Tag Archives: FTW
What If…? HG Wells, Arnold Bennett and your alternative future
It is early January in a new century and a group of technicolored-Victorian gentlemen are awaiting the return of their friend from the future. I’ve always loved the 1960 film of HG Wells’ The Time Machine. Drawing inspiration from the … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, History, Politics, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Uncategorized
Tagged Alec Guinness, Arnold Bennett, cinema, Edwardian, elitism, FTW, HG Wells, journalism, literature, London, Paul Flowers, Stoke-on-Trent, The Card, The Time Machine
11 Comments
An embroidered insult to Hitler: A story about hand made things
My Something Understood for BBC Radio 4 this weekend is all about hand made things. You can listen to a clip of here. And the whole programme here. As well meeting a carpenter who makes fossil-inspired objects about of ancient … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Design, Germany, History, Radio, Religion, Uncategorized, War
Tagged Alexis Casdagli, Army, culture, embroidery, FTW, Hitler, morse code, needlework, POW, Royal Navy, Something Understood, Tony Casdagli, war
26 Comments
People at work: Richard III and The 60s Town Planner
This piece was about Leicester’s repentence for planning atrocities against its medieval past. Thought it worth reposting as the High Court ruled in favour of a “dignified” burial in the city. Full details and judgement here. Maybe you used to … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Business/Economics, Culture, Design, History
Tagged 60s, Bentall Centre, Bentalls, books, culture, FTW, JG Ballard, Kingdom Come, Kingston-upon-Thames, Ladybird books, Leicester, Richard III, Urban planning, York
15 Comments
Ferris Bueller and Me
John Hughes died four years ago and I wrote this post that day August 6th 2009 before I had a blog of my own. Just found it again thanks to the interwebs. Four years on things aren’t quite the same … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Comedy, Culture, Film, Media, Politics, Uncategorized
Tagged 80s, Chicago, cinema, culture, ferris bueller, film, FTW, Generation X, Hollywood, John Hughes, Matthew Broderick, Molly Ringwald, Obama, politics
15 Comments
Plotting the arc of darkness with Joss Whedon
Here’s a link to my interview with Joss Whedon for Radio 3’s Night Waves on June 12th. We covered his writing for Roseanne, Shakespearean superheroes, his love of musicals — especially Brigadoon — the way studios treat writers, (take Firefly … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Children, Comedy, Comics/graphic novels, Culture, Media, Radio, Science Fiction/Fantasy, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged BBC, books, Brigadoon, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, cinema, culture, feminism, film, FTW, Hollywood, Joss Whedon, literature, media, music, Musicals, Roseanne, tv, zombies
4 Comments
How The West Was Fun: When Britain loved cowboys
The Unforgiven (1961) – The Searchers in reverse This is about the back ground to the April 6th documentary I made for Radio 4 about the Western in British culture. You can listen again here: Archive on Four documentary Riding … Continue reading
Concorde: How a dead end can be a glorious high point of innovation
1976 Paris-Rio First commercial Concorde flight to Brazil Photo: Jean-Claude Deutsch Paris Match I chose Concorde out of a 100 Great British Innovations for a National Museum project to mark National Science and Engineering Week. You can vote for it … Continue reading
Posted in Business/Economics, Design, Science, Travel
Tagged 70s, Concorde, Engineering, FTW
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Loving the Alien: Bowie and the ‘Burbs
How did I come to make a documentary for Radio 4 called I Dressed Ziggy Stardust? It was pitched and commissioned about 6 months ago, long before anyone thought Bowie might be releasing new … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Culture, Media, Music, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 70s, aliens, Asian, Bowie, Bromley, FTW, immigration, London, suburbia, Ziggy Stardust
2 Comments
Murder, Mirth and Care Bears: The uses of an Oxford English degree
Photo copyright and courtesy of: Ian Fraser at Virtual Archive Writing for news bulletins, writing for standup comedy, writing murders for tv drama, writing for comics and fantasy gaming novels. These were some of the uses to which a group … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comedy, Comics/graphic novels, Culture, Education, Media, Uncategorized
Tagged culture, elitism, English literature, FTW, journalism, literature, media, oxford, publishing, St Edmund Hall, Stewart Lee, terrorism, tv, universities
4 Comments
Poor Cows and Angry Young Men: 50 years of Kitchen Sink Drama
The director Ken Loach and the theatre critic Michael Billington remember the dawn of the 60s well. “The 50s weren’t bleak and depressing,” spluttered Loach, listening to art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston explain the grim postwar era that spawned the new … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 50s, 60s, British social realism, cinema, culture, elitism, feminism, film, FTW, Ken Loach, kitchen sink drama, music, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, tv
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