The RHODcasts

To celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Second, memories of one of the Queen’s most incident-filled world tours. Having accepted an invitation from President Reagan to visit his home state of California in February and March 1983, the Queen and her party run into some really wild and wet weather. In Long to Rain Over Us, Rhod Sharp and his guests Andrew Morton (...

In When Jazz Came to Europe, Tony Staveacre and Rhod Sharp uncover the story of a musical innovator who has never had the recognition he deserves in his own country. Philadelphia’s Sam Wooding not only brought his band to Europe, but a whole new sound.

In Tony’s Taste of Comedy , Tony Staveacre takes Rhod Sharp on a lightning tour of some of the best standup comedians of the twentieth century - from the forgotten to the unforgettable. Thus Sid Field (bottom right) one of the first standups to make a living doing impressions, and Billy Bennett (top right) a war hero who nevertheless portrayed himself as " almost a gentleman." Tony'...

In Dream World - The Life and Death of Al Bowlly , Rhod Sharp and Tony Staveacre explore the story of a 1930s British superstar who outsold Bing Crosby. With seven of his original hits, here is Al Bowlly’s explosive career remembered in archive interviews with fellow band members and friends.

Rhod Sharp and Tony Staveacre take a fond look back at the 57 year career of the beloved British comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor . Tony caddies for Tim on the golf course where they grew up, stopping along the way to remember Tim’s radio heroes.

What was the prevailing sound on the Titanic? Light music, and lots of it. In The Band Played On, Tony Staveacre and Rhod Sharp recreate the musical voyage of SS Titanic, with a pickup band from the Savage Club of Bristol performing numbers from the White Star line songbook. 

In the first part of this audiobook, internationally renowned pianist Allan Schiller looks back on 1961 when at the age of 18 he was selected for the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire.

In this concluding part of his audiobook, the renowned Mozartian Allan Schiller looks back on his student days at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire during the height of the Cold War.  The members of Schiller’s piano trio prepare for the day when they go on the road.

Starting at a party thrown by the Kennedy family at their compound on Martha’s Vineyard and ending with an autumn 2020 encounter in a Scranton, PA. coffee shop with two voters separated by generations and party affiliation, JIM NAUGHTIE weaves more stories of the  changing American body politic while asserting unshakeable faith in human nature. 

Rhod talks to his old friend JAMES (Jim) NAUGHTIE about Jim’s introduction to the country 50 years ago this year and other memories collected in his book On The Road. (Recorded November 2020)

Rhod Sharp and Tony Staveacre present a never-heard interview with a giant of music, Astor Piazzolla. Piazzolla inspired generations of musicians with his classically-trained approach to a form once heard only in the brothels of Buenos Aires. He called it New Tango. Such was the initial hostility to it in Argentina that he was forever grateful he had grown up learning to box on the mean streets of...

This episode with David Greig, who is incidentally stepping down after eight highly successful years as Artistic Director of the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, showed an innovative approach to performing under Covid restrictions. Originally published on July 30, 2020, it describes a make-believe encounter somewhere in the Highlands between a Roman legionary and a young Pictish woman. In the followin...

In 2020, a summer of no Olympics and precious little else because of lockdown, the conductor KEITH LOCKHART tells RHOD SHARP how 80 members of the Boston Pops came together from home in a YouTube performance of John Williams' Olympic anthem Summon The Heroes. (recorded June 2020)