Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Stephen Willoughby, who studied Theology at Lampeter between 1984 and 1987. After university, Stephen’s path took a technical turn – he became a computer operator and later completed an MSc in Computer Science at Aberystwyth, a journey that reflects a broadening of Stephen’s skills. Stephen now works in quality assurance and holds a PhD in a related field. Originally from Orpington in Kent, he now lives in Derbyshire. Stephen has had a lifelong passion for radio, sparked on his 7th birthday when he received his first radio set. He was captivated early on by classical music and Radio 3, but it was Radio 2 in the 1980s that gave him a window into the wider world. He's steeped in the station's history and recalls listening to Alan Dell on Sunday afternoons, including the public reaction when there was talk of Dell leaving the airwaves. We discuss the magic of live radio, the days when Radios 1 and 2 shared the FM frequency, and the role of DJs like David Hamilton—who used to include the

My guest this week is Cameron Tucker, Head of News and Content at KMTV. Cam and I begin by chatting about the BFI-funded series Generation Why that we both worked on in which we made sure young people from across the UK were fully represented. We find out why the series has been so transformational, and has helped us look beyond the world we know. We talk about how the world is both bigger and smaller, and we find out about Cameron’s love of travel. He was born in Manhattan but grew up in Hong Kong where his grandfather was a policeman. We chat about hybrid identities and one’s place in the world, including in the context of sport. Cameron talks about the records e.g. photos that he has from those days, and about his new role as a father. We discuss the importance of connection and the relationships we have with childhood friends, and how we continue from where we left off when we meet them, as well as the way places evolve. We then move on to reflect on the role of nostalgia in a changing world. Cam als

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interviews podcast to meet fellow podcaster Harry Bowles. Harry has been running his Nerds Against Normality over the last few months. We talk about how the podcast has evolved, and the reason for looking at the relevant algorithms. We find out about its reach, the prime time for podcasts and the right time to send them out. We find out what the format is for each podcast which will e.g. include a review of a film, and we discuss whether a film can be ruined by the way the film is dissected. We discuss too the concept of secret screenings and the films that Harry is looking forward to watching over Christmas, including Sonic the Hedgehog 3. We find out why Sonic is so important to him, with Sonic the mascot of Megadrive consuls. We find out how Harry’s love of gaming is now his main job selling retro video games. Covid kickstarted this adventure, and he gave up his secure job for the video game world, and he extols the virtues. Harry talks about why video

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interviews podcast to meet screenwriter, author and award-winning podcaster Mark Stay. We begin by talking about Herne Bay and its cultural dynamics and learn that Mark has always been drawn to creativity, with Star Wars playing a formative influence. His teachers encouraged him, and Mark discusses the importance of reaching out to people in the know, and the time Mark bottled it when a director once rang him. We chat about what happens when you interact with ‘famous people’ and we find out why it’s the people two thirds up the ladder who can be the most useful. We discover why Mark gave up on acting and prefers writing, and we learn that Mark is a fan of Mike Leigh. We also hear about the three short films that Mark made and that he has written a full length screenplay. While learning his craft, Mark would make the most of every spare minute to write, and we find out what keeps Mark going, as well as why one can only run one’s own race, and Mark talks abou

My guest this week is Numi Gildert who is the cohost with Rob Wills of the Drivetime show on KMFM. Numi has a robotics engineering background (including a PhD) and always loved consuming radio when she was young. She grew up in Macclesfield and listened to Silk FM, and later enjoyed Chris Moyles on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show when she was nine. Numi reveals that she always had a flair for performance and had pragmatic parents who worked in the corporate world. Numi loved science and anything Japanese including anime and manga. We find out how she then got into robotics, leading to her studying electronic engineering at York where she also presented on student radio. We talk about the value of live radio vs. the value of editing and how radio is better suited to her as a person. We learn too about Numi’s podcast and its focus on women in engineering and technology, and how there are more career opportunities for women in engineering now than there were in previous generations. We also talk about how educatio

David Cloake is a former professional DJ whom I have had the great pleasure to know since working at Cabin FM. We learn about David’s career in radio, beginning with a chat about the pre-digital radio world. We find out how David got into radio, starting at Southern Sound, about the advice he received from other presenters, and how he received elocution lessons. David’s first full time radio gig was at Northants Radio where he did the Drivetime show, and we learn that David followed a traditional route. We discuss the changes that came about after the mid-90s and how deregulation is the cornerstone of change as it enabled ownership to be more businesslike. We also learn about what community radio is able to provide. We find out that David wanted to be a radio presenter from a young age, and how the people who have influenced David include Richard Allinson and Terry Wogan (and we hear a wonderful Wogan anecdote). We discuss the differences between live and pre-recorded radio and the importance of the one to

My guest this week is Max Barrett, who works as a sales and marketing manager at his family business in sustainability, helping design engineers make more sustainable decisions. Max has a filmmaking background and broadcast journalism, too, and has previously presented film reviews on BBC Radio Kent, and we talk about the way we keep archives of our film reviews. Max grew up in Kent, and has lived in Canterbury since he was 16.  There is also a South Wales connection as his mother is from Swansea. We learn that Wales and Medway are gravitational pulls for him, and we find out how Max’s interests in sustainability began. Max is also involved with pool tournaments, and we find out how sustainability, artwork and snooker also play a big role in his life. He has even hosted murder mystery parties that he has written himself. Max studied film production at Canterbury Christ Church University and he speaks about how collaborative his tutors were. We also learn about Max’s passion for Lego animation when he was

This week's guest is Yvonne Howard, an educationalist, creative practitioner, and artist-writer. Yvonne grew up in Leeds in a challenging environment and turned to writing to process the events from those days. Yvonne left school at 15 with no qualifications. She returned to education in her late 20s, building into her first degree personal experiences on diversity and exclusion issues. She then worked in conflict resolution, adult education and community relations in east London. I first met Yvonne in the 1990s when she was studying for a British Academy-funded PhD in Lampeter on mediation, social inclusion and community cohesion. Yvonne worked extensively in equity, diversity, group dynamics and interpersonal communication. More recently, Yvonne's Diversitree.Wales won an award for its representation of nature, art, photos, and poems in Wales. She also appeared on Dare to Dance with Amy Dowden. Yvonne is readying a book for publication in 2025. We talk about how a return to education later in life as an

My guest this week is Nina Kuryata. Nina is a journalist, editor, media consultant and writer who, from 2011-19, was Head of the BBC News Ukrainian Service. I spoke to Nina on Ukrainian Independence Day in August to talk about her first novel Dzvinka (The Call) and to learn about what it means to be Ukrainian in the last days of the USSR and to discuss the role of independence.  Nina refers to the trauma in not being allowed to be oneself and about how her creative journey has followed through since childhood. She talks about various stereotypes and reflects on why so many people who have read her novel, whose main character always has to prove that she exists, say that the story is about themselves! We talk about what happens when our identity is defined through the lens of someone else, and we learn that Nina’s ancestors are from Poland. She refers to her family background, and what happens when there is a tension between what one’s parents say vs. what the ‘official’ educators are promulgating. Nina ref

My guest this week is presenter, video coach and former TEDx curator Liù Batchelor, who refers to the 'wiggly' journey she has been on. She has always felt unclear about what she wanted to do, while at the same time being driven. We talk about the way people see us and whether it encapsulates our own sense of who we are, and Liù speaks about the importance of being present. We also talk about the cringe factor involved when watching our old presenting and why Liù is a ‘learn by doing’ type of person. She can relax more and more now into what she is doing. We reflect too on the types of presenting needed, e.g. at university. We find out about Liù’s childhood and some of the things she thought she might go on to do, e.g. being an interior designer or artist. She did Product Design and Manufacture at Loughborough, and we talk about whether there is an inbuilt thread in all of us that guides us. We learn that film and music didn’t play a great role in her childhood, and we find out about Liù’s mission to provi

My guest this week, for my 200th Nostalgia Interview, is Christina Kim. It was terrific to catch up with Christina, who is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, before I left the University of Kent in July 2024. Christina begins by remembering the visa issues that consumed her time upon arriving at Kent just over a decade ago and how it took a while to work out who everybody was in the School of European Culture and Languages at the time. Christina grew up in Los Angeles and went to university in Boston and was doing a postdoc in Chicago before moving to the UK. Christina discusses how she had not lived outside the US before moving to Canterbury. She has a linguistics, psychology and cognitive science background and we talk about how there are different sides to ourselves that define us in different ways. Christina also discusses the allure of going to another countries and how Canterbury feels very different from California. Christina reflects on growing up in LA and the dimensions with which it is possible to

My guest this week is Eleni Kapogianni who I have known for about a decade. Eleni lectures in Linguistics at the University of Kent, and we talk about the big role that film (and film dialogue) plays in her research. Storytelling and fiction is a big hobby for Eleni, and we discuss the permeable nature of the work-life balance and find out about her work in pragmatics and discourse analysis, and how discourse is shaped by societal trends. Eleni talks about growing up in a seaside town in Greece and living on her grandparents’ farm. Her parents are both academics, her mother is a Philosophy Professor and her dad’s area is Politics. Eleni was taken to Philosophy conferences at a young age, and we learn that she knew from when she was a child that she wanted to be a teacher. She did her MPhil and PhD in Cambridge before coming to Kent, and Eleni reflects on how different Linguistics conferences are now compared to the Philosophy ones she went to as a child. We talk about filmic representations of our professi

My guest this week is Gabriel Morris, Video Journalist at KMTV. We begin by talking about our Cardiff connection, and learn that Gabriel, who is originally from Hertfordshire, studied Geography in Liverpool and went into broadcast journalism. We find out where the spark for broadcast journalism came from, having grown up as a child with watching BBC Breakfast News each morning. Like me, Gabriel used to pretend he was reading the news from teletext. We also learn why Gabriel likes to watch himself back, and he gives away one of his tricks of the trade. Gabriel talks about his hospital radio work in Liverpool which he did for nearly two years up until the pandemic, and about the music he played and the on-air puzzles he did with the listeners. He has also done student radio, and he built his own studio in his student bedroom and was involved with ‘mission impossible’ challenges. We learn that he would like one day to return to radio, and we hear Gabriel’s thoughts on zoo radio and find out what happened once

My guest this week is actor and stage combat instructor Duncan Woodruff who did a History degree at the University of Kent about fifteen years ago. We learn that Duncan had a plan from when he was at school to go into acting, and that his work in fight directing was more serendipitous. Duncan used to take part in the Dickens Festival Play every year in Broadstairs, and we talk about the relation between the director and the actor and the way actors can interact on a stage in a way they can’t in a film with an audience. Duncan also discusses how the editor can change the way in which the actor comes across. We talk about his film Occupied (Bruce Partleton, 2024) and how it developed from the original short, and discuss the various different components which make it work, and how the audience can play detective. We learn why Duncan is not such a fan of method acting, and we talk about the role of fiction, and we find out about Duncan’s favourite scene from Occupied. We find out why Duncan is a fan of fantas

My guest this week is Sofia Akin, journalist and main anchor at KMTV's Kent Tonight, and (as we learn in the breaking news at the end) who is about to join the BBC as a Broadcast Journalist. We learn that Sofia, who is from West Sussex, started out as a video journalist, and she talks about how no two days are the same. Sofia gives the example of a current story at the time we recorded the podcast regarding the bombshell defection of Natalie Elphicke MP from the Conservatives to Labour. Sofia talks about being one’s own worst critic, the role of feedback, and Sofia discusses her upbringing and her educational journey, and we find out how she got into journalism. Originally, she wanted to be a print journalist but Sofia explains why she especially loves telling a story through TV. Sofia also reveals how quickly one needs to learn in such a short amount of time. We learn that Sofia’s favourite movie is Harry Potter and how she doesn’t get tired of it, and how she also likes to watch films which take her by s

My guest this week is Andy Richards, Channel Director of KMTV. Born in Guernsey in 1982, Andy reveals what it was like to grow up on a small island. The first film he saw was ET and Andy discusses the importance in those days of Blockbuster Video where he worked when he was 18, and we learn about the migration in that era from VHS to DVD. We talk about the success of particular films from those days, such as The Shawshank Redemption, the role played by technology including AI, and we talk about the importance of theatre. Andy also discusses the culture and professions of those who live in the Channel Islands, and how arts and humanities were really important to him. Andy went pretty much as far away as he could to university, studying for a year at the University of Teesside. He had been told he wasn’t university material, and Andy discusses how Middlesbrough was quite a challenging environment, and quite a contrast to Guernsey, and we find out why he ended up transferring to Chichester. Andy talks about

My guest this week is Abby Hook, Assistant News Editor, journalist and presenter at KMTV where she has been based for the last two years. Abby talks about the demanding nature of journalism and how you have to love it to do it, and we learn that she grew up regularly doing drama. Journalism wasn’t the route Abby thought she would originally follow, and she discusses how much she loves learning, and we find out why Abby doesn’t want people to recognize her for doing just one thing. We talk about the way we present ourselves and the way others will perceive us, and how one gets their personality across when covering a range of stories, as well as about how Abby uses social media as a timeline. Abby grew up in Surrey, and we learn about her wonderful extended family. We find out about the role that confidence plays in her life and how she originally associated journalism with a profession that people hate. We talk about the role of the audience, and how Abby will be recognized in the street, and how her nan

My guest this week is Professor Paul Badham who for many years was Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Lampeter, where he began his career in 1973. His own father had done an English degree there before studying Theology at Oxford and whose own writings were influential on Paul. We find out how Paul got interested in his seminal research on life after death, which hadn’t been a central plank of his studies beforehand. He mentions Penny Sartori’s work in terms of gathering the relevant evidence and we find out about other students of his who have undertaken research on NDEs and the afterlife, including his Canadian students who worked on the care of the dying which brought about a change of emphasis in Paul’s own work in this area. Paul talks about being a patron of Dignity in Dying and how his work here prompted former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey to change his mind on the topic. We discuss his media appearances and Paul talks about his regret that he has been associated so much with th

My guest this week is Henrik Schoenefeldt, Professor of Sustainable Architecture, who has been at the University of Kent since 2011. He was at Cambridge prior to moving to Kent and we learn about the role of sustainability in architecture from an historical perspective, such as from the Victorian era. Henrik grew up in Germany in a former industrial city, a site of industrial heritage, and indeed he grew up in a house on a former industrial site. Henrik reflects on how Covid and Brexit prompted a lot of thinking regarding identity, including his own future in the UK. He’s working on the largest conservation project in the UK at the Palace of Westminster, and reflects on how far what one does in academic work resonates with our interests as teenagers. We find out how the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral became a personal story for Henrik as his grandmother was in Dresden during the bombing. It also links to matters of faith, as Henrik recounts. Henrik discusses how his family did talk about the Second Worl

My guest this week is Sabrina Mei-Li Smith who lectures in Creative Writing at De Montfort University in Leicester. Sabrina has written a novel set in the mid-1990s and some of the research behind her novel is heavily connected to the themes of nostalgia and identity.  We learn about the way Sabrina examines themes of race and gender within the accepted narrative that surrounds the rise and demise of Britpop, the emergence of 1994's Criminal Justice Act, and the standardization and neutralization of alternative lifestyles.  Sabrina also has an exhibition as a work in progress, which focuses on her novel's research materials. This exhibition consists of archive materials from NME, Melody Maker, and fanzines as a method of communication before the widespread use of the internet. Sabrina talks about the hidden histories of mixed race performers and how we only tend to remember one accepted narrative, and we discuss what has changed over the decades and the fake and distorted memories from those eras, includin