Gary Kemp on EW Godwin
Great Lives
BBC
4.2 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 April 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gary Kemp, songwriter and guitarist with hit 1980s band Spandau Ballet, chooses the architect and designer Edward William Godwin as his great life.
Gary began collecting pieces of Godwin's work as soon as he started making money from hit singles.
He's remained fascinated by the life and work of the man who formed part of the Aesthetic Movement in the 19th century, designed houses for Oscar Wilde and James Whistler, and influenced Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Presented by Matthew Parris with guest expert, Dr Aileen Reid.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2017.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Once you've wrapped up this podcast, how about trying a very British cult? |
| 0:06.0 | What happens if the person you trust with your future isn't what you think they are? |
| 0:10.0 | I did feel the whole time he was watching me Yeti. |
| 0:14.0 | I saw a footprint and that really gave me goosebumps. |
| 0:16.0 | Or people who knew me. |
| 0:18.0 | Emmy, I remember every secret, every lie. |
| 0:21.0 | I'm the only one who knows the truth. |
| 0:23.0 | Discover more of our biggest podcast from 2003. |
| 0:27.0 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:40.0 | Oscar Wilde described him as one of the most artistic spirits of this century. Yet after his death, like so many of our great lives, he was relegated to obscurity for decades. |
| 0:47.0 | But thanks in part to my guest this week, who's been collecting his work for more than 30 years, |
| 0:52.0 | his profile has been steadily rising, and his contribution |
| 0:56.0 | to architecture and design as part of the 19th century aesthetic movement celebrated anew. My guest today is Gary Kemp of Spandau-Belle, the actor and musician |
| 1:07.9 | who's chosen Edward William Godwin. Gary, when was the light bulb moment that switched you on? |
| 1:14.5 | Yeah, well, just to go back a little further on my light bulb moment, you know, I grew up where we didn't own any |
| 1:20.5 | furniture in our house. What nothing? |
| 1:23.0 | Yeah, sort of Alan Clark kind of person. |
| 1:26.0 | And it was, we lived in a council house, flat actually, |
| 1:31.0 | and everything was on higher purchase. The very first piece of |
| 1:35.2 | furniture I ever bought was a William Morris Philip Webb design chair which I got |
| 1:40.6 | from my first paycheck from Spandau Ballet in the early 80s and I wasn't even living in my own house at that time |
... |
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