Monkey Scribbling: Recent Episodes
Monkey Scribbling
What were we thinking? What were we writing?! Two old friends rediscover their teenage correspondence and take you back to the early 90s, when men were boys, booze was cheap and women were elusive. Through barely legible letters they exchange tales of student life in Coventry, Manchester and their Wirral homeland; recommend 'boss' tunes to one another and generally do everything they can to get cancelled, before the term existed. In order to hide the identities of the guilty, those mentioned in the letters have been hidden behind the names of famous tennis players of the era.
Join Jeff (Rich) and Pat (Pete) for the tenth and final episode of Monkey Scribbling, which is based around a conversation recorded in May 2021. Here, as well as revealing that he has uncovered a fresh batch of old letters, Rich talks frankly about his cancer diagnosis, chemo, wise words from Bill Wyman, watching terrible Liverpool games, hypothetical human sacrifice, mindfulness and finding your equilibrium.
There are links to some of the topics we cover below, as well as details of how to donate to two of the organisations who helped care for Rich and his family this past year. Rich died on 25 September 2021 and a celebration of his life followed his cremation on 10 October, during which the Spotify playlist mentioned in this episode was played on shuffle. Called ‘The Great Rich Pye’s Greatest Hits’ you can find a link to that here. When you run out of words, there’s always the music, and through it so many happy memories.
On Rich’s diagnosis, Mia says, ‘Unbeknownst to him he had developed Barrett’s Oesophagus, and this nasty cancer followed on from that, just quietly growing, showing no symptoms, until he struggled to swallow food a couple of weeks before diagnosis. Anyone (or anyone you know) who suffers from reflux / indigestion over a long period of time, please take it seriously and visit a doctor regularly, (especially anyone with Barrett’s, who should have regular (3yrly) endoscopies). Caught early there are many treatments available.’
More on oesophageal cancer/Barrett's here.
Ronnie Wood’s words that Rich mentions.
Mind on Mindfulness.
St John’s Hospice North Lancashire and South Lakes fundraising page for Rich.
CancerCare North Lancashire & South Cumbria fundraising page for Rich.
Jeff (Rich) and Pat (Pete) begin Episode 9 of their 90s letter-writing podcast by reliving their past duals on the court, discussing how to convert their gardens into tennis courts, and immodestly speculating on where would be appropriate for statues of themselves to be built. Matters of legacy are further explored when Jeff challenges Pat on the origins of the French Open, a tournament Pat struggles to remember playing in. Also this time, an exclusive insight into John McEnroe’s little-remembered stint teaching English in a scary-sounding Hungarian town; Jeff’s drinking ends in ignominy outside the TSB in Didsbury before he’s helped home by Boris Becker, and a love of swearing in your 20s is practised and analysed. Musical snippets this time come from the evergreen Neil Young and his former collaborators Pearl Jam.
Pat opens Episode 8 of the Monkey Scribbling pod by declaring ‘the suffering is imminent’ in a letter dated 1 March 1993, though what this boils down to is doubts about his choice of university course, an averagely-graded essay on The Deer Hunter, almost getting into a drunken fight with Ivan Lendl, and attending a couple of crap parties. His lifelong tennis partner, Jeff is compelled to point out that it’s not all doom and gloom – that 58% isn’t a disaster, he’s received a Valentine’s card from Gigi Fernandez, and lives in relative harmony with Lendl and Philippoussis, the latter of whom introduces him to Irish punk, neo-psychedelic, garage rock band, The Golden Horde. Also featuring Freud-bashing, FBI men in sunglasses and a French bloke dancing in leather pants, the latest Monkey Scribbling is guaranteed to shock, confound and amuse you in equal measure – or your postage back (terms and conditions apply).
In Episode 7 of everyone’s favourite sports-flavoured, letter-writing podcast, former tennis aces Jeff (Rich) and Pat (Pete) expertly preview the start of the new football season, plug the Tennis World Tour computer game, and explain the rules of 10-pin bowling and letter-writing etiquette for your benefit. In Jeff’s latest letter, he reveals that he has been drinking a tad too much, encouraged by the lads’ old school friend Jeremy Bates on the Union bar (a job he may or may not have returned to after his tennis career wound up). In the film world, Dracula is reviewed (i.e. panned) but its fly-eating co-star Tom Waits is praised for his Closing Time LP.
Tunes this time come from Mr Waits himself, Neil Young and the Stereo MC’s – all music to the ears of Jeff’s new (in 1993), perpetually hungry tape-to-tape machine. The cassette tape as a musical medium is discussed, along with its influence on a new generation of artists. Jeff remains incredulous!
The letter shared in Episode 6 of Monkey Scribbling raises some concerns over 19-year-old Pat’s tendency to get cabbaged when not on the pro tennis circuit. Does his overindulgence explain why instead of attending underground raves and Suede gigs he is watching school-based drama Grange Hill on a Friday night, before dancing to the Rupert the Bear theme tune in a club resembling Fred Flintstone’s cave?
Also this week, the grizzled ex-pros recall being chased by Phil Mitchell types; the continued allure of Yorkshire lass Gabriela Sabatini; the pros and cons of being called Ian, and much else besides under a protective musical canopy woven from Arrested Development, The Doors, Alan Hawkshaw, and Nico, among others. As ever, the episode also contains the very latest sports news, including the much-anticipated announcement of the Wimbledon tennis cup winners (clue: not Becker or Hingis this time round).
Episode 5 of Monkey Scribbling skips daintily through time, beginning with the latest Wimbledon news and ending with a prequel to the lads’ student letter-writing days in which one of the doubles partners undertakes some dangerously indiscrete vomming following a schoolboy whisky-drinking session with the other and two charming Irish retirees during a Coventry University open day.
There’s also indie vs. rave, word-processing vs. handwriting, The Hacienda vs. The Edge, Manchester rain as an early hair loss indicator, and Jeff’s battles with Boris Becker on the squash court and Martina Hinges off it. Musical inspirations cited this week include The Shamen, Sonic Youth, Sugar, The Cure, The Wonderstuff and The Levellers, there being only one way of life (unless you get corrupted by Ebeneezer).
Take a double trip back in time with Rich (Jeff) and Pete (Pat) this week as the lads revisit both their university days in late November 1992, with the help of their priceless archive of old letters, and the glory days of Euro 2020 as the tennis aces speculate on whether England will beat Germany back in June of this year (no spoilers). The theme this week touches on the gifts the cash-strapped students sent each other through the post back in the day that included stinky incense, imaginary pints, and a plastic Kiwi fruit spoon, the significance of which (like so much else) the tennis aces struggle to determine. There’s also weird dreams guest-starring Gazza, the dream-like reality of Channel 4’s anarchic late night show, The Word – an episode featuring Oliver Reed and L7 is remembered in perhaps too much detail – and film reviews that fail to spare Nicolas Cage‘s feelings. Booze rears its ugly head once more when Jeff and Pat recall the whisky coma Jim Courier fell into in Steffi Graff’s barn on the Wirral, and the possible link to his trademarked coppery hair.
In this bumper episode, recorded on a balmy July evening in a Lancaster summerhouse, the lads delve back into the letter-writing archive and show off their American Studies GCSE knowledge by revisiting the Bush/Clinton years with varying degrees of accuracy. There’s more politics later when IRA bomb scares are remembered, and the North/South divide is discussed within the context of the never-ending student discos. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of mirth as well as Pat and Jeff discuss haircut inflation, Pat falling for ‘Yorkshire lass’ Gabriela Sabatini, Stefan Edberg rampaging unapologetically across Warwick’s campus, and Jeff’s decadent yet educational commitment to music. The tennis aces also pose (and answer) a question that listeners will have been asking themselves since Episode One: why did they write and post these letters in the first place? If you’re enjoying Monkey Scribbling, don’t forget to rate us on iTunes or your preferred listening platform so we can spread the words.
Rally round Rich (aka Jeff Tarango) and Pete (aka Pat Cash) as they continue serving up letters sent to each other from university in the early ‘90s. Make that ‘ooo’ noise like they do at Wimbledon as the origins of the podcast are traced to a boozy encounter at the Australian Open in 2001. Meanwhile back in 1992, there’s trouble at mill in the MMU halls where a lone wolf Luther Vandross fan is battling with admirers of the ‘new-fangled rave’ about to put Manchester on the map for generations to come. Politics comes from a Tory plan to shut down the NUS and a resulting sit-down protest featuring a radicalised Mats Wilander. As you may have guessed, the names of tennis players from the era are used throughout this humorous podcast – to shield the identities of the innocent and guilty mentioned in these priceless artifacts. If you enjoy the ‘Gone Fishing’ vibe of this gentle yet occasionally sweary pod, please subscribe and share it with your own mates.
Rally round Rich (aka Jeff Tarango) and Pete (aka Pat Cash) as they begin serving up letters sent to each other from university in the early '90s. Make that ‘ooo’ noise like they do at Wimbledon as they discuss halls vs. houses, PJ Harvey vs. Bob Mould, and whether phones are a necessity or a luxury, before trying to work out the identity of a wooden thing smoked in the Green Lodge’s beer garden almost 30 years ago. Mouth ‘you cannot be serious’ as they attempt to explain the distinctly non-PC ways and persistent idiocy of their 18/19-year-old selves. As you may have guessed, the names of tennis players from the era are used throughout this humorous podcast – to shield the identities of the innocent and guilty mentioned in these priceless artifacts. If you enjoy the ‘Gone Fishing’ vibe of this gentle yet occasionally sweary pod, please subscribe and share it with your own mates.