#50thEpisode
To mark our 50th Episode of Great in Britain Radio I wanted to do something different.
I was going through my attic and came upon a box from 20 years ago when I first started doing journalism. In it were old cassette tapes. Amongst them were two tapes featuring interviews with two extraordinary British names from the past who are sadly no longer with us. One was the late film director #SirAlanParker whose films garnered nineteen #BAFTA awards, ten #GoldenGlobes and six #AcademyAwards. The other tape that caught my eye was an interview with the legendary, late British cinematographer #FreddieFrancis. Francis was a remarkable cinematographer and he won two academy awards for Sons and Lovers and Glory. He graced movies like The Elephant Man with David Lynch and The French Lieutenant’s Woman starring Meryl Streep as well as Cape Fear with Martin Scorsese. Both men were truly greats in Britain during their time and rather than let these interviews sit in a box collecting dust for another 20 years I spent some time digitising the old tapes and trying to clean up the audio as best I could. After all we have been through in the last two years with the world being, in some respects, irrevocably changed, it seemed timely to look back at two great Brits.
The recordings were done on old audio cassettes and the quality isn't perfect despite all the filters I ran them through. In some places you will have to listen quite carefully but I think it will be worth it.
British history is a complex one, full of both good and bad, but by any reckoning this is a great country, a people that stood alone, and defiant, against the greatest evil the world has ever seen, the Nazis. And for that reason, and that unique act of defiance in the face of ultimate evil, I believe Britain’s legacy, traditions, values and heritage are worthy of respect and acknowledgement. Because it is that legacy, its contradictory history, its rich heritage and moral imperative that raised a generation of men and women that refused to capitulate and stand defiant in the cause of light when Europe had fallen into darkness in 1940. These facts are, of course, an inconvenience to those who would wish to force us all to see Britain’s past through a warped mono-variant lens of whatever ism or ist is popular that day. You know the ones I mean. The world is complex and requires illuminating by those who understand its light and dark, its good, bad and great, its compassion and indifference, its resentments and gratitudes.
That’s why, I thought, even in a small way, it would be good to hear some of the highlights from interviews I did two decades ago with two great Britons who did remarkable work in their lifetimes and through the stories they told added to the sum of all that is great about Britain. They both, working with light as a principle story-telling means, illuminated this mortal coil and the brief time we all have here together. Both men were truly great in Britain, by any metric you can apply, and I am grateful to have met them both briefly, recorded these interviews and got a chance to listen once again to what they had to say.
Great in Britain Radio is brought to you by the writer/director of the comedy movie Great in Britain: The Movie.
If you are in the UK or USA you can support truly independent British comedy by renting Great in Britain: The Movie on Amazon’s Prime Video.
Great in Britain: The Movie is a comedy about three old school friends and a dog called Audrey. It stars Jason Flemyng (Lock Stock) and Ben Starr, with Hannah Waddingham
(Ted Lasso), Larry Lamb (Gavin & Stacey), Colin Salmon (Bond) with West End star, Robert Portal and the late, great legendary British actor Peter Bowles. All supported by a cast of brilliant British comedy talent
https://greatinbritainmovie.com/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Britain-Movie-Jason-Flemyng/dp/B07WFXDYF3
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Britain-Movie-Jason-Flemyng/dp/B07WGW
