Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Fran Beaton, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education, who, like me, has been at the University of Kent since 2004. Fran also studied for her first degree at Kent in the 1970s in Modern Languages, and we talk about the differences between Kent now and then. We learn that Fran was brought up in East Anglia and that there was a strong Welsh dimension to her childhood, also. We talk about the extent to which childhood memories are composite in form and about the change of culture in 30 years around ‘stranger danger’. Fran tells us why she didn’t keep a diary as a child and we discuss different styles of writing, such as creative and academic. We learn whether Fran is a Beatles or a Rolling Stones person, and she tells us about how she grew up around classical music, including Benjamin Britten operas which were performed in East Anglia, and we find out about Fran’s passion for going to the theatre, and the danger of things going wrong on stage. Fran reveals how she ended up studying languag

My guest this week is Peter Stanfield, Professor of Film Studies, at the University of Kent. Peter talks about why coming to work at Kent amounted to a form of renewal after his previous job and we find out about singing cowboys and the relationship between teaching and research. Peter works in American popular cinema from the 1930s through to the 1970s, and we learn why it was that the 50s resonated in the way it did in later films, including the rise of teddy boys in the early 70s. Peter reveals about how he understands memories in the light of dealing with an aged mother and we talk about how easy it is to conflate our remembering of a photo with the moment that the photo was taken. We learn that Peter grew up in Hemel Hempstead, and his father came over to England from Poland during the Second World War. We talk about pop musical influences and the secret language of New Musical Express, and we discover why, for Peter, 1972 was such a seminal year. He saw many artists, including Eric Clapton, in con

My guest this week is Gerard Loughlin, Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham who, like me, has published in the field of theology and film. We also have a shared background in Lampeter where Gerard studied English Literature and Theology in the late 1970s, and we learn who it was that awakened his interest in philosophical theology and literature. We find out what Gerard’s earliest memory was and about his family background and Gerard reflects on how many of his close friends went to university. He talks about the teachers who influenced him and how he excelled at long essays. We learn that Gerard had an interest not just in watching but in making films as a child and that his school physics teacher inspired this passion. We find out that Gerard is interested in the grammar of filmmaking and which he imparts to his own students. Gerard’s parents were inclined to disapprove of popular music and we discuss the extent to which it isn’t possible to shake particular

My guest this week is Donna Timmiss, a Durham schoolteacher who has followed her dream of going into teaching, and who specialises in looking after disabled children and those within social services. Donna was the first in her family to go to university and in this very candid interview Donna talks about how her parents, who had experience of the care system, valued the importance of education and how she ended up at Lampeter. She talks about her experience of getting to Lampeter – with the perils involved – and how she felt very safe there. Donna’s earliest memories involve playing collaboratively with other children and an abundance of green spaces, and how she used to explore the attic of her local Catholic club, and tap dancing. We learn about Donna’s eclectic taste in music, including Keith West’s ‘Excerpt from a Teenage Opera’ and Dollar’s ‘Mirror Mirror’. She tells us how she once saw Bucks Fizz by accident and about the mix tapes that her fiance made for her when she went to university. We fi

My guest this week is Professor Douglas Davies, Professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. We learn about his Welsh background and how he has been in Durham for a total of 26 years, including the time he was there as a student. This interview takes a different form to most of the others in this podcast series in that it has less of an autobiographical dimension and it has made me rethink many of the questions at the heart of my research. Douglas discusses the concept of career planning, and its relationship to issues of social class, and why he thinks there is an element of futility to nostalgia as luck and chance are the two great facts of life. He talks about the problem that he has with retrospective ‘what if’ scenarios. Douglas asks whether with nostalgia we are looking for a prelapsarian paradise, ‘the perfect day’ and the desire for patterns and why they are a pathological expression of the drive for meaning. We talk about how people develop their worldviews and

My guest this week is Vivian Asimos who recently achieved her PhD on theology and virtual storytelling at Durham, with ‘Slender Man’ as her main case study, and we begin by talking about blurring the line in horror between fiction and reality. Born in Florida, Vivian reveals how she has to give different answers to the question of where she is from as she has been living in Durham for several years. She talks about the cold war in a previous institution between Theology and Religious Studies and about the ‘intellectual rollercoaster’ with the concept of Theology. Both of her parents are ‘education forward’ people and she discusses how she is perhaps following what her mother would have done if she’d taken a different path. We discuss the difference between intelligence and education and how Vivian wanted to be a creative writer. Vivian reveals how she found herself stumbling into Religious Studies and she talks about the narrative dimension to her PhD. Vivian is more of an audio than a visual person

My guest this week is Katy Hanrahan, who is originally from Teesside, works in special needs education and went to the University of Wales, Lampeter, in the late 1990s to study Religious Studies. We talk about Teesside, growing up against the backdrop of an industrial region whose heritage has now gone, being the first in her family to go to university, and Katy’s keenness from a young age to learn about people from different backgrounds. We also find out about what Katy’s perceptions were of returning to Teesside after spending three years in Lampeter and finding that nothing had changed. The conversation then turns to childhood memories and what she remembers doing, and we discover that Katy has always been very animal-centred, including having a passion for looking after horses from a young age, as well as why her mother pushed her into something she could thrive at.  90s dance was a big thing for Katy, and we talk about going to nightclubs, how ‘Ride on Time’ by Black Box was a seminal influence

My guest this week is James Newton who is a filmmaker and lectures in Film Studies at the University of Kent. We talk about making the transition from being a student to becoming a member of staff and around the pitfalls of meeting students in pubs and the changing culture around drinking beers and coffees, and James explains why pubs are today a gentrified space and an indulgence. Originally from Wolverhampton, James discusses what he knows about his parents’ occupations and we talk about the disjuncture between family members’ public and private profiles as well as about the baggage that comes with our professions and why we feel the need sometimes to be defensive. James doesn’t have many memories of things he liked doing as a child. He was quite sporty and does many of the same things now that he did then. We discuss the Guinness Book of Hit Singles, the influence of punk and agitation and how particular forms of music define us. James discusses the bands he enjoyed when growing up and we learn that

My guest this week is Michael Hession, an American lawyer and documentary maker who has recently completed a film about Revd. Brian Hession (no relation) – a cancer patient who fought in the 1940s and 50s against the stigma of illness and who had also been a filmmaker (and whose work I cover in my own Religion and Film teaching and research). Michael tells us how his study of Brian Hession reignited his interest in film noir and we talk in turn about the value of ambiguous endings.  We learn why Michael doesn’t consider himself to be a nostalgic person per se, and why, for him, nostalgia comprises ‘history plus emotion’. We find out why Michael isn’t nostalgic for the times he lived in but yearns to go back to previous ages. We find out which ones. Michael was born in a suburb of Washington DC, went to law school and practiced in New York before moving to California. In this very candid interview he tells us why he went into the law and discusses whether he is likely to return to it. We talk about why 2

My guest this week is Todd Mei, Senior Lecturer and Head of Philosophy at the University of Kent. Born in California, in an environment that was a hotbed of Republicanism, Todd tells us about how his main passion when growing up was rock climbing and why Heidegger’s ‘Being and Time’ comprised the rebirth of his interest in Philosophy. We learn that Todd has made a film and worked for an insurance firm as a claims adjustor and that he wasn’t planning on becoming an academic. He talks about applying his philosophical work to the business world. We find out how Todd got into wind surfing and the extent to which it might be construed as a counterpoint to the world of academia, and indeed whether Todd could be an academic without also being a sportsman. We discover why Todd would consider himself to be a follower in terms of music, and the influence that ‘Quadrophenia’ had on him. We also find out that he got into breakdancing via his brother and later skate punk and then on to wrestling. The conversation then

My guest this week is Helen Brooks from the School of Arts at the University of Kent. Helen is Reader in Drama and a specialist on theatre in the First World War and she tells us how it was the case that her students precipitated this research area and we learn why she prefers to watch rather than read plays. Helen grew up in Kingston, Surrey, and we discover that one of her earliest memories is cycling along the towpath near her home. She tells us that she has quite a visual memory and how, as a child, time seemed to move more slowly. When growing up Helen was exposed to an eclectic range of music at home – everything from Motown to Handel’s Messiah, and she tells us why she felt especially nostalgic when recently listening to music during an episode of 'Derry Girls'. We also discover that Helen was really into 'Doctor Who' in the early 1990s at a time when it wasn’t cool and that Peter Davison, who played the fifth incarnation of 'Doctor Who', sent her a handwritten birthday card on her 13th birthday. The

My guest this week is Srivas Chennu who is based on the Medway campus of the University of Kent where he works in the School of Computing. Srivas does cross-disciplinary work on consciousness, and in this really insightful interview he talks about how we are today able to ask questions that the ancient Greeks could not. We discuss how his research intersects with my own work in near-death experiences and he talks about how his collaborators are studying what happens in the brain when someone has an NDE. We also discuss how films are often better at conveying these techniques than academic papers. Srivas reflects on how a decade ago to study consciousness would have been laughed at as it was deemed to be so amorphous, and how and why that has now changed. Originally from South India and born in Madras, Srivas talks about his scholastic education and how his earliest memories were very colourful and multifarious. He talks about his religious memories – his grandfather was a Hindu priest and religion was w

It was a great pleasure to interview Lawrence Jackson for this week’s Nostalgia Interview. Lawrence is Head of Film Practice in the School of Arts at the University of Kent, and in this wide-ranging interview Lawrence discusses how he came into his profession from the film, radio and TV industry. He has taught screenwriting and Lawrence tells us why he especially relates to the protagonist in the comedy film ‘Mindhorn’. Lawrence tells us why he doesn’t consider his native Guildford to be the coolest place in the country and we learn why his childhood was idyllic when growing up in the vicinity of Wookey Hole. We find out what his earliest memory was (involving grass and daisies under his bare feet) and Lawrence sheds insight on what it is that our apprehensions and expectations of a place come from. The youngest of three children, and the only boy in the family, Lawrence played a lot in his own fantasy world as a child at a time of ‘Blake’s 7’ and ‘Dr. Who’ and we find out that Lawrence was quite ‘outdo

My guest this week is Clive Marsh, Head of the Vaughan Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Leicester. Clive, who was born into a Liverpudlian working class family, shares his earliest memories, which include playing with bricks on a floor and eating a rotten apple. We talk about how different it was to grow up in a pre-student loan world where we received grants to go to university, and how his parents sheltered him from financial anxiety, before discussing the various kinds of sports that Clive was into as a child. He used to play cricket and football and followed Liverpool FC, and we learn why he was once physically sick en route to a match. He also remembers the red velvet plushness of the Odeon Cinema in Liverpool. In his teenage years Clive discovered the Times newspaper film reviews and he reflects on how he has been reading critical film reviews for 45 years. Pop music was crucial in Clive’s upbringing, especially through Radio Luxembourg which he used to listen to under the bed

My guest this week is Francis Stewart, Implicit Religion Research Fellow at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln. Francis was born just outside Belfast and we learn how she had to leave Northern Ireland in order to study World Religions. She moved to Scarborough where Theology and Religious Studies were taught at different campuses, and we discover the reason why she and her fellow students didn’t want to graduate at York Cathedral. Francis explains that she was drawn to Implicit Religion because of the fluid boundaries involved, and she talks about how in her research she has looked at how this is navigated via punk rock. Francis has written a wonderful book on this subject, called ‘Punk Rock is My Religion’, and in our interview she talks about her working class punk identity and considers the question of what she would consider to constitute ‘home’ and how her family have not always understood what ‘straight edge punk’ is. Francis’ earliest memories involve a record player and a fireplace and her

It was so delightful for this week’s interview to meet Jo Pearsall, Deputy Secretary of Council and the Court at the University of Kent. Jo was a History student at Kent from 1989-92 and in this very sprightly interview she talks about how strange it felt to return after ten years to work in the same place as when she was a student. Originally from Tamworth in Staffordshire, Jo was the first person in her family to go to university and she talks about how there was an inevitability that she would go there. She also tells us about the holiday job she once had at a Leicestershire zoo. Jo discusses how her earliest memories seem to be from photos and we learn that despite coming from a sporty family she isn’t sporty herself. We talk about where her flair for music comes from and how her mother loved listening to the radio. One of her earliest memories is of her mum listening to Terry Wogan (during his original 1970s incarnation) and the ‘Pina Colada’ song being played. This prompts a reflection about the days

It was a pleasure this week to interview Abi Hawkins, Head of Religious Education at Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School in Canterbury. Abi teaches Key Stages 3-5 and she explains that she always wanted to become a teacher and why she especially enjoys teaching subjects she struggled with the most at university, e.g. Philosophy of Language. Abi, who was born in Canterbury and brought up in Whitstable, reveals that she once considered acting, and we discuss the extent to which the teaching profession could be considered a form of acting. Abi belonged to a drama club when she was young and played an orphan in the musical ‘Annie’ at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. Abi reveals what her earliest memories are, which precipitates a conversation about the way in which holidays require us to navigate the break in our routinized lives. Regarding musical memories Abi recalls how when she was ten years of age she went to Australia and remembers listening to a CD of upbeat cover songs. She has a genuine wish t

My guest this week is Darren Griffin, Professor of Genetics and Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Reproduction at the University of Kent. Darren works in the field of IVF and the human genome as well as, more recently, the genomic structure of dinosaurs.  He was born in Aldershot and grew up in Leeds and in this very insightful conversation Darren explains why he was an oddball in his family, having gone to university in 1985 and effectively never left. Darren explains why he enjoys undertaking media work as it reaches far more people than is possible through conventional scientific publications, and we talk about the best ways in which to handle media appearances, before moving on to discuss the climate change and science and religion debates, including why Richard Dawkins is in some respects very similar to the fundamentalist Christians that he is castigating.  Darren recalls growing up in the same village as Alan Bennett and, in terms of his earliest memories, he can remember the mo

Professor April McMahon is the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Education and Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Kent, and it was a great pleasure to meet her for this week’s interview. April was born in Edinburgh while a Beatles concert was taking place nearby and she recounts at the start of our conversation how her father was defined more by his absence than his presence during her childhood. She speaks candidly about how there weren’t many opportunities open to her as a child and how her mother had to work ‘hand to mouth’. As a child, reading books from the library van was April’s passion. She also talks about being into the New Romantics, such as Ultravox, as well as Clare Grogan and Altered Images, and being a sucker for musicals. April sings to this day in the university chorus, and we learn whether April is a ‘Braveheart’ or a ‘Gregory’s Girl’ type of person. April recounts what inspired her to go to university and she talks about her false start, having initially chose

My guest in this week’s fascinating and very candid interview is Jeremy Scott, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Literature at the University of Kent. Jeremy was born in Brentwood, Essex, and talks about growing up in what was known as the ‘stab’ capital of the Metropolitan area and how Romford has changed in the decades since. We discuss why pubs are an important part of the British landscape and whether the demise of the pubs might be seen as an instance of secularization. Jeremy’s earliest memories are from photos and he recollects how as a child he seemed to be outdoors all day. Football was a big thing for him when growing up, and he was also into sailing and swimming. We learn how music was also an important factor. Jeremy learned to play the guitar and piano and recorded the charts off the radio as well as TV themes. His favourite artists were The Smiths and The Cure and we learn that he grew up in a very musical house. Jeremy reveals what the first record was that he bought and we discuss why