Nostalgia Interviews with Chris Deacy

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interview to meet Katie Marquis. Katie runs Dance Warehouse, a dance school in Canterbury where she was once a pupil. We find out how Katie has realized the three dreams she set herself as a child, and how she is very focused and determined as a person and we talk about the inevitability of the route she has taken.

Katie is originally from Canterbury but her family moved to the Netherlands when she was two. She went to the Royal School of Ballet when she was aged sixteen and later performed with a touring ballet company where she met her husband.

When she was growing up, Katie didn’t really have much time for anything outside of school and ballet, but throughout her life has often had the radio on in the background – and we find out what her guilty pleasure is on a Friday night!

We talk about the importance of time management and organization, how digital technology has made some facets easier, as well as about the role of fate and destiny and the way we inhabit different personae in our lives.

Katie has a 105-year-old grandmother who has seen immense changes over the course of her life, and we talk about the photos that she has of when her husband went off to fight in the Second World War.

We talk about how today life has become very instant, thanks for example to Reality TV shows, and the importance of having realistic expectations and how the journey and not just the destination is important.

We discuss the way that we often learn from our pupils, and Katie speaks about how her own dance pupils have brought her into the 21st century with various new ideas and images.

We find out how the pandemic impacted on Katie’s teaching, including the challenge of teaching on Zoom and dancing in confined spaces, and how it has in some ways done her some favours.

Then, towards the end of the interview, we discover what advice her adult self would give to her younger self, and what ambitions Katie has to encourage the younger generation back into the arts. Then, at the end, we find out whether Katie thinks of herself as being a looking back or a looking forward type of person.

My guest this week is Chris Solomon, a Physicist who worked at the University of Kent from 1995 until 2020. He specialized in the area of facial recognition and subsequently started a company called Vision Metric which has been his main focus.

We talk about the interdisciplinary nature of research, and what he learned from studying Physics, and how it didn’t directly affect the way he lived his life.

Chris was a good footballer as a boy and was into mathematics. He was born on Hayling Island near Portsmouth and grew up around Brighton.

We learn about his family background, including having a mother who had a TV career, presenting an afternoon show on Southern TV called House Party, and meeting Anita Roddick.

We find out about his interest in Slade and T-Rex in the 1970s and how we consumed music in those days. We learn about Chris’ interest in religion, too, and how he became a seeker. Direct experience is important for him. 

Buddhism was his first interest, and we learn about Chris’ fascination with the teaching of Gurdjieff and esoteric Christianity. Chris talks about why he didn’t always talk about it with colleagues, and whether there should be an academic dimension to spiritual matters.

We talk about the Michael Apted 7 Up Series where we see the patterns of our own lives unfold, and we learn about Chris’ undergraduate experience of doing Physics at Durham and how he was disappointed with the lack of wonder he encountered.

Then, at the end of the interview, Chris talks about how his memories are predominantly positive, and he relates an experience involving some rather difficult tenants which was lesson-learning. We also discover that his younger self imagined that he would end up being either a scientist or a builder.

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 direction.

Gary remembers listening to the radio from when he was young. He was more of a Capital than Radio 1 person, with the likes of Roger Scott and Nicky Horne, and we talk about the role of the radio presenter and their personae. Gary knew Brian Matthew and used to chat to him on his commute to work. We also learn about the Pirate Radio stations which influenced him, including the Dread Broadcasting Corporation which played reggae, as well as his enjoyment of listening to John Peel.

Gary interviewed Adam Ant on one occasion, being in the right place at the right time, and we learn that Gary was not someone liable to be star struck, though he wishes he had some photos/selfies from those days.

We find out why Gary was intrigued by the possibility of going to university, where, at the University of Kent, he applied his research skills from his media work to his degree. After initially studying English, Gary ended up focusing after his first year on Religious Studies, including specializing in Islam.

Gary reflects on his student days, including the trips he made, such as to Egypt, and how he ended up doing a research-based Masters at Durham.

Then, at the end of the interview, we discover what the future has in store for Gary.

It was a huge privilege for my latest Nostalgia Interview to meet Anne Pőnisch and Vicky Tomlinson, daughters of John Roland Lloyd Thomas who was Principal of Saint David’s (University) College for nearly a quarter of a century from 1953 until the mid-1970s.

Anne and Vicky remember the days of living behind the College Chapel with its spiders, attics and cellars in an age when students wore academic gowns and had to be back home at around 10pm. They paint a fascinating picture of Lampeter from a different age.

We talk about how SDC was not just a theological college, and they remember how students would line up to see their father after supper. Their father enjoyed rugby and cricket and the pastoral side of being Principal was important to him. He did all the admissions work during his time as Principal as well as taking disciplinary measures.

They grew up knowing their father was a big fish in a small pond, and remember the diverse range of people they would encounter around the house.

We find how things were for their mother whose first husband died in the War, and they talk about how she did all the dinner parties and cooking, in those days. We find out why she didn’t let on that she was a Welsh speaker as well as why their father was keen to admit female students. This was an era when it wasn’t obvious the College would survive.

Vicky reminisces about once being kidnapped near Burgess Hall during Rag, and how there was once a This Is Your Life-type show arranged for their father in Lampeter’s Victoria Hall.

Anne and Vicky have many records from that era, including the letters that their father would write to them every weekend, and sermons and cine films. We also find out who they are in touch with from that era.

Anne and Vicky reflect on how much smaller things seemed when they returned to West Wales as young adults, and we talk about returning to the place of origin.

They remember when things changed in Lampeter, e.g. problems around drugs and the police having to be involved, and we learn how their father felt about retirement.

Towards the end of the interview, we find out whether they have followed in their parents’ footsteps at all and what their parents would have thought about the lives they have led. We learn that their father might not be happy about some developments in the Church, and what he might have thought of women priests, and they refer to the ‘lost souls’ that their father was keen to take in to Lampeter who might not have secured a place elsewhere.

My guest this week is Kate Heffner who is doing a PhD on women in science fiction fandom in the History Department at the University of Kent.
Kate talks about the untraditional nature of her research and reflects on the women who wrote on the ways science and literature could coalesce as well as about the importance of the early printing process.
Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Kate then moved to Iowa where she did a degree in English Literature and then undertook a Masters in Library and Information Science. She was a first generation college student and worked as a cleaner at an elementary school. We find out how she ended up going to Liverpool in the UK to give a conference paper and where she was encouraged to do a PhD.
Kate talks about her work on community archives and about growing up in a house of poverty where her mother was a survivor of domestic violence. Her mother gave Kate her love for strong women in science fiction, e.g. in the Alien films. She grew up with media including films as books were not affordable, though libraries were really important. Kate discusses, indeed, why libraries are sacred spaces.
Kate has served as a Judge for the Arthur C. Clarke awards, and we talk about outsider culture, and what a teacher is ‘supposed’ to look like (in the context e.g. of wearing leather jackets on campus).
Towards the end of the interview, we find out that Kate’s motivation for doing her research is in response to the criticism that women do not belong in sci-fi fandom, and we discuss the relationship between teaching and autobiography.
We also talk about the concept of negative nostalgia and why Kate didn’t think she would live beyond 25 years of age. Then, at the end, we learn why Kate is not a ‘living in the now’ type of person.

In a special edition of my podcast this week, Craig Braddick has interviewed me to talk about growing up in the 1980s with Radio 1 and then with Radio 2 into the 90s and beyond, and how being a contestant on Blockbusters guided me towards my own broadcasting career.
I talk about the significance of 1981 – the year I started listening to Radio 1 – and Bucks Fizz winning Eurovision and how, during my schooldays, the charts on a Sunday mattered in the school playground. We also talk about whether the presenters of the day really represented what was going on in the wider world and whether there was a patriarchal streak to broadcasting in that era.
I talk about who my favourite presenters were in those days, including the impact of Adrian John who was a presenter in the 1980s who really understood his audience.
We talk about my childhood diary entries and what it contains about my radio interests, and how I used to include information about the DJ and the artists who were on Top of the Pops each week. We also talk about DJ handovers both on radio and on TOTP, and of the presenters who perhaps didn’t always get on (famously Tony Blackburn and John Peel).
We reflect on whether for listeners there is a particular ‘golden era’ and whether some of the Radio 1 DJs in the 80s thought that they were more important than the music, and we refer to the way some presenters were delegated. We talk about the way they were caricatured in the Smashie and Nicey mode.
We then move on to discuss what happened with Radio 2’s evolution in the 1980s and how different the station was in those days from today, and how David Hamilton’s perceptions of the station in the 80s and now are diametrically opposite. 

I talk about how much I enjoyed the guests on Gloria Hunniford’s show on Radio 2 in the afternoons in the early 90s when I was at university. I refer to the line between education and entertainment as being blurred and how those in-depth conversations were an inspiration for my Nostalgia podcast.
We talk about Jimmy Young’s news and current affairs career and how the iconic JY was perhaps in some ways evoking a different era.
We then speak about my experience of appearing as a contestant on Blockbusters and of meeting Bob Holness, and how it came as a surprise to my school peers that I got on the show in the first place.
Craig askes me about my radio heroes, and I talk about Ed Stewart and how he died before he had a chance to read what I had written about him in a book I wrote about Christmas. We refer to Stewpot’s radio personality and whether he would have fitted a different sort of genre of broadcasting.
I reflect, too, on the female presenters who have influenced me, including Sarah Kennedy, and the contrast in broadcasting style with Chris Evans. I tell Craig about how I tend to gravitate to more introverted presenters and how radio and university teaching cross over in unexpected ways.
Then, at the end of the interview Craig asks me what in ten years’ time I think I am going to be listening to on the radio.

My guest this week is Terry Lindvall, the C.S. Lewis Chair of Communication and Christian Thought at Virginia Wesleyan University. Terry talks about his seminary background, looking at religion and popular culture, and we find out about Terry’s academic history and his work in history, theology and communications.

We discuss how both of us have been influenced by H. Richard Niebuhr’s seminal work on Christ and Culture, as well as the role of censorship and why, as Terry attests, the church should be using movies as they employ parables. He talks about the importance of showing film clips to his students, e.g. Pixar films, in terms of disclosing the divine. We also talk about Roger Ebert’s learned film reviewing.

Terry discusses how he looks at the role of prayer in film in relation, for example, to the films of Robert Benton, and the spiritual journeys that other filmmakers are on. Terry also reflects on how agents tend to stop people like us from getting through to filmmakers.

Terry was born in Basel, Switzerland, and his father studied under Karl Barth. There are Swedish antecedents, too, and the young Terry would visit that side of the family at Christmas. We talk about historicity vs. fantasy in relation to Tim Burton’s Big Fish and we consider how the past is sometimes wilder in actuality than it was in our imagination.

Terry talks about how he writes his books for his students, that his father was an Assembly of God chaplain in the military, back in the days when movies were frowned upon, and we find out how Terry got into films and especially international animation. His most recent book is on animated parables. We find out why animation and comedies are especially key for Terry.

He has taught church history, also, especially with respect to helping Terry understand about laughter and satire. Terry talks about why the worst moments of our lives can also be our best and why we need to go through crisis in order to appreciate the gifts that life can bring.

We learn about how he was given a C.S. Lewis endowed Chair, about the value of comedy including in the context of funerals and about the relevance of our personal stories in the way we address people.

Then, at the end of the interview, we discover why Terry thinks it is important to focus on the present.

My guest this week is Chris Cotter who lectures for the Open University and has a rich background in podcasts. He co-founded the Religious Studies Project podcast in 2012, and we talk about our thoughts on podcasts and why academics want to discuss their research.

Chris comes from near Belfast, where his father is a Church of Ireland minister, and moved to Edinburgh in 2004 initially to do a degree in Physics. He had discovered amateur dramatics at the end of high school and was also involved in a band, performing Shakespeare and other plays and came to the conclusion that a Physics degree was the wrong call. He ended up migrating to Religious Studies.

Chris’s area of research is in the critical study of religion, theory and method, and we learn about his interests in New Atheism, non-religion and ethnography.

Chris talks about his relatively privileged upbringing, his experience of growing up in Northern Ireland prior to the Good Friday Agreement, and what has, and what hasn’t, changed. He became known as ‘Irish Chris’ when he first moved to Edinburgh, and Chris reflects on how he could claim an Irish identity more outside of Ireland than within it.

We also learn how Chris moved from being averse to nationalism to becoming quite a supporter of the cause.

We talk about Chris’s amateur dramatics interests, as well as the chamber choir and grand opera, and more recently musical theatre. We talk about the concept of communitas, as well as the so-called ‘post-show blues’. Chris is quite a reserved person and we find out why he perhaps surprisingly likes to put himself on the stage.

Towards the end of the interview, we learn about Chris’s penchant for film, and how we feel about watching movies in a solitary context. Chris sometimes watches films on train journeys, and we discover what it is that he gets out of the oeuvre of Darren Aronofsky.

At the very end, we learn why Chris is more of a looking back than a looking forward type of person. 

My guest this week is Krysia Waldock, who is doing a PhD at the University of Kent that straddles various disciplinary areas. Krysia is based in the University’s Tizard Centre and has an undergraduate background in languages.

A diagnosis of autism led to Krysia doing a Masters in Autism, which in turn resulted in her doing a doctorate, something she never thought she would do, where she is looking at religion, disability and people who are marginalized.

We talk about the barriers, often institutional, that have been set up in terms of disability, and the notion of hermeneutical injustice, and the importance of giving people the requisite tools, towards fostering inclusion and belonging.

Krysia discloses her experience of meeting like-minded people at university, and the benefits of telling students about one’s own disability, before moving to a discussion about the nature of education and how it fits with, for example, a grammar school ethos, and the notion of ableism.

We talk about Krysia’s own educational journey and her interest in local social and cultural history, and how it can sometimes take a long time to find own’s own niche, and how this links with the neurodiversity paradigm.

We find out how Krysia ended up doing two languages, French and German, for her degree, and how it led to learning about theoretical frameworks that she can draw on now, and the need sometimes to go for a ‘both and’ rather than an ‘either or’ scenario. We talk about possible future career scenarios and where she thinks her research will lead.

Krysia identifies those areas where there has been progress and what happens when one self-identifies as autistic, and what happens with employers who don’t understand, or choose not to understand, about what an autistic person could offer to their profession.

Then, at the end of the interview, we talk about the way traditional forms of education can be so exclusionary and we discover why Krysia is very much an ‘in the moment’ type of person.

It was fantastic to catch up with Steve Jacobs, a retired Senior Lecturer in Media, Religion and Culture at the University of Wolverhampton, for my latest Nostalgia Interview. Steve and I were at Lampeter together from 1991-4 where we both received the same degree classification, and Steve recalls the way in which we received our results.

Steve worked in Religious Studies at Wolverhampton initially on a fixed term contract at a time when the subject was not well supported. We learn how he made the shift to Media, and his motivations for doing it, and how doing Chris Arthur’s Religion and the Media course at Lampeter helped him secure the job.

He speaks about the importance of Chris Arthur, my own PhD supervisor, who let Steve into the department at Lampeter back in 1991.

We learn about Steve’s doctorate in Hindu Reform Movements which he sees now as a training ground – a process rather than a definitive product. Steve reflects on how so much of process has been lost in Higher Education today, and we ruminate on what has changed in thirty years.

Steve talks about his background in catering and the Centre for Alternative Technology in Macynlleth where, prior to going to university, he ran their vegetarian kitchen. It was an educational centre whose objective was to promote sustainable living and Steve lived on site. Recently, Steve wrote a monograph on sustainable living at this Centre.

Steve discusses the choices he has made, and the importance of the concept of sharing – both in academia and in working in kitchens, and we learn about his move to ethnography.

Steve relates his experience of going to India, via Athens, in which he was able to study the practice and philosophy of yoga. He talks about the places that have really felt like home and about how home is a fluid construct.

Then, at the end of the interview, Steve relates how he has been able, by and large, to do the things he has wanted, and how growing up it was much more possible to live in the moment than is the case today. We talk about how student experiences can be different today, and Steve remembers the aerograms he used to send from India which his father kept.