The Assassination Podcast
I’ve been gripped by a Podcast called The Assassination. It tells the story of the murder of the Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007, and it’s compiled by Owen Bennett-Jones, a journalist who has long specialised in Pakistani affairs. I owe him a debt of thanks, not just for this enthralling podcast, but for giving me some wise words of advice before I started out on my Himalaya BBC series back in 2004. Do try and find time to listen The Assassination. It’s a quite astonishing story!
Listen to The Assassination podcast on the BBC iPlayer or download from iTunes.
As Time Goes By – Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor’s As Time Goes By, one of the finest books on the Beatles era, is out in a newly-published Faber and Faber paperback. Derek was the legendary Beatles’ press officer and the reason he survived so long in the world of sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll is all captured in this short, scintillating book – his wonderfully dry humour, his ability to never take himself, or his clients, too seriously, his quiet relish of the madness of it all. Delights on every page.
And one of the joys of my acting career was to play Derek Taylor, alias Eric Manchester, in Eric Idle’s spoof documentary All You Need is Cash – the story of the Rutles. Still very viewable!
As Time Goes by – Amazon
A Warm Hand On Your Opening – Ian Davidson
Ian Davidson has written a very funny book about Barry Humphries. It’s called A Warm Hand On Your Opening, and it captures Barry’s genius perfectly. Ian knows him as well as anybody, having written for him for over forty years. It’s available from Amazon. No, not the river.
A Warm Hand On Your Opening – Amazon