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      The secret life of Paul O’Grady – by his friends: ‘His number’s still saved in my phone. I can’t delete it’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Yesterday - 10:00 · 1 minute

    He rose to fame as foul-mouthed drag star, Lily Savage, then abandoned the wig and became a national treasure. Friends including Sandi Toksvig, Amanda Holden and Gaby Roslin remember a true, terrific one-off

    ‘I can’t believe it’s been a year,” says Malcolm Prince, the producer of Paul O’Grady’s long-running Sunday teatime Radio 2 show. “Awful, awful, awful, awful. It’s been such a very difficult year. I’m embarrassed to say how tricky it’s been.”

    O’Grady’s death on 28 March 2023 , from sudden cardiac arrhythmia, came as a shock to the world. For decades, he had achieved the rare feat of presenting himself to the public as he truly was: funny, sharp, outspoken and compassionate in roughly equal measure. To some, he was best known as a comedian, to others a gameshow host, or an animal lover, or a political firebrand, or an LGBTQ+ pioneer. O’Grady’s appeal was so broad that people argued about what his legacy should be after he died; even ITV’s big Good Friday show this year, a documentary entitled The Life and Death of Lily Savage, can’t begin to contain the multitudes in O’Grady’s life, instead choosing to focus on the years he spent in drag.

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      Sunday with Vick Hope: ‘I’ll never say no to a game of Scrabble’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · 4 days ago - 06:45

    The broadcaster talks about getting up early and enjoying her Sundays, with mint tea, books and being outside in nature

    Early riser? I try not to lie in too late – I’m normally awake for 9am – because I want to make the most of it. There’s a real nice feeling on a Sunday. I like the vibe.

    Coffee or alcohol? There’s a little coffee shop near to where I live that does a great flat white. I used to have a glass of red wine with my dinner, but I’m drinking a lot less than I ever used to because the hangovers are getting worse. Now I sip a cup of mint tea – not very rock’n’roll, I know.

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      Mark and Lard: ‘We were told no one wants to hear two Mancunians shouting at each other’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 18 March - 09:00 · 1 minute

    Mark Radcliffe and Marc ‘Lard’ Riley were the unlikely lads of 90s radio. Twenty years after their final show, they’re back, touring the UK with tales from the wireless’s wildest ride

    You’ll remember Mark Radcliffe and Marc “the Boy Lard” Riley from their riotous Radio 1 shows in the 90s and early 00s, first late night on the graveyard shift in 1993, then in a short, ill-fitting turn as bleary-eyed DJs on the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1997, before conquering early afternoons from 1997 to 2004. (Riley’s nickname came after a back injury when he made the mistake of admitting he needed to “shift some lard”.) They brought us memorable catchphrases – “Stop … carry on!”, “by Jovi” and “wickedy wickedy warp” – as well as characters such as Fat Harry White (who was really just Radcliffe doing a Barry White impression into a vocoder). And they cared about the music, championing new bands, just so long as it wasn’t (as they pronounced it) the Stere- O phonics.

    The pair haven’t appeared together on the radio since 2004, with Radcliffe going on to find a new chum in Stuart Maconie on Radio 2 and 6 Music, and Riley hosting his own show on 6, before teaming up with Gideon Coe. But now they’re back for Carry on: An Evening With Mark and Lard , which promises chat, music and plenty of reminiscing. We caught up with the pair while they were getting suited up at the tailors to chat Kylie, Bowie, where it all went right … and where it all went horribly wrong. Biggedy biggedy bong!

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      Lorna Rose Treen: ‘Someone shouted along to one of my jokes, like I was a band’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 18 March - 07:26 · 1 minute

    The character comic on gigging with chickens, harnessing the power of embarrassment and her spoof Radio 4 current affairs show

    What first drew you to character comedy?
    As a kid I loved television, especially whatever my parents watched. Dad liked the anarchic 80s stuff like The Young Ones . Mum liked the 90s situational stuff like The Vicar of Dibley and The Royle Family . My taste was an amalgamation of theirs, plus The Simpsons. For a weird kid, it was glorious to see huge, strange characters being laughed at and celebrated for their stupidity, eccentricity and energy. When I started gigging, it was a no-brainer to do character comedy. Standups create a persona anyway, so I thought: why not make a persona who is much more fun to play than me?

    How did you get into comedy?
    For ages, wanting to do comedy was a secret I was too scared to admit. As a teen I came up with the most roundabout ways that I could to end up “accidentally” doing comedy. One plan was to get a job presenting BBC Breakfast with Charlie and Susanna. Then the BBC would ask me on Let’s Dance for Sport Relief. I’d say, “Ohh scary hehehe,” and I’d end up being hilarious and everyone would laugh at me. Eventually a confident pal took me to a workshop run by a university improv troupe, who ended up scouting me for their show. Officially funny and cool people telling me I was funny was the boost I needed to admit I wanted to try it properly.

    Lorna Rose Treen: Skin Pigeon is at Soho theatre, London , 3-6 July. Time of the Week will air on BBC Radio 4 in the spring

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      Mood music that hits the wrong note in hospital | Letters

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 17 March - 16:42

    Readers respond to Nell Frizzell’s article on pop music being played as she waited for a medical appointment

    If you think listening to Carly Rae Jepsen in a hospital waiting room is bad ( Sweating with fear, I waited to hear the doctor’s verdict. Then the radio started playing Call Me Maybe …, 13 March ), try being wheeled in for an abortion to the sound of – I kid you not – Barry White. A moment so surreal that I often think I must have imagined it. But I know it happened because it was before they gave me the drugs. Everything went smoothly, as you can imagine.
    Name and address supplied

    • Eight years ago in Fairbanks, Alaska, I was about to go under to have a cataract removed. I was asked what music I’d like. The Buena Vista Social Club , I replied. Less than 60 seconds later, I drifted off to those warm notes before I had time to be surprised that first, the specialist knew of it, and second, that they had it to hand. I like to think my improved eyesight owes a little to that relaxing music.
    Flora Grabowska
    Crovie, Aberdeenshire

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      The Rev Richard Coles: ‘I think my CV looks like the work of a fantasist’

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 16 March - 18:00

    The pop star turned vicar and radio host on his new career as crime novelist, missing the clergy and why his books speak to the anxiety of uncertain times

    After being a pop star in his 20s (as keyboard player in the Communards with Jimmy Somerville), Richard Coles became an Anglican vicar and then a broadcaster (notably as a co-presenter for 12 years on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live ). The 61-year-old is now a bestselling novelist: his second “cosy crime” book, A Death in the Parish , featuring the country vicar and occasional sleuth Canon Daniel Clement, is out now in paperback; a third mystery follows this summer. He lives in East Sussex with his two dachshunds Pongo and Daisy.

    You have just completed a seven-month nationwide tour called Borderline National Trinket . It looked like an exhausting schedule...
    It’s been quite a do. The last time I toured I was in my 20s, and hotel breakfasts and midnight kebabs in your 20s are not so injurious to your health and wellbeing as they are in your 60s. So you’ve got to work out a way of doing it. But the shows were great.

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      The week in audio: Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Joanne McNally Investigates; The Sports Agents; Diving With A Purpose – review

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 16 March - 17:00

    Joanne McNally has fun with a pop-world conspiracy theory; Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman show their tougher sides; plus, an uplifting hunt for a shipwreck

    Who Replaced Avril Lavigne? Joanne McNally Investigates (BBC Radio 5 Live) | BBC Sounds
    The Sports Agents | Global
    The Documentary: Diving With A Purpose (BBC World Service) | BBC Sounds

    Who Replaced Avril Lavigne is an airy, almost weightless new podcast from BBC Sounds. In it, jovial comedian Joanne McNally is given the assignment of “investigating” the several-years-old conspiracy theory that Canadian pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne is not actually Avril at all any more, but someone else called Melissa Vandella. Before we get into it, let me give you a huge spoiler. Avril Lavigne is fine. She has not been replaced. I know! Worrashocker.

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      Bill Gates, Dua Lipa, Meghan, Hillary: how interview podcasts became a must-have for celebrities

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 16 March - 11:55

    Pop stars, politicians, princes all seem to have the same job these days – podcast interviewer. But while these pods are great for brand-building and soft power, are they damaging the industry at large?

    Things have come a long way since the 2004 Guardian article credited with coining the term “podcast”. That piece describes a new format that combines “the intimacy of voice, the interactivity of a weblog, and the convenience and portability of an MP3 download”, before speculating somewhat breathlessly that “one might soon be able to make a living doing this”.

    Twenty years later, the hosts of the SmartLess podcast, actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, just signed a $100m dollar deal with American radio network Sirius XM to host the podcast on the network for three years. Joe Rogan just renewed a deal with Spotify for an estimated $250m to host his podcast on its platform. The biggest tech companies in the world – Amazon, Spotify, Apple – are desperate to have a library of hit podcasts and are willing to stump up for anything that seems like a proven winner.

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      Emma Barnett to join BBC Radio 4’s Today programme

      news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 15 March - 13:23

    Woman’s Hour presenter will replace Martha Kearney as member of morning show’s team from May

    Emma Barnett, the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, will join the Today programme from May.

    Barnett, who had been tipped for the role with the BBC’s flagship morning radio show after Martha Kearney announced last month she was to step down, said she was “delighted to be joining a programme that occupies such a unique space in British life”.

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