RHODcast: May 13, 2024

Tim’s Comedy Links

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Early in 2002, Tony Staveacre proposed a radio show to his friend, the beloved British comedian Tim Brooke Taylor. They would celebrate at least two of Tim’s great loves, after his family – golf and comedy – by playing a round together at the club where Tim grew up and learned to play, the Cavendish in Buxton Derbyshire. Actually Tim would play and Tony would caddy for him. Tim’s Comedy Links is a celebration of some great radio comedians who were to Tim what he was to a new generation.

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Dream World – The Life and Death of Al Bowlly

Tony Staveacre has been back into his archives and once again he has pulled out a plum. Tapes and tapes of interviews from the mid-1970s with musicians who played with one of the greatest stars of them all. As we face uncertain times, it’s cheering to discover that in the middle of the Depression, people partied like there was no tomorrow. Out in front was an inveterate party animal, a crooner who went from singing for theatre queues to outselling Bing Crosby. At the height of his fame in Britain, Al Bowlly set sail for America where he promptly headlined the brand new Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. It seemed he was going up and up, until he wasn’t. And then the bomb fell. Here, with seven of his original hits, TS presents Dream World – The Life and Death of Al Bowlly.

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Astor Piazzolla – The Last Interview

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Allan Schiller – Music Made Me, part one

ALLAN SCHILLER is a modest maestro, acclaimed in The Guardian as the best Mozart interpreter of his generation. Now aged 80, and still playing his Steinway for several hours a day in his Bristol home, he has taken time out to write and record an account of his life in music. Here it is, read by the author, who also provides the elegant musical illustrations.

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