Free Thinking 2013 - Twenty Minutes - An Interview with Neil Tennant
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 25 October 2013
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Neil Tennant, singer of pop duo Pet Shop Boys, grew up in the fishing port of North Shields and went to a Catholic school in Newcastle. He talks to Philip Dodd about the influence of the North East on his career, which began in publishing and magazines. Last year the Pet Shop Boys performed at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics and they have just returned from a tour which has taken them to 29 countries.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right? |
| 0:23.4 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids |
| 0:25.5 | the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.9 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.1 | This is a special download from the BBC Free Thinking Festival. |
| 0:35.9 | For more information and our terms of use, |
| 0:38.1 | go to BBC.co.ukuk slash radio three. |
| 0:41.7 | Since this is taking place when London's going to Newcastle, |
| 0:45.0 | I want to ask you about the reverse journey. |
| 0:47.1 | Like me, you were a provincial boy coming to London. |
| 0:51.2 | Do you remember what it was like? |
| 0:53.5 | Well, the first time I came to London, my father was a sales rep. |
| 0:57.5 | And he worked in those days for an American company. |
| 1:00.2 | And he was driving down to London for a meeting from Newcastle. |
| 1:06.2 | This is 1967. |
| 1:08.3 | So it's before motorways. |
| 1:10.0 | And we set off at 5 o'clock in the morning. And seven hours later, |
| 1:14.5 | we were sitting at the Joe Lines Cafe at St. Giles Circus. And I was only 12 or 13, maybe. And he left me. |
| 1:23.9 | You wouldn't do this now. He left me and went to have meetings and he said, meet me back here at six o'clock. And I was, actually, I think I was just 13. And so I wandered off down Charlestpia Avenue. I was like the theatre. I couldn't believe all these theatres. I talked to each other. Piccadilly Circus was full of hippies. I went on the underground to the V&A |
| 1:44.8 | and I went to the British Museum |
| 1:46.0 | and just wanted around and sort of felt amazed |
| 1:49.1 | and met him at 6 o'clock and we drove back to Newcastle. |
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