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 about the importance of resilience and persistence. Mark also gives advice on the best strategies with, say, writing a novel.

Mark has kept a diary since 2006, and we learn that his diaries and books are handwritten and then subsequently typed up.

We talk about the Witches of Woodville books which Mark says are a cross between Dad’s Army and Bedknobs and Broomsticks set during the Battle of Britain with a trio of bickering witches. They are grounded in reality.

We also learn whether Mark’s younger self would be surprised to discover what he is doing now, and how one can start out as an author in one’s 50s. We learn why there is no such thing as an overnight success.

We discuss the art of self-mythologizing and we find out why Mark is so wary of nostalgia, seeing it as a slippery slope towards fascism. Things weren’t actually better in the past.

Then, at the end of the interview Mark explains why he believes things are getting better and how it is important to live in the now and to have the imagination to look forward.

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 education has changed over the years. Numi did some teaching while doing her PhD, and Numi discusses why her doctorate had its traumatic moments.

We discuss the way we had to embrace new technology due to lockdown, and Numi tells us which of her teachers or lecturers she is still in touch with. We also reflect on how education is a long term process, and Numi explains why it is important to confront one’s mistakes.

We discuss the skill of presenting a show on the radio, especially when things go wrong, and we find out what sort of music Numi enjoyed listening to when she was young. She presented Radio 1 Dance in the early hours of the morning some years ago, where she would play the music her parents used to enjoy.

We reflect on the importance of having a wider sense of the music that is out there, rather than stick to just one genre, and at the end of the interview we discover whether Numi is a looking back or a looking forward type of person and why, in her own words, it is good to have a slightly delusional dream.

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 one style, and about the evolution of radio and the role of personalities and the importance of brand, where either presenters are the style or the presenters have to fit the style. This leads us to discuss the shelf life of radio presenters and how this impacted David personally, including how brutal his own demise was at Severn Sound.

David talks about how this was a life lesson. He now works in emergency and disaster management where his is a senior management professional and consultant who specialises in emergency and crisis management, business continuity management, risk management and broader business planning consultancy. He is the founder of Foresight Solutions.

David credits Steve Ralph for encouraging him to join Cabin FM, and we learn that David also volunteers at Herne Bay Football Club.

David gives his thoughts on nostalgia and how he prefers reflection to nostalgia. We find whether David still has recordings of his old radio shows from the 80s and 90s, and we discuss mental health and the importance of not trying to seek revenge on what people did to you in the past.

Then, at the end of the interview, we find out whether David is a looking back or a looking forward sort of person, and why one can shape a future more than one can shape a past.

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 in school, and we find out about the Rising Star award he received at a film festival, as well as a film about dementia which he made at the height of the pandemic.

We learn that he would love to make a feature film in the spirit of Jim Jarmusch and that Max made a buddy movie a few years ago when he was at university on his phone. He explains how it became a diary of his time at university and has an important legacy dimension. It may go public when Max retires!

We also discuss the out of date elements in the film Dodgeball and about our perceptions of time, and we learn how his younger self was crazily ambitious.

At the end of the interview we find out how Max is a looking back or a looking forward type of person depending on the time of day.

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 access student impacted her perspective, especially when it centred on aspects of lived experience. We discuss how Yvonne’s background subsequently influenced her students, encouraging them to follow their dreams and return to education. We discuss how art can be a creative tool for transformation and provide moments of escape when faced with difficult realities. 

We explore autobiography, journal writing, and the pros and cons of returning to places of oppression from the past. We talk about processing personal insecurities, self-help, overcoming personal fears, and the power of positive thinking in educational and professional journeys. We discuss the evolution in education over the years in terms of how we fit into a mould, and the benefits of a neurodivergent perspective on the world. We talk about how the belief and understanding of a teacher from 40 years ago resonated with Yvonne when she contacted him again shortly before he passed away.

We also learn about Yvonne’s involvement with community interest groups in Wales, including the Women’s Institute, mental health advocacy groups, and organisations associated with diversity and inclusion. 

Then, at the end of the interview, we find out whether Yvonne considers herself to be a looking back or a looking forward type of person, and the way past, present and future interrelate.

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 refers to what comprises the largest collective trauma for Ukrainians and why her generation are the grandchildren of survivors. We learn why there are monuments to famine and why food and language are so important. We also find out why Nina’s novel amounts to a work of ‘autofiction’ and the reason that she changed the names of negative characters.

Nina discusses what she initially thought other people, including those from her home town in the Odessa region, would think of her book and how she initially wrote just a few pages per year. She wasn’t sure if anyone would publish it, only for the publisher to say it would be a best seller. It is now on its second edition, and we find out what Nina’s son, who was aged from 2-17 while the book was being written, makes of it.

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 provide adults with the space to find what it is they are looking for. We talk about how the ethos in schools in the past was quite different to that of today.

We discuss the growth in the way impact plays a role in the importance of a subject or discipline, and Liù reflects on how her life would have turned out if she didn’t have the interests and skill set she has. We talk about how education comes in different forms.

We find out about the time just before graduation when Liù suffered a large physical injury, which acted as a stop to her ability to move forward, and we discover why Liù doesn’t have a huge relationship with space and location. Rather, identity is more important.

Then, at the end of the interview, we find out why Liù, whose original outlet was painting and art, is a looking forward type of person.

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 connect with people. In turn, I refer to my experience of walking on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002 and how it didn’t relate to the Hollywood of my imagination.

Now that Christina lives outside of LA, she can see how it’s perceived, and why people have polarizing opinions of the place, and she remembers trips to different types of cinemas around LA. Christina insightfully discusses how this is her nostalgia now but that she couldn’t have known at the time that she would be nostalgic about this period. We reflect on what nostalgia means in this context.

We talk about the possibility of reframing and inserting ourselves back into our pasts, and Christina brings up a particular memory she has relating to The Bodyguard. We talk about the different lenses through which we look at the past, how we interact in different social contexts, whether there is anything we have to prove to others e.g. from our childhood, and whether other people have moved on in the same way we have, and so whether it is healthy to ‘go back’.

Then, at the end of the interview, we talk about whether it is possible to be nostalgic about negative experiences and we find out why Christina is more of a looking back than a looking forward type of person.

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 professions and about the role of music and identity. Eleni has always loved radio as a medium. She didn’t have TV when growing up and Eleni reflects on the magical and confessional nature of radio, with a community coming together. And, she talks about the importance to her these days of podcasts.

We find out what Eleni’s younger self would think about what she is doing now, and vice versa. We learn that her best friend from when she was young is (and always has been) a sheep herder and that Eleni is the only one from her village who went away.

Then, at the end of the interview, we find out why Eleni is both a looking back and a looking forward type of person.

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 when Gabriel left the station without handing in the key.

We talk about the intimacy element of radio and the role of podcasts. I explain too why I prefer live radio, and Gabriel talks about why it can work even better when things go wrong.

We find out that one of Gabriel’s reports was once picked up by The Sun and Gabriel reflects on how at the age of 15 he had interviewed James Cleverly, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.

Then, towards the end of the interview, we discuss whether Gabriel knew what path he was on when he was younger (we find out that his dream job was to be a pilot) and we learn whether he is a looking back or forward type of person and how doing the interview has made him rethink his answer to that question.