The Author Archive Podcast

Jeremy Worman - The Way to Hornsey Rise : an Autobiographical Novel

In his excellently written evocative memoir, Jeremy Worman recounts how a privately educated schoolboy came to live in the biggest squat in Europe.  

This is a personal story, but it is also full of observations about the way the world was back then.

Jeremy met the most glamorous film star of the time, saw Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight festival..... and fell in love.

Twice.

This autobiographical novel was published in March 2023

 

 

 

 

 

Marilyn Wisbey : Gangster’s Moll. A true life crime story.

Marilyn Wisbey is the daughter of one of the Great Train Robbers. She grew up with her father in jail and remembers the difficulties of visiting him.

When she was an adult she was drawn to criminals and for ten years was the partner of the gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser.

Listening to this interview now there are so many questions I would like to ask ....... what was the electric pliers incident??

Gangster's Moll was published in 2001.

Patricia Cornwell : Isle of Dogs

Patricia Cornwell became successful at writing crime novels because she knew what she was writing about. 

She had been a journalist covering crime when she took a job in the office of the Chief Medical Officer of Virginia.

Her first hand experience lead to the writing of the Kay Scarpetta series of novels.

This interview was recorded in London when Patricia was launching the third of the Trooper Andy Brazil novels.

 

 

Toby Matthiesen : The Caliph and the Imam : The making of Sunnism and Shiism

Dr Toby Matthiesen is Senior Lecturer in Global Religious Studies at the University of Bristol. 

In this new book Dr Matthiesen looks at the way, at this death, the followers of the Prophet Muhammad disagreed on who should succeed him. This argument started in AD632. This book traces the history of the split through history and shines a light on the modern world. Was the invasion of Iraq a good idea?

The Caliph and the Imam is published by Oxford University Press.

Mike McCartney, Roger McGough, John Gorman known collectively as Liverpool group, The Scaffold

In spring 1973 these three Liverpudlians were the comedy, poetry and musical group The Scaffold.

Mike McCartney was known as Mike McGear to differentiate himself from his Beatle brother Paul.

This conversation was recorded at a time when the trio were travelling the country to promote their Island LP, Fresh Liver.

From time to time they became serious but the overriding atmosphere was a bit silly. Some of what was said shows how perceptions of what is funny have changed over 50 years!

Carl Hiaasen - Basket Case : The case of the dead rock star.

The journalist and novelist talked to David Freeman in London when his novel Basket Case was first published.

It's a mystery surrounding the fate of the frontman of Jimmy and the Slut Puppies. On the surface it looks like he died in a  scuba diving accident .... but maybe that just doesn't smell right.

Michael G.Welham : Combat Divers

Mike Welham used to have a career as a combat diver so he has a handle on the secret subject he writes about.

This elite within an elite are sadly very relevant in our world today with a war in Europe. The author explains. 

Geoffrey Ashe : The Secret History of the Hell Fire Clubs.

'Do what you will' was the motto of the Hell Fire Clubs whose members did precisely that. Dressing up as monks and romping with 'nuns' was just part of their life.

Geoffrey Ashe first wrote about the Hell Fire Clubs 20 years ago and the latest reprint was in 2019. He lived in Glastonbury and wrote much about Arthurian legends. He died at the age of 98 in 2022.

 

 

 

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.

 

Richard Kolada - Holy Ghost: The Life and Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler.

Albert Ayler is a mythic figure amongst the musically curious and those drawn to the further reaches of sonic expression. Although he played inside the boundaries of what could be recognised as 'jazz' his influence extended far beyond into rock and even 'serious' music.

His biography, published in the UK by JawBone Press is the work of extensive and lengthy research by American academic and music fan Richard Kolada.