The Author Archive Podcast

This conversation looks back at the post war time when all the world aspired to be young and American.

America was really perceived to be great back then. 

How times change ........

Joseph Connolly paints a rock 'n roll picture.

When one looks at the antics and attitudes of the current president of the USA it easy to see parallels  with the world view of Henry VIII. Although this account of the life lead by Henry VIII was first published at the turn of the century it is still selling well.

Alison Weir thinks the key to understanding the famous Tudor King is to realise that he was never alone. Even a conjugal visit to his wife or a trip to the loo were attended by courtiers.

Popular accessible history at it's entertaining best.

After Ashley Kahn had published his book on the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue he turned his attention to the timeless John Coltrane record A Love Supreme.

Not only is this still a highly regarded jazz performance, A Love Supreme is now the title of the biggest open air jazz festival in the UK.

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!

 

 

 

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 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.

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.

 

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.

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.

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.