Tag Archives: music
The making of The Stars of Sergeant Pepper
What are Mae West and Diana Dors doing on the cover of Sergeant Pepper’ Lonely Hearts Club band? If you feel you’ve heard too much already about the 50th anniversary of the record, then fear not. Producer Luke Doran (who … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, Media, Music, Religion, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, beatles, culture, Hollywood, media, music, Sergeant Pepper
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Wilderness Years: From Rapunzel to Travolta and General Zod
A blind prince wanders through a Biblical-looking stony desert. The strange coda to Rapunzel is often forgotten, but it’s what I remember most about reading the Ladybird storybook as a child. And it’s where I chose to start today’s Something Understood … Continue reading
Posted in Books, History, Politics, Radio, Religion, Uncategorized
Tagged BAFTA, books, culture, Hinduism, James Taylor, John Profumo, John Travolta, Ladybird books, music, politics, Pulp Fiction, Rapunzel, Winston Churchill
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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
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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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What happened, pop pickers? Teenagers & radio
The decline of the teenage radio listener is not unique to Radio 1. I wrote this piece about the demographic challenge for The Guardian this week. One of my key sources in researching the piece was Will Page, chief economist … Continue reading
Posted in Business/Economics, Children, Culture, Media, Music, Radio
Tagged culture, media, music
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My secret life in the Albert Hall: Backstage at the Proms
The first rule of presenting the Proms is.. No one wears red at the Proms. The second rule of Prom club is.. No one wears open toed shoes on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall. (This is apparently a … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Music, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 80s, Albert Hall, Brideshead Revisited, culture, Donald Runnicles, music, Ravel, Star Trek, tv, `Proms
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America’s sweetheart and the star malfunction: Doris Day and Jennifer Aniston
In Jeanine Basinger’s book on the old Hollywood studios’ star-making system, The Star Machine there is a great little section on how Doris Day became a huge name, while the similarly talented and wholesome Rosemary Clooney did not. Basinger put … Continue reading
Posted in Comedy, Film, Music, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged cinema, doris day, friends, Hollywood, jennifer aniston, music, rock hudson, westerns
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The Swingeing (cuts) 80s: Lessons from The Ghost Town Generation
They were playing the jaunty TV theme tune to “Jeeves and Wooster” on Monday night when guests walked into the Financial Times summer party at Lancaster House near Green Park in London. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed … Continue reading
Posted in Business/Economics, Culture, Education, Film, Music, Politics, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, 80s, culture, media, music, politics, universities
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