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Celebrity Mastermind
Specialist subject: Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Tag Archives: BBC
Oh Boy! Why certain Radio 1 DJs are missing believed wiped
If you sat down to watch a night of lost pop music TV shows from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, what would you expect to find? Fun, nostalgia, eye popping colour and experimentation, some great music. What I didn’t expect … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, Media, Music, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 50s, 60s, 70s, BBC, culture, david hamilton, debbie harry, Hot Gossip, jack good, jimmy savile, media, music, oh boy!, pete murray, top of the pops, totp, tv
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How should broadcast news journalists interview and talk about extremists?
Over the weekend I spoke to veteran ex BBC journalist Robin Lustig, Berlin correspondent Damien McGuinness for an insight into Germany’s media and Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s 2012 senior strategist for 2 articles I wrote for The Guardian and The … Continue reading
Posted in Germany, journalism, Media, Politics, Radio, Religion, TV
Tagged AfD, alt right, BBC, Berlin, BIG ISSUE, Damien McGuinness, Donald Trump, journalism, Luegenpresse, media, Mitt Romney, Nazism, Newswatch, Nigel Farage, Pegida, politics, Robin Lustig, Stuart Stevens, terrorism, tv
8 Comments
The future sound and vision of Liverpool: Biennial special preview
Tonight’s BBC Front Row is a special programme mostly recorded on location in Liverpool previewing this year’s Biennial of Contemporary Art that runs till October. I particularly enjoyed talking to Mark Leckey about his dreamscape film about his visual memory … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Environment, Media, Radio
Tagged BBC, betty woodman, front row, liverpool, liverpool biennial, mark leckey, marvin gaye chetwynd, radio 4
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Inside the world of Angels: the secret history of film & TV costumes
The chill hits me and a slight tang of…meat. I’ve entered the Fur store room at Angels Costumiers. We stand in silence. There are racks of fur coats – like a multiverse of Narnia entry points. Fox stoles are piled … Continue reading
Posted in Business/Economics, Culture, Design, Film, History, Media, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged angels costumiers, BBC, cinema, culture, film, Hollywood, Theatre Royal Stratford, tim angel, tv
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I Dressed Ziggy Stardust – revisited
I Dressed Ziggy Stardust is getting a re-broadcast on Radio 4 on Saturday afternoon. Here’s a bit about why: When I pitched I Dressed Ziggy Stardust to Radio 4 back in 2012 there was nothing more to it than a … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, Music, Radio, Science Fiction/Fantasy, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 1970s, 1980s, 70s, 80s, alice bloch, BBC, David Bowie, London, Rupa Huq, Shyama Perera, Ziggy Stardust
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A brief history of the News At Ten: one of the biggest mistakes in the British TV News business
The Culture Secretary’s speech to the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge last night included an observation about whether the BBC should be presenting its flagship evening bulletin at 10 pm – the same time as its main commercial rival … Continue reading
Posted in Business/Economics, journalism, Media, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged BBC, greg dyke, hanson trust, itn, ITV, john whittingdale, journalism, News at Ten
30 Comments
Young, British and Imam-in-Training: Who we met and why
There were two things producer Georgia Catt and I tried to do with this half hour documentary for Radio 4. One: avoid random isolated Muslim voices claiming to speak for a majority saying “That’s not Islam” about anything problematic, like … Continue reading
Posted in Education, Media, Politics, Radio, Religion, Uncategorized
Tagged BBC, imam in training, Islam, radio 4
19 Comments
On The Road with Buddha: The Prince Who Walked Out of His Fairy Tale
UPDATED SEPT 2 What happens when a prince walks away from his kingdom? I love the symbolism and and dream like metaphors of fairy stories. So a “real life” one is all the more intriguing. I’d been fascinated with the … Continue reading
Posted in Books, History, Music, Religion, Travel
Tagged Ashoka, BBC, Buddha, David Yip, Herman Hesse, Hinduism, Hollywood, India, Jack Kerouac, literature, Prince Siddartha, Something Understood
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The Outer Limits: A fantastic voyage
“To God there is no zero. I still exist.” – Richard Matheson’s The Incredible Shrinking Man screenplay (1957) The summer solstice has just passed — marking the extreme tipping point of the earth’s axis and the longest day. It was … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Film, Radio, Religion, Science, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Uncategorized
Tagged BBC, Cern, Disneyland, Hinduism, Journey Into Inner Space, Kevin Fong, Large Hadron collider, Mozart, Richard Matheson, Shard, Shiva, Something Understood, The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Queen of the Night, The Shrinking Man, The Tower of Babel, Willam Beebe
5 Comments
Nigel Farage & BBC’s UKIP election coverage: Nick Robinson on the “marmite” politician
This is the full transcript of my interview with the BBC’s Political Editor Nick Robinson for this week’s edition of Newswatch, about BBC News coverage of the Local and European Parliamentary elections. A slightly shorter version was used in transmission. The BBC … Continue reading
Posted in journalism, Media, Politics, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged BBC, Newswatch, Nick Robinson, Nigel Farage, UKIP
29 Comments