Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Gary Bunt, Professor of Islamic Studies at University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Gary and I made a reverse academic journey as he was an undergraduate student at Kent before moving to Lampeter in later years, whereas I started at Lampeter and moved to Kent. The first half of our conversation relates to a less known aspect of Gary’s life in which he had a radio career in BBC production, including working with Brian Matthew. He met artists like The Specials and John Lydon when they were promoting their records.  Gary also received the tapes from the last interview that John Lennon gave, to Andy Peebles, before he died, and had a week to put together a documentary on Lennon. He also did some archive work on the 60s at the BBC, e.g. finding old session tracks. We learn why Gary left that world behind and became involved with a charity called Radio Lollipop which involved laying on big events. He became more involved in working with the patients, which also signalled a change in directi