he did venture into Rugby League sporadically. A fine family man who still puts the boots on when he can to help his club and mates out.

The gang are back to review the home opener v Blackburn and look ahead to the first league double header of the season coming up - Deeside at the Forum and Widnes on the road.Follow on all social media channels @billinghamstars

This week, I chat to former Warrington Wolves Player Kevin Penny about his career at Warrington and his time as a rugby league player. Kevin tells us about how he became a wolves player having never really played the game as a kid. Those first few seasons at the Wire, him being compared to a rugby league great such as Martin Offiah and being named in the Super League Dream Team. He talks about how he left Warrington and went to play for teams such as Widnes and Swinton. We discuss him moving back to Warrington in 2014 and missing out on the Challenge Cup Final lost against Hull in 2016, a game he says we would've won had he been playing. Kevin tells us about how retirement came about for him and how happy he is with his life now after rugby league. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

A Widnes lad that grew up playing rugby union & league and loves Widnes Vikings. Having tasted both codes Union is where he found his talents more privy to. He's travelled to the other side of the world and tried that culture but returned home and has settled in Leeds and at Yarnbury RFC. Some story with some chapters still to write and live

Tune into this weeks podcast as we look back at the victory against Leeds at the Salford Community Stadium which keeps the momentum going for a playoff spot. We talk Wheelchair rugby as Salford beat Widnes, Ladies are beaten at Oulton. We have all the big news including transfer deadline talk and how we can grow the crowds. Salford travel to St Helens, Bradford and Rochdale this week. we look forward to the games.

A Widnesian who played his junior rugby in both Warrington and Widnes and signed pro forms with Wire despite a few other options. Rubbing shoulders with greats of the game gave this man a rugby education like no other. A move to his hometown club came about and then played for Rochdale and Swindon. During the latter stages he prepared for the next chapter by working with tradesmen and picked their brains to hone his own skills.

Jeannette is joined by the marvelous Jonathan Davies OBE, the legendary rugby player, to discuss his upbringing, career, and leadership experiences. Jonathan reflects on his humble beginnings in a small Welsh village, the challenges he faced, and the importance of mentors in his life. He shares insights on leadership, teamwork, and motivation, drawing parallels between sports and business. KEY TAKEAWAYS Building strong relationships and understanding people is crucial in both sports and business. Preparation and communication are key elements for success in leadership roles. Motivating a team in challenging situations requires instilling self-belief and maintaining a positive attitude. Teamwork and a common purpose are essential for achieving goals and success. Balancing skill and attitude when selecting team members is important, with attitude often taking precedence. BEST MOMENTS "I think it's always been kind of there in Wales. You know, having moved then up and realising it's very similar to North West and South Wales." "The bloke's attitude has got to be inclusive. He's with us or he's not. If he's not with us, that's going to be an issue for me." "In your business, I'd rather have a hole than a narsel." "I think the simpler it is, the more people understand it, then the easier the goal."   This is the perfect time to get focused on what YOU want to really achieve in your business, career, and life. It's never too late to be BRAVE and BOLD and unlock your inner BRILLIANT. Visit our new website https://brave-bold-brilliant.com/ - there you'll find a library of FREE resources and downloadable guides and e-books to help you along your journey. If you'd like to jump on a free mentoring session just DM Jeannette at info@brave-bold-brilliant.com. VALUABLE RESOURCES Brave Bold Brilliant - https://brave-bold-brilliant.com/ Brave, Bold, Brilliant podcast series - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brave-bold-brilliant-podcast/id1524278970    ABOUT THE GUEST Jonathan Davies is one of world rugby's best known personalities. For Neath, Llanelli and Wales, he was in the great tradition of Welsh outside halves, the dynamic embodiment of flair, guile and vision. As a rugby league player he scaled the heights of the game with Widnes, Warrington, Canterbury Bulldogs, North Queensland Cowboys, Wales and Great Britain. Since retiring, he has been in great demand as a broadcaster, hosting shows on BBC1 and S4C, and providing quick-witted insight as a summarizer and pundit on international match days. In 2015 he was awarded an OBE for his charitable work in support of Velindre Cancer Centre ABOUT THE HOST Jeannette Linfoot is a highly regarded senior executive, property investor, board advisor, and business mentor with over 30 years of global professional business experience across the travel, leisure, hospitality, and property sectors. Having bought, ran, and sold businesses all over the world, Jeannette now has a portfolio of her own businesses and also advises and mentors other business leaders to drive forward their strategies as well as their own personal development. Jeannette is a down-to-earth leader, a passionate champion for diversity & inclusion, and a huge advocate of nurturing talent so every person can unleash their full potential and live their dreams. CONTACT THE HOST Jeannette's linktree - https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot https://www.jeannettelinfootassociates.com/ YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/@braveboldbrilliant LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeannettelinfoot Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jeannette.linfoot/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jeannette.linfoot/ Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@jeannette.linfoot Podcast Description Jeannette Linfoot talks to incredible people about their experiences of being Brave, Bold & Brilliant, which have allowed them to unleash their full potential in business, their careers, and life in general. From the boardroom tables of ‘big' international businesses to the dining room tables of entrepreneurial start-ups, how to overcome challenges, embrace opportunities and take risks, whilst staying ‘true' to yourself is the order of the day.Travel, Bold, Brilliant, business, growth, scale, marketing, investment, investing, entrepreneurship, coach, consultant, mindset, six figures, seven figures, travel, industry, ROI, B2B, inspirational: https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot

This week, Chris Riley and I look ahead to round 17 of the Super League and look back on round 16 results. We also discuss the news of Wigan vs Warrington being played in vegas next year and discuss the investigation into the Widnes vs Swinton match in the Championship. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

From the heart of Ditton in Widnes came this evertonian mad sportsman. His first love was football but rugby was soon to take over. A grafter on the field has his dreams and ambitions to work for and didn't he do just that. An unorthodox story told by the gentleman himself. Some career this fine young man had.

Lee & Jamie chat about the 18-20 win vs Widnes Vikings on Father's Day

August 24, 1991. Widnes, England. After receiving a phone call from an unknown person, 42-year old Vera Anderson asks a neighbour to watch over her son while she steps out, but even though Vera says she will only be gone for ten minutes, she never returns. Hours later, Vera's body is discovered inside her parked […]

August 24, 1991. Widnes, England. After receiving a phone call from an unknown person, 42-year old Vera Anderson asks a neighbour to watch over her son while she steps out, but even though Vera says she will only be gone for ten minutes, she never returns. Hours later, Vera's body is discovered inside her parked car at the Old Tannery Complex in Penketh over four miles away and she has been strangled and had her throat slashed. Since witnesses recall seeing Vera at a pub with a man that night, investigators look into the possibility that he might be her killer, but this man is never identified. In 2022, an unnamed man and woman are arrested on suspicion of Vera's murder, but released without charge without any further details being released to the public. On this week's episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel back to the United Kingdom to explore the unsolved murder of Vera Anderson, a truly perplexing cold case in which the motive for the crime remains unknown. Additional Reading: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/vera-anderson-unsolved-murder-warrington-28645677 https://www.runcornandwidnesworld.co.uk/news/24027454.cheshire-police-latest-vera-anderson-murder-investigation/ https://www.runcornandwidnesworld.co.uk/news/23741849.vera-anderson-murder-probe-latest-32nd-anniversary-death/ https://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/2024/02/27/detectives-release-new-cctv-image-in-investigation-into-the-murder-of-vera-anderson-32-years-ago/ https://www.chesterstandard.co.uk/news/24147608.police-launch-cctv-appeal-32-years-murder-vera-anderson/ https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/suspect-still-under-investigation-18-27637063 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-60848263 https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/suspects-vera-anderson-murder-case-23498674 https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/thirty-one-years-ago-today-24854452 “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon” in Nashville on May 31-June 2, 2024 and “Crimecon UK” in London on September 21-22, 2024. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD24”, by visiting Crimecon.com or Crimecon.co.uk. “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Denver Marriott Westminster in Colorado on July 12-14, 2024. To get a 15 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Lisa talks in her live "drive time programme  in the FLAME studio to Vernon Fuller who is a singer, songwriter and musician. He is also a worship leader in his church in Widnes. In addition to his recorded music, Vernon also sings live some new songs.  This programme was broadcast on Flame CCR.. 

Although Goodison Park: My Home is a series mostly dedicated to Everton players, we make a change of gear for part 4 as Chris Beesley speaks to Blues super fan Dr David France. Growing up in humble surroundings in Widnes and coming from a family of Evertonians stretching back five generations, the 75-year-old affectionately known as 'Dr Everton' is a retired oil and gas industry executive who sold his 10,000-item collection of Everton memorabilia to the club at a heavily discounted price so it could be kept for posterity while also founding the Everton Former Players' Foundation to raise money for the physical and pastoral care of ex-professionals who have represented the club. He was also the founder and driving force behind the Gwladys Street Hall of Fame, the EFC Heritage Society, Everton War Memorials and has authored 19 books about Everton with proceeds donated to Merseyside charities. Making transatlantic trips to watch his beloved Blues play having moved to the USA several decades ago, David has watched many of Everton's greatest players over the years while also befriending lots of them through his projects. Everton FC podcasts from the Liverpool ECHO's Royal Blue YouTube channel. Get exclusive Everton FC content - including podcasts, live shows and videos - everyday.  Subscribe to the Royal Blue Everton FC YouTube Channel and watch daily live shows HERE: https://bit.ly/3aNfYav Listen and subscribe to the Royal Blue Podcast for all your latest Everton FC content via Apple and Spotify: APPLE: https://bit.ly/3HbiY1E SPOTIFY: https://bit.ly/47xwdnY Visit the Liverpool ECHO website: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/all-about/everton-fc Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LivEchoEFC Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@royal.blue.everto Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolEchoEFC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamie chats with Jon who highlights his 3 games with Wakefield 24 Widnes 22, St Helens 10 Wakefield 16 and Hull 18 Wakefield 28!

Cecilie Widnes er generalsekretær i IOGT, en Norsk frivillig rusforebyggende organisasjon, og er utdannet sosiolog. Widnes jobber aktiv med rusforebyggende arbeid.

As part of his look back at the last full Kangaroos tour of the UK and France in 1994 Andrew Moore has been catching up with the key figures involved. He spoke with the Great Great Britain star Martin Offiah about his remarkable career - how he was plucked from a Rugby 7s match by Widnes, had never seen Rugby League before his debut and yet went on to score over 500 tries and end up with a statue outside Wembley Stadium. He talks over his time in Australia with the Roosters and Dragons, why he loved being called a freak by Darrell Eastlake and about his experiences taking on the Kangaroos.

Carl Howarth is very much a part of the Everton Senior Men's set-up at Finch Farm. He's a physiotherapist and his story is a fascinating one. Howarth is the latest podcast guest on our Bred a Blue series, having started his professional career at Everton before being released without playing a senior game. As a team-mate of Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert, Francis Jeffers and Kevin McLeod he was part of the squads that reached consecutive FA Youth Cup finals in 1998 and 1999. He recalls being on the pitch when Hibbert actually scored a goal! However, competition for striking berths, even in the reserves, was fierce and Howarth was up against Phil Jevons, Danny Cadamarteri, Nick Chadick and Jeffers. “There were no agents for us then so I would see Colin Harvey every week,” he says. “I'd had a two-year YTS and a one-year pro deal and I was playing in the reserves and it got to the end of April and I was told they still hadn't decided on my future. “We played Newcastle at Widnes and all their back-four had played in the first team, but I scored and we drew 1-1. After the game Taff (Andy Holden) told me that Walter Smith wanted to see me the next day. I was buzzing because I thought I was getting a new contract, but Walter told me they didn't think I was good enough and that I was being released.” It was the first of a series of setbacks. Chester wanted to sign him but after suffering relegation from the Football League they couldn't afford any new players and a subsequent trial with Morecambe was cancelled a matter of hours before it was due to start. Undeterred, Howarth moved into non-league football and studied to become a physiotherapist. He got a break at the Bolton Wanderers Academy and combined it with part-time work for the NHS. Building up his knowledge and experience all the time, he then got a full-time opening at Birmingham City before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The dream was always to return to where it had started and that golden opportunity duly came when Roberto Martinez was the Blues manager. Howarth was back at Everton! His football journey has turned full circle and his story is an inspirational one – a tale of bouncing back time and again.

Activist investor Cevian Capital has taken a €1.2bn stake in UBS, and Nippon Steel has agreed to buy US Steel in a $14.9bn deal. Plus, the FT's Josh Gabert-Doyon takes us to the English town of Widnes and discusses what the destruction of fossil fuel infrastructure means for local citizens. Mentioned in this podcast:Activist Cevian places €1.2bn bet on UBSNippon Steel agrees to buy US Steel for $14.9bnThe Fiddler's Ferry blast that will reshape a town's identityThe FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian and Marc Filippino. Additional help by Sam Giovinco, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Our engineer is Monica Lopez. Topher Forhecz is the FT's executive producer. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show's theme song is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Step 4 Show returns for November's edition, as we hear from the Managers at Pontefract Collieries, Consett, Sutton Coldfield Town, Runcorn Linnets, and Widnes. The opinions expressed within this programme are solely those of the contributors involved, and do not express the views or opinions of the Northern Premier League. Music by Hard Luck Child www.unsigned.com/hardluckchild

Welcome back to the Criminal Connection Podcast!Today the Podfather, Terry Stone, welcomes Former Drug Kingpin & fellow podcaster, Shaun Attwood.From growing up in Widnes to being a drug kingpin in America, does he have some stories to tell.Starting from being a stockbroker in a 'Wolf of Wall Street' like office, to being a drug kingpin on the west coast of America, to then being sentenced to nine and a half years in jail.Hear about all of his exploits with 'Wildman', his association with cartels, and his stories from his regular working life which rival those that happened when he was a criminal.Now sit back, strap in and enjoy the show.Big thank you to our sponsors:Sure Pure: https://surepure.co.uk/Stargaze Entertainments: https://www.stargazeentertainment.co.uk/Dream Mentoring: https://dreammentoring.co.uk/Carson Kaye: https://www.carsonkaye.co.uk/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fashionably late, as always, with a refreshingly ‘Hallowe’en Free’ Hallowe’en Special, in which Lady Paul dares to venture beyond the confines of his ‘Upstairs’ village idyll to board the omnibus for a rain lashed evening of chat and chai latte at Sir Michael’s fireside, deep within the entrails of ‘Downstairs’ Widnes. The convivial and, at … Continue reading "Nice Things – Hallowe’en Special"

The mind-blowing and often hilarious story of a young lad from Widnes and his transition from the stocks trade to the drugs trade, rubbing shoulders with Mexican cartels, the mafia, and neo-Nazis within one of the most challenging prisons in the United States? This is the journey that Shaun Attwood ended up on as he rose to become an ecstasy kingpin with a substantial drug trafficking empire in Arizona. Shaun shares stories of how he went from being a reportable trader to wild parties, encounters with some of the world's most dangerous individuals, and the challenges he faced along the way. Facing a sentence of up to 200 years, Shaun was locked up alongside some of the most intimidating inmates imaginable. Somehow, through strategic alliances, quick thinking, and his distinctive English accent, Shaun emerged on the other side with a remarkable story to share, and it's one you won't want to miss. KEY TAKEAWAYS Shaun has had experiences with guests who were initially low energy during the podcast but became more animated and shared interesting stories once the recording stopped. This is why it's so vital to establish a comfortable and relaxed environment for guests to open up and share their experiences. Even individuals who may be perceived as fearless or tough can still feel vulnerable and anxious in certain situations. The lure of fast money and excitement can lead individuals down a dangerous path. Shaun's own story is a textbook example of how following the allure of cash can take us to the darkest places on earth. We need to remember the risks associated with getting involved in illegal activities. There are always dangers when associating with dangerous individuals and engaging in criminal behaviour. They can lead to experiences that scar our psyches forever. There is definitely a negative side to being in the public eye and it's crucial to remain resilient and focused on one's goals despite facing adversity BEST MOMENTS "I nearly got shot. They're the local crack dealers. I'm letting them stay in mine. I'm staying at theirs over the street." "I've done TED talks and one of them is like what facing 200 years taught me about happiness and I've learned that happiness is in your heart." "I've had pushback from various reasons. The first lot of pushback were death threats." - "He accused my guy of stolen valour because this guy was an ex-Vietnam vet and a biker." VALUABLE RESOURCES On A Mission - https://omny.fm/shows/on-a-mission   Athletic Greens - http://athleticgreens.com/onamission  Mexi Kit - https://mexi-kit.com/ - code: MISSION Shaun Attwood YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0pdktx9M6EcOsRg5LdLlXg ABOUT THE HOST Not so long ago, life was barely recognisable for Ellie McKay, raising three children under five, battling post-natal depression, facing redundancy and walking into the job centre to claim benefits with a double pram, no confidence, and wracked with insecurities. Fast forward to today, and life looks very different. Ellie committed to turning her life around for herself and her family. Following this commitment, she got to work and has now built multiple successful companies, as well as having created a multimillion-pound property portfolio from a standing start. Ellie is now on a mission to make a positive impact and add value to others through her podcast which has attracted phenomenal guests worldwide. The show is specifically to help those trying to reach their full potential through its inspirational and motivational content, as well as challenging conventional wisdom to discuss all the “hot topics” in a relentless pursuit of the truth. CONTACT METHODS: Website: http://www.elliemckay.com LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/ellie-mckay/ Facebook: Facebook.com/ellie.mckay.3150 Instagram: https://instagram.com/ellie_mckay_official?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= OAM Instagram: https://instagram.com/onamissionshow?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/EllieMckay This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

... a 1 on 1 interview like you have never heard before! #UNFILTERED

... a 1 on 1 interview like you have never heard before! #UNFILTERED

The Step 4 Show returns for a brand new series, as we're joined this month by the Managers at Spalding United, Bedworth United, Belper Town, Carlton Town, Widnes and Mossley. The opinions expressed within this programme are solely those of the contributors involved, and do not express the views or opinions of the Northern Premier League. Music by Hard Luck Child www.unsigned.com/hardluckchild

What is Huddersfield's best side? Leeds and Keighley are winners on, and off, the pitch, while Salford celebrate a record. Great action at the Women's 9s and latest wheelchair round, while John Kear leaves Widnes and there's plenty of other talking points. Which is useful for doing a podcast.

This week – #Glastonbury #TheBeatles #GeorgeHarrison #ArcticMonkeys #Wagner #Russia #Putin #GlendaJackson #Titan #Submarine #Sub #Colditz #DrWho #DoctorWho

It's going to be the coldest weekend of the year so far. We already know that typical energy bills will be double what they were last winter. So everyone is looking for ways to use less electricity and gas at the same time as trying to stay warm. One solution is being offered by so-called 'warm banks' - places where people can go to keep warm if they're struggling to afford heating costs. The Warm Welcome campaign now has more than three thousand places open on its website and says last week alone 80 thousand people kept warm in one of them - up by more than a fifth on the previous week. We visit Widnes library and speak to the organisers of the campaign. If you're looking for somewhere to go to keep warm the website is https://www.warmwelcome.uk/ Losing your spouse or civil partner is always a difficult time financially - the funeral, paying bills and losing a second income all add to the stress. There is money from the government to help - totalling more than £4,000 for those without children and nearly £10,000 for those with. This Bereavement Support Payment was introduced in April 2017 and is paid to surviving partners who are under the state pension age of 66. We discuss how to get it and how to avoid missing out. A third of all bank and building society branches have closed in the last decade. One solution to this is a new expansion of banking hubs. Our reporter Clare Worden visits the opening of a new hub in East Yorkshire. And how to make sure you don't lose out on claiming a Cost of Living Payment to help with energy bills. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Clare Worden Researchers: Sandra Hardial and Star McFarlane Editor: Jess Quayle (First broadcast 12pm Saturday 10th December, 2022)

How does a young lad from Widnes go from the stocks trade to the drugs trade, mixing with mexican cartels, the mafia, and neo nazis in one of the toughest prisons in the US?That's where Shaun Attwood found himself after becoming a kingpin and building a drug trafficking empire from Arizona.Sentenced to 9 and a half years, Shaun was incarcerated with some of the most dangerous inmates imaginable, but by using alliances, quick whits, and his English accent, he came out the other end to tell the tale.He's now a very successful YouTuber, Podcaster and Speaker, sharing his experiences and advocating against drugs and crime. Website: DodgeWoodall.comTikTok: @DodgeWoodallYouTube: Dodge WoodallInstagram: @Dodge.WoodallLinkedIn: Dodge Woodall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul from Widnes (bot status unconfirmed) serves up the topic of Artificial Intelligence for the beans this week. Sure, to begin with they simply respond by making a series of vague futuristic noises, they're only flesh and blood (confirmed), but soon enough they get busy and deliberate crab newspapers, an unusual use of hair conditioner and the truth about the Netherlands.Join our PATREON for ad-free episodes and a monthly bonus episode: www.patreon.com/threebeansaladGet in touch:threebeansaladpod@gmail.com@beansaladpod

Whilst flash storms hitting the UK and British politics still in a state of tumult, Nick and Joe get together to discuss some twists on familiar topics: low turnout at a far-right demo, fascists staring down the barrel of some tricky legal problems and the mainstream media failing to grasp the severity of platforming far right figures.-- Stephen Yaxley-Lennon ("Tommy Robinson") held another demo in Telford last weekend in conjunction with screening the fourth episode of his documentary series. The turnout was abysmal, which is unsurprising as Tommy and crew did very little work in building for it. Joe has the latest and tells us what we can expect from Tommy in the future.Elsewhere, the guys dive into the scoop that HNH published yesterday about a secret nazi gig currently set to take place in Widnes next Saturday (17th), and the campaign we've launched to stop it. Joe gives us the latest on Patriotic Alternative who, whilst remaining extremely active, are facing yet more publicity problems thanks to two of its more high-profile figures.Finally, why did GB News give airtime to a Swedish far-right activist who has previously denied the Holocaust, and why do mainstream and semi-mainstream media outlets never learn?Like, share and subscribe to the podcast!--Produced by: Nick Spooner

02:20 John Hughes, the director of partnerships and communities for the charity, Community Integrated Care, explains how learning disability rugby league came about and the impact its had. 06:50 We hear from Warrington's Oliver Thomason who has become a star both of the sport and social media, having replicated Alan Shearer's celebration at Magic Weekend. 08:00 And his brother Craig, explains his involvement in initially helping to set up Learning Disability Rugby League and how it's changed Oliver's life and that of many others. 17:00 Dave goes behind the scenes at Glenwood Care Home which houses those with learning disabilities who don't or can't play the game, but supports them by using rugby league themes. 19:10 England international Jodie Cunningham is on hand to help make soap. The players at last season's Grand Final were gifted bars made by the residents at Glenwood. 21:10 Glenwood is based in Widnes and the facility is littered with image of Widnes Vikings RL team. 23:10 Dave is joined by members of the ‘Media Club' at Community Integrated Care, who describe the roles they experienced within the media at the recent game between Wigan and Warrington. 27:25 Steve Roberts, Widnes Vikings' general manager, explains how those with learning disabilities utilise the same facilities at the club's stadium as those in the first team. 34:00 The podcast concludes with John Hughes detailing how more and more clubs are joining in and supporting the charity and the people it supports day after day.

After a busy couple of hours at Elland Road, it's time to talk some Rugby League, with a triple header at the home of Leeds United coming up on Saturday as St. Helens face Leeds Rhinos in the Women's Challenge Cup Final, while Saints men face Wigan, followed by Hull KR and Huddersfield in the men's semis.   We're excited for three games which are tough to call, as well as a weekend of action just gone, which wasn't the best, as Leeds' new coach arrives, Bradford and Widnes are still looking for one, and Richard Agar's off to Samoa.   Another quiet week...

Episode one hundred and thirty-five of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, and the many records they made, together and apart, before their success. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Blues Run the Game" by Jackson C. Frank. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata I talk about a tour of Lancashire towns, but some of the towns I mention were in Cheshire at the time, and some are in Greater Manchester or Merseyside now. They're all very close together though. I say Mose Rager was Black. I was misremembering, confusing Mose Rager, a white player in the Muhlenberg style, with Arnold Schultz, a Black player who invented it. I got this right in the episode on "Bye Bye Love". Also, I couldn't track down a copy of the Paul Kane single version of “He Was My Brother” in decent quality, so I used the version on The Paul Simon Songbook instead, as they're basically identical performances. Resources As usual, I've created a Mixcloud playlist of the music excerpted here. This compilation collects all Simon and Garfunkel's studio albums, with bonus tracks, plus a DVD of their reunion concert. There are many collections of the pre-S&G recordings by the two, as these are now largely in the public domain. This one contains a good selection. I've referred to several books for this episode: Simon and Garfunkel: Together Alone by Spencer Leigh is a breezy, well-researched, biography of the duo. Paul Simon: The Life by Robert Hilburn is the closest thing there is to an authorised biography of Simon. And What is it All But Luminous? is Art Garfunkel's memoir. It's not particularly detailed, being more a collection of thoughts and poetry than a structured narrative, but gives a good idea of Garfunkel's attitude to people and events in his life. Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World by Billy Bragg has some great information on the British folk scene of the fifties and sixties. And Singing From the Floor is an oral history of British folk clubs, including a chapter on Dylan's 1962 visit to London. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today, we're going to take a look at a hit record that almost never happened -- a record by a duo who had already split up, twice, by the time it became a hit, and who didn't know it was going to come out. We're going to look at how a duo who started off as an Everly Brothers knockoff, before becoming unsuccessful Greenwich Village folkies, were turned into one of the biggest acts of the sixties by their producer. We're going to look at Simon and Garfunkel, and at "The Sound of Silence": [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"] The story of Simon and Garfunkel starts with two children in a school play.  Neither Paul Simon or Art Garfunkel had many friends when they met in a school performance of Alice in Wonderland, where Simon was playing the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat. Simon was well-enough liked, by all accounts, but he'd been put on an accelerated programme for gifted students which meant he was progressing through school faster than his peers. He had a small social group, mostly based around playing baseball, but wasn't one of the popular kids. Art Garfunkel, another gifted student, had no friends at all until he got to know Simon, who he described later as his "one and only friend" in this time period. One passage in Garfunkel's autobiography seems to me to sum up everything about Garfunkel's personality as a child -- and indeed a large part of his personality as it comes across in interviews to this day. He talks about the pleasure he got from listening to the chart rundown on the radio -- "It was the numbers that got me. I kept meticulous lists—when a new singer like Tony Bennett came onto the charts with “Rags to Riches,” I watched the record jump from, say, #23 to #14 in a week. The mathematics of the jumps went to my sense of fun." Garfunkel is, to this day, a meticulous person -- on his website he has a list of every book he's read since June 1968, which is currently up to one thousand three hundred and ten books, and he has always had a habit of starting elaborate projects and ticking off every aspect of them as he goes. Both Simon and Garfunkel were outsiders at this point, other than their interests in sport, but Garfunkel was by far the more introverted of the two, and as a result he seems to have needed their friendship more than Simon did. But the two boys developed an intense, close, friendship, initially based around their shared sense of humour. Both of them were avid readers of Mad magazine, which had just started publishing when the two of them had met up, and both could make each other laugh easily. But they soon developed a new interest, when Martin Block on the middle-of-the-road radio show Make Believe Ballroom announced that he was going to play the worst record he'd ever heard. That record was "Gee" by the Crows: [Excerpt: The Crows, "Gee"] Paul Simon later said that that record was the first thing he'd ever heard on that programme that he liked, and soon he and Garfunkel had become regular listeners to Alan Freed's show on WINS, loving the new rock and roll music they were discovering. Art had already been singing in public from an early age -- his first public performance had been singing Nat "King" Cole's hit "Too Young" in a school talent contest when he was nine -- but the two started singing together. The first performance by Simon and Garfunkel was at a high school dance and, depending on which source you read, was a performance either of "Sh'Boom" or of Big Joe Turner's "Flip, Flop, and Fly": [Excerpt: Big Joe Turner, "Flip, Flop, and Fly"] The duo also wrote at least one song together as early as 1955 -- or at least Garfunkel says they wrote it together. Paul Simon describes it as one he wrote. They tried to get a record deal with the song, but it was never recorded at the time -- but Simon has later performed it: [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "The Girl For Me"] Even at this point, though, while Art Garfunkel was putting all his emotional energy into the partnership with Simon, Simon was interested in performing with other people. Al Kooper was another friend of Simon's at the time, and apparently Simon and Kooper would also perform together. Once Elvis came on to Paul's radar, he also bought a guitar, but it was when the two of them first heard the Everly Brothers that they realised what it was that they could do together. Simon fell in love with the Everly Brothers as soon as he heard "Bye Bye Love": [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "Bye Bye Love"] Up to this point, Paul hadn't bought many records -- he spent his money on baseball cards and comic books, and records just weren't good value. A pack of baseball cards was five cents, a comic book was ten cents, but a record was a dollar. Why buy records when you could hear music on the radio for free? But he needed that record, he couldn't just wait around to hear it on the radio. He made an hour-long two-bus journey to a record shop in Queens, bought the record, took it home, played it... and almost immediately scratched it. So he got back on the bus, travelled for another hour, bought another copy, took it home, and made sure he didn't scratch that one. Simon and Garfunkel started copying the Everlys' harmonies, and would spend hours together, singing close together watching each other's mouths and copying the way they formed words, eventually managing to achieve a vocal blend through sheer effort which would normally only come from familial closeness. Paul became so obsessed with music that he sold his baseball card collection and bought a tape recorder for two hundred dollars. They would record themselves singing, and then sing back along with it, multitracking themselves, but also critiquing the tape, refining their performances. Paul's father was a bass player -- "the family bassman", as he would later sing -- and encouraged his son in his music, even as he couldn't see the appeal in this new rock and roll music. He would critique Paul's songs, saying things like "you went from four-four to a bar of nine-eight, you can't do that" -- to which his son would say "I just did" -- but this wasn't hostile criticism, rather it was giving his son a basic grounding in song construction which would prove invaluable. But the duo's first notable original song -- and first hit -- came about more or less by accident. In early 1956, the doo-wop group the Clovers had released the hit single "Devil or Angel". Its B-side had a version of "Hey Doll Baby", a song written by the blues singer Titus Turner, and which sounds to me very inspired by Hank Williams' "Hey, Good Lookin'": [Excerpt: The Clovers, "Hey, Doll Baby"] That song was picked up by the Everly Brothers, who recorded it for their first album: [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "Hey Doll Baby"] Here is where the timeline gets a little confused for me, because that album wasn't released until early 1958, although the recording session for that track was in August 1957. Yet that track definitely influenced Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to record a song that they released in November 1957. All I can imagine is that they heard the brothers perform it live, or maybe a radio station had an acetate copy. Because the way everyone has consistently told the story is that at the end of summer 1957, Simon and Garfunkel had both heard the Everly Brothers perform "Hey Doll Baby", but couldn't remember how it went. The two of them tried to remember it, and to work a version of it out together, and their hazy memories combined to reconstruct something that was completely different, and which owed at least as much to "Wake Up Little Suzie" as to "Hey Doll Baby". Their new song, "Hey Schoolgirl", was catchy enough that they thought if they recorded a demo of it, maybe the Everly Brothers themselves would record the song. At the demo studio they happened to encounter Sid Prosen, who owned a small record label named Big Records. He heard the duo perform and realised he might have his own Everly Brothers here. He signed the duo to a contract, and they went into a professional studio to rerecord "Hey Schoolgirl", this time with Paul's father on bass, and a couple of other musicians to fill out the sound: [Excerpt: Tom and Jerry, "Hey Schoolgirl"] Of course, the record couldn't be released under their real names -- there was no way anyone was going to buy a record by Simon and Garfunkel. So instead they became Tom and Jerry. Paul Simon was Jerry Landis -- a surname he chose because he had a crush on a girl named Sue Landis. Art became Tom Graff, because he liked drawing graphs. "Hey Schoolgirl" became a local hit. The two were thrilled to hear it played on Alan Freed's show (after Sid Prosen gave Freed two hundred dollars), and were even more thrilled when they got to perform on American Bandstand, on the same show as Jerry Lee Lewis. When Dick Clark asked them where they were from, Simon decided to claim he was from Macon, Georgia, where Little Richard came from, because all his favourite rock and roll singers were from the South. "Hey Schoolgirl" only made number forty-nine nationally, because the label didn't have good national distribution, but it sold over a hundred thousand copies, mostly in the New York area. And Sid Prosen seems to have been one of a very small number of independent label owners who wasn't a crook -- the two boys got about two thousand dollars each from their hit record. But while Tom and Jerry seemed like they might have a successful career, Simon and Garfunkel were soon to split up, and the reason for their split was named True Taylor. Paul had been playing some of his songs for Sid Prosen, to see what the duo's next single should be, and Prosen had noticed that while some of them were Everly Brothers soundalikes, others were Elvis soundalikes. Would Paul be interested in recording some of those, too? Obviously Art couldn't sing on those, so they'd use a different name, True Taylor. The single was released around the same time as the second Tom and Jerry record, and featured an Elvis-style ballad by Paul on one side, and a rockabilly song written by his father on the other: [Excerpt: True Taylor, "True or False"] But Paul hadn't discussed that record with Art before doing it, and the two had vastly different ideas about their relationship. Paul was Art's only friend, and Art thought they had an indissoluble bond and that they would always work together. Paul, on the other hand, thought of Art as one of his friends and someone he made music with, but he could play at being Elvis if he wanted, as well as playing at being an Everly brother. Garfunkel, in his memoir published in 2017, says "the friendship was shattered for life" -- he decided then and there that Paul Simon was a "base" person, a betrayer. But on the other hand, he still refers to Simon, over and over again, in that book as still being his friend, even as Simon has largely been disdainful of him since their last performance together in 2010. Friendships are complicated. Tom and Jerry struggled on for a couple more singles, which weren't as successful as "Hey Schoolgirl" had been, with material like "Two Teenagers", written by Rose Marie McCoy: [Excerpt: Tom and Jerry, "Two Teenagers"] But as they'd stopped being friends, and they weren't selling records, they drifted apart and didn't really speak for five years, though they would occasionally run into one another. They both went off to university, and Garfunkel basically gave up on the idea of having a career in music, though he did record a couple of singles, under the name "Artie Garr": [Excerpt: Artie Garr, "Beat Love"] But for the most part, Garfunkel concentrated on his studies, planning to become either an architect or maybe an academic. Paul Simon, on the other hand, while he was technically studying at university too, was only paying minimal attention to his studies. Instead, he was learning the music business. Every afternoon, after university had finished, he'd go around the Brill Building and its neighbouring buildings, offering his services both as a songwriter and as a demo performer. As Simon was competent on guitar, bass, and drums, could sing harmonies, and could play a bit of piano if it was in the key of C, he could use primitive multitracking to play and sing all the parts on a demo, and do it well: [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "Boys Were Made For Girls"] That's an excerpt from a demo Simon recorded for Burt Bacharach, who has said that he tried to get Simon to record as many of his demos as possible, though only a couple of them have surfaced publicly. Simon would also sometimes record demos with his friend Carole Klein, sometimes under the name The Cosines: [Excerpt: The Cosines, "Just to Be With You"] As we heard back in the episode on "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", Carole Klein went on to change her name to Carole King, and become one of the most successful songwriters of the era -- something which spurred Paul Simon on, as he wanted to emulate her success. Simon tried to get signed up by Don Kirshner, who was publishing Goffin and King, but Kirshner turned Simon down -- an expensive mistake for Kirshner, but one that would end up benefiting Simon, who eventually figured out that he should own his own publishing. Simon was also getting occasional work as a session player, and played lead guitar on "The Shape I'm In" by Johnny Restivo, which made the lower reaches of the Hot One Hundred: [Excerpt: Johnny Restivo, "The Shape I'm In"] Between 1959 and 1963 Simon recorded a whole string of unsuccessful pop singles. including as a member of the Mystics: [Excerpt: The Mystics, "All Through the Night"] He even had a couple of very minor chart hits -- he got to number 99 as Tico and the Triumphs: [Excerpt: Tico and the Triumphs, "Motorcycle"] and number ninety-seven as Jerry Landis: [Excerpt: Jerry Landis, "The Lone Teen Ranger"] But he was jumping around, hopping onto every fad as it passed, and not getting anywhere. And then he started to believe that he could do something more interesting in music. He first became aware that the boundaries of what could be done in music extended further than "ooh-bop-a-loochy-ba" when he took a class on modern music at university, which included a trip to Carnegie Hall to hear a performance of music by the avant-garde composer Edgard Varese: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Ionisation"] Simon got to meet Varese after the performance, and while he would take his own music in a very different, and much more commercial, direction than Varese's, he was nonetheless influenced by what Varese's music showed about the possibilities that existed in music. The other big influence on Simon at this time was when he heard The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Girl From the North Country"] Simon immediately decided to reinvent himself as a folkie, despite at this point knowing very little about folk music other than the Everly Brothers' Songs Our Daddy Taught Us album. He tried playing around Greenwich Village, but found it an uncongenial atmosphere, and inspired by the liner notes to the Dylan album, which talked about Dylan's time in England, he made what would be the first of several trips to the UK, where he was given a rapturous reception simply on the grounds of being an American and owning a better acoustic guitar -- a Martin -- than most British people owned. He had the showmanship that he'd learned from watching his father on stage and sometimes playing with him, and from his time in Tom and Jerry and working round the studios, and so he was able to impress the British folk-club audiences, who were used to rather earnest, scholarly, people, not to someone like Simon who was clearly ambitious and very showbiz. His repertoire at this point consisted mostly of songs from the first two Dylan albums, a Joan Baez record, Little Willie John's "Fever", and one song he'd written himself, an attempt at a protest song called "He Was My Brother", which he would release on his return to the US under yet another stage name, Paul Kane: [Excerpt: Paul Kane, "He Was My Brother"] Simon has always stated that that song was written about a friend of his who was murdered when he went down to Mississippi with the Freedom Riders -- but while Simon's friend was indeed murdered, it wasn't until about a year after he wrote the song, and Simon has confused the timelines in his subsequent recollections. At the time he recorded that, when he had returned to New York at the end of the summer, Simon had a job as a song plugger for a publishing company, and he gave the publishing company the rights to that song and its B-side, which led to that B-side getting promoted by the publisher, and ending up covered on one of the biggest British albums of 1964, which went to number two in the UK charts: [Excerpt: Val Doonican, "Carlos Dominguez"] Oddly, that may not end up being the only time we feature a Val Doonican track on this podcast. Simon continued his attempts to be a folkie, even teaming up again with Art Garfunkel, with whom he'd re-established contact, to perform in Greenwich Village as Kane and Garr, but they went down no better as a duo than Simon had as a solo artist. Simon went back to the UK again over Christmas 1963, and while he was there he continued work on a song that would become such a touchstone for him that of the first six albums he would be involved in, four would feature the song while a fifth would include a snippet of it. "The Sound of Silence" was apparently started in November 1963, but not finished until February 1964, by which time he was once again back in the USA, and back working as a song plugger. It was while working as a song plugger that Simon first met Tom Wilson, Bob Dylan's producer at Columbia. Simon met up with Wilson trying to persuade him to use some of the songs that the publishing company were putting out. When Wilson wasn't interested, Simon played him a couple of his own songs. Wilson took one of them, "He Was My Brother", for the Pilgrims, a group he was producing who were supposed to be the Black answer to Peter, Paul, and Mary: [Excerpt: The Pilgrims, "He Was My Brother"] Wilson was also interested in "The Sound of Silence", but Simon was more interested in getting signed as a performer than in having other acts perform his songs. Wilson was cautious, though -- he was already producing one folkie singer-songwriter, and he didn't really need a second one. But he *could* probably do with a vocal group... Simon mentioned that he had actually made a couple of records before, as part of a duo. Would Wilson be at all interested in a vocal *duo*? Wilson would be interested. Simon and Garfunkel auditioned for him, and a few days later were in the Columbia Records studio on Seventh Avenue recording their first album as a duo, which was also the first time either of them would record under their own name. Wednesday Morning, 3AM, the duo's first album, was a simple acoustic album, and the only instrumentation was Simon and Barry Kornfeld, a Greenwich Village folkie, on guitars, and Bill Lee, the double bass player who'd played with Dylan and others, on bass. Tom Wilson guided the duo in their song selection, and the eventual album contained six cover versions and six originals written by Simon. The cover versions were a mixture of hootenanny staples like "Go Tell it on the Mountain", plus Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'", included to cross-promote Dylan's new album and to try to link the duo with the more famous writer, and one unusual one, "The Sun is Burning", written by Ian Campbell, a Scottish folk singer who Simon had got to know on his trips to the UK: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sun is Burning"] But the song that everyone was keenest on was "The Sound of Silence", the first song that Simon had written that he thought would stand up in comparison with the sort of song that Dylan was writing: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence (Wednesday Morning 3AM version)"] In between sessions for the album, Simon and Garfunkel also played a high-profile gig at Gerde's Folk City in the Village, and a couple of shows at the Gaslight Cafe. The audiences there, though, regarded them as a complete joke -- Dave Van Ronk would later relate that for weeks afterwards, all anyone had to do was sing "Hello darkness, my old friend", for everyone around to break into laughter. Bob Dylan was one of those who laughed at the performance -- though Robert Shelton later said that Dylan hadn't been laughing at them, specifically, he'd just had a fit of the giggles -- and this had led to a certain amount of anger from Simon towards Dylan. The album was recorded in March 1964, and was scheduled for release  in October. In the meantime, they both made plans to continue with their studies and their travels. Garfunkel was starting to do postgraduate work towards his doctorate in mathematics, while Simon was now enrolled in Brooklyn Law School, but was still spending most of his time travelling, and would drop out after one semester. He would spend much of the next eighteen months in the UK. While he was occasionally in the US between June 1964 and November 1965, Simon now considered himself based in England, where he made several acquaintances that would affect his life deeply. Among them were a young woman called Kathy Chitty, with whom he would fall in love and who would inspire many of his songs, and an older woman called Judith Piepe (and I apologise if I'm mispronouncing her name, which I've only ever seen written down, never heard) who many people believed had an unrequited crush on Simon. Piepe ran her London flat as something of a commune for folk musicians, and Simon lived there for months at a time while in the UK. Among the other musicians who stayed there for a time were Sandy Denny, Cat Stevens, and Al Stewart, whose bedroom was next door to Simon's. Piepe became Simon's de facto unpaid manager and publicist, and started promoting him around the British folk scene. Simon also at this point became particularly interested in improving his guitar playing. He was spending a lot of time at Les Cousins, the London club that had become the centre of British acoustic guitar. There are, roughly, three styles of acoustic folk guitar -- to be clear, I'm talking about very broad-brush categorisations here, and there are people who would disagree and say there are more, but these are the main ones. Two of these are American styles -- there's the simple style known as Carter scratching, popularised by Mother Maybelle Carter of the Carter family, and for this all you do is alternate bass notes with your thumb while scratching the chord on the treble strings with one finger, like this: [Excerpt: Carter picking] That's the style played by a lot of country and folk players who were primarily singers accompanying themselves. In the late forties and fifties, though, another style had become popularised -- Travis picking. This is named after Merle Travis, the most well-known player in the style, but he always called it Muhlenberg picking, after Muhlenberg County, where he'd learned the style from Ike Everly -- the Everly Brothers' father -- and Mose Rager, a Black guitarist. In Travis picking, the thumb alternates between two bass notes, but rather than strumming a chord, the index and middle fingers play simple patterns on the treble strings, like this: [Excerpt: Travis picking] That's, again, a style primarily used for accompaniment, but it can also be used to play instrumentals by oneself. As well as Travis and Ike Everly, it's also the style played by Donovan, Chet Atkins, James Taylor, and more. But there's a third style, British baroque folk guitar, which was largely the invention of Davey Graham. Graham, you might remember, was a folk guitarist who had lived in the same squat as Lionel Bart when Bart started working with Tommy Steele, and who had formed a blues duo with Alexis Korner. Graham is now best known for one of his simpler pieces, “Anji”, which became the song that every British guitarist tried to learn: [Excerpt: Davey Graham, "Anji"] Dozens of people, including Paul Simon, would record versions of that. Graham invented an entirely new style of guitar playing, influenced by ragtime players like Blind Blake, but also by Bach, by Moroccan oud music, and by Celtic bagpipe music. While it was fairly common for players to retune their guitar to an open major chord, allowing them to play slide guitar, Graham retuned his to a suspended fourth chord -- D-A-D-G-A-D -- which allowed him to keep a drone going on some strings while playing complex modal counterpoints on others. While I demonstrated the previous two styles myself, I'm nowhere near a good enough guitarist to demonstrate British folk baroque, so here's an excerpt of Davey Graham playing his own arrangement of the traditional ballad "She Moved Through the Fair", recast as a raga and retitled "She Moved Thru' the Bizarre": [Excerpt: Davey Graham, "She Moved Thru' the Bizarre"] Graham's style was hugely influential on an entire generation of British guitarists, people who incorporated world music and jazz influences into folk and blues styles, and that generation of guitarists was coming up at the time and playing at Les Cousins. People who started playing in this style included Jimmy Page, Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, John Renbourn, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, and John Martyn, and it also had a substantial influence on North American players like Joni Mitchell, Tim Buckley, and of course Paul Simon. Simon was especially influenced at this time by Martin Carthy, the young British guitarist whose style was very influenced by Graham -- but while Graham applied his style to music ranging from Dave Brubeck to Lutheran hymns to Big Bill Broonzy songs, Carthy mostly concentrated on traditional English folk songs. Carthy had a habit of taking American folk singers under his wing, and he taught Simon several songs, including Carthy's own arrangement of the traditional "Scarborough Fair": [Excerpt: Martin Carthy, "Scarborough Fair"] Simon would later record that arrangement, without crediting Carthy, and this would lead to several decades of bad blood between them, though Carthy forgave him in the 1990s, and the two performed the song together at least once after that. Indeed, Simon seems to have made a distinctly negative impression on quite a few of the musicians he knew in Britain at this time, who seem to, at least in retrospect, regard him as having rather used and discarded them as soon as his career became successful. Roy Harper has talked in liner notes to CD reissues of his work from this period about how Simon used to regularly be a guest in his home, and how he has memories of Simon playing with Harper's baby son Nick (now himself one of the greats of British guitar) but how as soon as he became successful he never spoke to Harper again. Similarly, in 1965 Simon started a writing partnership with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers, an Australian folk-pop band based in the UK, best known for "Georgy Girl". The two wrote "Red Rubber Ball", which became a hit for the Cyrkle: [Excerpt: The Cyrke, "Red Rubber Ball"] and also "Cloudy", which the Seekers recorded as an album track: [Excerpt: The Seekers, "Cloudy"] When that was recorded by Simon and Garfunkel, Woodley's name was removed from the writing credits, though Woodley still apparently received royalties for it. But at this point there *was* no Simon and Garfunkel. Paul Simon was a solo artist working the folk clubs in Britain, and Simon and Garfunkel's one album had sold a minuscule number of copies. They did, when Simon briefly returned to the US in March, record two tracks for a prospective single, this time with an electric backing band. One was a rewrite of the title track of their first album, now titled "Somewhere They Can't Find Me" and with a new chorus and some guitar parts nicked from Davey Graham's "Anji"; the other a Twist-beat song that could almost be Manfred Mann or Georgie Fame -- "We Got a Groovy Thing Goin'". That was also influenced by “Anji”, though by Bert Jansch's version rather than Graham's original. Jansch rearranged the song and stuck in this phrase: [Excerpt: Bert Jansch, “Anji”] Which became the chorus to “We Got a Groovy Thing Goin'”: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "We Got a Groovy Thing Goin'"] But that single was never released, and as far as Columbia were concerned, Simon and Garfunkel were a defunct act, especially as Tom Wilson, who had signed them, was looking to move away from Columbia. Art Garfunkel did come to visit Simon in the UK a couple of times, and they'd even sing together occasionally, but it was on the basis of Paul Simon the successful club act occasionally inviting his friend on stage during the encore, rather than as a duo, and Garfunkel was still seeing music only as a sideline while Simon was now utterly committed to it. He was encouraged in this commitment by Judith Piepe, who considered him to be the greatest songwriter of his generation, and who started a letter-writing campaign to that effect, telling the BBC they needed to put him on the radio. Eventually, after a lot of pressure, they agreed -- though they weren't exactly sure what to do with him, as he didn't fit into any of the pop formats they had. He was given his own radio show -- a five-minute show in a religious programming slot. Simon would perform a song, and there would be an introduction tying the song into some religious theme or other. Two series of four episodes of this were broadcast, in a plum slot right after Housewives' Choice, which got twenty million listeners, and the BBC were amazed to find that a lot of people phoned in asking where they could get hold of the records by this Paul Simon fellow. Obviously he didn't have any out yet, and even the Simon and Garfunkel album, which had been released in the US, hadn't come out in Britain. After a little bit of negotiation, CBS, the British arm of Columbia Records, had Simon come in and record an album of his songs, titled The Paul Simon Songbook. The album, unlike the Simon and Garfunkel album, was made up entirely of Paul Simon originals. Two of them were songs that had previously been recorded for Wednesday Morning 3AM -- "He Was My Brother" and a new version of "The Sound of Silence": [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "The Sound of Silence"] The other ten songs were newly-written pieces like "April Come She Will", "Kathy's Song", a parody of Bob Dylan entitled "A Simple Desultory Philippic", and the song that was chosen as the single, "I am a Rock": [Excerpt: Paul Simon, "I am a Rock"] That song was also the one that was chosen for Simon's first TV appearance since Tom and Jerry had appeared on Bandstand eight years earlier. The appearance on Ready, Steady, Go, though, was not one that anyone was happy with. Simon had been booked to appear on  a small folk music series, Heartsong, but that series was cancelled before he could appear. Rediffusion, the company that made the series, also made Ready, Steady, Go, and since they'd already paid Simon they decided they might as well stick him on that show and get something for their money. Unfortunately, the episode in question was already running long, and it wasn't really suited for introspective singer-songwriter performances -- the show was geared to guitar bands and American soul singers. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the director, insisted that if Simon was going to do his song, he had to cut at least one verse, while Simon was insistent that he needed to perform the whole thing because "it's a story". Lindsay-Hogg got his way, but nobody was happy with the performance. Simon's album was surprisingly unsuccessful, given the number of people who'd called the BBC asking about it -- the joke went round that the calls had all been Judith Piepe doing different voices -- and Simon continued his round of folk clubs, pubs, and birthday parties, sometimes performing with Garfunkel, when he visited for the summer, but mostly performing on his own. One time he did perform with a full band, singing “Johnny B Goode” at a birthday party, backed by a band called Joker's Wild who a couple of weeks later went into the studio to record their only privately-pressed five-song record, of them performing recent hits: [Excerpt: Joker's Wild, "Walk Like a Man"] The guitarist from Joker's Wild would later join the other band who'd played at that party, but the story of David Gilmour joining Pink Floyd is for another episode. During this time, Simon also produced his first record for someone else, when he was responsible for producing the only album by his friend Jackson C Frank, though there wasn't much production involved as like Simon's own album it was just one man and his guitar. Al Stewart and Art Garfunkel were also in the control room for the recording, but the notoriously shy Frank insisted on hiding behind a screen so they couldn't see him while he recorded: [Excerpt: Jackson C Frank, "Blues Run the Game"] It seemed like Paul Simon was on his way to becoming a respected mid-level figure on the British folk scene, releasing occasional albums and maybe having one or two minor hits, but making a steady living. Someone who would be spoken of in the same breath as Ralph McTell perhaps. Meanwhile, Art Garfunkel would be going on to be a lecturer in mathematics whose students might be surprised to know he'd had a minor rock and roll hit as a kid. But then something happened that changed everything. Wednesday Morning 3AM hadn't sold at all, and Columbia hadn't promoted it in the slightest. It was too collegiate and polite for the Greenwich Village folkies, and too intellectual for the pop audience that had been buying Peter, Paul, and Mary, and it had come out just at the point that the folk boom had imploded. But one DJ in Boston, Dick Summer, had started playing one song from it, "The Sound of Silence", and it had caught on with the college students, who loved the song. And then came spring break 1965. All those students went on holiday, and suddenly DJs in places like Cocoa Beach, Florida, were getting phone calls requesting "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. Some of them with contacts at Columbia got in touch with the label, and Tom Wilson had an idea. On the first day of what turned out to be his last session with Dylan, the session for "Like a Rolling Stone", Wilson asked the musicians to stay behind and work on something. He'd already experimented with overdubbing new instruments on an acoustic recording with his new version of Dylan's "House of the Rising Sun", now he was going to try it with "The Sound of Silence". He didn't bother asking the duo what they thought -- record labels messed with people's records all the time. So "The Sound of Silence" was released as an electric folk-rock single: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"] This is always presented as Wilson massively changing the sound of the duo without their permission or knowledge, but the fact is that they had *already* gone folk-rock, back in March, so they were already thinking that way. The track was released as a single with “We Got a Groovy Thing Going” on the B-side, and was promoted first in the Boston market, and it did very well. Roy Harper later talked about Simon's attitude at this time, saying "I can remember going into the gents in The Three Horseshoes in Hempstead during a gig, and we're having a pee together. He was very excited, and he turns round to me and and says, “Guess what, man? We're number sixteen in Boston with The Sound of Silence'”. A few days later I was doing another gig with him and he made a beeline for me. “Guess what?” I said “You're No. 15 in Boston”. He said, “No man, we're No. 1 in Boston”. I thought, “Wow. No. 1 in Boston, eh?” It was almost a joke, because I really had no idea what that sort of stuff meant at all." Simon was even more excited when the record started creeping up the national charts, though he was less enthused when his copy of the single arrived from America. He listened to it, and thought the arrangement was a Byrds rip-off, and cringed at the way the rhythm section had to slow down and speed up in order to stay in time with the acoustic recording: [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence"] I have to say that, while the tempo fluctuations are noticeable once you know to look for them, it's a remarkably tight performance given the circumstances. As the record went up the charts, Simon was called back to America, to record an album to go along with it. The Paul Simon Songbook hadn't been released in the US,  and they needed an album *now*, and Simon was a slow songwriter, so the duo took six songs from that album and rerecorded them in folk-rock versions with their new producer Bob Johnston, who was also working with Dylan now, since Tom Wilson had moved on to Verve records. They filled out the album with "The Sound of Silence", the two electric tracks from March, one new song, "Blessed", and a version of "Anji", which came straight after "Somewhere They Can't Find Me", presumably to acknowledge Simon lifting bits of it. That version of “Anji” also followed Jansch's arrangement, and so included the bit that Simon had taken for “We Got a Groovy Thing Going” as well. They also recorded their next single, which was released on the British version of the album but not the American one, a song that Simon had written during a thoroughly depressing tour of Lancashire towns (he wrote it in Widnes, but a friend of Simon's who lived in Widnes later said that while it was written in Widnes it was written *about* Birkenhead. Simon has also sometimes said it was about Warrington or Wigan, both of which are so close to Widnes and so similar in both name and atmosphere that it would be the easiest thing in the world to mix them up.) [Excerpt: Simon and Garfunkel, "Homeward Bound"] These tracks were all recorded in December 1965, and they featured the Wrecking Crew -- Bob Johnston wanted the best, and didn't rate the New York players that Wilson had used, and so they were recorded in LA with Glen Campbell, Joe South, Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, and Joe Osborne. I've also seen in some sources that there were sessions in Nashville with A-team players Fred Carter and Charlie McCoy. By January, "The Sound of Silence" had reached number one, knocking "We Can Work it Out" by the Beatles off the top spot for two weeks, before the Beatles record went back to the top. They'd achieved what they'd been trying for for nearly a decade, and I'll give the last word here to Paul Simon, who said of the achievement: "I had come back to New York, and I was staying in my old room at my parents' house. Artie was living at his parents' house, too. I remember Artie and I were sitting there in my car one night, parked on a street in Queens, and the announcer said, "Number one, Simon & Garfunkel." And Artie said to me, "That Simon & Garfunkel, they must be having a great time.""