Entertainment

For the Record: Celebrating Piccadilly Radio’s 50th Anniversary, 1974 to 2024 looks back at the early years of what became the most popular and successful mixed news and entertainment radio station in the country. It was listened to and loved by millions of people across the Northwest.

Piccadilly was the pioneering and fearless radio station which launched the careers of national personalities such as Chris Evans, Timmy Mallett, Gary Davis, Mark Radcliffe, Andy Crane, Steve Penk and Andy Peebles, plus a host of journalists, TV and film producers, businessmen and women and entrepreneurs. At the same time, it discovered and nurtured local personalities who had never worked in radio before such as Susie Mathis, Phil Wood, Dave Ward, Mike Shaft, James Stannage, Mike Sweeney, Becky Want and Stu Allen. They all became a huge part of listeners’ daily lives.

Written in a fun, light-hearted, anecdotal, and self-deprecating style, the book takes the reader back in time to the characters, music and significant events in Greater Manchester, the UK and across the world between 1974 and 1987.

The book includes photographs of the people who became household names and memories from listeners which provide a poignant snapshot of what the people of the Northwest loved about Piccadilly. It will appeal to all those who remember fondly the station in the 1970s and 80s, when people listened non-stop to the radio, from breakfast to bedtime.

Co-authors Brian Beech and Tony Ingham consider themselves very fortunate to have been members of the Piccadilly ‘family’ during the halcyon days of Piccadilly Radio.

Round In Circles: The Story of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel is intended not only for those who share the author’s love of the ‘Golden Age’ Broadway musicals, but also for students of the genre who want to learn about the trials and tribulations encountered in producing a musical at that time when Rodgers and Hammerstein were transforming such shows into the unique American art form we continue to enjoy today.

The book covers the history of the classic musical from its beginning as Liliom, a 1909 play by Hungarian author Ferenc Molnár, to its latest 2021 London revival.

At first, Rodgers and Hammerstein dismissed the idea of turning Liliom into a musical. How they were persuaded to change their minds, and the struggles the duo experienced in adapting the dark, fantastical play is a key part of the story told by author, Barry Kester. But the book also shines the spotlight onto Rodgers and Hammerstein themselves, looking at their lives, their working methods, and their relationship, which was not always as harmonious as one might have thought.

Although Carousel was created by Rodgers and Hammerstein, it would not have happened without the help of some extraordinary people, both backstage and onstage and the book pays due tribute to them all.

Many of Carousel’s songs have become well-loved standards, none more so than You’ll Never Walk Alone and not just because of its association with football. A chapter is devoted to this remarkable anthem.

Carousel’s story did not end with its 1945 Broadway opening. After an initial London run and a nationwide tour of the United States, there was a film version. The author relates the many problems that were encountered on that production.

The book examines what many would agree to be the finest production of Carousel to date, staged at the National Theatre in 1992 directed by Nicholas Hytner and concludes with a look at some of the more recent revivals and the show’s place in the musical theatre canon today.

Barry Kester lives in London and has loved musical theatre all his life. After retirement in 2010, he set out to write a detailed history of his favourite musical. Round in Circles: The Story of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel is his first book.