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Word In Your EarThe UK's original music chat podcast, est. 2007 and presented by David Hepworth and Mark Ellen. Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold
Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Language: en Genres: Music, Music Commentary, Music History Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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How A Hard Day’s Night ripped up the pop movie rulebook
Episode 883
Friday, 6 March, 2026
Author and broadcaster Samira Ahmed used to watch A Hard Day’s Night once a week and she’s just written an enthralling account of the shoot and its impact for the BFI’s Classic Films series. A movie, she points out, that celebrates Britishness and suburbia made largely by immigrants that broke every Hollywood rule, a film made to capture the essence of the Beatles before the bubble burst “which turned out to be the start of something not the end”. She talks to us here about … … the film’s connections with the Goons, the Young Ones, Dr Strangelove, Star Wars, Billy Liar, It’s Trad Dad and the Nouvelle Vague … and its influence - from the Dave Clark Five’s Catch Us If You Can and Paul Jones’ Privilege to Charlie XCX and the Moment … how the train sequence for I Should Have Known Better invented pop video … the play John and Paul wrote (Pilchard!) that was a homage to its scriptwriter Alun Owen … Paul’s two-day solo shoot with Isla Blair and other (mercifully) deleted scenes ... Profumo, pirate radio, the changing Britain of 1964 … Pattie Boyd, Anna Quayle, Alison Seebohm and other stand-out female stars … Wilfred Brambell’s gigantic fee and how badly his part has aged … why George and Ringo emerged as the stars … surely the greatest scene? – “She's a drag, a well-known drag. We turn the sound down on her and say rude things” … “hair that moved!”: the film’s impact in the USA … “beat-up and depraved in the nicest possible way” … and how the dubbed-on dialogue about Ingmar Bergman made the German version “a film for cineastes”. Order Samira’s book here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/hard-days-night-9781839029394/Help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
