Thatcherism

Rodrigo’s “Concierto d’Aranjuez” from the film “Brassed Off”

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

One of THE HOBBLEDEOY’S all-time favorite films is writer/director Mark Herman’s Brassed Off (1996). This scene features the legendary Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Stephen Tompkinson, and Ewan McGregor, but the true star here is the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, who perform the music.

The Concierto de Aranjuez is by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is by far Rodrigo’s best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the 20th century.

Usually performed as a guitar concerto, the flugelhorn arrangement of the Adagio was by Kevin Bolton.

If you have not seen this film, you must. Not currently available on Netflix or Amazon, it’s worth a trip to borrow from the local library.

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Rodrigo’s “Concierto d’Aranjuez” from the film “Brassed Off”

~ Michael Stevenson ~ 4 Comments

One of THE HOBBLEDEOY’S all-time favorite films is writer/director Mark Herman’s Brassed Off (1996). This scene features the legendary Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Stephen Tompkinson, and Ewan McGregor, but the true star here is the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, who perform the music.

The Concierto de Aranjuez is by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is by far Rodrigo’s best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the 20th century.

Usually performed as a guitar concerto, the flugelhorn arrangement of the Adagio was by Kevin Bolton.

If you have not seen this film, you must. Not currently available on Netflix or Amazon, it’s worth a trip to borrow from the local library.

British Films
Maggie
Maggie Smith, 1960
Trump “unhinged”
Lankum: False Lankum review
Without diluting their power or abandoning their gothic intensity, the Dublin group’s …
GasLit Nation: The Save Democracy Challenge
February 28, 2023 GASLIT NATION WITH ANDREA CHALUPA AND SARAH KENDZIOR Dictators …

Thatcher’s Legacy In British Culture

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

As regular readers will know, I have been following the footsteps of British writer and director Bruce Robinson in recent weeks. His name is not well known, but he is the creative genius behind cult 80s movie Withnail & I, its ‘follow-up’ How To Get Ahead in Advertising and, more recently, Jennifer Eight and The Rum Diary. The latter saw him coming out of exile at the request of producer Johnny Depp, who remembered Withnail and wanted him for Hunter S. Thompson’s memorable story about a journalist in Puerto Rico. In fact, my Robinson journey began with the fabulous but long book about Jack The Ripper.

What I realised yesterday evening, while chuckling through How To Get Ahead In Advertising, is that Robinson belongs to a group of 70s and 80s British creatives which includes people like Roger Waters and Ken Loach. What they all share is an instinctive disdain or even hatred for Margaret Thatcher and her vision for Britain. As a child of the 80s, I can only say that Thatcher was a peripheral figure at home. Appearing on the news, invariably to cries of ‘that bloody woman’ from the men in whichever house I was watching TV in, she was our most popular leader, yet absolutely nobody admitted to ever voting for her. This is not a piece about Thatcher, but about Thatcherism. [ . . . ]

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