Celebrity Mastermind
Specialist subject: Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Why I wrote a bloomin’ book about A Hard Day’s Night
I think about popular culture for a living as a presenter of a daily arts show on BBC Radio. But this book, due out on April 2nd 2026, has its roots in Christmas 1979 when I was eleven years old … Continue reading
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Time to go through the square window
In the 2000s when my children were very young, my mother, a veteran TV presenter and actress, took me aside one day and told me she was concerned my children weren’t watching ENOUGH television. “They’ll be left out in school,” … Continue reading
Posted in Media, TV, Uncategorized
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This Boy: Unveiling George Harrison’s blue plaque at 12 Arnold Grove
Last year I joined Historic England’s advisory panel for the new expansion out of London to all of England, of the blue plaques scheme, commemorating the lives of people who’ve made a major contribution to human welfare or happiness. Anyone … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Music, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, beatles, culture, george harrison, liverpool
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The thinking woman’s guide to The Goodies
Graeme Garden and The Goodies have long been celebrated at Bristol’s Slapstick Festival. The slapstick visual sequences were absolutely central to the joy of their longrunning and much loved comedy series. As Graeme said on the night, the idea behind … Continue reading
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Life lessons from a south London girl to Kingston University graduates
I was hugely honoured to me made an honorary Doctor of Letters by Kingston University today, “in recognition of her contribution to journalism and gender equality”. Here’s the speech I gave at the graduation ceremony. You can watch it on … Continue reading
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Discovering The Beatles at Stowe Tape – An Experiment in Time
(Updated Sep 12th with link to my article in the Journal of Beatles Studies and April 10th 2023 with set list and link to a feature for The Observer) It was sixty years ago today…. A spread from the Stowe … Continue reading
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Inside the Mary Whitehouse diaries
Archive on Four Disgusted, Mary Whitehouse is on Radio 4 March 5th 2022 at 8pm (Updated Feb 26th 2025 to reflect latest developments in the John Smyth abuse scandal) It was back in summer 2019 that I first found out … Continue reading
People had come expecting The Beatles. They saw and heard something rather more akin to Slade – Oasis at the Viper Room December 1995
I was a young BBC News Correspondent and had arrived to cover for the BBC’s LA Correspondent over Christmas. I was very jetlagged after playing Mortal Kombat II nonstop for 11 hours on the flight over. But then Jeremy Cooke … Continue reading
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Art of Persia: Episode 3: Genghis Khan to 1979
The final part of Art of Persia ends where most programmes and news about Iran begin – in the Islamic Revolution of 1979. We feature the beautiful Shiraz-born poets Saadi and Hafez and their influence on Byron Goethe and the … Continue reading
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Behind the scenes of Art of Persia – episode 2
We’ve had such amazing audience praise and enthusiasm for Episode 1 so I thought I’d give some more insights and answer a question. A number of viewers asked why we described the Cyrus Cylinder -with its declaration of tolerance for … Continue reading