Urban Tiger Radio

I was privileged to be asked to attend an interview in the Abbeydale Picture House, Abbeydale Rd., Sheffield, by Katharine L. Butchers, a student at Sheffield University studying the social aspects of life in the 50's and 60's particularly, although the history of this building stretches back to 1920 when it was built as a Variety Theatre. The Cinema is a colossus of a building that straddles the...

Hello, here is your free seventh chapter of Berlie's fascinating 'Granny was a Buffer Girl'. Enjoy!

Hi. This week's conversation is with Steve Salfield, the inimitable Saxophonist and Jazz Musician. Like many musicians, Steve doesn't limit himself to one band but plays different genres with different, but always excellent, people. During this conversation you will hear from 'Back Seat Jivers', the Rock 'n Roll band that Steve plays with, along with tracks from 'Jet Collective', a band that I fee...

PUNCH & JUDY SHOW AXED OVER FEARS IT TRIVIALISES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. So said the Burgers of Barry Island, South Wales in 2016. The Punch and Judy Fellowship equated the decision to 'banning wine gums because there are alcoholics in the world' This is an 'End of an Era' poem. The Punch & Judy show, once a staple of every British holiday beach, and sometimes there were more than one if it was a large...

Here is Chapter 6 of Berlie's wonderful 'coming of age' novel. Enjoy! More to come!

How much of Life and Death do we actually experience? Or are we just... 'Browsing'?

Hello again. I promise you some more interviews and music over the next few weeks, but have to admit that life and the weather have played havoc with my schedule this winter! Having said that, what I have for you today is what I think is one of my best stories. This is '7'. A story of shifting loyalties and prejudices and ultimately... revenge? Make up your own mind on that.

May Day is a 'Bank Holiday' in most of the UK. It probably originated as a Roman festival for the beginning of summer but the name of it has become synonymous with the International Call Sign for Help. It derives from 'Maid'ez', the French for 'Help Me'. This track came from a workshop with my good friend Berlie Doherty. Have a listen to her 'Granny was a Buffer Girl' serialised right here on Urba...

Hello again, this weeks addition is a story about erections, loss, fading love, dead dogs, squeaking gates, envy, and Japanese Brake Parts. Before that puts you off, I’d mention that this is the story that got me into the winners anthology of the Fish Prize, an honour I don’t think I’ve ever bettered.

Here it is! Chapter 5 of Berlie's incredible tale of growing up. Enjoy! More chapters to come each week so set your reminder! Look out for a reissue of this novel coming soon to all good bookshops and online suppliers. I'll let you know when it's out.

Hi, this is a short sci-fi story if you like that sort of thing! If not, we have plenty of other offerings on Urban Tiger Radio for your pleasure. I think sci-fi begins with an open mind and explores the things that seem inconceivable now yet have their roots somewhere in our past, in instincts, particularly survival. As a species we have adapted and survived more changes over the millennia than w...

Hi. This is chapter 4 of Granny was a Buffer Girl b y the famous author, Berlie Doherty. More to come! Enjoy the story so far... Bill.

Hi. This is a fantasy short story. I don't know where the inspiration came from, but I need you to imagine you find yourself inside of a dance hall frozen in time by a curse. The story is about on whose head a curse lies, and it's also about a deep and enduring love and how the men of successive generations of the same family deal with the responsibility for that love. I hope you enjoy! Bill.

Hello again, and welcome to Side 2 of the spectacular display of talent that was Heeley Writers back in the late 80's and nineties. This mix has it all, poetry, humour, political incorrectness, short stories, inexplicable poetry (in some cases)and even a couple of things performed very naively by myself, Bill Allerton. Enjoy the past! When you think about it, it's all you have for certain... apart...

Chapter 3 of 'Granny was a Buffer Girl' by Berlie Doherty

Chapter 2: Granny was a Buffer Girl by Berlie Doherty

One of my favourite authors, Berlie Doherty, has given me permission to publish her novel for early teens, 'Granny was a Buffer Girl', as an audiobook using material I have rescued from a previous tape recording. This is Chapter 1 to be followed by the rest shortly. This book is about to be re-released in paperback and I'll let you know when that happens. I am releasing it here because I think it...

This is the one interview that I have been waiting for... As you will hear, Roy has been a friend of mine for many a year and we have always supported one another in the poetry/writing circles in Sheffield. I am glad that I finally managed to pin him down long enough to record him. If the volume is a little variable on this track it's because I'm using previously recorded material, some of it at a...

Circles in The Frost is a sensitive take on teenage years and anxieties, both natural and those brought about by a sudden loss. Friends and cousins, Glenys and Shirley shared fathers who were identical twins... but there the similarity stops... and envy threatens to bring the whole relationship crashing down. Accompanied by music from Martin Bragger at his most sensitive and soulful with the song....

Dan Minton is an aspirational novelist, born in the South East but now can't bear to leave Sheffield, his adopted home. Dan is a teacher at a local school and was the outright winner of the 2017 Novel Slam organised by the Sheffield Authors group. Share his life so far, his hopes and dreams and those of Eddie, his protagonist in 'Yellowjackets', Dan's first novel. keep an eye out for it. This will...

The Ultimate Bad Karma Mix! Am I taunting both past and future here? Join me in a mixture of Bathos and Pathos with a remarkable line-up of talent from Welsh Geoff, through Bryony Doran, Roy Blackman, Cameron Kemp and The Fridge Magnets, as we journey ever onwards to our personal and public oblivion and despair... With more than a few good laughs along the way...

Hello again to San Francisco and San Jose and welcome to New York! In this short podcast I explore my American connections from the Founding Fathers upwards, and explain how Flash Gordon can remedy your Manic Depression. Not a sufferer? Tune in anyway to understand what the other half of the world are suffering from...

If you had the ability to return to visit yourself in early youth, what would you do with that? Would you advise them in a way that would change your life irrevocably? But if you did, what about the 'Law of Unintended Consequence'? Who would you end up being as a result? Would you even like what you would become? Far better instead to go back there and steal a precious gift, a gift of unfettered v...

Here comes 'That Time of Year' again. It's relentless isn't it? Well... here is a story with a difference. Imagine being given a gift of love, only to slowly realise that you are also a gift being given... and that you need to learn to love yourself, too. There's a fire in the hearth, the room is warm and has seemed that way for centuries. There are stockings on the mantelpiece... and you awake to...

The V8 Morning is the first story in my collection of stories called 'A Day for Tigers'. I shall be building this into a Playlist as uploads progress. 'A Day for Tigers' by Bill Allerton is available for Kindle or as a paperback on Amazon.