Author: Alikivi

HADAWAY HARRY – in conversation with actor Jamie Brown

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Jamie Brown.

The incredible true story of Harry Clasper is set to tour the North East in February. The one man play ‘Hadaway Harry’ stars Jamie Brown who won a NE Culture Awards Performing Artist of the year.

Harry Clasper was born in 1812 in Dunston, Gateshead, at two year old he moved to Jarrow where he fell in love with the water watching ships coming up the Tyne. Education was limited for Harry, he couldn’t read or write and signed his marriage certificate with a cross. He started work at Jarrow Pit but unfortunately that didn’t work out so his next stop was an apprenticeship at Browns Boatyard.

‘That’s where he got clued up about boats. Harry revolutionized boat racing and boat design, innovations that became part of boat racing then are still employed in boat building today’ explained Jamie.

‘By shaving the boat they made a gun barrel shape instead of a square bottom and pointed the front of the boat. That increased the speed rather than drag through the water, and they made a scooped shape oar’.

‘It was like the time during the 2012 London Olympics when cycling became really popular, they had lightweight helmets, handlebars were shaped to create more speed – huge innovations just like Harry Clasper done for boating in the 1800s’.

‘Rowing was the main sport then, people would sit on the bank of the river and watch the race. Bets would be placed and there would be sponsors – even in those days. There would be stories of men employed to drill holes in the boats of opponents or tempt the oarsmen with alcohol the night before. There was even a case of someone’s food being poisoned. One of the first cases of boat tampering was with the part of the boat called the scull. The term skulduggery comes from that’.

‘The writer Ed Waugh has a desire to shine a light on people or events that have gone under the radar. We’ve done plays about North East musicians and singers Ned Corvan, Joe Wilson and Wor Bella about a ladies football team plus at the end of last year was The Cramlington Train Wreckers’.

‘These extraordinary stories about the working class, are told so they go unforgotten. There is a thirst for these stories, people responded well to them with standing ovations and sold out shows’.

pic. by Local Historian, Steve Ellwood

The Hadaway Harry shows in 2015 and 2017 eventually got Harry Clasper some recognition as a blue plaque was fixed onto the base of the High Level Bridge in Newcastle. There is also a pub called the Harry Clasper in Whickham, Gateshead.

‘He came from a big family – he was one of 14 and had 12 children himself. His ancestors are still around today, they’ve been to the shows and are very proud of his achievements’.

‘But his story wasn’t straight forward, it’s not looking back with rose tinted spectacles as he suffered personal tragedy and professional disappointments, there was plenty of hardship and personal dilemma’.

Later in life Harry became a publican in Newcastle but sadly died in 1870.

‘Over 120,000 people lined the streets for his funeral the procession was only a few miles but took over 12 hours. His coffin was put on a boat and sailed down the Tyne to Whickham where he was buried’.

The North East has stories of talented people achieving great things – we talked about the footballer Paul Gascoigne, coincidentally also born in Dunston where Harry came from.

‘Before Association football the sport of the people was rowing and Harry Clasper has been likened to the David Beckham of the day. I think, as many people do, he should have a statue next to the river Tyne. His achievements were fantastic. Do you know he won the world championship 8 times in 12 years’.

‘It’s been a privilege telling his story, but sadly this will be my last time on stage doing the Hadaway Harry show. I’ve loved doing the show but in the second half of the play it is hard rowing and narrating the story as a one man show plus I’m 40 in February so it can be a bit exhausting’.

‘So, this is me hanging up my oars but the play will go on and maybe a younger actor will take on the role. This is why on the tour schedule after about three nights we have a day or two off where there is time for rest and recovery and then for the next show I’m ready to be able to give 100%’.

For information about tour dates and venues contact the official website >>>

http://www.hadawayharry.com

Thanks to Von Fox Promotions for the pix.

Alikivi   January 2025

TIME TRAVELLER – in conversation with Local Historian, Luan Hanratty

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46 year old Tynemouth resident Luan Hanratty has strong Celtic roots. His father was born in Jarrow with their family connections going back to Galway in Ireland and his mother originally from Rosyth on the east coast of Scotland.

Luan at Arbeia Roman Fort, South Shields.

‘Yes, the Hanratty name is Irish, however, a brief background to my employment story is that I worked the financial sector in Prague, Czech Republic, moved to Shanghai in China where I was employed as an English teacher. I even appeared on TV there and published some books. Education is strong in my background as my father was a Drama Teacher’.

‘After Covid in 2020 I came back to the UK and based myself in South Shields. I was looking for my next adventure when I came across some local history and got obsessed with reading the stories’.

‘With my business partner Gary Holland we put together a website called Penbal – which is a Celtic name for the Tynemouth headland – the site features articles on Tyneside local history, photographs, AI art, links to Maritime Trust, Lifeboats Brigade and Fishermen’s Heritage plus local products for sale – prints, postcards, mugs, t-shirts and more’.

The latest story has recently featured on BBC News >>>

Roman Stones Missing from Mill Dam Roundabout, South Shields – Penbal

Luan’s latest post on the site is about a long lost river which flowed from the Mill Dam in South Shields.

‘Beneath the busy modern landscape of South Shields lies a forgotten natural feature – a river called the Mill Dam Creek but also known as the Branin River. This flowed from Mill Dam, next to Customs House today, out to the sea near North Marine Park and the Pier. This effectively made the Lawe an island’.

‘The channel played a vital role in the development of the town, both as a waterway and a habour, and once it was dammed with ballast, the Mill Dam formed a bridge between the north and south reaches of the early town’.

‘So important then, was the creek as a resource that it forms the base of the first industrial activity in South Shields, with coal mining also evident on the south bank where the pit wheel now stands above Asda carpark in Coronation Street’.

‘If you stand on the long sloping escalator when exiting Asda and look out across the huge carpark, you really get a feel for the valley nature of the Mill Dam Pond. Imagine what it must have looked like all those centuries ago’.

‘Another twist to the story is that in the 19th century much of the eastern end of the creek was covered by Denmark Street, where the Denmark Centre is today. In the 1830s, while building the street, a Viking longboat was discovered beside what was originally the river bed’.

‘Maybe there is someone out there who has more information about this amazing find. We know it featured in The Shields Gazette in the 1980s’.

Viking ship article in The Shields Gazette 1980s.

Full story >>> The Lost Waterway of South Shields:  Mill Dam Creek – Penbal

Luan stresses that he has no plans to research any murders or the race riots that have happened on Tyneside.

‘So far, we have over 200 local history posts and we don’t look at any taboo subjects, I just like to paint a picture of our very rich heritage here on Tyneside’.

For further information contact Luan >>>>

Penbal – Messis ab Altis

Alikivi   January 2025

WISECRACK with playwright & theatre producer Ed Waugh

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Working in media and entertainment can be a risky business and after Covid it only increased. Picking up a couple of jobs but then nothing for a while has been a regular pattern for me these past few years. It’s a struggle but I wouldn’t change it for the world, I’ve loved every minute of it since my first video commission in January 1997.

I remember the day well. I was in a community centre in Hetton le Hole, Durham talking to a group of former miners who were interested in making a video when someone burst into the room with tears in her eyes “You never guess what’s happened?” We all turned around thinking the pipes have burst, there’s been an accident, someone’s died, what’s happened? “Kevin Keegans left Newcastle United”!

South Shields theatre producer Ed Waugh

I was interested how others working in the creative industry have managed so I got in touch with South Shields playwright and theatre producer Ed Waugh. Ed is part of the North East based Wisecrack team who use theatre to document working class history. I asked him about his past year.

‘Where did 2024 go? The whole year passed like a whirlwind. We’d come off a busy 2023 but from January 1 we were focused on Wor Bella, which was transferring to the wonderful Newcastle Theatre Royal in April. If that wasn’t enough to organise, we did a pre-show run in London to get the production on its feet’. 

‘Wor Bella is about North East women footballers in WW1 and the interest was massive. We had full pages in The Guardian and Daily Telegraph as well as tremendous coverage in other national publications. The upshot was London sold out’.

‘Coming home to the Theatre Royal was magnificent – three sold-out houses and just as in London standing ovations after every performance. It was my fifth show at the most prestigious venue in the region, a record for a local writer, so you can imagine how it swelled this Geordie’s heart with pride’.

(Link to interview with actress Catherine Dryden who starred in ‘Wor Bella’).

WOR BELLA HITS LONDON – the incredible story of heroic North East women footballers during WW1. | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

‘I’m just so honoured to be working with a top-class, professional and dedicated Wisecrack Productions team. We have director and actor Russell Floyd and other brilliant actors, technicians and hugely important people behind the scenes who allow us to put excellent stories on stage. It’s a true team effort’.

‘We’ve now sold around 800 Wor Bella scripts, so that’s canny. Many more thousands of people now know the story of these selfless working class women who saved the WW1 war effort’.

‘My book Geordie Plays Volume 1 has also almost sold out – the last few remaining first editions at Newcastle City Library are now officially collectors’ items’.

‘2024 ended with a triumphant tour of our play The Cramlington Train Wreckers. It’s about the General Strike of 1926 and how miners in Northumberland inadvertently derailed the Flying Scotsman during the nine-day strike before it was sold out by the TUC and Labour Party leaders. Word of mouth – the only marketing that really matters – was phenomenal and every venue sold out’.  

‘We’re looking to get The Cramlington Train Wreckers out again in May 2026 to mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike – the biggest rupture in British society since the civil war in the 1640s’.

‘In February 2025, Hadaway Harry – produced by and starring Jamie Brown – is touring the region. Hadaway Harry is about champion Tyneside rower Harry Clasper who was a forgotten Geordie legend’.

‘When he died in 1870, 130,00 lined his funeral procession in Newcastle. It will be the play’s 10th anniversary. I can’t believe a decade has gone by!’ 

‘Then in June, Carrying David will play Newcastle Theatre Royal. My sixth show there. Carrying David is about Glenn McCrory’s rise to becoming the first North East world boxing champion. It is being produced by and stars Micky Cochrane. Don’t miss these plays, you’ll be spellbound!

(It’s worth checking out both ‘Hadaway Harry’ and ‘Carrying David’ reviews on Google).

Actress & Theatre producer Leah Bell

Dirty Dusting, of course, continues to tour nationally – and internationally – and that play is touring venues in the UK in October under the guidance of the inimitable Leah Bell’.

(Link to interview with actress & theatre producer Leah Bell from July 2021)

TAKE A BOW – writer, actress & theatre producer, Leah Bell | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

‘The old warhorse Waiting For Gateaux – written, like Dirty Dusting with Trevor Wood – will be performed in New Zealand this year. Having these four plays produced in 2025 by other people means I can take the year out to write. I’m working on a few new ideas that will hopefully see the light of day in 2026 and beyond’.

ITV news reader Ian Payne & former BBC journalist & presenter Jeff Brown

‘I’ll also be doing my talks throughout the region, which amounted to around 40 last year, and I’m producing a series of talks with Ian Payne and Jeff Brown … “the two lads off the telly”. They are happening in April and May’.

‘We’ve done four of these ‘Evenings with’ before, and they sell out quickly. The lads are always good crack and the event is great fun. Loads of other stuff but I was only allowed 500 words for this post and I’ve used up over 600 already! Have a great 2025’.

For some it may be challenging times but Wisecrack continue rolling on. For further information, tour dates & video contact the official website >>>

Home | Wisecrack Productions

Alikivi   January 2025

ALIKIVI BY NUMBERS

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WordPress, who run this publishing site have a statistics page where all the viewing numbers, countries, dates and comments are gathered and crunched. A new addition to the stats is the percentages from what device the site is being read from – currently it’s mobile 63%, desktop 32% and tablet 5%. We are entering nerdsville territory so some people’s eyes will glaze over but stick with it, the stats can bring up some interesting surprises.

I remember back in 2017 posting an interview with former Angelic Upstarts guitarist Mond Cowie and noticing views from the Bahamas – who’da thought punk would invade the tropical paradise!

The site kicked off in February 2017 with first year views of 15,478 quickly rising to 79,850 in 2020 with most people staying at home during the Covid pandemic. It was March of that year that hit the highest monthly views with 9,700.

2021 reached 77,259 with a high of 8,400 in February that year with a small dip back to a total of 51,482 in 2022. This year has experienced a sharp upturn in numbers, so after eight years you can say ‘it’s daein’ canny’. For non Geordies and Mackems that means ‘it’s doing fine thank you very much’.

2024 has hit over 53,000 views with nearly 3,000 this month. December readers from the UK and USA are high with an unexpected spike in numbers from Belgium. So, yep its daein’ canny. All the best for 2025!

Alikivi   December 2024.

CAN CAN – New album from Durham duo Lowfeye

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Cover image French actor Alain Delon.

Lowfeye are Alan Rowland (musician) and Carol Nichol (singer & songwriter). They’ve just released ‘Can Can’ their fourth independently produced album. What have Lowfeye cooked up for these dark, cold, wintry nights? Carol throws a log on the fire.

‘Yeh it’s just the two of us – we have creative control which is paramount to the artistry and creativity of Lowfeye’ said Carol. ‘Songs start to evolve almost by accident. I can be in the Dakota desert composing a country rock road movie soundtrack with it all swirling around in my head while in reality I’m walking around a supermarket, buying wine, chips and beans that’s £14.70 please’.

‘Songs tend to flow fast and easy. They present themselves out of nowhere, almost as if I’m getting a brief from a film director who doesn’t exist’.

‘In the writing process they come in waves of sounds and colour all drifting out of my acoustic guitar or keyboard. Melodies, lyrics and hooks entwine with the influence of film themes, art, nostalgia, current affairs and story telling’.

Stand out songs on this 10 track album are Big Bang which bubbles around the pot, hypnotic goth rock of Babycham, dark piece Jeanne Hebuterne reveals the heartbreaking suicide story about the French artist while Dog Bite puts a vice like squeeze on before Valley of the Dolls hits the road running and Red Star rolls the credits. Lights out.

‘In terms of arrangements Alan and I concoct a cinematic landscape of colourful dreamlike worlds where rock and pop sit hand in hand with classical, folk and ambient. Anything can creep into the mix and make itself at home’.

‘Final stages of the songs reveal their identities with swirling organs rising through chiming guitars, orchestral textures battle it out with pounding drums’.

For creative artists managing and prioritising time is a daily challenge however the pay-off can be surprising and satisfying. As Carol throws another log on the fire she weighs up the benefits and snags of getting yer hands dirty.

‘Not being chained to labels does enable creative freedom, but the down side is juggling regular jobs. On that note if we were signed to a record label we would probably be dropped for not sticking to one formula or style of music’.

‘Getting the right take can involve days of stop-start hit and miss recording sessions, occasional gear malfunction, a phone ringing or the dog barking through a good vocal take, all of these things take time to iron out and finalise’.

‘On the flip side an afternoon can be sufficient to have a track in the bag all done and dusted. And all this recorded in a home studio in a box room setting on basic DIY equipment’.

From their first recording in 2017 with ‘Pow’ to their new offering ‘Can Can’ Lowfeye have produced another independent album full of ideas and imagination.

‘Like all Lowfeye albums ‘Can Can’ is like opening a chocolate box of sound with lots of different flavours. Lyrics can often go into risqué territory – you don’t know what yer going to get’.

‘Can Can’ available at >>>

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/lowfeye1/can-can

Alikivi   December 2024

THE NAME OF THE GAME with Writer & Theatre producer Alison Stanley

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‘2024 has been an absolute rollercoaster. I’ve met and worked with some truly amazing people and for that I’m very grateful’ said Alison as she reflects on a productive year.

Alison (3rd from left) nominated at the North East Culture Awards 2024.

‘I started working with Laurels Theatre in Whitley Bay as their Director of Participation and that has brought new opportunities and challenges. Based on the Glasgow version, I started a new initiative called ‘Play & Pasty’ – it’s really took off’.

‘It was to encourage people to walk through theatre doors and see new writing. Every week actors have a script in hand reading and everyone gets a drink and a pasty from our favourite bakers Greggs’.

New writing is important to keep theatre fresh and encourage new audiences. Also, in these times when people are looking to come together the Play and Pasty initiative is providing an important and vital service.

‘These events have become firm favourites with people meeting friends and seeing theatre. This project is really helping not only increase theatre footfall but also combat social isolation and provide a safe, warm space’.

Dealing with challenging subjects is something Alison doesn’t shy away from to a point where her work has been recognised by the North East Culture Awards and organisations in the public sector.

‘I’ve been proud that my play ‘You Need to Say Sorry’ is being used by Social Services and the Police in their domestic abuse training. It’s amazing that something I wrote is in a small way helping in the fight against domestic abuse. I’ve also made the Culture Award’s 2024 finals as writer of the year with this’.

‘With fellow directors Maggie Martin and Polly Brennan I’ve also set up a community interest theatre company called Stanley Creatives. This has enabled us to produce theatre and music events bringing productions into the heart of the community’.

‘Stanley Creatives are also launching the Women We Are project. It’s a great project where we go into community centres and use drama as therapy with women who have experienced trauma through domestic abuse or cancer’. 

Alison is fully determined to bring people together and use creativity as a positive driving force, with that she feel’s next year is shaping up to be a big year on the Stanley calendar.

‘I’ve some amazing stuff lined up. ‘Living the Life of Riley’ written by myself and Leah Bell is doing a UK national tour. I’m really looking forward to touring with this as we have former Coronation Street actress Vicky Entwistle starring plus my son is in the play. I also have my new play ‘Tits Up’ debuting February 18th to March 1st at Laurels Theatre, Whitley Bay’. 

‘Film production is another avenue I’m interested in getting into so we’ve been working on a short film for a festival entry, it’s based on my stage play ‘Hard’ – I’m really looking forward to doing this’. 

‘Our film ‘Bonny Chip’ with Lesley Saint John (Auf Wiedersehen, Pet) Deboa Meki and Rosie Fox – is still sweeping the boards at film festivals, we’ve had great nights at the film awards, plus of course the ABBA Girls with Kelly Lofthouse is going well – that train is still rolling’. 

Alison with Kelly Lofthouse in ‘ABBA Girls’.

Alikivi  2024

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE? #8

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How’s it gaan? After sharing stories first posted here in 2018 about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal there’s been a welcome spike in views from Poland, Slovakia and the Netherlands.

NWOBHM has always been popular since the first posts in 2017 which featured Fist, Raven, Mythra, Satan, Hollow Ground and Tygers of Pan Tang, plus stories from Impulse Studio big wig David Woods and producer Steve Thompson who brought the hammer down on seminal recordings on the Neat label. Also posted are stories from Durham’s Guardian Studio, although producer Terry Gavaghan has remained elusive. So far.

While new interviews are being lined up to take the site to the end of 2024, November has featured a compilation of stories from this year – and here’s another batch.

First up is a regular to the site, songwriter & vocalist Emma ‘Velvet Tones of Teesside’ Wilson. Emma first appeared back in 2019 talking about her influences in music…

‘Aretha Now’ and ‘Aretha Sings the Blues’ were both records that shaped my development as a singer. I used to sit for hours listening to the songs on vinyl’.

Emma kick started 2024 being pictured on the cover of Blues Matters magazine featuring her new album ‘Memphis Calling’ recorded in Sam Phillips studio, USA.

‘The studio breathes, it has an immense presence. The live room is awesome, beautifully designed. I let my emotions out on the recording’.

Full story >>> EMMA SINGS THE BLUES – with Emma ‘Velvet Tones of Teesside’ Wilson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

100 year old actress and entertainer Helen Russell sadly passed away this year. She will be missed. In May, Helen featured on the site looking back at the start of her career.

‘We didn’t have a phone in the house so I’d take calls on the local public telephone box outside to tell me where I was playing that night. Sometimes it meant getting a bus to Newcastle and then catching another to Stanley in County Durham, or Ashington in Northumberland, then heading back after 10pm – all the time humping my guitar and other equipment. I had no helpers.’

‘When guitar groups became popular in the ‘60s I had to stop dancing on stage because of all the leads and wires. That’s when I took up the guitar and later started writing my own songs.’

Full interview >>> TON UP for North East actress and entertainer Helen Russell  | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Another regular to the site is songwriter and former Neat records producer Steve Thompson, he got in touch in May.

‘I was 24 year old at the time and just quit a waged job to live on fresh air and follow a dream. I was either very brave, very stupid, or both. I quickly began knocking out songs and pitching them all over the place. I knew I needed some action or I was going to starve’.

‘One day I was at the dentist in Wallsend. I’d been called upstairs to the surgery when the receptionist called me back down. It was my publisher on the phone they tracked me down to tell me ‘Hurry Home just entered the charts at 63’. You could’ve knocked me down with a feather, that was the break I was looking for’.

‘From there on in incredible things happened it climbed the charts over a period of three months and peaked at 17. Here I am top 20, I had arrived! Then all sorts of things started to happen, the lyrics were printed in pop magazine Smash Hits, all the airplay on Radio One, name checks from DJ Mike Read on the Breakfast show, and of course Top of the Pops. All this was happening but I was still broke’.

Full interview >>> I WILL GO BACK– with songwriter & former Neat records producer Steve Thompson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

In February former entertainer Peter Embleton recalled his time in clubland.

‘I had a marvellous time working the North East, the greatest training ground for anyone, my job was to put on a show not just be a singer of songs’.

‘As well as all over the North East I worked in Australia and the cruise lines, I was voted male vocalist of the year twice in the ‘80s in the National Club Mirror awards’.

‘I look at some of the talent now and feel sorry that they never experienced the Saturday night atmosphere of say the King Street club in North Shields. The club full at 7pm, great musicians to play for you led by the inimitable Micky Watson, what a buzz.’

‘Yes of course there were poor nights when it didn’t all go according to plan, but hey the good times by far outweighed the bad times. I feel lucky to have experienced the golden age of clubland, there were some brilliant acts and musicians’.

Full interview >>> GOLDEN AGE OF CLUBLAND with entertainer, Peter Embleton. | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Got a story to add to the site? Just get in touch >>>

Contact | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Full list of hundreds of interviews >>>

About | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Alikivi   November 2024

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE? #7

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How’s the stats so far this year? Numbers from the UK and USA with regular hits from the European block of Spain, Italy and Germany plus a sudden spike from Ireland.

So, it’s big thanks to readers taking the total views over 410,000 since knocking out the first post in February 2017 which was an interview with one of the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands Mythra.

This post features another batch of North East stories from this year with links to the full interviews at the end. First up are Hartlepool based VaingloriousUK who got in touch in July.

‘We began seeking out, tidying up and uploading historic – and sometimes hysterical – video footage of music associated with the North East. The VainGloriousUK channel currently has up to 170 videos uploaded’.

‘One of these was the appearance of Brian Johnson’s first group Geordie. Recently we learned that our copy appears to be the only one still in existence when we were contacted about it being used in a forthcoming documentary about Brian’.

‘Most musicians are flattered that we care so much about their music, some are a bit wary about how their historical musical legacy may now be viewed – what you thought was important at 16 is not the same when you are 66!’

Full interview >  NORTH EAST MUSIC & VIDEO with Hartlepool based VainGloriousUK | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

North Tyneside Actor & Theatre Producer Alison Stanley got in touch and talked about her latest project ‘Tits Up’.

‘A couple of years ago a young friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer, people think it’s older people who develop this disease, so I wanted to raise awareness of this’.

‘Last year I found a lump and experienced the process of going to the breast clinic. Fortunately, my lump wasn’t anything of concern but it did make me think’.

‘Even though I was fine I began questioning my own mortality and spent nights wondering what would happen if I had cancer? What would’ve happened to my son who is autistic?’

‘I went along to Live Well with Cancer in North Shields where the ladies were kind enough to share their stories with me.’

Full interview >  TITS UP – New play from Alison Stanley | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

In June we had a severe Heed Case – musicians Newts Newton (ex Angelic Upstarts guitarist) and Si Cadelik (Northumbrian Psych rock bassist) filled yer in about their new album.

‘The new album explores gaslighting, narcissism and entitlement. All three elements feature heavily in populism and identity politics. Social media allows this to flourish, elbowing aside balance, objectivity and critical thinking. This emboldens extremists and those who seek to radicalise people with their brand of hateful rhetoric’.

‘Rather than tackle the causes of problems, the trend is to scapegoat. This should be a worry and concern for everyone, not just two people in a band. One day, that scapegoat might be you!’

‘We’ve been involved in music since our late teens, so that’s approximately 40 years and counting. In some ways it feels like forever, in others, like only yesterday’.

Full interview > HEED CASE release debut album ‘All the Rage’ | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

In July playwright Tom Kelly talked about writing a number of musicals including the work of Tyne Dock born author Catherine Cookson.

‘Tom & Catherine had its premier at South Shields Customs House, it was really exciting. All the team were really nervous on the opening night but when the overture began, we all felt it was going to be a success. And it was. It had a ‘sold out’ run. A measure of its success was that me mam wanted to go every night! And she was not a theatre-goer. She loved ‘Tom & Catherine.’

‘The play was first produced in 1999, and again 2001. In 2006 there was an outdoor performance at Bents Park, South Shields in which Jade Thirlwall (Little Mix) appeared, and most recently in 2019’.

Full interview > WALKING MY STREETS – New Poetry and Prose collection from Jarrow born Tom Kelly. | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Got a story to add to the site? Just get in touch .

Contact | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Full list of hundreds of interviews >

About | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Alikivi   November 2024 

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE? #6

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Following on from the last post here’s another batch of North East stories this time featuring music, books, TV, boxing and the police. First up is former White Heat & Loud Guitars frontman Bob Smeaton.

‘If you asked me to list what gave me the biggest buzz I would say playing live top of the list, writing songs in second and recording in third. One thing I did learn is that playing songs live and recording them in a studio are two different animals’.

‘I love performing in front of an audience and felt that I was a much better frontman than I was a singer, so studio work for me back in the early days was not always an enjoyable experience. Also, the vocals were always done last, so the rest of the band were able to relax and the pressure was on me to deliver’.

‘What did I do after White Heat and Loud Guitars split? I pretty much stopped performing gigs as my career went down a different path’.

Full interview > ANOTHER JOURNEY UP THE RIVER – New album from ex White Heat frontman Bob Smeaton | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

In August award-winning author & freelance journalist Terry Wilkinson talked about his new book…

‘At midnight on 3 May 1941, the factory and Head Office of Wilkinson’s Mineral Water Manufacturers in North Shields was hit by a single German bomb. It went through the roof, descending through all three floors, taking all the heavy bottling machinery and chemicals down to the basement – which was in use as a public air raid shelter. 107 died, 43 of which were children. Whole families were wiped out.’

‘Nothing is known of the identity of the plane which dropped the bomb – type, squadron, mission etc – as German records were mostly destroyed in the closing stages of the war’.

‘I wanted to write a story that answered all these questions and create a fictional alternative. Having said that, nobody could say with any conviction this is not what happened’.

Full interview > STORIES OF WAR – with award-winning author & freelance journalist Terry Wilkinson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Also in August former boxer Terry Patterson remembers his time boxing in the North East…

‘Over the years I fought a few Sunderland lads. Derek Nelson was a classy boxer who turned pro. I fought two ABA finalists in Gordon Pedro Philips and Willie Neil. I fought Pedro in the North Eastern Counties final but lost. Both lads were well schooled’.

‘Willie Neil’s coach asked if I’d fight him because his opponent hadn’t turned up. I weighed in at 10st 6lbs (welterweight), he was heavier than me by 6lbs. I knew his reputation for knocking people out. £50 was slipped into my hand for taking the fight’.

‘Willie could bang a bit – so could I – but he had me down three times during our bout. We set about each other unleashing all hell for three fierce rounds. I had him going at one point after landing a good left hook but the bell sounded and my chance to finish him had gone’.

‘Gordon and Willie are still good to this day – it’s been 36 years since we shared a ring but I see them at boxing dinners and club reunions’.

Full interview > KNOCKOUT with former boxer Terry Patterson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Former police detective & writer Arthur McKenzie talked about his work…

‘There was a police section house near Newcastle’s Exhibition Park, in it was a bait room, just a pokey little room with a table to play cards on. If you’re on night shift you’d take sandwiches and a flask of tea in. That’s where you gathered around 1am where the events of the night would unfold’.

‘You would get advice on how to deal with someone, it was a good place to sort things out like the older cops would tell you how to deal with a death, how to deliver a death message to the unfortunate family. It was a sort of meeting of minds over a game of cards. Aye the bait room was a good place to vent your spleen so to speak’.

‘So, I went away and wrote about the bait room. Tom Hadaway (writer for episodes When the Boat Comes In) read the play and was laughing at it ‘Yeah, you know how to write dialogue son’. He gave me pointers, when I finished it landed on two desks. One was the BBC in Manchester where it ended up on the Saturday Night Theatre radio show, which was a big thing’.

‘The other was the script reader for David Puttnam (producer Chariots of Fire, Local Hero, Midnight Express) who hated it at first but won her round in the end. She said she couldn’t do anything with it but put me in touch with an agent who was looking for writers for a tv show called The Bill. That’s where the writing started’.

Full interview > COP ON THE TYNE – in conversation with ex police detective & writer Arthur McKenzie | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

TV actor & musician Michael McNally got in touch and talked about his time in ground breaking BBC TV drama The Cops…

‘I’d watched the first two series and it was my favourite programme on TV. When I started watching it, I thought it was a fly on the wall documentary it took me 10 minutes before I realised it was a drama. I was totally hooked’.

‘One of my first scenes was I was sat in a police van at 11pm on a Friday night on Bolton High Street. The general public were walking up and down the street they knew nothing of this, it wasn’t a closed set like on some programmes and we had to go and arrest someone’.

‘Two actors were having a fight then we got the message to go, so on with the blue flashing lights, we pulled up and jumped out of the van. Some people were trying to defend the actors and some were encouraging us to get in there and sort it out’.

‘We didn’t know where the cameras were we just heard someone say stop. We got back in the van, re-set and done the scene about four or five times’.

‘Same happened when responding to a fight in a bar, we had to pull people out and the general public in the bar didn’t know what was going on. There was an element of choreography for the fight, we didn’t want anyone to get hurt’.

‘After that first night the cast got together afterwards for some pub grub and a karaoke. Most of us were unknown actors so mixed in with the general public without any hassle. Every member of the cast got up and sang, mine was Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash – it was a really good night’.

Full interview > THE COPS with TV actor & musician Michael McNally | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

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Full list of hundreds of interviews >

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Alikivi   November 2024

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE? #5

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Since starting in February 2017 hundreds of stories have been posted on this site. The last few months has seen a mix from the navy, radio, folk singers and a magician. Here’s a taste.

First up is Tyneside comedian & magician Robert Reed…

‘Being an outcast gave me more time to focus on myself, to perfect my act. I’m glad I never fitted in at school, cos this has worked out well for me in the long run’.

‘A person to take me under his wing was a teacher called Mr Obee at St Joseph’s. Every break time we would talk about magic and jokes, he would loan me magic books, then he would show me a different trick each time which I would perform for the other kids’.

‘His motto was ‘work hard and be nice’ which I’ve always followed. It was helpful propaganda about putting the hard work in. He told me that every hour you aren’t working on your dream someone else out there is’.

‘I stopped sleeping 8 hours a day and cut it to 6 so I could get extra hours at work. It became all about maximising the time I could work it out. I became obsessed with it, it’s the most important thing in my life – I want to be entertaining people’.

Full interview > READ ALL ABOUT IT – in conversation with Tyneside comedian & magician Robert Reed | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Northumberland Radio presenter Keith Newman talked about his passion for music…

‘The show not only gives me the chance to play the music I love but to meet my heroes. The one that got me really nervous was with Marky Ramone. I first saw the Ramones in 1980 at Newcastle City Hall and bought the t-shirt from the gig which I never took off’.

‘Next day I was going to a corner shop to get me ma’s tabs – yep we could in those days – and I could see a coach outside. As I got near it pulled away. I went in the shop and the assistant said ‘eeh see those lads on your t-shirt – they’ve just been in here. They were Americans asking for milk and cookies’. I couldn’t believe it I ran outside but the coach was away up the street’.

‘For years I wondered if it really was them so when I talked to Marky I asked him about it and he told me Johnny Ramone had OCD and after every gig he had to have milk and cookies’.

Full interview >  HEY HO LETS GO RADIO – in conversation with radio presenter Keith Newman | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Another story came from Tyneside based Karen Taylor who remembers her time in the Royal Navy…

’The Falklands war was on when I was based at HMS Vernon in Portsmouth in 1982. I remember when the first ship was hit on 4th May. We were in a disco and everybody was up dancing when the music suddenly stopped and an announcement was made’.

‘I knew one of the chef’s whose ship was one of the first hit and sunk. He told me afterwards they were getting in the lifeboat and someone shouted ‘that’s typical, it was a really good scran tonight’. The Navy use humour to get out of any situation’.

‘The fact of not knowing who was alive or dead brought on a lot of mental health problems after that war. It must have been really scary what they went through’.

Full interview > IN THE NAVY – in conversation with former WREN Karen Taylor | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

This from Wearside folk song collector Eileen Richardson…

‘The first song I found was The Old Wife’s Lament to the Keel Men of the Wear and it was all around historical events about the keel men and it was written in dialect. That set me on the road to researching the history that went with the song’.

‘There a lot of songs about death and tragedy, mining disasters and shipwrecks but there are songs that tell light hearted stories. The Durham Militia pokes fun at things, it’s like the 1800s version of Dad’s Army, with lyrics like ‘You’ll march away like heroes – just to make the lasses stare’ and suggesting that the only battles they will fight will be in the pub’.

Full interview > FOLK GATHERING in conversation with Wearside folk song collector Eileen Richardson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Tyneside songwriter Rosie Anderson dropped in to tell a few stories. Here’s one…

‘I can’t just decide to sit down and write a song – some people do and I applaud them for the discipline but I have to wait until they come’.

‘When I was a kid I lived at Chapel House Estate in the west end of Newcastle. One night me, my mother and a friend went for a walk. This woman came out of her house in her dressing gown, she wasn’t in control of herself, didn’t know what time or day it was. I had never seen that behaviour in an adult before. Now I believe she was having a nervous breakdown’.

‘That always stayed in my head and another one was about 30 years ago I went on a blind date in Newcastle with this very nice bloke. He said I need to tell you something before we go any further… ‘When I was working in Canada I had a nervous breakdown in the car park of a Burger King’. It was hard to concentrate on anything else after that’.

‘But I remembered those incidents and those people are lodged in my heart for their own traumas. They gave me the song’.

Full interview >  LISTEN TO YOUR HEART in conversation with Tyneside songwriter Rosie Anderson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Tyneside storyteller & folk singer Tony Wilson talked being a professional musician and how far it’s taken him…

‘Around 2009 I got an email. The message was ‘would you like to tell stories in Argentina?’ I wasn’t sure it was kosher at first but I received a phone call a few weeks later confirming it was. I was given contacts of previous storytellers who recommended it’.

‘Me and my wife went out and ended up over the years going to about 15 countries for six weeks at a time. They were international schools where the kids had already learnt English but mostly from American cartoon shows and they wanted them to hear colloquial language, more English. With my accent, I knew I would have to speak a bit slower – and there’s nothing worse than a posh Geordie!’

‘To accompany the lessons it was helpful to use British sign language or borrow a guitar. I always took a banjo with me as it was such a different instrument for them to hear. Once the banjo was broken en-route but we found the only banjo repairman in Bogota in Colombia’.

‘We’ve been to Uruguay, China, South Korea, all over – loved it. Sometimes I look back and think how did that happen – you’ve got to seize every opportunity’.

Full interview > BANJO IN BOGOTA – in conversation with Tyneside storyteller & folk musician Tony Wilson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Got a story to add to the site? Just get in touch.

Full list of hundreds of interviews >

About | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Alikivi   November 2024