Nostalgia Interviews with Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Stephen Willoughby, who studied Theology at Lampeter between 1984 and 1987. After university, Stephen’s path took a technical turn – he became a computer operator and later completed an MSc in Computer Science at Aberystwyth, a journey that reflects a broadening of Stephen’s skills. Stephen now works in quality assurance and holds a PhD in a related field. Originally from Orp...

My guest this week is Cameron Tucker, Head of News and Content at KMTV. Cam and I begin by chatting about the BFI-funded series Generation Why that we both worked on in which we made sure young people from across the UK were fully represented. We find out why the series has been so transformational, and has helped us look beyond the world we know. We talk about how the world is both bigger and sma...

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interviews podcast to meet fellow podcaster Harry Bowles. Harry has been running his Nerds Against Normality over the last few months . We talk about how the podcast has evolved, and the reason for looking at the relevant algorithms. We find out about its reach, the prime time for podcasts and the right time to send them out. We find out what the f...

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interviews podcast to meet screenwriter, author and award-winning podcaster Mark Stay. We begin by talking about Herne Bay and its cultural dynamics and learn that Mark has always been drawn to creativity, with Star Wars playing a formative influence. His teachers encouraged him, and Mark discusses the importance of reaching out to people in the kn...

My guest this week is Numi Gildert who is the cohost with Rob Wills of the Drivetime show on KMFM. Numi has a robotics engineering background (including a PhD) and always loved consuming radio when she was young. She grew up in Macclesfield and listened to Silk FM, and later enjoyed Chris Moyles on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show when she was nine. Numi reveals that she always had a flair for performan...

David Cloake is a former professional DJ whom I have had the great pleasure to know since working at Cabin FM. We learn about David’s career in radio, beginning with a chat about the pre-digital radio world. We find out how David got into radio, starting at Southern Sound, about the advice he received from other presenters, and how he received elocution lessons. David’s first full time radio gig w...

My guest this week is Max Barrett, who works as a sales and marketing manager at his family business in sustainability, helping design engineers make more sustainable decisions. Max has a filmmaking background and broadcast journalism, too, and has previously presented film reviews on BBC Radio Kent, and we talk about the way we keep archives of our film reviews. Max grew up in Kent, and has lived...

This week's guest is Yvonne Howard, an educationalist, creative practitioner, and artist-writer. Yvonne grew up in Leeds in a challenging environment and turned to writing to process the events from those days. Yvonne left school at 15 with no qualifications. She returned to education in her late 20s, building into her first degree personal experiences on diversity and exclusion issues. She then w...

My guest this week is Nina Kuryata. Nina is a journalist, editor, media consultant and writer who, from 2011-19, was Head of the BBC News Ukrainian Service. I spoke to Nina on Ukrainian Independence Day in August to talk about her first novel Dzvinka ( The Call ) and to learn about what it means to be Ukrainian in the last days of the USSR and to discuss the role of independence.  Nina refers to t...

My guest this week is presenter, video coach and former TEDx curator Liù Batchelor, who refers to the 'wiggly' journey she has been on. She has always felt unclear about what she wanted to do, while at the same time being driven. We talk about the way people see us and whether it encapsulates our own sense of who we are, and Liù speaks about the importance of being present. We also talk about the...

My guest this week, for my 200th Nostalgia Interview, is Christina Kim. It was terrific to catch up with Christina, who is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, before I left the University of Kent in July 2024. Christina begins by remembering the visa issues that consumed her time upon arriving at Kent just over a decade ago and how it took a while to work out who everybody was in the School of Europea...

My guest this week is Eleni Kapogianni who I have known for about a decade. Eleni lectures in Linguistics at the University of Kent, and we talk about the big role that film (and film dialogue) plays in her research. Storytelling and fiction is a big hobby for Eleni, and we discuss the permeable nature of the work-life balance and find out about her work in pragmatics and discourse analysis, and h...

My guest this week is Gabriel Morris, Video Journalist at KMTV. We begin by talking about our Cardiff connection, and learn that Gabriel, who is originally from Hertfordshire, studied Geography in Liverpool and went into broadcast journalism. We find out where the spark for broadcast journalism came from, having grown up as a child with watching BBC Breakfast News each morning. Like me, Gabriel us...

My guest this week is actor and stage combat instructor Duncan Woodruff who did a History degree at the University of Kent about fifteen years ago. We learn that Duncan had a plan from when he was at school to go into acting, and that his work in fight directing was more serendipitous. Duncan used to take part in the Dickens Festival Play every year in Broadstairs, and we talk about the relation b...

My guest this week is Sofia Akin, journalist and main anchor at KMTV's Kent Tonight , and (as we learn in the breaking news at the end) who is about to join the BBC as a Broadcast Journalist. We learn that Sofia, who is from West Sussex, started out as a video journalist, and she talks about how no two days are the same. Sofia gives the example of a current story at the time we recorded the podcas...

My guest this week is Andy Richards, Channel Director of KMTV. Born in Guernsey in 1982, Andy reveals what it was like to grow up on a small island. The first film he saw was ET and Andy discusses the importance in those days of Blockbuster Video where he worked when he was 18, and we learn about the migration in that era from VHS to DVD. We talk about the success of particular films from those da...

My guest this week is Abby Hook, Assistant News Editor, journalist and presenter at KMTV where she has been based for the last two years. Abby talks about the demanding nature of journalism and how you have to love it to do it, and we learn that she grew up regularly doing drama. Journalism wasn’t the route Abby thought she would originally follow, and she discusses how much she loves learning, an...

My guest this week is Professor Paul Badham who for many years was Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Lampeter, where he began his career in 1973. His own father had done an English degree there before studying Theology at Oxford and whose own writings were influential on Paul. We find out how Paul got interested in his seminal research on life after death, which hadn’t been a central...

My guest this week is Henrik Schoenefeldt, Professor of Sustainable Architecture, who has been at the University of Kent since 2011. He was at Cambridge prior to moving to Kent and we learn about the role of sustainability in architecture from an historical perspective, such as from the Victorian era. Henrik grew up in Germany in a former industrial city, a site of industrial heritage, and indeed...

My guest this week is Sabrina Mei-Li Smith who lectures in Creative Writing at De Montfort University in Leicester. Sabrina has written a novel set in the mid-1990s and some of the research behind her novel is heavily connected to the themes of nostalgia and identity.  We learn about the way Sabrina examines themes of race and gender within the accepted narrative that surrounds the rise and demise...

My guest this week is Sally Bernard who was a schoolteacher for many years, currently living in Deal, Kent. She originally wanted to run an antique shop but her father played a key role in the career route that she followed. Sally talks about her involvement with Sure Start, and why she disagreed with the late Glenys Kinnock on reading by osmosis. We learn why Sally wanted to be a better teacher t...

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interviews podcast to meet Sally Nicholls who was at Lampeter from 1992-95 where she studied Welsh. Originally from Llantrisant, Sally grew up in the countryside, and she talks about her passion for horse riding, which she even accomplished in India. Sally could have gone to university in Bangor, North Wales, but ended up in Lampeter, a place with...

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interview to meet Safeer Khan. Safeer is Imam at a mosque in Gillingham where he has been based since 2014.  He leads the prayers every day and takes classes at the mosque. We learn about the Indian origins of his Ahmadiyya community which has about 35,000 members in the UK. Safeer talks about misunderstandings around caliphs and the role of the mo...

It was a great pleasure for this week’s Nostalgia Interviews podcast to meet Simon Smith who was at Lampeter from 1988-91, where he studied Religious Studies, and then stayed on for the Interfaith Studies MA. Simon worked in a bank for six years before going to university, and we find out why he chose Lampeter of all places, and he reflects on the shape of the department of Theology and Religious...

My guest this week is Louise Naylor, who spent 34 years at the University of Kent before retiring in September 2023 as Director of Education. Louise started on a one year temporary lectureship in 1989, and we talk about the role of serendipity and opportunity and the recipe for staying the course and how one can never be prepared for everything that arises in a teaching context. The best teaching...