Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex walks you through the linguistic mindfield, explaining the weird and wonderful aspects of English and many other languages.
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Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1. Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of tho ...
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How Christine McVie saw Fleetwood Mac and the real reason she left them – by Lesley-Ann Jones
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37:56
Christine McVie - one of only two British girl rock musicians in the ‘60s and part of the greatest pop soap opera of all time. Neither in the backline or the frontline but occupying a unique middle ground. Packed it in for 16 years then returned to the fold. Lesley-Ann Jones’ fresh and emotional memoir Songbird follows “the trajectory of a male roc…
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A Word in Your Ear: The Language of AFL
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What's the Aussie origins of the slang, jargon and banter of our nation's greatest footy code?Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Nick Heyward dressed like Cary Grant – then the Jam, XTC and Talking Heads. “It’s all about clothes, hair and shoes.”
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Nick Heyward was one of our favourite cover stars when we were at Smash Hits in the ‘80s, the days when hardcore Haircut One Hundred fans turned out in Fair Isle sweaters and Sou’Westers. He now lives mostly in Florida, he’s made nine solo albums – one magnificently titled Open Sesame Seed - and he’s toured again with his old band after ten years’ …
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In the studio with Nick Drake, Fairport, John Martyn & the String Band: John Wood remembers a golden age
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“There was no Command-Zed back then!” John Wood engineered or produced some of the most magical, timeless and affecting records ever made - by Nick Drake, John Martyn, the McGarrigles, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, John Cale, Squeeze and many more. He’s 85 now and looks back here at a luminous career that started with mastering singles at Decca…
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Ian Hunter – joining Mott The Hoople, Bowie, Hamburg and being “enthused into craziness”.
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Ian Hunter – an image so familiar you’d recognise his silhouette - now lives in Connecticut and he’s just released expanded versions of two of his best-selling solo albums, You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic and Short Back N' Sides. He’s 85, born before any of the Beatles. We talk to him here about life growing up in the ‘40s and ‘50s when you…
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Bryan Ferry, Maggie Smith and why Ian Hunter is a movie in waiting
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46:44
As the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness draws in, we poke the embers of this week’s rock and roll bonfire and rake out the following chestnuts … … Maggie Smith on ‘70s chat shows. … when Radiohead meets Shakespeare. … the strange, circuitous and downright disgraceful launch of Francis Ford Coppola’s majestically bonkers Megalopolis. … Chappe…
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When Cocteau Twins followed the Ramones onstage and why 1979 was the Golden Age - by Simon Raymonde
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Simon Raymonde’s affecting and beautifully written memoir ‘In One Ear’ records life in the ‘60s growing up with a father who wrote and arranged for Dusty Springfield, Helen Shapiro and the Walker Brothers, the impossibly shy promotional activities of the Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil and the struggles and eventual jackpot of the Bella Union re…
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The deep secret of Abba’s “music without nostalgia” and the time they met the Pistols
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Abba’s biographer Jan Gradvall met and interviewed Abba many times and builds a fresh picture of their internal chemistry in his new book Melancholy Undercover. Highlights of this illuminating pod include … … how Sweden rejected their early hits for not being sufficiently “socialist”. …. the discomfiting early life of Anni-Frid Lyngstad. … what Max…
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Fond memories of lost ‘80s London, Morrissey v Marr and the film they should make about Toyah
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A free-form spontaneous jam this week - the Dark Star of podcasts – which navigates the outer reaches of the rock and roll stratosphere by way of the following … … was Michael Stipe’s father a military helicopter pilot in Korea? … our fantasy Odd Couple tragi-comedy: Morrissey and Marr in a thin-skinned middle-aged flat share. … how the Golden Egg …
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Swinging London & the Wombles seen from an electric-blue Rolls-Royce. Mike Batt looks back
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Mike Batt still wrestles with the emotional legacy of the Wombles, the act that simultaneously made him and cast a shadow over the rest of his career, not least his early days as a songwriter at Liberty Records, discussed here, hired after he’d answered the same ad as Elton John and Bernie Taupin, a time when A&R men wore kipper ties and had Picass…
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Joe Boyd – Little Richard, Nick Drake, Tight Fit and why everything sounds the way it does
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Joe Boyd produced Fairport Convention, Nick Drake and many others, released acts from all over the globe on his Hannibal label and has just written a mighty and definitive account of the history of popular music, And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain, tracing the way different sounds from different countries became interwoven. Nobody is better qualified t…
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A Word in Your Ear: Mispronunciation & Mondegreens
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A "blessing in disguise" or a "blessing in the skies"? Roly Sussex dives into the elusive mondegreen.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Screaming Jay Hawkins 75, Dave Grohl 1
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With Mark Ellen rambling in the West Country it’s left to David Hepworth to talk Alex Gold down from the ledge in the light of the Dave Grohl news and discuss: • just how many offers come the way of rich and famous rock stars • whether his recent admission will in any way detract from the most winning smile in rock • is this an opportunity fo…
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One Day author David Nicholls – prog rock, Live Aid and making tapes for girls
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The Netflix series of David Nicholls’ worldwide hit novel One Day was Top Ten in 89 countries and he’s been heavily involved in its soundtrack album, a process as enjoyable, he says, as devising the compilation tape the fictional Emma made for Dexter in 1989 featuring the Smiths, Prefab Sprout and Public Enemy. We talk to him here about the gloriou…
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Nick Lowe – war stories, wise decisions and the event in 1970 that made him think again
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Old friend of the podcast, Nick Lowe has just released his 15th solo album, Indoor Safari, and he’s about to tour with Los Straitjackets. This absorbing conversation looks back at 60 years onstage and takes in the following … … the secret of a long career. … why he resolved “not to get that famous again”. … touring Germany aged 15 in Brinsley Schwa…
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A Word in Your Ear: Pirate Speak
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"Wut a way you" might sound like pirate speak, but it’s a common greeting on this Australian island.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Buskers’ Hall of Fame – from Moondog and Billy Bragg to Don Partridge and “the skating Sikh”.
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Louis Armstrong, Wild Man Fischer, Irving Berlin and Lucinda Williams all started out as buskers and Cary Baker’s ‘Down On The Corner’ traces the romance and influence of street players from Ancient Rome via Chicago’s Maxwell Street to Elvis Costello outside the CBS conference and beyond. Cary, David and Mark chuck coins in the conversational hat, …
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Who should follow John Lydon with a Spoken Word spectacular?
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We applied dynamic pricing to this week’s news and various stories trebled in value, among them … … further adventures in the Oasis ticket fiasco. … the greatest band name ever. … the only rock star born under Adolf Hitler. … Marianne Faithfull? Ian Anderson? Elvis Costello? Musicians you’d rather hear talk than play. … rock stars telling jokes. … …
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David Hepworth on the glory, comedy and tragedy of rock stars who can't retire
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David’s seventh book in his ‘orange series’ is just out and you’re guaranteed to love it. He and Mark discussed ‘Hope I Get Old Before I Die’ at a sold-out launch event at Waterstones in Piccadilly on the evening of September 3, recorded here. Among the highlights you’ll find … … the rock career as a three-act play. … the tour that started the Age …
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A Word in Your Ear: French Influences on Cooking Words
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Who knows what sous vide is? What does being out of breath have to do with your soufflé?Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Oasis reunion – feuds, cash, symbolism and the desire to repair our imperfect lives
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David, Mark and our token bucket-hatted parka monkey Alex tackle the return of Oasis, its grip on the public imagination and why they’re the biggest band of the last 30 years, which includes … … the Gallaghers’ mixed fortunes since 2009. … who won the battle of the underdogs. … “Noel has a thousand buttons, Liam has a thousand fingers”. … why the ‘…
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A Word in Your Ear: The Language of Gen Alpha
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Two teenagers explain the nuances of "rizz", "no cap" and "sigma" to Professor Roly Sussex.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Are comedians more competitive than rock stars?
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In a concerted effort to put the world to rights, David and Mark ruminate upon the following … … Kylie and the Wiggles? Canned Heat and the Chipmunks? Real or invented pop star/childrens’ entertainer collaborations. .. the charmed life of Greg Kihn. … will the BBC have any archive left if it keeps cancelling presenters? … why Inside Llewyn Davis wo…
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Johnny Beatle’, early Blondie, Led Zeppelin’s plane and seven fabulous years at the Melody Maker.
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Rock journalism as an occupation is rapidly heading in the direction of the watch-mender or lamplighter so Chris Charlesworth’s account of life at the Melody Maker in the ‘70s is already starting to feel like an historic document. ‘Just Backdated’ covers a time when the rock press set the agenda, sold over half a million copies a week and was court…
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A Word in Your Ear: The Language of The News
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How has news language changed over the years? And why do news reporters say words in that fancy way?Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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One-word rock star mimicry, bands who shouldn’t reform & the best thing about Taylor Swift
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With David asleep on a French sun-lounger beneath a copy of Summer Lightning, Alex and Mark pour themselves a cold drink and consider … … the great ska floor-fillers. … taking kids to rock concerts. … the fate of all bands: “as musicianship improves, vocals decline”. … left-field Beatles songs reworked as nursery rhymes. … why 2-Tone had pop’s “tri…
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The extraordinary story of Arthur Lee, Love and the 1966 flop which became a hit for the ages
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Love’s official biographer John Einarson tells David Hepworth the star-crossed tale of the band who made the least psychedelic album of the psychedelic era. Their conversation takes in: ….Lee’s growing up between Memphis and L.A., dealing with the problems of looking more like Johnny Mathis than Otis Redding. ….how being indulged as a youngster by …
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A Word in Your Ear: Hedges and Politeness
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Do you ever "soften" your language to sound more polite? Roly Sussex explains "hedges", where English soften statements for pleasantry's sake.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Buddy Holly airlines and the inimitable Bob Dylan
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As Mark Ellen goes shrimping at Frinton David Hepworth and Alex Gold links hands across the Atlantic to discuss: ….why a quick turn around Mount Hood in a Cessna should never be confused with pleasure ….why all the highly-rated albums are actually over-rated. ….why Timothee Chalamet has no hope of being able to capture more than one facet of Bob Dy…
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A Word in Your Ear: Mispronunciations and Common Mistakes
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From mispronunciation to grammatical errors, Roly Sussex explores some of the common mistakes in English.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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“Pop music is 80 per cent about hair”, remaking classic albums and why CDs are so hard to love
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A small Pastis, a game of boules and a conversation putting the rock and roll world to rights, which this week includes … … why Debbie Harry and Mick Jagger worked so well on the small screen. … Elvin Pelvin on the Bilko Show and how Elvis was modelled on Tony Curtis. … An American Werewolf In London, The Birds, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, Don’t…
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Queen, Bowie and other residents of Rockfield Studios remembered by the cook’s daughter
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Rockfield is a converted farmhouse in the Welsh countryside where, for over 50 years, bands have lived while recording. In the ‘70s Tiffany Murray’s mum was the in-house cook, filling Motorhead to the brim with boeuf bourguignon and Black Sabbath with salmon en croute. Her touching memoir My Family And Other Rock Stars – hailed as “a rock and roll …
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57 years of Fleetwood Mac: author Mark Blake's fond encounters and fresh revelations
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Mark Blake calls Dreams: the Many Lives of Fleetwood Mac a “mosaic biography”, their almost six-decade saga presented as a series of enthralling short stories with titles like ‘Mick Fleetwood’s Great Epiphany’ and ‘Rumours: A Doomed Romance in Six Acts’. It opens in fact with a “cast of characters”, the 18 one-time members, as if dramatis personae …
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A Word in Your Ear: English's Newest Words
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The Cambridge Dictionary added 3200 new wods to their books last year. So what are they? Roly Sussex is your guide.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Ron Sexsmith doesn’t need a teleprompter. He can do 40 Dylan songs at the drop of a hat
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Beloved Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, old pal of the pod, is touring the UK in November, two of the nights at the Palladium, and looks back here at the first shows he saw and played himself. Which delights include … … what you learn playing Canadian bars aged 16. … seeing Elton John in a 75,000-seater stadium when he was 12. … early memo…
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Without John Mayall … no Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Status Quo or Led Zeppelin?
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Passing the baton of discourse on the rock and roll racetrack, our Olympian hosts sprint in the following direction … … watching Toumani Diabaté play in the pitch-black Malian night. … Laurel Canyon, the Brain Damage Club and the great fire of ‘79. … the Kinks in Fortis Green Road, the Beatles in Chiswick House and other alternative London rock lan…
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A Word in Your Ear: The French Language
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Bonjour! This week, Roly Sussex discusses the significance and evolution of the French language.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Best album sleeves, what’s ruined singing and pop as ‘empowerment porn’
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42:19
Once again the ping-pong ball of conversation is batted across the rock and roll net and these are the scores on the doors … … how to wreck the national anthem. … cover versions that are better than the original. … the genius of Bob Newhart - "nutty Walt", Abraham Lincoln and that gag about country music. … virtue signalling in rock magazines. … wh…
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Who is Lawrence and why did Will Hodgkinson write a whole book about him?
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There’s something romantic about glorious failure and Will nails it perfectly in ‘Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence’. Over 40 years plagued by bad luck and self-sabotage with Felt, Denim and Mozart Estate, Lawrence has pursued fame and success while refusing to do what’s required to achieve them. Will spent 12 months wandering the street…
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Backstage at Live Aid, the first Knebworth and bands that don’t get on
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Employing controversial VAR technology, we re-examine various events on the rock and roll pitch and suggest a new perspective. Those key moments include … … the “bucolic frolic” at Knebworth 50 years ago as seen from 100 yards away just past the burger van and featuring Tim Buckley, Alex Harvey, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Van Morrison, the Doobie Br…
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How Joni Mitchell joined the boys’ club and why we don’t need a comeback – by Ann Powers
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Broadcaster and music writer Ann Powers lives in Nashville and grew up listening to Kate Bush and Blondie. The siren call of Blue sparked a life-long and deep-rooted devotion and her new book Travelling: On The Path Of Joni Mitchell takes a different tack from the standard biographies, mapping the context of the songs, the forces that drove her, th…
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A Word in Your Ear: Metaphors
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We've hit the nail on the head! This week, Roly Sussex discusses the significance of metaphors in everyday language.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Twist And Shout? Spiral Scratch? Corey duBrowa celebrates the best and rarest EPs ever made
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The first EPs appeared in the late ‘40s and ‘50s (Frank Sinatra, Elvis) hitting a magical sweet spot between the album and the single and they’ve cast a spell ever since, an exotic reminder that record labels are part of the packaged goods business. Music writer Corey duBrowa stumbled across one by Oingo Boingo in the original Licorice Pizza store …
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What songs should be longer or shorter?
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The rock and roll ballot-box is stuffed with votes and the exit polls suggest how this week’s debate might play out. Along these lines … … is there still such a thing as British music? … John Lennon as a lavatory attendant. … Pink Floyd’s miming lessons. .. how Neil Finn cheered up the All Blacks. … the staggering difference in the UK album charts …
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Dylan Jones – Clegg’s women, Hague’s pints and “the wiring behind celebrity culture”
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We’ve known Dylan since the days he was editing i-D, Arena and GQ and he’s been a regular on our podcasts talking about his books on Live Aid, the ‘80s, David Bowie and Wichita Lineman. And he’s finally written his memoir, These Foolish Things, full of insights and stories about glam rock, punk, the Blitz, four decades of the magazine world and the…
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A Word in Your Ear: Manners and Politeness
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23:43
Please & Thank You! This week, Roly Sussex discusses how manners and gratitude are expressed differently around the world.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Happy accidents, whooping at gigs and why the album review star system doesn’t work anymore
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In which we hoof a few balls round the rock and roll pitch and try to stick some in the net. Extracts from the live match commentary include …. … “Whipping Post!” “Paint it black, you devil!”: when did the audience become part of the show? … the special, unrepeatable thing about Bill Evans At The Village Vanguard. … GambleGate and the most we’ve ev…
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A Word in Your Ear: Grandparents and 'Cold Turkey'
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Marmee? Gram? Gramps? Papa? This week, Roly Sussex discusses the words we use for our older relatives.Door Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Pop football chants, Reg ‘Reg’ Snipton sings Joni Mitchell & the tale of John Lennon’s watch
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The two-man tandem of curiosity wobbles its way down the rock and roll cyclepath pausing here to admire the view … … “We’re captive on the carousel of TIME-AH!!”: tuneless Northern club singer Reg “Reg” Snipton performs Ver Greats. … is going to gigs alone becoming a thing? ... why Phil Oakey was a better musician than any of ELP. … Seven Nation Ar…
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Only Clare Grogan knows how it feels to burst onstage from a giant birthday cake
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Clare Grogan, a regular on our podcasts and rarely off the cover when we were at Smash Hits, is on tour again with Altered Images and playing festivals in the summer – indeed her fabulous description of the bus ferrying her, Midge Ure, Nik Kershaw, Kim Wilde and Living in A Box to the stage at Rewind sounds like an old Smash Hits cartoon come to li…
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