Sinopsis
This is the podcast which accompanies the work I am doing on nostalgia at the University of Kent. We often know what our colleagues are researching and teaching, but we dont always know what it is that inspires those interests and passions. What is it that shapes us? What propelled us into persevering with our studies and then to want to impart that knowledge and enthusiasm to subsequent generations of students? How did we end up where we are not just the books we read and the ones we wanted to write ourselves, but what influenced us in terms of the music, the films, the sporting events and the relationships and family members that brought us to where we are now? These interviews are unscripted and take the form of a free-flowing conversation with a range of guests, both within and outside of academia, and are inspired by the great radio interviews I grew up listening to when I was in my teens and early twenties.
Episodios
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10: Silvia Rasca
07/08/2018 Duración: 59minSilvia Rasca was the first international student to be elected President of the Students’ Union at Canterbury Christ Church University and has recently joined the staff at the University of Kent where she is an Assistant Project Manager for the Integrated Student Frontline Services Project. In this fascinating interview, Silvia talks about her journey to Canterbury from Romania and the political turmoil in her native country in the late 1980s, when she was born, and the impact it had on her and her family in the years that followed. Silvia reflects on how she has applied the goals and values instilled in her by her family to her new home, where Silvia discusses the importance of challenging and pushing barriers. Silvia talks about keeping a diary and she explains why she tries not to have any regrets in life. Her grandparents are a particular inspiration for her, and Silvia tells us the secret of why her grandparents’ chickens had to be spoken to in Hungarian. Her father was a professional volleyball playe
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9: Alan Le Grys
29/07/2018 Duración: 01h13minIn this very candid interview, Alan Le Grys, who teaches in the Religious Studies department at Kent, talks about growing up in the South London suburbs, on the edge of the largest council estate in the UK, in a house that, when he was young, it was thought might be haunted, and where he felt the presence of his deceased grandparents. Alan reflects on how at school he was the last child to be picked in football, but has in later years embraced running. He has, for example, run the London Marathon for charity, and Alan talks about the ritual of ‘dressing the part’ and offers the aphorism that one needs to ‘Make something routine so that it becomes so much part of your rhythm that you are freed to enter into it.’ Alan discusses the role that music has played in his life, principally in the form of ‘Bach, Beethoven and the Beatles’, and we learn which of the Beatles’ eras he considers to be ‘headache music’, and why. He also talks about why he returned to playing the piano in later years to grade 5 standard a
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8: Michael Hughes
20/07/2018 Duración: 01h06minIn this week's interview, Michael Hughes, who works in the English Language & Linguistics department at Kent, talks about how a two week job turned into one that has lasted 24 years. Michael knew from the age of 10 that he wanted to be a teacher, and he recounts his working class background, where money was tight, and his experience of being taught at a grammar school in his native Guernsey, in proximity to Nazi bunkers and mines from the Second World War on the beaches near where he lived. Michael recalls his experience of watching the first ever 'Doctor Who' episode, starring William Hartnell, back in 1963, and we discuss a shared love of radio (Michael especially remembers 'Listen With Mother') and Saturday morning 'cliffhanger' cinema. We then move on to discuss how, after doing a B.Ed., Michael returned to teach at his old school - which didn't turn out to be a pleasant experience. And we discover what happened when Michael then tried to change direction, ultimately leading to his decision to train
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7: Graeme Forbes
11/07/2018 Duración: 01h19minGraeme lectures in Philosophy at the University of Kent, and in this week's interview he talks about which other professions he considered entering before becoming a professional philosopher as well as the 7 years he spent on the job market and how he learned to 'play the game' of academia. He discusses the concept of 'impostor syndrome' and whether it is possible to speak about 'non-trivial future truths'. Before coming to Kent Graeme worked at a small liberal arts college in Kansas which leads him to make a number of insightful comments about the differences between the US and UK university systems. Graeme has experience of stand-up comedy and is a life member of Keele Drama Society, and we learn the lesson of what happens when one meets one's heroes. Graeme also discusses his Scottish ancestry and he lets us into the secrets of the 'wall of suspicious family rivalry'. There are anecdotes about his time working for the supermarket chain Iceland and the time when he was an NUS delegate and Graeme discusse
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6: Laura Bailey
02/07/2018 Duración: 51minIn this week's interview, Laura Bailey, who lectures in English Language & Linguistics at the University of Kent, talks about growing up in Newcastle and how the university culture has changed over the decades. Laura places her earliest memory from when she was two and a half years old and she talks about her penchant for undertaking creative activities as a child, and how she especially enjoyed the process of writing itself. We talk about the peer pressure at secondary school in terms of learning about the latest songs, and Laura tells us where she stands on the 'Do you prefer Blur or Oasis?' question before discussing her experience of watching 'The Princess Bride' when growing up. Laura went to university as a mature student and she ruminates on the role that fate and luck played in whether or not she was able to carry out a PhD. We chat also about the role that inspirational teachers played in her life (and what happened when two of them, coincidentally, appeared at the till in Waterstones where she wa
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5: Simon Kirchin
23/06/2018 Duración: 49minThis is one of those 'to die for' interviews. My guest this week is Simon Kirchin, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Kent. Simon grew up in a working class family in Dudley and he talks here about how he ended up in Oxford and the circuitous route that brought him to Kent in 2003\. We learn about Simon's earliest, 'traumatic', memory and the important role that rituals and structures played, for example at Christmas, while he was growing up. Simon talks about the influence played by game shows and 'Carry On' films and about his amateur dramatics predilections which have led to him playing the part of the Pantomime Dame. He makes a number of insightful observations regarding the 'performance' nature of lecturing and how it has much in common with stand-up comedy. Simon also talks about the influence played by his Religious Studies teachers at school and about why in his career he feels he is the 'cat that got the cream'. The interview ends with some poignant reflections regarding whe
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4: William Rowlandson
14/06/2018 Duración: 01h27minIn this captivating, and passionate, interview, William Rowlandson, Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Kent, talks about growing up in the West Country and the roots of his love for teaching. William identifies a 'binding thread' which runs throughout our lives from school through to retirement and offers his personal view on what he considers to be one of the inadequacies of the educational system. What emerges strongly in our conversation is the role that passion plays in William's life, and how he prefers to see himself not as a lecturer but as a facilitator who is able, through dialogue and interaction, to elicit from students what it is that 'floats their boat'. William discusses the influence of Sartre and Graham Greene and the impact that 49p Penguin books - which kickstarted his belief that a book is 'a friend, a teacher and an antagonist' - that were sold in a bookshop near his school had a particular influence on him when he was growing up. The difference between his and his
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3: Montserrat Roser-i-Puig
05/06/2018 Duración: 01h04minMontserrat Roser-i-Puig is Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Kent and, in the third of my Nostalgia Interviews series, gives a fascinating slice-of-life about growing up in Franco's Spain. Montserrat talks about the important role that memory plays in her family, including the very vivid initial memory she has from when she was just 2-3 months old, and she talks about the way that she and her siblings will often share different recollections of the same events. Montserrat relates the desperate urge she had to leave the village where she grew up and the way she was a trailblazer for her family in seeking an education, against the instincts of her father, and how she moved to London and ended up studying for her doctorate. She also reflects on the important role that cinema played in her childhood (especially 'The Life of Brian'), where she would often see three films in an afternoon, and how she felt about American films being dubbed and spliced. The interview concludes with some v
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2: Paul March-Russell
27/05/2018 Duración: 01h35sPaul March-Russell teaches Comparative Literature at the University of Kent and is a specialist in science fiction. In the second of my Nostalgia Interviews, Paul talks about his earliest memories and how television played a role in shaping his identity. We discuss the pitfalls of 'going back' to one's childhood home and about how Paul followed a path in academia but that it wasn't where he necessarily thought he would end up. From Dr. Who and John Peel to 'Minipops', to regrets about how he voted in the 1992 General Election, and his reflections on the role of religion in shaping his values and goals, this is a wonderfully frank and wide-ranging conversation about the way our past experiences impinge on our present and future hopes and predilections. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Paul March-Russell and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.
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1: David Walsh
18/05/2018 Duración: 56minDavid Walsh is an archaeologist at the University of Kent and the perfect guest for my first podcast. David used to present a radio programme when he was a student at Reading and he speaks very freely about his earliest memories, the music he grew up with, what inspired him to become an archaeologist (dinosaurs may have had a little to do with that!), his political dispositions and his competitive edge when it comes to interactive gaming. Covering everything from The Spice Girls to Bryan Adams, Bobby Kennedy to Jeremy Corbyn, and whether David feels he has (yet) fulfilled the dreams he had when he was young, this is a real treat. Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and David Walsh and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.