John Pidgeon (writer)
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John Pidgeon (writer)
William John Gilmour Pidgeon (1 March 1947 – 19 July 2016) was a British journalist, author, music historian, radio producer, comedy executive and crossword compiler. Early life and career One of three children, Pidgeon's parents were Frederick "Joe" Pidgeon, an engineer in the civil service, and Margaret Rawson. He was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, and brought up in Downley, a village in Buckinghamshire. While a pupil at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, his time there overlapped with Ian Dury and Roger Scruton. He studied French at the University of Kent and undertook postgraduate Film Studies under Thorold Dickinson at the Slade School, where his writing career began with a review of ''Carry On Henry'' for the British Film Institute's ''Monthly Film Bulletin''. An uncredited script for a BBC 2 ''Film Night'' special on pop movies followed, and in July 1972 he began a weekly film guide for ''New Musical Express''. Music writing and radio Around the same time he was invi ...
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Carlisle, Cumberland
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City of Carlisle district which, (along with Cumbria County Council) will be replaced by Cumberland Council in April 2023. The city became an established settlement during the Roman Empire to serve forts on Hadrian's Wall. During the Middle Ages, the city was an important military stronghold due to its proximity to the Kingdom of Scotland. Carlisle Castle, still relatively intact, was built in 1092 by William Rufus, served as a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots in 1568 and now houses the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and the Border Regiment Museum. In the early 12th century, Henry I allowed a priory to be built. The priory gained cathedral status with a diocese in 1133, the city status rules at the time meant the settlement became a city. From t ...
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Mark Kermode
Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', presents a weekly Scala Radio film music show and the BBC Four documentary series ''Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema'', and is a co-presenter of the film-review podcast ''Kermode & Mayo's Take'' alongside long-time collaborator Simon Mayo. Kermode previously co-presented the BBC Radio 5 Live show ''Kermode and Mayo's Film Review'', and previously co-presented the BBC Two arts programme ''The Culture Show''. He is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and a founding member of the skiffle band the Dodge Brothers, for which he plays double bass. Early life Kermode was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. He was educated at The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, a private boys' school in Elstree, Hertfordshire, the same year as ac ...
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Morning Zoo
Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting. The name is derived from the wackiness and zaniness of the activities, segments, and overall personality of the show and its hosts. The morning zoo concept and name is most often deployed on Top 40 (CHR) radio stations. A morning zoo typically consists of two or more radio personalities, usually capable of spontaneous comic interaction as well as competent delivery of news and service elements. Most morning zoo programs involve scripted or live telephone calls, on-air games, and regular contests. History The first morning zoo program, focusing on the zany interactions of two hosts, was conceived and performed in 1981 by Scott Shannon and Cleveland Wheeler of WRBQ-FM in Tampa, Florida, known at the time as Q105 FM. Wheeler had been serving as the personality DJ hosting the morning drive program for the station's previous four years. Shannon was the new operations manager in January 1981 ...
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Richard Skinner (broadcaster)
Richard Skinner (born 26 December 1951) is a British radio and television presenter. He was the opening announcer and TV anchor at the Live Aid concert in 1985, and is the only presenter to have fronted all three of the BBC's leading pop music programmes, ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' and ''Top of the Pops'' on television and the Radio One Top 40 show. Early career Skinner grew up in Portsmouth where he attended Portsmouth Grammar School. In 1970, while still at school, he co-founded Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting, a radio station serving St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth. He later became a newspaper reporter for '' The News'' in Portsmouth and a newspaper in Kent before joining BBC Radio Medway as a music presenter. Later in 1971, Skinner joined BBC Radio Solent as a station assistant; he would later present weekly pop show ''Beat 'n Track'' on Solent. Radio 1 In October 1973, Skinner joined BBC Radio 1 as one of the original presenters of ''Newsbeat''. He continued in this ...
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Classic Albums
''Classic Albums'' is a British documentary series about pop, rock and heavy metal albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music. Format The TV series was made by Isis Productions and distributed by Eagle Rock Entertainment. It is shown on various broadcasters including BBC, ITV, Sky Arts, VH1 and VH1 Classic. They are also available on DVD. The show is similar in structure to VH1's short-lived 2001 series Ultimate Albums. The music, and its production, is dissected by the musicians and/or producer playing the multitrack recordings and singling out tracks that one does not usually consciously hear when listening to the music, giving insight into the way the sound is built up. Also, the individual musicians play back pieces, which are then blended with the original recording. Almost all songs are dealt with, focusing almost entirely on the music itself, how it was composed/realised. P ...
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Roger Scott
Roger Scott (23 October 1943 – 31 October 1989) was a British radio disc jockey. He was best known for presenting an afternoon radio show on London's Capital London from 1973 until 1988 and was also best known for presenting his late night Sunday show, ''Scott on Sunday'' on BBC Radio 1 until his death from cancer. Born in London in 1943, Roger Scott developed an early love of the rock and roll music being created at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s. As a teenager, he began playing records out the window of his suburban London home and watching the reaction of passers-by to the music. Early career After a brief time as a merchant seaman, Scott found his way to the United States and joined the radio station WPTR in Albany, New York in 1966. Scott's job, based on his British accent, was to be 'friend of the Beatles', and Scott learned the craft of disc jockey, working with Boom Boom Brannigan and other legendary names at the station. Eight months later he left WPTR ...
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Capital London
Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. Its brief was to entertain, while its opposite number, London Broadcasting (LBC), was licensed to provide news and information. In search of a larger audience in 1974, Capital Radio rapidly moved from a general and entertainment station with drama, features, documentaries and light music to a more successful pop music-based format. In 1988 it became two stations: 95.8 Capital FM and Capital Gold. After some national expansion with the purchase of other radio stations the Capital Radio Group merged with GWR Group in 2005 to form GCap Media which in turn was taken over by Global Radio in 2008. In 2011 Capital was launched nationally, apart from the daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows, becoming part of the Capital FM Network. In 2019 ...
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The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz. Their 1978 debut album, ''Outlandos d'Amour'', reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart on the strength of the singles " Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You". Their second album, ''Reggatta de Blanc'' (1979), became the first of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia; its first two singles, "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon", became their first UK number ones. Their next two albums, ''Zenyatta Mondatta'' (1980) and ''Ghost in the Machine'' (1981), led to further critical and commercial success with two songs, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Ev ...
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Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born composer, publisher Lawrence Wright; the first editor was Edgar Jackson. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publication) ''New Musical Express''. 1950s–1960s Originally the ''Melody Maker'' (''MM'') concentrated on jazz, and had Max Jones, one of the leading British proselytizers for that music, on its staff for many years. It was slow to cover rock and roll and lost ground to the ''New Musical Express'' (''NME''), which had begun in 1952. ''MM'' launched its own weekly singles chart (a top 20) on 7 April 1956, and an LPs charts in November 1958, two years after the ''Record Mirror'' had published the first UK Albums Chart. From 1964, the paper led its rival publications in terms of approac ...
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Richard Williams (journalist)
Richard Williams (born 1947 in Sheffield) is a British music and sports journalist. As a writer, then deputy editor, of the weekly music newspaper ''Melody Maker'', he became an influential commentator on the rise of new forms of rock music at the end of the 1960s. Williams and ''MM'', as it was known, helped promote and contextualise the progressive in pop music. In particular, Williams wrote several key articles around 1970 that increased UK attention to the (then disintegrating) Velvet Underground. ''Melody Maker'' still covered jazz and Williams wrote about the more progressive developments in this field also. The magazine's serious approach to rock music and culture, under the editorship of Ray Coleman, secured ''MM'' a huge circulation by the close of the 1960s and the start of the 1970s. It left ''New Musical Express'', a more pop-orientated weekly, in its wake as ''MM'' caught the mood of rock followers at a time when the music had transcended its Top 40 roots to become ...
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Stan Bowles
Stanley Bowles (born 24 December 1948) is an English former professional footballer who as a player in the 1970s was known for his skills as a forward, and also gained a reputation as one of the game's great non-conformists and mavericks. Club career Bowles was born in Collyhurst, Manchester, Lancashire. He began his career as an apprentice at Manchester City, although his fiery temper resulted in his falling out with coach Malcolm Allison and being released after a series of off-field incidents. After a brief and unsuccessful stay at Bury, he was signed by Ernie Tagg, manager of Crewe Alexandra, then in the Fourth Division, where his skill caught the eye of a number of bigger clubs. In October 1971 he was signed by Carlisle United, at the time a Second Division club, and scored 13 goals in 36 appearances for the club. After a managerial change at the club, he was sold to Queens Park Rangers (QPR) for £110,000 in September 1972. He replaced in the team a previous QPR folk hero ...
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Time Out (magazine)
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became a free publication, with a weekly readership of over 307,000. ''Time Out''s global market presence includes partnerships with Nokia and mobile apps for iOS and Android (operating system), Android operating systems. It was the recipient of the International Consumer Magazine of the Year award in both 2010 and 2011 and the renamed International Consumer Media Brand of the Year in 2013 and 2014. History ''Time Out'' was first published in 1968 as a London listings magazine by Tony Elliott (publisher), Tony Elliott, who used his birthday money to produce a one-sheet pamphlet, with Bob Harris (radio presenter), Bob Harris as co-editor. The first product was titled ''Where It's At'', before being inspired by Dave Brubeck's album ''Time Out ...
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