Soho Bites Podcast

We’ve done some episodes in the past with some disparate and unusual themes. We did a Spain themed episode, a sport one, a God special and even a wrestling / boxing episode, but we think we’ve surpassed ourselves this time as the theme linking the two items in episode 33 is sandwiches. Sandwich http://www.urban75.org/blog/the-human-billboards-and-sandwich-men-on-the-streets-of-soho-15-years-ago-london-history-april-2004/ (boards), that is, and the men who wear them. There was a time when...

Murphy's Law states that if you've arranged an interview with a brilliant guest to talk about a fantastic film in a great location, then you will catch Covid and have to self-isolate. This is why my interview with https://mbalit.co.uk/client/ming-ho-2/ (Ming Ho) about https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046471/ (Turn the Key Softly (1953)) took place online and not in the lovely surroundings of the...

Episode 31: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) & Jonathan Foster on the Prince Charles Cinema In this festive special, we’re talking about the much loved Christmas classic, The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) which, according to this article, is https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-muppet-christmas-carol (the greatest film ever made). In the first half of the show we meet up with Jonanathan Foster. He works at the Prince Charles Cinema, just off Leicester Square and is the co-host...

Episode 30: Good-Time Girl (1948) & Josephine Botting of the BFI on Jean Kent Good-Time Girl is a post war UK film noir with three main locations – Lambeth, Soho and “Soho-On-Sea” (AKA Brighton). James Harrison of https://www.southwestsilents.com/ (South West Silents) & https://www.southwestsilents.com/filmnoiruk (Film Noir UK) joins Dom to talk about the film and about Film Noir UK. The star of Good-Time Girl is Jean Kent, known throughout the 1940s and beyond as UK film’s “bad girl”. To...

Episode 29: Absolute Beginners (1986) & Aidan McManus on Bowie’s Soho In this Bowie special, we talk to Del Pike about the much maligned Absolute Beginners (1986) - was the critical mauling justified? And Aiden McManus returns to the show to talk about Bowie's pre-fame years in Soho. Arriving on cinema screens on the back of an inordinate amount of pre-publicity in 1986, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090585/ (Absolute Beginners) was, notoriously, an instantaneous disaster at the box office...

Episode 28: Value for Money (1955) & Nigel Hamilton-Walker on “Dandy Kim” We look at two extraordinary lives in this episode. The film under discussion is https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048772/ (Value for Money (1955)) about a naive northern man played by John Gregson who becomes captivated by a glamorous West End showgirl played by Diana Dors. Hmm…. https://www.sohobitespodcast.com/episode/soho-bites-5-rattle-of-a-simple-man-1964 (sounds familiar….) We meet Diana’s biographer, Anna Cale, to...

Episode 27: Saturday Night Revue (1937)& Rob Baker on “Snakehips” Johnson & the Bombing of the Cafe de Paris https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-lawrence-napper (Dr Lawrence Napper) of Kings College London met up with Dom to discuss 1937’s https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160813/ (Saturday Night Revue). Starring https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0336931/?ref_=nm_mv_close (Sally Gray) and https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0590652/ (Billy Milton), it’s a role call of some long forgotten cabaret & variety acts of...

Episode 26: Too Hot to Handle (1960) & Graham Russell on the Lobotomy Room For the first part of episode 26, we headed out to https://www.fontaines.bar/ (Fontaines) bar in Dalston (Stoke Newington if you’re an estate agent, Dalston if you’re “street”) to catch a screening of the kitsch, sexploitation B movie from 1960, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053365/ (Too Hot to Handle). The film was one of two that its star, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0543790/?ref_=tt_ov_st (Jayne Mansfield), made in...

Episode 25: The Golden Disc (1958) & Garth Cartwright on Soho record shops The theme of episode 25 is record shops. Soho was, for a long time (and arguably still is?) THE place to go to buy records of all genres with dozens of shops packed closely together. In the first half of the show, Dom talks to Garth Cartwright, the author of two books about record shops, about the history of the Soho record shop scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru25udwTOeo (Kenny Lynch in Soho), including his...

Episode 24: Something in the City (1950) & David Boyd Haycock on Augustus John The theme of Episode 24 is painting and painters, of which Soho has seen many. In the first half of the programme, http://davidboydhaycock.blogspot.com/ (David Boyd Haycock) joins Dom in the https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/greater-london/leicester-arms-piccadilly/ (Leicester Arms) on Glasshouse Street to talk about the so called “King of Bohemia”, the artist, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_John...

Episode 23: The Boys (1962) & Shanne Bradley of The Nips Episode 23 is all about generational conflict – specifically, older people disapproving of “kids today”. In the film chat, Dom talks to members of the South Bank Talkies movie discussion group about https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054697/ (The Boys) (1962), a courtroom drama in which four young men are on trial for murder. Starring https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0840303/?ref_=tt_cl_t3 (Dudley Sutton),...

Episode 22: A Touch of Class (1973) & Bradley’s Spanish Bar Ola and welcome to the The Soho Bites Spanish special. The film under discussion, the 1973 Rom-Com, A Touch of Class, is set partly in Spain (but also in Soho, of course, or it wouldn’t qualify to feature on the show) and stars Glenda Jackson and George Segal. In the 1970s, it was de rigueur for the writers of British sitcoms to set their big screen spin-offs in Spain. As 1000s of Brits travelled abroad for the first time, Spain was...

A series of short features made for Soho Radio. Each week we talk to a different person about somebody in the Spirit of Soho Mural. This week, Dom talks to http://www.open.ac.uk/people/hg2265 (Dr Helen Coffey) from https://twitter.com/OpenUniversity (The Open University) about George Frideric Handel. Support this podcast

A series of short features made for Soho Radio. Each week we talk to a different person about somebody in the Spirit of Soho Mural. This week, Dom talks to https://keithducklin.uk/index.html (Keith Ducklin) from The Royal Armories Museum in Leeds about fencing master, Henry Angelo. Support this podcast

Episode 21: The Night Caller (1965) & Dr Laura Mayne on Butcher’s Film Services This is our (vegetarian friendly) Butcher’s episode and please don’t @ me about that apostrophe – it’s meant to be there because we’re talking about Butcher’s Film Services who were based in Soho for many years. In the first half of the show, Dr Laura Mayne of Hull University joins us to talk about this long departed fixture of Wardour Street. Here’s an interesting article from https://londonist.com/ (The...

Episode 20: The Shakedown (1960) & Melanie Williams on Leigh Vance For the first episode of 2021 we’re going back to 1960 for The Shakedown, a grimy tale of a pimp turned blackmailer, Augie Cortona played by the devilishly handsome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Morgan (Terence Morgan). We’re joined by https://twitter.com/RMGLUCK2017 (Richard Luck) of the https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/ (New European) to talk about this classic Soho noir which also stars...

Episode 19: Smashing Time (1967) & Jago Hazzard on Carnaby Street Welcome, cool cats, to the Swingin’ 60’s special episode. For our film chat, https://twitter.com/dom_delargy (Dom )spoke to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Fantoni (Barry Fantoni) about https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062281/ (Smashing Time), the 1967 satire / farce about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Tushingham (Brenda) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Redgrave (Yvonne), two girls from oop north seeking fame and...

A series of short features made for Soho Radio. Each week we talk to a different person about somebody in the Spirit of Soho Mural. This week, Dom talks to Tony Shrimplin from the Museum of Soho, trying to figure out what was going on in the extraordinary life of Chevalier d'Eon. Support this podcast

Episode 18: Peeping Tom (1960) & Stephen Fenerty on Pamela Green Famously, Peeping Tom (1960) pretty much ended the career of its director, Michael Powell, thanks to the universally horrendous reviews it received on its release. Also famously, the film’s reputation was rehabilitated by, among others, Martin Scorsese who counts it amongst his favourite films of all time. In this episode, https://twitter.com/dom_delargy (Dom) is joined by film producer, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0883267/...

A series of short features made for Soho Radio. Each week we talk to a different person about somebody in the Spirit of Soho Mural. This week, Dom hears about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maude_Stanley (Maude Stanley) from Emily White of London Youth. Support this podcast