Claim OwnershipFamous People You've Never Heard Of
Subscribed: 3Played: 35
Subscribe
© 2024 Famous People You've Never Heard Of
Description
Our podcasts are a mix of conversations with a wide range of subject matter experts and enthusiasts, interspersed with the occasional audio drama. Each episode focuses on one person, a group of people or a genre from the world of entertainment that we wish to bring back to the spotlight and who has been lost to history or is in danger of being so.The Arts industries are currently in peril but this is nothing new. The Entertainment industry in all its guises has seen it all before. Political turmoil, plague, poverty, overnight success, sudden failure and the long term closure of theatres are not unique to the 21st century.We are not academics (although luckily some of our prestigious guests are) so don't expect forensic analysis or ground breaking research in every episode. We are entertainers, passionate about our craft, its heritage and its future. And we want to share our enthusiasm with you!
33 Episodes
Reverse
Avril Coleridge-Taylor (1903-1988); Wikipedia says she was a "pianist". She was. She was also a composer and conductor (in fact she was the first female conductor of the band of the Royal Marines). She was also the daughter of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.Historian and author Stephen Bourne and musician and author Patricia Hammond talk about her talent and her eventful life in this episode. Find out more about Stephen and his work championing black and LG...
We're delighted and privileged to be releasing today's podcast on the 200th anniversary of the death of Billy Waters.Born in 1776 Waters was a familiar sight on the Strand in London. He was a black ex-sailor who had been invalided out of the Navy after losing a leg. With a crude wooden prosthesis he danced and also played the violin outside the Adelphi Theatre. He became so famous that a whole industry grew up around him - his picture was painted by celebrated artists of the...
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was a British composer.His mother was English and his father from Sierra Leone. He referred to himself as "Anglo-African" and was referred to by white musicians in the US as the "Black Mahler", which is the title of the biography by Charles Elford.Coleridge-Taylor entered the Royal College of Music at the age of only 15 and was taught by Prof. Charles Villiers Stanford, who conducted the debut performance of Coleridge-Taylor's "Hiawatha".&...
Paula David's one woman show is a journey through menopause and a discovery of self.It is poetic and musical, has movement and dance and examines something that all women experience and few have the courage to speak about. It is also highly amusing!Paula spoke to us about the show ahead of her one night at the Exchange in Twickenham on 29th March as part of the One Woman Wednesday season.Book tickets for the show here:https://exchangetwickenham.co.uk/event/blood-sweat-vaginas/Guest:&nbs...
This one-woman show, based on the book and television series She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by historian Helen Castor, depicts the lives of five of England’s most famous medieval queens (Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Margaret of Anjou, and Mary I) using speech, song, dance, and animation. Performer Laura Careless chats to us about how the show came about, what the show is about and her relationship with the incredible women featured in th...
Yootha Joyce, best known for "George and Mildred" was one of the best known TV stars of the 1970's. But she was so much more...Award -winning actress Caroline Burns-Cooke tells her story in the brilliant one woman show "Testament of Yootha", showing for one night only at the Exchange in Twickenham on 22nd March as part of the One Woman Wednesday season to celebrate Womens History Month and International Womens Day.We had a quick chat with her about the show.....Guest: Caroli...
Isadora Duncan: dancer, muse, innovator, political activist and so much more was born in the USA in 1877. She died in Nice, France in 1927 in a freak accident that is sadly the thing that she seems to be most remembered for. Well we want to change that!Elizabeth Blake is an actress, dancer and choreographer. She has written and is currently performing a one woman show about Isadora that has wowed audiences and critics alike and today and we're delighted she agreed to c...
Clara Schumann, a pianist, composer and piano teacher. And wife of Robert Schumann.Clara Wieck had a fascinating life- a child prodigy, like Mozart before her she was touring as a concert pianist under the watchful eye of her domineering father from a very young age. She went on to marry Robert, have eight children and continue to work in the male dominated world of classical music until she died aged 76 having survived all but two of her children.Elena Mazzon is an actress and mu...
Ally Sloper's Half-Holiday was the name of a weekly comic strip which first appeared on 3 May 1884. Before Superman, Spiderman, Desperate Dan and Dennis the Menace came Ally Sloper. From 1884 until the 1920s, the red-nosed social climber who poked fun at the English people and their customs was a household name and national favourite.Ally Sloper takes us into the realms of the first comic strip character whole Beano and Dandy. This comic strip started it all. Here is a...
Who was Fred Karno? and what was his army?We talk to David Crump whose biography of today's subject reveals all - and some!Karno was a giant personality who had a giant effect on theatre and cinema as we know it. The man who gave Stan Laurel, Charlie Chaplin and the Crazy Gang their first break and almost single handedly invented the type of slapstick we recognise in the silent movies had an eventful life that was touched by many of the major events of the first part of the ...
Back in the dark days of Lockdown number 2 at the end of 2020 Lottie and Linda were enjoying the TV series Harlots. Whilst chatting about it Lottie remembered seeing the blue plaque that is dedicated to Priss Fotheringham, the "second best whore in London". And the idea for a podcast episode was born!For reasons many and varied it's taken us a whole year to bring the episode to you and we do hope you enjoy it. It's not been all beer and skittles (or ping pong balls!) for sex...
Amanda Ira Aldridge, one of the most important female composers of the 20th century has been all but forgotten.Daughter of the groundbreaking actor Ira Aldridge, Amanda, was also a singer and in her latter years a voice teacher. One of her pupils was Paul Robeson who approached her when he cane to the UK to play Othello. He was only the second black actor to play the role. Amanda's father Ira had been the first!Under the name Montague Ring, Amanda was a composer ...
For this special episode we've moved away from talking about our long forgotten heroes of history to talk to our very much up to date award winning theatre-maker - and hero - Christopher Green.Christopher is a huge advocate of theatre as an experience and of the "all the world's a stage" ethos. In this conversation we talk about experiential theatre, site-specific productions and why clear instructions for both audience and performers would make the theatre...
Fred Barnes was a huge star in his time, but his fame, fortune and undeniable glamour hid a tragic story and self-destructive nature.Christopher Green and John Orchard talk to Lottie about Fred Barnes' tragic life and death, how he has been almost written out of history and their own projects to bring him back into popular culture.A blue plaque to Fred Barnes will be unveiled on 18th October 2021 at his home - 22, Clifton Villas, Maida Vale, London W9.Further Reading and informati...
Vesta Tilley was possibly the most famous male impersonator of all time and a huge star of the Victorian Music Hall. The girl from Worcester, who was treading the boards from the age of 3 was also the wife of an MP and "Britain's best recruiting sergeant" during WW1.In this episode Ann-Lindsey Wickens tells us what it's like to portray this iconic figure, and Vesta's history is told - in brief by Chris Jaeger, author of "Vesta" the one woman play about Lady De Fries as she became.And we...
"The Diary of a Nobody" has long been a favourite book of both Tim Shaw and Andy Smith. They've seen it on stage, listened to it on the radio and, of course, read it.So one rainy August day in Edinburgh after seeing Rodney Bewes in his on man version of 3 Men in a Boat and over a small sherry or two they hit upon the idea of adapting Charles Pooter's diary into a one man play. Andy reprised his role as Pooter for the specially recorded version of the play for this podcast,&n...
George Grossmith created many of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic baritone roles and was known for his delivery of the famous patter songs.He was also a writer and composer who entertained royalty in the parlours of palaces and a journalist who spent time as a Bow Street Court reporter. And, together with his brother Weedon he was responsible for producing "The Diary of a Nobody", which has never been out of print. It was hailed by Evelyn Waugh as being the "funniest book ever written...
The original "greatest showman" was not P.T. Barnum, it was a chap from Newcastle Under Lyme in Staffordshire, who went by the name Philip Astley. Astley was a soldier and talented equestrian who went on to invent what we now recognise as the modern day circus. His story is one of the many that prove that truth is stranger (certainly more remarkable) than fiction.Andrew Van Buren hails from the world of circus and a very theatrical family. He's a true all round entertainer a...
Margaret Monod talks about her blog, "Into the Limelight" and her fabulous collection of Music Hall postcards .Today's Podcast:Host: LottieGuest: Margaret MonodEdited By: Jacob TaylorMusic: James HallThis is a special bonus episode broadcast specially for the British Music Hall Society's Music Hall & Variety DayFollow Margaret on Twitter: @monomaniablogsTo find out more about Music Hall check out:The British Music Hall Societyhttp://www.britishmusichallsociety.com/The Pl...
Welcome back to "Famous People You've Never Heard Of"!We've some fabulous guests talking about some truly fabulous people and hope that you enjoy finding out about them all.Some of our contributors this season are:Stephen BourneLyn Brown MPMoira BuffiniChristopher GreenJohn OrchardAndrew van BurenAnd some of our wonderful subjects are:Vesta Tilley, Billy Waters, Philip Astley, Fred Barnes, Amanda Aldridge and George GrossmithWe've been having a wonderful time producing these podcasts and feed...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States