Thank you to everyone who has been to all the shows since Christmas – it’s been great to find new venues and enthusiastic audiences in Bristol, Bath, Southampton and Nottingham, and to return to so many of our regular haunts too…
Coming up, I have lots of cycling guests, plus music and true-detective nights and – just on sale – two nights of football chat with the great Pat Nevin. Not just a wing wizard and a BBC 5 Live pundit but held to be the coolest/most cultured (ex-) footballer going, Pat will join me at events in Brighton and Chiswick in June to launch his new memoir, ‘Football and How to Survive It’.
Please do pass this on to any pals who may be delighted by this news, even if it is not your personal scene!
In May, I have another run of dates with the always brilliant cycling adventurer Emily Chappell – taking in Barnes OSO Arts Centre (May 2 – on sale from March 31), Reading South Street (May 3), and Winchester Nutshell (May 4). I love how shows with Emily can include maps and travelogues, as Emily evokes the atmosphere of riding round the world and then go on to talk about the nature of changing your life and more emotional discussion points too. (There are funny bits too.)
In June, I have (equally unpredictable) pre-Tour de France shows with ITV commentator Matt Rendell in Barnes, London SW13 (June 20 – tickets on sale from March 31) and Eurosport commentator Carlton Kirby in Reading (June 21). Carlton is launching his new book, Sticky Bottle and we will be having a lot more dates with him at the end of the season, when there is less commentary to get in the way!
I also have launch events (in London and Brighton) coming up in May for former Melody Maker and Uncut editor Allan Jones, launching his new book of tales from the glory days of rock journalism and being on the road with Lou Reed, the Clash, Elton John and many more. Full details soon!
In February, we had a really good night with ex-undercover detective Christian Plowman at Barnes OSO: the audience audibly gasped at one point – and laughed at others. Now, we have set up a mini-tour of his hair-raising stories of this apparently-quite-regular guy finding himself taking on organised crime/pimps/dealers etc. Tales from the Real-Life Line of Duty is coming to Chiswick (this Wednesday, March 29), Norwich (April 19), Oxford (April 25) and Winchester (April 26).
We will also have some pre-Tour nights with longtime Times/Guardian cycling writer (and ex-Procycling editor) Jeremy Whittle; our three nights so far have been excellent, a gritty insight into the journey of a fan coming into the sport at its most controversial point and all the challenges arising: becoming friendly with Lance Armstrong and then facing threats of legal action from Lance Armstrong… and so on. We are in Oxford tomorrow (March 28) and will have more dates coming up in May and June.
More news soon, too, on shows with Tour de France (I’m saying) veteran Steve Cummings; Michael Hutchinson’s How to Be a Cycling Champion; John Altman’s True Tales of Hollywood and the Hit Parade plus some evenings with scientist Rebecca Nesbit whose subject is none other than the entire future of Life on Earth. I know!
As ever, please feel free to suggest guests, venues and anything else that comes to mind. I am aware that this run of shows is quite southern-based but, having had such great nights, between Preston, Nottingham, York, Bingley, Sheffield, The Wirral (and so on…) in recent months, I will be bringing more guests to you soon.
See you soon
Duncan Steer
Radio Days Events 