Madrid Live: Recent Episodes
Madrid Live-Radio-Círculo
Madrid Live is the only English-language radio programme which focuses on the arts, entertainment and social scene in Madrid. Madrid Live is also the only medium in the capital to broadcast interviews with English-speaking celebrities in their original language without dubbing or subtitles. Hence it provides an essential service to tourists and to the 250,000 English-speaking residents, be they native English speakers or Spanish.
Celebrated British playwright Alan Bennett recently published the third edition of his set of memoirs. It’s called “Keeping On, Keeping On”, and it focuses on the work he produced between 2005 to 2014. In those nine years he wrote "The Habit of Art", "People", "Hymn" and "Cocktail Sticks" - all of which premiered at the National Theatre and were very successful. He also wrote the screenplays for the film versions of “The History Boys” which is probably his most famous play and “The Lady in the Van”. “The Lady in the Van” is based on the true story of a lady called Mary Shepherd who lived in an old van on Alan Bennett’s drive. In this edition of Madrid Live, Alan Bennett tells us how “The Lady in the Van” came about and Dame Maggie Smith talks about playing Mary Shepherd. Maggie Smith was nominated for Best Leading Actress at the BAFTA film awards for her role in “The Lady in the Van”. Plus Ann Bateson's interview with American photographers Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel about their photobook “Evidence”. Larry and Mike went though thousands of forensic archives, and picked out 60 photos. They realised they could use scientific fact – these photos - to speak about scientific fiction… what our imagination does with images. They later published the photos in a book called “Evidence” which is regarded as one of the most important photobooks in the history of photography. The photos in "Evidence” were also on show at the PhotoEspaña Festival in Madrid.
In this show - Ann Bateson's interview with multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Leo Sidran who performed with his "Groovy French Band" at the Café Central in Madrid. Leo wrote hit songs for rock musician Steve Miller when he was in his teens. In 2005, he teamed up with singer - songwriter Jorge Drexler to co-produce a song called "Al Otro Lado del Río", which is on the soundtrack to the film "The Motor Cycle Diaries". "Al Otro Lado del Río" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2005.
This show features Ann Bateson's interview with British new wave icon Nick Lowe who performed in Madrid a few years ago. Lowe is probably best known for his songs “Cruel to be Kind” and “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass”. But he was also influential on the British punk and new wave scene in the seventies when he produced innovative musicians such as The Damned and Elvis Costello for Stiff Records. Happily, 50 years on, Nick Lowe’s still making music. He recently released an album with a country and western feel to it called “At My Age”.
In this edition of Madrid Live, Ann Bateson interviews directors Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin about their award-winning film "What We Did On Our Holiday", starring Billy Connolly, David Tennant and Rosamund Pike.
Andy Hamilton is of course a comedian and a regular panelist on the game show "Have I Got News for You", and Hamilton and Jenkin are the creative team behind the TV show "Outnumbered", starring Hugh Dennis, where the child actors improvise. "Outnumbered" was such a success that Hamilton and Jenkin wanted to work with children in a feature film. The result is "What We Did On Our Holiday" which was one of the highest grossing films in Madrid ever and is now available on DVD.
In this edition of Madrid Live, we feature Ann Bateson's interview with one of the world's greatest war photographers, Sir Don McCullin, who was recently knighted for his services to photography. McCullin has also published a set of books entitled "Irreconcilable Truths", which document his life and career and contain over 700 photographs - many of which appeared in an exhibition of his work which toured to Madrid a few years ago.
In this edition of Madrid Live, we wish to raise awareness about Female Genital Mutilation by focusing on the true story of Somali nomad Waris Dirie who walked hundreds of miles across the desert when she was 13 to escape from an arranged marriage. Years later, when she was a supermodel, she revealed she’d suffered genital mutilation when she was only five. Since then, she’s dedicated her life to fighting this ritual. Waris Dirie wrote her autobiography a few years ago and a film’s been made of the book. It’s called “Desert Flower” and it recently came out on DVD. In this show, we hear from Waris herself, and Sherry Hormann who directed the film.
In the latest edition of Madrid Live, we pay tribute to visionary artist and musician Daniel Johnston who died a few months ago. We talk to Jeff Feuerzeig who made a documentary about Johnston’s life called "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" which is showing at the Madrid Inverfest festival in February. In the film, Feuerzeig features interviews with people who knew Daniel as well as songs he recorded on cassettes, and video clips about his life.
Daniel Johnston became well known in the '90s when Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain referred to him as the "greatest songwriter on Earth". In fact, some of Johnston’s songs were covered by Nirvana, Sonic Youth and even David Bowie.
Plus Ann Bateson's interview with Irish writer Barry McCrea about his novel "The First Verse". Barry’s main character Niall goes to Trinity College, Dublin and meets a couple of students who decide that signs and symbols from books should determine their actions. What starts off being an intriguing game for Niall becomes increasingly dramatic and addictive. "The First Verse", which has been described as "a dazzling fictional and intellectual debut”, has also been published in Spanish.
In this edition of Madrid Live, presenter Ann Bateson interviews author Chris Stewart about his best-selling book "Driving Over Lemons". Chris tells us how he fell in love with the Alpujarra mountains in the south of Spain and decided to settle there. We find out how he gets to grips with the terrain, the lifestyle and the locals. We also dip into Chris's second book, "The Parrot in the Pepper Tree", which is mainly about Chris's life before he moved to Spain. For example, did you know he used to be the drummer with the band Genesis?
It's forty years since the British punk band The Clash released their iconic album "London Calling". We pay tribute to the Clash lead singer and guitarist, Joe Strummer, with music journalist David Blundell.
Music: "Bend and Break", Keane; "London Calling", The Clash; "Rock the Kasbah", The Clash.