The Author Archive Podcast

Stuart Nicholson : A Portrait of Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington is famous, but what was he really like.

In this biography published in 2000,  Stuart Nicholson writes about the man who was a brilliant  instinctive and  sophisticated musician.

Was he then a bit of a goody goody?

As Stuart Nicholson told me he was not in any way a goody goody!

 

 

 

Alison Latham : The Oxford Companion to Music

The Oxford Companion to Music is probably the most famous music reference book of them all.

The latest edition was first published in 2002. It has over 120 contributors and covers covers the whole universe of music.

I spoke to the editor Alison Latham soon after publication.

A huge task to pull such a tome together ..... but maybe an enjoyable job?

 

 

Jon Ronson : Them

Jon Ronson was not so well known when this conversation was recorded in the early 2000s

I was very taken with the subject of the book and the way Jon talked about it.

Being a Jewish journalist getting involved with people money raising for Hamas seemed improbable. It's true of course, as was Jon's interest in the wilder fancies of David Icke. Jon might well be fascinated by the wacky thoughts put about by the Trump administration.

'Them' is a terrific read.

Brian Keenan - Turlough : The Northern Irish Poet was held hostage in Beirut in the dark. Turlough came to visit..

As war rages in Europe again it becomes clear that the capacity for cruelty of man to a fellow human is seemingly infinite.

This interview with the Northern Irish poet Brian Keenan took place in London a full 10 years after his release from his barbaric incarceration in Beirut where he had been  teaching at the local university.

Brian talks eloquently about his brutal treatment, but also about the strange things that can happen when confronted with sensory  deprivation.

 

Dennis McNally - A Long Strange Trip : The Inside Story of the Grateful Dead

As the news from America becomes more and more worrying it's good to look back to the last century when everything was different and some American rock musicians brought joy to the world.  Peace and Love meant something back then.

The Grateful Dead were very successful despite having no chart hits and they had a huge dedicated fanbase.

They were formed in California in 1965 and performed regularly for 30 years.

The anniversaries have spawned renewed interest in the band.

Dennis McNally was their official archivist.

This conversation was recorded in 2015.

Ashley Kahn : Kind of Blue - The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece

Kind of Blue is the most successful jazz LP ever made. It was recorded over two sessions in New York in 1959 and is still revered as a masterpiece.

Ashley Kahn told David Freeman the story behind a historic music event.

Leslie Howard - The Celestial Wife

This novel is set in the 1960s with a backdrop of The Beatles and other music of the time.

It tells the story of Daisy Shoemaker who is 15 in 1964. She was born into a fundamentalist Mormon community on the US - Canada border.

In a ceremony called Placement she is given as a teenage wife to a much older man. She finds this intolerable and runs away.

The church official who makes the decisions is known as Bishop and he assures his followers that he has a direct line to God. Amazingly they believe him.

It's a gripping and enraging read. It's fiction but events like the book describes are still happening today. The fundamentalist cult is vey much alive and well.

There is a Netflix documentary about the group .. Keep Sweet : Pray and Obey.

Robin Dunbar - How Religion Evolved And Why it Endures

Religion still motivates sime people.

In early 2025 a million Hindus tried to bathe in a river at the same time. Why would anyone think this would be a good idea.

Robin Dunbar is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. From his academic standpoint he charts the evolution of religion in all its many guises and forms.

Does the professor's analysis explain the enduring but shrinking appeal of non logical beliefs?

Harriet Walter - Thoughts on Acting

Channel 4 are presnting an engrossing drama depicting the professional relationship that evolved between Mrs Thatcher the politician and  Brian Walden the labour MP turned television interviewer.

The two lead actors Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter are excellent at showing the  friendly dimension to the relationship that turned sour under media pressure.

David Freeman talked to the actress Harriet Walter when her autobiography 'Other People's Shoes' was published in 2003.

Wells Jones : A Line in the Sand

A Line in the Sand is a novel about two friends on an adventure in the Middle East based on an actual journey two real life friends took to Saudi Arabia and Damascus in 2006. 

One of the inspirations for the trip was T.E Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia. The two authors Miles Spencer and Wells Jones had worked on a stage play based on the life of Lawrence and they decided to take a trip to see the landscape for themselves and meet the people Lawrence identified with.

This conversation with Wells Jones took place on 15th January 2025 when a cease fire had just been signed between Israel and Hamsas.

Line in the Sand explains some of the long history behind the conflict in the Middle East.