BBC
BBC Folk Awards: Chris Wood, Bellowhead, Donovan winnersTuesday, 08 February 2011
Mark Radcliffe was on good form, saying how he had seen Donovan at the Whitley Bay Ice Rink (and nipped out to the car park to keep warm) and met Donovan’s manager, who when the singer retired asked if Donovan was going to bed. “Donovan doesn’t go... Read more... |
Faulks on Fiction, BBC Two/ Birth of the British Novel, BBC FourTuesday, 08 February 2011
London’s literary world must be as small as it was in the 18th century. Or at least that’s the impression you get when you watch book programmes on the BBC, for it’s the same old characters that keep cropping up. Martin Amis, Will Self, Jenny Uglow... Read more... |
Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards 2011, KokoMonday, 24 January 2011
Club music has always been hard to keep track of, and never more so than in the current climate of constant genre meltdown and cross-fertilisation. Which is why the DJ's art is more important than ever, particularly in the case of scene... Read more... |
Being Human, BBC ThreeSunday, 23 January 2011
Don’t you just hate it when your favourite cult show becomes everybody’s favourite cult show, and then to make matters worse even the damned Americans embrace it? But how could you not love a scarier, bloody version of the sitcom Spaced, or a... Read more... |
Punt & Dennis, TouringThursday, 13 January 2011
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis originally came to fame in the late 1980s as one half of the satirical sketch group The Mary Whitehouse Experience, with fellow Cambridge alumni David Baddiel and Rob Newman. Now, though, most people know them (as a double... Read more... |
Year Out/Year In: Television on DemandWednesday, 29 December 2010
“Television is pretty awful at the moment,” said Eileen Atkins the other week. “Is that because I'm getting old?” Age wouldn’t dare to wither Dame Eileen, of course, who has just bounced back in fine sparky fettle in the BBC's remake of... Read more... |
Whistle and I'll Come to You, BBC TwoSaturday, 25 December 2010
Television has been very good to MR James. The originator of the “antiquarian ghost story” - his plots often hinge on some stumbled-upon medieval relic - his spooky tales are certainly vivid and engaging. Yet he himself professed to never taking... Read more... |
Cage's 4'33" charts: the BBC refuse to play itTuesday, 21 December 2010
Matt Cardle, the X Factor winner, is Number One for Christmas, while John Cage's 4'33" managed to get in the charts at 21, outselling Usher, Tinie Tempah and others for the Christmas charts. Captain SKA didn't get anywhere, however. So will the BBC... Read more... |
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, St David's Hall, CardiffFriday, 12 November 2010
How much do you know about centaurs? Probably you know they are horses below the withers, human above. But did you know they were heavy drinkers who once got out of hand at the wedding of the King of the Lapiths, tried to rape the bride and got... Read more... |
Neil Diamond, Radio 2 Electric Proms, RoundhouseSunday, 31 October 2010
At 7.55pm I was tired and grouchy. By 9.30pm I was a happy man, thanks to Neil Diamond. Say what you like about this 69-year-old singer and songwriter: he may be a cheesy old showbiz pro, but personally I am partial to a bit of cheesy showbiz, and... Read more... |
Yes, Prime Minister, Gielgud TheatreTuesday, 28 September 2010
The business end of 1980s BBC sitcom, the Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister series delivered political body-blows while sporting a dapper suit – satire with a gracious smile. In today’s era of muscled political heavies like The Thick of It, the... Read more... |
Weilerstein, Minnesota Orchestra, Vänskä, Royal Albert HallSaturday, 28 August 2010
One usually has to wait until the fourth movement of a Bruckner symphony before one gets a decent, foot-tappin', knee-slappin' polka to dance to. But at last night's Prom Osmo Vänskä was jitterbugging - and, I think, even moonwalking - from the off... Read more... |
