Category Archives: Kind of a BIG Deal

Kind of a BIG Deal – S02E04 – David & Hilary Crystal

Posted in Books & Film, Interviews, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive and intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folk our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Listen again to Kind of a BIG Deal S02E03 ft. Neil Mackinnon, Head of External Affairs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society HERE.

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and the authors of Wordsmiths and Warriors

DAVID & HILARY CRYSTAL

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“The irony is only four percent of the English speakers of the world ever spoke that so-called correct kind of English.”

David Crystal is perhaps best known for his two encyclopedias for Cambridge University Press, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. His recent books include Words in Time and Place: Exploring Language through the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary (2014), You Say Potato: a book about accents (2014, with actor son Ben Crystal), and The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary (April 2015, also with Ben).

Hilary Crystal is a former speech therapist and one time quality-control editor for the Cambridge and Penguin families of encyclopedias. In 2013 husband and wife published Wordsmiths and Warriors: the English-Language Tourist’s Guide to Britain.

In this conversation David & Hilary talk about their shared passion for language, accents and Shakespeare in original pronunciation (OP).

S02E04 David & Hillary Crystal

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

This season of Kind of BIG Deal interviews is supported by the good people at the superb Cult Espresso – the coffee lover’s Southside choice.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you may not see embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)

Kind of a BIG Deal – S02E03 – Neil Mackinnon

Posted in EdFestivals 2015, Features, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive and intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folk our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Listen again to Kind of a BIG Deal S02E02 ft. Dr Angela Bartie, historian and author of The Edinburgh Festivals: Culture and Society in Post-war Britain HERE.

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and the Head of External Affairs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society

NEIL MACKINNON

Image credit - Dan Lentell

“Any writer or artist that has something to say should have a space here where they can say it.”

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the organisation that underpins the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Its core value is to promote the Fringe as an open-access arts event – meaning that anyone with a story to tell and a venue willing to host them should be able to perform, with no one person or committee curating the overall programme. The society was formalised in 1958, to support the growing number of performers who came to Edinburgh, who weren’t included in the programme of the Edinburgh International Festival. Among other roles, it provides information to artists, publishes the Fringe programme and operates a central box office.

In this interview Neil discusses some of the history of the Fringe and the journey of the Society over the last 60 years, from audience protests to the changes in ticketing processes as technology becomes more advanced. He also shares his thoughts on the changing landscape of the arts in relation to politics, and just what he does after the festival finishes each year…

Dan Lentell talks to Neil Mackinnon

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

This season of Kind of BIG Deal interviews is supported by the good people at the superb Cult Espresso – the coffee lover’s Southside choice.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you may not see embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)

Kind of a BIG Deal – S02E02 – Dr. Angela Bartie

Posted in Books & Film, Features, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive & intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folk our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Listen again to Kind of a BIG Deal S02E02 ft. Chris Breward, Edinburgh University’s Professor of Cultural History, Principal of Edinburgh College of Art and Vice-Principal Creative Industries and Performing Arts HERE.

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and the author of The Edinburgh Festivals: Culture and Society in Post-war Britain

ANGELA BARTIE

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#EdFringe was once seen as “people from London trying to foist their dirty culture on fine, upstanding people.”

Angela is an historian of the post-1945 era. Her research interests cover social and cultural change in the second half of the twentieth century. Her focus is on the role of the arts in society, cultural policy, and arts festivals – research topics which grew from, and alongside, her ongoing interest in youth gangs, violence, media representations of young people, and official responses to delinquency.

Her history of the festivals – from their inception through to the 1970s – deals with post-war culture and society in general and the world’s largest arts festival in particular. Edinburgh has been the site of numerous ‘culture wars’ since the festivals began in 1947. Key debates that took place across the Western world about the place of culture in society, the practice and significance of the arts, censorship, the role of organised religion, and meanings of morality were all reflected in frequent contests over culture in the Festival City.

The Edinburgh Festivals explores these ‘culture wars’ – up to the 1970s – and is the first major study of the origins and development of the annual arts extravaganza. This first critical history of the world’s biggest arts festival uses Edinburgh as a lens for understanding wider social and cultural change in post-war Britain. It draws upon a range of archival sources, including original oral history interviews with key players in the arts scene of Edinburgh and beyond.

Dan Lentell Talks to Dr. Angela Bartie

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

This season of Kind of BIG Deal interviews is supported by the good people at the superb Cult Espresso – the coffee lover’s Southside choice.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you may not see embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)

Kind of a BIG Deal – S02E01 – Prof. Chris Breward

Posted in Features, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive & intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folks our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Conversations coming up in season two of Kind of a BIG Deal include: David & Hilary Crystal (Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist’s Guide to Britain); Phil Whitchurch & Sally Edwards (Shakespeare, His Wife and The Dog); & Angela Bartie (The Edinburgh Festivals; Culture and Society in Post-war Britain). WATCH THIS SPACE!

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and the Principal of Edinburgh College of Art

CHRIS BREWARD

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Chris Breward is Edinburgh University’s Professor of Cultural History, Principal of Edinburgh College of Art and Vice-Principal Creative Industries and Performing Arts.

His publications and exhibitions have considered the cultural history of fashion in the West, the history and status of London and other cities as global capitals of fashion, men as consumers of dress and related histories of dandyism, and ideas of fashion, modernity and memory. He has worked on major collaborative curatorial projects funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Chris studied at the Courtauld Institute and the Royal College of Art. Prior to joining ECA as the new College’s first Principal, he held posts at Manchester Metropolitan University, the Royal College of Art, London College of Fashion (University of the Arts London) and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is a Governor of the Pasold Institute and a Trustee of the National Museums of Scotland. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the RCA, an Honorary Research Fellow at the V&A and a Fellow of the RSA.

In 2012, Christopher co-curated the V&A’s Olympic season exhibition British Design: Innovation in the Modern Age 1948-2012. He has contributed catalogue essays to V&A exhibitions on Quilts, Couture, Sport and Fashion, Aestheticism, Postmodernism, David Bowie and post-war Italian Fashion, and to catalogues for the exhibitions Artist, Rebel, Dandy at the Rhode Island School of Design and Ivy Style and A Queer History of Fashion at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. He sits on editorial and advisory boards for journals including Fashion Theory, Costume, The Happy Hypocrite, Visual Culture in Britain and Interiors: Design/Architecture/Culture and is series editor for Manchester University Press’s Studies in Design. He is currently working on the cultural history of the suit and supervising PhD students in fashion and design/decorative arts history.

Dan Lentell talks to Chris Breward

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence. This season of Kind of BIG Deal interviews is supported by the good people at the superb Cult Espresso – the coffee lover’s Southside choice.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you may not see embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)

Kind of a BIG Deal – Season 2 – Preview

Posted in Features, Interviews, Kind of a BIG Deal by

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“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

Sunshine glides across classical facades. Spring has sprung in Edinburgh. The first stirrings of Fringe ’15 are already in the air. Like bees amid the seas of daffodils on the Meadows, enthusiastic backers buzz around early Kickstarter campaigns hoping to bring shows up in August. By the Water of Leith an advertising agent for one of the big review sites rechecks his box of lures, hoping to land producers big and small. Our own Richard Stamp, the Fringe Guru, is even now getting ready to slip this year’s festival guides lovingly under his pillow.

As the Fringe’s first stirrings turn from a rumble into a roar, Edinburgh49 will continue to cover the other 49 weeks of arts in our town, showcasing all that this most capital of capitals has to offer the hungry punter. Next week you’ll be able to hear the first episode of the second season of our Kind of a Big Deal Interviews. These feature the kind of big deal folks our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

S02E00 – Measure For Measure OP Reading

Here’s a preview of Dan Lentell’s conversation with David & Hilary Crystal authors of Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist’s Guide to Britain (including a rather important spot on Leith Walk with which you may or may not be familiar). Here you can hear David, the world expert on the Original Pronunciation of Shakespeare, giving us a taste of how Measure for Measure would have sounded to its first audiences.

Season 2 of Kind of a BIG Deal will also feature Phil Whitchurch & Sally Edwards (Shakespeare, His Wife and The Dog); & Angela Bartie (The Edinburgh Festivals; Culture and Society in Post-war Britain).

Kind of a BIG Deal – Season 1 – Recap

Posted in Features, Interviews, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

You might think that it’s simply not possible for 2 people have an intimate conversation in front of hundreds of people. But it is! And it’s all thanks to the marvel of sound recording. (BTW, did you know, in 1889 Thomas Edison presented a phonograph to M. Eiffel while calling at the latter’s private apartment at the top of his tower?)

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive & wide-ranging conversation between our Features Editor, Dan Lentell, and the kind of big deal folks our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

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Season 2 of Kind of a BIG Deal will include: David & Hilary Crystal (Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist’s Guide to Britain); Phil Whitchurch & Sally Edwards (Shakespeare, His Wife and The Dog); & Angela Bartie (The Edinburgh Festivals; Culture and Society in Post-war Britain). WATCH THIS SPACE!

Kind of a BIG Deal – S01E06 – Philippa Langley

Posted in Books & Film, Features, Interviews, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive & intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folks our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Last Week: Alternative comedy legend, Andy de la Tour. Conversations coming up in season two of Kind of a BIG Deal include: David & Hilary Crystal (Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist’s Guide to Britain); Phil Whitchurch & Sally Edwards (Shakespeare, His Wife and The Dog); & Angela Bartie (The Edinburgh Festivals; Culture and Society in Post-war Britain). WATCH THIS SPACE!

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and secretary of the Scottish Branch of the Richard III Society

PHILIPPA LANGLEY

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Philippa is best known for her contribution to the 2012 exhumation of Richard III of England. She attributes the discovery to a feeling she had when first visiting the northern end of the Social Services car park in Leicester which acted as the catalyst to four years of research that confirmed this location, and where the king was later found. Philippa had gone to Leicester when researching Richard’s life for a screenplay she was writing.

She proceeded to raise money for, and organize the excavation of the site, leading to the eventual discovery of Richard III’s remains. She later contributed to a Channel 4 documentary about the project, titled The King in the Car Park. Philippa is co-author, with Michael K. Jones, of The King’s Grave: The Search for Richard III.

This conversation took place during the 2014 Book Festival.

E49 Interviews; Dan Lentell talks to Philippa Langley

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you may not see embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)

Kind of a BIG Deal Interview – S01E05 – Andy de la Tour

Posted in Features, Interviews, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive & intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folks our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Last Week: Prof. Sir Tim O’Shea (Principal, Edinburgh University & Chair, Edinburgh Fringe). Next week: Philippa Langley (The King’s Grave; The Search for Richard III).

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and stand-up comedian

ANDY DE LA TOUR

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Andy de la Tour is an actor and screenwriter. His film appearances including Plenty, Notting Hill, the Roman Polanski version of Oliver Twist and “44” Chest. His work in television includes The Young Ones, Bottom, Kavanagh QC and The Brief. On stage he has appeared at the National Theatre in Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land and Alan Bennett’s People.

His credits as a television writer include Lovejoy, Peak Practice, The Vet, Kavanagh QC and Clem. Andy has also written many stage plays including Safe In Our Hands (winner of the LWT Plays on Stage Award)

But before all that, Andy was a stand-up comedian in the 1980s with the likes of Rik Mayall, Ben Elton as well as French and Saunders. In 2012 he wrote Stand-Up or Die about his most recent adventure – returning to the stand-up scene in New York.

This conversation took place during August ’14 almost 3 decades on since Andy last played the Fringe.

E49 Interviews; Dan Lentell talks to Andy de la Tour

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you may not see embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)

Kind of a BIG Deal Interview – S01E04 – Prof. Sir Tim O’Shea

Posted in Features, Interviews, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive & intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folks our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Last week: Prof. Mary Beard (Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up). Next week: Andy de la Tour (Stand Up or Die).

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and the Principal of Edinburgh University and Chair of the Fringe Festival

PROF. SIR TIM O’SHEA

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Prof. O’Shea grew up in London, attended the Royal Liberty School, in Romford, Essex. A computer scientist, he was Master of Birkbeck College from 1998 and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 2001.

A graduate of the Universities of Sussex and Leeds, he has worked in the United States and for the Open University where he founded the Computer Assisted Learning Research Group and worked on a range of educational technology research and development projects, later becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor there. He was a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, Department of Artificial Intelligence, from 1974-78.

Professor O’Shea became Principal of the University of Edinburgh in October 2002. Since his appointment he has sat on various boards including the Boards of Scottish Enterprise, the Intermediary Technology Institute Scotland Ltd, the British Council, the Governing Body of the Roslin Institute and has been Convenor of the Research and Commercialisation Committee of Universities Scotland and Acting Convener of Universities Scotland.

This conversation took place during Fringe ’14 and examined the interplay of O’Shea’s University and Fringe roles.

E49 Interviews; Dan Lentell talks to Tim O’Shea

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you will not see the embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)

Kind of a BIG Deal Interview – S01E03 – Prof. Mary Beard

Posted in Books & Film, Features, Interviews, Kind of a BIG Deal by

“I don’t know how to put this…but I’m kind of a big deal.” – Ron Burgundy

In each episode of Kind of a Big Deal you can listen to an exclusive & intimate conversation between our Features Editor and the kind of big deal folks our world-class arts scene attracts – writers, performers, movers and shakers.

Last Week: Ian Lavender (Don’t Tell Him Pike). Next week: Sir Tim O’Shea (Edinburgh University Principal & Fringe Chair).

This week’s conversation is between Dan Lentell and historian

PROF. MARY BEARD

Winifred Mary Beard, OBE, FBA, FSA is the professor of classics at the University of Cambridge where she is a fellow of Newnham College. Her blog, A Don’s Life, appears in The Times as a regular column. Her books run from Rome in the Late Republic (with Michael Crawford, 1985); through The Colosseum (with the late & much lamented Keith Hopkins, 2005); to Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up (2014). Mary Beard’s work on television, as well as her robust social media presence, have made her Britain’s most widely recognized Classicist.

If George Washington didn’t fly around on Air Force One or live at the White House, and yet is still the first US President, then why was Julius Caesar not Rome’s first emperor? Did the ancient Ostians live entirely on takeaways? These (and other weighty matters) were covered in a conversation which took place during the 2014 Fringe.

E49 Interviews; Dan Lentell talks to Mary Beard

The jingle is used with the gracious permission of Moving On Theatre’s Laurene Hope Omedal (star of Piaf: Love Conquers All) and is voiced by Edinburgh Nights host Ewan Spence.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are subscribed to Edinburgh49‘s emailing list, you will not see the embedded audio links in your email alert, but they are on the website. (Promise!)