Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

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