Word In Your Ear

Something happens when he walks out under the lights. He can never predict what but he’s programmed to perform. As he has for over 60 years and will again when he sets out on a 63-date tour in April peppered with stories of an extravagant life and billed as ‘an evening of Francis Rossi songs from the Status Quo songbook and more’. He looks back here at the acts that showed him the way (Gene Pitney, Slade, ZZ Top, Mott the Hoople and “my uncles, the Stones”), Butlins in Clacton, the “elfin” David Bowie, the value of “dying on your arse”, the evolution of the Status Quo shuffle, the sight of a sea of denim, opening Live Aid (and why the other acts were envious) and memories of Dog Of Two Head and Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon. “There’s a handful who are talented,” he says, “and the rest of us are just winging it and getting by.” Order tickets here:https://www.francisrossi.com/tourFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We both first heard Graham Nash just over 60 years ago when the Hollies’ Just One Look was on the BBC’s swinging Light Programme and we’ve followed him ever since, not least his transformational shift in the late-‘60s from suburban Salford to the wood cabins of Laurel Canyon. He’s touring the UK in October, An Evening of Songs and Stories with Peter Asher in support, and looks back here at the first shows he ever saw and played, which involves … … Bill Haley in 1958 – “he opened the curtains and said ‘See yer later, alligator!’, and I’ve never been the same since.” … meeting his heroes the Everly Brothers when he was 18. … the talent contest he won with Allan Clarke in 1959 beating Freddie Garrity, the future Billy Fury and Johnny And the Moondogs. ... the early days of the Hollies – “my acoustic was never plugged in”. … supporting Little Richard the night he screamed at his soon-to-be-famous guitarist, “never play the guitar behind the back of your head again!” …. making ‘Two Yanks in England’ with the Everlys, Reg Dwight, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. … playing Woodstock – “it’s hard to reach the back row when it’s raining and two miles away.” … the songs he always plays and talks about onstage, Marrakesh Express, Our House and Teach Your Children among them. Order Graham Nash tickets here:https://grahamnash.com/tour-dates/page/2/Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun, it is in fact just two old lags reviewing the current events, which this week include … … the made-up scene in A Complete Unknown which Dylan apparently insisted was included. … the Day of the Locust: do the LA fires spell the end of the Hollywood Dream? … why does no-one write songs about world events anymore? … the unwelcome return of AJ Weberman. … can you date records made between 2000 and 2025? … Sam & Dave, Booker T & the MGs, the Stax horns, Isaac Hayes and David Porter and their purple patch from ‘65-‘68. … Led Zeppelin’s five song-stealing court cases – but hadn’t what they stole been stolen in the first place? … why most biopics would be better as a six-part TV series. … “where there’s a hit there’s a writ”. … plus birthday guest John Innes and the best and worst bands names – from Roxy Music to Prefab Sprout.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bowie-in-london-and-hollywood-tickets-1118845138929?aff=oddtdtcreatorFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s perishing cold in our frostbitten London HQ but we warmed our toes around a blazing conversational fire and roasted the following chestnuts … … “the job of pop records is to be better than the year before”. … the real reason new music tends to sound the same. … Johnnie Walker – “his voice was his instrument”. … The Kinks, The Shangri-Las, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Righteous Brothers and the relentless change and variety of “the annus mirabilis” of the pop single. … “Netflix rock documentaries are just there to stop the male member of the family cancelling their subscription”. … the Byrds’ Mr Tambourine Man, a cornerstone of psychedelia and indie rock. … the drum sound that “kicked open the door to your mind”. … when novelty was 70 per cent of the appeal. … the key moment in the career of Peter Waters Dingley was the day he changed his name. … making records defensively. … the only current match for the thrill and daily drama of the mid-‘60s pop charts is the Premiere League. … plus a Lego record-player and birthday guest Andrew Slattery.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bowie-in-london-and-hollywood-tickets-1118845138929?aff=oddtdtcreatorFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Among the walnut shells, wrapping paper, dried tangerine peel and broken toys beneath the Christmas Tree Of News we found a few unopened presents, among them … … Marine Homicide Unit solving murders in Scottish waters or former rock star dumping toxic waste? A crime drama Stackwaddy special. … Roy Bittan, Duke Ellington: how musical “professors” date back to ragtime. …’Suzanne’ and the other three songs Leonard Cohen gave away. … Mary Martin, unsung connector and catalyst of folk-rock. … how the spare, monochrome simplicity of John Wesley Harding flew against the prevailing wind of Disraeli Gears, Forever Changes and Magical Mystery Tour. … “I’d rather be dead than wet my bed”. … the invention of the “blockbuster album”. … she’s only human: what Judy Collins thought when she met Leonard Cohen. … Crowded House, John Fogerty, Ry Cooder, Ian Broudie, Patti Smith … when did having your kids in your band become almost compulsory? … producer Richard Perry’s journey from Beefheart to the “surrealistic vaudeville” of Tiny Tim to the pure genius of ‘You’re So Vain’. Plus a rare moment - something David Hepworth doesn’t know! - and birthday guest Sandra Austin.Tickets for Word In Your Ear live here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bowie-in-london-and-hollywood-tickets-1118845138929?aff=oddtdtcreator Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deck the halls with beers and Stoli! The nutcracker of scrutiny was applied to this week’s noisettes of news and the following discussed over a glass of port …   ... are a lot of new song catalogues just blogs set to music? … can any actor be convincing playing someone really famous? … Robbie Williams’ Better Man: it’s the way forward! Who can his CGI’s monkey play next? … why no-one writes songs with opinions anymore. … Lola Young’s ‘charming’ press release. ... when Elvis met Nixon (and was “crackling with drugs”).   … why we miss the one pound note! … Dickens, Bing Crosby and why the concept of Christmas is rooted in the past. … is part of the joy of Powerpop that it’s doomed to commercial failure? Big Star, the Shoes – perfect; Blondie – too successful! … St James Infirmary, I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive, Stormy Monday – and other great songs about money - ‘These shabby shoes I'm wearing all the time/ Is full of holes and nails and brother if I stepped on a worn out dime/ I bet a nickel I could tell you if it was heads or tails’. … the return of “a bankroll big enough to choke a donkey”. … plus Hank Williams, Brenda Lee, Tom Waits and birthday guest Kevin Walsh wonders ‘what’s the classic Powerpop look and sound and who are its standard-bearers?’ Happy Christmas, all! … from us and ‘Bob Dylan’:https://x.com/FallonTonight/status/1597460887446900736?lang=enFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The tremendous Bill Bailey is staging “a magical, musical mystery tour of the mind, along with other pressing matters” for 42 nights in London from December 28, a celebration of what makes us human in an age threatened by AI. There'll be “a laser harp”. There’ll be electronic drum balls played by audience members. There'll be extracts from Kraftwerk’s lost album of children’s songs. He talks to Mark here about the first live entertainment he ever saw and first shows he played himself, which happily involves …  … “a lightbulb moment”, James Robertson Justice breaking the fourth wall, the genius of Les Dawson’s deadpan piano playing, OMD, the Cure, the Banshees, how TikTok changed song writing, Jean-Jacques Burnel whacking a skinhead with his bass, A Flock of Seagulls, the Undertones, seeing John Hegley’s mandolin-driven comedy act and thinking “I could do that”, Victor Borge and the invention of the disco bass line by a 17th century German composer. Order tickets for Bill Bailey’s Thoughtifier show here:https://www.billbailey.co.uk/liveFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 17 year-old Al Stewart played electric guitar in a dance band in Bournemouth in 1963. When he borrowed an acoustic and sang Masters Of War in the break, he heard the sweet sound of applause. The next night he played three Dylan songs and sensed which way the wind was blowing. He talks here about moving to London, playing at Bunjies and becoming the compere at Les Cousins as his now 60-year career began to lift off. And about his Farewell Tour which kicks off in the UK in October 2025, a combination of songs and story-telling coloured by two great heroes, Peter Ustinov and Alistair Cooke. This cracking exchange steers by way of Bert Jansch, Bob Dylan, Helen of Troy, Stalin, Hitler and the Battle of Moscow, the Weeley Festival of 1971, the three songs he always plays, the young Cat Stevens and what he told Paul Simon he should do with the just-composed Homeward Bound. Order Al Stewart tickets here:https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/al-stewartFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gary Kemp has been posting reels of his recent visits to old haunts in Soho where he and his early bands used to rehearse, this in the run-up to releasing a third solo album, ‘This Destination’, in January. We talk to him here about how records were made and promoted in the ‘80s and how radically that’s changed today. Which includes … … “all media is now about getting and keeping people’s attention”. … the first time he heard one of his songs on the radio. … Bowie, Bolan, Queen and Elton John at Trident Studios. … how bands copy the groove of a track. … technology and the curse of too much choice. … why TikTok’s changed the way songs are written. … how the first Spandau Ballet album was made. … the phone call from Richard Hawley that kick-started a song. … the craft of 10cc and Steely Dan and why it doesn’t work on 2024 radio. … the male attitude to bands who are largely followed by women. … cunning ways to infiltrate the NME in the early ‘80s. … plus Robert Elms in jodhpurs and “fly dentists” in the Saucerful Of Secrets audience.   Pre-order This Destination here:https://lnk.to/GaryKempThisDestinationFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We ran our patent heat-sensing Scrutiniser®️ over the week’s news and here’s what set the bells off … … are buskers now more expensive live entertainment than Taylor Swift? … a Dickensian oik in Chapel Market and other riddles of modern etiquette. … ‘Holiness and horniness’: how Hallelujah rebooted Leonard Cohen and became a one-song industry. … the teenage self-promotional flair of Robert Plant and Marc Bolan. … are singles a social experience and albums a solitary one? … “Would you like a fruit gum?”: the 1950s in a single phrase. … highly recommended: Wendy Waldman, Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band and ‘The Room’ by Fabiano do Nascimento. … rock snobs’ alarm about the revelations of their Spotify Wrapped. … why the Sherman Brothers are as enduring as Lennon-McCartney. … Hallelujah cover versions - from kd lang and Rufus Wainwright to Johnny Mathis and the Osmonds. ... how King David removed ‘love rival’ Uriah the Hittite. … reconnecting with records you haven’t heard for 40 years.   … whatever happened to She Sherriff?! … Loudon Wainwright’s early inference about the YMCA. … plus Lindsey Buckingham, Hugh Lloyd, Tony Hancock and fond memories of “stolen cheese guy”.Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paddling the three-man conversational kayak across the rock and roll rapids this week involved … … Olive Mess, Candied Yams, Gorilla Biscuits …? Challenging indie act or seasonal vegan recipe? … the amount YMCA earned through Donald Trump and why the man who wrote it is complaining. … Tom Hanks’ valuable words of wisdom. … Neil Tennant’s favourite bridge in a pop song (and it’s not We Can Work It Out or I Will). … musicians and the modern world of the “one-night stand” circuit. … Baker Street, Money, Careless Whisper, Giant Steps, Jungleland … and the sax solo that outranks them all. … the genius of Henry Mancini and the powerful DNA of film music. … the lost world of small ads – eg this pasted by Roxy Music: “The perfect guitarist for avant rock group: original, creative, adaptable, melodic, fast, slow, elegant, witty, scary, stable, tricky. Quality musicians only.” … Beatles ’64 - “randomly assembled and directionless”, a listener declares!  Here’s Plas Johnson playing the Pink Panther theme with Henry Mancini: https://youtu.be/jBupII3LH_Q?si=brjVwsPlmcnii1MdFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joni Mitchell called it “stoking the star-maker machinery behind the popular song”. Every record sent out for review used to come with a press release knocked together by an over-excited PR before terms like “psychedelia” or “prog” had been invented. They were scanned once for the odd fact or quote and usually chucked in the bin. Richard Morton Jack has tracked down scores of these handouts from 1962-1972, and the news stories they sparked, and published them in the sumptuous ‘Pressing News’, a fascinating window into how acts were sold in the days when pop stars liked rump steak, sports cars and “sincere people” but disliked “bad music, traffic wardens and people who say I look like a girl”. We leaf through his book here and talk about …. ... the ingenuity of '60s PRs and why Marc Bolan was a turning point.… Robert Plant and David Bowie’s genius for self-promotion.… the pop hopeful whose favourite tipple was tooth-rotting, crystal-based ‘Creamola Foam’.   … how PRs sold rebels and outsiders.   … a £900 Olivia Newton-John press release. … Beta Male pin-ups Nick Drake and Scott Walker. … confected outrage over the Small Faces’ Lord’s Prayer. … Joe Cocker, eternally a gas-fitter from Sheffield with “a face like the back of a Sheffield Corporation bus”. … mysterious pop acts that never made it like the Virgin Sleep, the Accent, Bread Love & Dreams, Fresh Maggots and the Tickle whose songs were supposedly chosen by computer.  .. the Kinks – “four art students who dress like characters from Dickens”.  … the promotion of pre-psychedelia Pink Floyd – “a lyrical atmosphere whose words express a feeling rather than tell a story.” … “the Zombies have 50 GCSE passes between them!” and other press release fiction trotted out in the papers. … the mass 1966 adoption of the kaftan and Charlie Chan moustache. Order copies of Pressing News here:https://lansdownebooks.com/products/pressing-newsFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reversing into tomorrow! This week’s news events given a vigorous once-over include … … what will a Trump guitar be worth in 30 years’ time? … the average age of a Glastonbury goer and how it sells its TV coverage.   … “the Beatles in America was like Cortez arriving in South America, the clash of two civilizations. How did this film manage to balls the story up so catastrophically?”  … Leonard Bernstein’s daughter’s dreams about George Harrison and the Fabs v the all-American alpha male. … who should be next for a rock and roll blue plaque? … the Beatles’ Ed Sullivan support act who became almost as famous as they did. … why Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater is the most-streamed ‘60s track. … Hendrix and the Isley brothers’ night in watching telly. … and Rod Stewart’s genius for generating publicity.  Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

R.E.M. considered themselves missionaries against the prevailing pop culture – no solos, no old-school stagecraft, no printed lyrics, no lip-syncing, no hard-sell videos, no obvious leader – and mapped out a whole new route to international success. Peter Ames Carlin, whose books include biographies of Springsteen, Brian Wilson and Paul Simon, talks to us here about ‘The Name of this Band is R.E.M.’, what they pioneered and how it rearranged the rock and roll furniture. Which involves … … why their Letterman Show was a statement of intent. … “rather than bending to the mainstream, they did what they wanted ‘til the mainstream bent to them.” … where you can see “the R.E.M. model” - from Sleater-Kinney to Taylor Swift. … when ‘Mike Stipe’ became Michael. … Stipe’s first TV appearance, dressed as Frank-N-Furter at a Rocky Horror Show screening. … why rock critics connected with them.  … the strategies they share with U2, Radiohead and Coldplay.  … “Springsteen = Elvis + Dylan”. … what was in the water in Athens, Georgia, that produced such unconventionalacts - R.E.M., the B-52’s, Pylon, Love Tractor. … their ‘straight’ but supportive parents – Stipe’s dad in the military, Mills’ dad a marine helicopter pilot. … how R.E.M. “channelled popular culture”. … their pioneering approach to record deals, royalties, videos, mixing and song-writing. … and which of them most wants a reunion. Order ‘The Name Of This Band Is R.E.M.’ here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Name-This-Band-M-Biography/dp/0385546947Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil Storey worked in the Island press office in the ‘70s and ‘80s and has set out on mammoth undertaking, to compile a series of gorgeous, album-sleeve-sized books telling the story of virtually every record the label released in its pioneering history and talking to all involved - musicians, producers, designers, photographers, label staff – and collecting old music press ads and ephemera from the time. This latest edition, ‘the Island Book Of Records 1969-1970’, has transported us back to our teenage selves when albums by Fairport, Nick Drake, Jethro Tull, Free, King Crimson etc were unmissable. We talked to Neil at his home in France which happily involved …   … the extraordinary story of the Unhalfbricking album shoot.   … when album sleeves were assembled by hand. … how Island pioneered the ‘underground’ aesthetic and the cheap sampler album. … the mystery of Ian Anderson’s 11 fingers. … the “worst sleeve” in the label’s history (which involved a trip to the butchers). .. the day the Island roster met in Hyde Park at six in the morning. ... the curious marketing of Nick Drake – “who doesn’t have a telephone and will disappear for four days at a time”. … and Roxy Music, Sparks, Head Hands & Feet and what else to expect in Volume 3. Order the Island Book Of Records Volume 2 here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Book-Records-II-1969-70/dp/1526182246Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Danny Baker, the act you’ve known for all these years, is kicking his legs up again in 2025 on a thundering new theatre tour, ‘Aye Aye! Ahoy Hoy!’ “Dead men tell no tales,” he points out, “so we might might as well get ‘em all told now.” This will be another barnstorming one-man circus - as, naturally, is this barrelling conversation with the two of us which collides with the following … … being shot, Welsh cake, an olive green Humber, goldfish, when videos were the size of a loaf of bread, why half his Maidstone audience got up and left, stolen gear being hustled over Waterloo Bridge, bad things done by Rod Stewart and Britt Ekland, ELP, the Average White Band, Max Miller, Kenneth Williams’ loathing for Michael Aspel, when records become like furniture, getting £4k for a Ziggy Stardust white label, why he doesn’t miss the 14,000 albums he sold, and the record that came out the same day as Sgt Pepper and Bowie’s first album but is better than both. The podcast includes an extract from Ronnie Barker’s “A Pint Of Old And Filthy” and Terry Thomas reading PG Wodehouse. Order tickets for Danny’s 2025 tour here:https://www.dannybakerstore.com/Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s events piled into a pipe and enthusiastically smoked include …   … our memories of being at the Band Aid recording in Sarm studios, November 25 1984. … why it was the last dance of the mass media and why nothing could have the same impact now. … the “household name” that made all the difference. … the real reason Bob Geldof could be involved.   … James Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, the Spaghetti Westerns … how music is the real DNA of film franchises, the fingerprint that connects you with the original.   … why should a teenager know what a radio is? … “Live vivid! Delete ordinary! Break moulds! Copy nothing!” The tortuous rebranding of Jaguar. … what the BBC spends 95 per cent of its time doing. … how Bee Gees’ drummer Dennis Byron unwittingly invented the tape loop. … the appeal of inconvenient technology. … David’s second Deep ‘70s compilation, “a dream fulfilment” – Americana, Skinny Tie music, cover versions, the outer limits of Island Records. … plus birthday guest Mike Sketch on discovering music late in life (Dylan, Tom Waits etc). David’s ‘More Deep 70s’ 4-CD compilation is available for pre-order now:https://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Hepworths-More-Deep-Misunderstood/dp/B0DCGGQDNKFind out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of our rays of sunshine in the dark days of Lockdown was Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunch, fizzing clips of the two of them in their Dorset kitchen, him playing off-brand rock and roll, her singing in extravagant finery, occasionally on an exercise bike. Their version of Metallica’s Enter Sandman got 8.6m views alone. One time they were dressed as bees, another re-staging Swan Lake wearing tutus. This has now flowered into an all-the-trimmings Christmas show with a full rock band touring in December. They look back here at how it started and where it’s ended up, which includes … … the teenage Fripp doing the twist at the Cellar Club, Poole. … Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood’s reaction when Robert booed him on set. … when the “elite newspapers” declared their kitchen shows were “genius”. … where their two different audiences meet. … plans for an upcoming Fripp memoir and his 1981 King Crimson diary.  … things you find in old boxes in the attic. … how the grumpier end of King Crimson’s supporters regard the “other Robert Fripp”. … what Tony Iommi and Robert Plant thought of their lockdown clips. … and what you can expect from their Christmas Party show – which involves Bowie, Blondie, Neil Young, Slade, Metallica and an inflatable penguin. Toyah and Robert’s Christmas Party tickets here:https://toyahwillcox.com/gigs/ Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lydon is among us in 2025 - with Public Image in May and on his Spoken Word tour in September. Entertainment is guaranteed, as it is in this podcast with Mark where he considers … Norman Wisdom, Frankie Howerd, Tommy Cooper and the “sadness in all comedians”, stage fright, the day his dad threw him out of the house, why PiL is like opera, Ray Davies, Bryan Ferry, the “crippled emotions” of youth, why people open their hearts to him, the ghost of Johnny Rotten in Gladiator 11, the lost world of conversation in pubs, and missing his wife, best friend Rambo and Sid Vicious.  Order tickets for his spoken word tour here:https://www.johnlydon.com/tour-dates/PiL tickets here:https://www.ticketmaster.com/public-image-limited-tickets/artist/241Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which we feed the week’s events through our heat-seeking Fun-Filter®️ to see what makes the bell ring. Which includes … … Richard Ashcroft in the new John Lewis Christmas ad. … U2 v Coldplay, the Beatles v Pink Floyd – rock bands and the “diploma divide”. … why can we still recite entire song lyrics we learnt when teenagers but can’t remember the shopping list we wrote this morning? … “they couldn’t find their backside with the flashlight”. … the new form of tribute group: the Fall, Thin Lizzy and Talk Talk and the bands made up of ex-members who are recording their ‘new music’. … Elvis, Noel Coward, Churchill, Dylan, Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Bowie, the Stones, Frank Sinatra … who should Craig Brown write about next? … the very few people more famous than Paul McCartney.   … our search for the poshest pop star. … Beatles fans v the National Anthem. … is this the only podcast on God’s green earth to mention the Wars Of Spanish Succession? … and birthday guest Giles Fraser on Phil Manzanera, Neil Tennant, Clare Grogan, Midge Ure and other musicians with fabulous speaking voices.Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.